The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Daily News

     

      6/14/02 9:45:29 AM (GMT +2)


      By Pedzisayi Ruhanya Chief Reporter

      BEN Smith, 80, a Featherstone farmer, was last night battling for his
life at the Avenues Clinic in Harare after he was ambushed and severely
assaulted by two unidentified men who took off in his vehicle.



      Smith, alone at the farm near Chivhu when the incident happened on
Wednesday night, suffered a fractured leg and backbone and cuts on the head.

      He was unable to speak yesterday as he was in a critical condition.

      His daughter, Tossie Van Bredan, said yesterday: "My father was struck
on the neck, ribs and knees with an iron rod by the assailants.

      He is in great pain, as you can see." She said two unidentified men
ambushed Smith at his Bathurst Estate farm while he was driving out of the
residence.

      "They then drove the car away with him. After driving for some
distance from the farm, they bundled him out of the car and tied him to a
tree and started beating him with an iron rod."

      Van Bredan said her father was rescued by farm workers after they
found him still tied to the tree and struggling for his life.

      The workers telephoned the police at Featherstone who responded
swiftly.

      The attackers drove away in Smith's Mazda pick-up truck.

      "I appreciate the reaction of the police to the incident," said van
Bredan. "They reacted positively after the matter was reported to them."

      The police in Featherstone yesterday refused to comment on the matter.

      Van Bredan said the farm was listed by the government for compulsory
acquisition.

      Twelve white commercial farmers have been killed since the
State-sponsored farm invasions started in February 2000.
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COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION
Farm Invasions And Security Report
Friday 14 June 2002
This report does not purport to cover all the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming areas.  Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting all that happens.  Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to minimise the risk of reprisals.

NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF
  • Featherstone – on 12.06.02, an 80-year-old farmer was waylaid and forced out of his vehicle after visiting his late wife's grave on Oasis farm. His assailants, understood to be two men, beat him up, attempted to strangle him with a piece of wire, then bound him and left him in the bush after stealing the vehicle. He managed to cut the ropes with a pocketknife, walk home and alert neighbours. He was taken to hospital the following morning and is in a serious condition with possible broken ribs, damage to the throat as a result of attempted strangulation, and other injuries.
  • Apart from the continued serving of Section 8 Orders, nothing has been reported in the Midlands area.
  • In Beatrice, one farmer had a dairy heifer shot and wounded with no response from police and one farm had a dairy cow slaughtered.
  • In Chiredzi, it appears Support Unit and army personnel are to be deployed in the Chiredzi River Conservancy to clamp down on poaching.
REGIONAL NEWS

MANICALAND
Very quiet at the moment, with nothing to report.
 
MASHONALAND CENTRAL
No report received.
 
MASHONALAND EAST
Beatrice - On one farm, 3 500 hay bales were set on fire and destroyed.  Police attended but no arrests were made.  One farmer had a dairy heifer shot and wounded with no response from police. The police and Support Unit carried out a search of a house occupied by "war vet" Chitsinde and a quantity of stolen goods were found.  He was arrested, but later released from custody.  Another farmer reports a new outbreak of settlers building houses. On one farm a dairy cow was slaughtered.
Featherstone – on 12.06.02, an 80-year-old farmer was waylaid and forced out of his vehicle after visiting his late wife's grave on Oasis farm, and then assaulted. His assailants, understood to be two men, beat him up, attempted to strangle him with a piece of wire, then bound him and left him in the bush after stealing the vehicle. He managed to cut the ropes with a pocketknife, walk home and alert neighbours. This incident followed hostility between the settlers and himself, with threats made against him. He was taken to hospital the following morning and is in a serious condition with possible broken ribs, damage to the throat as a result of attempted strangulation, and other injuries. Further information on the extent of injuries and his condition are awaited. 
Macheke/Virginia - One farmer had 4 weaners stolen, whilst another farmer had potatoes stolen.
One farmer sold his irrigation pipes but his labour would not allow them to be moved.  There was one work stoppage and another farm had a visit from ZNFU. Another farmer had 3 weaners stolen. Farm security guards had their vehicle stolen by 12 Wedsec guards.
Wedza - One farmer had 30 head of cattle delivered to the farm. A farmer had switchgear stolen from the borehole at the weekend. Police responded. On 11.06.02 at approximately 1300 hrs, five people, dropped off at the top of the road from a blue Peugeot, arrived at the gate of a farm. Two were armed. The owner's wife responded and the one who had a pistol demanded she open the gate. She explained if she opened the gate the dogs would bite them.  He threatened to kill the dogs, pointed the pistol at the dogs and pulled the trigger, which fell on an empty chamber. The owner’s wife managed to return to the house and lock herself in and they left. The police were collected from Wedza as they had no vehicles, took a statement and said they would come back when they had a vehicle.  A farmer reports one cow slaughtered and two cows missing.
 
MASHONALAND WEST (NORTH)
No report received.
 
MASHONALAND WEST (SOUTH)
No report received.
 
MASVINGO
Mwenezi – Poaching continues.  There are reports of armed poachers carrying rifles from two properties.  It has been disclosed by a government official that settlers evicted from identified properties would be moved to neighbouring properties.  Reports indicate Reinette, Lumbergia, Quagga Pan B and Dorrington Ranches have had more settlers moving on.  Lot 21A reports that although the docket remains open on the attempted poisoning of the cattle water trough, it appears to have been resolved as the owner explained to the police his cattle drink from the same water trough the settlers claim was poisoned by him.
Gutu/Chatsworth – Poaching and degradation of environment continues.
Chiredzi – poaching continues with destruction to the environment including cutting and burning.  No settlers have been moved off properties.  It appears Support Unit and army personnel are to be deployed in the Chiredzi River Conservancy to clamp down on poaching.
Masvingo – the situation remains pressured, with poaching and degradation of the environment.
 
MIDLANDS
Apart from the continued serving of Section 8 Orders, nothing has been reported.
Please note a change in the Kwekwe report sent in for the Sitrep of 30.05.02: On Delvillewood Estates "Chairman of the Land Committee's cattle..." should read "Management Committee Chairman's cattle..."
MATABELELAND
No report received.
 
aisd1@cfu.co.zw                               Visit the CFU Website www.mweb.co.zw/cfu 

Disclaimer
Unless specifically stated that this message is a Commercial Farmers' Union communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded to you by the sender in an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein are private. Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any organisation not directly affiliated to the Union. The CFU does not accept any legal responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender and transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or to external addressees.
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CRISISWEB NEWS
_________________
 
Friday, 14 June 2002
 
ZIMBABWE
--------------
 
Zimbabwe: What Next?
ICG Africa Report N° 47
 

While Zimbabwe has slipped off the radar for most policy makers and the media, its crisis is deepening. Party-to-party talks between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change initially made progress but collapsed in mid-May. Now serious internal fissures threaten to radicalise the MDC. Its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has begun to speak of switching to mass public protests within weeks if there is no movement toward new elections. All indications are that this would draw a sharp response from the government and set off a cycle of much more serious domestic conflict. Zimbabwe's neighbours and the broader international community must pressure ZANU-PF to end the violence and return to the negotiating table. The objective should be some form of a transitional administration, which reforms the constitution and prepares for new elections.
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From ZWNEWS, 14 June

Passport problems

Defying court orders, officials of Robert Mugabe’s regime are refusing to issue passports to internationally acclaimed Zimbabwean dancer Ricarudo Manwere, who is due to perform in South Africa and Spain next month, and human rights campaigner Judith Todd. Both fell foul of stringent new citizenship legislation because they had foreign-born parents, and both subsequently won High Court test cases in which judges held that they were entitled to retain their Zimbabwean nationality and passports. Judges ruled that Manwere and Todd, both born in Zimbabwe, could only be held to have renounced Zimbabwean nationality if they had taken active steps to claim a second citizenship – and that Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede had no legal right to deprive Zimbabweans of citizenship on the mere assumption they might hold a claim by descent to a second passport. Dual nationality is illegal under the new legislation, which was aimed primarily at 30 000 whites of British descent who Mugabe accuses of masterminding opposition to his 22-year rule and seizures of white-owned farms. However, those worst affected are two million black Zimbabweans of Mozambican or Malawian descent, who may be left stateless.

Lawyers for Todd, 58, daughter of former prime minister Sir Garfield Todd, this week lodged formal objection to attempts by Mudede to suspend an order that he restore all Todd's citizenship rights and issue her with a new passport within 40 days. Sir Garfield, 93, was born in New Zealand. Mudede claimed he did not have to issue Judith Todd with a passport before the Supreme Court heard his appeal, which may not be until next year. Meanwhile passport officials refused to obey a similar order made by Judge Yunus Omerjee for Manwere to receive a passport within 14 days and in time to accompany the Tumbuka dance troupe to South Africa and Spain next month. The judge held that Manwere could not be stripped of his Zimbabwean citizenship because he had failed to produce proof he had renounced Mozambican nationality by Mudede's January 6 deadline. Manwere's father was born in Mozambique. Passport officials first refused to recognise the court order, and then told the dancer to "join the queue" at their offices. Applicants have to wait, sometimes for days, to lodge applications. They are then subjected to a delay of up to seven months before new passports can be collected. Legal sources said Manwere is considering having Mudede indicted for contempt of court.

