Raradza then goes
into giving examples of the violence that was taking place in Harare at the
time.
“These days if you read the newspapers they say ‘Harare is on
fire’. It’s true other houses are on fire. If a person is rebellious, there is
no other way to deal with him. The ZANU PF MP then used the analogy of Jesus
walking into the temple when it was being defiled by the money changers. “Jesus
beat people in the temple, so we are not the first ones to beat (people),” he
said.
The footage also shows ZANU PF youths in Mudzi, who are first shown
marching to a meeting at the Raja Base, sometime in April this year. ZANU PF
district coordinating committee member Newman Nyakuba addresses the meeting
after having conducted the customary “forward with Mugabe, forward with going to
elections and down with the MDC” slogans, to which the crowd, forced to attend,
respond with “forward.”
In the film Nyakuba pushes the ZANU PF agenda for
early elections this year, telling the villagers they have to register to vote
because it is a ‘crime’ if they do not do so. He looks menacingly to the crowd
and asks them what will happen if they are not on the voters roll. The crowd
says ‘beaten.’ Nyakuba reminds them “the guys (ZANU PF youth militias and war
vets) are not afraid to beat people. They can even beat a million people until
they are finished,” he warns them.
“That is what we do. We want you to
protect your country. You will protect it through voting, as President Mugabe
has signed that we are going to vote. After that we make sure that we control
the rural areas, so that the enemy eats (wins) in towns. The youths present here
have seen that being sell outs is wrong. They realised that being sell outs does
not work and returned to the party (ZANU PF).”
Both videos clearly show
that ZANU PF will do anything to retain power and far from the media spotlight
in the rural areas, they are waging a physical and psychological war against
impoverished villagers who just want a better life. Even where no actual
violence is used, they are reminded by senior ZANU PF figures of what the war
vets and youth militia can do to them if they do not support ZANU
PF.
Every Tuesday SW Radio Africa investigates unsolved and deliberately
ignored cases of political violence, torture, murder and other forms of abuse,
by people in positions of authority. The series is receiving tremendous public
support and information and the coming weeks are set for some explosive
exposures.
http://www.radiovop.com
6 hours 39 minutes ago
Harare, June 21
2011- The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN), has
registered concern
of setting up of militia bases in Mashonaland central
province by Zanu (PF)
saying the bases reminds people of the 'torture' and
beatings of the violent
2008 presidential run-off.
ZESN in a statement released Friday said, “
the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) must continue to work with
the main political parties in
the unity government to ensure that there is
an independent electoral
management body, a new voters roll is updated, and
that there is "zero
tolerance on politically motivated violence - before,
during and after
elections, upholding of freedoms of association, assembly,
expression,
political choice/activity, movement, speech, media and repeal of
all
repressive laws."
The electoral non governmental organisation
said local, regional and
international observers must be invited early in
the country before any
election is held in the country for them to monitor
the electoral processes.
"Of major concern to the Network is the
observation by its members in
Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West, of
the fact that campaign bases
have been resuscitated. These “bases” in the
run up to the June 2008
Presidential Run-off Election were used in the
commission of torture and
gross violation of individual rights," ZESN said
in a statement after its
annual general meeting.
"Observers reported
“bases” that have been set up in Mudzi Kotwa, Muzarabani
South at
Chiwashira, Mazowe at Fox Farm, Mazowe at Negomo, Mazowe at Nzvimbo
Council
Hall, Rushinga at Kasanga Primary School and Chakari Hall. We
strongly
reiterate our call on the demolition of these structures of
violence which
continue to perpetuate an atmosphere of fear in communities”,
added
ZESN.
"As talk of elections continues to confound many Zimbabweans, ZESN
calls
upon political parties in the Global Political Agreement to seriously
address fundamental reforms that will give legitimacy and credibility to any
future elections in the country," ZESN said.
The three main political
parties Zanu PF and the two MDC formations are
still busy negotiating the
roadmap to fresh elections in the country which
is expected to be tabled and
approved before the full Sadc annual summit in
August.
The Movement
for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai is calling for
serious
security sector reforms before any election, Zanu PF is opposed to
the
security sector reforms. The MDC accuses the security institutions of
abusing their roles by using the army and the police to victimise their
supporters and officials. The police have been preventing the MDC from
holding critical rallies in Harare.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/06/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
THE death toll from the June 11 petrol tanker explosion in a
Harare suburb
has climbed to 11, up from the three confirmed dead at the
scene, police
said.
Eight more people have died in hospital after
suffering severe burns in the
incident on Boshoff Road,
Sunningdale.
Harare Provincial police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau
named the
updated list of the dead as Canaan Makunyadze, 23, Lawrence Goro,
Tera
Magojo, 37, Collen Makute, 29, Takesure Masaga, 24, Stanford Motsi, 38,
Loveness Kunaka, 32, Collen Mateveri, 29, Zvenyika Chibwe, 29, and Tinos
Chibhamu, 17, all from Sunningdale 2.
The petrol tanker, carrying
35,000 litres of petrol, overturned when its
driver, Hamphrey Muza, tried to
avoid a collision with another car, and
dozens of local residents rushed to
the scene with containers to collect
free fuel.
Police, who have been
accused by the victims’ families of a delayed
response, say the driver’s
danger warnings to the residents were ignored.
A huge explosion was heard
about 40 minutes after the accident, catching out
both the fuel collectors,
passersby and curious onlookers. So powerful was
the blast that a salon car
and commuter bus parked 20 metres away were
gutted by fire. A Toyota 4x4
truck was flung into the air and written-off.
Sixteen people were
hospitalised, half of them with burns of more than 75
percent, authorities
said.
Noble Makunyadze, who lost his son, Canaan, has called for an
inquiry into
the delayed police response which he blames for his son’s
death.
"This disaster could have been prevented if the police who are
only less
than a kilometre away from the accident site had attended
quickly,” said
Makunyadze, who claimed the first police officers on the
scene arrived after
30 minutes and struggled to clear the more than 30 fuel
collectors.
