The Times, UK June 26, 2006
From Jan Raath of The Times in
Harare
There is "abundant evidence", from the records
of Zimbabwe's
courts - which are widely dismissed as pro-government - that
state agents
have carried out torture "on a massive scale", the country's
leading human
rights group said today.
The
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a coalition of human rights
groups and
legal organisations, has reported over 15,000 violations of human
rights in
the past eight years, but the report said only 300 have entered
the initial
phases of litigation. Only 51 of these went to their conclusion,
with the
state being held accountable in 89 per cent of cases.
Although the report deals with a relatively small number of
cases, it is the
first to be based on official records, with the names and
ranks of
perpetrators and the sites - mostly police stations - of
torture.
"The Zimbabwe Government itself is conceding
liability for the
perpetration of gross human rights violations," it
said.
The Forum said it would send its report to the United
Nations to
press for further action against President Mugabe's
Government.
The report said that the low number of court
cases was
attributable to the fact that merely reporting human rights
violations to
police carries a high risk of being arrested, beaten up and
illegally
detained. The country's economic crisis has also cut the rate of
court
litigation because many ordinary people cannot afford the cost of
transport
to court or to see lawyers, it said.
Police
were the most common perpetrators. "People in custody are
likely to be
beaten irrespective of their alleged crime", political or
criminal, and are
commonly subjected to falanga - the excruciatingly painful
practice of
beating the soles of the feet, which leaves little obvious
bruising. Police
had "adopted torture as a means to eliciting confessions on
a widespread
basis", it said.
The Army was less widely cited in
litigation, but soldiers were
"often very brutal".
The
payment of damages is rare, according to the report, and it
asks whether the
delay is deliberate, as a way of decreasing the damages
being paid". Only 20
cases since 1999 have resulted in compensation but,
again, the economic
crisis makes payments almost worthless. The report cites
an award to a
plaintiff of Zim $950,000 in November last year, when it was
worth US
$1,185. The defendants have still not been paid and the same amount
is now
worth about US $5.
VOA
By
Peta Thornycroft
Harare
26 June 2006
More
people turned up to watch a soccer match Sunday in Harare than went to
listen to President Robert Mugabe address Zimbabwe's first National Day Of
Prayer in which he played a central role. Although some free transport was
provided and the stadium was easily accessible, less than 5,000 people
turned up to the well-advertised, but controversial, event.
Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe called for unity Sunday at an event that
was sparked
by his invitation last month to certain churchmen to enter into
a dialogue
with him.
Mr. Mugabe, a Catholic, called for divine intervention to turn
the country
around so it could become, as he described it, "the jewel among
nations".
Zimbabwe is in a crippling economic crisis with inflation at
nearly 1,200
percent, the highest in the world, unemployment of 80 percent
and no foreign
currency for essential imports.
Most of Zimbabwe's
best-known senior churchmen did not attend the day of
prayer presided over
by Mr. Mugabe. Neither of Zimbabwe's two Catholic
archbishops were
there.
At the prayer day, Mr. Mugabe criticized Bulawayo Archbishop Pius
Ncube, an
outspoken critic of the Zanu-PF government.
Mr. Mugabe said
that being a bishop does not make one a saint and that a
bishop is not
dearer to God than the president.
"When the church leaders start being
political we regard them as political
creatures and we are vicious in that
area," Mr. Mugabe warned.
Mr. Mugabe's relationship with the Catholic
Church has been strained since
government soldiers massacred thousands of
people in southern Zimbabwe in
the 1980s.
The Zimbabwe Council of
Churches hailed the National Day Of Prayer as a
success.
Former
information minister Jonathan Moyo said the prayer day had been a
failure as
so few people turned up. He said that Mr. Mugabe had long wanted
to involve
the churches in his political plans and that this effort would
continue.
Zim Online
Mon 26 June 2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has
not given land to any white
farmer despite encouraging the displaced farmers
earlier this year to apply
for farms, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)
said on Monday.
The vice-president of the white-member CFU, Trevor
Gifford, told
ZimOnline by telephone last night that the government was yet
to respond to
applications for land by former whites whose farms it seized
over the past
six years for redistribution to landless blacks.
