In a week when it was announced that last year Zimbabwe produced the most asylum seekers in the world (https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/june18_2010.html#Z), Vigil members were surprised to get an invitation to hear Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe speak at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London – if they could stump up £25 to get in. ‘Lounge suit / cocktail dress’ required. With 158,000 Zimbabweans seeking asylum from the coalition government in 2009, Khupe’s dinner is just one more sign of how unreal the MDC elite are becoming. Not many of the Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the UK have a lounge suit or a cocktail dress. Most of us at the Vigil are struggling. Those Zimbabweans likely to go to this event are well-connected Zanu-PF people of whom there are all too many in the UK. We are tired of hearing their propaganda at meetings here.
We repeat our invitation to Ms Khupe to come to the Vigil and talk to some of the ordinary Zimbabweans who can’t afford £25. We would like to hear from her why the MDC appears to have done nothing to end human rights abuses in the past sixteen months and, more particularly, why there has been no announcement of the outcome of the enquiry into corruption in the MDC in the UK. It appears that the MDC is being steadily contaminated by ZANU-PF (see A Letter from the Diaspora: http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/outside180610.htm). We were not surprised that one senior member of the MDC Mutambara faction invited to the UK demanded to travel first class.
A Zimbabwean journalist working in the UK for a South African newspaper asked the Vigil for comments on various developments in Zimbabwe. Here are our comments on the four issues she raised.
1. The treatment of Farai Maguwu, who has been at the forefront of exposing human rights abuse in Chiadzwa
The Vigil is shocked by the behaviour of South African businessman Abbey Chikane in betraying the confidence of a brave human rights campaigner Farai Maguwu. Despite openly announcing that his own bags had been covertly ransacked by Zimbabwean intelligence agents, Chikane later went on to inform them that Maguwu had shown him ‘secret’ documents exposing the diamond smuggling racket at Chiadzwa. Chikane apparently said the documents were ‘illegal’. The Vigil remembers that his brother, the Reverend Frank Chikane, was an adviser to the disastrous Thabo Mbeki whose unswerving support for Mugabe has derailed democracy in Zimbabwe.
2. Delays in implementing the Global Political Agreement
The Vigil’s view is that Mugabe has never had any intention of implementing the ludicrous Global Political Agreement which was forced on the MDC by South Africa. We believe that the MDC should have taken up a tacit invitation to form a government in exile in Botswana after Mugabe drenched the 2008 elections in bloodshed. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe then had only US $5 million and the regime would soon have collapsed. The so-called points of difference over the GPA are merely ducks in a shooting gallery: remove one and another one pops up. We believe the Zanu PF gangsters will never give up power in Zimbabwe until they are forced to. The region will regret allowing them to embed a culture of impunity (in particular the Vigil cannot see that it will be to the advantage of the region to allow blood diamonds from Chiadzwa, and other criminal activities, to spout forth like a BP oil leak).
3. Fresh wave of farms invasions
The takeover of farms – not only white-owned ones – will go on while Zanu PF is still in charge and can continue to do anything it likes to ensure its survival. Next it will take over the mines, the banks, businesses and then houses and chickens – everything is at risk from a rapacious elite unchallenged by the outside world. The Vigil believes that courts in Zimbabwe are irrelevant as there is no rule of law.
4. Call for elections
The Zimbabwe Vigil wants elections as soon as possible because we believe there is no advantage for Zimbabwe in delaying them. The coalition government is unworkable and its continuance will only drag the MDC further into corruption. Mutambara, of course, because of his disappearing support, will campaign for elections to be postponed. The real point is that any new elections will need to be supervised by the non-African world. South Africa and the Southern African Development Community and the African Union have all connived at denying democracy to Zimbabwe so we will need credible people to oversee any elections. While the Vigil believes in elections as soon as possible we also believe there should be international support to ensure that the violence that has characterised Zimbabwean elections is not allowed again to sway the result. Our current petition reads ‘Petition to the UN Security Council. We call on the Security Council to ensure that the next elections in Zimbabwe are free and fair. We look to the United Nations to supervise the electoral process and the handover of power to a new government and believe peace-keeping troops will need to be in place before, during and after the polling.’
Further Points
PEACE WATCH 7/2010
[17th June 2010]
Facilitator’s
Summary of 1st E-Discussion Topic
This topic generated a lively
debate, with strong views being expressed both for and against elections taking
place first. Although opinion was fairly evenly spread between those who
believed elections should be held before the national healing and
reconciliation process was completed and those who insisted that issues
surrounding the violence and human rights abuses of the past must be confronted
and dealt with first, there were more respondents wanting early elections, but
with certain conditions to be satisfied first.