Police, meanwhile, said they considered the residents’
actions as “theft”,
intimating that no deaths would have occurred if people
had not tried to
help themselves to fuel they did not own.
“This can
be equated to stealing because there was no permission to take the
fuel. It
is illegal and dangerous to loot things at accident spots as you
might end
up looting hazardous substances,” said national traffic police
spokesman
Inspector Tigere Chigome.
Fuel tanker explosions, which are rare in
Zimbabwe, have occurred elsewhere
in Africa with devastating consequences.
In a February 2009 explosion in
Kenya, 111 people who were siphoning fuel
from an overturned tanker were
killed. In March 2010, 230 people were killed
in a fuel tanker blast in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
21
June 2011
It has emerged that 19 out of the 20 MDC-T activists accused of
murdering a
police inspector in Glen View, Harare last month were nowhere
near the scene
of the crime, their lawyer said on Tuesday.
Defence
lawyer Charles Kwaramba told SW Radio Africa he was hopeful his
clients will
be granted bail sometime this week. High court Judge Tendai
Uchena reserved
judgement on their bail application last week Thursday
saying he needed more
time to go through the defence and state arguments.
Kwaramba said Judge
Uchena will notify them when he is ready to deliver his
ruling on the bail
application. He said all they could do now is wait and
hope for the
best.
“Only one of my clients, a worker who operates a pool table in one
of the
bars near the scene, was in the vicinity when the fracas broke out.
But he
like many others at the shopping centre fled the area and did not
witness
the police inspector being beaten up,” Kwaramba said.
The
state alleges that Inspector Petros Mutedza was brutally stoned to death
last month after trying to break up an illegal gathering of MDC-T
supporters. The MDC-T has furiously denied the allegations.
Obert
Gutu, the MDC-T’s Harare Province Secretary for Information and
Publicity,
recently dismissed the allegations saying there was no MDC-T
meeting held in
Glen View on that day.
Legal experts who have read the state outline have
told SW Radio Africa
there was nothing that linked the accused to the
offence. Kwaramba has even
challenged the state to particularise and state
the role played by each
suspect in the offence to prove ‘reasonable
suspicion’ and the strength of
the state’s case.
So far, the state
has failed to present any tangible evidence that links the
20 MDC members to
the murder, amid reports all the accused have strong
alibis.
A good
example is the case of Last Maengahama who was arrested together with
his
three brothers, Stanley, Edison and Lazarus. The MDC National Executive
Committee member was at a church service during the skirmishes. There is
also video footage filmed by one of the priests showing Maengahama among the
parishioners.
Others being held in custody are councilor Tungamirai
Madzokere and Yvonne
Musarurwa. Immediately after their arrests the
activists were severely
assaulted by the police, denied access to food,
family members and legal
representation.
Most of them were picked up
from their homes and workplaces and the MDC was
quick to point out that
before any investigations had been done the police
rushed to the national
press to blame the party.
They group will remain behind bars this week
until the Judge makes a ruling
on their bail.
http://www.radiovop.com
3 hours 41 minutes ago
HARARE –
June 20, 2011 - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) is
struggling to
meet the demands of the families of more than 23 activists
arrested last
month following the death of a police inspector in Glen View
last
month.
The MDC-T Harare Provincial Spokesperson Senator Obert Gutu
said the
majority of the people who were arrested were self employed and
their
continued incarceration has resulted in “collateral suffering” for
their
dependants.
An official with the party’s social welfare department
has revealed that
more than 50 families have been visiting the Harvest House
on a daily basis
requesting for assistance.
“After the crack down on
MDC activists in Glen View, the numbers of people
in need of assistance has
been ballooning every day. The dependants of the
activists are now destitute
and some are now staying
in safe houses. Their demands vary from basic food
requirements, to money
for rentals and other utility bills,” said an
official at the party’s head
office.
The officials said other known
MDC activists from Glen View have since gone
into hiding as the police have
been targeting all known supporters of MDC
led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
“The families of our activists in prison are flocking the
office demanding
that we give them assistance. Every day we have more than
fifty families
including those of people who are in hiding,” said
the
official.
Gutu, who is also the deputy minister of Justice, said
the number of people
in need of assistance has been increasing since the
beginning of the year
with scores of their supporters having been
displaced.
High Court judge Justice Tendai Uchena last Friday reserved
judgment in the
bail application by the 20 MDC-T activists who were last
month remanded in
custody by a Harare magistrate, charged with the murder of
Police Inspector
Petros Matedza in Glen View.
(AFP) – 3 hours
ago
HARARE — Teachers at Zimbabwe's state-run schools will begin a strike
on
Wednesday to demand a 150 percent salary increase and an end to political
attacks against them, union officials said.
"We will be starting our
strike tomorrow to press for salary review, and for
the security of members
who are victims of political violence, especially in
the rural areas,"
Takavafira Zhou, president of the Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe,
told AFP on Tuesday.
"So far most members have confirmed that they will
be on strike starting
tomorrow."
Teachers earn $200 (140 euros) a
month, but they are demanding a raise to
$500.
The teachers also want
a review of their housing and transport allowance and
the removal of "ghost
workers" on the government payroll.
Zimbabwe has 105,000 teachers on the
payroll, but Zhou said his union
estimates only 77,000 are actually
working.
Inflated payroll numbers are a problem throughout the civil
service, with
Finance Minister Tendai Biti estimating that about one-third
of government's
230,000 employees don't actually exist.
He insists
that the cash-strapped government cannot afford salary increases.
Biti is
an ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a one-time union leader
who
joined President Robert Mugabe in a rocky unity government two years
ago.
Mugabe accuses Biti of deliberately sabotaging the government by
refusing
the increases.
The country's civil servants, particularly
teachers, nurses and doctors,
have been striking on and off over better
salaries since 2008.
Teachers, especially in rural areas, have born the
brunt of political
attacks by pro-Mugabe militants who accuse them of
supporting Tsvangirai.
