http://www.voanews.com
By Patience Rusere
Washington
16 June
2009
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said Tuesday that
youth militants
of the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe have set up
bases in rural
schools in a worrisome repeat of activities that occurred
during last year's
period of post-election violence.
Sources said
there has been no overt violence but noted that ZANU-PF youth
have intruded
into a number of school and intimidated teachers over their
political
affiliations.
They said such ZANU-PF youth had taken over parts of school
buildings to
hold meetings, prominently displaying ZANU-PF banners and other
regalia.
PTUZ President Takavafira Zhou told VOA that bases have been set
up in
primary and secondary schools in Chikarudzo, Masvingo province,
Goromonzi,
Mashonaland East, and in the the towns of Gokwe and Mberengwa in
Midlands
province.
VOA was unable immediately to obtain comment from
Education Minister David
Coltart on the reports that political pressures are
again surfacing in the
school system.
Youth Development Minister
Savious Kasukuwere denied any knowledge of such
bases. He said he was tied
up in a meeting and could not grant an interview
to studio
seven.
Union leader Zhou says youth in ZANU-PF regalia have warned
teachers against
supporting any other party but have not committed violence
against them.
Jephat Karemba, chairman in Mashonaland West province of
the Movement for
Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, told
reporter Patience Rusere that ZANU-PF youth nave moved into
two schools in
the Zvimba West constituency.
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Moses Mudzwiti Published:Jun 17, 2009
ZIMBABWE Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has demanded an end to attempts by
US resident
Arikana Chihombori to grab a farm in Chegutu belonging to white
Zimbabweans.
Speaking on his weekend visit to the US,
Tsvangirai condemned the continuing
illegal disruptions of farming
activities as self- defeating and as
tarnishing the country's
image.
The US medical doctor told Radio Africa on Wednesday last week
that she was
related to Tsvangirai and confirmed that she was "authorised"
to "take over"
part of the farm in Chegutu, about 100km south of the
capital, Harare.
Tsvangirai said the attempted seizure of the Chegutu
farm epitomised the
senselessness of land reform in Zimbabwe.
"This
woman has lived in the US for decades, knows nothing about farming,
has a
viable business there and wants forcibly to acquire a piece of land
thousands of kilometres away in a country where she no longer
lives.
"This selfish and senseless behaviour must be stopped
immediately."
http://news.iafrica.com/sa/1737821.htm
Article By:
Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:02
The woman at
the centre of a land takeover row in Zimbabwe said she is a
long standing
friend of President Jacob Zuma.
Dr Arikana Chihombori is distantly
related to Prime Mister Morgan
Tsvangirai's late wife Susan and President
Robert Mugabe's wife Grace.
Her attempt to take over a farm in Zimbabwe
has caused the MDC some
embarrassment because the party has spoken out
against chaotic land
seizures.
Chihombori told award-winning
Zimbabwean journalist Geoffrey Nyarota she met
Zuma at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal many years ago.
She said she maintained contact with him
and that was why she was invited to
his inauguration in
May.
Chihombori is understood to have dropped her attempt to take over
the farm
though she said she was trying to take it over for her 63-year-old
sister.
Eyewitness News
http://www.norwaypost.no
Wed,
17-Jun-2009
Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will on Wednesday end his
visit to Norway, where
he has had talks with Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr
Stoere and other political
leaders.
Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim, says
Norway will
provide aid to Zimbabwe beyond the NOK 58 million allocated to
the African
nation in May.
Solheim says Tsvangirai and his MDC
party in the new government have
contributed to a completely different
climate in Zimbabwe.
- People are breathing more freely, even
though they are still facing
enormous difficulties, as well as a daily fight
for democratic rights,
Solheim says.
Tuesday evening, Foreign
Minister Stoere hosted a dinner in honour of
Prime Minister
Tsvangirai.
(Vaart Land)
Rolleiv Solholm
http://www.herald.co.zw
Wednesday,
June 17, 2009
Herald
Reporter
ZESA says it has restored normal electricity supplies to all
parts of
Zimbabwe, following Monday's blackout which affected large parts of
the
country.