Those opposed to
the holding of elections soon or at any time during the next few
years said that, on the basis of past elections, we could expect a long period
of violence leading up to the election and also post-election violence
punishing those perceived to have voted “the wrong way”. For the sake of
peace the country should not go to the elections without several more years of
the inclusive government, and efforts towards national healing and
reconciliation should be stepped up during that time. There were a number
of letters saying that the national healing programme should not be in the
hands of politicians who were themselves responsible for past conflicts and
violence, and that churches, NGOs and communities themselves should take the
lead. There were a significant number of letters sent in to the
discussion forum saying that free and fair elections would not be possible
before the repeal of repressive laws and restoration of the rule of law, and
that this would take several years. It was felt that the crafting of a
new constitution would help but it would take time for it to take effect and be
respected.
Those who
advocated the holding of elections first said we cannot postpone
elections until healing and reconciliation have taken place, because conflict
and violence have gone on for decades and the healing process would take a long
time. The work of the Organ on Healing has been slow to take off and the
nation might have to wait for decades before holding elections if closure on
all the wrongs of the past had to be achieved first. There was a
suggestion that the electoral process could in fact be part of a healing
process by empowering the aggrieved and anguished victims of previous election
violence to influence the course of events through the ballot box.
Several respondents did not feel that the ZANU-PF/MDC coalition government
established under the Global Political Agreement was capable of dealing with
the issue of national healing. It was not in a position to implement
justice, ensure reparations or prevent further violence taking place and
without these true healing cannot take place. These were advocates for a
Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but most said that realistically
this would not be possible under the inclusive government. It was
therefore imperative to have a properly elected and accountable government that
could then mobilize resources to set up proper structures for national healing,
hence the need to go ahead with polls first. It was pointed out that a
new constitution was not the panacea for all the nation’s ills and was not a
guarantee for safe and peaceful electioneering.
Demands for
reforms were raised whether the respondents felt elections
should be soon or postponed a few years, and a common opinion was that without
reforms elections would never be violence free. The reforms mentioned
most frequently were strong laws guaranteeing freedoms of speech, media [in
particular the freeing of the airwaves] and assembly, and also thorough reform
of how the police and other security forces operate.
International
Peacekeepers: several contributors said that because of the
difficulties of reforming the security forces to allow free and fair elections,
we need a firm commitment from the international community to guarantee the
safety and security of the electorate. One letter said “without a
peace-keeping force the rural population would be brutalized, and rape, torture
and murder would once again be the order of the day as they had been during
past elections, climaxing during the presidential run-off of June 2008.” [Facilitator’s
Comment: Unfortunately it is unlikely that the international community will
send peace-keepers to ensure the absence of violence during elections, and
other strategies will have to be explored. Should we be lobbying for
international observers to be invited at a much earlier date than just the
pre-election period. Can we get our government to do this? Can our new
Zimbabwe Election Commission insist that this happens? Considering the
expense, would other governments and international organisations be willing?]
Facilitators Comment: Concern for Safety of Voters
What came out very loud and clear
in all the responses was concern about the security and safety of voters in the
run-up to and aftermath of the next election. During past elections
communities have been at the mercy of violent and misguided elements bent on
instilling fear in the electorate on behalf of their political party.
Violence has often been orchestrated in many areas of the country many months
before the date the ballot takes place and, because it creates fear and
displacement, is a type of vote-rigging long before a single vote has been cast.
Incidences of violence have included the most brutal murders and assaults,
severe beating and mutilation, gang-raping of women, burning of huts and
possessions, as well as looting and forced displacement. In some
areas torture houses were set up.
In those elections the police
force had a reputation for political partisanship and its preparedness to turn
a blind eye to violence perpetrated against supporters of the Movement for
Democratic Change [MDC] and other perceived opponents of ZANU-PF. Indeed,
sometimes the police and other security agents and politically organised “youth
militia” were themselves implicated in violence.
New
E-Discussion Forum Topic
“What
can communities do to protect themselves against political violence?”
There have already been reports
coming in of politically based violence and it was noted by violence monitors
that this increased once political party principals started talking about the
possibility of elections in May next year. This is in spite of the fact
that Article 18(d) of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) dealing with the
Security of Persons and Prevention of Violence states “that all political
parties, other organizations and their leaders shall commit themselves to do
everything to stop and prevent all forms of political violence, including by
non-state actors and shall consistently appeal to their members to desist from
violence.”