Teachers are often used to staff rural polling
stations, and Mugabe
supporters blamed them for his party's poor showing in
2008, when his
ZANU-PF lost control of parliament and he was forced into an
inconclusive
run-off with Tsvangirai.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
by Irene Madongo
21
June 2011
The government’s refusal to give striking teachers a pay rise
cannot be
blamed solely on the Finance Minister Tendai Biti, as alleged in
the
state-owned media, but on the coalition government as a whole, a
teachers’
union has said.
Teachers across the country embarked on a
national strike on Tuesday,
following their threats to take action if the
government fails to give them
pay rises they desperately need. Civil
servants were hoping to get the pay
rise on Tuesday, but this did not
happen.
Raymond Majonwge, the secretary general of the Progressive
Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) told SW Radio Africa that the teachers
should get at least
US$500, which is in line with the national minimum
living wage. Many
government workers earn a minimum of US$200. The PTUZ said
it expects 50,000
of its members in both urban and rural areas to
participate in the strike.
Teachers and civil servant have gone on strike
before and have always
complained about their plight. The issue heated up
more recently after
reports that Robert Mugabe assured civil servants that
they would get a pay
rise. The state media then reported that Finance
Minister Tendai Biti was
blocking this, by deliberately refusing to release
the funds for wage
increases.
Biti has furiously denied these
allegations, and has explained that there is
no money to meet the demands.
He said government revenue collections have
been going down and that his
Ministry had not received anything from the
much-anticipated diamond
proceeds since the beginning of the year. He also
reportedly said the
government first needs to carry out an audit of the
75,000 ghost workers on
the civil servants bill.
However, ZANU PF officials through the state
media have dismissed these
explanations, and this has stirred up some unions
to direct their wrath at
Biti.
On Tuesday the PTUZ said it refused to
blame Biti or any individual for
their plight. It said the blame was
squarely on the coalition government.
Majongwe said: “We are not
directing our anger at one individual because I
think we would be stupid if
we had to make noise and say ‘that individual’.
It is not even Biti because
Biti doesn’t have the capacity to deny us an
increment. Neither are we going
to strike against Mugabe. We are looking at
the collective, the government
of national union (GNU). They are supposed to
show the responsibility
together.”
He added: “The moment we are going to single one single
person, then I think
we are failing to appreciate the real political
fabric.”
“The issue of ghost workers is not an issue that was discovered
last week.
It’s an issue that he raised back in 2008 and the government has
failed to
deal with it. One on hand ZANU PF’s protecting its people, on the
other hand
the MDC [are] demanding that the audit results be tabulated and
published.
That is not our problem,” Majongwe stated.
(AFP) – 11 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwe has vowed to defy moves to monitor diamond sales
from its
disputed Marange fields, at the opening of a meeting of the global
"blood
diamond" watchdog, state media reported Tuesday.
Mines
minister Obert Mpofu said the southern African nation must be allowed
to
export gems without any monitoring, insisting Zimbabwe has met the
minimum
requirements of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS),
which
seeks to prevent diamond sales from financing conflicts.
"Zimbabwe met
the KPCS minimum requirements and this was confirmed by the
last plenary" of
the Kimberley Process, Mpofu said on the sidelines of the
meeting which
opened Monday in Kinshasa, according to the state-run Herald
newspaper.
"Tell me of any country in Africa that has invested as we
have done in the
Marange area," he said. "Any other outstanding issues must
be regarded as
work in progress, but must not stop our full diamond export
right."
Mpofu said Zimbabwe has for two years invested "in attempting to
rectify all
KPCS issues in Marange area without any external financial
assistance,"
adding that "Zimbabwe is not being treated fairly."
The
Marange fields, touted as Africa's richest diamond find of the decade,
have
been at the centre of a years-long controversy over abuses by
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's military.
Monitors say the military seized
control of the fields in late 2008,
violently evicting tens of thousands of
small miners and then beating and
raping civilians to force them to mine the
gems.
Human rights groups say about 200 people were killed, and Kimberley
Process
investigators later documented "unacceptable and horrific violence
against
civilians by authorities", prompting a ban on exports of the
gems.
Canada's ambassador to Harare, Barbara Richardson said she believed
the
talks in Kinshasa this week could lead to a solution for the Marange
diamonds.
"We want consumers to want to buy diamonds from every
country, but in order
to have diamonds certified by Kimberly Process there
are minimum obligations
that must be met," she said on Zimbabwe's state
television.
"I think in Kinshasa there will be discussions and I think
they will be
positive discussions and that there will be a resolution
possible that will
allow for Zimbabwe to continue to be certified just like
Canada is
certified."
Canada and other Western nations have joined
rights groups in pressing for
Kimberley to apply the same rules to human
rights violations as it has in
the past for armed conflicts like the civil
wars in Sierra Leone and
Liberia.
But the suspension of sales from
Marange has done little to stem the flow of
smuggled diamonds across the
nearby border with Mozambique and then to
overseas markets.
Some
African governments have also balked at applying the same standard to
the
government of Zimbabwe as to rebel movements like those in Sierra Leone,
whose brutal tactics prompted global concern over the sale of "blood
diamonds".
In March, the Democratic Republic of Congo -- which has
close ties to Mugabe
and is the current chairman of the Kimberley Process --
made a unilateral
decision to allow Zimbabwe to sell diamonds from
Marange.
The decision sparked an outcry among other members of the
Kimberley Process,
which is supposed to reach decisions by consensus at its
regular meetings.
The decision was put on on hold and no sales have taken
place.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
21
June 2011
The Zimbabwe Blood Diamonds Campaign has called for the
country’s continued
suspension from international trade, warning that
diamonds mined at the
Chiadzwa alluvial fields could ‘contaminate’ the
industry.
Zimbabwe’s trade future is top of the agenda of this week’s
long anticipated
meeting of the diamond industry watchdog, the Kimberley
Process (KP), which
got underway in the DRC on Monday. The four day meeting
will see KP members
discussing different issues affecting the global
industry, and it is hoped
that there will be some kind of clarification of
Zimbabwe’s trade status.