In an interview yesterday, Zesa chief executive officer
Engineer Ben
Rafemoyo said their initial investigations indicated that the
problem
emanated from Zambia.
"The whole country was off supply but
we were back to normal by 2 am
(Tuesday). We restored supplies to all parts
of Zimbabwe and we are back to
where we were before this incident," he
said.
As to what caused the blackout, Eng Rafemoyo said: "We do not want
to say a
lot this time around. We hear they (Zambia) experienced a challenge
in their
system.
"Initial investigations indicate the problem is
emanating outside our
system. We hear they (Zambia) lost a big transformer
at one of their
substations."
He said Zesa was yet to receive formal
communication from the Zambia
Electricity Supply Company.
Yesterday,
AFP reported that Zambia had experienced nationwide blackouts
since Monday
after Leopard substation, the country's main power supply,
collapsed.
The agency quoted a Zesco spokesperson as saying: "We are
yet to ascertain
what caused the collapse in the entire system.
"We
are working on normalising the situation and soon some power will be
restored."
Two weeks ago Zambia was hit by another major power cut
after Zesco shut off
two of its six generators at the Kafue Gorge hydropower
station when weeds
blocked the facility's water inlet resulting in reduced
flow of water.
Eng Rafemoyo said on Monday Zimbabwe plunged into darkness
because Zesa had
lost power supplies from Hwange and Kariba
stations.
He said supplies from Mozambique's Hidroelectrica de Cahora
Bassa and the
Zambian power grid had inexplicably gone out and the power
utility had
fallen back onto emergency supplies from Eskom of South
Africa.
These supplies were enough to power southern parts of the country
up to the
Midlands only.
There were fears Zesa could have been cut
off by regional suppliers such as
Mozambique's HCB and the Zambia
Electricity Company because of a mounting
debt. Zesa owes its regional
suppliers over US$57 million.
Eng Rafemoyo yesterday said Monday's
electricity outage significantly
affected efforts to bring the Hwange Power
station back on line.
He said coal supplies from the Hwange Colliery
Company had improved
significantly in the last few days.
Meanwhile,
Zesa has said it is unable to determine how much it is owed by
customers
because its billing system is down, three days to the deadline it
set to cut
off defaulting customers.
Employees at Zesa's Samora Machel offices in
Harare said it was not possible
to tell how much a customer owed the company
because of the system failure.
"We cannot indicate how much we are owed
by a customer because our systems
are down. The Ministry (of Energy and
Power Development) is aware of this
and this is the reason why it has
directed that customers living in
high-density suburbs should pay flat fees
of US$30 and those in low-density
areas US$40 for February, March, April and
May," said one of the employees.
But Eng Rafemoyo said the systems "were
now up and running".
"The systems are now up and running unless if they
were down at a particular
location," he said.
http://news.iafrica.com
Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:26
Zimbabwe had to rely on emergency
power supplies from Eskom on Monday after
a near total
blackout.
Radio transmission was lost and phone networks went down during
the cut.
It comes as Zambia enters its second day without power after a
fire gutted a
key transformer on the country's national power
grid.
Power was lost from Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe's two main
internal
suppliers Hwange Power Station and Kariba.
The state Zesa
power utility had to fall back on emergency supplies from
Eskom.
Zesa's chief executive Ben Rafemoyo assured the nation the cut
had nothing
to do with the US$57-million Zesa owes its regional
suppliers.
Zimbabwe's power cuts have not improved since the new unity
government came
in in February.
Many Zesa bills are so high customers
have stopped paying.
Commentators nicknamed the previous government of
President Robert Mugabe
the 'Candle Wax Regime' and it seems nothing much
has changed.
Eyewitness News
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nokuthula Sibanda
Wednesday 17 June 2009
HARARE - World rights watchdog Amnesty
International's secretary general
Irene Khan has met top officials of
Zimbabwe's unity government and civic
leaders but sources said her
appointment with President Robert Mugabe was
yet to be
confirmed.