Todd’s lawyers this week applied to High Court Judge Benjamin Paradza for an order refusing right of appeal to the Registrar General in her case. Mudede contends that the judge who heard Todd’s case in April, Sandra Mungwira, should have excused herself because her husband may be entitled to a second citizenship. However, Todd noted that the judge’s order for her to receive a new passport was granted by consent when state lawyers conceded Mudede had "usurped the prerogatives of the legislature and the judiciary" in depriving Zimbabweans of citizenship. Because the state lawyers agreed, there is no right of appeal and there should be no further delay, Todd’s lawyers said. Judge Paradza will give his ruling next week.
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 14 June

Government by the mad

Those fortunate enough to have read last Wednesday’s issue of The Herald (Govt paper) would have stumbled across a real gem. A certain Morgan Handidi set out, at length, his ruminations on the state of Zimbabwean politics. The editorial is unfortunately too long to reproduce here in full – unfortunate, because it really does deserve to be admired in its full glory. The title of the article – "Planned mass action threatens to destroy the MDC" – summarises Mr Handidi’s analysis. ‘Nuff said, nothing new in that. But the real value of the essay is in the rare glimpse it gives of Harare’s passages of power. For Morgan Handidi is, of course, the nom de plume of a middle-ranking government minister. The meaning (I don’t want Morgan) is not too subtle to be lost on the minister’s dozens of loyal readers.

Those corridors must be a grim place to inhabit, even for the kings of the Zimbabwean power jungle. For our not-quite-anonymous essayist reveals that he and his colleagues are being assaulted from all sides, not to mention top and bottom, by a bewildering array of assailants – so many that they make the Congolese rebel groups seem few in number. British covert operatives; former members of the Rhodesian forces; Selous Scouts; cartels of black businessmen; cartels of white businessmen; top MDC officials; delinquent MDC youth; British spy networks; MDC killer squads; armed robbers and criminals; Brian Donnelly (the British High Commissioner); the CFU; spent forces; and other unidentified groups, some on the run, some not on the run. Not to mention MDC militants, some even trained in Uganda; a shadowy group called Mumvuri waDavid Coltart; and, the ghost of Cecil Rhodes. Even Satan himself apparently sticks in his trident from time to time.

All of these have forces of evil have, of course, been previously and individually identified by other ministers, who perhaps lacked Mr Handidi’s singular strategic outlook. But it is only now that we have been privileged with a coherent outline of just how these multifarious, and seemingly fractious, groups are, in fact, essential elements in the grand imperialist master-plan to conquer Zimbabwe. Did we mention the imperialists? They figured in there somewhere. One question: What is a rubble-rouser? They – with the spent forces - apparently have something to do with mass stayaways, according to analysts known only to Mr Handidi. Is this some new kind of secret weapon, like a suicide bomber? Perhaps Mr Handidi would like to explain further? Or perhaps it was really just a typographical error, and some unfortunate sub-editor at the Herald is set to join hundreds of other Zimpapers ex-employees.

And the world is thick with plots: plots to assassinate the president; plots to kill MDC people and blame it on Zanu PF; plots to kill Zanu PF people and blame it on Zanu PF; even plots to lead law-abiding citizens into confrontation with the national guard...and blame it on Zanu PF. Who is the national guard? We hadn’t heard of that one. Perhaps Mr Handidi has unwittingly let something slip? It can’t be easy keeping up with all these plots, and maybe he took his eye off a ball for a moment. The extent of British involvement is simply breath-taking. All these plots are to be co-ordinated by Brian Donnelly, who is apparently planning to flit around the country from one clandestine high-tech mobile communications station to another. We bet Brian Donnelly didn’t realise he would be so busy when he was posted to Harare. Ordinary citizens have really had their eyes opened to the full extent of the total onslaught, for which we are grateful to Mr Handidi. One more question: does all this British stuff have anything to do with all the allegations of le vice Anglais which have been mesmerising Harare in recent weeks?

Can life really be this bad? Are there really so many enemies out there? They say the mark of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two contradictory opinions at the same time. But maybe the strain is starting to show for this particular rocket-scientist. Maybe Mr Handidi needs a very long holiday.

p.s. If you would like a copy of Mr Handidi's essay, please let us know. It's a classic, and you can keep it for your grandchildren.

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Zim Independent

Comment

Mugabe cuts a lonely figure in Rome

PRESIDENT Mugabe this week cut a lonely figure at the Rome FAO food summit.
Television cameras showed him seated alone, his ministers behind him,
receiving the occasional greeting from African ministers present. But he was
shunned by leaders of any consequence who refused to allow the summit to
become a focus of anti-Western demagoguery of the sort Mugabe specialises
in.

Thabo Mbeki correctly identified problems of access for developing-country
products (the US) and subsidies (the EU) as obstacles to fair trade and
development. But Mugabe's claim that industrialised countries were not
interested in finding a solution to problems affecting Africa was
effectively rebuffed by USAid head Andrew Natsios who pointed out that
"tyrannical and predatory" leaders like Mugabe were the main hindrance to
recovery on the continent.

"He is causing the crisis in Zimbabwe," Natsios pointed out. And despite the
bluster of Zimbabwean ministers in the official press, that is very much the
consensus now.

Mugabe did manage a meeting with Kofi Annan. But the UN secretary-general
reportedly used it to urge Mugabe to lift the GMB's chokehold on the import
and sale of grain in Zimbabwe.

Britain's international development minister Clare Short noted that the FAO
summit was typical of the old-style UN meetings where third world despots
attacked the West while insisting they be given more handouts. Thankfully
the UN is moving away from that sort of grandstanding. But the stayaway by
world leaders except the Italian and Spanish prime ministers (Italy hosted
the summit and Spain is current EU president) demonstrated a growing refusal
to entertain Mugabe's posturing.

His statement that Western powers wanted to see developing countries suffer
was precisely the sort of statement that he is no longer able to get away
with. He was the cause of suffering in his own country, officials pointed
out. It was "distasteful to see the president of Zimbabwe giving the
impression that he really cared about his citizens", Natsios remarked. And
EU parliamentarian Glenys Kinnock pointed out that Mugabe was using UN
meetings to parade himself while people in Zimbabwe suffered because of his
policies. It was "sheer hypocrisy", she said, for members of the Zimbabwean
regime to be discussing efforts to ease poverty and hunger when their
actions have helped to make the threat of widespread starvation a reality.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson pointedly remarked that some
leaders were engineers of hunger and deprivation.

The evidence is clear enough. Farmers have been forbidden to plant crops on
listed farms. Their willingness to plant winter wheat has been thwarted by
Agricultural minister Joseph Made's refusal to give them assurances that
their Section 8 notices will be lifted.

The havoc caused by sweeping land seizures, including the illegal seizure of
irrigation equipment and other farm implements has directly impacted on food
production. Nobody except the delusional circle around Mugabe is now
disputing that. And the uncertainty surrounding the land issue has
discouraged investment in agriculture across the board with damaging
consequences for downstream businesses.

This is not a programme of giving "Zimbabwean land to Zimbabweans" as the
president fatuously pretends. The victims of these wholesale dispossessions
are Zimbabweans - farm workers and their white Zimbabwean employers who
Mugabe has chosen to demonise in his racist campaign to deprive them of
their livelihoods for exercising their democratic right to support the
opposition.

Political intolerance, lawlessness and racism are the core policies driving
Zanu PF's "third chimurenga". In what other country is it found acceptable
for the government to wage a violent campaign against its own law-abiding
citizens on the grounds of race or political affiliation?

That the world has finally woken up to this reality as famine now stalks the
Southern African region is welcome, however belated. No amount of silly
stories about Italian businessmen lining up to invest here can disguise the
truth about Zimbabwe's descent into penury.

Travel writers brought here to write puff pieces last year don't appear to
have been deceived either. This regime spells disaster not only for
Zimbabweans but for the region we used to help feed.

Mugabe hoped to be the centre of attention in Rome. He was. He has become
the symbol of African misrule. No wonder everybody else kept their distance!
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Zim Independent

Commercial farmers lose 95% of land
Augustine Mukaro
THE large-scale commercial farming sector is set to lose 94,8% of the
farming area if government proceeds to acquire all the farms it has listed
under its controversial land reform programme.

According to the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)'s latest update on the
status of farms listings, as of April 17 government had listed a total of 5
849 farms out of the 6 000 owned by large-scale commercial farmers. The
farms translate to 10 452 519 hectares of land. Prior to the farm invasions,
the commercial farming sector owned 11 020 000ha.


"Of the 6 000 large-scale commercial farms comprising 11 020 000ha, which is
28,2% of the total land area of Zimbabwe under threat of acquisition, only
151 farms on 567 481ha of land have not received Section 8 notices," the
update said.


"To this could be added the delisted 449 farms on 853 900ha which still
remain in the hands of the original commercial farming sector," the CFU
said.


The controversial land reform programme has resulted in the far-reaching
nationalisation of commercial farmland.


Land has been acquired through notices of acquisition and in some instances
invaders first arrived on the farms under the fast-track programme and
government then took steps to acquire the farms through Section 8 notices.


In November last year government passed the Maximum Farms Size regulations
resulting in the relisting of some farms which had been delisted as
unsuitable for acquisition.


The large-scale commercial sector land totalling 11 020 000ha was divided
among six major owners.