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in charge of land
reform, had
said the government would accept applications for land from
whites in a bid
to revive the agricultural sector that has suffered massive
decline since
the beginning of farm seizures in 2000.
Gifford said: "Lots and
lots of farmers applied for land after the
invitation. But none has been
offered land to date. Not one that we know of.
"We
have been following up on the matter with the ministry. But each
time we
ask, the ministry officials tell us that no applications from former
white
farmers have been processed.
"This is despite President (Robert)
Mugabe's announcements that any
Zimbabwean regardless of colour will get an
opportunity to farm if they are
capable. It seems the matter is being
racialised."
Mutasa was not immediately available for comment on
the matter last
night. But the land reform minister earlier this year held
several meetings
with CFU leaders during which he invited applications for
farms from the
organisation's members.
Reports of Mutasa's
invitation for white applications came as
influential Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono as well as
Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and
Joice Mujuru on separate occasions publicly
called for no more evictions of
the country's few remaining white farmers.
But the Harare
administration has maintained conflicting positions
over whether it will
invite back whites to resuscitate some of the farms it
gave over to blacks
but now lie unused because the new owners are no longer
interested in
farming.
Farm seizures have also continued while the Minister of
Agriculture
Joseph Made and his Justice counterpart, Patrick Chinamasa, have
in the past
said the government would not give back land to whites and that
in fact it
shall continue seizing more white farms to allocate to blacks who
may still
need land.
The farm seizures that began in 2000 and
which Mugabe says were meant
to correct an unjust land tenure system that
reserved 75 percent of the best
arable land for minority whites while the
majority blacks were cramped on
poor soils have been blamed for plunging
Zimbabwe into severe food
shortages.
The southern African
country that was once a regional breadbasket has
largely survived on food
handouts from international relief agencies for the
past six years and will
this year require more food aid for at least three
quarters of its 12
million people.
Meanwhile, Gifford rejected as untrue claims last
week by Mashonaland
West provincial governor Nelson Samkange that his office
had offered land to
200 farmers from the province but they had turned down
the offer.
The CFU official said no white farmer was ever offered
land by
Samkange's office. The Mashonaland West governor was also not
immediately
available to respond to Gifford's comments. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 27
June 2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe appeared to turn to
spiritual
salvation to lift a country battered by more than six years of a
deep
economic and political crisis but analysts said only sweeping reforms
would
salvage the southern African country from total collapse.
Mugabe joined church leaders at the weekend to pray for the country's
prosperity and sought divine intervention to end a crisis which analysts
blame on his 26-year rule.
The veteran leader, who is
Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence
from Britain, struck a spiritual
note on Sunday, telling Christians who had
gathered in Harare for a day of
prayer that divine intervention could
restore the country's position as a
jewel of Africa.
He prayed for God to pardon Zimbabwe for sins
committed that had
brought suffering to the country.
"May
Zimbabweans, as we work for the economy's turnaround in every way
reach the
goal of being the jewel among other nations, pray for all this in
the name
of Jesus. Amen," Mugabe told the gathering in Harare.
This is the
first time Mugabe has delivered a national prayer for
God's
intervention.
Some church leaders blamed the government for the
country's woes in
their prayers and said the government had to accept it had
pursued
disastrous policies especially in the health sector, which has
suffered the
heaviest brain drain as professionals seek better paying jobs
abroad.
Zimbabwe has implemented several economic programmes but
all of which
have failed to bring relief to millions of citizens, who have
been
impoverished by the crisis and as they try to grapple with the world's
highest inflation rate of nearly 1 200 percent, shortages of foreign
currency, food and fuel.
Mugabe's government has turned to
long-time ally China for help after
a fallout with the West over Harare's
controversial policies such as the
seizure of land from white commercial
farmers which has decimated
agriculture.
But analysts say the
so called "Look-East" initiative has not yielded
much for the country. State
media have reported recently that China's state
development bank had
promised Zimbabwe financial aid, including a possible
currency swap, to help
revive an economy with severe foreign currency
shortages.
This
month, a Chinese company and two Zimbabwean firms reportedly
signed deals
worth US$1.3 billion to establish coal mines and three thermal
power
stations in the country, and Chinese companies are also bidding for
rights
to explore Zimbabwe's uranium deposits.