Zimbabwe’s future in the international diamond
industry remains unclear,
after the new KP Chairman Mathieu Yamba earlier
this year unilaterally gave
the country the green light to resume exporting
its diamonds. This was
despite a lack of consensus from the rest of the KP,
with some members still
concerned that Zimbabwe is not meeting the minimum
standards of
international trade. These concerns have been echoed by civil
society groups
and human rights organisations, who have all warned that
smuggling and human
rights abuses are continuing at Chiadzwa.
Despite
these concerns, pressure continued building on the KP to allow
Zimbabwe to
resume exporting. Top KP members, including South Africa, have
all thrown
their weight behind Zimbabwe, declaring their support for the Zim
industry.
China and India have also pledged their support.
Gabriel Shumba from the
Zimbabwe Blood Diamonds Campaign told SW Radio
Africa on Tuesday that the
support shown by some African countries was the
result of “misguided
solidarity” to Robert Mugabe. Shumba said that the
situation in the Chiadzwa
diamond fields has not improved, and the KP should
impose a continued
suspension on Zimbabwe.
“It is important to stress that the demand for
accountability is a demand
that seeks to benefit the people of Zimbabwe, and
is not a demand inspired
by any hangover of colonial attitudes, like the
Mines Ministry has said,”
Shumba said.
He added: “In the event that
the KP allows Zimbabwe to resume exports, then
it is critical that civil
society organisations and trading blocs and groups
take the necessary action
to ensure that Zimbabwe diamonds don’t contaminate
the
industry.”
Meanwhile, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said this week that
Zimbabwe must be
allowed to export its diamonds without any monitoring;
again insisting the
country has met the minimum requirements of the
KP.
“Tell me of any country in Africa that has invested as we have done
in the
(Chiadzwa) area,” Mpofu told the state media. “Any other outstanding
issues
must be regarded as work in progress, but must not stop our full
diamond
export right.” He added that Zimbabwe “is not being treated
fairly.”
http://www.voanews.com
20 June
2011
Kimberley Process Chairman Mathieu Yamba of the Democratic
Republic of Congo
declared Marange diamonds could be sold into the world
market, but his
statement was not backed up by a Kimberley
consensus
Sandra Nyaira & Sithandekile Mhlanga |
Washington
Zimbabwe is center stage at a four-day Kimberley
Process meeting that opened
Monday in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, with opposing camps
already haggling behind the scenes over whether
Zimbabwe should be allowed
to sell diamonds from the highly controversial
Marange diamond field into
international markets.
Kimberley Process
members this week are discussing issues affecting the
diamond trade globally
– but Zimbabwe once again is topping the agenda as KP
members have not been
able to achieve a consensus on the proper handling of
Marange
stones.
Key members such as India and African diamond-producing countries
led by
South Africa are pushing for the removal of a global ban on rough
stones
from Marange.
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme Chairman
Mathieu Yamba of the
Democratic Republic of Congo early this year declared
Marange diamonds could
be sold into the world market, but his statement was
not backed up by a
Kimberley consensus.
African members have lined up
behind Harare, but human rights groups say
Marange stones should be
blacklisted as "blood diamonds," arguing that they
have been tainted by
human rights violations. But many observers expect that
the tenuous barriers
to the untrammeled export sale of Marange diamonds will
gradually be
lowered.
Research Director Alan Martin of Africa Partnership Canada told
VOA Studio 7
reporter Sandra Nyaira that Zimbabwe is not yet up for
discussion Monday,
but that informal talks on the topic were under way.
Martin said neither
Zimbabwe nor the African Diamond Producers Association
have tabled a formal
proposal yet because Harare has refused to endorse a
text worked up in Dubai
that allowed sales with reduced
oversight.
Zimbabwean Deputy Mines Minister Gift Chimanikire said Harare
expects the
Kinshasha meeting to be the last to discuss Zimbabwe’s
compliance issues
because he expects that the session will give a green
light to the
unrestricted sale of Marange diamonds.
Political analyst
Effie Dlela-Ncube told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sithandekile
Mhlanga that the
Kimberley Process may achieve a consensus to lift the
embargo on diamonds
from Marange depending on how much the progress the
country has made in
observing human rights in the zone, and in making sure
revenues benefit all
Zimbabweans.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
...Ask ZRP
bosses to immediately resign
21.06.1103:12pm
THE very vocal Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) organisation has sent a
petition to the Parliament
of Zimbabwe demanding that the Zimbabwe Republic
Polive (ZRP) immediately
leave their Bulawayo offices and that top bosses
resign
immediately.
More than 100 women ran around the streets of the capital
city, Harare,
carrying white A4 size papers denouncing the ZRP and
Parliament.
The women alleged that the institutions are very corrupt and
have run
Zimbabwe down.
They said these days the ZRP, currently led
by Police Commissioner General,
Augustine Chihuri, looked at a "petition to
Parliament as opposing the State
when it is a citizen's right to send a
petition to Parliament".
Led by Yenni Williams, WOZA said they had sent
an application to the High
Court of Zimbabwe for the Judge to order the ZRP
to "pack and go from our
Bulawayo house".
"We are seeking an order
compelling Police Commissioner General Augustine
Chihuri, Chief
Superintendant P R Moyo, the Officer Commanding CID Law and
Order Section at
Bulawayo Central Police Station and the Officer-in-Charge
CID Law and Order
Section at Bulawayo Central Police Station to remove all
police officers
from the house and yard outside with immediate effect and to
bar the police
from removing anything whatsoever from the house," WOZA said.
"We want
the High Court to restore back to the organisation full and
activity must
stop.
"Since the beginning of the year, 38 WOZA members have been
virtually
arrested and 24 detained and charged under the Criminal Law
Codification and
Reform Act. Threats were made that upon the eventual arrest
of leaders
Williams (Yenni) and Mahlangu, they would be denied bail and
imprisoned in
the male prison."
The organisation called upon SADC to
immediately "enforce implementation of
the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
and protect Zimbabweans from this
"violent State and bring the perpetrators
to book".
The three GPA Principles are, President Robert Mugabe of the
former ruling
party Zanu PF, Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is
President of the
MDC-T, and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara from the
splinter MDC now
led by Professor Welshman Ncube.