Before the fast-track resettlement exercise CFU members owned nearly 8 595
000ha or 78%; the Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union members 700 000ha or
6,4%; non-union members 600 000ha or 5,4%; the Development Trust of Zimbabwe
332 000ha or 3%; tenant schemes 470 000ha or 4,3%; the Cold Storage Company
211 000ha or 1,9%; and the Forestry Commission 112 000ha or 1%.


Zimbabwe has a total land hectarage of 39 079 000ha of which 27 604 000ha or
70,6% is state land. About 11 275 000ha or 28,9% is privately-owned while
the remaining 200 000ha or 0,5% is urban land.
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Zim Independent

Italy's premier snubs Mugabe
Staff Writer/Daily Telegraph
BRITISH plans to extend sanctions against Zimbabwe's ruling elite this week
received an important boost from Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister,
who blocked an attempt by President Mugabe to break out of the diplomatic
straitjacket imposed on him.

The Italians rebuffed a request by Mugabe to hold high-profile talks with
government leaders, the British media reported. Italian officials said they
had turned down a request for a bilateral meeting on the fringe of the World
Food Summit in Rome.


British officials were delighted by Berlusconi's refusal to meet Mugabe
separately or to allow contacts between Italian and Zimbabwean ministers.


Britain is preparing plans to extend the European Union's sanctions against
Mugabe. The proposal would extend the EU travel ban to dozens more senior
Zimbabwean figures, according to Whitehall sources. At present, 20 senior
figures in Mugabe's entourage are banned from travelling to EU states.


However, British officials expect other European countries to resist plans
to extend the sanctions to spouses and children of those on the banned list.


"There are objections to making the sons pay for the sins of the father but
there are a number of options," said one source.


Meanwhile, it has been reported that Mugabe and his delegation have been
staying at the five-star £500 a night Excelsior Hotel since Saturday. They
were due to leave yesterday at the conclusion of the FAO summit. Italian
police confirmed that the Zimbabwean delegation was staying at the hotel,
according to the Daily Telegraph.


The historic hotel is on the Via Veneto, one of the centerpieces of Rome's
dolce vita in the 1950s and 60s. This week, the hotel, a majestic temple of
marble, gilt, brocade, frescoes and precious carpets, had become a fortress
protected by armed police. The Nigerian delegation was also staying there.


Mugabe's bodyguards were reported to have roughed up a TV cameraman at the
hotel and tried to seize his film after he "door-stepped" the Zimbabwean
leader, according to the Telegraph.


Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has added his voice to
calls for the sanctions regime to be strengthened. He said the Commonwealth
should impose "smart sanctions" against Zimbabwe.


In March a committee of three heads of government led by Howard as current
Commonwealth chairman decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the grouping after
the controversial election that returned Mugabe to power.


Howard told Sydney radio this week he was now ready to reconvene the
committee to consider stronger action.


"The behaviour of that government has gone from bad to worse and I think
they are going to face a stronger reaction than many of them have imagined,"
Howard said.
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Zim Independent

Editor's Memo

A press under siege

"THERE is never a paucity of arguments in favour of limiting the freedom of
the press," US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart observed in 1973.

That is true everywhere but is particularly true of Zimbabwe today where the
free press is under siege because of the role it has played in exposing
misrule, not to mention the double standards of our rulers.


In response to this assault on our liberties, independent newspaper editors
on Wednesday announced the formation of the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum
(ZINEF) which is designed to provide a policy-making body for all editors
committed to the principles of a free press.


We will no doubt hear some heckling from the state sector about "sectional
interests" and exclusivity. But frankly there is no bridging the yawning
chasm between journalists who see their duty as upholding universal values
of free expression, democratic accountability and good governance on the one
hand, and those on the other who are committed to the defence of a
nomenklatura that has systematically impoverished the country and now seeks
to hide its trail of misgovernance behind the veil of the media it owns
amidst specious claims to African values.


The abuse of the supposedly publicly-owned media by the government is only
one challenge we face. Oppressive laws designed to silence inconvenient
voices - both in the independent media and in civil society - must also be
challenged because they attempt to abridge those freedoms we are entitled to
under the constitution, most notably the freedoms of association and
expression.


We have in Zimbabwe a situation where obviously self-interested ministers
and police spokesmen determine whether we should be allowed to exercise
those freedoms or not - mostly not. That is unacceptable in a democracy. So
ZINEF will hopefully take up these issues and provide a watchdog for press
freedom. Misa-Zimbabwe is performing a complementary role and on Wednesday
held discussions on its proposed media defence fund. This will provide us
with the means to take up the cudgels in the courts if we need to.


As it stands there appears to be confusion at the media commission with its
officials this week assuring newspapers that if they are already registered
under the Companies Act then they are deemed registered for the time being.


This is rather problematic because the Act clearly states that media houses
must register in a prescribed manner as laid down in regulations published
by the minister. No such regulations had been drawn up by yesterday, as far
as we know, and no forms were available for the purpose of registration.
Those companies wishing to comply with the law would therefore have found it
difficult to do so.


We are not opposed to a media commission or press complaints council as
such. But we are certainly opposed to one established under a
constitutionally-dubious law by a government with an advertised record of
hostility towards the independent press. Nor do the appointments to the
commission announced so far inspire any confidence, either in terms of their
credentials or the manner of their selection.


I accept Max Weber's view that the press is a "highly ambiguous profession",
but that doesn't give unlicensed ministers the right to license us. We have
seen the way a number of stories have been seized on of late to "prove" that
the private media is telling "lies" to discredit Zanu PF at the behest of
the British. But that hasn't prevented the government media from lying about
the MDC and the British.


Complaints about the media should ideally be the responsibility of the media
itself. That is the case in other professions. In South Africa a media
ombudsman hears complaints and obliges newspapers to carry his verdict. I
hope ZINEF will provide a stimulus to raising standards in our local media
where the level of training at both the Harare Polytechnic and the
University of Zimbabwe leaves much to be desired.


We must also ensure our voice is heard as widely as possible. We have a
record over the past 22 years of allowing individuals strongly opposed to
press freedom with umbilical links to the Zanu PF government to speak for
the press both at home and abroad. That must stop. We must make it clear
that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act is a dagger
held at the heart of a free society. Together with its sinister sibling, the
Public Order and Security Act, it has been described in the South African
media as worse than anything devised by the apartheid regime. Those writing
now in support of these measures or who have been cheering ministers on in
their private war against journalists have placed themselves beyond the pale
of the press community. That they cannot see beyond this delinquent regime
to a time when Zimbabweans will be free is one thing. Encouraging and
endorsing the persecution of fellow journalists is another.


The media fraternity should take a stand on this and other issues that
directly impact on our profession.


"Freedom of the press is not a special privilege for journalists. It is a
special protection for the people," Paul K Masters has pointed out. We need
to remember that.

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Zim Independent

News Analysis

Liberation movements dogged by siege mentality
Vincent Kahiya
AFTER more than two decades of political independence from colonial rule,
national liberation movements in the Sadc region remain encrusted in
monolithic dogma and a siege mentality.

The movements, including Zimbabwe's own Zanu PF, believe they are under
threat from resurgent forces of colonialism disguised as opposition
political parties. The redundant theology of the movements - which have held
several relatively unpublicised meetings recently - is that their coming to
power represented some form of permanence and any attempt to challenge their
stay is tantamount to surrendering the country's sovereignty to neo-liberals
and imperialists.

The one-party mindset explains the vigour with which President Mugabe
attacked the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which he has
portrayed as a counter-revolutionary force bent on reversing the gains of
independence and frustrating the land policy.

The British government and especially Prime Minister Tony Blair were dragged
in and branded enemy number one. The anti-British rhetoric and the
fabrication of various "plots" to oust Mugabe using the MDC dovetailed
snugly into Mugabe's theory that reactionary forces were keen to overthrow
him and frustrate his land scheme.

The political grandstanding of self-righteousness and moral indignation of
the movements was given accent by the land - which in Zimbabwe assumed the
revolutionary title of the Third Chimurenga.

Having prosecuted the Second Chimurenga, which brought about Independence in
1980, the Zanu PF government needed another revolution to authenticate its
status which has over the years been marred by misgovernance, a plummeting
economy characterised by three-figure inflation, forex shortages and massive
domestic and foreign debts, and increasing repression.

For the past two years, the land has become a key facet of Zanu PF's
theology of self-righteousness and social justice in the face of perceived
regrouping of colonisers. Journalist and former Oxford professor of politics
RW Johnson writing in Focus magazine in an article titled "African support
for Mugabe," said the theory underpinning the liberation movements goes:
"Land plays a key part in the theology. Originally the masses had the land
but then the racists and colonialists stole it from them and thus the masses
lost all their power and were reduced to virtual slaves."

Two weeks ago the government announced that Third Chimurenga was concluded
and that Zimbabwe had scored a big victory against the West by taking away
10,5 million hectares from white commercial farmers for redistribution under
the A1 and A2 models.

The announcement by government that the exercise was over and that it had
been a resounding success raises the question: who are the real
beneficiaries of the Third Chimurenga? The government sees the transfer of
land from white commercial farmers to blacks as a climax in the attainment
of social justice, which the guerilla movements fought for in the liberation
struggle.