Khan, who arrived in Harare last weekend, on Monday met
influential Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and also held talks with
Presidential Affairs
Minister met Didymus Mutasa and Education Minister
David Coltart.
The Amnesty secretary general, whose visit to Zimbabwe is
the first by a top
official of the world rights body in many years, was
scheduled to meet
parliamentary Speaker Lovemore Moyo on
Tuesday.
Amnesty, among the most outspoken critics of Mugabe's
controversial human
rights record, had said in a statement last week that in
addition to meeting
government officials and human rights defenders, Khan
hoped to meet the
Zimbabwean leader during her trip to
Harare.
Zimbabwe has seen an escalation in human rights abuses especially
in the
last decade as Mugabe's administration resorted to violence and
torture in
an attempt to silence political opponents.
Political
violence that followed then opposition MDC party's shock victory
in
presidential and parliamentary elections last year is said to have killed
at
least 200 opposition supporters and displaced 200 000 others.
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first round
election but
failed to secure the margin to take power, withdrew from a June
27 run-off
poll saying widespread violence against his supporters made a
free and fair
vote impossible.
Mugabe went ahead with the presidential run-off poll
despite Tsvangirai's
withdrawal but was forced to negotiate a power sharing
settlement with the
opposition after his victory received worldwide
condemnation, leading to the
formation of a unity government in
February.
The new Harare administration has established a national
healing ministerial
team that will address the violence that characterised
the troubled country
especially in the run-up to last year's run off
poll.
Amnesty International has challenged Zimbabwe's inclusive
government to
impose the rule of law in the country and that the
administration acts
against state agents and government officials who
continue to violate human
rights.
Amnesty said it was concerned about
the apparent lack of political will by
the power-sharing government to
create an environment in which human rights
and media workers could freely
do their work. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou Wednesday 17
June 2009
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC
party has accused national
broadcaster ZBC and the publicly-owned newspaper
stable, Zimpapers, of
violating the agreement that gave birth to Zimbabwe's
inclusive government
through biased coverage in favour of ZANU PF.
In
two separate letters written to Zimpapers editor-in-chief Pikirayi
Deketeke
and ZBC boss Happison Muchechetere, MDC-T director of Information
and
Publicity Luke Tamborinyoka accused the two media houses of unfair
coverage
and blacking out activities undertaken by the party.
Both letters were
written on June 9 after Muchechetere and Deketeke declined
to deploy
journalists to accompany Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during
his
three-week international tour aimed at re-establishing relations between
Zimbabwe, the United States and the West.
"Your overt bias and
disservice to the public has been startlingly revealed
by your complete
blackout of the Prime Minister's press conferences
especially on matters to
do with the outstanding issues in the global
political agreement (GPA), your
biased reporting on the MDC national
conference, your amplification on the
ZANU PF position on the outstanding
issue of the RBZ governor Gideon Gono
and the Attorney-General Johannes
Tomana, the laughable attempt to suppress
the High Court ruling confirming
the Media and Information Commission as a
nullity and a host of other cases
where you have simply played megaphone to
the ZANU PF position against the
grain of common sense and logic," read
Tamborinyoka's letter to Deketeke.
The September 15 GPA, power sharing
pact between ZANU PF and the two MDC
formations, states "that the public and
private media shall refrain from
using abusive language that may incite
hostility, political intolerance and
ethnic hatred or that unfairly
undermines political parties and other"
organisations.
"As a party,
we have been perennial victims of unbridled propaganda and hate
speech from
your stable. We have borne the brunt of misguided lies
masquerading as
journalism," Tamborinyoka wrote. "The good news is that we
have succeeded
and won elections despite being at the receiving end of
relentless gutter
journalism whose sole purpose has been to perpetually
malign and soil the
image of the MDC and its leadership."
Zimpapers which owns the dailies -
The Herald and The Chronicle - the MDC
claimed had failed to defend
editorial independence by allowing the
newspaper group to be abused by
"known mischievous elements in ZANU PF and
in the inclusive government who
want to spoil and scuttle the new, exciting
and irreversible times that were
brought about by the new political
dispensation".
