The Telegraph
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 8:16PM BST 01/06/2008
The Mugabe
regime tightened its grip on the forthcoming presidential
election when
police arrested prominent opposition politicians and banned
Movement for
Democratic Change rallies.
Arthur Mutambara, 40, the leader of the smaller
faction of the MDC, was
arrested after armed riot police swarmed over his
Harare home.
"They are charging him with publishing statements
prejudicial to the state
and for contempt of court," said Harrison Nkomo,
his lawyer.
In a newspaper article earlier this year, Mr Mutambara
criticised President
Robert Mugabe for his handling of elections in
March.
He also accused the government of intimidation and questioned its
right to
stay in office.
The editor of the newspaper was arrested on May
8 for publishing the article
and has been freed on bail to await trial on an
unspecified date.
Eric Matinenga, 54, the chancellor of Zimbabwe's
Anglican Church, an
opposition member of parliament and a prominent
barrister, was arrested on
Saturday about 150 miles south of Harare and is,
according to his wife,
Miriam, facing charges of "inciting
violence."
Police also banned Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, from
holding
rallies at Victoria Falls, a tourist resort, and Hwange, a mining
town in
north west Zimbabwe.
Over the weekend Zimbabwe's state-owned
television said two ruling ZANU-PF
party members had been shot dead by
suspected opposition supporters but the
MDC denied any
involvement.
Mr Tsvangirai beat Mr Mugabe in the presidential elections
in March but did
not win a clear majority and faces a second round on June
27.
--------------------------------
To read the article in
question, written by Arthur Mutambara, go to
https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/apr17b_2008.html#Z9
http://www.hararetribune.com
By Trymore Magomana | Staff
Reporter
Sunday, June 1, 2008 14:21
news@hararetribune.com
Zimbabwe,
Harare–Robert Mugabe, with barely four weeks before the run-off
election on
June 27, and recognizing that despite the violence he has
unleashed on the
rural folk that propelled the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to
victory on March 29, has intensified his efforts to render
the MDC
impotent.
Today, Mugabe, through Emmerson Mnangagwa, sent officers from
the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) to arrest Arthur Mutambara, the leader of
the former
breakaway MDC faction.
Mutambara was arrested, persuant of
the regulations of Access to Information
and Privacy Protection Act (AIPPA),
for publishing an article critical of
the person of Mugabe and his ZANU-PF
government.
A number of people have been arraigned before the courts for
publishing
"falsehoods" in accordance with AIPPA. The repressive AIPPA,
penned by one
Prof. Jonathan Moyo before he fell out with his pay master
Robert Mugabe,
has been used since its enactment to shut down four
newspapers, including
the Daily News and the Tribune.
A day before
Mutambara was picked up, Eric Matinenga, an opposition
legislator and lawyer
to the main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was arrested
on Saturday in the
eastern district of Buhera and was being charged with
inciting public
violence, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
In his April 19 scathing
tell-all opinion piece titled "A shameful betrayal
of independence" that he
wrote to commemorate Independence Day on April 18
and published in the
privately owned weekly The Standard, Mutambara came out
swinging,
criticizing Mugabe for his handling of elections in March.
"This
particular 28th commemoration is like none of the previous ones. We
are in
uniquely invidious circumstances. Our economy has virtually collapsed
and
industries have ground to a halt. Our society is calibrated by fear,
terror
and outright brutality. Our national institutions of governance have
been
rendered dysfunctional and impotent. We have had harmonized general
elections, and 20 days later the results of the Presidential polls are still
not yet released," Mutambara wrote. In the same article, Mutambara also
questioned the Mugabe government of its right to stay in
office.
"They've arrested Mutambara at his house this morning," said
his lawyer
Harrison Nkomo. "They are charging him with publishing statements
prejudicial to the state and for contempt of court."
Mugabe &
ZANU-PF, smarting from their loss of the majority in parliament,
had counted
on the MDC factions remaining divided.
So much so that the Herald
published daily celebratory opinion pieces
pointing out the glaring
divisions between and within the opposition
parties.
It appears
writing the article was not that bad in the eyes ZANU-PF, but
Mutambara's
strategic move nine days later when he announced, flanked by
Morgan
Tsvangirai, that the two MDC factions, now that they controlled
parliament,
will be working in harmony to push through legislation irked the
ZANU-PF
leadership.
Judging by what Mutambara had said in "A shameful betrayal of
independence,"
the agenda the united MDC would push through scared the
ZANU-PF leadership.
"They [MDC MPs] should elect the Speaker, and outline
a comprehensive agenda
for the incoming Parliament. Items that should be
debated and adopted must
include, but not limited to: Impeachment of the
caretaker President, Robert
Mugabe; Removal of AIPPA and POSA; Establishment
of processes for achieving
a people-driven democratic constitution;
Immediate prosecution of public
servants, including military and police
officers who are currently abusing
their authority; Establishment of
processes to rationalize the land reform
programme; Setting up of a Truth
and Justice Commission for Gukurahundi and
Murambatsvina; Immediate removal
from office, and criminal prosecution of,
the RBZ Governor; and Dismantling
and reconstitution of ZEC," Mutambara had
said in the article on April
19.
Suddenly this is becoming a reality, following the MDC MPs' caucus
meeting
at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) on Friday last
week in
which MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai intimated that the opposition
was now
ready to push through with what Mutambara had urged the opposition
to do in
his opinion article.
In the face of such a change of the
political landscape in Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF
took the instant decision to arrest
Mutambara two days after the MDC MPs
meeting, somewhat trying to throw
spanners into the MDC's parliamentary
agenda.
ZANU-PF is working
night and day to protect and insulate itself from the
changing dynamic in
the country and one way it can do that is by arresting
all opposition MPs
and leaders on trumped up charges.
MP elect Eric Matinenga, who beat
ZANU-PF's Tapiwa Zengeya for the Buhera
West seat on March 29 and who had
also attended the MDC MPs meeting at the
HICC on Friday, is the fifth MDC
legislator to be arrested ahead of the
presidential run-off.
"The
whole campaign is to render the MDC comatose but it is not going to
work.
This run-off is between the people and a dictatorship represented by
Mugabe," Nelson Chamisa said, adding that Matinenga was due to appear in
court on Monday.--Harare Tribune
africasia
HARARE, June 1 (AFP)
Zimbabwean police prevented the opposition from staging two
rallies in the
resort towns of Hwange and Victoria Falls that were due to be
addressed by
its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the party said Sunday.
The
rallies were supposed to have been held on Saturday, but police blocked
opposition supporters from entering into the two stadiums were the rallies
were due to be held.
"Our two rallies that were supposed to be held
yesterday in Hwange and
Victoria Falls were blocked by the police," Nelson
Chamisa, chief spokesman
for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told
AFP.
"The police are literally trying to be difficult, but acting on the
instructions of ZANU-PF," he added in reference to Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai are due to square
up in a run-off presidential
election at the end of the
month.
Tsvangirai won a first round on March 29 but fell just short of an
overall
majority needed to topple Mugabe, who has ruled the former British
colony
since independence in 1980.
"They are trying to disenable us
to reach out to the people," said Chamisa.
"This is a deliberate attempt
meant to ensure that there is a blackout on
our programmes and so that the
president (Tsvangirai) will not be visible on
the ground to suit their
propaganda and agenda."
Under the terms of an agreement mediated by South
African President Thabo
Mbeki in the run-up to the March 29 polls, the
opposition was meant to be
free to hold rallies but was meant to notify the
police beforehand.
However the police have been accused of ignoring the
agreement and issued an
edict in April banning any political rallies in the
capital Harare.
There was no immediate reaction from the police.
http://www.hararetribune.com
By James Shumba | Staff
Reporter
Saturday, May 31, 2008 20:46 | news@hararetribune.com
Zimbabwe,
Harare–
Dear Tambo Mbeki
Zimbabwe has gone to the dogs and has
been plunged into horrendous violence
on Mbeki’s watch.
Zimbabwe’s
Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has
accused
President Thabo Mbeki of “complicity” and secretly conniving to
perpetuate
Robert Mugabe’s rule.
In an extraordinary attack on the South African
President, whom regional
leaders last year appointed mediator in the
Zimbabwe crisis, Tsvangirai
warned that “there will be no country left” if
Mbeki was allowed to continue
in the role.
The Sunday Times is in
possession of the explosive letter dated May 13 that
was delivered via
official channels.
In it, Tsvangirai tells Mbeki: “The MDC sees your role
as mediator as
neither appropriate nor effective.”
He accuses Mbeki
of:
a.. Lacking neutrality;
b.. Dividing the MDC;
c.. Blocking United Nations discussions on Zimbabwe;
d.. Helping
Mugabe’s government acquire weapons;
e.. Suppressing the
Khampepe-Moseneke Report on the 2002 Zimbabwe
elections, which means Mbeki
has no “moral claim to mediate a state of
affairs at which he has, in
secret, connived”; and
*Breaching the principles of mediation by showing a
lack of respect for the
MDC.
News of the letter comes as Zimbabwe
gears up for the June 27 presidential
runoff election between Tsvangirai and
Mugabe, and as the Zanu-PF militia
and security forces intensify their
crackdown on opposition supporters.
“Not only have you been unable to
denounce the well-documented post-election
attacks on our people, but your
government even played a role in Zimbabwean
government procurement of
weapons of repression (tear gas and batons, for
example) and agreed to allow
passage of arms of war purchased by the same
government through South
African territory during the troubled post-election
period,” says
Tsvangirai.
He points out that when Mbeki started mediating in Zimbabwe,
“the country
still had a functioning economy”.
Don't
miss
a.. MDC won't campaign
b.. MDC parliament first sitting
c..
Mugabe is possessed -- Tsvangirai
d.. We will never leave State House --
Grace Mugabe
e.. Don't go to Zimbabwe, US tells its residents
f.. A
platoon on the rampage
g.. I refuse to go home
h.. We are innocent,
War-Vets claim
i.. Mengistu, safe for now
“Millions of citizens had not
fled to other countries to escape political
and economic crisis and
thousands had not died by impoverishment and
disease.”
He says that
since the March 29 elections, “Zimbabwe has plunged into
horrendous violence
while you have been mediating. With respect, if we
continue like this, there
will be no country left.”
Tsvangirai’s letter came as another letter —
allegedly written by Mbeki to
US President George Bush — surfaced in which
Mbeki is said to tell Bush to
“butt out” of Zimbabwe.
Presidential
spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga yesterday told the Sunday Times
that “neither
Tsvangirai nor the MDC leadership had written a letter of
(that) kind to
Mbeki.
“We are concerned that there are people who seem to be ready to
peddle lies
about the mediation process and a range of other issues,” he
said.
However, senior MDC leaders said they were in possession of a
receipt of
delivery.
In yet another indication that Mugabe will still
not accept defeat, the
government mouthpiece The Herald quoted army chief of
staff Major-General
Martin Chedondo urging soldiers to vote for
Mugabe.
“Soldiers are not apolitical. Only mercenaries are
apolitical. We have
signed and agreed to fight and protect the ruling
party’s principles of
defending the revolution ... If you have other
thoughts, then you should
remove that uniform.”
Mugabe’s wife, Grace,
was also reported as telling Zanu-PF followers that
the MDC would not be
allowed to take power.
“Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan
Tsvangirai will never set foot
inside State House,” she
said.
Tsvangirai’s letter also reveals how he handed Mbeki copies of
secret
documents outlining a decision by the Zimbabwean government to deploy
soldiers, war veterans and militia in a violent campaign.
“You expressed
deep concern and suggested you would convene a meeting
between myself and Mr
Mugabe before the SADC summit (in April). I travelled
to South Africa and
waited for a full day for this meeting ... No one from
your office ever
contacted me.”
He says the MDC remains “fully committed to SADC’s
critical role in Zimbabwe
and has no problem with South Africa’s
participation in mediation efforts”.
Rather, “it is your own involvement
as exclusive mediator to which we take
exception”.
He adds: “When the
MDC attempted to appeal to the UN Security Council to
investigate and help
stop the carnage, it was you, the so called neutral
mediator, who blocked a
possible road to a resolution of the crisis.”
The MDC says Mbeki’s
infamous “no-crisis” appearance on television with
Mugabe was the last
straw.
“Following this comment and others you made to SADC heads of
state, it
became clear to the MDC executive that it must urgently review
(our)
relationship with you and your role in the mediation.”
Mbeki is
further accused of trying to split the MDC by talking to other
party leaders
behind Tsvangirai’s back.
“As a leader, whilst you may not have respect
for me as a person, I can only
ask you to respect the position that I hold,
which position and
responsibility has been endorsed by the majority of
Zimbabweans, who voted
for me,” Tsvangirai says.--Harare
Tribune
Reuters
Sun 1
Jun 2008, 18:04 GMT
(Updates with quote, background)
HARARE, June
1 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe to
attend a food
summit in Rome in his first visit to the West since March 29
parliamentary
elections which his ruling party lost to the opposition, state
television
said on Sunday.
Mugabe travelled accompanied by his wife and several
senior government
officials, it said without giving more
details.
