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Energy
minister arrested
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 10 March
2011
HARARE – Zimbabwean Energy Minister Elton Mangoma was on
Thursday arrested
over alleged irregularities in the awarding of a contract
to import fuel to
a little known South African company without going to
tender.
Mangoma is a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC party.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed Mangoma’s arrest but
said the reasons
behind the arrest were unclear.
“He has been
arrested as prophesied by the media,” said Chamisa, in
reference to media
reports last Thursday that Mangoma faced arrest over his
decision to award
the multi-million dollar contract to NOOA Petroleum.
“Honourable Mangoma
was this morning (Thursday) picked up by three
plainclothes police at his
Chaminuka Building offices. The reasons for his
arrest are not clear,” added
Chamisa.
There are suspicions in government that Mangoma could have used
his clout as
energy minister to cherry-pick NOOA Petroleum to supply five
million litres
of fuel in a contract he awarded in January this year without
going to
tender.
NOOA Petroleum is not listed on the State
Procurement Board (SPB)’s register
of companies approved to do business with
the government.
The allegations that Mangoma flouted laid-down procedures
of the SPB saw
police launching investigations into the tender, although the
energy
minister has insisted that the deal was above board and necessary
since the
country urgently needed fuel supplies.
Sources privy to the
saga surrounding the fuel deal, which resulted in acute
fuel shortages in
January and early February after NOOA failed to deliver on
time, said more
heads were set to roll. -- ZimOnline
Mangoma
arrested for cutting out ZANU PF heavyweights from deals
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
10 March 2011
Energy and Power Development Minister Elton
Mangoma is paying a heavy price
for stopping corrupt ZANU PF heavyweights
from benefitting from the
procurement of fuel for Zimbabwe.
Mangoma,
a key member of the MDC-T and one of the party negotiators to the
GPA, was
picked up by three plain clothes police constables from his
ministerial
offices in Harare on Thursday.
It is believed Mangoma was taken in for
questioning in connection with a
US$5 million fuel deal that saw his
ministry pay a company called NOOA to
supply diesel for Matabeleland South
province. It’s alleged that not all the
fuel was delivered.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai described his arrest as a continuation of
the
‘calculated assault on the people of Zimbabwe’. Mangoma was picked up
just
as Robert Mugabe left the country to attend an African Union meeting in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a trip which even Tsvangirai was unaware
of.
More curiously was the timing of an announcement by the Supreme Court
on
Thursday to nullify the election of the MDC-T Speaker of Parliament,
Lovemore Moyo, in Mugabe’s absence.
‘The fact that a Cabinet minister
can be arrested by a constable is a
reflection of ZANU PF’s total disregard
to the basic tenets of decency. His
arrest is an assault on the GPA.
Mangoma, just like Mwonzora, (MDC-T MP)
Munyaradzi Gwisai and Rodgers
Tazviona (MDC-T MP) are all innocent victims
of a barbaric and senseless
dictatorship,’ Tsvangirai said.
Mangoma denies any wrongdoing and pointed
out to legislators in Parliament
on Wednesday that as Energy Minister he has
sweeping powers in an emergency
to acquire fuel for the country without
going to tender.
‘He even challenged all MPs in Parliament yesterday
(Wednesday) to read the
powers he has as Energy and Power Development
Minister in case Zimbabwe runs
out of fuel and energy. But obviously people
from ZANU PF did not, and still
wanted him dragged into a police cell to
embarrass the MDC and tarnish his
name,’ one MDC-T MP said.
Mangoma,
a successful businessman and deputy treasurer-general for the MDC
has,
during his short tenure as Energy Minister, uncovered many
irregularities to
do with fuel tenders and the supply of equipment to the
state utility power
company, ZESA.
A source told us Mangoma recently blocked a company called
Solarhat, which
is fronted by an Asian businessman in Harare but is wholly
owned by ZANU PF,
from supplying pre-paid meters for ZESA.
‘He
discovered that all government contracts at the ministry are being
pocketed
by Robert Mugabe’s people. The irregularities he uncovered include
bid
rigging, the awarding of tenders to ZANU PF MPs, and ministers, and
bypassing of the tender process in favour of certain suppliers, consultants
and contractors.
‘ZANU PF declared war on him but can you compare
what he did, trying to
alleviate the country’s fuel challenges to what
Ignatius Chombo has done,’
the MDC source added.
Chombo is the
Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development who
personally
benefitted when he appointed a caretaker council in 2008 that
awarded him
vast tracks of land in Harare for virtually nothing.
.
This was the same
time that a project to dualise the Harare International
airport road was
awarded to Augur Investments, a company that shared the
same premises with
Chombo’s Harvest-net Enterprises.
The MDC-T has long demanded that Chombo
should account for his vast wealth,
which includes dozens of residential and
commercial properties, including
scores of top of the range vehicles and
commercial trucks, farms, some ten
companies, mines and safari lodges. The
matter was reported to the police
and the Anti-Corruption Commission last
year but no action has been taken.
‘ZANU PF corruption infests and
infects every aspect of our economy and
Government. To take an example
amongst hundreds in the past year, more than
three official complaints of
corruption have been made to the police against
Chombo and yet the police
have refused to investigate these allegations.
‘The arrest of Mangoma is
an attempt to cloud and obscure the massive
corruption in Zimbabwe. It is an
attempt to embarrass the party. The people
of Zimbabwe are not foolish. The
people of Zimbabwe are not cowards. The
people of Zimbabwe will not accept
this,’ Tsvangirai said.
Supreme
Court nullifies election of MDC parliament speaker
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
10
March 2011
On Thursday the Supreme Court delivered what ZANU PF MP
Jonathan Moyo asked
for – they overturned the election of the MDC’s Lovemore
Moyo as Speaker of
Parliament. Jonathan Moyo claimed the August 2008 vote
that elected the
MDC-T Speaker was not secret and violated parliamentary
rules on voting.
In 2008, shortly after ZANU PF’s defeat to the MDC-T,
the smaller faction of
the MDC shocked everyone when it cooperated with ZANU
PF in seeking the
election of its candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi, as speaker.
The alliance
backfired as furious MP’s from the faction backed the MDC-T
candidate
instead.
Jonathan Moyo challenged the election in court.
But in March last year High
Court Judge Bharat Patel dismissed the
application by Moyo and 3 MDC-N MP’s,
saying they failed to justify why the
speaker’s election should be
nullified. They had only claimed that 6 MDC-T
MP’s waved their ballot papers
in the air before casting their votes. Moyo
then appealed against this
ruling.
A Harare lawyer told SW Radio Africa
that ZANU PF was desperate to manage
the succession problem, given Mugabe’s
ailing health, and that was one of
the main reasons for overturning the
election of an MDC-T speaker of
parliament. It’s alleged that the 87 year
old is battling prostate cancer,
something his party
denies.
“Zimbabwe's current constitution says that in the event that the
president
dies in office, the speaker of parliament assumes office and is
supposed to
call for elections within a period of 180 days. Mugabe is very
ill, that's
why they want to take away that power from the MDC,” the lawyer
told us.
Leading this charge is Jonathan Moyo, who has always been in the
thick of
things as far as succession politics in ZANU PF is concerned. With
a
compromised Supreme Court bench made up of judges who have received farms
and other benefits, a decision favouring ZANU PF was inevitable.
A
senior MDC-T official said Parliament will have to have another election
the
next time they sit. He said the party still has the numbers to secure
the
speakership, but ZANU PF has managed to get around this problem.
4 MDC
MP’s are in police custody. Douglas Mwonzora (Nyanga North), Roger
Tazviona
(Zhombe), Energy Minister Elton Mangoma (Makoni North) and Gokwe MP
Costin
Muguti are all locked up on various trumped-up charges.
MDC
threatens to pull out of govt
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Thelma Chikwanha, Staff Writer
Thursday,
10 March 2011 18:36
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says
the arrest of Energy and
Power Development Minister Elton Mangoma who has
been charged with criminal
abuse of office might force the MDC to pull out
of the inclusive government.