Professor Ncube is
the Minister of Industry and commerce in the current
Government of National
Unity (GNU) which was formed after the GPA was signed
by the three
principles in Harare.
"WOZA call on the Joint Monitoring Implementation
Committee (JOMIC) to
investigate this illegal raid and force the police to
leave our premises
forthwith," the organisation said.
"WOZA call on
Police Commissioner General, Chihuri to order his officers to
cease
occupation of our premises immediately and return intact any
possessions
taken in Bulawayo. The ZRP must also publicly apologise to
WOZA."
On
June 11, 2011, the ZRP raided the WOZA head office in Bulawayo.
They
broke the gate and forced their way and allegedly assaulted a
lodger.
WOZA said the ZRP mambers are still occupying the house in
Bulawayo.
"Their weak excuse is that they were looking for documents that
oppose the
government but we suspect that they have 'planted' evidence over
these days
they have been in control," WOZA said about the Bulawayo
incident.
The vocal organisation called upon Zimbabweans "to mobilise
themselves to
non-violently demand respect for the people's will before it
is too late".
"Your mothers need your help," the vocal WOZA said.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Jun 21, 2011, 14:44
GMT
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe on Tuesday barred hundreds of
demonstrators from
marching into parliament to express their concern over
the slow pace of
democratic reforms and the poor state of the
economy.
Police said demonstrators had not applied for a permit to stage
the protest,
which was attended mostly by women and youths.
'We will
come back to parliament. No more abuse of power is all we are
demanding,'
said Jenni Williams of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), a
pro-democracy
militant group.
Police did not say if any arrests were made and no
casualties were reported.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Court Writer
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
17:52
HARARE - An AIR force commander charged with multiple fraud
crimes should
remain in remand prison because he could use his position to
meddle with the
case if freed on bail, a prosecutor told the Harare
Magistrates’ Courts
yesterday.
Kennedy Remigio Takaedza Zimondi,
an Air Commodore in the Air Force of
Zimbabwe, appeared in court facing
multiple fraud charges and an alleged
illegal dealing in diamonds.
He
will remain behind bars until tomorrow when magistrate Shane Kubonera
rules
on his bail application.
Prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema said there was
reasonable fear that Zimondi would
interfere with junior officers at his
workplace because of his top position.
He said the officer had contacts
abroad which could tempt him to flee given
the serious nature of the
charges.
Zimondi, 56, is ranked third in the air force and has been in
the service
for 32 years.
On the first charge, Zimondi, working with
two youthful Harare men,
allegedly swindled a Harare woman, Muboko Zvitei,
after lying that they
could broker a R235 000 deal on her
behalf.
The trio allegedly told Zvitei they had found a company called
Mutoko Gold
Mine which required 50 Electro Plated discs in
March.
Zvitei is the managing director of Jamerzvic Investments, a
company which is
in the business of commodity broking.
She later
discovered that the mine in question did not exist and the
products were of
no value after releasing the money to the trio.
On the second charge,
Zimondi, this time working with a Harare woman
allegedly lied to one Jimmy
Makurumbandi that they could include him on a
government trip they were
organising to Geneva if he paid $5 000.
Zimondi told Makurumbandi that
as a top soldier under the travel sanctions
by the West, he could not
travel.
Makurumbandi later learnt he had been duped.
On the third
charge, Zimondi is also alleged to have connived with Edith
Chinyangare and
misrepresented to potential buyers that they could source
diamonds for them
from Marange Resources, yet they were not licensed agents.
Marange
Resources, a government firm, is one of the companies involved in
shadowy
operations in diamond-rich Chiadzwa.
He was however, nabbed by an alert
policeman before he could transact the
deal.
Chinyangare appeared in
court last Friday facing the same charges and was
granted $200 bail.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
by Irene Madongo
21 June
2011
Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has been forced to eat
humble pie
after his ‘absurd’ proposals to radicalise indigenisation laws
were flung
out of parliament, a legislator has explained. The ZANU PF
minister has now
accepted that they went overboard and will have to come up
with a new plan,
it has been revealed.
Among his plans, Kasukuwere
wanted all individuals who don’t inform his
department that they are
majority shareholders of companies to be jailed for
five years or be fined
US$1000, or both. He also proposed that when a
businessperson declares the
investment they made, and his ministry evaluates
and finds that they
undervalued their assets by 10%, then they should also
be imprisoned for
five years. It has also been revealed that he wanted the
laws to be applied
in a discriminatory manner, for example, companies which
are in a
partnership should be sent to jail, but sole traders should not
be.
However, his proposals were rejected by the Parliament Legal
Committee (PLC)
on the grounds that they were discriminatory and against the
laws of the
country.
On Tuesday, Chairman of the PLC and Mazowe
Central MP, Shepherd Mushonga,
said: “This is unnecessary heavy-handedness
on the part of the Minister in
the following respects – that the law is
trying to create offences which are
really absurd and the sentences are
really abnormal; and we parliament
representatives feel that that is not the
objective of the law – threatening
people, to create criminals out of
non-criminals.”
Mushonga told SW Radio Africa that Kasukuwere has
accepted that his plans
were overboard and have been sent back to the
drawing board.
“He has written to us a letter wherein he accepted that he
has gone
overboard and that he was going to remove all the items we have put
on our
adverse reports,” Mushonga explained.
Mushonga blamed
Kasukewere’s overzealousness on a drive by ZANU PF to come
up with what it
perceives to be ‘populist policies’. He added the pursuit of
such policies
was akin to the devastating land invasions of the last decade.
“I think
it’s more about (election) campaigns. You have talk of an election
in this
country and people tend to go overboard,” Mushonga explained.
ZANU PF has
spear-headed the country’s controversial indigenisation law
amidst much
criticism. The law forces foreign-owned companies to cede more
than half of
their shareholding to locals, which analysts say is putting off
much needed
foreign investment to rescue Zimbabwe’s struggling economy.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Reagan Mashavave, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
12:29
HARARE - In a case that could embarrass President Robert Mugabe
further, his
wife Grace may be forced to testify in the matter in which four
South
Africans are facing charges of defrauding her of a whopping US$1
million.