But economic analysts are
quick to point out that such deals have
collapsed in the past.
"I think there is an element of desperation on the part of the
authorities
here. Yes the church can seek divine intervention but the
government needs
to bite the bullet and come up with bold economic and
political reforms if
they are to realise their dream of recovery," John
Robertson, a Harare
economic analyst said.
Critics charged that Mugabe is trying to
garner votes from the
country's Christian community, pointing to his call
for an annual national
day of prayer on the country's calendar.
"What immediately comes to mind is that Mugabe is acknowledging that
he has
failed and is appealing to God to intervene," John Makumbe, a Mugabe
critic
and political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe told ZimOnline.
"That
is not the answer. The answer is found in policies that restore the
rule of
law and solve the issue of Mugabe' legitimacy."
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change and several Western
governments accuse Mugabe
of rigging elections since 2000, a charge the
82-year-old leader denies and
instead accuses the West of sabotaging the
country's economy. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 27
June 2006
PLUMTREE - Zimbabwe will next month try two Botswana
Television
journalists for allegedly breaching the country's tough media
laws by
gathering news without clearance from Harare's Media and Information
Commission (MIC), an offence that carries a two year jail term.
The two journalists, Beauty Mokoba and Kobetso Seofela, were arrested
by
police last April near the small town of Plumtree on Zimbabwe's border
with
Botswana while investigating the source of an outbreak of the deadly
foot-and-mouth cattle disease that had claimed several cattle in villages
along the Botswana side of the frontier.
Botswana officials
believed the disease originated from Zimbabwe, a
claim vehemently denied by
Harare in a statement issued through its embassy
in Gaborone.
"All is set for trial now, which we have agreed with the duo's legal
representatives to be 26 and 27 July. We believe that in those two days we
would have finished every business," state prosecutor Prince Butje Dube told
ZimOnline on Monday.
Dube said the state had assembled enough
evidence against the two
journalists who also face charges of breaching the
Immigration Act because
when they were arrested they allegedly failed to
produce documents to prove
they were in Zimbabwe legally.
Under
Harare's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA),
journalists must first register with the MIC in order to carry out
their
work in Zimbabwe. Local journalists register once every 12 months
while
foreign journalists must register for the duration they are in the
country
to cover a specific story or event.
The MIC can revoke the
registration certificate from any journalist it
deems to be not toeing the
line.
Zimbabwe, which also has laws providing for the imprisonment
of
journalists for up to 20 years for publishing falsehoods, has been
described
by the World Association of Newspapers as among the worst three
places for
the media in the world.
The other two countries are
the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan
and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 27 June 2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists (ZUJ) has described the
late Information Minister Tichaona
Jokonya who died at the weekend as an
"understanding man" who had promised
to do his best to re-open newspapers
shut down by President Robert Mugabe's
government over the past three years.
Jokonya was found dead in a
Harare hotel room at the weekend. The
cause of his death has not yet been
made public although his family said a
pathologist's preliminary report
ruled out foul play.
ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi told
ZimOnline: "The union is
going to miss a man who had an open door policy. We
had established a
rapport with him. He had promised us that he would do his
level best to make
sure that all closed media outlets would be
opened.
"We also worked with him and he agreed to the setting up of
a
self-regulated media council. We were hoping that he would open the air
waves. He was an understanding man."
The Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) also commended the
reforms that Jokonya had embarked on
at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
which the union said it had hoped
would open the media and create a more
conducive working environment for
journalists.
"As the Minister of Information and Publicity, Jokonya
had embarked on
strategic reforms on the country's media scenery which the
ZCTU hoped would
open up the media and also present a good working
environment for
journalists and media practitioners in the country," the
labour union said
in a message of condolence to the Jokonya
family.
A former representative of Mugabe's government at the
United Nations,
Jokonya had on his appointment earlier this year appeared to
be more
tolerant to media diversity and plurality, inviting editors from
state-owned
newspapers, radio and television and their counterparts from
privately-owned
newspapers for a meeting to discuss problems facing the
media.
He also said he would not oppose journalists setting up a
voluntary
media council to oversee ethics and standards in the
profession.