"President Robert Mugabe has left the country for Rome to attend
the Food
and Agricultural Organisation summit which starts on Tuesday," it
said.
Western powers accuse Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in
1980, of wrecking the economy of his once-prosperous country
and of using
violence against his opponents. He faces a June 27 presidentil
run-off
against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe was in
Italy in 2005, when he attended Pope John Paul II's funeral.
Mugabe was
last in Europe in December for a Commonwealth meeting in
Portugal, which
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted to protest the
Zimbabwean
leader's participation.
The EU has a travel ban on Mugabe because of his
human rights record, but
Portugal lifted the ban for the December summit.
Taking place as it does
under a United Nations umbrella, the Rome summit
would be open to Mugabe.
World leaders will meet in Rome June 3-5 summit
to discuss global problems
caused by rising food prices.
Yahoo News
Monday June 2, 03:26 AM
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The camps where South
Africa's government plans to
house migrants displaced by xenophobic attacks
do not meet humanitarian
standards, international aid agency Oxfam said on
Sunday.
Some 62 migrants have been killed and tens of thousands forced from
their
homes around the country. The violence, which has subsided, targeted
mostly
Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
The government plans to move
thousands of displaced people to various camps
around the Gauteng province,
where the violence first broke out.
"Oxfam is concerned that minimum
standards of humanitarian assistance and
protection have not been met.
Adequate water, sanitation, and security
facilities should have been in
place ahead of relocations," the agency said
in a statement.
Oxfam
said one of the camps did not have sufficient toilets and a water tank
did
not have taps, posing a health risk.
Radio 702 reported that residents at
Midrand, where the government was
setting up a shelter for displaced
residents hurled insults at a senior
official who came to address
them.
The residents were concerned about crime and the value of their
homes if the
temporary shelter is set up, Radio 702 said.
Analysts
say competition for housing and jobs combined with soaring food and
fuel
prices raised tensions that led to the riots. Unemployment in South
Africa
hovers around 24 percent.
(Reporting by Phumza Macanda; Editing by
Elizabeth Piper)
IOL
June
01 2008 at 01:23PM
By Peta Thornycroft
The sun was hot
in the treeless cemetery at Warren Hills last Sunday
afternoon.
It is the only graveyard around Harare with any space as the
population is
dying so fast. Most of the recently buried died before they
reached 35
years.
As thousands stood between new graves and heard the lament
of a
traditional Shona funeral and Christian rituals, a bakkie slowly drove
up.
It carried sections of instant concrete walling for a crypt.
Relatives
threw in a few shovels of earth as the crypt would be constructed
that night
after they had left.
This would secure it from
thieves. Zimbabweans are reduced to
scavengers, and digging up graves,
turfing out corpses and removing fresh
coffins for resale is a way of
staying alive.
This coffin carries the remains
of Tonderai Ndira, a man who will
probably become the most prominent hero
from this period of Zimbabwe's
struggle for democracy.
The
North Korean-designed official national Heroes' Acre is less than
a
kilometre from where Ndira was buried last Sunday.
The heroes there
belong in two groups, all marked by grand granite and
bronze tombstones -
those who fought militarily or politically to end white
rule, and those who
helped keep President Robert Mugabe in power.
When this depraved
phase of the struggle - which has turned people
into coffin stealers -
passes, the working class from urban ghettos will
create a new shrine for
Ndira and his comrades, two of whom were
assassinated and buried in the same
cemetery a week earlier. Ndira, 33, was
head of the MDC's provincial
security department. His decomposing, naked
body was found in the bush near
Harare on May 21.
He had been kidnapped a week earlier in Harare by
a group of nine or
10 men in plainclothes, who beat him up in front of his
family and then
drove him away in a bakkie.
Last week men,
claiming to be from the department of local government
were looking for
Ndira's unmarked grave. So lawyers drafted a letter on
Friday advising the
authorities that the graves are sacrosanct.
The officials have
already found the other two graves.
So far, they are not sure which
grave holds the mortal remains of
Ndira.
Across town, while
Ndira was being buried, Mugabe launched his
campaign from Zanu-PF's
headquarters, which was packed with Zanu-PF
political heavyweights who have
another chance to reverse their party's
fortunes in the presidential run-off
election on June 27.
Mugabe has made it clear he is going nowhere.
Whether he wins or
loses, he and Zanu-PF are going to remain in power. His
wife Grace made that
point as well when, on Thursday, the couple distributed
money and goods to
people whose huts, they allege, were burned down by MDC
supporters.
She said that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai will never
"move into State
House. Never".
And that is the reality which
Zimbabwe faces, as does SA Local
Government Minister Sidney Mufamadi, on
whose shoulders has now fallen the
chore of trying to find an honourable end
to the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) mediation which
collapsed last December.
Mufamadi, chief representative for Mbeki,
has been to Harare trying to
persuade Mugabe that a government of national
unity (GNU), or a transitional
authority would be better than the June 27
election.
This is an election Zimbabwe cannot afford, and is the
reason Ndira
and so many others have been killed.
Mugabe has
told Mufamadi that he will consider a GNU but only after
the run-off, only
after he has won.
On the other hand, Tsvangirai will be unable to
persuade his MPs and
councillors, who have paid a terrible price for their
loyalty to the MDC,
that Mugabe should be part of any future administration.
They are prepared
to consider some kind of transitional authority shared
with Zanu-PF, but
Mugabe cannot be part of it. He would have to retire to
his rural home,
Zvimba, about 80km north of Harare.
So Zimbabwe
seems destined to endure this election and it is going to
get even
nastier.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which
provided
independent observers to all polls, learned on Thursday that it is
now
required to re-accredit all its 9 400 observers, many of whom have been
beaten up since the last election.
ZESN says this is an
impossibility in a situation of regular attacks
on its members.
Ndira's thousands of mourners chanted "hondo, hondo" (war, war) as
they
toyi-toyied into the cemetery last week.
The likelihood of a dirty
civil war is now closer than ever, even
though only one side has
guns.
This article was originally published on page 15 of
Cape Argus on June
01, 2008
IOL
Maureen
Isaacson
June 01 2008 at 12:13PM
If Tendai Biti has
many faces, it is because he is versatile as well
as changeable. He says his
is "a story of struggle". As the
secretary-general of Zimbabwe's oppostion
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), he has a date with
destiny.
Last week he dazzled an audience at a Wits Public
Conversations forum
with his chilling run-down of a country facing a run-off
for the election in
which the MDC beat Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF
party.
The bizarre upshot of Zimbabwe's rocketing inflation is that
a packet
of sausages costs ZIM$1,8-billion; a loaf of bread costs
ZIM$300-million and
Mazoe (a powdered orange drink) costs ZIM$2,5-billion
for a 5kg bag. He
recalled that when he was at boarding school it cost 20
cents for three
months' supply of Mazoe.
It is a long time
since he was a boy in Form 1 who knew he would not
lead "an ordinary life"
as an adult. But he is no rich man's son. He was
born on August 6 1966, in
the working class suburb of Dzivarasekwa in
Harare. He was lucky enough to
come into the world laden with gifts - of
intellect and of oratory. He is
also a champion chess player, a singer, a
great reader and, according to his
peers, an excellent strategist.
'I am frustrated, I want to
go home'
When I interview him at a Sandton hotel, Biti is not the same
man I
met at the Wits forum. To begin with, he is wearing a cap that renders
him
barely recognisable, and his charisma is on hold. Either way, this
lawyer
makes a compelling argument for the world to heed the call to stop
"the
madness".
Evidence of his own nervous condition lies in a
tic in one of his
hands. "I am frustrated, I want to go home," he says. "But
the [MDC]
leadership insists that I stay here."
Augustine
Chihuri, Zimbabwe's Police Commissioner, has threatened Biti
with
unspecified action when he returns to Zimbabwe. Chihuri accused him of
illegally declaring the results of the March 29 elections and "urging and
abetting political violence".
In a menacing letter to Biti,
which was published in The Herald
newspaper, Zanu-PF's mouthpiece, Chihuri
wrote: "What is very conspicuous in
the Zimbabwean political arena today is
your prominent role in urging and
abetting political violence through
unbridled rhetoric of incitement.
"You know for sure, your
violation of the country's laws by declaring
presidential results which was,
in deed, in contravention of Section 110 of
the Electoral Act, Chapter 2:13
and is still to be attended to by the
police." Chihuri has warned that "the
swift arm of the law will always catch
up with the evil doer".
Biti says Zimbabwean prisons are desperately overcrowded. He has been
detained "every year since 2000". His gruelling report, on behalf of the
Zimbabwean Human Rights Lawyers, of the March 11 beatings and torture at
Machipisa Prison, where 40 leaders of opposition parties and civil society
activists were arrested en route to the Save Zimbabwe Campaign prayer
meeting at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare, is deeply
affecting.
"When we were being beaten on 11 March they [the
policemen] were
enjoying it and competing to beat Morgan [Tsvangirai, the
MDC leader]," he
said at Wits.
He mentioned that Grace Kwinjeh,
a member of the MDC's national
executive committee, took the brunt of the
beatings in that room.
Kwinjeh, who lost part of an ear during a
beating with a metal rod,
says Biti's bravery is not in question. "Just
being the secretary-general of
the MDC over the past five years requires
bravery, and it takes great
leadership courage to deliver the kind of result
we did in the election - as
well as a great deal of work and
administration."
Biti says Zanu-PF's military intelligence is
targeting key players in
the MDC structures - such as Tonderai Ndira, a
young MDC leader who was
recently killed.
Since the March 29
election, more than 50 people have been killed.
Harvest House, the MDC's
headquarters in Harare, is flooded with refugees,
including women and
babies, who are fleeing Mugabe's war. Biti is Gandhian
in his approach: the
MDC's principled non-violence is symbolised by the open
hand of the logo, as
opposed to the closed fist of revolution.
"There will be
retribution. And when it comes, the MDC, a democratic
movement, will become
irrelevant. The youths are radical. Please do
something before there is a
catastrophe", is his appeal to the international
community.
"There cannot be a run-off because we won this election. And therefore
by
agreeing to participate in the run-off we are supporting the kleptocracy.
But there has to be a political solution. We have to create conditions for
the rehabilitation of our country.
"But the fact the MDC has
defeated the tyrant; the perpetrator of
genocide, is remarkable. Especially
since Mugabe has instilled the idea in
the psyche of the nation that we [the
MDC] are not people; we are
"sellouts", we are like the cockroaches, the
name the Hutus gave to the
Tutsis [in Rwanda]."
Last week, Biti
warned, presciently, that the "xenophobic violence" in
South Africa would
destabilise the borders of neighbouring countries as it
has done in South
Africa.
"You mark my words. We know the cause of xenophobia, it is
President
[Robert] Mugabe. People are being killed in
Zimbabwe."
Critics of the MDC, who believe the movement is indeed
in the pockets
of "the West", are watching Biti. It is widely believed that
if Tsvangirai
does not become Zimbabwe's president, Biti will. Would he like
this?
"Absolutely not," he says.
"I love the law. I may stay
for three years in the party, sorting out
the mess." At Wits, he said: "When
we craft a solution there will have to be
a transitional national healing.
There has to be transitional justice. You
cannot have a Kenyan solution
which subordinates the victor.
"You have to be careful. Mugabe must
be promoted upstairs. Give him
guarantees of personal safety and tell him,
if you want to play golf with
Kenneth Kaunda, by all means do so. There can
be no vindictiveness. The
people of Zimbabwe cannot have an elite
pact.
"The core of our struggle has been the issue of constitution:
we
demand a people-driven constitution - by the people for the people. You
have
to give the same guarantees for everyone. You cannot tell people to
forgive.
We need to write a constitution based on mistrust.
"We
are going to put a limit on the terms of office. Zimbabwe is at a
crossroads. The issue of land is critical, the issue of compensation must be
dealt with. We have to look at the farms that have been nationalised then
deal with the demand side of land reform. Are you going to give back the
white farmers their land? We will have to rationalise this on the principle
of need and ability: do you need it? Can you farm it? We cannot have
multiple ownership. There will be voluntary surrender, the return of the
land market."
Biti admits that the MDC is "not a perfect
movement", that it has had
to root out corruption and that the split between
Tsvangirai supporters and
supporters of Arthur Mutambara was
"tragic".
Yes, there has been violence, but the split was not
caused by this.
Zanu-PF's ugliness has contaminated everything in
Zimbabwe.
Biti says it is well known that Tsvangirai "listens too
much" to what
others say.
How well does Biti
listen?
Kwinjeh says when he disagrees with what you are saying, he
does not
listen. "Tendai has to improve on gender equality. We, the women,
think he
can do more. Let's deal with patriarchy, I think." She also says he
is a
brilliant lawyer and a principled leader who has stood by Tsvangirai
when
many have not done so.
Rehad Desai, a film-maker who knew
Biti when he was a student leader
in the 1980s, says Biti's hardcore
Marxist-Leninist line was modified and
adapted to the Zimbabwean situation
when they met.
His leadership qualities were already on show. He
was the leader of
the study group, the International Socialists of
Zimbabwe.
"When the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions was flexing
its muscles,
we began to form links and joined the MDC."
Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Civil Society at the
University of
KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, who was completing a PhD on Zimbabwe
in the late
1980s, says: "You could see that Tendai could one day become the
president."
Biti's old leftie comrades from the heady 1980s
worry that the United
States and United Kingdom will turn Zimbabwe into a
neoliberal enclave. He
insists that he has received not a bean from either
country.
Many remember him as a firebrand: "I threw stones at
Mugabe," Biti
himself recalls. Bond says that "Zanu-PF was brilliantly
outfoxed during
Thabo Mbeki's mediation in the run-up to the election. Some
activists - like
National Constitutional Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku -
called the talks
a 'sell-out', and yet the trick of immediately transmitting
cellphone photos
of official results from polling stations was the neatest
bit of political
jujitsu I've ever seen, and may make the crucial difference
in Zimbabwe's
democratisation."
Biti is willing to defend
himself against accusations that he himself
has sold out. How could the
country's promising young human rights lawyer be
bought by a top-drawer
commercial law firm, ask those who decry his
partnership in Honey &
Blackenberg.
He shrugs off the idea that "the real turning point
came in 1997" when
he defended the Standard Bank in a labour case. "The
Standard bank is a
client of my law firm and as such I was obliged to defend
it. I am the
lawyer who represents more trade unions than any other lawyer
in Zimbabwe.
"Very few people are using the courts and the law as I
have done in
favour of workers. I specialise in constitutional law and
labour law, but I
end up doing everything that has to be done. I am a
lawyer's lawyer, a kind
of advocate. Law is my passion," he says. "I have
been fortunate that
everything I have been doing as a lawyer, [including
human rights cases]
highlights Zimbabwean history."
Miles
Larmer, an academic at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK,
remembers
Biti's determination at university to make a difference and his
impatience
with those far lefties "who stayed up talking all night,
achieving
nothing".
Biti's appointment to the presidency would be welcomed by
Themba
Nolotshungu, of the conservative Free Market Foundation, who says: "I
would
expect them [the MDC] to be more centrist and more inclined towards
free
market and to understand to what extent the state would be involved in
terms
of economic policy. They are pragmatic, rather than ideologically
driven."
But those on the other side of the fence accuse Biti of
selling his
socialism down the river. He responds emphatically: "I am still
a socialist.
I have not changed. Socialism is not an ideology of poverty,
but of maximum
production and equitable distribution."
Desai
says: "Tendai is still with Morgan because he still believes in
socialism
and the working class and the peasantry of Zimbabwe as a social
force as it
was before."
Biti refers me to the MDC manifesto, in which he had a
hand, and which
he says is no neoliberal document. He refers me in
particular to the MDC's
economic doctrine "… which says let us cross our own
destiny so that the
imperialists do not have a say in our life; our economy
is so vulnerable.
Let us look to outsiders on our own terms. We will pay
back debt owed by
Zimbabwe. The manifesto is very clear that we carry out an
audit and we will
repute all the odious debt".
He is referring
to the debt carried over from Zanu-PF, and to the
international moral
principle that has established that this need not be
paid by a new
democracy.
Despite Chihuri's menacing, Biti will continue to speak
to an
international audience, as well as to an African audience, about
assisting
his country.
He says: "We will allow dual
citizenship. We have shown we can defeat
a dictator and one of the biggest
challenges of these struggles is that it
is easy to mirror that which one is
trying to remove."
Desai describes Biti as a loner. He says Biti's
dedication to the
struggle has cost him his relationship with the mother of
his child.
He is moody, saddened, yet he allows himself to be
humoured as he
gears up for his date with fate. He says: "I am ready to face
what is
waiting for me."
This article was originally
published on page 13 of Sunday Independent
on June 01,
2008
WOZASolidarity can now confirm that the 14 WOZA
(Women
of Zimbabwe Arise) arrested in Harare on Wednesday
were brought to
court Friday charged with activity
likely to cause public disorder with
founder member
Jenni Williams also being charged with causing
disaffection
among the police and publishing false
information. They were granted bail by
the
magistrate, but the state appealed and they have been
remanded in
custody until June 6th. We understand
they are being held at Harare Remand
Prison.
This is a crucial time for Zimbabwe - The regime is
relying on
fear to maintain control but fear is a
weapon WOZA is determined to
neutralize. They were
the first to take to the streets after the March
29th
election when they staged a protest in Bulawayo on 9th
April calling
on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to
release the result of the
presidential election
forthwith. On May 5th 2008 several hundred
WOZA
members staged a Mothers day protest against
politically motivated
violence following the March
elections (see WOZA statement below). 11 WOZA
and MOZA
(Men of Zimbabwe Arise) members were arrested and 59
were
injured, either by police baton sticks or by the
police vehicle ZRP 3039 M,
which drove into the crowd.
On the 19th May a follow up demonstration in
Harare
was cancelled at the last moment for security reasons.
We
understand a further attempt to demonstrate in
Harare was underway when the
14 were arrested on
Wednesday.
WOZA BACKGROUND
WOZA (Women of
Zimbabwe Arise) first took to the
streets on Valentines Day 2003 proclaiming
that
'The power of love can conquer the love of power'.
Since then
WOZA has conducted over 70 protests,
suffered over 2,500 arrests and hundreds
have been
brutally beaten for exercising their constitutional
rights and
fundamental freedoms.
WOZA Statement from fliers distributed 5th
May:-
'We, the mothers of the nation, have examined our
existence and
that of our children and decided that
enough is enough. We are deeply
concerned about the
current political impasse. We also call on SADC,
the
African Union and United Nations to show their
solidarity for the
people and respect that Zimbabweans
have already chosen a new president and
that their
vote should count. The current government are trying
to subvert
the laws of the land and allowing Mugabe to
stay in power when he lost the
election. Change will
come. The people's voices will be heard and
respected.
We just need to keep standing strong.'
For more
information please ring +447811452030 or
+442078019390
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
01 June 2008 07:21
Hundreds of women converged on a stadium on the outskirts of
Harare on
Saturday to pray for peace ahead of the country's tense
presidential run-off
amid mounting political violence.
"As we pray today there are
some fellow Zimbabweans who are
hiding in mountains afraid to come down,
fearing that they may be surrounded
and attacked," Tawona Mtshiya,
vice-chair of the Evangelical Fellowship of
Zimbabwe, told a crowd drawn
from various denominations.
"In our situation in Zimbabwe
today, a solution can only come if
we pray to God."
The
prayer service was organised by a group called the Zimbabwe
Women's National
Prayer Task Force, which is seen as politically neutral.
Zimbabweans go to the polls on June 27 for a second-round
presidential
election between President Robert Mugabe, who has led the
country since
independence in 1980, and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai fell just short of an outright
majority in a first
round of voting on March 29 while his party wrested
control of Parliament
from Mugabe's Zanu-PF in a simultaneous legislative
poll.
The period since the original polling day has been
marked by a
steady rise in political violence, which Tsvangirai's Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) says has seen more than 50 of its supporters
killed
by pro-Mugabe militias.
Mugabe blames the
opposition for the violence, which he has
denounced as
"barbaric".
Vicky Mpofu, coordinator of the prayer task
force, called on
women to hold regular prayer and fasting in their
respective churches for an
end to the violence.
"Women
have a chance to speak out against violence because
naturally we are
peacemakers and also among us women are secretaries for
Robert Mugabe,
Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni," Mpofu said.
"Let us use
every opportunity to talk and pray about peace in
our beautiful nation. We
don't want any more bloodshed, even the blood of
animals. We pray that the
spirit of violence is destroyed."
Scathing
attack
Tsvangirai launched a scathing attack on Mugabe's rule on
Friday, saying a nation rich in natural resources had become an
embarrassment to the whole of Africa.
In a self-styled
state of the nation address to lawmakers from
his party, Tsvangirai also
vowed there would be no amnesty for perpetrators
of political violence if he
takes power from Mugabe after the run-off
election.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in meltdown since the start of the
decade when
Mugabe embarked on a controversial land-reform programme that
saw thousands
of white-owned farms expropriated by the state.
A spiralling
inflation rate, officially put at 165 000% but
thought to be many times
higher, has frightened off investors, as has a new
Bill that requires locals
to own a 51% stake in all firms operating in
Zimbabwe.
A
one-time regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe now experiences
regular shortages of
even the most basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil,
sugar and
maize.
Mugabe's government has in turn blamed the country's
problems on
a limited programme of sanctions imposed by the West after he
allegedly
rigged his 2002 re-election.
"When you have
direct and indirect sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe
you cannot expect our
economy to operate normally," Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa told
reporters at the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria on Friday.
Meanwhile, two supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party have been
shot dead in
the country's north-east, state radio reported on Saturday,
amid mounting
violence ahead of the presidential run-off.
"Two Zanu-PF
supporters have been shot dead and two others
escaped unhurt in politically
motivated violence by suspected MDC elements
in Mutoko," the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation said.
The United Nations chief
representative in Zimbabwe has said
Mugabe's supporters are to blame for the
bulk of recent violence, but the
Zimbabwean president blames the
opposition.
Quoting police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka,
Saturday's state
media report said Lessy Chitsitsi, the ruling party's ward
publicity
secretary, was shot dead on Thursday.
In the
second incident, a gunman shot and killed Zanu-PF
activist Taurai Chihuri on
Friday, the report said. -- AFP
UPI
Published: May 31,
2008 at 4:39 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe, May 31 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe's inflation
level reached 1.7
million percent during the first three weeks of May as the
Zimbabwean
dollar's value dropped considerably, experts
say.
Economist John Robertson said while President Robert Mugabe has been
printing off new currency at increasingly rapid rates to help pay federal
costs, such production has only served to further decline the Zimbabwean
dollar's value and driving up product costs, The Times of London said
Saturday.
"They're printing money so fast but it's getting to the
point that it's not
fast enough," Robertson said.
The value of the
Zimbabwean dollar reached a new low this week as $1 was
found to be worth
nearly 500 million Zimbabwean dollars, the Times reported.
The British
newspaper said the declining value of the African country's
currency has led
to the creation of a new currency note worth 1 billion
Zimbabwean
dollars.
Other notes, designated "special agrocheques," have also been
created with a
top currency value of 50 billion Zimbabwean
dollars.
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Raymond Mhaka ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ May 31, 2008 ⋅
Email This Post ⋅
Post a comment
ZANU PF was left with an egg on its face
when police falsely arrested 3 MDC
supporters.
The three MDC
supporters were alleged to have set on fire three kitchen huts
belonging to
Zanu-PF supporters in Samaringa,Honde Valley in Mutare the
charges were
withdrawn due to lack of evidence.
Three MDC supporters Owen Mbona,the
councillor for Ward 10, Patrick Nyandiya
and Ozius Chitembwe were arrested
in connection with the setting on fire of
three huts belonging to Michael
Matingo, Phyllis Matingo and Michael
Samaringa on May 18.
In
withdrawing the case, the prosecutor Tawanda Zvakare said police had
acted
on rumours to arrest the suspects.
“The witnesses said they did not know
the people who burnt the huts. They
only heard through rumours that the
suspects were the ones who had burnt the
huts and unfortunately the police
did not follow-up on the rumours so that
they could convert them into facts.
These suspects were arrested on mere
suspicions and we cannot say they
committed the offence. They were
prematurely arrested.
“Investigations
should have been done first so that arrests would follow.
I want to
apologise to the defence, accused persons and the court for what
happened.
The State will like to withdraw the charges before plea.
Investigations are
in progress and if there is new evidence, the State will
proceed by way of
summons,” he said.
In his ruling, the Mutare provincial magistrate,
Livingstone Chipadza
apologised to the accused MDC supporters for what they
went through before
the matter had been investigated.
“Police should
investigate cases before arresting people. You are free to go
home now,”
said Chipadza.
Metro investigations found that no home has been burnt in
the whole area of
Honde Valley.
ZANU PF member killed by CIO
A
ZANU-PF party member was shot dead by Central Intelligence
Organisation(CIO)
operatives in Mutoko that has been gripped by political
violence.
Lessy Chitsitsi, the ZANU PF ’s ward publicity secretary
had vowed not to
campaign for the ZANU PF in protest over some tactics being
used by ZANU PF.
Mugabe has since blamed some members of ZANU PF especially
House of Assembly
elects who won but he lost in their
constituencies.
ZBC was quick to blame the MDC for the death,but the MDC
hit back.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa,MDC-Kuwadzana Central., rejected
the charges
saying “that is a lie”. “Where will our people get guns. That is
utter
rubbish,”.
http://www.hararetribune.com
By Tawanda Takavarasha | Staff
Reporter
Sunday, June 1, 2008 14:26
news@hararetribune.com
Zimbabwe,
Harare–Zimbabwe’s teachers are demanding that the government hikes
salaries
to ZW$76 billion per month to cushion them from runaway inflation,
officially 165 000 percent but estimated by independent analysts to be more
than 1 700 000 percent.
The militant Progressive Teachers’ Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) that has in
recent years led strikes for more pay and better
working conditions for
teachers said on Sunday that the $63 billion awarded
teachers by the
government in May was way below expectation and its members
would go on
strike unless the figure was topped up.
