The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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New York Times Editorial

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Freeing a Nation From a Tyrant's Grip
By COLIN L. POWELL



 brave man recently met with me and described how life in his country has
become unbearable. "There is too much fear in the country, fear of the
unknown and fear of the known consequences if we act or speak out,"
explained Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Yet Archbishop Ncube speaks out fearlessly about the terrible human rights
conditions in Zimbabwe, and is threatened almost every day with detention or
worse.

For hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, the worst has already come.
Millions of people are desperately hungry because the country's
once-thriving agricultural sector collapsed last year after President Robert
Mugabe confiscated commercial farms, supposedly for the benefit of poor
blacks. But his cynical "land reform" program has chiefly benefited idle
party hacks and stalwarts, not landless peasants. As a result, much of
Zimbabwe's most productive land is now occupied by loyalists of the ruling
ZANU-PF party, military officers, or their wives and friends.

Worse still, the entire Zimbabwean economy is near collapse. Reckless
governmental mismanagement and unchecked corruption have produced annual
inflation rates near 300 percent, unemployment of more than 70 percent and
widespread shortages of food, fuel and other basic necessities. Is it any
wonder that Zimbabweans are demanding political change, or that President
Mugabe must rely on stepped-up violence and vote-rigging to remain in
office?

On June 6, the police again arrested Mr. Mugabe's most prominent opponent,
Morgan Tsvangirai. They paraded him in a courtroom in shackles and leg irons
before releasing him on bail on June 20. His offense? Calling for work
stoppages and demonstrations to protest economic hardship and political
repression.

Like Myanmar's courageous opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr.
Tsvangirai wages a nonviolent struggle against a ruthless regime. Like the
Burmese junta, President Mugabe and his Politburo colleagues have an
absolute monopoly of coercive power, but no legitimacy or moral authority.
In the long run, President Mugabe and his minions will lose, dragging their
soiled record behind them into obscurity. But how long will it take? How
many good Zimbabweans will have to lose their jobs, their homes, or even
their lives before President Mugabe's violent misrule runs its course?

The United States — and the European Union — has imposed a visa ban on
Zimbabwe's leaders and frozen their overseas assets. We have ended all
official assistance to the government of Zimbabwe. We have urged other
governments to do the same. We will persist in speaking out strongly in
defense of human rights and the rule of law. And we will continue to assist
directly, in many different ways, the brave men and women of Zimbabwe who
are resisting tyranny.

But our efforts are unlikely to succeed quickly enough without greater
engagement by Zimbabwe's neighbors. South Africa and other African countries
are increasingly concerned and active on Zimbabwe, but they can and should
play a stronger and more sustained role that fully reflects the urgency of
Zimbabwe's crisis. If leaders on the continent do not do more to convince
President Mugabe to respect the rule of law and enter into a dialogue with
the political opposition, he and his cronies will drag Zimbabwe down until
there is nothing left to ruin — and Zimbabwe's implosion will continue to
threaten the stability and prosperity of the region.

There is a way out of the crisis. ZANU-PF and the opposition party can
together legislate the constitutional changes to allow for a transition.
With the president gone, with a transitional government in place and with a
date fixed for new elections, Zimbabweans of all descriptions would, I
believe, come together to begin the process of rebuilding their country. If
this happened, the United States would be quick to pledge generous
assistance to the restoration of Zimbabwe's political and economic instituti
ons even before the election. Other donors, I am sure, would be close
behind.

Reading this, Robert Mugabe and his cohorts may cry, "Blackmail." We should
ignore them. Their time has come and gone. As Archbishop Ncube has said,
"Things in our country can hardly get worse." With the perseverance of brave
Zimbabweans, strengthened commitment from their neighbors, and the strong
support of the international community, we can rescue the people of
Zimbabwe. This is a worthy and urgent goal for us all.


Colin L. Powell is secretary of state.
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Africa Takes Spotlight in U.S. This Week



Business Day (Johannesburg)

June 23, 2003
Posted to the web June 24, 2003

Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, International Affairs Editor
Johannesburg

THIS week, US President George Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and two
other senior administration officials will be giving curtain-raiser speeches
at a Washington meeting, setting the tone for Bush's trip to Africa later
this month.

This signals that Africa is taking on a new importance in US foreign policy.