But he later took a more bellicose stance against the
media, accusing
some journalists of being traitors paid by foreign enemies
of the government
to vilify the Harare administration in their articles and
warned that
"sell-out" journalists would be put to death. - ZimOnline
IOL
June 26 2006
at 03:33PM
Harare - A Zimbabwean court on Monday moved the trial of
an
ex-Rhodesian soldier accused of masterminding a plot to topple President
Robert Mugabe to the eastern city of Mutare, officials said.
Peter Hitschmann was arrested in early March along with seven others
including an opposition parliamentarian after police said that an arms cache
had been found in his home in Mutare, 270km south-east of the
capital.
"The trial will be heard in Mutare although the initial
bail
application was made in Harare," a court official said after a meeting
between the state and Hitschmann's lawyers.
The official, who
asked not to be named, did not give reasons why the
case had been moved and
could not give the date the trial would start.
Police
nabbed Hitschmann in March, leading to the arrest of opposition
lawmaker
Giles Mutseyekwa and six others who were charged but later released
on
bail.
The eight men including four police officers were charged
under
Zimbabwe's tough security laws of possession of weapons to carry out
an
insurgency, sabotage or terrorism.
The prosecution claimed
Hitschmann was working for a shadowy
organisation called the Zimbabwe
Freedom Movement based in Britain, which it
said was seeking to overthrow
Mugabe's government.
In March, state television aired reports which
claimed that Hitschmann
told his interrogators that the arrested legislator
and former Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) MP Roy Bennett were the
organisation's local
coordinators.
Bennett was not among those
charged as he fled the country and has
since applied for political asylum in
South Africa, but it has been turned
down.
However the
opposition party has flatly denied the allegations that
its members were
working with Hitschmann.
The state said the arsenal found comprised
an AK47 assault rifle,
seven Uzi submachine guns, four FN rifles, 11
shotguns, six CZ pistols, four
revolvers, 15 tear gas canisters and several
thousand rounds of
ammunition. - Sapa-AFP
With Dr Stanford Mukasa
26 June
2006
In today's Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa reviews the
recently
concluded United Nations meeting on poverty and its implications on
Zimbabwe.
............................
US-based
Zimbabwean human rights activists bring Mugabe's human rights
abuse problems
to the United Nations
Representatives from two US-based advocacy
groups had a first- hand
experience of just what the United Nations can or
cannot do on the
Zimbabwean crisis. But they also successfully lobbied for a
discussion and
resolution on bad governance and corruption.
The
North American District of the MDC or NAD and the Association of
Concerned
Citizens in North America (ACZ) had been invited to participate at
the
informal interactive hearings to review the program of action for the
Least
Developed Countries and held at the United Nations. NAD will soon
become the
North American Province of the MDC.
Both NAD and ACZ had planned to
have the Zimbabwean crisis placed on
the agenda in the hope that the issue
would be taken up by the Security
Council or the General Assembly. The
delegates had brought toughly worded
statements calling for the United
Nations to use its institutional resources
to bring pressure to bear on
Mugabe.
The ACZ statement contained five recommendations.
First, ACZ noted that, because the Mugabe regime is aware that is has
lost
the support and the legitimacy to rule the country it is now
unrestrained in
its use of force and coercion to maintain its rule in the
country.
The United Nations has an international obligation to take effective
measures to ensure the return of the rule of law, democracy and democratic
governance in Zimbabwe.
ACZ appealed to the United Nations deal
with the root causes, rather
than symptoms, of the problems. While
collecting information such as the
impact of the destruction of people's
homes was a necessary responsibility
of the United Nations, the world body
must go beyond this information
gathering routine.
Information
documented by human rights groups, the United Nations and
other individuals
shows clearly that the Mugabe regime is in violation of a
number of United
Nations conventions.
The ACZ noted that the United Nations has taken
measures to deal with
former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, and other
human rights violators.
In the case of Taylor the United Nations set up a
tribunal to try him. The
same happened with Slobodan Milosevic.
ACZ
called upon the United Nations to document a possible prosecution
of Robert
Mugabe for crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe.
The organization also
recommended that the United Nations should
establish a coalition of willing
nations and individuals who will make a
relentless push towards resolving
the crisis of governance in Zimbabwe. The
UN Security Council must be
convened to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe and
take appropriate measures
including sanctions if Mugabe refuses to comply.