Both the
$63 billion awarded teachers by the government and the $76 billion
demanded
by the PTUZ fall far below the $100 billion that the Consumer
Council of
Zimbabwe says an average family of six requires per month for
basic services
and goods as Zimbabwe sinks deeper into recession.
Robert
Mugabe's government, viewing teachers as agents of the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), has been reluctant to address the
teachers'
working conditions.
As a results, upwards of 16 000 teachers have
left the education sector for
greener pastures in South Africa or other
English speaking countries across
the world.
PTUZ secretary general
Raymond Majongwe said: "The award is below our
expectations. We remain
unwavering on our demand for a total package of $76
billion to be awarded to
the lowest paid teacher."
Education Minister Aeneas
Chigwedere was not immediately available for
comment on the teachers’
demand.
Public Service Commission chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwa and
Minister of
Education Aeneas Chigwedere were not immediately available for
comment on
the matter.
Chigwedere has had to be recalled to
his post after the March 29 election,
he having left to take up a post as a
chief in Wedza. Instead of addressing
the teachers' working conditions,
during his whole Chigwedere was obssessed
trivialities, at one point calling
for the changing of the names of schools,
urging all schools to use one
uniform for students and with fixing the fees
students payed to go to
school.
Strikes for better pay and working conditions by Zimbabwe’s
teachers as well
as nurses and doctors have become routine in recent years,
as the country
grapples with its worst ever economic crisis.
Zimbabwe
is in the grip of a debilitating political and economic crisis that
is
highlighted by hyperinflation, a rapidly contracting GDP, the fastest for
a
country not at war, according to the World Bank, and shortages of foreign
currency, food and fuel.
An overwhelming majority of
Zimbabweans lives on less than US$1 per day and
four out of five adults of
working age are out of employment, while a
quarter of the country’s 12
million people are in need of food aid.
The crisis – critics
blame on mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe –has
driven thousands of
skilled workers into neighbouring countries and as far
as Britain and the
United States in search of better pay and living
conditions.
Mugabe, who faces popular opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai in a June 27
second round presidential election, denies
ruining the economy and instead
blames his country’s troubles on sabotage by
his Western enemies.
Anywhere else in the world a president
presiding over such economic collapse
would most certainly lose an election
but analysts say state-led violence
and murder against Tsvangirai’s
supporters might just tilt the scales in
favour of Mugabe.--Harare
Tribune/ZimOnline
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:59
THE two MDC factions on
Friday fielded separate candidates in the
three parliamentary by-elections,
to run concurrently with the Presidential
run-off on 27
June.
They turned up at the nomination courts with different
candidates,
dashing hopes by supporters they would forge a common front
against Zanu PF.
Zanu PF, which lost its Parliamentary majority for
the first time
since independence, is determined to reverse the MDC gains as
it bids to
ensure President Robert Mugabe, who lost to Tsvangirai on 29
March, wins the
run- off.
Mugabe launched his campaign last
week, telling his supporters nothing
short of a victory was
required.
His wife, Grace, betrayed Mugabe’s determination to
remain in power
when she said the veteran politician would not go, even if
he lost the
run-off.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
postponed the elections in
Pelandaba-Mpopoma, Redcliff and Gwanda following
the death of candidates of
MDC-Mutambara ahead of the 29 March
polls.
The factions had been expected to field a single candidate
in each of
the constituencies after they agreed on a loose coalition in
Parliament.
Speculation was rife the by-elections would be used to
rescue the
political careers of leading members in the Mutambara faction who
had lost
their seats.
But at the close of the nomination
courts, sitting in Redcliff,
Bulawayo and Gwanda, the MDC-Mutambara had
fielded three new candidates in
the constituencies while those from the main
MDC-Tsvangirai re-affirmed
their candidacy through letters to the
ZEC.
In Mpopoma-Pelandaba, the smaller faction fielded Dhumani
Gwetu, the
son of the late MP, Milton Gwetu, while MDC-Tsvangirai’s Samuel
Sandla
Khumalo reaffirmed his candidature.
There were two new
names in Leonard Nkala, representing PUMA, and
Gwetu. Other candidates are
Dr Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu (Zanu PF), Job Sibanda
and Fungai Mutukwa (both
independents), Samuel Mahlamvana Ndlovu (United
People’s Party) and
Chamunorwa Mahachi of the Zimbabwe Democratic Party.
In Gwanda
South, Garfield Makwati, the son of the late MDC candidate,
Glory Makwati
was disqualified as his name did not appear on the voters’
roll and was
replaced by Elizabeth Ndlovu.
Ndlovu will now fight it out with
Orders Mlilo of Zanu PF and Nephat
Mdlongwa of the main MDC-T, who
reaffirmed their candidature.
In Redcliff, four candidates were
duly nominated, with Gilmond
Karigambe to represent the MDC and Sheunesu
Muza standing on a Zanu PF
ticket. MDC-T faction fielded two candidates -
Aaron Chinhara and Tapera
Sengweni.
MDC faction representatives
were quick yesterday to point out that
fielding opposing candidates, which
would certainly split votes, did not
mean they would continue the squabbling
which cost them a clear majority in
Parliament in the 29 March
elections.
Most analysts have speculated that if the factions had
rallied on one
presidential candidate Tsvangirai would have easily achieved
the 50.3%
needed to win outright.
Welshman Ncube, secretary
general of the Mutambara faction said
yesterday there was nothing wrong in
the two parties fielding opposing
candidates in the
by-elections.
Earlier it had been suggested that Ncube, who lost to
Tsvangirai’s
deputy, Thokozani Khupe would be among top officials to be
rescued through
the by-elections.
Ncube said the parties
remained separate entities and there was no way
they would field single
candidates. He said there was "never an agreement on
parliamentary
candidates".
Ncube said: "We took a decision to support Tsvangirai
in the
Presidential run-off but we remain two separate
parties."
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-T spokesperson, said it would
have been ideal
if they had fielded single candidates but noted that the
parties remained
separate formations until "such a point when they had
concluded a
reunification process".
By Kholwani Nyathi and
Walter Marwizi
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:53
THERE are more than 90
under-five children packed tightly in the
building. There are signs a good
number have diarrhoea.
Some cry constantly but their mothers
appear clueless what to do about
the bawling. They have nothing with which
to pacify them.
This is not a children’s home or an infants’
school. Welcome to the
MDC’s "safehouse" in Harare.
More than
500 victims of the so-called Operation Mavhoterapapi (who
did you vote for?)
are housed two floors of the building. They share four
toilets, two for
women and two for men.
Six handwash basins for men and women on
both floors are now bathtubs.
Women’s and humanitarian
organisations believe this is a tip of an
iceberg on how women and children
have borne the brunt of the political
violence, mostly in rural
areas.
Hundreds, mostly women and children, are homeless. Although
no figures
were immediately available last week, The Standard was told that
since Zanu
PF launched its campaign of retribution after its electoral
defeat and ahead
of the presidential election run-off, many women have been
widowed, and
children orphaned.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa
said there were "so many areas" where
women and children were worst
affected.
"Politics should not be a loss of life but about building
it. What
women and girls are going through because of (Robert) Mugabe is not
right.
We have already appealed to the United Nations and international
charity
organisations to intervene in this humanitarian crisis," he
said.
Although the party had received help from non-governmental
organisations, which cannot be named for security reasons, more still needed
to be done to complement their efforts, he said.
According to
the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), an NGO that documents
incidents of
political violence, hundreds of male MDC supporters in rural
areas have fled
their homes to seek sanctuary in urban areas, leaving their
families
behind.
To force them to return, Zanu PF militia have abducted the
women and
children, the group said.
"There are numerous cases
of women and children being taken as ransom
and forcibly detained in bases
until their fathers or husbands return to
their villages. Women are being
assaulted, tortured, and sexually harassed,"
said ZPP chairperson Alouis
Chaumba.
Before the elections, the organisations encouraged women
to take part
in politics, as candidates and voters. There were adverts
proclaiming "women
can do it".
But after the elections, the
organisations are conspicuously absent.
But a number of them said
they were helping with shelter and food but
would not "come out" for fear of
reprisals.
"We have helped a lot of women and children but we
cannot reveal our
organisation as we all know what Zanu PF is capable of
doing once they know
us," said one activist.
Another said they
were helping the victims, although more aid was
needed.
"As a
women’s organisation we are doing our best, but if you expose us
you would
have done an injustice to the people we are helping because we
will be
forced to close down," she said.
She claimed they were providing
shelter and food in areas she could
not identify for "security reasons". But
she too said more help was
required.
Netsai Mushonga, director
of Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe said women
were worst affected as they
would be at home when the militias arrived,
their husbands having gone into
hiding.
"We were visiting some of the survivors from Chiweshe and
we found out
that the majority were women. These women were brutally beaten
up. They were
told to remove their skirts and were beaten on their buttocks
by sticks
soaked in herbicides," she said.
The government has
blamed the post-election violence on the MDC. But
human rights groups say
Zanu PF has been responsible for the lion’s share of
the
violence.
A senior member of the party’s Women’s League, Flora
Buka, asked to
comment, could only say: "I will call you later". She later
switched off her
phone.
Recently, Mugabe said he was "really
touched" by the violence.
"We are not animals but humans. If you
burn down someone’s house you
want to destroy their life," Mugabe was quoted
as saying. "We want to warn
the MDC they should stop immediately this
barbaric campaign of burning and
destroying people’s homes."
Grace Mugabe has donated groceries; asbestos sheets, cash and clothes
to
families affected by alleged MDC-perpetrated post election violence in
Mashonaland Central.
Curiously, Zanu PF has not publicly buried
any of its victims of MDC
violence, whereas the MDC has done so, with
Tsvangirai himself delivering a
graveside eulogy in Harare, shortly after
returning to the country after
nearly two month-long absence.
In April the police raided Harvest House and arrested more than 300
sanctuary seekers, including pregnant women and children.
By
Sandra Mandizvidza
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:43
BULAWAYO — Police yesterday refused to
sanction a series of rallies
intended to kick-start MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai’s presidential run-off
election campaign in Matabeleland North,
sparking allegations of government
bias against the
opposition.
Zimbabweans vote in the second round of the
presidential election on
27 June after Tsvangirai failed to garner more than
50% of the vote in March
when he beat President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, who spent six weeks in exile after the polls, fearing for
his
life, had rallies scheduled for Chinotimba Stadium in Victoria Falls and
the
Colliery Stadium in Hwange.
The rallies would have been his first
public meetings after he spent
his first week back home visiting victims of
the political violence the MDC
says has claimed 50 supporters and addressing
a caucus of his MPs on Friday.
But his deputy, Thokozani Khupe
(pictured), speaking from Victoria
Falls, said the two meetings had been
cancelled after the police refused to
grant them permission to meet
supporters.
"In Victoria Falls, we found the gates to the police
station locked
because they were expecting us," she said.
"We
wanted to ask them why they were trying to prevent us from holding
the
meetings since we are allowed by law to hold rallies whenever we
want."
She said they resorted to meeting their supporters on the
streets,
"which was as good as holding the rallies" because they were well
received.
"It is clear that Zanu PF is trying to use every trick in
the book to
prevent us from campaigning," she said.
"But it is
clear the MDC is going to win this run-off and there is
nothing Mugabe can
do to stop us."
A fortnight ago, the MDC went to court to force the
police to allow
them to hold their victory celebrations at White City
Stadium in Bulawayo.
Tsvangirai who had been expected at the
celebrations cancelled his
scheduled return home following what was
described by the MDC as "fresh
threats to his life".
Khupe said
despite the police ban they expected to hold rallies in
Binga and Lupane
today.
Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena was not available for
comment
yesterday.
By Kholwani Nyathi
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:41
ASSERTIONS
by a top army officer that soldiers are supposed to rally
behind President
Robert Mugabe in the 27 June presidential election run-off
because he is
their commander-in-chief are "mischievous and in breach of the
Constitution", analysts and political parties said
yesterday.
Major-General Martin Chedondo reportedly told
officers at an army
shooting championship in Harare last week that they were
bound to support
Mugabe as he was the defence forces’ boss.
Chedondo is the commander of Army Skills and was officiating at the
Shooting
Championship.
He was quoted as having said: "The Constitution says
the country
should be protected by voting in the 27 June presidential
election run-off
pitting our defence chief Cde Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai of the
MDC-T, we should, therefore, stand behind our
Commander-in-Chief."
"Soldiers are not apolitical. Only mercenaries
are apolitical. We have
signed and agreed to fight and protect the ruling
party’s principles of
defending the revolution. If you have other thoughts,
then you should remove
that uniform."
But Dr Lovemore Madhuku,
a constitutional law expert, dismissed
Chedondo’s assertion as "mischief
coming from someone who does not
understand the Constitution".
Madhuku says the commander-in-chief of the defence forces "is not
Robert
Mugabe but the President of Zimbabwe".
"What the army has to do is
wait for the outcome of the 27 June
election and salute and protect whoever
is elected in a democratic process,"
he said.
On Chedondo’s
directive that officers who do not want to fight and
support the ruling
party’s principle should resign from the army, Madhuku
said the top soldier
was putting things upside down.