Tsvangirai told journalists in Harare on
Thursday that Mangoma’s arrest and
the Supreme Court decision to nullify
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
chairman Lovemore Moyo’s election as
speaker of parliament showed President
Robert Mugabe’s disregard for the
Global Political Agreement (GPA).
“If there is a breakdown in the
relationship of the parties in the GPA, it
is important for the parties to
agree on a clean divorce. As far as we are
concerned, the roadmap that
President Zuma has committed himself to draw up
is the only solution to this
madness.
“I, as Morgan Tsvangirai, and the people’s party that I lead,
will remain
focused on the struggle for democratic change in the
country.
We will not be swayed by desperate actions by a desperate
political party.
No amount of lies, violence, persecution or wrongful
prosecutions will deter
us from the struggle to deliver real, positive
change to the people of
Zimbabwe,” said Tsvangirai.
Lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa told the Daily News that Mangoma was charged with
criminal abuse of
office or alternatively contravention of the State
Procurement
Act.
He is detained at Braeside Police Station and is expected to appear
in court
on Friday.
But Tsvangirai insisted that Mangoma’s arrest was
a politically motivated
plot to attack, destroy and embarrass the
MDC.
“Honourable Mangoma, just like Honourable Mwonzora, Munyaradzi
Gwisai and
Honourable Rogers Tazviona, are all innocent victims of barbaric
and
senseless dictatorship,” Tsvangirai said.
The MDC leader said the
arrest of Mangoma was an attempt to cloud and
obscure massive corruption in
Zimbabwe by a party which no longer has the
confidence of the
people.
He cited the case of Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo
who has
been accused of corruption but whom police have refused to
investigate
despite several reports of fraud being
reported.
Tsvangirai said he was surprised to learn that Mangoma had been
arrested,
saying he had cleared the fuel issue deal in parliament and was
surprised
that he had been arrested for the same case which government had
said was
done above board.
Tsvangirai said it is Zanu PF ministers
who should be arrested but he
admitted that because the government was in a
paralysis, his party was
powerless.
“The police-commissioner general
reports straight to the president so the
ministers of Home Affairs have no
power over him. That is the tragedy in
this arrangement. It is not working.
I rushed to Zimbabwe House as soon as I
heard that Minister Mangoma had been
arrested and I found the president not
there.
“Probably he had run
away, he was nowhere to be seen. I am going to meet
the acting president,
John Nkomo so that he explains to me what exactly is
happening,” charged a
visibly angry Tsvangirai.
“We will not accept the decisions of some Zanu
PF politicians masquerading
as judges. Zanu PF is trying to use the courts
to subvert and regain what it
lost in an election. As far as the MDC is
concerned, these blatant attacks
by a partisan police
The
Commissioner-General, some sections of the judiciary and the
Attorney-General, represent a clear and present danger to the continued
existence of this transitional government.
“This agenda has the overt
support of a section in Zanu PF which was behind
the violence in the country
in the run-up to the 27 June 2008 sham election.
“Indeed the actions of
this section of Zanu PF are not just to cause pain
and suffering to the
people of Zimbabwe, the workers, civic society and
business, but are a
vicious insult to President Zuma, SADC leaders and the
entire people of the
African continent. African people crave for peace,
stability and democracy
and Zanu PF represents the complete opposite of
this,” said Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe
PM calls for 'divorce' with Mugabe
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai called on Thursday for a
"divorce" in the unity government with
President Robert Mugabe, proposing
elections overseen by southern African
neighbours.
5:22PM GMT 10 Mar 2011
"We have reached a moment where
we are saying, let's agree that this is not
working, it's dysfunctional," Mr
Tsvangirai told a news conference at his
party's headquarters after the
detention of one of his ministerial allies.
"Let's make arrangements to
go for elections under a road map designed by
SADC (Southern African
Development Community) so that we have a clear,
legitimate
government."
"Even those with legendary patience, like some of us, have
reached a stage
where we are saying enough is enough. There is obviously a
breakdown in the
relationship between the parties," Mr Tsvangirai
said.
"If people find that a marriage has reached irreconcilable
differences, then
agree to a divorce."
Mr Tsvangirai spoke hours
after police detained Energy Minister Elton
Mangoma, a senior member of the
prime minister' Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party on undisclosed
charges.
The MDC suffered another blow on Thursday when the Supreme
Court nullified
the 2008 election of party chairman Lovemore Moyo as speaker
of parliament,
following an appeal by Mr Mugabe's close ally, Jonathan
Moyo.
Mr Tsvangirai said Mangoma's arrest by a police constable was a
reflection
of Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party's "total disregard to the basic
tenets of
decency."
"These blatant attacks by a partisan police
commissioner-general, some
sections of the judiciary and the attorney
general represent a clear and
present danger to the continued existence of
this transitional government,"
he said.
Tsvangirai
blasts Supreme Court ruling on parliament speaker
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Gift
Phiri
Thursday, 10 March 2011 16:54
HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has said his party will not
accept Thursday's Supreme Court
ruling nullfying the election of the
Speaker. The full Supreme Court bench,
sitting as a Constitutional Court,
made a ruling that effectively ousts the
Speaker, Lovemore Moyo, a chairman
of Tsvangirai's MDC party, who was
elected in August 2009. The Supreme
Court ruled that Moyo's election by the
House of Assembly did not follow
proper procedures. The Court was making a
ruling on an appeal lodged by
Jonathan Moyo, a senior member of Mugabe's
Zanu PF party,who was elected as
an independent MP but later crossed the
floor to rejoin Zanu PF. High Court
judge, Justice Bharat Patel last year
threw out Moyo's challenge to have the
Speaker’s election to the powerful
post set aside. Moyo then appealed to the
Supreme Court arguing the learned
judge erred in finding that a proper
election of the Speaker of Parliament
was conducted in terms of the
constitution.
The ruling has dangerously
heightened tensions in the troubled colaition,
and Tsvangirai said his party
rejects the ruling by "partisan judges."
Tsvangirai said the election of
the Speaker was "lawful and legitimate," a
fact confirmed by the election
officer and Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma
in his affidavit filed in
court. Tsvangirai raised separation of powers
arguments at the ews
conference held at Harvest House HQ on Thursday. "What
is common cause is
that Parliament is a separate body, with its own rules
and regulations and
the courts should not interfere with other arms of the
State namely, the
Legislature," Tsvangirai said.
The MDC president said the decision was a
clear reflection of the state of
affairs on the Bench: "a judiciary which in
the post-Dumbutshena and
post-Gubbay era has largely discredited itself by
becoming a willing
appendage of Zanu PF." "Dubious and pro-executive
decisions have been made
in this era," Tsvangirai said.
"We will not
accept the decisions of some Zanu PF politicians masquerading
as judges.
Zanu PF is trying to use the courts to subvert and regain what it
lost in an
election." There have been concerns that the current bench is
largely
composed of ruling party allies including the chief justice, who
took over
after Mugabe forced the country's top judge to take a long leave
of absence
followed by early retirement. Judge Godfrey Chidyausiku, 64,
former head of
the High Court, has served as head of the judiciary from the
time Chief
Justice Anthony Gubbay retired on July 1, 2001. Gubbay agreed to
retire
early after government threats and intimidation for ruling against
ministers
over their controversial land reform programme. The government
accused him
of bias in favour of the country's tiny white minority.
Mugabe pushed out the
mainly white judges saying he wanted the courts to
reflect the racial
balance of Zimbabwe, a nation where less than 1 percent
of the population is
white. Gubbay was one of six whites among the nation's
30 judges then. Two
other judges were of Asian descent, and most of the
country's hundreds of
magistrates were and are black. Since Chidyausiku took
over, the judciary
has been accused of bias.
Speaking on the arrest of Energy minister Elton
Mangoma for the alleged
embezzlement of US$4.4million in a fuel deal,
Tsvangirai said the arrest of
Mangoma was an attempt to cloud and obscure
the massive corruption in
Zimbabwe. Mangoma was picked up by three plain
clothes police officers at
his government offices, Chaminuka Building on
Thursday in connection with a
US$6 million fuel deal made privately in
December with a littleknown South
African company, NOOA, which the State
Press here allege was made outside
State Procurement Board procedures. "It
is an attempt to embarrass the
people’s party of excellence," Tsvangirai
said. He said police must first
probe US$313 million missing from Marange
diamond revenue, which has caused
acrimony in the GNU between the Finance
minister and the Mines minister.
"Indeed, Zanu PF corruption infests and
infects every aspect of our economy
and Government," Tsvangirai told
reporters. "To take example amongst
hundreds, in the past year, more than
three official complaints of
corruption have been made to the police against
Minister Ignatius Chombo and
yet the police have refused to investigate
these allegations.
"The arrest of minister Mangoma is an attempt to cloud and
obscure the
massive corruption in Zimbabwe." Tsvangirai said "these blatant
attacks by a
partisan police Commissioner-General, some sections of the
judiciary and the
Attorney-General represent a clear and present danger to
the continued
existence of this transitional government." "This agenda has
the overt
support of a section in Zanu PF which was behind the violence in
the country
in the run-up to the 27 June 2008 sham election," he
said.
"Indeed the actions of this section of Zanu PF are not just to cause
pain
and suffering to the people of Zimbabwe, the workers, civic society and
business, but are a vicious insult to President Zuma, SADC leaders and the
entire people of the African continent. African people crave for peace,
stability and democracy and Zanu PF represents the complete opposite of
this."
Appeal against
Bennett thrown out
http://www.iol.co.za
March 10 2011 at 04:25pm
Zimbabwe's
Supreme Court threw out an appeal against the acquittal of Roy
Bennett in an
alleged plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. Photo: AP
Zimbabwe's
Supreme Court on Thursday threw out an appeal against the
acquittal of Roy
Bennett in an alleged plot to overthrow President Robert
Mugabe, his lawyer
said on Thursday.
“The judgment was delivered by the Supreme Court today
and the ruling said
the application against the acquittal of Roy Bennett had
no chances of
success,” attorney Beatrice Mtetwa told AFP.
Bennett, a
top aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, was acquitted in
May last year
after a high court judge ruled the state had failed to connect
him to a plot
against Mugabe.
Prosecutors filed an appeal in the Supreme Court
challenging the acquittal.
Bennett's case is one of the major stumbling
blocks facing the unity
government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who had
tapped him as deputy
agriculture minister in the unity
government.
Mugabe has vowed he will never swear in Bennett.
The
white 53-year-old former farmer was arrested in February 2009, shortly
before he was to be sworn in, over accusations that he had funded a plot to
topple Mugabe five years ago. -
Sapa-AFP
Bennett
still unable to return to Zim
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
10 March 2011
The
MDC’s Treasurer General, Roy Bennett, on Thursday said he is still not
able
to return to Zimbabwe, despite the Supreme Court dismissing the state’s
appeal against his acquittal.
Supreme Court Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku on Thursday threw out the state’s
appeal against a High Court
decision to acquit Bennett on treason and
banditry charges. Bennett was
acquitted in May last year after a High Court
judge ruled the state had
failed to connect him to a plot against Robert
Mugabe. The state immediately
stated its intentions to appeal this decision.
But speaking from South
Africa, Bennett told SW Radio Africa that the
Supreme Court’s decision does
not change anything, explaining that he still
has three outstanding charges
against him. He added that the current
environment of ZANU PF sponsored
violence and intimidation makes it even
less likely that he can safely
return to Zimbabwe.
“Bringing to mind ZANU PF’s attitude, their total
duplicity in the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), that fact that Mugabe is
still taking a swipe at
me whenever he can, there’s no ways I can return
back to Zimbabwe under
there circumstances,” Bennett said.
Bennett is
MDC’s nominated Deputy Minister of Agriculture, a post that
Mugabe has
refused to swear the official in to, claiming the charges against
him were
preventing him. The issue is one of the contentious outstanding
issues in
the GPA, which ZANU PF has refused to honour.
Bennett agreed on Thursday
that it is highly unlikely he will ever be sworn
into this post. The MDC
official meanwhile also expressed grave concern
about the wave of violence
and intimidation against MDC members and
supporters, warning that “we are
seeing an escalation of violence that could
reach the levels we saw in
2008.”
“I think we are heading for a very rocky period,” Bennett said,
adding: “I
think my colleagues and friends in the MDC are at serious risk.”
Envoys
appeal for calm in Zimbabwe
To read their signed appeal, click here
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Mar 10, 2011 9:46 PM | By Sapa-dpa
Western
envoys issued a unprecedented joint appeal to Zimbabwean security
forces to
be impartial and non- political as tensions rose sharply over the
arrest of
a cabinet minister loyal to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Recent
weeks have seen a surge in violence and arrests targeting supporters
of
Tsvangirai, as well as a wave of anti-Western rhetoric that has followed
President Robert Mugabe's threat to hold an election soon, discarding
undertakings to follow a road map of democratic reforms.
Early
Thursday police arrested Energy Minister Elton Mangoma on charges of
violating official tender procedures, and later the speaker of parliament,
Lovemore Moyo, who is chairman of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change, was removed from his position by the supreme
court.
Tsvangirai told a press conference that the actions were an attack
on the
heart of the two-year-old coalition government between him and
87-year-old
Mugabe, and an attempt by Mugabe to regain what he lost in an
election. The
country was in crisis, he said, calling for a clean divorce of
the coalition
through credible elections.
An appeal signed by 22
ambassadors from European Union countries, the United
States, Canada, Japan
and Australia, appealed to the country's security
force, the attorney
general, and the judiciary all of which are seen as
controlled by Mugabe, to
discharge their duties in an impartial,
non-political way.
The note
expressed concern at an upsurge in what appeared to be politically
motivated
intimidation and violence, despite the power-sharing government
having
struggled to bring stability to Zimbabwe and pave the way for a
democratic
transition through credible elections.
Such a combined appeal has never
been made by the diplomatic community in
Harare in the last 31 years of
Mugabe's rule, and observers say it indicates
deep anxiety over the
volatility of Zimbabwe's political situation.
Lawyers said Mangoma had
been charged with violating official procedures for
tenders for fuel
supplies.
Mugabe's news media have been claiming that Mangoma had
sanctioned the
import of 6 million Us dollars' worth of fuel by a South
African company in
January during a critical shortage of diesel and
petrol.
Tsvangirai said that Mangoma had addressed the issue in a cabinet
meeting
and everything was in the open. He said the arrest was by a partisan
police
force meant to obscure ZANU(PF)'s own corruption.
Tensions
Escalate In Harare's Unity Govt As PM's Party Calls On People To Defy Police
Bans
http://www.voanews.com
Moves by President Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the Cabinet
to ease
tensions have not helped, as sources said the crackdown allegedly
pursued by
ZANU-PF and security forces has only intensified
Blessing
Zulu, Patience Rusere & Benedict Nhlapho | Washington &
Johannesburg 09 March 2011
The Movement for Democratic Change
formation of Zimbabwean Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has called on
Zimbabweans to resist what it characterizes
as attempts by the police to
impose a state of emergency across the nation.
Moves by President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the Cabinet
to ease tensions have not
helped, as sources said the crackdown has only
intensified.
The
president and prime minister agreed on Monday that the right of assembly
should be restored, agreeing Harare is not threatened, MDC sources
said.
A top level meeting Tuesday to discuss the banning of rallies was
cancelled
after Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri told the three
unity
government principals - including Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara -
he had ordered the ban lifted.
Many activists have been
arrested in what critics call a move to
pre-emptively thwart any
Egyptian-style popular uprising. Police have
disrupted rallies and
meetings.
Co-Minister of Home Affairs Theresa Makone told VOA Studio 7
reporter
Blessing Zulu that Chihuri did send radio messages to the national
police
lifting the bans.
National Constitutional Assembly Chairman
Lovemore Madhuku told Blessing
Zulu that ministers are powerless as Chihuri
is only answerable to President
Mugabe.
Two human rights activists
were arrested Wednesday in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland
West province, on charges
of conspiring to overthrow the government.
VOA sources said armed police
besieged the United Church of Christ in
Zimbabwe and arrested church
coordinator Owen Dhliwayo and a Youth Dialogue
oficial for allegedly
plotting to overthrow Mr. Mugabe and his colleagues in
government.
Sources said the police also wanted to arrest National
Constitutional
Assembly member and Progressive Youth Development Coordinator
Claris Madhuku
and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights officer Tineyi Mukwewa,
but they
eluded arrest.
The activists were attending a workshop
organised by the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights which was attended by
about 60 people, mostly from the NCA.
NCA Information Officer Blessing
Vava told VOA reporter Patience Rusere that
the police also confisticated
money from the two people who were arrested,
alleging it came from British
sources and was intended to finance the
government's overthrow.
In
Johannesburg, meanwhile, Zimbabwean journalists and rights defenders
accused
the ZANU-PF party of President Mugabe of using violence to tamp down
dissent.
The activists said the former ruling party is already using
intimidation and
violence to coerce voters, as correspondent Benedict
Nhlapho reported from
Johannesburg.
House of Lords to debate current situation in Zimbabwe
10 March
2011
Lord Dannatt will make his maiden speech in the
House of Lords today (Thursday 10 March) in a debate on the current situation in
Zimbabwe. Sir Richard Dannatt, is the former Chief of the General Staff of the
British army.
Lord Avebury
(Liberal Democrat), a human rights campaigner and former Liberal Democrat
spokesperson for foreign and commonwealth affairs, will open the debate.
Members of the Lords scheduled to speak
include:
- Lord Dannatt
(Crossbench), will make his maiden speech
- Baroness Boothroyd (Crossbench), former Speaker of the House of Commons who
sits on the executive committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
UK
- Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour), former Minister for Africa whose book
'Zimbabwe on the Brink' was published in 2009
- Lord Luce
(Crossbench), former Minister for Africa and former chairman of the Commonwealth
Foundation, a non-governmental organisation which is linking Commonwealth
organisations with civil society in Zimbabwe to help reconstruction of the
country
- Lord Crisp
(Crossbench), former chief executive of the NHS and a specialist in global
healthcare. He co-chaired an international task force to increase the education
and training of health workers in developing countries
- Lord Chidgey
(Liberal Democrat), vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe
and former member of the Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs which
carried out a series of inquiries on Zimbabwe
- Earl of Sandwich
(Crossbench), associate of Care International, an aid agency working with
communities and businesses across Zimbabwe
- Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat), member of the Lords EU Sub-committee
on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy
- Lord St John of Bletso (Crossbench), who has lived in southern Africa and who
led a House of Lords debate on Zimbabwe last year
Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, the Bishop of Bath
and Wells and the Bishop of Leicester will also take part in the
debate.
Lord Howell of Guildford will respond on behalf
of the government.
Stand up to Mugabe
- ex-Army chief
http://www.argus.ie
Thursday March 10 2011
A former head of the
British Army has called on Zimbabwe's corps of
UK-trained army officers to
have the moral courage to stand up to the
"repressive dictatorship" of
president Robert Mugabe.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, who has visited the
southern African country
several times in recent years, said the British
Army had established a staff
college in Harare after 1979 "to underpin the
professional development of
post-UDI army".
The former British colony
of Southern Rhodesia made its Unilateral
Declaration of Independence (UDI)
in 1965 under white rule and did not
achieve majority African rule, under
the new name of Zimbabwe, until 1979.
Lord Dannatt told peers: "I often
reflect now that there must be a
generation of Zimbabwean army officers out
there, who were trained by us in
the 1980s, who know that there is a better
way than that of the repressive
dictatorship of Robert Mugabe."
The
crossbench peer, in his first Lords speech since being appointed by
Prime
Minister David Cameron last year, went on: "Will they, I wonder, ever
find
the moral courage to stand up and do the right thing? They know what
that
is. We taught them."
Lord Dannatt, who was tipped by Mr Cameron before
the general election as a
future Tory minister, was speaking in a Lords
debate on Zimbabwe, opened by
Liberal Democrat ex-MP Lord
Avebury.
The strife-torn country is ruled, in an uneasy power-sharing
deal, by Mr
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). Another election is due this year,
with no
agreement on when it should happen.
Foreign Office minister
Tory Lord Howell of Guildford, replying to the
debate, told Lord Dannatt:
"We listened with great interest to what you had
to say."
Top UK Govt
Officer And Former Mandela Lawyer Urges Zim To Respect Rule Of
Law
http://www.radiovop.com
10/03/2011 09:25:00
London, March 10, 2011 - A senior
official in the United Kingdom
Conservative government says Zimbabwe has the
potential to regain its place
among the commonwealth League of Nations if it
shows a genuine willingness
to respect human rights and the rule of
law.
The former lawyer of Nelson Mandela, Lord David Howell, who is now
the
United Kingdom Minister of State responsible for Commonwealth Affairs,
told
Radio VOP on Wednesday in London that Zimbabwe should do more to regain
its
commonwealth status.
“It’s for the people of Zimbabwe to play
out, SADC is already playing a
remarkable role which is closely related to
the hands on approach that South
Africa is playing,” said Howell.
“We
are ready to start deploying our skills in the UK and the commonwealth.
We
are ready to help build Zimbabwe into the great country that it was but
we
can’t do more when the politics of the country can’t allow us. We would
like
to see Zimbabwe back on in the Commonwealth and there is a lot of
willingness out there.”
Howell who described Zimbabwe as a “great
country” said the country has to
do away with the deep-seated culture of
human rights abuses that still
characterise everyday life. He cited the
recent arrest of Munyaradzi Gwisai
and a Commonwealth Professional Fellow,
Antonette Tafadzwa Choto who could
not travel to London to take up her
studies as a result of the arrest as one
classical example of the continuing
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the
Commonwealth family of nations in 2002 after
its election monitors concluded
that elections that were held that year were
seriously flawed.
The
elections had returned President Mugabe to power. But before that Mugabe
had
announced his decision to pull out as a clever way of pre-empting a
measure
which was almost certain to come.
The suspension which still stands today
bars the Zimbabwe leader from
attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government
(CHOGM) meeting which is held
every two years. Zimbabwe hosted the meetings
in 1995 and ironically it is
at the Harare meeting that the guiding
principles of the grouping were
adopted. Among some of the principle is a
shared love for democracy and
human rights.
A report on how far
Zimbabwe has gone in re-establishing a culture for the
respect of human
rights and rule of law will be tabled before the
Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group (CMAG) ahead of the CHOGM in October
in Perth, Australia.
War
vets want to teach history in schools
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
10 March
2011
Over the years they have become infamous by beating up and harassing
opposition supporters, torturing and often killing MDC supporters. Now war
vets loyal to Mugabe’s regime say they want to take over schools and offer
history lessons on the liberation struggle.
The MDC-T MP for Mazowe
Central in Mashonaland Central, Shepherd Mushonga,
took the matter to
Parliament on Wednesday after receiving a letter of
complaint from the
headmaster at Kakora Secondary School. War vets had told
the headmaster they
would visit the school to teach history this week.
Mushonga quizzed
Education Minister David Coltart on whether this was the
new government
policy, to allow war vets to offer lessons to students. In
response Coltart
said no.
“The political parties should not meddle in education. We should not
expose
school children to politics as it is against the Education Act.
Schools
should not be used for politics. I want the MP’s to support me in
trying to
stop what is now happening,’ Coltart said.
He also
expressed concern at the number of teachers requesting transfers
because of
intimidation and threats from ZANU PF youths mainly in the rural
areas.
Teachers over the years have traditionally been targeted by Mugabe’s
regime
and accused of supporting the then opposition MDC.
Coltart is reported to
be in the process of revising legislation to put
legal measures in place to
ban the use of schools for partisan political
activity. But Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Secretary
General Raymond Majongwe however
told SW Radio Africa it was likely the
legislation will be blocked by ZANU
PF. “It’s only a matter of time before
this GNU collapses,” he told
us.
For all Coltart’s efforts in crafting legislation to stop ZANU PF
mobs
invading schools and politicizing the learning environment, Mugabe’s
regime
has shown it has no respect for any of the laws. It is anticipated
the war
vets will have their way and invade the schools all the same.
Police
detain MDC gravedigger assaulted by ZANU PF youth
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
10 March, 2011
A funeral held at Granville Cemetery in
Harare on Wednesday is reported to
have turned into a political rally, after
ZANU PF youths attacked a
gravedigger they accused of being an MDC-T
activist. According to NewsDay
who witnessed the assault, the youths also
disrupted a funeral nearby,
taking a tent and machinery they did not pay
for.
NewsDay said the violent youths pointed out the gravedigger upon
arrival and
threw him into a minibus they had allegedly commandeered. They
then took
turns assaulting him for hours, before speeding off.
The
abducted gravedigger turned out to be Seven Nehumambi, the MDC youth
assembly chairperson for Sunningdale District. In a statement on Thursday
the MDC said Nehumambi was assaulted by the ZANU PF youths before he was
dumped at Matapi Police Station. He is still in detention there and is being
denied medication for the injuries he sustained.
The youths displayed
this violent behavior at the funeral of one of their
own, 26 year old Taurai
Dzikamai, who was a ZANU PF youth chairperson for
Ushewokunze Housing
Cooperative in Harare.
According to NewsDay, relatives at the funeral
complained that the ZANU PF
youths had earlier invaded a private home where
the mourners were gathered.
At the cemetery they demanded ZANU PF cards from
some mourners and chanted
slogans, denouncing the MDC.
Political
commentator Professor John Makumbe, said the youths were acting
according to
instructions from ZANU PF officials, who also pay them. He
described the
attack as “organized violence” and said the youth do it
knowing they will
not be arrested.
“When you look at the whole scenario it is almost like
no-one is in charge.
The country has no direction. MPs are in jail, a
minister was arrested and
Mugabe is out of the country,” Makumbe
explained.
The professor said the MDC should stand up to the violence,
especially in
areas where they have greater numbers of supporters. “Their
people should be
tackling the streets. Where are the MDC youth in Harare
while ZANU PF is
organizing” he asked.
Makumbe believes the violence
is being organized by elements within ZANU PF
who do not want elections in
2011 because they would lose their positions to
the MDC. But since they dare
not oppose Robert Mugabe’s wish to hold
elections this year, they are
instead creating an environment not conducive
to free and fair
polls.
According to NewsDay, three people wearing red t-shirts at a grave
nearby
had to flee after the youths approached them, screaming that they
were
“traitors”.
A mourner who chose not to be identified said: “It
was so frightening and we
just wanted to leave immediately. Surely how can
they behave like that at a
burial ground? This is insane.”
Professor
Makumbe said the MDC could do a lot more to stem the violence.
“When you are
in the corridors of power you do not negate the streets. The
MDC are being
British gentlemen and wearing suits. That does not work,” he
added.
Mwonzora’s
bail application hearing postponed again
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
10 March
2011
High court judge Susan Mavangira has postponed to Friday the
judgement on
the bail application by Nyanga North MP Douglas Mwonzora and 23
other MDC
activists.
This is the third time that the case has been
postponed in Mutare this week.
Mwonzora, who is also COPAC co-chairperson,
and these 23 constituents will
remain in detention at Mutare Remand
Prison.
They are facing charges of public violence stemming from a
meeting Mwonzora
held in Nyamaropa, Nyanga North, early last
month.
Defence lawyer David Tandire told SW Radio Africa that the state
is trying
to extend the period of detention through unorthodox
means.
Over a dozen other activists are still in police detention around
the
country, facing trumped-up charges that have received global
condemnation.
In detention in Bulawayo are three leaders of the Mthwakazi
Liberation
Front, who were arrested last Friday. Paul Siwela, John Gazi and
Charles
Thomas face treason charges for holding a meeting where they
allegedly
discussed overthrowing the government.
They are also being
accused of distributing flyers urging people to stage
Egypt-style
anti-government revolts. On Monday the three were formally
charged with
treason and face the death penalty if found guilty.
Still in detention in
Harare since February 19th and in solitary confinement
are Munyaradzi
Gwisai, coordinator of the International Socialist
Organisation, and five
other activists (gender activist Antonater Choto,
Zimbabwe National Students
Union leaders Welcome Zimuto and Eddson Chakuma,
labor activist Tatenda
Mombeyarara, and anti-debt campaigner Hopewell
Gumbo).
The wave of
arrests in Zimbabwe continued on Wednesday when police in
Chinhoyi disrupted
a workshop and arrested two human rights activists, in a
church. The event
had been organized by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR) and the
United Church of Christ Zimbabwe (UCCZ).
According to Blessing Vava of
the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
police burst in and arrested Owen
Dhliwayo and Catherine Mukwapati, who were
chairing a session on the
importance of human rights.
4 MDC MP’s are also in jail.
MDC
position on nationalisation undermined by ZANU PF
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
10
March 2011
The MDC’s attempts to encourage investment in Zimbabwe are
once again being
undermined by ZANU PF, with the two parties displaying
vastly different
opinions on the contentious issue of
nationalisation.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday was forced
to counter claims
made by a ZANU PF minister that the government had
resolved to nationalise
the mining sector. Earlier in the day ZANU PF’s
Empowerment Minister,
Saviour Kasukuwere, told an investment conference that
the government was
set to nationalise 51% of the mining sector to form a
‘sovereign wealth fund’
to finance development.
“This Friday we are
gazetting the minimum threshold for the mining sector.
We need the 51%
(equity) to come into our sovereign wealth fund,” Kasukuwere
said. “We are
all agreed as a government,” he added.
It was left to Tsvangirai to
backtrack on this, telling the same conference
that nothing had yet been
agreed to by cabinet.
“As far as I am concerned, the cabinet has not
adopted minimum thresholds
for companies and for sectors,” Tsvangirai
said.
Commentators have said that these mixed messages from the so-called
‘unity’
government are doing little to encourage already nervous potential
investors. CNN’s correspondent, Robyn Curnow said on Thursday that the
conflicting comments “have managed to highlight exactly why it is still
deeply risky to invest in Zimbabwe.”
Economic analyst Bekithemba
Mhlanga told SW Radio Africa that such
conflicting messages will be
detrimental to Zimbabwe’s investment potential
in the future. He said this
was symptom of the election fever beginning to
burn in Zimbabwe, arguing
that ZANU PF “will use any opportunity to
undermine the MDC if elections are
to be called soon.”
“These kinds of messages, political or not, will
definitely tone down the
appetite for investors to get involved in
Zimbabwe,” Mhlanga said.
Firm
takeovers seen derailing recovery
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Edward Jones Thursday 10 March
2011
HARARE – Zimbabwe plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund to
hold
controlling stake in all mining companies as the government moves to
control
the key resources sector, but this has stoked fears that badly
needed
foreign investors may take flight and derail a nascent economic
recovery.
The resource rich southern African nation boasts the world’s
second largest
reserves of platinum, has discovered alluvial diamonds which
experts say
could generate $2 billion a year and has large gold, chrome and
coal
deposits.
Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Youth Empowerment and
Indigenisation
yesterday told an investor conference that mining companies
were remitting
little to the country’s national treasury, echoing previous
sentiments by
Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
“This Friday we will
gazette the minimum threshold for the mining sector. We
need 51 percent to
come into the sovereign wealth fund,” Kasukuwere told the
investors in
Harare.
He said the regulations would be effective seven days after they
are
published.
Analysts said ZANU-PF is using the threat to
nationalise foreign-owned mines
to force the companies to the bargaining
table so that the country can
receive more money from its mineral
riches.
ZANU-PF has put the issue of indigenisation and Western sanctions
at the
heart of its election campaign, hoping to sway urban voters who have
rallied
behind Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic
Change
party.
The government said at the end of last year it would
nationalise all
alluvial diamond miners but Kasukuwere announced last month
that companies
mining in Chiadzwa would be spared.
Five firms are
mining the diamonds in the controversial Chiadzwa fields,
including Anjin
Zimbabwe run by the Chinese, Mbada Diamonds owned by a
Mugabe ally and
another run by the Zimbabwe National Army.
The decision to spare miners
in Chiadzwa has raised eyebrows and come at a
time when there is discord in
the unity government over diamond revenues.
Analysts say while the
concept of a sovereign wealth fund is an accepted
norm, Zimbabwe does not
have money and still needs huge foreign investment
to extract the minerals
and generate revenues to buy shares from foreign
firms.
Some of the
large foreign-owned miners in the line of fire include Anglo
Platinum and
Impala Platinum, the top two platinum producers in the world
and diversified
miner Rio Tinto, which controls Murowa diamond mine in the
country.
Impala Platinum, whose local unit Zimplats is Zimbabwe’s
largest platinum
miner has particularly come under fire in recent weeks,
with Mugabe accusing
it of siphoning money from the country.
Zimplats
share price has dropped 18 percent in the last month on the
Australian Stock
Exchange linked to the nationalisation talk.
Kasukuwere said the
sovereign fund would be funded from earnings from
mineral exports, including
diamonds, but the same revenue is needed to pay
arrears on foreign debt
amounting to $7.1 billion and increase wages for
civil servants.
“It
would appear this is overly ambitious on the part of government. I do
not
see the sovereign wealth fund taking off anytime soon,” John Robertson,
a
Harare-based consultant economic analyst said.
“What the country needs at
the moment is a huge flow of foreign investment,
which means more mineral
exports and more money for the government, which
they can then use to set up
this fund,” he said.
Kasukuwere said while total mineral exports reached
$1.7 billion last year,
driven by platinum sales, only $4 million had
trickled to government in
taxes. Biti has previously called for a review of
all mining deals he says
favour foreign companies at the expense of
Zimbabweans.
The foreign mining companies may come under pressure, torn
between pulling
out and risk losing rights to the massive platinum reserves
and other
minerals to Mugabe's preferred investors from China or negotiate
revised
deals that will see the government getting more from the country’s
resources.
Analysts say for now ZANU-PF is talking tough to rally its
ranks and will
not repeat its controversial and violent seizures of
white-owned commercial
farms, which decimated the agriculture
sector.
"In the mining sector specifically, we have been getting a raw
deal all this
time with companies taking money out of the country,"
Kasukuwere said.
Zimbabwe’s economy has started recovering after a decade
of collapse blamed
on Mugabe’s policies, thanks to the formation of the
unity government, which
has fired up production in agriculture and mining.
-- ZimOnline
Minister
Says Rules for Indigenous Control of Mines to be Published
Shortly
http://www.voanews.com/
Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told an investment
conference in
Harare that the government will take control of the mining
sector through a
so-called sovereign wealth fund that will hold public
stakes
Sandra Nyaira & Gibbs Dube | Washington 09 March
2011
Controversial mine ownership rules requiring foreign companies
to cede 51
percent of shares to indigenous or black Zimbabweans will be
published on
Friday, Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere revealed
Wednesday.
Addressing delegates at a two-day Euromoney investment
conference in Harare,
the minister accused foreign mining companies of
fleecing the country of
resource revenue, charging that citizens have not
benefited from vast
mineral wealth.
“The country has been getting a
raw deal from the mining sector all along
with companies taking money out of
the country,” Kasukuwere said. He added
that the unity government Cabinet
had come to agreement on the question.
“We have to address this issue,"
Kasukuwere told investors. "We have been
very careful in implementing this
law and adhering to the rules of the
country.”
Kasukuwere told the
conference that the government will in effect
nationalize the mining sector
by setting up a sovereign wealth fund to hold
51 percent indigenous stakes.
The fund will then help individual Zimbabweans
acquire a stake in the
mines.
Kasukuwere told VOA that he is not moved by assertions that such a
step,
amounting to expropriation, will discourage investment by foreign
players.
He said foreign investors understood and agreed on the need to
empower
indigenous Zimbabweans. Kasukuwere said those who don’t like it can
stay
away.
The regulations in the Indigenisation Act seek to transfer
ownership of any
foreign-owned businesses with a value of US$500,000 or more
to indigenous
Zimbabweans.
“We have a mandate to empower our people,
we want to be fair," Kasukuwere
said. "Government has never been against
foreign investment,” he told
delegates, blaming poor performance by many
state-controlled enterprises on
Western sanctions.
Companies targeted
include Angloplat and Impala Platinum - two leading
players in the market
for that semi-precious metal, and Rio Tinto, which
operates a diamond
mine.
Economist Eric Bloch dismissed Kasukuwere’s assertions as cheap
politicking
from ZANU-PF ahead of possible elections this year. He said the
government
does not have enough money to acquire the shares needed to
establish a
sovereign fund.
Affirmative Action Group President Supa
Mandiwanzira said the government is
right to take a 51 percent stake in
mining firms for the benefit of black
Zimbabweans.
But Tsvangirai's
spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka denied the Cabinet had come to
an agreement on
the move to acquire 51 percent stakeholdings in mines.
Kasukuwere said
that in putting the Indigenization Act into effect, the
Cabinet had agreed
and his role as a minister is to publish regulations for
the process of
cession.
As the Euromoney investment conference ended Wednesday, the
ZANU-PF
politburo was holding an extraordinary session to endorse an
anti-sanctions
campaign seeking the seizure of firms whose parent companies
are in states
imposing sanctions.
Investment Minister Tapiwa
Mashakada said ministers put up a spirited
performance at the conference to
allay fears of foreign investors about
nationalization.
Mashakada
said nearly 2,000 delegates including investors and World Bank and
African
Development Bank representatives see Zimbabwe as a good destination
for
capital.
He said Zimbabwe should begin seeing significant foreign direct
investment
following the conference. “We expect some of the investors that
attended the
conference to come back to set up businesses in Zimbabwe,”
Mashakada said.
Economic commentator Masimba Kuchera said President
Mugabe’s failure to show
up for the opening of the conference left investors
unsure of the business
climate.
He said it is particularly
distressing that ZANU-PF held an extraordinary
politburo meeting about
seizing foreign companies even as the investment
conference was under way.
Junta
in control again
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 09 March 2011
11:06
HARARE - Zimbabwe's spy agency and military intelligence is
handling
President Robert Mugabe’s re-election bid, according to
authoritative
official sources.
The "election command team," the
think-tank directing the veteran
President's campaign in the forthcoming
ballot, is getting daily briefings
from the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and the military
intelligence.
"The intelligence
team is handling the whole thing and is giving the
strategic direction to
the whole election process," one senior intelligence
source told The
Zimbabwean.
"The party is simply implementing the strategy drafted by the
command team.
The process is moving swiftly," the source
said.
Mugabe’s command centre is headed by Air Force of Zimbabwe Air
Vice-Marshal
Henry Muchena, who resigned last week from the Airforce to be
involved full
time in the campaign. He will be working closely with former
Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director internal, Sydney Nyanhongo,
at a
strategic level.
The source said the CIO was leading the
campaign after sharp differences
within the party on what strategy to use
for Mugabe's re-election bid.
However, this strategy, which has seen Zanu
(PF) stage a successful
political comeback, has seen some officials who were
taking a back seat,
once again play an active role.
The election
campaign is intricately linked to Zanu (PF)’s provincial
chairmen, and
involves 320 military officers spread throughout the country.
The majority
of Zanu (PF)’s election command team, including Zanu (PF)
Politburo member
Jonathan Moyo, has been directed to do their job in the
background.
Sensational plans
Our source said the CIO’s
counter-intelligence unit was exploring several
options, including arresting
the Prime Minister just before an election over
WikiLeaks revelations. It’s
also considering the post-election scenario, and
a sensational plan to put
the country under military rule if Mugabe loses
the elections.
The
Attorney General has commissioned a probe to establish if the Prime
Minister
committed treason after the secret-spilling website revealed
dangerous
details of high level MDC and American diplomat meetings where a
plan to
ease Mugabe out of office was discussed. Tomana has invoked Section
76
sub-section 5 of the Constitution and appointed a panel of five top
practising lawyers who are members of the Law Society of Zimbabwe to probe
the WikiLeaks documents and find any constitutional breaches.
“I am
seeking a professional legal opinion from registered lawyers to see
whether
there is need to prosecute anyone following revelations by the
WikiLeaks
website," Tomana said. “People should understand that this is a
serious
matter and these experts should be accorded the right to work
privately.
After their recommendations, I will then decide whether there is
need to
open a docket against anyone.”
Wikileaks revealed details in which
Tsvangirai was reported to be plotting
to use help from the US to overthrow
Mugabe. The detail is contained in
previously confidential communication
between the US State Department in
Washington, DC and its Harare embassy,
where the plot to oust Mugabe,
including a request for cash to buy out
generals, was discussed.
Trumped up charges
Due process was said to be
scuttling the grand strategy of arresting
Tsvangirai, as well as the feared
backlash from the international community.
Tsvangirai denies what he says
are trumped up charges.
According to the source, there have been high
level meetings with the CIO
directors of counter-intelligence and the
command team over the plot. But
the regime was said to be treading
cautiously, as any attempt to arrest the
popular MDC leader could ignite
protests.
Political analysts have warned that the Wikileaks informations
could prove
fatal for the MDC and risk destabilising
Zimbabwe.
"Certainly for southern Africa, the WikiLeaks Zimbabwe
revelations are most
significant, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to
say they could
destabilize Zimbabwe – and thus the region - even further in
the months to
come,” Liesl Louw- Vaudran, who works for one of Africa’s most
respected
security think-tanks, the Institute for Security Studies said on
December 11
last year.
NGOs
abandon irrigation plans
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Lovejoy Sakala
Thursday, 10 March 2011
06:30
CHIMANIMANI - Interference in the operation of irrigation schemes
by Zanu
(PF) in has forced many Non Governmental Organization (NGO)s here to
withdraw their support for local villagers.
A number of NGOs such as Plan
Zimbabwe have been supporting irrigation
nitiatives in the province, but
Zanu (PF) politicians have been accused by
villagers of trying to hijack
such projects for their benefit of their
supporters. A survey carried out by
this paper revealed that a number of
irrigation schemes such as Chisawanye
in Chipinge, Tonhorai in Chimanimani
which used to be a source of livelihood
for many villagers, are operating at
low capacity due to poor management and
interference by politicians.
Villagers are now forced to rely on food aid
from NGOs such as Care
International and World Vision.
“We used to be
self reliant from the use of the irrigation, schemes but
things have turned
upside down because of continuous interference by these
Zanu (PF)
politicians who want to gain political mileage for nothing,”said
Maxwell
Mutambara of Nedziwa in Cashel Valley.
Villagers in Chimanimani accused Zanu
(PF) politburo member Munacho Mutezo
and National Women`s League member
Jaine Knight of disturbing the operations
of irrigation schemes in the
areas. They said they were forcing people to
buy Zanu (PF) cards in order to
secure space in the irrigation schemes.
“Only Zanu PF supporters are
benefiting from the irrigation schemes so
donors have pulled out and people
are suffering, “said Muchanyara Mawoyo, a
local villager. Meanwhile, the
rehabilitation of the Chiduku-Chingowe
irrigation scheme with the help of a
local Non Governmental Organisation
(NGO) Small to Medium Development
Sustenance Projects International (SMDSPI)
is set to improve the lives of
over 80 families.
The upgrading of 44 hectare irrigation scheme is at an
advanced stage of
infrastructural development courtesy of SMDSPI.
“Each
household will be allocated 0, 5 hectares under overhead irrigation.
The
programme is earmarked for disadvantaged communal farmers to boost their
yields and improve food security,” said Engineer Chimunhu from Department of
Irrigation. The project would ensure food security and bring sustainable
development for the beneficiaries and local community.
Poor Healthcare Endangering Mothers in
Zimbabwe
Mother and child outside
her home in Hopley Settlement, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Lack of access to appropriate prenatal and
post-natal care in informal settlements in Zimbabwe is endangering mothers and
increasing infant mortality rates. Forced into unsafe dwellings with no heat or
running water when the government displaced 700,000 people in
2005, for women in these Zimbabwe communities pregnancy is a scary
proposition.
According to Amnesty International research,
“Although thousands of people have been living at Hopley for more than five
years, there are no maternal or newborn health services in the community.
Women often give birth in unhygienic conditions in their plastic shacks
and without skilled birth attendants. In order to reach maternal health
services, women have to travel to a municipal clinic in the suburb of Glen
Norah, about 8km away.”
There is no ambulance service to these
communities, forcing women to walk to the clinic while in labor because they
cannot afford a taxi or bus. Women frequently give birth at home, unaided and
alone. The women Amnesty interviewed stated they were aware of the importance of
medical care during pregnancy and after delivery, but due to costs and
inaccessibility, they were not able to seek this vital healthcare. Inability to
afford healthcare affects 75% of women in the lowest five wealth groups in
Zimbabwe, of which most of the residents in these informal settlements
fall.
Further, 45% of mothers in Zimbabwe have
no access to a postnatal check by a trained health provider. Amnesty
International documented the deaths of 21 infants in a six month period in 2010.
Adequate living conditions and access to necessary health services after
delivery could have prevented many of these deaths.
We need to demand the Zimbabwean government
takes care of its women and children. Tell government officials of the
importance of providing affordable healthcare, placed in the
community. No more women should
have to give birth alone and then watch their babies
die.
Zimbabwe
violence unpunished
http://www.washingtontimes.com
Police refusal to act leaves Mugabe foes living in
‘perpetual fear’
By Michelle Faul
-
Associated
Press
6:04 p.m., Wednesday, March 9, 2011
JOHANNESBURG | Every day
in Zimbabwe, Tendai has to see the people who
killed his parents more than
two years ago. They live in his neighborhood
and have gone unpunished. James
lives next door to one of the four people
who beat his parents to death in
July 2008, at the height of state-sponsored
election violence in the
southern African country.
Today, amid reports of renewed attacks as
Zimbabwe plans for elections, both
men say they are receiving death threats
from their parents’ killers.
“We now live in perpetual fear,” Tendai told
New York-based Human Rights
Watch, which released a report this week warning
that the country faces a
“crisis of impunity” that has festered for decades
and only encourages the
killings, torture and beatings that have been
allowed to go unpunished.
Police refuse to act on complaints, and judges
are co-opted or threatened
and attacked, the report said.
Tiseke
Kasambala, a senior researcher for the rights group, told reporters
the
climate prohibited holding the elections sought by President Robert
Mugabe,
the ruler for 31 years.
Zimbabwean police move in to stop members of Women of
Zimbabwe Arise from
marching in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Feb. 15. Human Rights
Watch said in a
report that the country faces a Zimbabwean police move in to
stop members of
Women of Zimbabwe Arise from marching in Harare, Zimbabwe,
on Feb. 15. Human
Rights Watch said in a report that the country faces a
“crisis of impunity”
that encourages state-orchestrated killings, torture
and beatings.
(Associated Press)
“If reforms are not instituted, then
we say that there must be no elections
in Zimbabwe,” Ms. Kasambala
said.
She said the president of South Africa — landlocked Zimbabwe’s
powerful
neighbor — and other leaders in the Southern African Development
Community
should make that clear to Mr. Mugabe, and strongly condemn the
renewed
attacks and detentions.
Ms. Kasambala said the regional
body’s reaction made them “look bad,”
especially when compared with the firm
stand taken by the Economic Community
of West African States in Ivory Coast,
which has declared an opposition
leader the winner of disputed elections and
is demanding the incumbent step
down.
Zimbabwe opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai is widely thought to have won
2008 elections against Mr.
Mugabe. But pressure from some Southern African
leaders compelled him to
form a government of national unity with Mr.
Mugabe, when international
condemnation failed to end an onslaught of state
violence after the
balloting.
At the time, Human Rights Watch documented cases showing Mr.
Mugabe’s
government was responsible “at the highest levels” for widespread
and
systematic abuses that led to the killing of up to 200 people, the
beating
and torture of 5,000 more, and the displacement of about 36,000
people.
The group’s report said government agencies including police,
themselves
implicated in the attacks, have failed to investigate hundreds of
legal
complaints filed by individuals, victims’ families, rights groups and
Mr.
Tsvangirai’s party.
“It’s a painful experience knowing that our
neighbors who we see every day
were the perpetrators. I feel angry,” said
the report, quoting Tendai who,
like James, is not further identified for
fear of reprisals. “The
perpetrators have made it clear at their rallies
that at the next elections
they will do it again because they didn’t get
arrested.”
James’ father already was dead when he found his parents’
bodies on June 25,
2008.
But his mother clung to life long enough to
identify some of the soldiers,
officials and supporters of Mr. Mugabe’s
party who had attacked them. Police
took her statement in the hospital
before she died, but nothing more has
been done.
Violence against
opposition supporters, their families and areas known to
have voted against
Mr. Mugabe has increased as the opposition picks up
support. Mr. Mugabe has
ruled since 1980.
Officials in Mr. Tsvangirai’s party say he and
government ministers
repeatedly have called in vain for police to stop
political violence and
arrest perpetrators.
As recently as Friday,
his party reported to police several youths who are
said to have beat up
supporters in Harare last week, identifying them by
name and an address
where they gather.
Instead, it said, police were “hostile” to the victims
and arrested some of
them, forcing the others to go into
hiding.
Human Rights Watch criticized the former opposition party for
prioritizing
the harmony of the delicate government over its push for
justice.
It also criticized Mr. Tsvangirai for putting reconciliation
above justice
in a September speech in which he said a retributive agenda
would be
counterproductive.
“Reconciliation is the only solution for
the country to have assured
stability, peace and progress,” said Mr.
Tsvangirai, who himself has been
beaten up and tortured by Mr. Mugabe’s
thugs.
Sri
Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs to reach quarter-finals
http://ftpapp.app.com.pk/en
KANDY (Sri
Lanka), Mar 10 (APP): The final scorecard of the Sri Lanka and
Zimbabwe
group-A World match played here at newly constructed Pallekele
Cricket
Stadium on Thursday. Sri Lanka scored 327 runs for the loss of six
wickets
by restricting Zimbabwe to 188 runs, winning the match by 139 runs
and moved
on the quarter-finals.
Sri Lanka innings WU Tharanga c Chigumbura b
Mpofu 133
TM Dilshan c Panyangara b Utseya 144
NLTC Perera c
Chigumbura b Price 03
DPMD Jayawardene c Chakabva b Mpofu 09
KC
Sangakkara*† not out 11
AD Mathews c Chigumbura b Mpofu 00
LPC Silva
c Panyangara b Mpofu 04
TT Samaraweera not out 8 7 1 0 114.28
Extras (b
2, lb 3, w 9, nb 1) 15
Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 327 (6.54 runs per
over)
Fall of wickets1-282 (Tharanga, 44.4 ov), 2-289 (Dilshan, 45.4 ov),
3-296
(Perera, 46.3 ov), 4-300 (Jayawardene, 47.1 ov), 5-302 (Mathews, 47.3
ov),
6-308
(Silva, 47.6 ov)
Bowling
CB Mpofu 7-0-62-4
T
Panyangara 6-0-51-0
RW Price 9-1-46-1
E Chigumbura 3 0 20 0 6.66
P
Utseya 10-0-50-1
AG Cremer 7-0-42-0
GA Lamb 8 0 51 0 6.37 (1w)
Zimbabwe
innings
BRM Taylor c Jayawardene b Mathews 80
RW Chakabva b
Muralitharan 35
T Taibu† c †Sangakkara b Mathews 04
P Utseya st
†Sangakkara b Dilshan 04
CR Ervine lbw b Dilshan 17-21-2-0
E
Chigumbura* c Perera b Muralitharan 6-11-0-0
GA Lamb c Jayawardene b
Dilshan 00
AG Cremer not out 14
RW Price c Samaraweera b Perera
11
T Panyangara lbw b Dilshan 00
CB Mpofu b Muralitharan 01
Extras
(b 2, lb 2, w 12) 16
Total (all out; 39 overs) 188 (4.82 runs per
over)
Fall of wickets1-116, 2-125, 3-132, 4-150, 5-156, 6-156, 7-165, 8-185,
9-185,
10-188
Bowling
SL Malinga 8-0-51-0
KMDN Kulasekara
8-0-33-0
NLTC Perera 6-0-33-1
M Muralitharan 9-0-34-3
AD Mathews
5-0-29-2
Match details
Results: Sri Lanka won the match by 139
runs
Toss Zimbabwe, who chose to field
Player of the match TM Dilshan (Sri
Lanka)
Umpires M Erasmus (South Africa) and NJ Llong (England)
TV umpire
AL Hill (New Zealand)
Match referee BC Broad (England)
Reserve umpire REJ
Martinesz
Collapse of Zimbabwe’s GNU would be a Zanu-pf’victory
By Clifford Chitupa
Mashiri, Political Analyst, London 10/03/11
The selective application of
the rule of law by the Zanu-pf regime should
not be allowed to wreck the
coalition government. The collapse of Zimbabwe’s
Government of National
Unity would be a resounding victory for Zanu-pf as
the vacuum will be
replaced by chaos and anarchy.
Recent pronouncements by the regime’s
activists at the Zimbabwe Euromoney
Conference indicate that plans are afoot
for grabbing mines, banks,
conservancies and anything of value before the
elections. That can only take
place in an environment of
lawlessness.
The MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would be
best advised to
stay in and fight from within the government as its
detractors are eager to
prove their hypothesis of an external enemy syndrome
ahead of planned
elections. There are reasons why Zanu-pf is panicking
including the advanced
age and health problems of its presidential
candidate.
Therefore, the arrest of Energy Minister Elton Mangoma cannot
be seen in
isolation of other recent developments which suspiciously appear
to be aimed
at wrecking the coalition government and create room for
lawlessness.
The developments include the nullification of the election
of the Speaker of
Parliament, Lovemore Moyo; the continued incarceration in
remand prison of
the co-chairman of the constitutional parliamentary
committee (COPAC),
Douglas Mwonzora and 24 villagers who include an 82
year-old man after a
High Court judge postponed the hearing; and that of
human rights and
pro-democracy activists.
Although the Prime
Minister’s threat of a ‘divorce’ between MDC and Zanu-pf
is understandable,
it’s not in the country’s national interest for the
coalition government to
collapse. While some of us were opposed to the GPA
and the GNU right from
their inception, there is more to be achieved by
remaining in the GNU than
to walk-out.
The MDC should press for a non-partisan application of the
rule of law. That
cannot be done effectively outside government. The MDC
should not warm up to
Mugabe nut demand the arrest and prosecution of those
who perpetrated
violence in 2008 during which about 200 people were murdered
by suspected
Zanu-pf sympathisers.
The risks of a collapse outweigh
the discomfort being felt by the MDC-T as a
result of provocation by
Zanu-pf. It looks abundantly clear that there are
‘dark forces’ operating
from behind the scenes determined to cause maximum
embarrassment, fear and
uncertainty to their coalition partners for narrow
partisan
reasons.
The arrests of MDC-T officials appears clearly stage-managed.
The worst that
the MDC-T could do would be to immediately call-it off,
whereby its
opponents would celebrate and plunge the country into a
dangerous mode of
looting and pillage. Other analysts have predicted a
possible coup should
Mugabe die in office or if Zanu-pf loses in the next
election. That cannot
be ruled out. Which leads us to the question, What
next then?
It appears Zanu-pf is gunning for a rushed election under SADC
or Jacob Zuma’s
moribund mediation leading to controversial results again.
That should be
resisted. Zimbabwe’s civil society should approach the United
Nations for an
alternative mediator and a viable roadmap for free and fair
elections.
Similarly, the United Nations must be involved in peacekeeping
and
monitoring of the elections if Zimbabwean political parties are serious
about free and fair elections.
Such a roadmap should ensure those in the
Diaspora have the vote otherwise
nothing lasting would have been
achieved.
The regime cannot easily manipulate votes of the millions in
the Diaspora
unlike at present where there have been allegations of soldiers
being used
to stuff ballot boxes. These are trying moments and they call for
maximum
restraint.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyast,
London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com