ACZ also called on the
United Nations to take an inventory to assess
and document the capacities
and skills of Zimbabweans in Diaspora with a
view to (1) keeping those
skills updated through training sessions and (2)
encouraging the Zimbabweans
to return home once democracy and the rule of
law have been
established.
ACZ recommended that the United Nations work through non
governmental
agencies to extend relief to the people of Zimbabwe, especially
opposition
supporters who have been denied, on political grounds,
internationally
donated food.
ACZ also asked that it be granted an
observer status at the general
assembly, in order to counter the propaganda
from the Mugabe regime.
However, during the pre-consultation
orientation the Zimbabwean
delegates learned that the procedure for the
hearings would focus on themes
of poverty and underdevelopment in the least
developed countries or LDCs.
There are 50 LDCs. Zimbabwe is not among
them, although a UN committee
recommended recently that Zimbabwe be
downgraded to an LDC.
Ironically, Zambia, Uganda and Mozambique which
have stronger
economies than Zimbabwe are listed as LDCs.
For a
while it appeared the Zimbabwean crisis was going to be
sidestepped
altogether. However lobbying, especially by Nicholas Mada of the
NAD, bore
some results. In addition, statements by both NAD and ACZ were
allowed to be
circulated among the delegates.
Another procedure at the hearings was
that only 12 people would be
allowed to make presentations. None of the
Zimbabwean representatives was
among the selected presenters. Preference was
given to delegates coming from
the LDCs.
However, the Zimbabweans
were able to lobby the selected presenters to
make presentations on their
behalf. Presentations were to be theme-based
rather than country-specific..
Presenters were not expected to talk about
their countries but to discuss
problems of poverty and development as a
theme.
One of the 12
selected presenters agreed to take the Zimbabwe-specific
case of bad
governance and corruption for presentation. Thus while the
Zimbabwean crisis
per se was not discussed as a subject the problem of bad
governance and
corruption was presented at the hearings. To this extent the
Zimbabwean
delegation can claim some limited success in forcing this issue
on the
agenda.
During the hearings the under secretary general and high
representative for the LDCs, Anwarul K. Chowdhury said in response to the
question on bad governance and corruption that the United Nations expected
the governments to have the primary responsibility to improve the lives of
their people. In the case of Zimbabwe, which was not mentioned by name
during the discussions, this meant the UN holds Mugabe and his regime
primarily responsible for the return of the rule of law, free and fair
elections and economic and development policies that benefit the nation as a
whole.
Chowdhury's remarks were immediately challenged. What if the
government was corrupt and incapable of serving its citizens well and
fairly? He was asked.
Chowdhurey said in such cases of government
corruption and
incompetence it was up to the civil society to put pressure
and lobby their
government.
He was again asked: What if the
government is hostile to civil
society? -- a clear reference to Zimbabwe.
Chowdhrey said national civil
societies could seek to involve regional civil
societies in their campaigns.
In his assessment of the state of poverty
in the LDCs Chowdhurey said
that the program of action to reduce poverty in
the LDCs, and which was
launched in Brussels in 2001 had so far failed to
meet its objectives.
He said that while LDCs had experienced growth
rates of 5.5. percent
this was less than the anticipated 7 percent and
poverty in the LDC was on
the rise. He said 100 million people in the LDCs
were expected to join the
ranks of 370 million poor people in the LDCs.
Since the plan of action to
reduce poverty was halfway in its implementation
urgent steps needed to be
taken to address this problem, he said.
For a start an international campaign including the NGOs and other
stakeholders should be launched because LDCs are sinking deeper into
poverty.
In the ensuing discussions the issue of bad governance was
raised, an
issue that the Zimbabwean delegation had lobbied hard to be
addressed.
What were the lessons of this interactive forum on
Zimbabwe?
The message from the UN to Zimbabweans was loud and clear.
While this
was not an officially articulated policy it became abundantly
clear that the
UN expects the Mugabe regime to take primary responsibility
for fulfilling
the needs of the people of Zimbabwe.
If that fails
then civil society leaders in Zimbabwe must form a
national coalition and
launch a massive campaign against Mugabe. In the
process, the national
coalition can enlist the assistance of civil societies
in the
region.