"He must remove his uniform,"
Madhuku said.
Giles Mutsekwa, MDC secretary for security and
intelligence said it
was regrettable that Chedondo would make such as
statement. "Armed forces
were created to provide defence and security to
Zimbabweans, not a political
party," he said.
seems to want to
coerce armed forces into a militia of a political
party," he
said.
Mutsekwa, who doubles as shadow defence minister, said the
army had
created the impression the 27 June election is between Tsvangirai
and
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Constantine Chiwenga which he
said was an unfortunate situation.
He said Chedondo was unaware
that the generality of the armed forces
were keenly waiting for
change.
Mutsekwa said the defence forces need not panic as the MDC
would
inherit all the armed forces-minus those who were committing heinous
crimes
considered criminal.
Retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi, head
of national mobilization in the
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn movement condemned
Chedondo’s comments.
"The first principle of a soldier is that one
should be apolitical,"
Mbudzi said, adding Chedondo was living in
"pseudo-realism".
Mbudzi said that if Chedondo wanted to join
politics he should resign
from the army.
Zimbabwe Defence
Forces chief General Constantine Chiwenga, Police
Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri, Prisons Commissioner retired
Major-General Paradzai
Zimondi and Brigadier-General David Sigauke have
repeatedly said they will
not salute Tsvangirai if he wins.
But Mugabe’s chief election
agent, Emmerson Mnangagwa said the
generals’ views were based on individual
sentiment and had nothing to do
with Zanu PF.
Chedondo’s
directive comes barely a week after the High Court issued a
provisional
order instructing soldiers to confine their operations "within
their
constitutional duties in terms of section 96 (1) of the
constitution".
This followed an urgent chamber application by
advocate Eric
Matinenga, the newly- elected House of Assembly Member for
Buhera West that
soldiers were terrorizing civilians in his
constituency.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:38
THE government has reportedly awarded civil
servants a hefty pay rise,
ahead of the Presidential run-off set for 27
June.
Although The Standard could not confirm the increment
officially,
sources said teachers’ salaries, seriously eroded by inflation
of over 1 700
000%, had gone up to $63 billion a month.
An
average teacher earning $5 billion, will now receive around $63
billion,
including transport and housing allowances while the highly paid
will get
$80 billion backdated to 1 May.
The government has reportedly
pledged to pay out all balances before
the end of next week, according to
sources.
Officials from the Public Service Commission could not be
reached for
comment yesterday. The Minister of Information and Publicity,
Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu said: "I am in Mpopoma launching a campaign, I cannot hear
you. Call
after 5PM."
Oswald Madziva, national co-ordinator for
the Progressive Teachers’
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) confirmed the pay hikes,
saying teachers were not
impressed.
"That money is inadequate,"
Madziva said. "It is far below what a
person needs to cover expenses by
today’s standards."
He said a transport allowance of $11 billion
was only half of what a
teacher requires for at least 22 working
days.
"A return trip currently costs between $600 million and $ 1.2
billion", he said. "Again, without a revision of the tax regime, the yields
from the new figures will be eroded."
Zimbabwe Teachers’
Association (ZIMTA) chief executive, Peter Mabande
would neither confirm nor
deny the news.
"I don’t deal with The Standard, the last time we
talked to you, you
wrote what you wanted," Mabande claimed.
But
in the past Zimta has refused to confirm the increments saying
such issues
were "confidential".
A source told The Standard yesterday: "We are
convinced the increment
was just a decision of Cabinet and treasury and not
an outcome of labour
negotiations although some people would claim they
negotiated."
In what was criticised as an election ploy, the
government awarded
civil servants a massive salary hike towards the
harmonised 29 March
elections.
Soldiers received a raise of
between $1 billion and $3 billion,
depending on rank, while teachers
received an average of $500 million.
Most interestingly then, it
was President Robert Mugabe who announced
at a rally that teachers would get
a "windfall".
By Jennifer Dube
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:36
MORE than a
dozen Zimbabweans were arrested following raids on 30
addresses in Britain
on Thursday in a multi-million pound fraud police
investigation, according
to British newspapers reports.
The Yorkshire Post reported
on Friday that police investigating a
multi-million pound cheque fraud
involving banks and building societies in
West Yorkshire had arrested 17
people.
The arrests came as police raided up to 30 addresses across
Yorkshire
last week in the culmination of a painstaking
investigation.
The alleged fraud was initially thought to be worth
around £4.8
million but officers have recovered hundreds of cheques with a
face value of
about £2 million. Up to £5m is believed to have been stolen
over the past 18
months.
Hundreds of other "blank" cheques have
also been seized along with
computers, printers and other
equipment.
Police say the fraudsters either recruited staff already
working in
banks and building societies or members obtained jobs which gave
them access
to high-value cheques which were then stolen.
The
details on the cheques were altered and then paid into the
accounts of bogus
companies to allow the cash to be withdrawn.
Police were alerted
when banking staff realised the money was not
reaching the intended
accounts.
Officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit
were backed
by teams from Operations Support Division, the Organised Crime
Group, and
local officers in last week’s raids. Most of the addresses
targeted were in
Leeds, with a small number of others in Wakefield,
Barnsley, Harrogate,
Manchester, Luton and Milton Keynes.
Those
arrested so far on suspicion of fraud or theft charges are 16
men and one
woman, aged between 25 and 47. Most are believed to be
Zimbabwean nationals,
although enquiries to confirm their identities were
said to
ongoing.
The Yorkshire Post reported that detectives were liaising
with the
Immigration Service with regard to any potential immigration
issues.
Six of the arrested men have been charged with fraud
offences and were
due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court. They are a
47-year-old, a
46-year-old, and a 34-year-old, all from Leeds, a 31-year-old
from Barnsley,
a 34-year-old from Wakefield and a 30-year-old from
Manchester. The other
people arrested are on bail pending further
investigations.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Langan, Head of the
Economic Crime
Unit, told The Yorkshire Post: "This operation demonstrates
West Yorkshire
Police’s ongoing commitment to targeting large-scale fraud
that is being
carried out by organised crime gangs. We are determined to
show organised
criminals that there is no such thing as easy
money.
"Throughout this investigation we have worked closely with
our
partners in the banking community and we continue to develop ways of
working
even more closely to keep targeting organised criminals who think
they can
get away with profiting from financial fraud. Our message to those
people
is, as this week’s operation demonstrates, we will investigate you,
you will
be arrested and we will also strip you of any financial benefit you
have
made from these crimes using the Proceeds of Crime Act.
"It is also worth highlighting that this investigation came about as a
result of the financial institutions’ own internal security systems
identifying this criminality orchestrated by an organised crime
gang."
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:23
GWERU — Although non-governmental
organisations are supposed to be
apolitical, some of their members believe
the country’s current crisis,
worsened by political violence, compels them
to explicitly speak out against
the violence and adopt drastic measures to
help check the crisis.
Morrison Sifelani, chairman of Gweru
Agenda said it was naïve to
suggest that non-governmental organisations
(NGOS) were apolitical as the
work some of them did, such as the fight for
democracy and upholding of
human rights, was political.
He was
speaking at a Midlands province non-governmental organisation
directors’
forum in Gweru on Thursday.
Sifelani said NGOs are only apolitical
in the sense that they should
not engage in party politics.
But
the current crisis compelled them to be unequivocal in their
stance.
The programmes director of the National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations, Bob Muchabaiwa agreed with Sifelani,
describing the situation in the country as "abnormal".
He said
"it cannot be business as usual".
Muchabaiwa said civil society
strongly condemned the ongoing violence,
and demanded that civil society
organisations be given access to victims of
political violence so they could
assist them.
He said even if "some places had become no-go areas",
NANGO called
upon its members to deploy their staff in such areas to help
victims of
violence.
"Civil society organisations should be
allowed access to victims of
organised violence and torture. We are
essentially saying there are people
in need of medication, in need of legal
assistance, people in need of food,
clothing and what not," Muchabaiwa
said.
"And we are saying to the authorities, the powers-that-be,
should
allow civil society organisations to be able to render such services
to
them. Our members should deploy more of their members in the
constituencies
to support these people."
The government has in
the past accused NGOs of working with the
opposition, and in the wake of the
current political violence, NGOs
providing humanitarian assistance in rural
areas have been forced to suspend
their operations because their staff have
been victimised.
In the Midlands province, Ardra and Care Zimbabwe
have reportedly
stopped food handouts in Mberengwa after Zanu PF officials
accused the
organisations of campaigning for the MDC-T while handing out
foodstuffs.
The organisations were directed to stop their
programme, although most
families in Mberengwa face starvation.
Muchabaiwa said alongside the other efforts that civil society
organisations
were undertaking to help resolve the current crisis, they had
also decided
to employ non-violent social action designed to put pressure on
the "former
government"
"As you may be aware, civil society organisations in
Zimbabwe launched
the ‘Make-your-vote-count’ campaign, where they are
essentially saying it is
about time civil society must begin to pressurise
politicians to respect the
people’s choice, to respect the people’s vote, by
engaging in mass-based
non-violent social actions," Muchabaiwa said. "And
these could range from
simple things like praying for Zimbabwe; people
coming together and saying
we need Divine intervention. This is a peaceful
non-violent social action;
but at least we cannot allow this situation to
continue."
Muchabaiwa said despite SADC’s apparent failure to
decisively deal
with the situation in Zimbabwe, the regional grouping, the
African Union, as
well as international bodies remained important targets in
the NGOs’ efforts
to bring about democracy in the country.
The
NANGO Midlands chairperson, Peter Muchengeti said it was a shame
the Zanu PF
through its abuse of the public media was always quick to accuse
most NGO’s
of supporting the opposition but turned a deaf ear to some NGO’s
that
boasted of supporting Zanu PF.
Muchengeti gave examples of the
Joseph Chinotimba-led Zimbabwe
Federation of Trade Unions, Lawyers for
Justice, and the Zimbabwe Farmers’
Union which publicly announced their
allegiance to Zanu PF.
"The public media has actually given these
organisations media access
and never condemned them. There is nothing wrong
with NGOs supporting a
political party. In South Africa, Cosatu support the
ANC," Muchengeti said.
The meeting was part of a series that NANGO
is holding countrywide as
part of efforts to deal urgently with the
humanitarian crisis arising from
the ongoing violence.
By
Rutendo Mawere
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:20
BULAWAYO —
Matabeleland South war veterans last week allegedly forced
dependants of
Gwanda police officers to attend a meeting at which they
ordered them to
vote for President Robert Mugabe on 27 June to save their
breadwinners’
jobs.
Sources told The Standard the war veterans,
accompanied by senior
provincial police officers last Sunday stormed the
Gwanda main police
station and ordered everyone to the meeting.
The veterans, led by Sinini Mangena, Stewart Khumalo and the
Senator-elect
for Gwanda, Japhet Dube (Zanu PF) were reportedly accompanied
by the officer
commanding the province, Ronald Muderedzwa, and the officer
commanding
administration, Joram Mlilo.
"They told the wives and dependants of
the police officers they would
be evicted from the main police camp and
their husbands and parents
dismissed from the force if they did not vote for
Mugabe," said a police
source.
The meeting followed another
held a week earlier at the same camp,
where police officers were warned
against voting for the MDC’s Morgan
Tsvangirai.
They were told
a Tsvangirai win would see the country sliding into
civil war.
About 500 Matabeleland South police officers attended the initial
meeting at
the senior officers’ mess in Gwanda.
Mlilo was in the chair,
assisted by Superintendent Hosaya Mukombero,
responsible for training in
Beitbridge.
They were accompanied by Officer Commanding Gwanda
District, Chief
Superintendent David Difala and Superintendent Konrad
Manhai, the deputy
officer commanding Gwanda District.
The
police officers at the meeting are based at the New Government
Complex in
Gwanda and their ranks ranged between constables to chief
inspectors.
Others were from the Gwanda police station,
district headquarters and
provincial stations.
"The chairperson
said all police officers and members as well as their
dependants, wives
inclusive, must vote for Zanu-PF," said the source. "This
was to ensure that
more than 20 000 ZRP members gave Zanu PF more votes and
an outright victory
for Mugabe."
Officers in the security forces and Zimbabwean
diplomats vote days
before the elections.
Anti-government
protests are ruthlessly put down by the police.
Matabeleland South police
spokesperson, Tafanana Dzirutwe, confirmed that
the meeting took place but
refused to comment saying the discussions were
about "internal
matters".
"We hold our meetings as per police regulations,
discussing issues
that have to do with the police force," he said. "As such,
I cannot comment
on what was said or discussed at the meeting as the
proceedings of the
meeting were only for the police and internal, according
to our
regulations."
The police sources said they were told all
officers and their
dependants would use the postal vote where they would be
strictly monitored
by immediate supervisors.
Observers say this
is in violation of the Electoral Act as dependants
of officers in the
security forces are not allowed to vote under the postal
voting
system.
Postal voting is also voluntary.
Under the
Electoral Act, officers from the security forces deployed on
duty outside
their voting constituencies as well as civil servants on duty
outside the
country are the only ones allowed to vote under the postal
voting
system.
Officers from the security forces vote days before the
elections.
Analysts credit the uniformed forces with ensuring Mugabe’s
continued hold
on power despite growing disaffection.
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:16
OPPOSITION party supporters in rural areas are being forced to pay
"repentance fees" to war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia if they don’t
want to be killed or tortured, the MDC claimed last
week.
The supporters were being forced to pay money,
household goods,
chickens, goats and cattle to Zanu PF loyalists to avoid
torture and even
murder.
The MDC claims at least 50 of its
supporters have been murdered since
the 29 March election, in which their
leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat
President Robert Mugabe.
MDC
national spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said thousands of their
supporters have
lost valuables to Zanu PF thugs, who beat them up before
forcing them to pay
penance for supporting the opposition party.
"People in the rural
areas are suffering at the hands of a
dictatorship which is extorting,
torturing and killings it own people,"
Chamisa said.
But Zanu
PF elections spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said all queries
relating to
violence and extortion must be directed to the police.
Police chief
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for
comment at the time
of going to print.
Reports of extortion and torture were most
prevalent in Mashonaland
East, Central, and West, Manicaland and the
Midlands provinces.
Chamisa said in Guruve in Mashonaland Central,
MDC supporters had
their heads dipped into drums full of water and were
forced to sign
"cleansing certificates", before paying a repentance
fee.
The cleansing certificates are counter-signed by a "base
commander",
usually a senior war veteran.
A relative of an MDC
activist, captured and tortured at Shinga base in
Mudzi, said his uncle was
only released after he had given up two goats and
two chickens to the war
veterans.
MDC secretary for social welfare, Kerry Kay said the
party was worried
at the numbers fleeing from the rural areas.
"They (youth militia and war veterans) are even searching vehicles and
it’s
obvious some are earning a living from extortion," she said.
"Ambulances have been turned back when they want to pick up people who
would
have been tortured by Zanu PF militia. These acts are so
grotesque."
By Caiphas Chimhete
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:13
THE MDC has vowed to punish all those
responsible for the murder of
its activists and supporters, once in
power.
Speaking at the burial of MDC activist Tonderai
Ndira (32), murdered a
fortnight ago by suspected Zanu PF militia and war
veterans, party leader
Morgan Tsvangirai last week said his party would not
allow the murderers to
remain free.
"We can forgive all other
things but I think we would have stretched
our humility too far if we
forgave this," he said. "Mugabe and his cronies
are always preaching about
sovereignty. They should know that no sovereignty
is greater than giving
people the right to live."
Ndira was the fourth MDC activist to be
buried at the cemetery in just
one week.
The other three are
Beta Chokururama, Godfrey Kauzani and Cain Nyeve.
Ndira’s father
said his son had to be buried in Harare and not at his
rural home for the
safety of surviving family members.
"Tonde had a lot of friends,"
he said. "I was scared that if all of
them attended the burial, I might find
myself in a difficult situation after
their departure."
Hundreds thronged Warren Hills cemetery to pay their last respects to
the
dreadlocked activist, described by colleagues as "youthful, soft-spoken
and
humble".
The funeral cortege comprised more than 20 vehicles and
most mourners
were clad in the red and white MDC regalia.
They
sang funeral and MDC songs loud enough to attract the anti-riot
police who
ensured a strong presence along Samora Machel Avenue throughout
the burial
proceedings.
The MDC says Ndira was abducted from his home in
Mabvuku on 14 May by
armed men in an unmarked truck. They pounced on him
early in the morning
while he was still in bed.
Neighbours
could not rescue him, after one of the assailants pointed a
gun at
them.
His body was found a week later, dumped among dead vagrants
at
Parirenyatwa hospital.
It was transferred to the hospital
from a farm in Goromonzi, where it
was discovered eight days after his
abduction.
The decomposing body bore marks of a brutal death as
both lips and the
tongue had been cut off. The skull was smashed and there
were gunshot wounds
under the left armpit and below the rib
cage.
But the hospital barred his family from conducting a post
mortem,
raising fears it wanted to protect the murderers.
Ndira
is survived by his wife and children. Tsvangirai said they would
benefit
from the MDC’s recently launched $150 trillion Violence Victims’
Fund.
"We have an obligation to cater for these families, not
only now but
also after 27 June, when, hopefully, we will be in a new
Zimbabwe," he said.
Tsvangirai said his party was not deterred by
the killings and
abandoning the fight would be equal to betraying the likes
of Ndira who did
not give up even when he was arrested for the 38th time
before the abduction
which led to his death.
Tsvangirai
announced at the burial that he had received news that the
body of a former
MDC provincial treasurer for Murehwa, Shepherd Jani, seized
by four armed
men from his office on 22 May, had been found in the Goromonzi
area.
Jani was buried in his rural home in Murehwa last
Wednesday.
Tsvangirai said at least 50 MDC supporters have been
killed by
suspected war veterans and Zanu PF militia since the harmonised
elections on
29 March.
The MDC said over 25 000 people have
been displaced while more than 1
000 houses belonging to opposition
supporters have been burnt down.
By Jennifer Dube
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 18:12
BULAWAYO — About 10 schools
in Matabeleland South were reportedly
forced to shut down by Zanu PF militia
who attacked teachers they blamed for
contributing to President Robert
Mugabe’s defeat during the 29 March
elections.
The
closure came as fresh reports surfaced of the militants extorting
money and
goods from villagers in the province. They were allegedly forcing
villagers
to pay "fines" for voting for the MDC.
The youths swept through
West Nicholson, unleashing a wave of violence
that left hundreds injured. In
addition, they are said to be forcing the
hunger-stricken villagers to share
their food with them.
The Standard was told the youths were forcing
villagers to cook food
and deliver it to their bases — in cases reminiscent
of scenes during the
1970s struggle for independence. "Teachers at the
schools shut down are
sleeping in the bush to escape violence and the night
vigils," The Standard
heard.
The schools have been identified
as Zhukwe, Sizeze, Stezi, Zezani
Mission, Mapane, Khozi, Wabayi, Nyandeni,
Nkazhe and Gohole. The reports
could not be independently verified as
communication lines were down.
Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ
secretary-general said it was disturbing
that schools had become targets of
the Zanu PF militia resulting in dozens
of them closing down.
There was no comment from the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture
on
the latest developments.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 31 May 2008 17:59
BULAWAYO — There is haunting
weariness in Precious Zhove’s eyes as she
recounts events leading to her
flight from home in Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s
southern
region.
Clutching her 18-month-old baby, she relives the
horror of the day
so-called war veterans, Zanu PF supporters, and soldiers
descended on her
homestead looking for her husband Joab Gumbo, who stood for
election as a
councillor under a MDC ticket.
"I was trying to
tell them I did not know where my husband was since
it was in the afternoon.
They grabbed my baby, this one here and tied a sack
around her waist. Then
one of them started swinging her while holding her by
the
legs."
"They said she was an MDC baby so they were going to take
her away
from me. They said that way my husband and I would have another
baby, a Zanu
PF baby this time, because they don’t like MDC people, because
they are
sell-outs."
While she pauses to catch her breath, she
sighs, "Oh not again," and
shifts the baby on her lap. The baby has no
nappy, so her skirt has become
wet. She explains the baby has no nappies or
warm clothing. "I didn’t have
time to pack anything. The moment my husband
returned home we left."
Zhove’s story is just one of many I have
listened to in recent weeks
as more and more families in rural Matabeleland
and the Midlands flee from
harassment, intimidation, and beatings after 29
March elections.
Media show images of injuries caused by the brutal
attacks. The
footage and reports are frightening: Burnt buttocks, breasts
severed, limbs
broken, and backs festering with wounds from plastic burns.
Stories of
pregnant women having their stomachs ripped open or men young
enough to be
their grandsons raping elderly women.
Yet, away
from the cameras, audio recorders, and notebooks there is
emotional and
psychological trauma that victims endure in stoic silence.
Zhove is lucky to
be out of physical harm’s way. But, she is in continuous
emotional turmoil.
Her conscience gnaws at her heart over the fate of her
two school-going
children left behind in Mberengwa.
"I don’t know what they are
eating. I don’t know whether they are
going to school. I’m not even sure if
they are still alive. I pray all the
time that they are safe and that I will
see them again soon.
"I wonder sometimes whether I should have
stayed with my children. If
the war vets came back and killed me, at least
my children would know my
fate. Right now they don’t even know I am
here."
Broken bones heal with time if the victims are fortunate
enough to
access medical treatment. The verbal abuse and the psychological
impact of
the beatings, sexual abuse, and public humiliation will haunt
these women
forever. It reminds me of the ditty: "Sticks and stones may
break my bones
but words can hurt forever." The violence inflicts deep
emotional wounds
among victims, their relatives, and friends.
An added repercussion is the effect that the violence is likely to
have on
women’s participation in politics. The post-election violence
reinforces
long held beliefs that "politics is a dirty and dangerous pursuit
that only
men can dabble in". The violence gives politics a bad name and
pushes women
further onto the fringes of active politics.
The majority of women
targeted are political activists who openly
admit they are in politics to
try to ensure a better future for their
children. Women polling agents and
candidates who contested in local council
elections are key targets. Winning
female councillors in rural areas are
being hounded out of their homes and
therefore, being denied the chance to
work and help develop their
communities.
Added to these politically active victims are hundreds
of women who
are killed, raped, harassed, humiliated and abused simply
because they are
mothers, wives, sisters and aunts of prominent MDC
activists.
An elderly granny who had fled her home in Kezi tells of
the shame she
endured during a rally when "youthful war veterans" taunted
her using
abusive and vulgar language because her son is an MDC
activist.
She confided how unhappy she was to be living with her
daughter-in-law
indefinitely. "I want to be home and not get in my
daughter-in-law’s way.
But I am too afraid to go back."
Mostly
women carry the heavy responsibility of explaining the
horrifying events to
scared, confused and traumatised children. They also
try to ensure life goes
on as usual for the children amid all the upheaval
and
uncertainty.
Mothers have to answer questions of "Baba varipi?
Ubaba ungaphi?
(Where is daddy?)" from children whose fathers have fled
their homes in the
dead of night. These women have the daunting task of
trying to make
senseless reprisals make sense to their
children.
Women are the people who have to make sure that even
after houses and
granaries are razed to the ground, children are clothed and
fed. Moreover,
these same women live with the unspoken scorn of close
relatives for
"allowing" themselves to be raped by war
veterans.
Yet in communities where war veterans have set up the
infamous "bases"
everyone knows that women have no option but to "agree" to
rape in desperate
attempts to protect their families.
The true
extent of humiliation that violated women are enduring became
clear when a
man from the Midlands narrated the extent of sexual abuse in
his wife’s
presence.
"Every woman who is still young is being rape by these
brutes who
threaten to destroy homesteads if women do not give in to their
demands. Men
know it’s happening even though women don’t talk about it. We
know they are
desperate to spare their husbands and families victimisation.
We are going
to be raising children that are not ours, but AIDS is the real
threat in the
community now."
While the man spoke, his wife was
shaking her head silently, tears
streaming down her cheeks. The effect of
all these experiences is to
traumatise Zimbabwean women into silence, and
out of the political arena.
Ultimately, to quote writer Chenjerai
Hove in Shebeen Tales, there is
the long term danger that if the violence,
harassment and abuse continues
unabated, "women will remain of politics and
not in politics". And that will
do little to make sure their needs are cared
for in the future.
Miriam Madziwa is a freelance journalist
based in Zimbabwe. This
article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and
Commentary Service.
By Miriam Madziva
Zim Standard
Business
Saturday, 31 May 2008 17:48
FEW bearer-cheque notes
introduced by the central bank last month are
"chasing shadows" as rising
prices of goods and services have rendered the
currency worthless amid fears
that Zimbabwe is heading towards the Weimar
Republic’s
experience.
Under the Weimar Republic, Germans carried cash
loaded in wheelbarrows
to buy bread, a spectacle analysts say may soon
become commonplace in
Zimbabwe.
Last month the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe unveiled a $500 million bearer
note to complement the $250 million
and $100 million notes introduced in
April.
All this is
apparently in an attempt to ease consumers’ woes of
carrying bags of
cash.
But the new denominations have not brought the much-needed
relief as
prices are trekking northwards.
A loaf of bread now
costs $500m while a one-way commutter bus trip to
town is
$250m.
RBZ also introduced new bearer notes of Z$50 billion, Z$25
billion and
Z$5 billion so-called agro-cheques for the convenience of
farmers.
The agro-cheques can be used to buy goods, but have found
their way to
the black market where foreign currency parallel market rates
are higher
than cash transactions.
The cheapest room to rent in
high-density suburbs has trekked the $5
billion agro- cheque while a 2kg
packet of sugar sells at $1.5 billion.
With the pace at which
prices are rising, analysts warn that to buy
monthly groceries one would
need a bagful of cash.
Independent economist John Robertson says
inflation was wreaking
havoc, leaving the currency worthless. He warns that
if the government does
not address the problem, the economy will sink
further into an abyss.
"Inflation is accelerating with prices
doubling every week and if we
carry on with what we are doing, we will see
prices doubling every day," he
warned.
The government has been
quick to blame business for hiking prices as
part of a "regime change"
agenda ahead of the 27 June presidential election
run-off.
But
the battered business community denies the charge and says rising
input
costs have contributed to price increases.
Since June last year,
Zimbabwe has been experiencing hyperinflation,
where month-on-month
inflation is over 50%.
Analysts say other than a comprehensive
policy package, introducing
higher denominated notes will bring short-lived
results.
"In a hyperinflationary environment, other than a return
to stability
in terms of prices, anything you do will only bring temporary
results," said
an economist with a commercial bank.
He said
prices were moving so fast any measure taken by the central
bank would not
yield positive results.
There have been calls to debase the
currency and banish zeros, but
analysts warn such a move would only bring
temporary relief.
In August 2006, the RBZ slashed three zeros from
the currency but the
results were short-lived. The zeros were back within a
few months.
Inflation, which analysts say has breached the 1
million percent mark,
is unprecedented in a country outside a war zone. RBZ
governor Gideon Gono
has in the past described inflation as "Number One
Enemy" and vowed to crush
it.
But despite Gono’s "Failure is
not an option" rallying cry, it seems
the task has spun out of control as
his first term of office ends in
December.
By Ndamu
Sandu
Zim Standard
Business
Saturday, 31 May 2008 17:43
BULAWAYO — The economy
will take at least six years to recover, if a
new government takes over
after the 27 June presidential run-off and
launches measures to reverse 11
years of recession, an economist said last
week.
Eric
Bloch, an advisor to Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, told a
managers’
general meeting, regardless of the winner, the prospects of an
economic
turnaround were bright.
He said if President Robert Mugabe won, his
government was unlikely to
continue with the ruinous policies responsible
for the country’s
international isolation, the destruction of agriculture
and the severe brain
drain.
Mugabe faces off against the MDC
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai in the
second round of the elections after he lost
in the first poll.
The state of the economy is likely to play a
critical role in
determining who leads the country for the next five
years.
"I believe we are going to see change after we get over with
the
elections," Bloch told a regional annual general meeting of the Zimbabwe
Institue of Management.
"Whichever government comes in, whether
Zanu PF or MDC or one of
national unity, it will not do things as they are
being done now because it
would fall."
But the recovery would
be slow, he said, because wooing back
professionals, getting agriculture
back to work and restoring normal
relations with the international community
would not happen overnight.
Bloch said the hyper-inflation, which
has escalated in the past few
weeks, was likely to continue for the next
three months.
"There will be no quick fix," he said.
Official inflation figures have not been published for the past five
months,
because most basic commodities are not available on the formal
market,
driven to the black market by government price controls.
Independent analysts estimate inflation is now one million percent.
The MDC promised to stabilise the economy within six months of taking
power
when it campaigned for the March elections.
Bloch said it was
unlikely Mugabe would continue his confrontational
approach with the
international community, as African and Asian countries
which had earlier
supported him were backing off.
He said the Sadc countries’ refusal
to let through a ship carrying
Chinese weapons bound for Zimbabwe must have
jolted the government into an
awareness of being deserted by
friends.
Using Western sanctions as the scapegoat for the collapse
of the
economy was fast losing currency as there was evidence of corruption,
lack
of government fiscal discipline, threats to property rights, among
other
ill-advised polices, being responsible.
By Kholwani
Nyathi
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 31 May 2008 16:55
AS the
campaign for the 27 June Presidential Run-Off Election shifts
into high
gear, and positive though the spirit may be, Morgan Tsvangirai and
the MDC
ought to do what they have probably never done before: prepare and
strategise for the worst case scenario.
To be sure, the
election itself is unavoidable, lest Zanu PF secures
the presidency on a
silver platter. In the current context, Tsvangirai’s
position is akin to
that of a hunter running hard to escape the jaws of a
lion whereupon after
climbing the big tree, he comes face-to-face with a
King Cobra. The hunter
has to weigh and take risks in very limited space of
time. This Tsvangirai
has done by choosing to contest knowing very well that
even that route is
long, rugged and at some point, may become impassable.
Given the
events since the 29 March election, it looks increasingly
likely that Mugabe
and Zanu PF will do everything in their power to claim
perhaps another of
the proverbial cat’s nine lives.
For when you observe the pictures
of the walking wounded; of the
women, both young and old, brutalised in the
most sacred and most soft parts
of the anatomy; of the young men brutally
slain in cold-blood; there is,
plainly, little left to imagine what these
fellow members of the human
species authoring this orgy of violence can do.
You do wonder whether there
is heart somewhere in their shells that, one
day, could be rehabilitated. At
the end of the day, one is left with the
grim feeling that these events are
the harbinger of worse to
come.
For Mugabe and Zanu PF the election is no more than a ritual
to confer
legality to their retention of power. They simply have no
intention of
giving up power whatever the electorate thinks.
There are at least two worst case scenarios that Tsvangirai and the
MDC are
likely to face come 27 June:
First, the less likely scenario is
that Tsvangirai may be declared the
winner of the election by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission but that victory
will not be accepted by Zanu PF. There
is a real possibility that elements
in Zanu PF will carry out their threat
to thwart his bid even if he wins.
The elaborate machinations following the
29 March election are indicative of
their intentions. Zanu PF is unlikely to
change this stance.
fter 29 March, the MDC made some high-level
noise and carried out
unprecedented diplomatic manoeuvres on the African
circuit. It did not
change the result but may have swayed significant
African opinion. Mugabe
prefers the portrayal of a law-abiding man and a
coup against a declared
winner would be more embarrassing. It would cause
him to lose the sympathy
of even the faithfully loyal President Thabo Mbeki.
That is why this
prospect of permitting a declaration of Tsvangirai as the
winner and,
therefore, necessitating a "coup" is most unlikely.
The second and more likely scenario is that Mugabe will be swiftly
declared
the winner of the 27 June election. Delaying the result is unlikely
as it
has been seen to be counter-productive post-29 March. This time it
will be a
short, sharp and very swift execution conferring the presidency to
Mugabe.
Such an announcement will provide the cover of legality on Mugabe’s
presidency, albeit a very controversial one, but that will not deter
them.
This will be sufficient because legally, it will place
Tsvangirai and
the MDC on the back foot, making them the challengers to the
process, a
position Mugabe and Zanu PF have found hard work from since 29
March. They
will not want that again and a quick announcement as happened in
Kenya’s
recent elections will come in handy.
This scenario will
shift the balance of advantage from Tsvangirai and
the MDC to Mugabe and
Zanu PF. It will be the MDC and Tsvangirai operating
from a position of
weakness, being the "losing" candidate.
It is quite likely that in
that situation, Zanu PF will be more open
to the idea of a government of
national unity ("GNU"), to which they have,
so far, given mixed reactions.
They would rather do it as the senior partner
than the junior guest invited
to the MDC banquet.
The MDC will at that stage be faced with very
hard choices but this
could be eased by forward planning; by anticipating
the fact that one or
other worst case scenario is more likely to arise.
Given what has happened
so far, the MDC should be planning and strategising
for how to handle a
controversial "defeat" on 27 June.
It is in
this area of strategising in the face of patent risks where
the MDC has
appeared to stutter in the past. The MDC’s Achilles heel has
always been an
almost infantile innocence in the face of a ruthless and
crafty rival. The
MDC appears to operate in anticipation of the best outcome
but without
accounting for the probability the worst possible outcome.
ut
its approach in dealings with Zanu PF is reflective of the society
in which
it exists. We are taught that democracy is for good men and women,
who
believe in peace, use peaceful methods, co-operate and do all the
"right"
things. We live in a world in which we observe older and mature
democracies
where democratic values have been inculcated over time. What we
are not
taught, however, is that even in these older democracies, things
were not
always that straightforward. Democracy has come a long way and they
have had
and, in many ways, still have to deal with ruthless and crafty
opponents in
the Zanu PF mould.
We operate in anticipation of peace, fair-play
and togetherness. What
we are not taught is that, in fact, there are
considerable levels of
conflict at all levels of society — family,
community, national and indeed
international. We overlook the obvious
reality that in society there are
crafty and ruthless individuals who will
employ every tool and method in the
book to outdo us in various endeavours.
We are taught to abhor conflict and
violence but we are not taught to be
prepared for the reality in which
conflict is, in fact, prevalent. We are,
therefore, often unprepared to deal
with crafty and ruthless individuals
and, indeed, situations of conflict.
This is the same predicament
in which the MDC finds itself. It is
fighting for democracy using
"democratic" means and tactics but is not
prepared for the reality presented
by the crafty opponent that it faces.
he net result is that on
various occasions it has been caught
off-guard; unprepared for the worst
case scenario that usually arises from
Zanu PF’s machinations. Zanu PF,
being crafty as usual, knows this. The 29
March election was a test and it
knows that once again the MDC was prepared
for victory but not necessarily
for defeat. The same lack of preparedness to
deal with the worst case was
evident after the 2002 Presidential election
when indecisiveness derailed
the MDC’s obvious momentum at the time.
As in everyday life,
Tsvangirai and the MDC have the hard task of
devising strategies to deal
with an aggressive and crafty rival with a
legendary streak of employing
underhand tactics. They have to work, not on
the basis of anticipating
victory, but on the very real chance of the
realisation of the worst case
scenario.
It will not be easy but this is when the MDC needs to
cast its net
wider, draw on the collective wisdom of those that support its
cause and put
in place a highly rational yet emotionally balanced strategy
to deal with
the worst possible eventuality. It needs to do more than Zanu
PF and open
its doors for that collective wisdom to filter
through.
Alex T. Magaisa is based at Kent Law School at the
University of Kent
at Canterbury and is available at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.ukThis e-mail
address
is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to
view it or
a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 31 May 2008 16:51
PICTURE this, in a hall
somewhere in a high-density suburb in Harare:
"My name is
Tafadzwa (or Marweyi) and I am xenophobic."
You might ask: Why a
high-density suburb? In that sector, the jobless
are very likely to be many,
proportionately, as there are in Alexandra,
formerly Umuzi O’mnyama, "The
Dark City" of apartheid-era Johannesburg.
Anyone old enough to have
tasted alcohol, or to have witnessed an
adult, bleary-eyed, open mouth
dripping with saliva like a baby, bottle in
hand, zigzagging like a drunken
cockroach along the dusty streets of a
suburb, will know the curse of
alcoholism .
Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide organisation of
reformed
alcoholics dedicated to a cure of this illness. Alcoholism was not
always
recognised as an illness.
For its own comfort, society
preferred to treat it as something which
people did with their eyes and
mouths wide open. In time, as with smoking
and gambling, society recognised
alcoholism for the terrible addiction that
it is. Even worse, they realised
it could kill — as smoking does.
There have been reassessments of
addictions to heroin, cocaine and
mbanje. People had died because there had
never been a thorough study of how
such substances, introduced into the
human body, could cause lasting damage.
Gambling is now
recognised as the disease that it has always been.
It’s unlikely
many will slot xenophobia into that same category. For
most people, it is
not an illness, although the dictionary definition of the
word "morbid",
which is what xenophobia is, says "of mind, ideas, etc,
unwholesome, sickly"
(my bold letters).
An organisation with the initials XA —
Xenophobics Anonymous — seems
far-fetched. Yet, for our own sake, as
Africans anxious to stem the
internecine political blood-letting in which we
have indulged since the dawn
of independence in 1957, we’d better take a
closer look at the prospect of
this malady mushrooming into something all of
us might find too ghastly to
contemplate.
In Zimbabwe, anyone
with the name John Sixpence is unlikely to have
forebears named after this
former British currency. Their surname is
probably distinctly non-indigenous
because they changed it in a desperate
bid to escape xenophobic taunts,
which could degenerate into bloodshed.
Other Zimbabweans decide to
abandon their real surnames — from their
fathers — and settle for their
mother’s, if she is indigenous. If she is
not, then it’s probably back to
Sixpence or, in a few bizarre examples,
January or December.
I
knew a December, who changed to Tembo when he went to Zambia at its
independence. He didn’t die of old age, as he ought to have, but it probably
had little to do with his unintended masquerade as someone he was
not.
You always have to admire Bernard Chidzero who was entirely
unabashed
about his origins. There is no evidence, as far as I know, that
this caused
him any trauma at all.
But that xenophobia stalks
this land of ours is entirely indisputable.
Makhani Kabweza was
the editor of the Catholic magazine, Moto, for a
while in the 1990s. We were
at a meeting in Harare when he seemed wary of my
introducing an element of
the curse of xenophobia into the debate. Kabweza,
who died in a road
accident on the Harare-Bulawayo road, was of Malawian
extraction.
What he meant by referring to "people without
totems" being the bulk
of MDC supporters in Mbare has never been
satisfactorily or officially
explained by President Robert
Mugabe.
Even more curious is the loud silence from totemless Zanu
PF members
for an apology or explanation from the president about those
utterly
xenophobic remarks.
But it’s probably enough to
conclude they have retaliated by voting
against his party and himself since
he uttered those remarks. Zanu PF will
probably never fare well in that
constituency in any election.
What must continue to exercise the
minds of politically savvy
Zimbabweans is a thorough re-evaluation of the
real meaning of our
independence.
This ostensibly full
nationhood can no longer be interpreted as the
one goal Zanu PF aimed for
when young men and women were inspired to take up
arms against the white
supremacists.
There is now a divergence of views on what the fight,
in which 30 000
are said to have perished, was in aid of: the improvement of
life for all,
the freedom for all who were previously under the jackboot of
the
colonialists?
Or the creation of a state in which the
majority are bashed, bullied
and battered into submission, by a minority
which believes it owes
allegiance only to its selfish ideals of
self-enrichment from the
exploitation of our natural resources?
And the perpetuation of a xenophobia anchored on a contempt for
so-called
totemless people?
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 31 May 2008 16:47
ZANU PF has launched a multi-pronged
approach couched in the language
of national unity but one whose objective
is to ensure they retain power by
any means necessary.
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, Zanu PF’s secretary for legal affairs, speaking in
Kwekwe on
Saturday a week ago said his party had accepted that a government
of
national unity was "unavoidable" regardless of the outcome of next month’s
presidential run-off, if the challenges facing the country were to be
resolved.
Mnangagwa, who is President Robert Mugabe’s chief
election agent, said
the political and economic crisis Zimbabwe faces could
only be addressed if
a peaceful and stable environment existed.
Zanu PF wants to use the concept of a government of national unity to
appeal
to and at the same time confuse MDC supporters, with the message that
whether or not they vote for Zanu PF there is no difference since the
parties will both be in government.
However, this proposal is
based on an assumption that Zanu PF’s
candidate is unlikely to win, hence
the need to save the candidate the
embarrassment of losing, by mooting the
idea of a government of national
unity.
In order to sell this
idea, Zanu PF is using a carrot-and-stick
approach. The stick is the
nationwide violence being spearheaded by military
officers that seeks to
destabilise the countryside forcing the MDC into bed
with Zanu PF. The
strategy is designed to thoroughly intimidate and whip
everyone into line,
thus ensuring they vote for Zanu PF’s candidate during
the 27 June
presidential run-off.
The carrot is the proposal to reinstate the
premiership, abolished in
1987 when Mugabe became executive president. What
this enticement is
supposed to achieve is to ensnare the MDC with the
prospect of landing the
premiership. Despite the 29 March poll result, Zanu
PF has ruled out
conceding defeat. This has its own problems because the 29
March poll gave
Morgan Tsvangirai 47.9% compared with Mugabe’s
43.2%.
But lessons from engaging Zanu PF during the SA-mediated
dialogue show
that Zanu PF is not a party to be trusted. It has very little
regard even
for agreements it enters into. During the run up to the 1980s
parliamentary
elections the two liberation movements agreed to contest the
elections as
one, but Zanu PF reneged. Zanu PF’s latest offer has to be seen
against this
background. You trust Zanu PF at your own peril.
By sounding conciliatory, Zanu PF is hoping supporters of the MDC both
at
home and abroad will prevail on it to consider a government of national
unity. Tsvangirai, during his first press conference since returning from
two months in exile, scuttled the idea of a GNU or engaging Zanu PF in any
kind of talks.
But just to ensure that its candidate is better
positioned, most rural
areas have been declared no-go areas, under the
oversight of senior military
officers. This is intended to ensure Zanu PF
encounters no competition.
And on Tuesday last week the government
said it had reintroduced the
long-forgotten food-for-work programme, free
education and treatment in
clinics and referral hospitals. This is the
extent to which it will go in a
bid to reverse the outcome of the March
presidential election and rescue it
from what must surely be its
Waterloo.
Voters are angry with Zanu PF because it confuses
empowerment with
handouts and that it does not understand that importation
of fertilisers,
buses, cars and even soap only help to undermine and
de-industrialise local
industries while confusing priorities. Even as it
coerces the electorate
ahead of the 27 June run-off, it can’t ensure that
electricity, water and
transport shortages, soaring food prices and bank
queues will end.
IOL
June
01 2008 at 12:06PM
By Patrick Laurence
The arrest of
Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of the
Democratic Republic of
Congo, in Brussels this week on charges of war crimes
and crimes against
humanity is a warning to suspected tyrants the world
over, including - and
perhaps especially - political leaders in Africa
suspected of gross human
rights abuses.
The arrest has a sharp relevance for President
Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe as he prepares for the run-off against Morgan
Tsvangirai, leader of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
in the second round of
the presidential election in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe who, at the age of 84, is still clinging to power, is suspected
of
complicity in crimes against humanity during the crackdown on his
political
adversaries in Matabeleland in the 1980s and of human rights
abuses to
bolster his power and prolong his rule since the turn of the
century.
Two words resonate ominously in the relatively short
history of
post-liberation Zimbabwe: gukurahundi and
murambatsvina.
The first means "the rain that washes away the chaff
of the last
harvest" and applies to the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade's
reign of
terror in Matabeleland.
The second, which was the code
name for the destruction of the homes
and property of urban citizens deemed
to be supporters of Mugabe's political
opponents, means "remove the
filth".
As Elinor Sisulu, the Zimbabwean-born author and
intellectual, has
pointed out, the words chaff and filth symbolise Mugabe's
contemptuous
attitude towards those who dare to question his political
credentials and,
since 2000, the legitimacy of his Zanu-PF
government.
The number of fatalities in the gukurahundi campaign
has been
estimated to be as high as 20 000 by Pius Ncube, the indefatigable
human
rights activist.
Ncube, who resigned as Zimbabwe's
Catholic archbishop after being
accused of complicity in a sexual scandal,
has been condemned by Nathan
Shamuyarira, a long-serving member of Mugabe's
cabinet, as "a mad inveterate
liar".
But even if Ncube's
estimate is halved to 10 000 - which would put it
in line with the general
consensus - gukurahundi is still legitimately
described as a campaign of
mass murder, for which many Zimbabweans believe
Mugabe and his senior
lieutenants in the ruling Zanu-PF should be held
accountable.
As Martin Meredith notes in his authoritative biography of Mugabe, the
Zimbabwean leader admitted frankly at the time that the Fifth Brigade was
forged as a party-political formation rather than a military unit to defend
Zimbabwe against foreign invaders.
The forthright quote on the
Fifth Brigade reads as follows: "They were
trained by the North Koreans
because we wanted one arm of the army to have a
political formation that
stems from our philosophy in Zanu-PF."
The relevance to Mugabe of
the arrest of Bemba on a warrant issued by
the International Criminal Court
is that the octogenarian Zimbabwean
president can no longer assume immunity
from arrest when he travels abroad,
though he may still manage to negotiate
indemnity in Zimbabwe as part of an
exit package.
It is equally
relevant to note that not even exile in Nigeria could
save Charles Taylor,
the former warlord who rose to become president of
Liberia, from indictment
for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone.
Taylor is alleged to have
formed a "joint criminal enterprise" with
Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary
United Front (RUF), in which Taylor purportedly
supplied arms and training
to the rebels in return for a slice of Sierra
Leone's diamond
trade.
Taylor, the first former African head of state to be
indicted for war
crimes, is today facing trial at the International Criminal
Court in the
Netherlands.
The charges against Bemba relate to
his role in 2002 in supporting the
president of the Central African Republic
against an attempted coup. The
charges against him arise from his alleged
commission of human rights
atrocities against civilians in the neighbouring
state.
Another development in the past week is the decision of the
Ethiopian
supreme court to sentence Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former
Ethiopian
dictator, to death in absentia. Mengistu is living in exile in
Zimbabwe,
having been granted refuge there after fleeing from Ethiopia in
1991.
In offering Mengistu asylum, Mugabe defined himself as a
sympathiser
of one the most notorious dictators in Africa, one whose vicious
quest for
power and brutal defence of it is recorded in The Black Book of
Communism.
Mugabe's decisions to protect Mengistu bring to mind the Aesopian
aphorism
that a man is known by the company he keeps.
Having
sentenced Mengistu to life imprisonment last year, the
Ethiopian supreme
court found itself under pressure from the prosecution to
impose the death
sentence as one that is more commensurate with the scale of
his genocidal
crimes.
One of a cabal of Marxist-oriented military officers who
came to power
after the death of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie in 1975,
Mengistu is
perhaps best remembered for his ruthless campaign of Red Terror
against
rival contenders for power, communist and non-communist
alike.
Contemporary reports estimate that between 1 200 and 2 000
real and
imagined political opponents were murdered during the Red Terror of
1977-78
and whose corpses were thrown into the streets to terrorise the
populace
into submission.
The charge of genocide takes account
of the famine that was a sequel
to Mengistu's rise to power and his
subsequent decision to turn Ethiopia
into a "people's republic" even as the
"people's republics" of Eastern
Europe were heading for the graveyard of
history.
The judgment of the Ethiopian supreme court in agreeing to
impose the
death penalty is worth quoting (with acknowledgement to
Reuters).
It reads: "Crimes committed by Mengistu and his
co-defendants by
killing an emperor and burying him under a toilet [are]
unheard of in the
annals of human history."
Mugabe's recent
attempt to exploit the xenophobia that swept through
South Africa for a
fortnight by enticing them to return to Zimbabwe by
offering them land
confiscated from white farmers is an exercise in amnesia
if, as seems
likely, he thinks that it will win him votes in his run-off
presidential
contest against Tsvangirai.
He seems to have forgotten that his
government disenfranchised
Zimbabweans living abroad from voting. With the
delusional logicality of
dictators, he seems to have assumed he can erase a
decade of government
electoral chancery and political oppression with a
single disingenuous
gesture.
He has failed to realise that
acting as the political patron of a
tyrant who brought bloodshed and
disaster to Ethiopia does not commend him
as a democrat concerned about the
welfare to his people.
Patrick Laurence is an independent
analyst and a contributing editor
to The Star
This article
was originally published on page 5 of Sunday Independent
on June 01,
2008
Sunday Nation, Kenya
Story by KITSEPILE NYATHI, SUNDAY NATION Correspondent,
HARARE
Publication Date: 2008/06/01 Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off election
later
this month must be giving exiled Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile
Mariam
sleepless nights.
Despite being sentenced to death in
absentia alongside a number of his
former lieutenants by an Ethiopian court
last week, Mengistu still lives
like a king in impoverished Zimbabwe since
he fled to Harare in 1991.
But his fate is closely tied to that of
his ally President Robert
Mugabe who goes to the June 27 election against
his arch-rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) with his
back against the wall after an embarrassing
first-round defeat in March.
The MDC, which already controls
Zimbabwe’s parliament for the first
time since independence, has vowed to
hand Mengistu over to the Ethiopian
authorities if it takes power. Mugabe‘s
Zanu PF says it is indebted to the
dictator for his role in the fight
against colonialism.
Formal request
“He remains our
guest in Zimbabwe. He will remain in Zimbabwe, and we
will protect him as
we’ve always done,” Deputy Information Minister, Bright
Matonga said in
response to the sentencing.
He said there had been no formal
request regarding Mengistu from the
Ethiopian government, but “even if they
make the request, he’s not going
anywhere.”
On the other hand,
the MDC reiterated its 2006 stance following the
dictator’s conviction on
genocide charges that it would withdraw the
protection afforded by Mugabe’s
government.
“We don’t want dictators on our land,” MDC spokesman,
Nelson Chamisa
said.
“Of course we do not condone killing or
the death sentence as MDC, but
we want justice to be delivered to the
victims and to the perpetrators so
that there’s restoration.”
When the MDC nearly won the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002
presidential elections, Mengistu is said to have considered relocating to
either China or North Korea.
Mengistu, a recluse and enigmatic
figure in Zimbabwean politics since
his arrival, is abhorred in the southern
African country because of the
feeling of many that he is one of the people
advising Zanu PF on how to
silence its critics through murder and
torture.
Security adviser
In 2005, acting as Mugabe’s
security adviser, he allegedly warned the
Zimbabwean leader that the
swelling slum population in the country was
creating a fertile ground for a
mass uprising.
He allegedly advised the Zimbabwean government to
clear the slums in
an operation that resulted in the death of several people
and the
displacement of more than 700 000 urban dwellers.
Mugabe’s government denied the accusations, but the accusation has
stuck
with Mengistu, and the opposition is not willing to forgive him.
Mengistu lives in luxury in one of the plush suburbs in the capital,
Harare,
with 24-hour security from the police VIP protection unit and the
Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) at Zimbabwean taxpayers’ expense.
He was also allocated two large farms, during Mugabe’s land seizure
and is
rumoured to own even more homes in Harare.
An activist campaigning
for his extradition said that “he (Mengistu)
drives at least six luxury
cars, including a Mercedes Benz, a Toyota Prado,
a Toyota Avensis, a BMW and
a twin-cab truck.”
He also enjoys a special fuel scheme from the
government-owned
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe for personal use and for
his farms, and his
vehicles are serviced free of charge at the central
mechanical equipment
department, said the activist.
Since his
arrival Mengistu’s life came under threat once when two
Eritreans tried to
assassinate him at his Harare residence.
The two were arrested and
subsequently sentenced to 10 and five years
imprisonment respectively.