The Corporate Council, which they will be addressing, brings together the
largest US corporations most are on the Fortune 500 list with interests in
Africa.

Since its formation in 1992, the council has garnered growing influence in
Washington.

Bush can be expected to discuss developmental issues and Powell the
settlement of Africa's conflicts with a possible mention of Zimbabwe.

US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans will touch on HIV/AIDS programmes.

US Special Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will discuss talks on a free
trade area with SA and the customs union and an extension of the Africa
Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

The act gives African countries preferences, which have predominantly
benefited the export to the US of textiles and BMW cars made in SA.

President Thabo Mbeki will not be attending the meeting, but six African
heads of state will be taking advantage of the opportunity to address about
2500 corporate bosses, who could influence heavily US investment.

Mbeki's failure to attend is a disappointment to the council, which is keen
to establish closer ties with Pretoria and wants to open an office in SA.

Among the African leaders who will be in Washington this week are Angolan
President Eduardo dos Santos, Botswana's President Festus Mogae, Malawian
President Bakili Muluzi, Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth,
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and Swaziland's King Mswati.

The council has good access to the Bush administration and its influence is
growing because of the importance of African oil to the US, the development
needs of the continent and the council's commitment to promoting private
sector interests in partnership with government.

The council was a keen lobbyist in favour of Agoa and is now pushing for its
extension to a wider ranger of products.

In Washington power terms, what makes the council important is that US
corporations are now speaking up on African issues like the New Partnership
for African Development (Nepad), and trade and aid. With the US
administration keen to show that it has deep concerns about development and
not just security, this year's council meeting is considered well-timed.

The council's president, Stephen Hayes, says the Bush administration's
recent attention to the continent is fundamentally a reflection that Africa
is important to the US in economic and political terms.

"Energy is a factor, but there is also a market. And the US cannot morally
or ethically leave 15% to 20% of the world's population living in a state of
poverty," he says.

While most members of the council are large US corporations, Hayes wants to
encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to look to Africa for
opportunities and to link up with firms and the governments in partnerships.

He says he sees an urgent need to develop smaller business in African
countries and believes the council can play a role.

Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the council's meeting.

"We are looking to the future on Zimbabwe," says Hayes.

The growing view among business is that the country is a disaster, but that
it could be a good turn-around candidate if there is a political settlement.

However, on a range of other issues, the agenda is a barometer of business
concerns. There are workshops on HIV/AIDS: The corporate role; preventing
famine; West African oil and gas exploration; capturing market opportunities
in the Southern African Development Community and challenges for Agoa.

And the standard feature of every conference on Africa, Nepad, is on the
agenda. Hayes says he believes, "Nepad deserves more patience".

While it may not reflect a pending change in policy, one of the sessions is
on US-Libya relations, subtitled: Towards cautious re-engagement.
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Natal Mercury

      If 'Kill the Boer' isn't hate-speech, what is?
      June 24, 2003

      Must the slogan "Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer" be allowed as part of
freedom of speech, or should it be used as a test case to determine what
really is hate-speech?

      I was vehemently criticised because we dared to appeal to the Human
Rights Commission against this slogan. The criticism was that we could start
restricting freedom of speech in South African through our appeal.

      Of course, it is very important that freedom of speech in South Africa
should not be impaired.

      We have seen in Zimbabwe what the result is if that happens. But
Zimbabwe is also a cruel example of what can happen if people are allowed to
practise hate-speech without limitation!

      According to Section 16(2)c of the constitution, hate-speech is
regarded as the advocacy of hatred that is based on race or ethnicity and
which constitutes incitement to cause harm.

      If the slogan "Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer" is not regarded as
hate-speech according to this definition, this section in our constitution
can be removed.

      Nearly 1 500 farmers were brutally murdered on their farms over the
last couple of years. No freedom-of-speech argument can justify this.

      During the hearing of our appeal before the Human Rights Commission,
one of the counter arguments that was raised was the opinion that this
slogan was only used to mobilise people and that the words could not be
interpreted literally.
      If "Kill the Boer" does not mean "Maak dood die boere", what does it
then mean?

      I would really like to see the reaction if other political parties
started using similar slogans in order to "mobilise" their people.

      The Freedom of Expression Institute also argued during the appeal that
the slogan should be allowed because a non-racial organisation like the ANC
would never intend something evil with such a slogan!