Can this be the message UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hopes
to bring
to Mugabe in The Gambia in July? Can Zimbabweans realistically
expect Kofi
Annan to do more than this?
Herein lies the United
Nations formula for resisting Mugabe. One
significant outcome of the
hearings was that the civil society are a
strategic watchdog for the
peoples' interests against a repressive and
corrupt regime.
In
Zimbabwe civil society must take immediate and effective steps to
form a
formidable national coalition that will engage a meaningful campaign
against
Mugabe. This is something the Zimbabwean civil society has yet to
rigorously
put in place.
Mugabe cannot be successfully or effectively confronted
by different
civil society groups acting like individual supermen. Time has
come for all
those who share the same political agenda, social culture and
goals of the
rule of law, democracy, free and fair elections as well as the
freedom of
the press to put aside their differences, join hands and launch a
real
campaign against Mugabe.
The Zimbabweans who attended the
hearings played an important role in
getting the delegates at the UN to
discuss this burning issue. The name
Zimbabwe or Mugabe were not mentioned.
But ultimately the issues raised were
very relevant to the Zimbabweans
crisis.
There were only three Zimbabweans at the UN hearings. But they
made a
difference.
The UN experience was also an eye opener. The
question is: What role
is the UN willing and able to play in
Zimbabwe.
A good answer to this question may come from an incident in
the movie,
Welcome Sarajevo. In this movie a passionate American journalist,
played by
Woody Harrelson, goes to the war- torn city of Sarajevo. Here he
notices the
Serbs indiscriminately shooting and killing the city's
residents. The worst
incident is the shelling of children at a
playground.
When United Nations peacekeeping troops arrive several days
later the
American journalist angrily asks them: "Where have you been?" To
which the
commander of the peacekeeping forces, on being told how many
people were
killed, retorts, "Only that? "
Then he gives a list of
how many more people have been killed in
conflicts around the world. And he
said the United Nations cannot handle
problems of the whole world.
This may well be the answer to what Zimbabweans can realistically
expect
from the United Nations. It is increasingly apparent that the UN is
focusing
on what it considers priority needs.
And Zimbabwe does not appear to be
an area of priority concern for the
UN.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tererai Karimakwenda
26 June 2006
Robert Mugabe on
Sunday attacked the media, warned the church to stay
away from politics and
accused white Zimbabweans of not repenting after he
extended a hand of
reconciliation in 1980. The angry speech was made during
the controversial
prayer day that took place at Glamis Stadium in Harare.
But as Mugabe prayed
for divine intervention in the Zimbabwe crisis, Bishop
Dr. Levee Kadenge the
convener of the Christian Alliance which boycotted the
event, remained in
hiding after receiving threats from a state agent on
Thursday. Clerics from
the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference who met in
Highfields also said
they were threatened. They say state agents wanted a
list of participants in
order to intimidate them.
At the prayer day Mugabe said: "When the
church leaders start being
political, we regard them as political creatures
and we are vicious in that
area." Bishop Trevor Manhanga and some of the
church leaders who met Mugabe
at state house last month attended the prayer
day and Manhanga defended
Mugabe, saying he did not attack anyone and church
leaders who get into
politics should be treated as politicians. He said he
was prepared to set up
a meeting between the chief of the CIOs and the
church leaders who say they
are threatened. He said: "Let's test the
veracity of their claims." Asked if
the clergy were lying Bishop Manhanga
said he was not accusing anyone of
telling lies but he simply wanted to take
the claims to the authorities and
get at the truth. Manhanga also said he
would guarantee their safety.
Useni Sibanda, coordinator for the
Alliance said Mugabe is not
behaving like a Christian and the political
nature of his speech is exactly
what they had been afraid of. He added that
it is unfortunate that Bishop
Manhanga of the Evangelical Fellowship of
Zimbabwe (EFZ) and others are not
keen to heed the advice to stop
cooperating with Mugabe. Manhanga has been
criticized for postponing Prayer
Day from May 25th and allowing Mugabe to
politicize the prayers. Christian
Alliance leaders and opposition party
leaders boycotted the event on
Sunday.