But the quest for social justice has come at a price for the general
populace, hence other than the ruling aristocracy and the just over 250 000
families who have received land, the celebrations have been subdued. The
real victors of the Third Chimurenga, analysts say, are President Mugabe and
his cronies who have used the politics of the land to prevail over the
challenge to their rule.

Critics of President Mugabe would say the war of liberation was not only
about land but also about the extension of freedoms, universal suffrage,
better standards of living and so on. The Third Chimurenga not only saw the
expropriation of land but a systematic subtraction of freedoms and
interference with the electoral processes and steep decline in the standards
of living.

The fires of the current revolution were stoked by saturation propaganda
which saw laws enacted to change broadcasting rules, stifle public debate to
train public attention on the land issue amid threats there was a danger of
Zimbabwe becoming a colony again unless the people supported the
internationally condemned programme.

The government laboured to stir public opinion into believing that the
West's criticism of Mugabe was driven by racism since the whites, their kith
and kin, were losing land. Laws were amended prior to the election to
interfere with the electoral process thereby giving Mugabe an unfair
advantage over his closest opponent Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Public Order and Security Act is being used to crack down on dissent by
banning public meetings and demonstrations, and to arrest those who
criticise the government. The government has also enacted the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act to gag the outspoken privately
owned press and has used the act to arrest at least a dozen journalists over
the past three months.

The enactment of a raft of draconian legislation has been seen in the
framework of a grandiose plan that coupled with land reform has come to be
known as the Third Chimurenga - a life-or-death struggle by the incumbent to
stay in power.

The key victors of the latest Chimurenga are those who have suddenly found
themselves with large tracts of land and machinery which they never paid
for. It is those who have been given the licence to extort funds from
farmers and become a law unto themselves on the commercial farms.

Social commentator Brian Kagoro said the use of the word "Chimurenga" was
not in sync with the way land redistribution actually took place.

"The term Chimurenga spoke of resistance and liberation," said Kagoro.

"The tragedy of this Third Chimurenga is that there was neither resistance
nor liberation. What simply happened is that some rich black guys used some
poor people to get land from the whites," he said.

Kagoro said the Third Chimurenga has failed to address the issue of land
ownership by blacks.

"Before Independence in 1980 blacks were largely tenants of the state on
not-so-fertile land and what this Third Chimurenga has done is to make the
same blacks tenants of the state on more fertile land," said Kagoro.

He said the latest mode of the Chimurenga had trivialised the essence of the
liberation struggle which was land ownership.

Political analysts Brian Raftopoulos said it was difficult to gauge the
success of the Third Chimurenga because of the scarcity of information on
what was has actually been going on in the resettlement programme.

"One of the problems is that we do not have a clear and detailed analysis of
what has been going on on the land because the process was not done in a
transparent manner," said Raftopoulos.

Whatever the protests Mugabe has not come out of the Third Chimurenga
smelling of roses. The country is labouring under the weight of
international sanctions and food security has been immensely compromised by
the disruptions on the land.

In the face of the deteriorating economy Mugabe has elected to go it alone
without international support as going cap in hand to the West would be a
serious reflection on his ego.

In Rome this week, he said his government would reorganise the mining
industry to bring on board more black players. We will wait to see how he
intends to redistribute the country's rich mineral resources given his
record on agrarian reform.

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Zim Independent

Mugabe gets flak for crackdown on lawyers
Dumisani Muleya
DESPITE the High Court ruling that last week's arrest and detention of Law
Society of Zimbabwe president Sternford Moyo and secretary Wilbert Mapombere
was lawful, legal bodies have continued to condemn the attorneys'
incarceration.

The Southern African Develop-ment Community Lawyers Association (Sadcla)
said the arrests should be condemned because the lawyers were held on
charges "that were not fully investigated by the police".


"Democracy and the rule of law continues to be eroded in Zimbabwe at
unprecedented levels with wholesale arrests of journalists, lawyers and
members of civil society who dare go about exercising their fundamental
freedoms of speech and association," the group said.


"Also targeted for arrests are ordinary people with a dissenting voice to
what President Mugabe and the ruling party say."


Judge President Justice Paddington Garwe said the arrest and detention of
the lawyers was lawful because it was impossible to determine the
authenticity of the allegations without an investigation.


"It is not possible to say with certainty that the letters (they are alleged
to have written) are fraudulent or otherwise," he said. "It is only possible
if there is a full inquiry into the matter."


However, Sadcla differed with Garwe.


"Given the fact the allegations against the lawyers were poorly
investigated, the two should not have been incarcerated," it said.


"Moyo and Mapombere were arrested for anonymous unsigned letters that were
purported to have been written by them."


Police claimed the lawyers wrote subversive letters to the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and British diplomats in Harare
inciting a revolt against the government.


But Sadc attorneys insisted the arrest and detention of Moyo and Mapombere
was unacceptable.


"Sadcla says that the region cannot afford to have countries where the rule
of law and basic rights of citizens are not respected," it said.


"The association says that more alarming and sinister is the intimidation of
members of the judiciary who are opposed to erosion of the rule of law and
the appointment of some members of the judiciary who are known allies of the
ruling party."


Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it did not believe the lawyers
committed any wrong-doing.


"We consider that the charges were probably false, unfounded and apparently
malicious," it said. The group said facts surrounding the case - the section
of the Public Order & Security Act allegedly violated, dates of alleged
meetings, authenticity of the letters and the section of the Act under which
the lawyers were being charged - indicated the attorneys did not commit any
offence.


"Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is outraged at the perverse use by the
executive of the criminal justice system," it said.


The Law Society of the Limpopo (Northern) Province of South Africa also
expressed outrage at the lawyers' arrest.


"The Law Society is concerned about the growing lawlessness in Zimbabwe and
the apparent breakdown in the rule of law in our neighbouring country," the
society president Jan Stemmett said.


"The arrests seriously impact on the independence of the legal profession."


The Canadian Bar Association has written to Prime Minister Jean Chretien
expressing shock and dismay over the case.


"These arrests are another startling example of the rapid decline of the
rule of law in Zimbabwe under President Mugabe," said spokesman Eric Rice.


The International Bar Association, United States government, and human
rights groups last week slammed the lawyers' arrests as harassment.
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Daily News

Leader Page

      Southern Africa food

      6/14/02 9:58:43 AM (GMT +2)



      MALAWI'S President Bakili Muluzi has blamed the food crisis in his
country on the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He claims the IMF asked
him to sell some of the country's maize stocks to raise money to pay off its
massive debts.



      The Vice-President of Zambia, Enock Kavindele, says irrigation may be
the answer to the region's food problems: maize requires too much rainwater
to mature.

      He suggests the people of Zambia may have to switch their staple food
from maize to either cassava or millet, sturdier crops which need less
rainwater than maize.

      Drought is endemic to the region, a fact not readily grasped by the
politicians.

      In Zimbabwe, there have been similar suggestions: perhaps the people
could be weaned off maize and forced to change their staple to millet or
cassava.

      Most people have reacted with: fat chance.The government in Zimbabwe
blames the food crisis on, not only the weather, but also on the inequitable
distribution of land.

      President Mugabe told a United Nations conference on children about
this in New York last month, on one of his so-called "sanctions-busting"
trips, with no apologies for bringing up the subject at
      a children's summit.

      At the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in Rome,
where his presence was described by some delegates as "distasteful", he
repeated the litany - white ownership of most of the land was the root cause
of the problem.

      Southern Africa is in the grip of a food crisis of staggering
proportions, with 13 million in danger of dying of starvation.

      But as the director of the Southern Africa Development Community
(Sadc)'s Food and Natural Resources Unit says, the region's leaders have not
learnt any lessons from the past, specifically the drought of 1991/92.

      Reggie Mugwara, a Zimbabwean, has been involved in the Sadc food
security unit for some years now and must know what he is talking about.

      One comment he makes in a wide-ranging interview published in this
paper yesterday is the fact that much lip service has been paid to
agriculture in the region, previous little else.

      This is painfully true in Zimbabwe, where the government has pretended
that creating a nation of peasant farmers is the only solution to the food
security problem.

      In its relentless pursuit of that goal, it launched the
violence-ridden Hondo Yeminda for which most of the outside world has paid
it back by refusing to give it any more aid or even loans.

      In short, its agricultural policy - if it could be qualified as that -
has alienated most of the people who had eagerly helped it in the past.

      In his speeches in New York and Rome, Mugabe has engaged in
capegoating of the worst kind, blaming the food crisis on everyone else
except his government's ill-advised and ill-implemented policies.

      He makes no reference to his defiance of the Supreme Court of the land
to allow the so-called war veterans to run wild on the commercial farms in
2000.

      That was the beginning of the end of any coherent agricultural policy
in Zimbabwe.

      Muluzi has done the same scapegoating: blaming his country's problems
on the IMF, not on his own preoccupation with a third term of office.

      He has hardly devoted much attention to Malawi's food crisis - except
lip service.

      In Zimbabwe, he asked his High Commissioner to visit Chiredzi to
examine how a Zimbabwean experiment with growing maize through irrigation on
land previously used for sugar cane was proceeding.

      Most experts have said the Chiredzi experiment offers no permanent
solution to Zimbabwe's maize production problem.

      What is urgently needed is investment in agriculture, whether it is to
boost maize production or switch to millet or cassava.

      The crucial element is investment, as Mugwara says. Unfortunately for
Zimbabwe, the investment is misdirected: Hondo Yeminda is essentially a
political war.