      Mugabe's Patriotic Front is also a non-racial organisation!

      I am convinced that everything possible must be done to prove that
this slogan be regarded as hate speech. It is in the interest of peaceful
coexistence.


      Dr Pieter Mulder
      Freedom Front leader

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Telegraph

Farmers tell of terror in squatter mob siege at ranch
By Peta Thornycroft in Beit Bridge district, southern Zimbabwe
(Filed: 24/06/2003)


Sam Cawood, a rancher in southern Zimbabwe, appeared at a police station on
the South African border last week, accused of assault, days after he was
besieged in his farm by a mob baying for his blood.

He never fired his weapon, a pepper spray, but policemen loyal to the ruling
Zanu-PF charged him anyway.

The public prosecutor in Beit Bridge refused to proceed with the case
against the 75-year-old and ordered police to carry out "further
investigations".

Most of Mr Cawood's farming neighbours have gone, and the cattle lands and
wild-life conservancies are now derelict, game has been eaten, and
"settlers", as the squatters are euphemistically called, are living on land
seized from whites. There is little food.

While the bulk of commercial farms have long since been taken over by
President Robert Mugabe's supporters, a hardy and determined group of white
farmers still cling to their land in outlying areas, bringing continuing
attacks from the squatters.

The Cawoods' house, 35 miles north of the South African border, had earlier
been surrounded by a gang of about 18 "settlers" screaming at the couple to
come out of their homestead.

"They shouted that they wanted to rape my wife," Mr Cawood said yesterday.
"They wanted to kill me. They beat up our staff. They got into the ceilings
to find us. We were terrified."

As the squatters rampaged through the homestead, they came to a locked door
and asked what it was. "We heard our staff say it was a cupboard, and for
some reason they moved on," Mr Cawood said.

He and his wife Janet, 71, had dashed into the only room in the house with a
key, a bathroom close to a radio network, linking them to their son 40 miles
north, and sent out distress messages.

Police reached them 32 hours after the house was surrounded and later
described the incident as a "peaceful demonstration".

The Cawoods emerged from the ordeal physically unscathed but three of their
workers were assaulted.

Sam and Janet Cawood, he a land surveyor, and she a chartered accountant,
both South African born, left their birthplace during the apartheid regime,
and settled in the then gentler political climate of Southern Rhodesia more
than 50 years ago.

The Cawoods, and most farmers in southern Matabeleland province, initially
escaped Mr Mugabe's fury, when he launched land invasions in early 2000
after he lost a referendum. But it came, a year later, and the districts
crumbled quickly.

The 20,000-acre ranch can, with good management, support up to 900 cattle.
Mr Cawood could store 650,000 gallons of water at any one time across the
paddocks.

Now only one pump is working, and water storage is down to 10,000 gallons a
day for the Cawoods, their workers, the "settlers" and their cattle.

Pumps have been broken as much by ignorance of the largely illiterate
"settlers" as through pressure to force him to leave.

More than 300 miles of fencing was stolen from the intensively paddocked
farm, and 2,500 wild animals, among them cheetah, leopard and giraffe, have
been snared and eaten.

The Cawoods' cattle - and they had what was probably the largest privately
owned brahman breeding herd in Africa - were forced off by the "settlers"
and sent to the abattoirs.

In their place are a few hundred tick-ridden "settler" cattle which brought
foot and mouth to the area after 50 clean years.

Mrs Cawood said: "I hate the destruction. It will affect generations. I
don't know if we can ever recover, but I cannot go, go where?"

Charges against her for pointing a pistol, which was actually a pepper
spray, at squatters were withdrawn two years ago. Her husband was jailed for
a night 18 months ago, and released on bail for remaining on his farm
"illegally".

Their eldest daughter, Jean, 46, chased off her farm 55 miles north of
Harare, has been jailed once and attacked repeatedly.

Their son, Brian, 45, is on bail on two charges, one of attempted murder,
and the other for staying in his farmhouse beyond the date of his eviction.

A second daughter and husband, also ranchers, gave up and went to New
Zealand 20 months ago. After they left Sam Cawood went to collect their
cattle.

Many were too weak to be moved after "settlers" cut the water off a week
earlier. He was then accused, but not charged by police of cruelty to
animals because he was forced to slit their throats.
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Telegraph
 

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
(Filed: 24/06/2003)

Once pro-Mugabe, now passionately anti, singer Thomas Mapfumo talks to Douglas Rogers

In the 1970s, Thomas Mapfumo was jailed by Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime for his militant songs in support of the struggle against white rule. A quarter of a century later, he is still singing about injustice, brutality and oppression, but now he has turned his anger on the man he once fought for - President Robert Mugabe.

Mapfumo, 'the lion of Zimbabwe'

"You have caused hunger, you have chased away capable farmers," Zimbabwe's musical superstar sings on Marima Nzara, a track from his 2001 album Chimurenga Rebel. "Do the farming yourself, you have a big mouth!"

It is a stinging rebuke of Mugabe and his disastrous land reform programmes that have left the country's economy in tatters, but it is just one in a chorus of fearless vocal assaults that Mapfumo - "The Lion of Zimbabwe" - has made on Mugabe since the late 1980s. "Back in the '70s we were fighting colonial rule," Mapfumo says. "And now we are fighting oppression from one of our own."

He is speaking from Eugene, Oregon, where has lived in exile with his family and members of his 17-strong Blacks Unlimited band since August 2000. There are rumours he was forced to flee Zimbabwe because of threats on his life, but he says he left for the sake of his children.

"I'm not afraid. I can go back any time, and I tour there every year, but I have kids to look after. Where is the education and health care that Mugabe promised us?"

It is the kind of question Mapfumo, a feline, bone-thin 58-year-old with dreadlocks down to his waist and a rasping-deep voice, is asking UK audiences as he tours his latest album Toi Toi. A beautiful, at times desperately sad album that asks what has gone wrong in his homeland, it is his 35th in a career that started in the 1960s as a township rock and roller doing Elvis Presley covers.

In the mid-1970s, though, as Rhodesia spiralled into racial civil war, Mapfumo changed tack. He started singing in his native Shona language, adding Zimbabwe's traditional mbira thumb piano and electric guitars to potent lyrics about rural poverty, police brutality and support for the freedom fighters in the bush.

He called it chimurenga ("struggle") music, and it became so popular among ordinary Zimbabweans that by 1979 the Smith regime had banned his songs and briefly jailed him. By April 1980, Mapfumo was sharing a stage with Bob Marley at Zimbabwe's independence celebrations.

All of which seems a long time ago. While Mapfumo rallied support for Mugabe, he was also the first to sing out against him.

When most world leaders still thought Mugabe was an African hero, Mapfumo says he was never taken in. "I supported him in the beginning, but I was always keeping an eye on him. When they started talking about a one-party state, I started to realise they were selfish. We went from the frying pan into the fire with this man."

In an eerie echo of the Smith regime, Corruption was banned from the airwaves, and, by the late 1990s, Mapfumo was in open confrontation with the government.

Protest: the album title, Toi Toi, is also a political statement

On the 2000 album Manhungetunge ("Stomach Ache") he even re-recorded an old chimurenga hit about starvation and lying politicians that was originally aimed at Ian Smith. "It's sad, but the same situation exists today."

Of course, the government took notice. Four of his cars were confiscated by police, forcing the band to take buses to their concerts across the country. And, when Chimurenga Rebel was released in 2001 at the height of the violent farm invasions, eight songs were banned. It didn't stop 30,000 copies of the album being sold in two days.

Mapfumo has been recording in the US since the late '90s, and in recent years he has added big-band horn sections and more guitars and mbiras to the line-up, giving a jazzy chimurenga fusion to dark albums such as Rebel.

If Toi Toi is more reflective, it still contains some scathing political comment. On Vechidiki, he sings to the youth militia who roam the country terrorising the political opposition: "They send you to do dirty work and you just comply. Be warned you will die for other people's evil deeds."

And, on the confrontational Mukoma J ("Big Brother J"), he sings about a wicked and destructive man whose name starts with a J. In Zimbabwe, fans see it as a warning to the hated Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.

But perhaps the most open political statement is the album title itself. A Toi Toi is a protest dance millions of black South Africans performed during the struggle against apartheid. Mapfumo says Zimbabweans should protest in the same way.

The Lion of Zimbabwe is roaring again.

  • Thomas Mapfumo's UK tour continues on Thursday at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, and then takes in London, Luton, Tunbridge Wells, Leeds and Bristol. 'Toi Toi' is released on Anonymous Records.

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