Mugabe prayed for the media to report in a "responsible
manner." But
critics disregarded the remarks saying Mugabe sees anyone who
reports the
truth as an enemy and it is he who needs to be more
'responsible' with the
media. They said he should first repeal the
oppressive Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and
allow banned independent
newspapers and foreign journalists to operate in
the country.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are reported to have
written to
Security minister Didymus Mutasa regarding the threats made to
Bishop
Kadenge of the Christian Alliance. The Bulawayo based bishop told us
he had
not gone home since Thursday when he received a call from a CIO agent
who
accused him of meeting with other clergy to form a political
party.
Mugabe prayed for divine intervention on Sunday asking God
to pardon
Zimbabwe for sins that she committed. But Mugabe himself continues
to use
agents from the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation to
oppress the
nation. So who is the
sinner?
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
By Violet
Gonda
26 June 2006
June 26th is the United Nations
international day in support of
torture victims, and it holds a lot of
meaning for Zimbabweans as many have
suffered torture at the hands of the
Mugabe regime.
In recent years there has been an increase in
state-sanctioned acts of
torture in the form of severe beatings on the body;
electric shocks on the
genitals, mouth and the soles of the feet, rape,
psychological trauma in the
form of displacements and unlawful arrests
against ordinary civilians and
the opposition in Zimbabwe.
The
UN General Assembly decided in 1997 to observe 26th June in
support of
torture victims, with a view to total eradication of torture in
countries
like Zimbabwe. But unfortunately torture is far from over.
Meryl
Harrison former Chief Inspector of the Zimbabwe National Society
for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA) is one of many Zimbabweans
who
commemorates the UN torture day. "This is a special day for me in which
I
remember when my twin brother. He died in 1986 as a result of sustaining a
prolonged beating of four hours at Beitbridge at a police station and he
subsequently died four days later."
She said Colin was not
involved in politics and had not provoked the
police when he was arrested
after having had a few to drink. Harrison said
he was frogmarched to
Beitbridge Police Station where he was subjected to
torture. A post mortem
of her brother, who had a major physical disability
that affects the spine,
revealed that every internal organ in his body had
been ruptured as a result
of the beatings.
The Member in Charge of the police at Beitbridge
(Mischeck
Zvavachakwe) and the officer in charge of the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) at Beitbridge (Blessing Zumidza) only spent 6 months at
Chikurubi Maximum Prison after being charged with murder. Meryl said not
only did they receive a full salary during their short stay in jail but the
charges were dropped two years later as they appeared on the president's
amnesty list.
This is one of the many cases showing the
completely brutal action of
members of the Mugabe regime and how the culture
of torture and oppression
has been in place for many years.
The
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO forum estimates there were 136 reported
cases of
torture and more than 4 000 cases amounting to degrading and
inhumane
treatment in the year 2005.
With this in mind, some activities were
organised around this day
including the participation of Zimbabwean torture
victims, human rights and
civic leaders in international commemorations at
the British Houses of
Parliament on Monday morning. Victims of torture and
violence in Zimbabwe
were also remembered at a church service at St
Martins-in-the-Fields church
in Trafalgar Square. The service also
highlighted the suffering and
commemorated victims of torture in
Sudan.
Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba was among the nearly 100
Zimbabweans who attended the remembrance events in London. He is himself a
torture victim who has been forced to live in exile in South Africa after
being a victim of state agents. Shumba, his brother, and an opposition
Member of Parliament Job Sikhala, were severely beaten and received electric
shocks during interrogation. Shumba who has filed a lawsuit against Mugabe
at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights said the state agents
used electric shocks in his mouth and genitals. "Some of the perpetrators
ended up urinating in my face claiming that this was humiliation and
seemingly enjoying it," he added.
Since then he has campaigned
tirelessly on behalf of torture survivors
and address the closed meeting at
the Houses of parliament on Monday.
Keynote speakers who spoke on
organized violence and torture in
Zimbabwe were Arnold Tsunga the Director
of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights and Ahmed Motala the executive
director of the South African based
Centre of the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation.
Shumba said of major concern to the human rights
defenders is that
torture seems to have been institutionalised now in the
Zimbabwe government
psyche leading to a massive exodus of
Zimbabweans.