The MDC claimed
that ZBC refused on two occasions to flight television
programmes which
involved MDC Senator Obert Gutu earlier this year over
unclear
reasons.
"We write to express displeasure at the continued bias,
selective reporting
and blackout, our displeasure at the continued bias,
selective reporting and
blackout of MDC activities and programmes by the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation," read the letter written to
Muchechetere.
The MDC also accused the public broadcaster of "overt bias"
due to its
failure to cover last month's party conference and alleged
refusal by ZBC to
flight programmes involving its leaders in the inclusive
government.
Muchechetere and Deketeke were yet to respond to the letters
by yesterday. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou
Wednesday 17 June 2009
HARARE - A lawyer for two Zimbabwean
journalists charged with publishing
falsehoods on Tuesday requested to have
the matter referred to the country's
Supreme Court for a determination on
the constitutionality of the charges.
Editor of privately owned Zimbabwe
Independent newspaper Vincent Kahiya and
news editor Constantine Chimakure
are accused of publishing falsehoods after
disclosing in a story earlier
this year names of state agents who allegedly
abducted and tortured scores
of human rights activists and members of the
then opposition MDC party last
year.
The state, which has also charged the newspaper's finance director
Michael
Curling over the same story, insists the information was false and
that by
publishing it the journalists violated the government's Criminal Law
(and
Codification) Reform Act.
If convicted of breaching the tough
Act the journalist face up to 20 years
in jail.
But the trio's
lawyer, Innocent Chagonda, yesterday told magistrate Moses
Murendo to halt
proceedings against them and instead refer the matter to the
Supreme Court,
the country's highest court of law, for a ruling on whether
the charges
against the journalist were in accordance with Constitution.
In the
application, Chagonda said the criminal charges against the
journalists and
their director were unconstitutional and amounted to an
impediment to the
practicing of journalism in Zimbabwe by seeking to
criminalise the
profession.
The Supreme Court should also make a finding on whether it
was
constitutional to sentence someone to 20 years imprisonment for having
merely expressed his or her views or published a story in the public
interest.
"The penalty of 20 years imprisonment is an impediment on
the journalism
profession. It works as a hindrance to journalists to express
their views or
write stories in the public interest," Chagonda
argued.
Chagonda also wants the Supreme Court to make a determination on
whether it
was proper for the Attorney General - who is complainant in the
case against
the journalists - to assume both roles of complainant and
prosecutor.
He said: "The other question the Supreme Court should deal
with is the
doctrine of separation of powers . . . the Attorney General
can't possibly
be impartial. You can't have any interest in a matter you are
prosecuting
and remain impartial. It will infringe the accused persons'
constitutional
rights to fair trial."
Bruce Tokwe representing the
state asked the magistrate's court to postpone
the case to July 9 to allow
him time to prepare a response to the points
raised by Chagonda - a request
granted by the court.
Charges against the Zimbabwe Independent
journalists and director arose on
May 8 after Chimakure claimed in a story
that notices for trial serviced on
some of the human rights and MDC
activists - who face charges of terrorism
and treason - showed that they
were being held by the police and state
secret agents during the period they
were reported missing last year.
Among state agents accused of holding
the activists were Central
Intelligence Organisation Director External,
retired brigadier Asher Walter
Tapfumaneyi, Police Superintendents Reggies
Chikwete and Joel Tendere,
Detective Inspectors Elliot Muchada and Joshua
Muzangano, CID Homicide
Officer Commanding Crispen Kadenge, Chief
Superintendent Peter Magwenzi and
Senior Assistant Commissioner, Simon
Nyathi. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimdiaspora.com/
Wednesday, 17 June 2009 02:27 Editor News
TWO
passengers died in a road accident involving three vehicles on Sunday
afternoon along the Gweru-Kwekwe highway, police confirmed
yesterday.
Mberengwa North House of Assembly Member Jabulani Mangena, who was
driving
one of the cars, sustained injuries.