With increasing evidence that
political violence is happening and likely to escalate, what can communities do
to protect themselves. In Ghana in the key elections which saw the ending
of successive military regimes, rural communities communicating by mobile
phones and a network of radio stations picking up the messages and broadcasting
them nationally and internationally did much to prevent violence and vote
rigging.
We are inviting contributors to
send in their ideas on what can be done to prevent violence within each
community.
Contributions
to the Topic
To send a
contribution to the discussion simply reply to this message with your
contribution.
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Note:
The Role of the Facilitator
The Facilitator will post the
replies with contributions to the whole discussion group, but reserves the
right to omit any that may be offensive to the aims of promoting peace, e.g.
that incorporate hate speech. Comments that are too long may have to be
shortened. Preference will be given to thoughtful and original
contributions. Periodically the Facilitator will wind up one discussion
topic by summarising the contributions and will send out a new topic for
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summaries will be included in a routine Peace Watch to the wider mailing list
and they will also be forwarded to relevant policy makers.
Veritas makes
every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied.
Radio VOP
19/06/2010 15:17:00
Harare, June 20, 2010 - Air Zimbabwe
pilots have threated to go on strike if their work conditions and salaries are
not improved as a matter of urgency, sources told Radio VOP over the weekend.
The pilots are said to have written a letter to the airline management
last weekend demanding a review of their salaries and over the border
allowances which are believed to be among the lowest in the fledging
airline industry.
“They have written a letter which is now with the management. They were
expressing their displeasure with the poor pay and late payment,” said an Air
Zimbabwe source.
“The letter forced the CEO Peter Chikumba who was out of the country to cut
short his trip overseas to come back home last Thursday to deal with the
crisis.”
Air Zimbabwe has in the past two years lost a host of experienced pilots to
Kenyan Airways, Ethiopian Airways, South African Airways and Asian airlines
such as Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Air Zimbabwe whose CEO has in the past called for a partial privatisation of
the airline is facing a serious lack of business as it battles to attract
customers. This is made worse by the increasing competition on most of its
traditional routes in and out of Zimbabwe.
New airlines such as Zambia’s Zambezi Airlines, low budget airline Fly Kumba
and Federal Air are now operating some of the routes that were previously
exclusive to Air Zimbabwe.
Air Zimbabwe CEO, Peter Chikumba would not deny nor confirm the impending
strike by Air Zimbabwe pilots.
“I am yet to hear about that but I cannot deny that we are having problems,”
said Chikumba.
But the sources said he had a meeting with the Minister of Transport last
Monday to address the matter.
Air Zimbabwe pilots, most of who have remained with the company on patriotic
grounds, have in the past often caught their employer off guard.
In 2008, the pilots staged an infamous strike action when they all called in
sick at work. The airline was forced to suspend all its flights.
Associated Press
By DONNA BRYSON
(AP) – 1 day ago
JOHANNESBURG — Cecilia Dube's dream has
taken her from dust-choked building sites to university classrooms, from the
rubble of demolished food stands to cooking meals in a park in an upscale
neighborhood where fans watch World Cup soccer on a giant screen.
The World Cup. Biggest sporting event
on Earth. The host nation's month in the world spotlight. Tourists in their
droves. A jolt of adrenaline for a sluggish economy. Or so goes the promise of
mega-events such as these. For Dube, some of the rewards have already arrived,
but for her and millions of her fellow citizens, the route out of poverty has
so far proved fickle and arduous.
Her dream is a humble one — to one day
run her own restaurant. But for now, she must suffice with the title of
"trained food handler," tending a food stand at the park consisting
of a table, two chairs and a gas cooker. It's a long way from owning a
restaurant, but at least she's no longer up before dawn frying doughnuts by
candlelight.
Dube (pronounced DU-bay) is 36, with a
13-year-old daughter. She's a cheerful-looking woman with a fierce work ethic
that can leave her limp with exhaustion. She immigrated to South Africa from
neighboring Zimbabwe in 1997 and married a car-parts salesman. She was pregnant
with their second child when her husband died of kidney disease in 2003. The
shock made her give birth prematurely. The baby boy, Thandolwenkosi (it means
"God's love") died within a year.
She fell ill. A knee problem put her in
a wheelchair for a while. She became depressed. Then she learned that a friend
had been living with HIV for a decade. The friend's fortitude strengthened her.
"I just thought, if this one is
living with HIV, I have to live with what has come to me," Dube said.
"I decided to live."