This follows rigorous questioning by defence lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa of the
merits of continuing with the case without the participation
of the two most
key players in the matter – the First Lady and the shadowy
South
African-based businessman Ping Sung Hsieh – amid allegations that the
four
suspects are effectively being held at ransom as Hsieh is the chief
suspect.
Hsieh, of Chinese descent but now a South African citizen, has
already
confirmed that he had long-standing business relations with the
president’s
wife.
The trial of the four South Africans – Henry
Radebe, 57, Cassimjee Bilal,
28, Samuel Grace may be forced to testify in
court Risimati Baloyi and
Sydney Masilo, 40, failed to resume for the second
time at the Harare
magistrates courts because Hsieh is yet to be extradited
from South Africa,
the court heard yesterday.
Mtetwa said: “This
court ought not to be used to try to settle disputes
between two people who
are not here”.
When probed by the Daily News if this meant she wanted
Grace to testify in
the matter, the renowned criminal and civil rights
lawyer said it was up to
the state to call her in and prove their case
against the four South African
drivers.
“It has been stated in the
extradition court papers in South Africa that
Hsieh said he did not have
business relations with Olga Bungu but had
business relations with the First
Lady. He said he only knew Bungu when she
represented herself as an agent of
the First Lady. He said he had no
business relations with Bungu.
“We
have asked the documents from the State to check that Bungu had $1
million
dollars in her account and how she was authorised to transfer the
money to
South Africa to buy the trucks. The state has failed to produce the
documents to date,” Mtetwa said.
Other legal experts canvassed by the
Daily News yesterday supported Mtetwa’s
argument saying since Hsieh had
already said he had done business with Grace
and not with her aides who were
now alleging that they were the complainants
in this matter, it meant that
the First Lady should be summoned to court to
prove her case.
Harare
magistrate, Shane Kubonera will deliver a ruling on Thursday on
whether the
trial date should be postponed to July 25 and whether the four
suspects can
be allowed to travel back to their country until the next trial
date,
because of the delays by the State to put the suspects — who were
arrested
in February — on trial.
The state applied that the matter be postponed to
July 25, three days after
a South African magistrate court is expected to
make a ruling on whether
Hsieh should be extradited to Zimbabwe.
The
Attorney General’s office has also made suggestions that they it will
relax
the bail conditions of the four, who report twice every day to police,
and
have surrendered their passports to the clerk of court.
The state’s case
at the moment is that Grace Mugabe’s aide Olga Bungu — an
assistant police
commissioner and a member of the First Lady’s security
team — was duped out
of $1 million, in a botched deal in which she was
supposed to receive trucks
and trailers to that value.
But Mtetwa says efforts to get the details
from the State of how Bungu got
the $1 million and how she paid for the
trucks have not yielded anything.
In the meantime, the defence yesterday
applied to have the four suspects’
passports to be released, to enable them
to travel to South Africa as their
trial date has been delayed since March,
thereby prejudicing them.
The four were supposed to go on trial yesterday
when the prosecution asked
for more time to complete their case.
“The
magistrate will give his decision on Thursday. The State has said the
only
concession they can make is that they (suspects) now do not need to
report
to the police twice a day. That is no concession at all because our
view is
that they are entitled to be with their families.
“They are entitled to
be doing their work in their normal environment. It is
a travesty of justice
that the State continues to ask for postponements in a
situation where they
ought to have a docket that is ready for prosecution,”
Mtetwa
said.
She alleged that the State had been shifting goal posts every time
the
matter was before the courts.
“The procedure that the state has
adopted clearly shows that the accused’s
rights are being completely
disregarded,” Mtetwa said in court, adding that:
“There is no legal basis
for the postponement of this case”.
She alleged that courts in South
Africa accepted that Hseih was initially
“unlawfully” arrested by Zimbabwe
law enforcement agents with the assistance
of a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
employee (Mr Chiremba), Olga Bungu (Grace
Mugabe’s aide) and a South Africa
police Colonel, one Sidiya.
She also said that the dispute between the
First Lady and Hseih was a civil
matter.
In addition, she said, the
state had not stated what would happen to her
clients if Hseih appealed
against his extradition through the South African
High Court, Supreme Court
of appeal and the constitutional court of appeal
of that country, as was his
right — a process that could take years while
her clients were still held on
remand by Zimbabwean courts.
The four South Africans, Mtetwa said, were
not employed by Hseih but were
hired to transport the trucks into the
country.
All the accused were breadwinners of their families and the
delay of their
trial had meant that their families had no-one looking after
them.
Mtetwa said her clients had also been struggling to find
accommodation in
Harare as they did reside in the country permanently. As
the case involved
the First Lady, nobody wanted to rent a place to
them.
“Bilal needs to attend to his wife who is on the verge of having a
heart
transplant as well as look after the couple’s two children aged five
years
and 10 months respectively. Another accused wants to attend to his
16-year-old daughter who is not feeling well,” said Mtetwa.
The
tenacious lawyer said the State’s case was replete with inconsistencies
as
at one time Florence Ziyambi, a senior prosecutor, once said the $1
million
was paid to Hseih in cash but the Attorney General Johannes Tomana
said it
was paid through bank transfers.
Mtetwa accused the prosecution of
lacking seriousness in the matter after
the chief law officer Chris
Mutangadura applied for the trial date to be
postponed to July 25, a date
she said he would be engaged in court in
another matter where Mtetwa is also
a defence lawyer.
She said Mutangadura had absented himself twice since
the matter went to
court, leading to delays in the case.Read full story in
Tuesday's Daily
News.
http://theafricareport.com/
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 17:03
A
report by a group of Zimbabwean legislators in parliament suggests cordial
relations between the country and Iran are now shaky after it emerged that
the southern African country is refusing to repay a €5 million
loan.
In 2004, The government of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad advanced
funds for the state broadcaster (Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Co-operation - ZBC)
to refurbish its obsolete broadcasting
equipment.