      The investment into it will be as profitless to the country as the
government's equally ill-advised investment in the Democratic Republic of
Congo civil war.
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Growing Brain Drain, An Economic Disaster



Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)

COLUMN
June 14, 2002
Posted to the web June 14, 2002

Erich Bloch


ZIMBABWEANS have, with the notable exception of those in government,
progressively become more and more aware of the monumental disaster that the
economy has become, the causes of that disaster and the most distressing
effects upon almost all. Virtually the only ones not affected negatively are
most of those who rule the country, and others who are influentially
connected to the rulers.

One can only surmise as to their sources of income of such magnitude that
the decimation of the economy is of no significance to them. Certainly they
cannot maintain their present lifestyles on their government salaries, and
as most of them were possessed of little or no capital when elevated to
their present positions of power, those lifestyles could not have been
achieved as a result of previous astute and bountiful investments.

Those who are aware of the increasing chaos that is the Zimbabwean economy
today are particularly conscious of the very pronounced inflation which is
afflicting all, making it exceptionally difficult to meet their basic needs.
Inflation had an annualised rate of 18,3% in 1997, and is now a horrific
114%! In the last four months, food inflation has been 23,5%, inflation of
education costs has been an immense 46,6%, health care rose by 15,9%, and
transport and communications increased by 11,5%, and overall inflation was
over 25%.

They are also aware that many basic essentials are in short supply. Some
have been unable to purchase maize meal for at least the last three months.
Most queue frequently, and almost endlessly, for cooking oil, sugar and
other essential commodities. Almost everyone has been subjected to
electricity load shedding. Very many can no longer afford health care and
when so debilitated and ill as to require hospitalisation, cannot afford it
and have to reconcile themselves to continuing ill-health and to possible
death, for they do not have the resources to access the life-sustaining and
enhancing services and medications they need. For the few that can fund
health care, there is increasing difficulty to obtain it, for drugs and
other medicaments and medical supplies are extraordinarily scarce.

Unemployment is becoming ever more, with current estimates reflecting that
about 70% of those who are able and willing to work are without employment,
and their prospects of obtaining employment being increasingly remote. Farm
workers have become unemployed as their employers were ousted from the
farms, in part by government with its most ill-considered and foolhardy,
destructive, land programme, it determinedly discarding any proposals for an
orderly and just redistribution and resettlement of land, and obdurately
persisting with an unjust and economically disastrous policy of
expropriation, bringing agriculture (the mainstay of the economy, to the
brink of total ruin, and compounding manifold the famine caused by drought),
to its knees.

The mining industry is also on the brink of collapse, for the magnitude of
inflation has brought about immense escalations in operational costs, wholly
uncompensated for by necessary additional revenues, for persistent adherence
to a grossly unrealistic, fixed currency exchange rate is an insurmountable
bar to attaining the required revenue receipts.

Tourism has been almost destroyed by the combined effects of the state's
failure to maintain and enforce law and order, the near collapse of the
infrastructure, and the lack of reliable availability of tourist requisites,
that lack being a direct consequence of the economic decline.

Much of the manufacturing sector is similarly teetering on the verge of
destruction, being unable to source inputs due to the pronounced
non-availability of foreign exchange, the continuing reduction in consumer
demand as a result of fast-shrinking spending power, and the non-viability
of exports because of government obduracy against a realistic currency
devaluation required to offset the endless rise in manufacturing costs.

The growing annihilation of agriculture, mining, tourism and manufacturing
is accelerating the retrenchment of employees. Political and racial bigots
strive to attribute those retrenchments and the concomitant liquidation of
many enterprises to untoward political machinations of those opposed to
government, and to alleged minority, racially oppressive, intents. Those
allegations are baseless. They have no foundation whatsoever (and one must
ponder on whether the current massive retrenchments at the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation and other parastatals are then also driven by those
political and racial opponents!). It is the disintegration of the economy,
brought about by government's refusal to heed any views other than those
held rigidly by it, and its resolve to pursue its policies irrespective of
their negative repercussions, that results in unavoidable private sector
employment reduction.

Inflation, shortages, business closures and unemployment are but a few of
the symptoms of Zimbabwe's economic ills. When recovery of the economy
eventually occurs - and that it will undoubtedly do, albeit that that
recovery is far from imminent - it will be very long and slow. The economy
has been driven so far down into the chasm of desolation that the upward
climb will be unavoidably prolonged.

One of the greatest constraints upon recovery will, however, be the vast
loss of the skills that are necessary to create and maintain a vibrant
economy. Daily, more and more of those possessed of specialised knowledge
are departing Zimbabwe and settling in pastures new. Although Exchange
Controls can, and do, restrict the export of tangible goods, like
constraints cannot be imposed upon the export of knowledge and expertise.
Those who have studied or received training to equip them with particular
experience and skills are flooding out of Zimbabwe, be they whites, Asians
or indigenous blacks.

To a very great extent, it is the economic morass that is motivating the
departures. Many fear that the economy will continue to decline to such an
extent that they will be unable to generate a livelihood in the future.
Others recognise that the gargantuan levels of inflation are barriers to
their ever being able to acquire a home, a motor vehicle, or other
perquisites of living in reasonable comfort and security. Numerous of those
who have left Zimbabwe, and of those about to leave, are being driven by a
deep-seated sense of insecurity.

They have witnessed the unbridled violence in rural areas, including the
murder of at least twelve farmers, and the assault of scores more, and of
members of the families and employees of the farmers.

And they have also witnessed the unjustifiable destruction, theft and
vandalism of farms and of private property of hundreds, if not thousands, of
farmers. All these criminal acts have been allowed by government to continue
unabated, with the alleged guardians of law and order turning a blind eye,
allowing the criminality to be waged without restraint and, on several
occasions, to be pursued at the instance, or for the benefit, of those in
positions of high office.

Seeing government's ready condonation of the disregard for law within the
agricultural sector, many anticipate that it is only a matter of time before
like lawlessness will occur in other economic sectors. They perceive that
mining, tourism, secondary industry, wholesalers and retailers, and even
urban residences, are all vulnerable to the ravages of the Zimbabwean
anarchists, and that concurrently the intensifying national poverty is
fuelling a tremendous upsurge in crime, including burglary and theft,
car-jackings, and blue and white-collar fraud. All these are deterrents to
continued residence in Zimbabwe for those who are able to re-establish
themselves elsewhere.

Similarly, those who are the victims of unfounded racial attacks, be they
verbal or physical, or anticipate that they may become victims, inevitably
consider relocation to other countries.

Recently, yet a further stimulant towards emigration is the manner whereby
government is dismembering the remarkably efficacious educational structures
that have served Zimbabwe so well. Specious contentions of protecting
Zimbabwe's sovereignty are used to justify regulation forbidding the writing
of external examinations by Zimbabwean scholars. Instead of Cambridge A and
0-Level examinations, Zimbabweans will, from 2003, have to write
examinations set in Zimbabwe, notwithstanding that many of the world's
universities and other tertiary educational institutions will not recognise
them in determining entry qualification.

All these, and other factors are fast denuding Zimbabwe of one of its most
valued assets, being skills, expertise, experience and professionalism.
Doctors, radiologists, nurses, engineers, architects, accountants, fitters
and turners, computer technicians and others are only a few of the very many
skilled who are departing, be they white, black or of other race. Their loss
will very greatly delay the economic recovery and frustrate a rapid
restoration of economic wellbeing for the populace. If this is not to be,
government must abandon rhetoric, destructive political ideologies, and its
measures of economic demolition. It must restore and entrench law and order,
regularise the land programmes, reconcile with the international community,
work vigorously to reunite the races, and eliminate nepotism, corruption and
self-interest.
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Leader Page

      Parliament should investigate ZBC

      6/14/02 10:00:25 AM (GMT +2)



      THE disaster which has been unfolding at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC) since mid-2001 when the so-called restructuring, packaged
as the highly publicised Vision 30, was initiated by the Department of
Information, calls for a serious Parliamentary probe, more so in the light
of the very sad and inhuman retrenchment of 435 employees this month.



      I suggest another Parliamentary committee be set up to look into the
administrative affairs of ZBC for the period from mid-2001.

      I am aware that previous recommendations from the 1992 Sidney Malunga
and 1999 Richard Shambambeva-Nyandoro Parliamentary Committee reports may
not have yielded desired results. However, the current disaster at ZBC is
unprecedented in the history of the organisation, it cannot just be ignored.

      To even just document what has gone on during this period is important
and transparent for whoever desires to make judgment in future.

      It is extremely irresponsible for the whole nation to watch a
strategic national asset such as ZBC being left to bleed to death, not even
to mention the 435 innocent employees and their families being made to
suffer due to mismanagement of State assets.

      Letters to the editor celebrating the retrenchment of these employees
are rather unfortunate.

      The majority of these people are victims of a system just like you
will find in the army, police and government.

      People work with the system out of desperation. I am one of the now
ex-employees of ZBC affected by this saga and wish to state clearly that I
am writing this letter not out of malice for being retrenched, but as a very
concerned patriotic citizen.

      In fact, for me and the majority of affected ZBC employees, it was a
welcome relief to leave the corporation at this point.

      Working for the organisation had become a case of desperation to feed
and clothe our families; we had no alternative source of livelihood.

      The fact that such a large number of employees have been retrenched
starting with the whole top management team without any legal challenges or
noticeable commotion, does not point to brilliant management skill on the
part of the board and the government.

      We couldn't just wait to go. All we needed was to go away knowing we
could continue to reasonably sustain ourselves once out on the streets.

      It is an extremely worrying scenario when not less than 80 percent of
your experienced work force is willing to voluntarily leave a high profile
organisation like ZBC, not because an attractive retrenchment package is on
offer, but because the working environment is no longer conducive.

      The majority of those going have been employed for more than five
years on average.

      The simplistic defence against this vote of no confidence from those
in control is likely to label us as enemies of the State or MDC
sympathisers.

      This is not true. We have a sizeable number of genuine war veterans,
and ruling party supporters who are fed up with what is going on at ZBC.
      The suggested Parliamentary committee can verify the statistics
referred to above.

      In my opinion, the ZBC saga is a typical case of mismanagement
bordering on sabotage, no matter how one tries to justify it in the name of
restructuring.

      The need to restructure ZBC in order to improve its financial
viability and programme delivery has never been in dispute.

      Even prior to the Kadoma workshop initiated by the current Board of
Governors and intended to map the way forward, all problems facing ZBC as
well as the possible solutions were known and well documented.

      Examples include: 1996 ZBC Commercialisation Report by Peter Ibbotson;
      General Report on Committee of Inquiry into administration of
parastatals, January 1989; Parliamentary Reports on the Ad Hoc Committee on
ZBC Affairs, 1992 and 1999; ZBC Annual Financial Reports (unfortunately for
years these are not being made available to Parliament and the public as
required by law); and ZBC Three-Year Medium-Term Development Plan,
1998-2000.

      Problems such as ministerial intervention in the day-to-day running of
the organisation, lack of government funding, financial bankruptcy,
antiquated equipment, lack of country-wide television and radio coverage,
poor programming, low employee morale, overstaffing, top-heavy
organisational structure and others were reiterated and agreed as needing
attention at the Kadoma workshop in mid-2001.

      However, beyond Kadoma it became a situation of one blunder after
another.

      Despite having noted that the then existing organisational structure
was top heavy, the new structure expanded the executive management team from
six to 12, all with double the salaries of the former managers and brand new
vehicles.

      The credentials of the new appointees were questionable from the
start.

      Two were fired within the first three months, but went away with their
new vehicles, while the hiring of the former chief executive officer, Alum
Mpofu, is still the talk of town. An additional four have since left.

      This circus seems to be continuing with the latest appointments
announced over the last few weeks.

      At the time of the Kadoma workshop, ZBC had around 700 employees.

      It was agreed to abolish more than 200 posts and retrench the affected
employees.

      The cost then would have been approximately $150 million. Instead six
months down the line, more than 200 employees were hired.

      This explains why it has now become necessary to retrench 435
employees at not less than $500 million.
      The cruelty of having made someone leave a secure job and only six
months later throwing them onto the streets aside, the cost to the taxpayer
is astronomical.

      Surely taxpayers deserve an explanation - that is why a Parliamentary
committee has to probe ZBC urgently.

      The newly recruited management team went on a spending spree without
the board putting a stop to this despite being fully aware of the dire
financial position of the organisation.

      Expensive leather office suites were bought, refrigerators, hiring of
a bloated fleet of vehicles and booking employees into hotels for months in
a costly radio stations relocation exercise, thereby creating additional
creditors running into millions.

      This, at a time the organisation had millions in arrears of PAYE,
pension contributions, foreign and local bank loans.

      Over the last two months ZBC borrowed from the banks in order to pay
salaries following a sharp decline in the corporation's major source of
revenue - advertising.

      The financial strain is going to worsen with the retrenchment
exercise, which will cost not less than $500 million.

      One wonders the motive behind banks which would agree to come forward
with such a high-risk loan. This appears scandalous.

      It is against this sad background of clear mismanagement of national
assets that Parliament needs to investigate this wastage and misuse of
taxpayers' money.


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Daily News

      Kenyan journalist detained at Harare Airport

      6/14/02 9:49:46 AM (GMT +2)


      Chief Reporter

      FLORENCE Machio, a Kenyan journalist, was on Wednesday detained by
immigration officials on arrival at the Harare International Airport for
trying to enter the country without clearance from Professor Jonathan Moyo,
the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President's
Office.



      Machio, 27, the co-ordinator of the Nairobi-based African Woman, an
Internet newspaper produced by 40 African women from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana
and Zimbabwe, yesterday said she was detained for one hour.

      "I am in Zimbabwe to discuss story ideas with my colleagues in the
country in preparation for a meeting on the environment to be held in South
Africa in September," Machio said.

      She said after completing her immigration form at the airport, an
immigration official said that "since I am a journalist I was not supposed
to enter the country without the minister's clearance".

      Machio said the official then consulted his superiors after which she
was asked to fill in a special form which allowed her to enter the country
but leave today.

      She said she told the officials that she was not going to write any
story during her stay in the country.

      "Besides the detention, I was not harassed," she said.

      The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act requires
foreign journalists to seek clearance from Moyo before visiting Zimbabwe.
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Daily News

      Mugabe stays at $40 000

      6/14/02 9:44:13 AM (GMT +2)


      By Bruce Johnston in Rome and Peta Thornycroft in Harare

      President Mugabe and his delegation stayed at the five-star, £500 ($40
000 at the official rate and $400 000 on the black market) a night Excelsior
Hotel in Rome during the United Nations world food summit which ended this
week, yet back home, thousands of Zimbabweans are going without food.



      The hotel, a majestic temple of marble, gilt, brocade, frescos and
precious carpets, where some suites boast private cinemas, saunas and
sundecks, had become a fortress this week, protected by armed police and
security guards.

      The Nigerian delegation was also staying there. All day on Tuesday,
silver Mercedes limousines glided in and out of its entrance carrying
delegation members, while delegates' wives returned with their designer
shopping.

      Mugabe travelled to Rome with his wife, Grace, and an unknown number
of senior government officials and bodyguards.

      Mugabe was in Rome despite a European Union travel ban because he is
not excluded from attending UN events. He was thus able to use the four-day
summit as a loophole to defy "smart sanctions" imposed by Brussels.

      Addressing the summit, Mugabe hailed his land grab as a "visionary"
response to the hunger and poverty laying waste to his country.

      He made his policy of expropriating white-owned land the mainstay of
his address at the opening day of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's
World Food Summit. He told fellow delegates that his government had
"responded to the people's cry for land" by embarking on a "fast-track
acquisition and resettlement programme".

      This "now enables people to fight poverty by directly working on their
own land.

      Their own, I say with emphasis, because land, being the most important
natural resource of any country, must belong to, and be owned by, the
indigenous people.

      "Hence Zimbabwe's land must rightly belong to Zimbabweans, that being
the true test of our national sovereignty".

      He thanked countries that had offered assistance to Zimbabwe "in this
period of need", but dropped a reference to Britain.

      In Zimbabwe, the opposition MDC accused Mugabe of being a "world-class
hypocrite" and described his summit attendance as "obscene".

      Professor Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of the MDC, said: "While
Mugabe is starving the people of Zimbabwe to death through the partisan
distribution of food, he has the audacity to squander precious foreign
currency attending this summit when the food crisis is of his own making."

      In the past 28 months, the government has seized 90 percent of
productive white-owned farmland, most of which is now fallow.

      With all staple foods in short supply, the opposition said
distribution of food aid in several well-documented cases was denied to its
members, including children.

      Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, suggested
that some African leaders at the summit had been responsible for the hunger
and deprivation afflicting their countries.

      "I think it is true that leaders of developing countries do not always
adopt good policies," she said.

      "But I think it is very welcome that the Africans themselves have
recognised the need to tackle corruption and strengthen the rule of law and
human rights standards.

      "There are very grave problems with Zimbabwe and I have raised those
issues publicly and have written to President Mugabe on several occasions.

      "I am very concerned about the situation."
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Daily News

      Police under fire

      6/14/02 9:13:07 AM (GMT +2)


      From Our Correspondent in Masvingo

      The police and the fire brigade have been criticised for allegedly
arriving at the scene of last Sunday's Masvingo bus disaster four hours
after it had happened.



      The Zimbabwe National Association of Student Unions (Zinasu) said
quicker action by the police and the fire brigade could have saved the lives
of some of the 37 students.

      A number of them were burnt beyond recognition when their
Masvingo-bound bus and a Harare-bound haulage truck collided head-on and
burst into flames.

      The accident happened along the Masvingo-Harare highway at about 10pm
on Sunday. Most of the dead were students at Masvingo Teachers' College.

      Philip Pasirayi, the Zinasu publicity secretary, said students had
evidence that the accident happened at around 10pm on Sunday but that the
police and the fire brigade arrived there almost four hours later.

      Pasirayi said: "We appeal for the police and the fire brigade to be
prepared to respond promptly when such accidents are reported to them.

      "We know for sure that some lives could have been saved had the police
and fire brigade arrived on time."

      But the police in Masvingo yesterday denied they had arrived at the
scene of the accident four hours later.

      Chief Superintendent Arthur Makanda, the officer commanding Gutu
District, said the police responded quickly to the accident and did their
best to assist.