Two other passengers were
injured and are still admitted to hospital.
MP Mangena was driving to Harare
when he was involved in the accident at the
241,5 km peg between Gweru and
Kwekwe at 2:20pm.
Midlands police spokesperson Inspector Patrick Chademana
said the three
parties involved in the accident were all travelling towards
Kwekwe from
Gweru when the accident occurred.
"There was a bus in front,
followed by a vehicle driven by a Chinese
national and at the rear was MP
Mangena's vehicle. On reaching the 241,5 km
peg, the Chinese national
started to overtake the bus but immediately saw an
oncoming vehicle and
decided to go back to his lane without checking the
position of the bus,
which resulted in a side swipe between the two.
"The Chinese national lost
control of his vehicle and hit the third vehicle
on the same lane, which was
being driven by MP Mangena. The legislator also
lost control of his vehicle,
veered off the road and rolled before landing
on its wheels," he
said.
Insp Chademana said all the seven passengers in MP Mangena's vehicle
escaped
with varying degrees of injuries and were rushed to hospital where
two died
upon admission.
MP Mangena was first treated in Kwekwe and was
later on the same day
transferred to West End Clinic in Harare where his
condition is not yet
known.
Police identified the deceased as Ephraim
Chitakunye (32) of number 5 Kelvin
North, Granitesite in Harare and the
other one only as a 23-year-old female
from Sogwala area in Lower Gweru. Her
next of kin are yet to be informed.
He said two passengers are still admitted
to Gweru Central Hospital and they
are Thomas Tagwirei whose condition is
said to be critical and Jairos Makara
of Mabvuku in Harare whose condition
is said to be stable.Chronicle
http://www.voanews.com
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
16 June
2009
Some residents of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, complain that the
city council
has billed them for water though they have been without it for
the past two
years.
Residents of the so-called high-density suburbs
of Mabvuku, Tafara and
Hatcliffe said they were shocked to receive bills
from the council ordering
them to pay more than US$10 per household for the
provision of water that
has not flowed from taps in many
months.
Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto said bills were sent to households
in areas
long without water because they were in the billing system and
there was no
way to exclude them.
Chiroto told VOA reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri that the council was reluctant to
ask households to pay for a
service that was not provided, but advised them
to make some payment while
the city continued to work to restore water
service across the entire
system.
Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman
for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
Landline: 263 4
336710
Landline/Fax: 263 4 339065
Mobile: 263 11 603
213
Email: galorand@mweb.co.zw
Website: www.zctf.mweb.co.zw
Website: www.zimbabwe-art.com
http://www.ipsnews.net/
By Servaas van den Bosch
WINDHOEK, Jun 16 (IPS) -
A regional tribunal in Namibia has referred a
controversial Zimbabwean land
case to the next Southern African Development
Community Summit of Heads of
State, rejecting a last-minute application for
postponement by Zimbabwe on
Jun. 5.
The farmers who brought the case to the tribunal are eager to
resume
production amidst continuing farm seizures.
In his ruling,
presiding justice Ariranga Pillay from Mauritius referred to
a Nov. 29
judgement in the case of Mike Campbell & Another vs. the
Government of
Zimbabwe, which ordered the government to allow 75 white
farmers to stay on
their land and compensate three others whose farms were
already
expropriated. A day earlier, the court reserved judgement in the
case of
Luke Tembani, a black Zimbabwean farmer whose farm was also taken.
That
November ruling condemned Zimbabwe's land reform programme as
discriminatory
and in breach of the SADC Treaty and held Harare in contempt
of
court.
The latest judgement cites the continued violations of the order
and
President Robert Mugabe's public statements that the tribunal's
decisions
were "nonsense" and of "no consequence".
Since December
2008, 155 farmers have been in the dock Zimbabwe for 'illegal
occupation' of
their property.
In what will be a test for the regional organisation, the
judges referred
the case to the SADC Summit to be held in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
in August.
In March, SADC suspended Madagascar from
its ranks in reaction to a coup d'etat
by Antananarivo mayor, Andry
Rajoelina, but on the topic of Zimbabwe,
Southern African leaders have
remained mum.
"The judges are getting fed up and it is an embarrassment
for Zimbabwe, but
it is not sure whether SADC will act", says Chris Jarrett,
one of the
expropriated farmers and vice-president of the Southern African
Commercial
Farmers Alliance (SACFA). "SADC might refer this to a ministerial
study
group, never to be heard of again."
Meanwhile production in the
region's former breadbasket has halved, while
living standards have dropped
80 percent over the past decade according to
the Zimbabwe Papers, an
assessment of the current situation in the country
by nine African think
tanks. Unemployment stands at almost 90 percent. More
than half of the
population is dependent on food aid.
Commercial farmers, who put their
stock in Morgan Tsvangvirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), now
complain that the four-month old unity
government has not brought any
improvement in the embattled agricultural
sector.
They told the court
of beatings, arson, intimidation and shootings of farm
workers in recent
months, as well as theft of equipment, forging of
expropriation papers and
illegal imprisonment.
"MDC is terrified to stick its neck out and back
the tribunal," says
Jarrett.
Farm invasions have continued and the
farmers accuse Tsvangvirai of
downplaying the issue in order not to scare
off foreign donors. Zimbabwe's
prime-minister on Jun. 7 embarked on a world
tour to garner support from
Western governments.
"The same government
that destroys the production goes begging for support
we don't really need,"
says Deon Theron, vice-president of the Zimbabwe's
Commercial Farmer's Union
(CFU). "Put us back on the farms and we will start
producing
again."
"We have to get back to good old economics, take something out of
the ground
and add value to it," agrees Jarrett.
But the farmers
admit this is unlikely. "Ministers will come to your farm
and agree it's
scandalous, but nothing will be done," argues Ben Freeth of
Mount Carmel
Farm in Chegutu constituency.
According to Theron, the government's
'100-day plan' to turn the
agricultural sector around is
'unrealistic'.
"A harvest of 1.6 million tonnes of maize is prescribed,
but we will be
lucky if we get 400.000 tonnes. The predicted 100,000 tonnes
of wheat should
be closer to 20,000 tonnes and instead of 150 million kilos
of dairy
products, we won't produce more than 45 million kilos. The dairy
herd has
shrunk from 90,000 head to a third of that.
"We will not be
able to feed ourselves and our own government prevents us
from producing
food. If SADC does not act now people will die of hunger and
of disease and
the region will have blood on its hands".
Of the 4,500 white farmers in
Zimbabwe, some 400 are left in the country.
"Farmers usually seek refuge on
a relative's land," says Peter Etheredge of
Stockdale farm in Chegutu.
"Perhaps 10 percent of the land is actively
used."
Etheredge lost his
farm to Edna Madzongwe - chief of the Zimbabwean Senate
and a heavyweight in
Zanu-PF - in May. "As a consequence we have not been
able to harvest. Six
thousand tonnes of fruit, valued at four million
dollars, are lost. She
moved in just before the harvest, to reap what we
sowed."
Norman
Tjombe from the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek helps Zimbabwean
farmers
to bring their case before the Tribunal. "Land reform needs to
happen, but
it's not just about a legal framework. In Zimbabwe, as well as
in Namibia
and South Africa, race is the determining factor and that leads
to an
extremely dangerous situation. We need to get back to the drawing
board.
"Between 1980 and 200 only the Zimbabwean elite benefited from
land reform.
This led to a popular uprising. Exactly the same patterns are
emerging in
Namibia and South Africa where spontaneous invasions are
starting to occur."
But Tjombe is sceptical that the court ruling will be
upheld. "This is about
Mugabe's political survival, if 78 farmers are
allowed to stay or get
restitution, what about the 4,000 that have
left?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com
By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, June 17,
2009
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is attempting something
rare and
difficult -- sharing power with the man who tried to murder
him.
Every Monday morning, Tsvangirai conducts public business across the
table
from Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, founder and oppressor.
During a
recent interview in Washington, Tsvangirai told me that the
85-year-old
Mugabe "is someone who can be charming when he wants. I am on
guard when he
becomes charming. It is when I'm most suspicious of his
intentions."
Mugabe has a long history of co-opting his political opponents
-- or killing
them. "He has not co-opted me," says Tsvangirai. The killing
part is not for
want of trying. In 1997, regime thugs attempted to throw
Tsvangirai out of a
10th-story window. In 2002, he was charged with treason
and threatened with
a death sentence. In 2007, he was beaten bloody during a
protest. And the
presidential election that Tsvangirai won last year was
clearly stolen by
Mugabe.
Yet Tsvangirai is now part of an unlikely
power-sharing agreement with
Mugabe, becoming prime minister in a unity
government. It is, he admits, a
"calculated risk."
Tsvangirai
describes two calculations. First, he was concerned that
Zimbabweans were
too weary to take to the streets to contest a stolen
election. "You don't
want people to reach struggle fatigue. People wanted to
try this
cohabitation, to ease their economic plight."
Second, Tsvangirai is
making the extraordinary calculation that "Mugabe is
part of the solution."
While most of the rest of the world insists that
Mugabe must go, Tsvangirai
believes his presence is necessary "to create
stability and peace during the
transition." The alternative, he fears, could
be a destructive
militarization of the conflict. And he hopes that the aging
Mugabe is
considering his legacy -- choosing to finish his career as the
founder of
his country, not as the villain of his country.
Given Mugabe's history,
this smacks of naiveté. But Tsvangirai believes he
has a realistic political
approach. "You don't expect people who were
violent yesterday to wake up one
morning and become peaceful." So his
strategy is to "build institutions in
the course of time" -- particularly
through the process of writing a new
constitution, leading to new elections.
Tsvangirai talks again and again of
"institutions" and "mechanisms" and
"political architecture" as the methods
to make democracy irreversible. His
intention is to fight arbitrary and
personal rule with the weapons of
process -- a Madisonian response to a
Neronian dictator.
Four months into the unity government, the results are
mixed. The prime
minister deserves credit for beginning to stabilize the
economy,
particularly controlling Zimbabwe's legendary inflation. In August
2008,
Zimbabwe's central bank revalued its currency by removing 10 zeroes
from its
currency; five months later, it removed 12 more. Now the country
has
essentially scrapped its currency and moved to an economy based on the
American dollar and the South African rand. While 70 percent of the
population still depends on food aid, goods are back in the
stores.
But Mugabe's ruling party remains in charge of the secret police
and key
ministries. It continues to harass opponents and confiscate
farmland.
Tsvangirai optimistically calls these elements a "dwindling
remnant" -- but
it's hard to imagine that they will dwindle without a fight.
And Mugabe has
asserted his dominance with the appointment of political
cronies in blatant
violation of the power-sharing agreement -- so far with
little consequence.
It was this point that Tsvangirai emphasized during
his recent U.S. visit,
calling on Mugabe's brutal attorney general and
corrupt reserve bank
governor to step down -- and the world to insist upon
these outcomes. This
represents a test for South Africa's new president,
Jacob Zuma: Will he
abandon the "quiet diplomacy" of his predecessor, which
often amounted to
permission for Mugabe's abuses, and insist that the
power-sharing agreement
be enforced? It is a test for President Obama: Will
he pressure Zuma to do
the right thing? And it is a test for the
power-sharing agreement itself. A
stalemate on these appointments,
Tsvangirai admits, would "undermine the
credibility of the new
dispensation."
Tsvangirai's strategy -- using a power-sharing arrangement
with a tyrant to
gradually end a tyrant's power -- has little precedent of
success. If
Tsvangirai fails, he will be just another victim of Mugabe's
charming
ruthlessness. But if the prime minister succeeds, he will be an
exceptional
statesman who set aside his own claims of justice for the peace
and progress
of his country. And he would become Zimbabwe's true
founder.
michaelgerson@cfr.org