According to the agreement between the two countries, the
equipment was to
be supplied by an Iranian firm. But the broadcaster is now
claiming that it
was sold “defective” digital broadcasting
equipment.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information
and
Communication Technology revealed in its June report that ZBC has vowed
not
to service the loan after reimbursing only €300 000.
"To date ZBC
still owes the Iranian company €5 million and is accruing
interest," the
parliamentary report says.
The committee says ZBC is objecting to the
quality of the equipment saying
only one out of the three studios that were
re-equipped by the Iranians is
functional.′′“There were indications that the
(Iranian) company was not a
well-known manufacturer of broadcasting
equipment,” the report said.
ZBC argues that although its engineers were
supposed to fly to Iran to
inspect the equipment, and have its personnel
trained prior to
commissioning, as part of the original contractual
agreement, that trip
never materialised.
"As a result the
broadcaster was not making use of most of the equipment.
Furthermore, some
of the equipment had broken down and, out of the three
studios covered, only
one is operational and the main news studio is
partially
operational”.
Iran has been one of the few countries outside Africa to
have strong
relations with Zimbabwe in recent years. President Robert Mugabe
led a
delegation on an official visit to the Islamic republic in November
2006.
The visit saw the signing of a string of agreements in energy
cooperation
and technology, and Mugabe hailed the agreements as proof of the
"strength
of our political and economic relations".
In turn
Ahmadinejad visited in 2010 and top of his agenda was outstanding
loans.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The Zimbabwean government has
been directed to timeously implement
recommendations of the International
Labour Conference (ILO) Commission of
Inquiry and also stop immediately
trade union rights violations.
21.06.1103:16pm
Chief
Reporter
That was the resolution of the just-ended ILO conference in
Geneva.
A special Commission of Inquiry of the ILO said after a
fact-finding mission
to Zimbabwe in 2008 that government was responsible for
serious violations
of fundamental rights, in particular concerning freedom
to organise trade
unions and to collective bargaining, the right to strike,
and protection of
trade unionists from discrimination.
As a testimony
to the grave nature of the violations, it was the first time
in the history
of the ILO that both trade unions and employer organisations
filed a
complaint against a government, leading to the establishment of the
Commission of Inquiry in 2008.
The inquiry came hard on the heels of
the battering of labour leaders after
a foiled march in the capital, Harare
in 2007. Labour leaders Wellington
Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo sustained
grave head injuries in the police
assault.
The Commission travelled
to Zimbabwe and heard testimony from workers, as
well as meeting government
and employer representatives.
The Commission found the violations to be
both systematic and systemic and
highlighted that it “sees a clear pattern
of arrests, detentions, violence
and torture by the security forces against
trade unionists that coincide
with ZCTU nationwide events, indicating that
there has been some centralized
direction to the security forces to take
such action.”
It also concluded that “there was another clear pattern of
control over ZCTU
trade union gatherings, be they internal meetings or
public demonstrations
through the application of the POSA” and that
“detentions and targeted
violence have been used to intimidate both leaders
and rank and file members
of the trade union in a systematic and systemic
manner.” The POSA, or Public
Order and Security Act, has been used regularly
as a pretext for anti-union
action by the Mugabe regime.
The COI
report also detailed violations of other fundamental human rights
against
trade unionists, including freedom from arbitrary arrest and
detention, and
the right to “security of the person”. Many Zimbabwean trade
unionists have
been severely beaten by security forces and others acting at
the behest of
the regime over the past several years.
“We are very concerned that, even
with a more inclusive government now in
Zimbabwe, those aligned to President
Robert Mugabe are still encouraging and
authoring acts of intimidation and
violence against trade unionists. This
important report should strengthen
the determination of the international
community to keep up the pressure for
the rule of law and respect for
fundamental rights in Zimbabwe,” said ITUC
general secretary Guy Ryder at
the end of the inquiry.
The Commission
issued seven recommendations that the government has to
implement to ensure
the full implementation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on
freedom of
association and collective bargaining, and which could contribute
to the
process of national reconciliation.
The just-ended Geneva conference
received the report of the inquiry and
noted that a representative of the
Zimbabwe government had appeared before
the committee to report on the
follow-up to the recommendations of the ILO
Commission of Inquiry, which it
had accepted in full.
"He was not aware of the allegations of
non-compliance raised by the worker
member of Zimbabwe, otherwise he would
have immediately called for a meeting
of the TNF (Trpartite Negotiating
Forum)," said a report from the Geneva
conference.
"The acts
resulting in the derailing of social dialogue originated from
other arms of
the State, which might not understand social dialogue. In this
regard, the
implementation of the recommendations of the Commission of
Inquiry was
anxiously awaited."
The ILO noted that because the Zimbabwe government
had been controversially
elected to the ILO Governing Body, which
represented an honour for the
country, some ILO members were of the view
that Zimbabwe should not be
elected because of alleged continuing violations
of Conventions Nos 87 and
98.
The Geneva conference heard that the
Zimbabwe government had indicated that
it was fully aware of the onerous
responsibility it was taking on by sitting
on the ILO Governing Body, its
members having a higher level of
accountability than other ILO
members.
"Such a level of responsibility would strengthen the
responsibilities of the
government with respect to compliance with ILO
Conventions," the Geneve
conference resolved.
"He concluded by
underlining that the recommendations of the Commission of
Inquiry were a
solid foundation for Zimbabwe and progress made in
implementing them so far
had showed room for improvement. The process of
implementing the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry should be
expedited."
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:00
By Daniel
Nemukuyu
HARARE Central Hospital is battling to recover US$6,4 million from
patients
that supplied false contact details to the authorities and received
treatment on credit.
The institution's chief executive officer, Dr George
Vera, yesterday said
most debtors were nowhere to be found and the debts
were likely to be
written off.
Dr Vera said people were in the habit
of signing acknowledgement of debt
forms using wrong addresses and other
contact numbers to evade paying the
debts.
"Currently, such patients owe
us at least US$6,4 million. They come here
stranded and because we are human
enough, we treat them and ask them to sign
acknowledgement of debt.
"They
provide us with false information to make sure we do not get paid.