A survey conducted recently by human rights groups
Action Aid and
Amani Trust revealed that one in 10 Zimbabweans need
psychological help and
one in 10 people over the age of 30 in Matabeleland
is a survivor of
torture. The human rights bodies revealed the shocking
statistics after
assessing 824 people affected by Robert Mugabe's Operation
Murambatsvina and
found that 69% of the victims were in need of clinical
help or psychological
attention. The group conservatively estimated that
820,000 people in
Zimbabwe need psychological assistance.
The
United Nations estimates that 700 000 people were made homeless
and at least
2.4 million were directly affected by the government so-called
clean up
exercise. Many have disappeared into remote rural areas while
others have
been dumped in informal camps. Rights groups, churches and
lawyers say they
are allowed very little access into these holding camps
A
spokesperson from the Amani Trust has said that Zimbabwe has a
population
that has been exposed to "multiple traumas" which, if untreated,
will become
"chronic disorders".
In addition to this misery Zimbabwe is a
country with 80% unemployed,
the world's fastest shrink economy, with the
world's highest inflation at
1193.5% and a collapsed health sector. It's
estimated that 3 000 people are
dying from AIDS related illnesses each week
and there is very little access
to appropriate medication.
Little international pressure has been placed on the Zimbabwean
government
to respect its obligations to human rights. Rights groups also
criticise
South Africa's inaction and it's complicity in blocking action on
Zimbabwe
in the African Union and the international community. The groups
that met
with the British MPs and peers urged the international community to
put
pressure on Thabo Mbeki, as South Africa is key to resolving Zimbabwe's
crisis.
Shumba said the House noted that a document adopted by
the UN General
Assembly beholds the international community to intervene in
situations such
as Zimbabwe - where the state has failed to protect
citizens. It is time to
start acting on that document and what was agreed
was that SA needs to be
publicly named and shamed with regards to its lack
of response to Zimbabwe.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
June 26, 2006,
By
ANDnetwork .com
Fuel shortages have resurfaced in Bulawayo, with
most filling stations
going for days without supplies, Chronicle has
learnt.
The commodity is in short supply despite a jump in
prices.
A litre of both petrol and diesel is going for between $400 000
and
$600 000, up from between $205 000 and $280 000.
A snap survey
by Saturday Chronicle yesterday revealed that most
service stations had no
supplies.
Fuel attendants were seen loitering at the garages.
"We haven't received fuel for the past month. We just hope that the
situation improves soon," said a petrol attendant.
He said the
filling station was sometimes relying on imported fuel
from
Botswana.
Another fuel attendant said they last received the commodity
last
week.
He said supplies had been erratic since prices were
increased at the
beginning of this week.
"We neither have petrol
nor diesel, and we don't even know when we
will get supplies. Just keep
checking," said the garage worker.
The attendant said prices of the
commodity were competing with the
black market.
He said they last
sold both petrol and diesel at $250 000, but was
quick to mention that the
price would be adjusted according to the
hyperinflationary
environment.
However, petrol was available at a Total Garage , which is
situated
along Main Street and 5th Avenue, although there was no
diesel.
There was a long queue at the filling station, which was
selling
petrol for $400 000 per litre.
The Bulawayo Service
Station, a dependable outlet locally, did not
have supplies.
Scores
of people were seen outside the garage premises selling petrol
and diesel
for $600 000 per litre.
Although no official comment could be obtained
from the Ministry of
Energy and Power Development, fuel supplies are
expected to improve soon
after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe unveiled a US$50
million ($5,1 trillion
at the prevailing exchange rate) revolving fuel
import facility.
This followed an agreement signed between the central
bank and French
bank, BNP Paribas, and coarranger of the facility, Loita
Capital Partners
International.
Under the facility, which will run
for the next year on a revolving
basis, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
will import fuel for both
private and public sectors.
Zimbabwe has
been facing intermittent fuel shortages over the past six
years due to a
foreign currency crunch, a result of the illegal sanctions
imposed by the
Western powers.
The country requires US$40 million for its monthly fuel
requirements
and the USS$50 million facility is expected to go a long way in
improving
fuel availability due to its revolving nature.
Source
: Zim Chronicle