      But independent investigations by The Daily News yesterday revealed
that the Masvingo fire brigade does not operate a 24-hour service and
firemen had gone home by the time the accident occurred.

      Masvingo Municipality has only two qualified firemen who work only
eight hours a day.

      Meanwhile, messages of sympathy continued to pour in from around the
globe.

      The German town of Kernen, which is twinned to Masvingo, yesterday
sent a condolence message to the bereaved families.

      "Be sure that the people of Kernen are feeling with the 37 families
who lost their sons and daughters in the terrible disaster.

      "We send our sincere condolences to the relatives of the victims and
are glad to hear that they will receive financial assistance from the
 State," read the message.

      Yesterday, seven bodies were still lying at the Masvingo General
Hospital mortuary awaiting forensic tests since they were burnt beyond
recognition.

      It was a dark period for Masvingo as two road accidents claimed 48
lives within 24 hours of each other.

      Eleven people on a minibus were killed at Chivi when the vehicle hit a
dead donkey lying on the road and plunged into a stream the day after the
Masvingo tragedy.
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The Times

            June 15, 2002

            Europe 'fails to act as Zimbabwe war threat grows'
            By Daniel McGrory




                        President Mugabe is said to be planning a fresh
purge of his political rivals soon

            ZIMBABWE is sliding fast towards a bloody civil war while
Britain and the rest of the EU do nothing, a leading international think
tank said yesterday.
            The warning from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group
came as opposition leaders in Zimbabwe feared President Mugabe's regime was
ready to start a new purge of its enemies.

            The state-run newspaper, the Daily Herald, hinted of an imminent
security crackdown earlier this week after claiming to have uncovered a plot
led by Brian Donnelly, the British High Commissioner in Harare, to overthrow
the 78-year-old leader.

            The paper alleged that Mr Donnelly was mobilising a private army
to attack government installations and cause so much violence that Tony
Blair would be forced to order in British troops. The Foreign Office
dimissed the allegation as rubbish.

            The think tank report predicts that the trigger for civil unrest
will be mass demonstrations planned to begin in the next few weeks by the
main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

            John Prendergast, the author of the report, said: "The
bloodletting will begin as soon as the mass action starts, and we are very,
very close.

            "MDC people are frustrated and angry. The election was stolen
from them, the courts are loaded against them and they see no other way to
go than to take to the streets.

            "But they have to know when you start something against a
machinery of repression that Zanu (PF) has constructed you are playing with
fire. Mugabe's forces want to crack heads."

            Mr Prendergast, a former US State Department adviser who is now
co-director of the crisis group's Africa Programme, said that Africa's
leaders and the international community had little time left to persuade Mr
Mugabe to reopen negotiations with the MDC. He was scathing about Britain's
diplomatic response which he described as pathetic.

            "Britain and the EU talk tough and do nothing. It's a joke," he
said.

            "They threatened Mugabe that if he stole the election they would
come down hard on him. Mugabe must be laughing at them."

            He went on: "Britain's other mistake is to personalise this.
Many African leaders believe Tony Blair wants rid of Robert Mugabe when the
fight should be about restoring democracy and law and order."

            Mr Prendergast argued that neighbours like South Africa and
Nigeria should do more to restrain Mr Mugabe.

            "They are reluctant to condemn an old revolutionary hero but if
there is mass action and a draconian response it will affect the stability
of southern Africa with a refugee exodus," he said.

            The report suggests that the G8 summit later this month should
toughen and extend sanctions against Zimbabwe, linking future aid deals for
Africa to the pressure that leaders like Thabo Mbeki make in curbing
President Mugabe.

            It also says that Mr Mugabe's cronies, including his sister,
Sabina Mugabe, and brother-in-law, Reward Marufu, have dropped even the
pretence of reform and are grabbing land.

            The crisis group reported that Adrian Ndlovu, the war veteran
leader, said that there should be no white-owned farms left by August,
adding that Asian-owned businesses would be the next target.

            An MDC spokesman said yesterday that the Government's Joint
Operation Command had drawn up a battle plan to deal with street
demonstrations. The MDC is trying to force Mr Mugabe to hold new elections.

            The Daily Herald claimed this week that secret agents had
discovered plans by Mr Donnelly to mobilise a private army which would
target Zanu (PF) officials, government buildings and other strategic sites
under the guise of MDC demonstrations.

            "Sources in the regional intelligence community are concerned by
the strategy being put in place by the British covert operatives as it is
designed to create many casualties among the MDC activists in order to
create a pretext for foreign military intervention from the US and British
forces," the Daily Herald article said. This UK plan also apparently
included killing Mr Mugabe.

            A Foreign Office spokesman said yesterday: "It is rubbish to
suggest that the British High Commissioner in Harare is involved in
orchestrating mass protests or indeed any such activity."

            Intelligence chiefs in Zimbabwe also said they were planning to
ban a number of prominent charities accused of sheltering "MDC thugs". The
first target is likely to be the Amani Trust which monitors civil rights
abuses in Zimbabwe.
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Zim Independent

Muckraker

Muluzi, Mafikizolo, & Mangoes . . .

LAST week we featured Malawi's president Bakili Muluzi announcing that he
was a dictator - albeit a "good" one. He said he wouldn't allow any protests
over his decision to stand for a third term.

This caused some controversy at last week's World Economic Forum meeting in
Durban where regional leaders were keen to demonstrate their democratic
credentials ahead of the G8 summit in Canada where a large sum of money is
on offer in return for good behaviour. Just when Mbeki and Obasanjo thought
they had successfully quarantined President Mugabe, another rogue ruler
seems to have emerged from the woodwork.

Having asserted his right to tell Malawians that they were not entitled to
dispute his seizure of a third term, on arrival back home he had another
message.

Asked about pressure at the WEF meeting, he said: "I refused to be dictated
to. That's dictatorship. The third term issue is not their business."

So it's not the business of Malawians, nor the business of others in the
region, so whose business is it? Well just Muluzi's it seems. How
convenient!

We have had a number of state journalists taking pot shots at us recently.
The incorrigibly slavish Tim Chigodo claims that journalists from the
Independent have been "hauled before the courts for writing lies".

He was concerned mainly with the "Strive Masiyiwa-owned Daily News" which he
claims "has been publishing a lot of lies". They are "too numerous to
mention", he says, thus conveniently side-stepping any need to verify his
claim. But he notes approvingly that with the introduction of the new media
laws, "journalists are being arrested and prosecuted for their lies and
falsehoods"

And with one casual sweep he alleges that journalists from the Standard and
Independent have also been "hauled before the courts for writing lies".

We cannot speak for the Daily News or Standard. But none of our journalists
have been "hauled before the courts". Arrested and questioned by police yes,
but "hauled before the courts" no. At least not yet. And isn't it
interesting that all state hacks are now required to employ the prefix
"Strive Masiyiwa-owned" when referring to the Daily News - a sure sign that
they are confined by an Orwellian straitjacket!

Chigodo is part of a mill churning out mind-insulting banalities on behalf
of the Ministry of Information. Their efforts have recently been focused on
suggesting that Zimbabwe's security and media legislation is no worse that
Britain's or America's. Britain still has its Treason Act of 1948 which
makes it a crime for anybody to advocate the overthrow of the monarchy,
Chigodo dutifully claims. When Dame Stella Rimington, the first woman to
head MI5, proposed to publish her memoirs, the British security
establishment sought to block her. Publication went ahead after "the author
agreed to make minor changes".

The British Press Complaints Commission has been "avoiding" introduction of
a privacy law after the British public was "incensed over the harassment" of
the late Princess of Wales, we are told.

So what do we have here? A Treason Act which the Guardian and Economist have
happily ignored with impunity. Both have advocated the establishment of a
republic. No journalist in Britain today would be arrested for proposing the
removal of the monarchy, as even Chigodo must know, whatever the Treason Act
might say.

Stella Rimington was in the end able to publish her autobiography with only
minor changes despite the strong objection of the British security
establishment. And no privacy law is likely to make it through parliament
because in the Diana case and others it is felt celebrities court publicity
and use newspapers when it suits them.

So in practice none of Britain's battery of press restrictions have proved
too daunting for journalists. That doesn't make any of them good laws. But
we don't recall any reporters being arrested and held for 48 hours in a
filthy police cell because a self-interested minister claimed a story was
false.

Still hoping to justify Zimbabwe's legislation, Chigodo points out the
difference between a photographer taking pictures in public and in private.
"If the photographer breaks into the house to take the picture he would be
punished for trespassing," he helpfully points out.

Why doesn't he own up. Newspapers have published pictures, taken from the
air or from the road, of the substantial homes of Zanu PF apparatchiks both
inside the country and beyond. Questions have been asked as to how they
acquired the funds to build or buy such properties. It is precisely those
questions that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act is
designed to prevent.

As for Chigodo, his statement that journalists from the Independent have
been hauled before the courts is a deliberate lie of the sort government
publicists tell every week with impunity irrespective of the Act's purported
concern with accuracy.

Those state-media "scribes" who are using the Act to threaten the
independent press need to be isolated within the profession. We cannot have
full-time Zanu PF apologists masquerading as journalists. That includes the
Sunday Mail's "Under the Surface" contributor.

This semi-literate individual says the Independent's editorial last week
made "very interesting reading". In the next sentence he says "for fear of
being poisoned I didn't read the whole comment". Then he warns us that "the
media is only targeted when it publishes falsehoods, not errors."

So the supply of Israeli anti-riot equipment to the police was a falsehood
was it? That's why the Israeli company concerned confirmed the deal? And
Harare Central is known for its immaculately clean cells?

This particular apologist is clearly delusional as well as poisoned. A
columnist at the Fingaz claims some Sunday Mail "journalists" are actually
working for the CIO. Some not so subterranean-ly it would appear!

Ibbo Mandaza at the Sunday Mirror needs to be assured that nobody at the
Independent wants to kill his newspaper, as he alleged last week. We are
only too happy to have him drone on about neo-liberalism and imperialism
every week ad nauseam. If he thinks readers want another Sunday Mail, we
won't disabuse him. But we will take issue with his central contention: That
it is one thing to criticise other sections of the media as partisan, but
"partisanship to an opposition party and to those foreign elements bent on
harming this country should in fairness be equally subjected to scrutiny and
criticism".

Of course they should - if they are true. But who is making the charge that
foreign elements are bent on harming the country? President Mugabe and Zanu
PF accompanied by Jonathan Moyo and Tafataona Mahoso. In other words only
those seeking to blind the country to Zanu PF's own responsibility for
national destitution!

If Mandaza wants to be part of that exercise in self-deception that is his
choice. But we suspect Zimbabweans are in no mood for any more excuses -
unless of course you live in Zvimba or Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe. It is
significant that the Sunday Mirror's big story this week was about an MDC
plot to embarrass Jonathan Moyo and damage his reputation.

Doesn't that sound exactly like the sort of rubbish churned out every week
in the Herald? Is the Mirror to become yet another defender of Moyo's
reputation as the Scrutator suggests when he instructs us on the need to
distinguish between the public interest and what interests the public? Do we
really want Zanu PF apparatchiks lecturing us on which aspect of the public
interest it is permissible to write about and which not, as if they are
disinterested parties!

This is exactly the same as Moyo preposterously prescribing which part of a
court testimony newspapers are allowed to report on and which not, or which
parts of Eddison Zvobgo's speech in parliament it is permissible to
reproduce and which not!

We have one word of caution for the Mirror here: Anthrax! Who planted that
story and what happened to it?

The Herald on Saturday carried a statement by police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena advising the public against being "duped" by the MDC over mass
action.

"We are ready to deal with any mass action of any magnitude," he said.

"We have the capacity and ability to quell any disturbance."

He warned the public against being duped by the MDC, saying they would not
benefit from the mass action.

According to the Herald report Bvudzijena said that should the proposed mass
action take place it would only benefit a few individuals who have been
given money by the MDC to take part in the mass action.

"The public should be wary about elements who have been paid to take part in
the mass action. We are aware of the scheme by the MDC," he said.

What is a police spokesman doing telling the public whether or not they will
benefit from mass action? Is that his business? Is that not a political
opinion which the police should eschew? Are the public not entitled to their
freedom of expression and association?

Bvudzijena's remarks about the MDC should be noted by lawyers acting for
newspapers he is reportedly suing for, among other things, suggesting he is
partisan and unprofessional. They will no doubt find his latest comments
helpful in this regard!

We note the speed with which Heritage-Zimbabwe spokesperson Jocelyn Chiwenga
rushed to defend Jonathan Moyo after the shocking disclosures made about him
in court last week concerning Alum Mpofu. The minister has threatened to sue
the Daily News for reporting the statement of Job Sikhala that there were
rumours the two were an item. ZTV reported Moyo as saying he did not know
Alum Mpofu in Johannesburg.

Chiwenga said the preposterous claim based on the "sick imagination of the
MDC's Job Sikhala is so reckless and irresponsible that it can only be
published by an equally sick, irresponsible and reckless newspaper". She
accused the Daily News of, among other things, reporting "inaccurately" on
the Ford Foundation case against Moyo in Kenya.

Chiwenga has been complaining bitterly recently about her blacklisting by
the US State Department. She appears not to understand that countries to
which Zimbabwe looks for aid and investment are likely to deplore
lawlessness and electoral violence. Last year Chiwenga hosted a funeral wake
for the late Chenjerai Hunzvi who led a campaign of unrestrained
intimidation and violence against law-abiding citizens in 2000. War veterans
attending the wake threatened people living in Chiwenga's neighbourhood when
they attempted to gain access to their homes. Her husband, General
Constantine Chiwenga, was among those present when General Zvinavashe said
the armed forces would not accept a presidential candidate who did not share
their values.
Now Jocelyn wants her views known on the Moyo saga. And in the process she
attacks an independent newspaper for reporting on what transpired in court -
both here and in Kenya. What exactly does Heritage-Zimbabwe do apart from
issuing statements of this sort? Where does it get its money from and does
it publish its accounts?
It is one of several organisations that appear to have been set up with the
sole purpose of backing the ruling party. What should we call such NGOs that
are not really part of civil society but serve Zanu PF's totalitarian
agenda? Congos (coopted NGOs)? Bongos (bought NGOs)? Mangoes
(political-mafia-led NGOs)? Or Fandangos (fantastically dangerous NGOs)?

We were interested to see that the mysterious "African diplomat" has
returned to the pages of the Herald. We noted in the past that his remarks
bore a marked resemblance to those emanating from Munhumutapa Building. He
was last Friday quoted as saying with reference to US criticism of the
arrest of lawyers and journalists that the statement was "unfortunate in
that it would fuel speculation that the British and Americans were behind
the unlawful actions to undermine the government of Zimbabwe using lawyers
and journalists".

"Sources" were then used to link the plot to the British High Commission
where there was earlier reported (by the Herald) to be a "flurry of
activity" around letters alleged to have been written to them by the
lawyers. The Herald forgot to notice an advertisement in its own columns
pointing out that the High Commission was closed on the day in question on
account of the Queen's Jubilee!

With regard to Moyo's suit against the Daily News several readers have
called to remark on Moyo's estimation of his own worth. Six million dollars,
they point out, is worth US$13 333 at the current market rate. About half
the value of Geoff Nyarota's Unesco prize! And the Herald appears to be
having difficulty spelling the name of Terence Hussein - perhaps because it
doesn't get many letters from him.

What was significant about the Herald's coverage of the case was the way in
which it found its courage - over a four-day period. On Tuesday last week it
coyly said Sikhala's remarks in court about Moyo were "unprintable". But as
soon as Moyo announced his lawsuit on Friday it felt sufficiently emboldened
to print them. What an amazing recovery!

Returning finally to the Mirror's pontifications about the need for
newspapers to distinguish between the public interest on the one hand and
what is of interest to the public on the other as it tries to discourage
papers from pandering to the latter by publishing sensational disclosures
about ministers, perhaps it should reflect upon another consideration that
is not confined to journalism: the perfectly natural sense of satisfaction
people feel in any society when tyrants are exposed as hypocrites. It is
called come-uppance.

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--> Zim Independent

Human rights integral part of Nepad says international watchdog group
Dumisani Muleya
LEADERS of the world's most industrialised nations should urge African
promoters of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) project to
integrate human rights into their reconstruction plan, Human Rights Watch
has said.

The New York-based group said G8 leaders should ensure at their forthcoming
summit in Kananaskis, Canada, that human rights formed part of the
continental renaissance programme.


"The concept of 'peer review' is genuinely a revolutionary one; it's
important it be given real content," said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy
director at Human Rights Watch.


"The G8 should encourage African leaders to ensure that fundamental rights
are integrated into all Nepad's policies - including the right to be
involved in discussing them."


Mungoven said it was important African governments had committed themselves
to democracy and good governance as prerequisites for attracting investment
into the continent.


He said the "code of governance" and "peer review" enshrined in Nepad would
ensure human rights standards and civil society participation in Africa were
key in the development plan.


The global rights group's comments came as SA President Thabo Mbeki and his
African counterparts met on the sidelines of the FAO World Food Summit in
Rome to prepare for the G8 Conference in Alberta. Nepad will be high on the
G8 meeting agenda.


President Robert Mugabe was not invited to the Nepad meeting in Rome because
he is not on the project's steering committee. Zimbabwe was left out of the
implementation committee due to repression and lawlessness. Muga-be however
met Nigerian Presi-dent Olusegun Obasanjo and United Nations
secretary-general Kofi Annan for talks on the Zimbabwe crisis.


Human Rights Watch said new controls should be imposed on multinational
companies based in G8 countries that are illegally trading in resources from
Africa and elsewhere.


"If the G8 can attack terrorism by freezing financial assets, it can attack
human rights abuse by cracking down on companies that trade in 'blood
diamonds', valuable timber and other scarce resources that are funding some
very brutal civil wars," said Mungoven. "Funds and weapons for these wars
are coming from the West and the G8 needs to do something about it."


The rights group said developed countries should also ensure the new chair
of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights - who will come from
Africa - comes from a country with a strong commitment to human rights.


Meanwhile, civil society groups in Zimbabwe are stepping up efforts to
cultivate debate on Nepad ahead of the G8 summit.


The Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, a coalition of NGOs, will tomorrow hold a
meeting at a local hotel on the continental-rebuilding plan.


"The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the content of the Nepad document
and help evolve a multi-sectoral position on Nepad ahead of the G8
conference," said Crisis spokesman, Brian Kagoro
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