They
supply wrong residential addresses, wrong next of kin and wrong
telephone
numbers.
"We have problems in collecting that money. Debt collection is
very
expensive. We send drivers using our own fuel, only to be informed that
the
debtor does or never stayed at that house.
"In February the debt was
US$5 million and it is increasing considering that
people are now aware that
they can dupe the hospital staff and get free
treatment," he said.
Dr
Vera said the institution was experiencing very serious cash-flow
problems,
which were now compromising the hospital standards.
"We are having serious
cash-flow problems and our operations are being
hampered. Imagine if the
US$6,4 million is collected, this institution would
improve and meet the
expected standards," said Dr Vera.
Of the 1 200 pregnant women who
deliver every month at the hospital, only
200 pay up their bills while the
rest disappear without paying.
Although Dr Vera confirmed that health was a
fundamental human right
accessible to all, he said operating for free was
not sustainable in
Zimbabwe.
"We understand and accept that health is
a fundamental right and that is why
we treat people on credit. Now that they
choose not to pay, we are now
confused on what we should do.
"We do not
know what to do, we simply treat them. This is because we know
that the
consequences of not treating somebody is death, hence we cannot
just watch
people dying," he said.
The hospital has been spending at least US$5 000
monthly on sending
reminders to people who do not pay.
Meanwhile, the
institution's maternity ward has come under fire for
allegedly unlawfully
detaining women after giving birth for non-payment of
maternity
bills.
Several people have been complaining over the alleged behaviour
and The
Herald was inundated with phone calls and text messages of people
accusing
the institution of unlawful detention.
In one of messages, one
Mr David Muchemwa said: "I was so touched with the
way women are being
treated at Harare Hospital - being detained for failing
to pay the accrued
hospital bills.
"However, as responsible parents let us face the reality
here. As long as
your wife is pregnant, you must save some money.
"At
least half of the amount because the authorities know that the rest will
not
be paid. So let us look at both sides to improve our country's health
delivery system," the text message read.
Commenting on the
allegations, Dr Vera said they were false and baseless,
adding that if
anyone had such complaints, he or she should approach the
authorities for an
investigation to be launched.
Dr Vera said it was not the hospital's policy
and that if any such
activities were taking place, they were illegal and
reports should be made
to the authorities.
"That is not the
institution's policy and we do not allow that to happen. It
is illegal and
we do not detain people here. Maybe the complaints stemmed
from some
discharge procedure, which involves a lot before one leaves the
hospital.
Patients are required to sign some acknowledgement of debt and
other
requirements, the process that appears long and monotonous for
patients who
would be craving to go home," said Dr Vera.
http://www.radiovop.com/
10 hours 36 minutes
ago
Shurugwi, June 21, 2011- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai made a
surprise
visit to Shurugwi town at the weekend, leaving many excited
residents
wondering if it was truly him.
Tsvangirai who was in the
town to visit the chrome mining firm, Zimasco,
decided to take a way about
to a nearby flea market where he was initially
met by a few curious
residents before the crowd grew into a mob of people
chanting, "he is our
real president, Tsvangirai is our president."
One women said, "Prime
Minister we are suffering and can't even manage to
buy bread for our kids ,
we are only surviving on selling these Zhing
Zhongs. Our husbands are out of
work, so we don't know what to do with the
children."
Although she
was struggling to tell the Prime Minister to at least buy
something, she was
elated that Tsvangirai had infect just touched a Chinese
belt among her
wares. She told Radio VOP, that she will not sell the belt
but keep it as a
souvenir to remind her of that rare encounter with the MDC
leader.
Tsvangirai also visited the Shurugwi Town Council offices
where he lamented
the state of infrastructure in the town. The council
building
although it had a new coat of paint outside, it hardly had furniture
with
the premier and his delegation being forced to sit of primary school
type
desks and chairs for a meeting with council
officials.
Tsvangirai said it was sad that the once thriving mining town
was now a
haven for illegal chrome miners without much happening in people's
lives. He
told the residents that his government will do everything in its
power to
resuscitate the mines in the area .
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha, Staff
Writer
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 17:50
HARARE - Chitungwiza town clerk
Godfrey Tanyanyiwa will today appear before
a council caucus after
councillors insisted on investigating how senior
managers parcelled out $45
000 among themselves.
Tanyanyiwa came under fire after it emerged
that senior managers within the
cash-strapped local authority had
transferred council funds into their
personal accounts without
approval.
Jacob Rukweza, one of the councillors spearheading the
investigation,
confirmed Tanyanyiwa would answer questions on how
ratepayers’ money ended
up in senior officials’ pockets.
“We have
summoned him to give an explanation why money was transferred from
the rate
account without authorisation from council. We believe it is a tip
of the
iceberg,” Rukweza said.
Rukweza said Tanyanyiwa had earlier asked for
“more time” to gather facts,
but council felt the matter should be heard
urgently.
According to minutes of last week’s council meeting, 24
councillors endorsed
the motion for an investigation into the possible
plunder.
“I propose that council sets up a committee to investigate
allegations of
abuse of funds by senior managers of Chitungwiza
municipality,” read the
notice of motion form moved by Rukweza.
“I
also propose that council invite independent auditors to audit council
accounts and report to council as a matter of urgency.”
Documents in
possession of the Daily News indicate that on 10 January this
year
Tanyanyiwa and Chamber secretary Omega Mugumbate wrote to Kingdom Bank
Graniteside Branch seeking transfer of funds from the councils rate
account.
“May you please transfer from the councils rate account No:
56009857, the
following amounts into the following accounts; Godfrey
Tanyanyiwa CBZ
Chinhoyi Account No:09822600010 $9 000, Alfonse Tinofa CBZ
Account No:
09120891860023 $7 000, Omega Mugumbate Kingdom Bank 49137017 $ 7
000, Titus
Chengetai Mudzindi Kingdom Bank 49130244 $ 15 000, Jemina Gumbo
Metropolitan
Bank 0107017993916 $7 000 Total $ 45 000,” reads part of the
document.
Councillors say these payments were unauthorised.