Life for her and many like her is a
constant struggle. Two decades after South Africa broke free of apartheid,
being judged fit to host the World Cup is a huge achievement. But what it most
desperately needed is more jobs, houses, clinics and self-starting, taxpaying
entrepreneurs.
Dube would love to be one. After her
husband's death left her without income, she worked at a fast food restaurant
and traded in cheap clothes. She took extra work selling sandwiches in a tavern
with no kitchen. When the tavern owner took over her business, she decided to
strike out on her own.
South Africa had been picked for the
World Cup and needed to build facilities. In 2006 Dube opened shop — in a
shack, then a trailer — where the soccer authority's new offices were going up.
The following year she moved to the nearby site of Soccer City, the main World
Cup stadium. It was being renovated and there were hungry workers to feed.
Sometimes she cooked in the open, pots
balanced on three large stones over a wood fire, in the red dust kicked up by
the bulldozers. She made meat stews and pap, a cornmeal porridge. She hardly
ever took a day off except around Christmas, when she would visit family in
Zimbabwe.
She lives with her daughter and mother
in a three-room apartment in Johannesburg, an hourlong commute to and from work
on two minibus taxis. She has not remarried. What keeps her going, she says, is
her daughter, Thandekile, which means "loved one."
"I need something big, so I can look
after that girl," she said.
"When I'm doing my budget, I first
take out the school fees. Even before paying my rent."
For three years she was one of a dozen
cooks providing meals at Soccer City. They called themselves the Soccer City
Traders. A typical day would begin before dawn with Dube barefoot and hard at
work by the light of a candle stuck in an empty soda bottle, making
triple-decker bologna-and-cheese sandwiches and frying vetkoeke, South African
doughnuts.
Then, one morning last October, came a
catastrophe. Police arrived and told the Soccer City Traders they were in the
way of construction. The police broke up the stalls, loading the scraps of
wood, cardboard and broken plastic chairs onto trucks.
The men and women immediately held a
protest march and headed to Johannesburg City Hall. They were told they could
open shop in another area near the stadium. The next morning, Dube was serving
breakfast as usual. Catastrophe averted.
One evening found her at home, sitting
exhausted in front of the TV. The news was on. She perked up briefly when an ad
announced a sale on flour — perfect for vetkoeke. She and her mother discussed
how to get to the grocery store, and concluded the travel costs would wipe out
any profit.
On May 22 the stadium, renovated into
the shape of a giant clay pot, opened with a match between two local soccer
teams, and Dube's sales topped $400.
But the next day, with the first World
Cup match less than three weeks away, the police ordered the Soccer City
Traders to leave for good. Dube had to hunt for a new place to set up shop.
Though she'd heard promises, she wasn't
certain that she would be able to serve food at World Cup events. Authorities
were licensing only those hawkers who had been serving the stadiums before
South Africa was named the World Cup host.
But Dube was still dreaming of that
restaurant. Once a week she would shed her apron and head to the University of
Johannesburg's Center for Small Business Development.
There, she says, she and other hawkers
learned about the importance of tracking earnings every day and keeping close
tabs on what sells best. At a graduation networking session a representative of
a big-box store explained credit terms. Another speaker said she could offer
micro-loans. A third advised the class on how to Google for business
information.
Thami Mazwai, head of the university's
small business project, explained, to enthusiastic shouts from his audience,
why South Africa needed people like Dube.
South Africa can't go on handing out
welfare grants to 13 million people while only 7 million pay taxes, he said.
"The only (tax) income that will
come into government is when people start forming their own businesses and
employing people," Mazwai said. "The decision you made to become an
entrepreneur is not only good for you; you've got to see yourself as a very
serious player in our economy."
Finally came good news for Dube: the
city had decided that in recognition of their hard work and perseverance, the
Soccer City Traders would be among the 88 officially sanctioned World Cup food
hawkers.
Two days before the tournament kicked
off, as South Africans danced in the streets and tooted vuvuzela horns in
celebration of their World Cup team, Dube stood in line for four hours at a
municipal office to receive her laminated work permit.
She was too tired to join in the
festivities, and still hadn't shopped for the meals she would be serving the
next day. "I'll celebrate, maybe, after the World Cup," she said.
A week into the games, she has been
rotating among sites under a system designed to ensure that everyone gets a
chance to trade in the most crowded venues. Each day she gets a text message on
her cell phone telling her where she's working next, cooking doughnuts, stew
and pap and earning about $6 per boxed meal.
And thinking about that restaurant.
"It's still my dream," she
says.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved.