The Sunday Times
March 25, 2007
Christina Lamb
POLITICIANS inside and outside Zimbabwe are
scrambling to find an exit
strategy for President Robert Mugabe amid
warnings that the country is on
the brink of widespread famine.
The
government admitted last week that two-thirds of its maize crop - the
country's staple food - has been wiped out by drought. But many fear that
the brutality of the past two weeks against opposition activists is
distracting international attention from a bigger catastrophe.
"We
have the world's greatest humanitarian crisis on our hands," said David
Coltart, an MP from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "We
already have the world's lowest life expectancy and highest inflation;
imagine on top of that drought? There will be famine."
The warning
comes as Mugabe faces unprecedented international condemnation -
including
criticism from other African leaders for the first time - and
opposition
within his ruling party, which will meet this week to decide his
future.
The main item on the agenda of the Zanu-PF central committee
on Thursday is
whether Mugabe should run again in presidential elections due
next year. His
original plan to extend his mandate to 2010 was rejected at
the annual party
conference in December.
Any such move will be
blocked by his deputy Joyce Mujuru, wife of the former
army chief General
Solomon Mujuru, who many believe is the real power in the
country and who
fell out with Mugabe over December's conference.
Sources close to the
general told The Sunday Times that he will threaten to
form a breakaway
party if Mugabe insists on standing again.
On Friday Joyce Mujuru held
secret talks in Johannesburg with her South
African counterpart Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka in what appeared to be a warning
shot to
Mugabe.
Meetings have also taken place between emissaries of Mujuru and
those of
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of one of the two MDC factions.
Tsvangirai is
currently recovering from a savage attack by Mugabe's thugs
two weeks ago,
which he described as "an orgy of heavy beatings".
The
two sides have apparently been discussing forming a transitional
government
to try to rescue the country from its downward economic spiral
that
has
seen inflation reach 1,700%. It is predicted by the IMF to reach
4,000% by
next year.
It would not be the first time that Solomon
Mujuru and Tsvangirai had met.
The pair come from the two main Shona tribes
- Mujuru, like Mugabe, is a
Zezuru and Tsvangirai a Karanga - so an alliance
between them could avoid
ethnic strife.
Although Tsvangirai would not
ideally like to ally himself with a military
leader, he has always been
anxious to avoid bloodshed. His beating, along
with that of about 50 MDC
activists, has shown the lengths to which Mugabe
is prepared to
go.
Despite the international outcry at the attack on Tsvangirai,
repression has
worsened over the past two weeks. There are now unofficial
curfews in
townships, with people being picked up and beaten at random, and
lists at
borders of MDC members and journalists. The regime has instructed
state
hospitals not to admit MDC victims.
One of Mugabe's staunchest
critics, Pius Ncube, the Catholic Archbishop of
Bulawayo, exhorted people
not to be daunted. "I am ready to stand in front,"
he said. "We must be
ready to stand, even in front of blazing guns.
Starvation stalks our land
and the government does nothing."
"This is no longer about the MDC and
its political aspirations," Coltart
said. "We've had a total crop write-off
in the south where people were
already living on the edge."
Zimbabwe
was once the breadbasket of southern Africa, but this will be the
sixth
consecutive year of food shortages since Mugabe launched his violent
programme of seizing white-owned farms. The World Food Programme is giving
food aid to 1.5m people, nearly 10% of the population.
Authorities
have consistently attributed the low yields to drought. But
critics blame
the farm seizures for the sharp decline in agricultural
production. Just 100
to 200 white farmers are left on their farms, compared
with 4,000 in 2000.
Most farms are now in the hands of "cellphone" farmers,
ruling party cronies
who coveted the farmhouses for weekend getaways and
have no real interest in
farming.
But this year there is no doubt that southern Zimbabwe has
suffered a severe
drought. The state television ZBC quoted Rugare Gumbo, the
agriculture
minister, as admitting that crops in many areas had failed. "The
dry spell
experienced this season has badly impacted on agriculture. Crops,
especially
maize, in most parts of the country are a write-off," he
said.
He expected a maize harvest of just 600,000 tons - only one third
of the
minimum annual requirements, and declared 2007 a drought year. With
most
Zimbabweans already struggling to find one meal a day, aid workers say
food
shortages will push many over the edge, particularly its 1.6m Aids
orphans.
"We're greatly concerned about the increasing pressures on
families," said
James Elder, of Unicef in Zimbabwe. "Hyperin-flation and
another drought are
going to mean ever more stress on orphans as they strive
to feed and educate
themselves." Raymond Majongwe, head of the Progressive
Teachers' Union, said
recently that an average teacher's salary of Z$200,000
(£5) a month was only
enough to buy 4Å bananas a day.
The price of
fuel has almost trebled in the past week to Z$14,500 (35p) per
litre. Bus
drivers in Harare now hike up their prices twice a day, forcing
some of
those with jobs to quit because they can no longer afford the
transport.
It is not clear where the government would find the
foreign exchange to
import food. Zambia, on which it has previously relied
for maize, has
announced that it will not export any more because part of
its own crop was
wiped out.
"If the international community ignores
this situation, the rate of economic
collapse will escalate, tension will
continue to rise and there may well be
bloodshed, in fact a bloodbath,"
Coltart warned.
He claimed that Mugabe's increased use of violence was a
sign of
desperation. "The attack on Morgan was clearly an own goal," he
said. "It
has raised Morgan's profile; rather than deter people it has
fuelled their
momentum and brought the two factions of the MDC
together."
He conceded that most Zimbabweans may still be too fearful and
weakened by
hunger and disease to act, but suggested that desperation could
force their
hand.
"I believe the regime is already a paper tiger," he
said. "The question is
when people realise that, because at that moment
Mugabe is in real trouble."
Pointing out that police salaries were way below
poverty level, he
explained: "Three years ago when I was stopped at
roadblocks I was treated
with hostility. Now when I'm stopped, 90% of the
time the police ask me when
things are going to change."
But whether
regime change comes through street agitation or political
negotiations, the
problem remains of what to do with Mugabe. Not only does
the 83-year-old
president show no sign of wanting to retire but he has so
much blood on his
hands that he would be fearful of being put before a UN
war crimes
tribunal.
Mugabe told a meeting of the Zanu-PF Women's League in Harare
on Friday that
he had no intention of stepping down. "The opposition is
always calling for
change, change, change," he said. "I am not pink. I don't
want a pink nose.
I can't change. I don't want to be European. I want to be
African."
"He's like a cornered bull," said a diplomat in Harare. "I fear
we are
heading for a dark tunnel where things will get worse before they get
better."
Both ruling party members fed up with their country's
decline and MDC
leaders are working to find some kind of exit strategy.
"Personally I find
it an anathema but for the sake of saving lives we
recognise we may well
have to agree some form of amnesty," Coltart
said.
Anger at 'shrine'
The Zimbabwean government is planning to
construct a grandiose monument to
Robert Mugabe, commemorating his life and
achievements, writes Christina
Lamb.
The monument is to be built in
his home town of Zvimba and is expected to
include a statue.
"The
idea has been discussed and we are moving onto the planning stage,"
Ignatius
Chombo, the local government minister, told the ZimOnline news
service.
"It would be a shrine for the local community and one that
would be used to
depict the president's life history and legacy as well as
aspects of the
liberation struggle."
Unlike other dictators Mugabe
has previously eschewed any form of
personality cult.
Building a
statue, while the country is in an economic crisis so severe that
hospitals
have no drugs and the government had to stop issuing passports
because it
could not afford the ink, is likely to provoke an outcry. The
site chosen is
the size of a football pitch and there have been reports of
nearly £200,000
being made available to buy materials from Asia.
The Telegraph
Tim
Shipman, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:54am GMT
25/03/2007
Robert Mugabe's political colleagues are working
on a plan to force
the Zimbabwean president to stand down next year that may
win the support of
the South African government, the region's major power
broker.
Senior members of Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party are understood
to have
discussed a way of ending his rule which would see the 83-year-old
president
take a back seat before retiring after national elections next
March.
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, denied reports by
the BBC
yesterday that he had had a meeting with Zanu PF's Solomon Mujuru,
who is an
ex-army leader, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former state security
chief who is
now a housing minister and was singled out by Mr Mugabe as a
potential
successor.
However, officials from Mr Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change
confirmed that the elements of a possible
deal have been widely discussed in
political circles in the capital, Harare,
and that their leader had been
visited by South African
officials.
Mr Mugabe's retirement would clear the way for free
elections and
financial support from the international community to stave
off the economic
collapse that has brought rampant inflation, expected to
hit 4,000 per cent
this year. Under the proposals, Mr Mugabe would be
granted immunity from any
prosecution surrounding his 27-year rule and would
be allowed to retire,
either to his palace north of Harare or into exile,
probably in South
Africa.
Mr Tsvangirai, who has the support of
many Western governments, would
call for international aid to reverse the
ruinous effects of Mr Mugabe's
economic policies.
Sources close
to the Zimbabwean government regard it as highly
significant that General
Mujuru's wife Joyce, who is one of Mr Mugabe's two
vice-presidents, was
invited last week to South Africa to see her opposite
number Phumzile Mlambo
Ngcuka. They believe it was a political tactic to
ensure that Thabo Mbeki's
administration could hear the Mujurus' plans.
Sources in Zimbabwe
believe the South African government is now keen
to help fashion an end to
Mr Mugabe's rule that satisfies both his own party
and the opposition. In
the past, South Africa resisted Western leaders'
wishes and applied only
gentle pressure on him behind the scenes.
South Africa is keen to
avoid political turmoil in the region in the
run-up to the 2010 football
World Cup, which it is hosting. A source close
to the Zimbabwean government
said: "The South Africans are very active.
There is intense diplomatic work
under way. They cannot meet with Mr Mujuru,
because he is a retired general,
but he had no choice but to send his wife.
It will have greatly annoyed
Mugabe."
Yesterday the leaders of Lesotho, Namibia and Tanzania met
under the
aegis of the South African Development Community to discuss
Zimbabwe. They
are expected to put further pressure on Mr Mugabe to stand
down.
The internal party rebellion was prompted by his
determination to
extend his term in office for another two years to 2010. Mr
Mujuru and Mr
Mnangagwa are expected to make clear at a meeting of the Zanu
PF central
committee on Thursday that they cannot countenance the extension.
Mr Mujuru
is expected to tell the president that he must not run again next
year.
Mr Mugabe's support among former allies has been fading since
December, when he failed to gain the unanimous endorsement of the party's
annual conference for the extension. The conference delegated the decision
to the central committee. His international reputation has been eroded
further by a violent crackdown on opposition leaders this month when Mr
Tsvangirai suffered a brutal beating.
But Mr Mugabe is not
expected to give up office without a fight. On
Friday he vowed that Mr
Tsvangirai would "never rule Zimbabwe for as long as
I live".
The Telegraph
Philip Sherwell in New York and Stephen Bevan in
Pretoria, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT
25/03/2007
South Africa has been branded a member of the
"awkward squad" of
anti-Western states because of its behaviour at the
United Nations - and
elsewhere - over Burma, Iran and Zimbabwe.
The country, which currently holds the rotating chair of the UN
Security
Council, spent much of last week attempting to scupper a new
package of UN
sanctions against Iran over Teheran's nuclear programme, only
preparing to
climb down as the vote on the planned measures loomed late last
night.
Pretoria had earlier failed in its solo effort to roll back existing
sanctions to which even China and Russia had finally signed up.
The British ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, dismissed this call for a
90-day
"time out" on sanctions as it would be "totally perverse" to "reward
Iran's
non-compliance".
Thabo Mbeki's ruling African National Congress is
meanwhile continuing
to bankroll its old guerrilla liberation ally Robert
Mugabe in Zimbabwe,
despite his regime's bloody suppression of the
democratic opposition. It has
opposed a Security Council debate on the
situation there.
The government also recently voted against a Security
Council
resolution condemning human rights abuses in Burma. In a striking
reversal
of policy, the same ANC leaders who long pleaded for UN support
during the
apartheid era now argued that the Security Council has no right
to intervene
in "domestic politics".
Pretoria claims that the
Security Council is being abused by the US
and Britain to impose their
agenda on the world. But in taking its
"principled" stand at the UN, critics
claim it is playing politics with
human rights and nuclear threats and could
make itself an international
pariah.
The Burma vote shocked
even many ANC supporters as the parallels with
their own past suffering
seemed so clear. While Nelson Mandela was
eventually freed to lead a
democratic South Africa, his fellow Nobel
laureate and Burmese opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house
arrest.
The
backlash in South Africa was fuelled by the fact that Archbishop
Desmond
Tutu, another hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, was co-author of
a report
arguing that Burma's appalling human rights record was a Security
Council
issue. South Africa's vote, the archbishop said, was a "betrayal of
our own
noble past" and "inexplicable".
In New York last week, the South
African ambassador to the UN,
Dumisani Kumalo, made clear that the proposed
amendments on Iran were
intended largely as a protest against the
negotiating power of the
veto-wielding permanent five members of the
Security Council - America,
Britain, France, Russia and China.
Western diplomats argue that Pretoria's decision to indulge in
political
posturing over such important issues demonstrated that South
Africa was now
going out of its way to be awkward.
The Scotsman
MURDO MACLEOD
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
EDINBURGH University has finally started proceedings
to strip Zimbabwean
tyrant Robert Mugabe of his honorary degree, Scotland on
Sunday can reveal.
Amid mounting international fury over the chaos and
brutality Mugabe has
unleashed on his people, Edinburgh University admits it
is "reviewing" the
1984 doctorate for "services to education in
Africa".
But the university was last night widely condemned for taking so
long to
reach this point and for failing, even now, to make a clear
statement of
intent to remove his degree.
Zimbabwe's main opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
has urged Edinburgh to act
decisively against Mugabe and has offered to meet
with university chiefs to
argue the case for removing his degree.
The Zimbabwean president has been
the focus of mounting international
concern in the wake of a renewed
crackdown on dissent. A fortnight ago
police broke up a peaceful prayer
rally which had been banned from
convening.
Police arrested several
MDC activists including party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who was severely
beaten up while in detention, suffering a
fractured skull.
The case
is a massive embarrassment for Edinburgh University, which awarded
the
degree to Mugabe amid euphoria over his country's transition to
independence
and in recognition of his rapid expansion of education in his
country in the
early 1980s.
In January, Scotland on Sunday revealed that Edinburgh was
drawing up plans
to change its rules to allow the university to strip
recipients of their
honorary degrees. It is understood that the power to
revoke honorary degrees
has been approved.
Edinburgh flatly refused
to say whether it had changed its rules on revoking
degrees but admitted in
a statement: "The University is acutely aware of
ongoing developments in
Zimbabwe and the issue of Robert Mugabe's honorary
degree remains under
review." The spokesman confirmed that talks had taken
place on the
subject.
Leading critics of the Mugabe regime questioned why the
institution was
taking so long to act on the matter or even confirm whether
they had changed
their own rules.
Kate Hoey, the chairwoman of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe,
said: "I would back such a move
by the university very strongly. But while I
realise these things take time
it would surely not be beyond them to issue a
statement saying it was their
intent while working out how to remove the
degree."
Ephraim Tapa, a
Zimbabwean and the UK Chairman of the of MDC, said: "They
should revoke his
honorary doctorate on the grounds that achievements in
education for which
he received the degree are no longer there. He did
expand education in the
first few years, but I am very sad to say that
education is now in a state
of terrible decline.
"Many families can no longer even afford to send
their children to school
and there are examples of 11-year old children who
should be at primary
school are forced to go into prostitution to earn money
for their families.
It is very very sad."
Robin Harper, the Green MSP
and the former Edinburgh University rector,
said: "I strongly believe that
he should be stripped of the award and I have
already urged so. While these
things take time, I do think that the
University should act with greater
urgency."
Sir Nicholas Winterton, the Tory MP and vice-chair of
Parliamentary group on
Zimbabwe, added: "Normally, I would not agree with
removing an honorary
degree, because people do act wrongly from time to
time. But in the case of
Mugabe, his actions have been so systematic and
damaging and outrageous that
he should lose his award to bring home to this
megalomaniac that the world
does not approve. And while he will pretend in
public that it will not
matter and accuse the university of being a lackey
of the state, I believe
that deep down to be stripped of it will cause him
sorrow and make him
reflect."
And students have said that they will
renew their campaign for the doctorate
to be revoked.
Tim Goodwin,
the president of Edinburgh University Student Association said:
"We believe
that he should be stripped of the award and that our university
should have
no connection with him. And I believe it will have more effect
than we might
think. The last time the subject was raised publicly, my
predecessor in the
post, Ruth Cameron, found herself on South African radio
talking about it
and the station was flooded with calls from all over the
region. People have
a high regard for what Edinburgh University thinks and
we do matter."
The Scotsman
MURDO MCLEOD
1 ETHNIC CLEANSING
Mugabe's notorious North
Korean-trained Fifth Brigade waged war against the
Ndebele people in the
provinces of Matabeleland and the Zimbabwean Midlands
during the mid- 1980s.
Mugabe's own Shona-dominated government and armed
forces organised the
killings, which cost an estimated 20,000 lives among
the other ethnic group.
Most of their operations were targeted at
defenceless civilians, whom Mugabe
referred to as supporters of dissidents.
In April 1983 Mugabe stated: "We
eradicate them. We don't differentiate when
we fight because we can't tell
who is a dissident and who is not."
Most of the dead were shot in public
executions, often after being forced to
dig their own graves in front of
their families and fellow villagers. The
largest number of lives to have
been taken in a single incident was 62, when
a group of young men and women
were killed on the banks of the Cewale River,
Lupane, on 5 March 1983. The
soldiers would also often burn their victims in
their huts.
2 SHANTY
TOWN DEMOLITION
A 2005 campaign involved bulldozing the homes of around
320,000 people.
Although the move was ostensibly aimed at eradicating shanty
towns and
illegal settlements in which poverty and disease were rife, the
end effect
was to drive out and make homeless large sections of the urban
and rural
poor, who comprise much of the opposition to the Mugabe regime.
The
operation caused mass unemployment across the country. Those whose homes
have been flattened have been told to return to their traditional dwellings
in rural areas of the country or they will be "dealt with" by the dreaded
Central Intelligence Organisation, Mugabe's intelligence
service.
Demolished buildings include the office blocks of a Roman
Catholic
orphanage, a mosque, and even schools. In addition to the
destruction of
buildings, there has been a crackdown on independent markets,
which have
often been banned from operating. Instead, locals are expected to
get their
supplies from the newly-arrived Chinese traders. Critics of the
regime
suspect that favouring the foreign traders is a device Mugabe is
using to
curry favour with China, which has a permanent place on the UN
Security
Council.
3 THE LATEST CRACKDOWN
Police arrested 50 people
at a banned Harare prayer rally on March 11. They
included Morgan
Tsvangirai, the opposition figure and founder of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC). All were beaten up while in detention,
and Tsvangirai was
attacked so severely that he had to be treated in
intensive care for a
fractured skull. Only the quick-thinking of his lawyers
saved him when they
realised how badly he had been attacked. Since then,
other MDC figures have
been attacked, supposedly by unidentified assailants,
although few believe
there is no link to the government. Nelson Chamisa, the
MDC's spokesman, was
beaten with an iron bar by eight assailants at Harare's
airport in broad
daylight and in front of people about to catch a flight to
London. His skull
was fractured. At first, injured MPs were not allowed to
seek medical care
in South Africa.
4 A CRUMBLING ECONOMY
Prices rise daily. At 1,700%,
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate is the
highest in the world. Many citizens
spend their money in a rush as soon as
they are paid, before its value
evaporates. The International Monetary Fund
estimates that inflation will
hit almost 4,280% this year. Basic items such
as bread, sugar, petrol are
often not available in shops. Most factories and
other employers have closed
as the economy has gone from bad to worse. In
the mid-1970s, £1 bought about
one Zimbabwean dollar. Now, it will fetch
$38m.
5 A HEALTH
CATASTROPHE
According to statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO),
Zimbabweans have the shortest life expectancy in the world - listed as 37
years for men, and 34 years for women. Hospitals are affected by a chronic
lack of money and resources, in some cases closing their doors to patients
because they have no food, and others have made do without ambulances for
months or even years. Hospitals are also afflicted by a brain drain, as
qualified staff have fled for greener pastures abroad, often to neighbouring
South Africa.
6 POOR HUMAN RIGHTS
There are severe restrictions on
freedom of assembly, and peaceful protests
and meetings are either banned
outright or broken up by the police. Last
year, hundreds of demonstrators
were arrested and many were violently
attacked. Homosexuality is banned, and
gay people are pursued through a
"moral campaign" which makes "unnatural sex
acts" illegal, with a penalty of
up to 10 years in prison. Mugabe has even
used this law to sideline other
politicians, including his predecessor as
President of Zimbabwe, Canaan
Banana, who was convicted of gay sex
offences.
7 LACK OF FREE SPEECH
Tough new laws restrict the freedom of
the press in Zimbabwe. Journalists
are regulated by a government-dominated
Media and Information Commission,
which retains the power to licence and to
fine journalists who spread
"false" stories. Journalists are threatened with
being stripped of the
ability to work legally if they displease the
government, and have to
re-register each year with the government to be
allowed to carry out their
jobs.
The state has used the
re-registration system to intimidate critical
newspapers, insisting they
must retract "unhelpful" pieces or have their
accreditation renewal turned
down. The government's intelligence services
buy out newspapers and then
sack dissident editors and reporters, replacing
them with
government-friendly stooges. Many foreign media are banned,
including the
BBC and CNN.
8 THE VIOLENT TAKEOVER OF WHITE FARMS
Today there about
600 white farmers left in Zimbabwe, down from 4,500 in
1999. In 2000 the
government decided to "fast-track" land reform in an
effort to win over a
hostile electorate, resulting in farm seizures by
supporters of his ruling
Zanu-PF party, who claimed to be landless veterans
of the country's war for
independence. Dozens of white farmers and black
farm workers were killed in
violent land seizures.
The takeover of white-owned farms turned one of
Africa's most productive
farm systems into a shambles. Most people are now
trying to feed themselves
by growing food where they can find space.
Commercial production of maize,
the main staple, has fallen from 810,000
tonnes in 2000 to barely 200,000
today.
9 CORRUPT ELECTIONS
The
Commonwealth group of observers invited by the Zimbabwean authorities to
observe the presidential election in 2002 strongly condemned the conduct of
the poll. They said it was conducted in a climate of fear. The group blamed
"paramilitary youth groups" for a systematic campaign of intimidation
against known or suspected opposition supporters.
In addition,
international observers said that opposition officials were
unable to
oversee polling in about half of constituencies, that they were
deliberately
waylaid on their way to polling stations and were subjected to
violence and
harassment by police and government-supporting militants.
Furthermore, a law
passed just ahead of the election stripped many citizens
of their right to
vote.
10 EDUCATIONAL COLLAPSE
Edinburgh University originally awarded
Robert Mugabe his honorary degree in
1984 for his services to education in
Africa. At the time, there was
considerable justification for the award as
he rapidly expanded free primary
and secondary education across the country,
including the traditionally
deprived rural areas.
However, the very
reason for the award has now evaporated and the progress
in the initial
phase of independence has been largely undone. Those schools
which are still
operating are struggling to function with a shortage of
teachers and books,
and many have returned to levying fees, which few
families can
afford.
The economic crisis means that, the fees notwithstanding,
families are often
forced to remove their children from school in order to
earn a living and
help provide for their parents and other family
members.
LEADING GRADUATES CALL FOR ACTION
JAMES MacMILLAN classical
composer
Anyone with anything to do with Edinburgh University will want them
to
remove his degree and take steps to distance the university from this
ogre
and do it as soon as possible. Perhaps the left-wing liberals who feted
him
in the 1980s should now admit that they have some egg on their faces and
that maybe they should have seen this coming. His actions are completely
unacceptable and the university should have no link with this
man.
IAN RANKIN novelist
If there is to be a list of the people who
should lose their degree, Mugabe
should be near the top, and it should be
removed. The university should
definitely act. I do think that what the
university does is somewhat
peripheral to the wider issue of improving
things for the ordinary people of
Zimbabwe.
DOUGLAS AlEXANDER
Scottish Secretary
Speaking as a graduate of Edinburgh University, I would
welcome such a step
as a sign of the university's revulsion at Mugabe's
treatment of the people
of Zimbabwe.
TIM GOODWIN president of the
Edinburgh University Student Association
We want the university to strip him
of his degree. Maybe Mugabe himself will
act like he doesn't care. But an
honorary degree is a sign of approval and
therefore its removal is a sign of
disapproval and it would show critics of
Mugabe that the world is taking
notice.
This article: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=462842007
Last
updated: 25-Mar-07 02:41 BST
Trinidad and Tobago Express
Raffique Shah
Sunday, March 25th
2007
THERE are times in the lives of perennial
political activists like me
when we have to admit we were wrong in our
evaluations of political
situations, and more so of personalities in whom we
once had implicit faith.
When that happens there is a sense of having been
betrayed, of being
"conned" by leaders, in this instance one who portrayed
himself as the
consummate revolutionary. I refer to Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe. I have never
before commented on alleged atrocities against his
people mainly because I
have learnt over the years to be circumspect about
western media reports
about leaders like Mugabe.
But recent
brutal physical attacks on opposition politicians, some of
whom have had to
seek medical attention in South Africa, have exposed Mugabe
for what he is-a
tyrant who is drunk with power. From rigged elections in
2002 (which still
gave him a bare six per cent win over the opposition) to
training the
one-time guns of freedom on those who dare disagree with him,
Mugabe has
proved himself no different to the architects of apartheid, to
murderous
dictators who have stained their countries with the blood of their
own
people. He has so angered those who once held him in high esteem that
South
Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu recently referred to him as "Africa's
shame".
Those who have little knowledge of what colonialism did
to Africa,
what imperialism continues to inflict on the wretched of the
earth, will
hardly understand why so many of us were gypped by Mugabe. When
Cecil Rhodes
marched into that part of Africa in 1888, he literally seized
several
countries that would later bear his name, Rhodesia. The Ndebele and
Shona
people who formed the main ethnic groups were dispossessed, reduced to
slaves in their own homelands.
This iniquity would reach
new depths in 1966 when Ian Smith
unilaterally declared Southern Rhodesia
independent, and was not even rapped
on the knuckles by the West for
stealing a whole country. In contrast,
sometime in 1968 when tiny Anguilla
seceded from St Kitts, Britain sent in
troops to confront and subdue Mr
Webster and his cutlass-wielding "rebels".
It was against that
background that Joshua Nkomo, and later Mugabe,
launched guerrilla armies to
topple Smith, which they finally came close to
achieving in the late 1970s.
The Brits, sensing Smith's imminent defeat,
hastily summoned all parties to
London where a formula for elections was
agreed upon. A peculiar caveat in
the electoral process allowed the Whites
to retain 20 seats in the
Parliament and all the prime farm-lands they
occupied. Indeed, one per cent
of Zimbabwe's population controlled 70 per
cent of its arable lands. By then
Mugabe had overtaken Nkomo as Zimbabwe's
liberator, and it is in that
context his elevation to revolutionary status
must be seen. In 1980 his
ZANU-PF combination convincingly won the election.
But unlike Fidel
Castro and Nelson Mandela who remained faithful to
their people and
committed to their countries, Mugabe soon descended into
becoming a
despicable dictator. I recall back in 1983, at the Commonwealth
Heads of
Governments conference in New Delhi, where I came face-to-face with
this
hero of mine, I instinctively thought: this man looks more like an
arrogant
monarch than a revolutionary. But looks could be deceptive, so I
gave him
the benefit of my doubts.
Even when he started appropriating
farm-land from the Whites I did not
condemn him. I understood the historical
context in which he had to act.
What I, and many like me, did not know was
that choice properties were
distributed to Mugabe's relatives and close
allies, not to the poor people
of Zimbabwe.
By then Mugabe
had fallen victim to the highest form of addictive
corruption-the
overwhelming thirst for absolute power (to borrow a term from
fiction writer
Clive Cussler). With his popularity at an all-time low, and
having alienated
(some swear massacred) the Ndebele people (he's Shona), he
is living a
wretched life knowing that his end is near. Really, how can
anyone justify
spending millions of dollars on a birthday bash, as he did a
few weeks ago,
while the majority of his people are starving?
Clearly, Mugabe has
"morphed" into a monster. Maybe he was always a
vicious dictator clothed in
revolutionary garb. But I have no doubt that his
end is nigh. I don't know
if the battered Opposition Leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, is any better. In
fact, in situations like this, where one feels
compelled to "take a side", I
am reluctant to if only because I have felt
betrayed so many times by so
many "men of the people". I prefer to wait and
see. History has taught me,
though, that such monsters meet their demise
when they least expect
it.
Now that Bishop Tutu, the conscience of Africa, has spoken out,
I
expect other African leaders to ostracise Mugabe. They cannot close their
eyes to his atrocities the way Caricom did in the cases of Forbes Burnham
and Eric Gairy. A modern, humane Africa has no place for monsters like
Mugabe.
iafrica.com
Sun, 25 Mar
2007
President Thabo Mbeki had telephoned Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
after the detention and torture of Movement for Democratic Change president
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Sunday Times reported.
The newspaper
reported that a senior government official had confirmed that
Mbeki had made
the call, but did not say when and what was discussed.
SA gets
talking
On Friday, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka met Zimbabwean
vice-president Joyce Mujuru in Johannesburg, while senior government members
held talks with the secretaries-general of Zimbabwe's divided
MDC.
The MDC planned to defy Zimbabwean government's continuing ban on
public
protests on Sunday, the report said.
Sapa
UPI
WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) --
A leader of Zimbabwe's human rights movement
says this could be a pivotal
year for his country as turmoil and sanctions
squeeze President Robert
Mugabe.
Dr. Douglas Gwatidzo told the U.S. Congressional Human Rights
Caucus in
Washington that western sanctions could not be blamed for the
rising level
of violence in Zimbabwe because they affect the elite class
that controls
the entire economy.
"People think this is a
defining year," Gwatidzo said Friday, adding that
the rough tactics used to
break up an opposition rally this month had
galvanized Zimbabweans of all
stripes to push for Mugabe's removal.
Mugabe, who has ruled for 27
years, has vowed not to give up his power
despite western
pressure.
The Washington Post said Gwatidzo, chairman of the Zimbabwe
Association of
Doctors for Human Rights, told the U.S. lawmakers he expected
more violence
to occur in Zimbabwe in the near term as Mugabe hangs on and
the economy
crumbles.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
THE 2008 presidential election will pit Morgan
Tsvangirai against
President Robert Mugabe in a repeat of their 2002
contest, The Standard can
reveal.
The Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) will field one candidate
against Mugabe.
Last
week, Arthur Mutambara pledged not to challenge Tsvangirai in the
contest
for the country's presidency.
The Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC),
which brokered the peace pact
between the two MDC factions, is said to have
received assurances from both
sides that the opposition will field one
candidate for the presidency.
It is anticipated this united front
is likely to frustrate any
attempts by Zanu PF to sow seeds of division
between the two factions, as
the election deadline draws
nearer.
At a Save Zimbabwe Campaign press briefing last week,
Mutambara
confirmed he would not stand against Tsvangirai in any election.
He said he
would not challenge Tsvangirai and Tsvangirai would not challenge
him in any
election.
Asked to clarify his statement, Mutambara
who was in South Africa
yesterday, said: "We are presenting one candidate to
face Mugabe. There is
momentum against him and we do not want to destroy
that by bickering."
About the politician who would face Mugabe, he
said: "We will discuss
the candidate but that should be an easy discussion.
I have said enough. I
am in a meeting."
As 83-year-old Mugabe
presses ahead with his unpopular plans to seek
another six-year term as
president, sources in the SZC, a broad alliance of
opposition parties,
churches and civic organisations, told The Standard the
MDC factions were
closing ranks on a common enemy - Mugabe.
They said there was
consensus that only one candidate from the MDC
should be fielded in March
2008 to face Mugabe who appears to be at his
weakest,
politically.
He faces what amounts to an internal rebellion,
fuelled initially by
his ill-conceived attempt to prolong his term into 2010
through a
harmonisation of the presidential and parliamentary
elections.
At his party's conference in Goromonzi last year, Mugabe
failed to
garner unanimous support from all the provinces for what some of
his critics
saw as a ruse to prolong his term.
The SZC sources
in Harare said Mutambara was persuaded to allow
Tsvangirai to run against
Mugabe to avoid a devastating splitting of
opposition votes. This was the
culmination of a process that began on 29
July when the two leaders embraced
warmly in public, together with leaders
of other parties at the Rainbow
Towers, the SCZ sources said.
At the meeting organised by the
Christian Alliance, the leaders
pledged to work together to bring about
democracy in Zimbabwe.
What followed over the past few months were
behind-the-scenes
manoeuvres that resulted in Mutambara and Tsvangirai
openly working together
under the SZC auspices, sources said.
Mutambara and Tsvangirai were both arrested two weeks ago when they
intended
to address a prayer meeting. On Tuesday, barring any police action,
they are
expected to share the stage at the memorial of Gift Tandare, an
opposition
activist gunned down by the police in Highfield.
Mutambara has in
past confirmed to The Standard he was willing to work
with Tsvangirai for
national interest's sake. But some officials in his camp
have openly
resisted moves to unite with the other faction.
On Friday, Gabriel
Chaibva, the spokesperson for the Mutambara
faction, said there was a shift
over the matter.
"We are looking at a one-Mugabe, one-opponent
scenario," he said.
"That understanding was arrived at in the
context of the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign. We want every single vote to be
against Mugabe and it is in this
context that you hear Mutambara announcing
he won't contest Tsvangirai."
Pius Wakatama, a senior official of
the Christian Alliance which
co-ordinates the Save Zimbabwe Campaign
confirmed Mutambara had pledged not
to challenge Tsvangirai.
"We have been working towards a common goal, a common enemy. Mutambara
took
the bull by the horns. We applaud him for that," Wakatama said.
Tsvangirai could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Zimbabwe
goes to the polls in March 2008 and a united opposition could
present a
major challenge to Mugabe who has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
VICE-PRESIDENT Joice Mujuru was in South Africa yesterday, according
to
media reports in that country.
Mujuru reportedly met South African
Deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka for what were said to be private
talks.
The Vice-President was accompanied by her husband, Retired
Army
Commander, General Solomon Mujuru.
It was not immediately
clear whether she was on official business or
not but there were suggestions
this could have been part of a diplomatic
offensive by the Zimbabwean
government.
According to Channel Four News, Mujuru's visit could
have been a
secret one. South Africa has been pursuing a policy of so called
"quiet
diplomacy" over Zimbabwe for the past few years.
Mujuru's visit comes at a time when President Mugabe's government has
been
heavily censured for beating up leaders of the opposition.
Criticism has emerged in the Southern Africa Development Community
(Sadc) in
which Mugabe had enjoyed unstinting support over the past five
years.
Mujuru's visit came as South Africa's deputy Foreign
Minister Aziz
Pahad made the country's strongest comments on Zimbabwe,
warning it was on
the brink of a meltdown.
Pahad said it was
difficult to see how the country could avoid a
complete
collapse.
Other reports from South Africa yesterday said Mujuru
held "crisis
talks" over President Mugabe's leadership with Mlambo-Ngcuka.
No immediate
details on the outcome were available yesterday.
At the same time, the two secretaries-general of the MDC factions,
Tendai
Biti and Professor Welshman Ncube also reportedly met SA government
officials.
The details of their discussions were kept secret.
Biti and Ncube are
said to have met the SA government as one group while
Mujuru did so on her
own.
Gabriel Chaibva, the spokesperson of
the pro-Senate MDC faction said
Ncube accompanied the faction's leader,
Professor Arthur Mutambara, to the
general council assemblies of the ANC,
Cosatu and SACP. He said it was
possible that some of the ANC officials who
met the Zimbabwean delegations
were people also in government.
South Africa has come under pressure from the West over its reluctance
to
voice criticism of Zimbabwe. But Pretoria insists there is no alternative
to
its approach of quiet diplomacy towards Mugabe.
International
outrage at the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe was
heightened two weeks
ago after a brutal police crackdown on the opposition
that left National
Constitutional Assembly chairperson, Lovemore Madhuku,
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, his party officials - Grace Kwinjeh and Sekai
Holland -
requiring urgent specialist medical attention.
Meanwhile, State
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa was in Zambia last
week.
Mutasa denied he was in Zambia to complain officially after President
Levy
Mwanawasa likened Zimbabwe to "the sinking Titanic".
Speaking
during the 23rd Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) Defence
Forces meeting in
Lusaka, Mutasa said: "I did not come to complain. I came
at the invitation
of my Zambian colleagues, which invitation was made a year
ago."
He added: "I come to thank my Zambian colleagues and
President
Mwanawasa for the co-operation that we have between
us."
Mutasa said the JPC could not have come at a better time than
now when
the desire by the sub region to foster development was being
stifled by
forces bent on sowing seeds of disharmony and
division.
He said the challenges the region faced now needed close
collaboration.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Anonymous people last week threatened to
kidnap anti-Senate
Movement for Democratic Change vice-president, Thokozani
Khuphe as the
intimidation of opposition activists continued around the
country.
A letter addressed to Khuphe, who was attending the
African, Caribbean
and Pacific parliamentary forum in Belgium was delivered
at her flat in the
city centre on Wednesday evening.
It warned
her about the intended plan to kidnap her and her daughter.
She had
gone to Brussels as a last minute replacement for MDC
spokesman, Nelson
Chamisa, who was brutally attacked by suspected state
agents at Harare
International Airport last weekend on his way to the
meeting.
The matter was reported to the police on Thursday at the Bulawayo
central
police station, as case number 4182/07.
MDC national secretary for
integration, healing and reconciliation,
Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, said the
opposition party was taking the threats
seriously, coming as they did after
the police "tried to assassinate our
leaders while in custody".
Nkomo said yesterday: "The letter was written by one Ndabembi (bad
news)
Khumalo saying he is from the (Arthur) Mutambara faction. The letter
said
they had planned to kidnap Khuphe and her daughter and then blame the
government.
"We viewed the threat very seriously and reported
the case. It can
never be the Mutambara faction as they are our friends.
These are CIOs and
the message we have for them is that you will never pull
wool over our
eyes."
Bulawayo police spokesperson, Shepherd
Sibanda could neither confirm
nor deny the report when contacted for
comment.
But anti-Senate MDC spokesperson, Chamisa said: "We are
aware that
there is a deliberate strategy to target the leaders of the
opposition. What
is happening is that the threats and the beatings are part
of the strategy
to eliminate individuals perceived to be a problem.
Eliminating people will
not help Zanu PF; neither will it heal the crisis in
the country."
Zim Standard
BY
WALTER MARWIZI
PRO-DEMOCRACY groups under the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign will this week
hold a memorial service for Gift Tandare, shot dead
by police in Harare two
weeks ago.
The announcement is set to
raise tension between the government, on
the one hand, and the Movement for
the Democratic Change (MDC) and the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA),
on the other.
MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and
NCA chairperson
Lovemore Madhuku are lined up to speak at the
memorial.
Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube from Bulawayo will deliver
what is
expected to be a fiery anti-government main sermon. Yesterday, the
memorial
organisers remained tight-lipped on the venue, apparently for
security
reasons.
Police sources suggested yesterday there were
unconfirmed reports the
security agents planned to disrupt the memorial
service.
Tandare was gunned down by the police near Mhizha primary
school in
Highfield as they pounced on unarmed civilians in a bid to thwart
a prayer
meeting planned at the Zimbabwe grounds by the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign.
Fearing the possibility of massive protests erupting at
Tandare's
funeral, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), rendered
skittish at
the possibility of a burial ceremony during which
anti-government speeches
could get out of hand, seized Tandare's corpse at a
funeral parlour, before
clandestinely arranging its burial in rural Mt
Darwin.
The government tried to defend its actions by suggesting
that Tandare,
chairperson of the Glen View constituency committee of the
National
Constitutional Assembly, as well as an MDC activist, had been given
a state
funeral.
Traditionally, these are reserved for heroes
declared by the Zanu PF
politburo.
Several MDC activists killed
by security agents in the past have not
been assisted by the State. An
unimpressed Madhuku said his organisation was
concerned by the way the State
had taken over Tandare's burial arrangements.
"The NCA wishes to
condemn the government of Zimbabwe for interfering
with the burial
arrangements that had been made to give Gift a fitting
send-off as a hero of
this struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe," Madhuku
said.
He said
Tandare was one of the 120 grassroots leaders who led
constituency
committees across the country.
"His death is therefore a great blow
to the NCA, yet he is a hero of
the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe. He
was killed by the government of
Zimbabwe. We hold the government fully
responsible for his death. It was
brutal. It was unnecessary. It was an
unforgivable act."
Tandare was buried in Mashanga Village in
Dotito, Mt Darwin.
Zim Standard
By Bertha
Shoko
THE Global Fund to fight malaria, tuberculosis and
HIV/Aids is calling
for countries and organisations wishing to obtain
funding in Round Seven to
send their proposals before the deadline in
May.
Standardhealth can confirm that despite an unsuccessful Round
6
application for funding last year, Zimbabwe plans to send a proposal in
the
seventh round.
Last year, Zimbabwe's application for more
than US$300 million to the
Global Fund for malaria, TB and HIV/Aids was
turned down by the funding body's
Technical Review Panel (TRP).
The TRP is a panel of independent experts in disease control and
development
economics from universities and development institutions around
the world.
Chairman of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) to the
Global Fund and
Minister of Health and Child Welfare David Parirenyatwa told
Standardhealth
that although the CCM was still to decide tomorrow whether or
not to apply,
he was optimistic that he would be able to convince them the
need for
external funds to mitigate the effects of the HIV/Aids pandemic is
enormous.
Parirenyatwa said: "We have not yet met as the CCM to
decide over the
issue but I expect we will meet tomorrow and decide what we
want to do
exactly.
"There is no doubt, really, that we need
the money and I am sure the
CCM will agree with me."
Parirenyatwa said he would want to see more funds going towards the
procurement of Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs) to expand the current public
sector programme and orphan care. There are now about 40 000 people on ARVs
on the government programme, compared with the more than 300 000 in urgent
need of the life-prolonging drugs.
Since launching the ARV
programme in 2004, the government has been
unable to expand it to cater for
more people, as there are currently
hundreds on the waiting
list.
The major hospitals in Harare - Parirenyatwa and Harare
Hospital and
Bulawayo's Mpilo and United Bulawayo - are the only ones
offering ARVs.
There are even reports that the current government programmes
are facing
viability problems.
Zimbabwe's relationship with the
Global Fund has been stormy. Last
year, its Round Six proposal was turned
down amid speculation that the
denial of funds was
politically-motivated.
It now remains to be seen what Round Seven
holds for hundreds of
Zimbabweans in need of ARVs.With the worsening
political and human rights
situation in the country, they can only wait and
hope.
Zim Standard
The Uncertainty of
Hope
(Weaver Press 2006)
By Valerie Joan
Tagwira
Reviewed By: Bertha Shoko
Uncertainty of
Hope is a tragic story that captures the lives of two
women from Mbare -
Harare's oldest high-density suburb - who take us through
some of the most
difficult patches of Zimbabwe's political and economic
problems in
2005.
The main character in the book is Onai Moyo, a vegetable
vendor and
mother of three.
Her best friend is Katy Nguni, an
illegal foreign currency dealer who
disguises herself as a market vendor. We
are introduced to the harsh
realities of Zimbabwe's troubled economy and
subsequent social problems as a
result.
Onai is married to
Gari: abusive, irresponsible and an alcoholic,
employed as a section manager
by a beverage company but fails to provide for
his family, forcing his wife
to irk out a living as a vegetable vendor. Yet,
he is prepared to take good
care of his numerous mistresses, better known as
"small houses", while
ignoring the needs of his own family.
Through his extramarital
affairs, two of them with self-confessed
prostitutes, he exposes his wife to
HIV and Aids.
In contrast, Onai's friend Katy is married to John, a
loving and
caring husband who earns a living as a cross-border truck driver.
So great
is his need to provide for his wife and daughter and escape the
poverty of
Mbare that he is caught up in the illegal trafficking of young
girls and
women into South Africa and doesn't tell his wife about
this.
His daughter, Faith, a final year law student at the
University of
Zimbabwe is looking up to him for tuition fees and will miss
the
examinations if he does not get the money somehow. His crude forex deals
with a senior police officer and his illegal trafficking land him in trouble
one day and he is forced to flee the country to escape arrest.
Katy and John are concerned about Onai's abusive relationship and fear
that
the worst can happen if she stays put but their friend is adamant. Even
after almost a week's stay in hospital after being seriously beaten by Gari,
and attempted counselling by a female doctor who attended to her, Onai
cannot gather the courage to leave Gari and uses her children as an
excuse.
Like a battered wife, Onai defends her position and attacks
her friend
Katy during one such conversation: "And where do you think I will
take my
children? Huh? Have you gone that far with your plans to re-arrange
my
life?"
She even makes excuses for her husband's abusive
nature: "Please, let
me be, Katy. Gari will change. He is going through a
difficult time at work.
I know he'll change as soon as things get better for
him."
But she gets a rude awakening when Gari brings into their
family home
Gloria, his mistress, and introduces her as his second wife; she
would be
moving into the family home at the end of the week, he
says.
This was the last straw for Onai. In a fit of rage she fights
Gloria
but her husband runs to his mistress' defence and beats up his wife,
before
chucking her out of the family home for "being disobedient". Feeling
dejected and betrayed, Onai leaves home and hearth and is taken in by her
friend Katy.
But these social problems are only part of the rot
in the country.
Through the lives of the two heroines, Valerie Tagwira
boldly shows how
operation Murambatsvina affected Mbare, the home of the
informal sector,and
left hundreds homeless and without any sources of
income.
Katy and Onai are some of the people who lose their vending
spaces and
find they have no source of income any more. Their backyard
shacks and
cottages are also destroyed during the operation and they watch
helplessly,
as they sleep in the open.
The state of the
country's hospitals, with no medicines and drugs and
demotivated and
burnt-out health workers are depicted graphically in the
novel.
After admission in hospital with a deep cut on her forehead, Onai is
stitched up by a grumpy doctor, with no local anaesthetic. The food
shortages, the fuel queues and the runaway inflation, shortages of
Anti-retroviral Drugs - Tagwira touches on them all.
This is a
"must read" for anyone with a passion for good literature.
Tagwira manages
to make me angry, happy, hopeful, and hopeless, as she
narrates this
touching story about Zimbabwe through these two powerful
female
characters.
Zim Standard
By Foster
Dongozi
ARCHBISHOP Pius Ncube (pictured) of Bulawayo has urged
church leaders
throughout Zimbabwe to mobilise their followers to stage
non-violent civil
disobedience against the declining standards of
living.
Addressing scores of pastors in Harare on Thursday,
Archbishop Ncube
said he was prepared to lead such a campaign.
"I am willing to lead that non-violent civil disobedience and prepared
to
face even blazing guns. It is time to stand up to this government and
fill
the streets with people and demand that this man, Robert Mugabe should
just
go away now."
Ncube said Zimbabweans needed to be brave when
confronting the
government.
"Generally, Zimbabweans are
peace-loving people but they are also
cowards, including myself. The problem
with some of our pastors is that they
are too fond of their comfort and
luxury to worry about leading the people."
Ncube said: "I think we
may have to turn to women to lead us in
confronting this government because
they have the courage to stand up to
dictators and I believe if 20 000 women
took to the streets, they would have
a huge impact."
The
Catholic prelate said after the government embarked on anti-people
programmes, including Operation Murambatsvina, the citizens had overwhelming
reasons to take to the streets.
"More than 3.5 million
Zimbabweans have fled to the diaspora to escape
the harsh economic
conditions; hunger is stalking this land; health and
education delivery are
in a shambles.
Ncube, a long time critic of President Robert
Mugabe, said he had
softened his stance and no longer prayed for Mugabe's
early death.
"I realised that when I said I was praying for Mugabe
to die, it
offended some people. So I now pray that he should be away from
the seat of
power."
He said civil disobedience would drive home
the point that people were
struggling to survive.
"The problem
with Mugabe is that he is arrogant and full of himself
and does not listen
to advice," Ncube said.
The archbishop said Mugabe would not go
without a fight.
"He knew that this country had an economy which
was agro-based but for
the sake of political power, he was prepared to
destroy the agricultural
sector."
Describing the current
government as "liars" Ncube said: "Right now
inflation is pegged at 4 000%.
I don't believe the lies they tell us because
I consulted economists and
businesspeople who came up with an inflation
figure of 4 000%. This
government thinks we will believe any propaganda
which they tell
us."
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO - In a major climb-down, the Zanu PF Bulawayo province last
week
endorsed the proposed controversial take-over of the management of
Bulawayo's water and sewer by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(ZINWA).
Provincial chairman Mcloud Chawe confirmed they were no
longer opposed
to the Zinwa take-over.
Zanu PF has in the past
few weeks fiercely opposed the take-over and
even put its weight behind the
Movement for Democratic Change-dominated
council, the Bulawayo United
Residents' Association (BURA) and other civic
groups' campaigning against
the move.
Insiders said the embattled executive led by Chawe
decided to recant
following attempts to remove it from office. Early this
month, Zanu PF
commissar, Elliot Manyika, unexpectedly dissolved the
executive and ordered
fresh elections in the province.
But his
decision was reportedly vetoed by Zanu PF heavyweights in the
region who
referred the matter to the ruling party's central committee,
which meets
this week. Attempts to dissolve the executive were linked to its
stance on
the ZINWA take-over and President Robert Mugabe's bid to extend
his term
beyond next year, which they opposed.
Chawe claimed they decided to
support ZINWA after Vice-President
Joseph Msika assured them the take-over
would not be permanent.
Zim Standard
BY
CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE family of the 17-year-old Chitungwiza
boy, Prince Chabuda, who was
gunned down by police detectives in August last
year, has filed a $150
million lawsuit against the police.
The
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which is representing the family,
filed the
notice of intention to sue on 8 February against the Commissioner
of Police,
Augustine Chihuri, the Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi and
the three
detectives that were involved in the shooting.
Prince, who was
being driven by his brother, Emmanuel, was shot dead
near High Glen Shopping
Centre after the driver failed to obey police orders
to stop, fearing they
could be carjackers as it was in the dead of night.
The police, who
were using an unmarked car and did not fire warning
shots, pumped several
shots into the teenager's abdomen, ripping it open.
Winnet Chabuda,
Prince's mother is the applicant.
"As a direct result of her son's
death, our client incurred funeral
expenses in the sum of $150 000 000.00
(one hundred and fifty million
dollars). Kindly acknowledge receipt of this
notice and advise us of your
attitude towards liability," said the NGO Forum
in the notice.
The notice was also copied to the Deputy Secretary
(Finance and
Administration) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Civil Division
of the
Attorney General's Office and the three detectives identified as
Sergeant
Chivinge (No 045739Q CID - Drugs), Sergeant Marimbo (No 043465T -
Homicide)
and Constable Naine (No 042931L - Homicide).
The NGO
Forum, which works towards the reduction of organised violence
and torture
in Zimbabwe by representing victims in claiming compensatory
damages against
the perpetrators, has given the police up until end of this
month to
respond.
The NGO Forum said the police acted negligently and had no
reasonable
suspicion that Chabuda had committed an offence that warranted
shooting.
"This shooting was wrongful in that it was made
negligently and
recklessly as it was done in wanton disregard of life," said
the Forum.
In an interview with The Standard last week Winnet
expressed concern
over the selective application of the law.
She said despite the fact that the detectives are known, the police
were
reluctant to institute investigations into the matter.
"The problem
in this country is that there is a law for the poor and
another for the
well-up. They (police) are trying by all means to protect
the rogue officers
who murdered my son," Winnet said.
She said the family never
received any assistance from the State,
although her son was killed by
detectives who were on duty.
Ironically, the government "assisted"
the family of Gift Tandare, who
had been shot dead by the police while on
his way to a Save Zimbabwe
Campaign prayer meeting a fortnight
ago.
But it emerged that the State, through the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO), seized Tandare's body to pre-empt the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which had planned to turn
the burial
into a massive gathering.
Tandare was declared a
national hero by the MDC
Zim Standard
BY FOSTER
DONGOZI
A story which appeared recently in a
government-controlled newspaper
all but confirmed the militarisation of
State institutions through the
elevation of serving and retired soldiers
into senior positions.
Transport and Communications minister, Chris
Mushowe announced board
members for several parastatals in which the
military has a strong presence.
Potraz board members announced
include Colonel Livingstone Chineka,
Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Ngwayi and
Wing Commander M Dengura.
Brigadier Charles Wekwete and Wing
Commander Kapondoro are new members
on the TelOne Board.
Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of Zimbabwe Defence Forces' Commander,
Constantine Chiwenga, is a new board member at the Traffic Safety Council of
Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF recently fielded Lieutenant Colonel Kallisto
Gwanetsa, the
deputy commander of 2 Brigade, as a candidate in the Chiredzi
South
by-election.
The soldier went on to win the
election.
Gwanetsa is the latest in a series of elevations which
have seen
soldiers taking control of key state institutions.
With Zimbabwe facing food shortages caused by clueless new farmers,
soldiers
have now been deployed to ensure some grain is produced.
The army
launched Operation Maguta to which soldiers were deployed to
ensure that
newly resettled farmers delivered their grain to the Grain
Marketing
Board.
Colonel Ronnie Mutizhe is in charge of Operation Maguta
while Colonel
Samuel Muvuti is the GMB acting chief executive
officer.
Under the programme, farmers can access farming inputs
such as seed
and fertilizers for use in producing the staple maize under
contract to the
military.
GMB has been accused by small-scale
farmers of long delays in paying
for grain delivered to their depots while
payments for senior politicians
are made promptly.
At the time
that President Robert Mugabe was said to have been paid
millions of
worthless Zimbabwe dollars last year, after his maize was
delivered to the
GMB, hundreds of impoverished communal farmers were
complaining of not
having received payments from GMB for grain deliveries.
Zimbabwe is
now being run by sub-committees with a strong military
component.
At the helm is the Zimbabwe National Security
Council, (ZNSC) headed
by President Robert Mugabe and his two
vice-presidents.
Other members of the council are defence minister,
Sydney Sekeramayi,
home affairs minister, Kembo Mohadi and State Security
minister, Didymus
Mutasa.
In Cabinet, soldiers are beginning to
make their presence felt with
Retired Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri having
been appointed as Minister of
Youth Development and Employment
Creation.
Retired Lieutenant-General Mike Nyambuya is the Minister
of Energy and
Power Development.
Two retired senior officers,
Major Edwin Muguti and Colonel Hubert
Nyanhongo are serving as deputy
ministers.
Retired Colonel Christian Katsande is the permanent
secretary in the
Ministry of Industry and International Trade.
The Attorney General, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, is a former director of
military
intelligence.
George Chiweshe, the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission which
runs all national elections, is a retired senior army
officer and war
veteran.
The seemingly innocent Sports and
Recreation Commission, to which all
sporting disciplines are affiliated, has
retired Colonel Charles Nhemachena
as its director-general while the
chairman of the board is Retired Brigadier
Gibson Mashingaidze.
The soldiers are also involved in the transport sector where the
National
Railways of Zimbabwe, (NRZ) has Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai as
the general
manager while Colonel Douglas Nyikayaramba is the chairman of
the NRZ
board.
With Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri approaching the
end of his
career, Major General Engelbert Rugeje is already being tipped as
the next
police commissioner after some army generals laughed off
suggestions by
President Mugabe to appoint his relative, Deputy
Commissioner, Innocent
Matibiri as Chihuri's replacement.
Rugeje is a former board member of Radio Zimbabwe.
The head of the
Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe
is a retired
Brigadier.
Army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Tsatsi, said
there was
nothing irregular with soldiers being appointed to
parastatals.
"I think they are just being appointed after meeting
the requirements
of the! boards. Organisations would obviously be aware of
their records and
qualifications," Tsatsi said.
Desmond Moyo, a
Harare resident said the appointment of senior
soldiers to key positions
could be linked to the political chess game by
former army general, Solomon
Mujuru, who has managed to catapult his wife,
Joice to the position of
vice-president.
"What we have is an unofficial coup, where soldiers
have taken over to
make it easier for whoever they want to succeed Mugabe to
take over," Moyo
said.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
chairman, Lovemore Madhuku
differed with that interpretation.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with the succession issue. By
appointing
soldiers to key posts, Mugabe is simply buying loyalty. He knows
that by
appointing soldiers, it is much easier to get their loyalty than if
he
appointed civilians. But where he can find more loyal civilians, he will
appoint them to very key positions."
Madhuku said in any case,
there was no law which stipulated that
retired or serving soldiers could not
hold key public office.
Zim Standard
By Foster
Dongozi
"DON'T touch!"
That was the greeting I
received from a North Korean soldier manning
the border with South Korea
when I reported to the immigration desk last
week.
I had
presented my temporary permit to visit North Korea for a day and
placed it
on a counter before a cold, narrow-eyed soldier.
As I waited for
him to scrutinize my permit, I rested my comparatively
large hands on the
counter. I was startled almost out of my skin when the
soldier yelled at me
to stand clear of the counter.
He continued to scream, telling me
that putting my hands on the
counter would compromise security at the
border.
I was one of more than 200 journalists from all over the
world who had
gathered in Seoul, South Korea, for a special peace conference
organised by
the South Korea Journalists Association under the auspices of
the
International Federation of Journalists, which represents more than 500
000
media practitioners worldwide.
The conference was aimed at
uniting journalists from the two divided
countries and one of the exercises
was a field visit to North Korean,
described by one United States diplomat
as "an outpost of tyranny".
The two Koreas split following the war
that broke out between the
north and the south with the Soviet Union and
China backing Kim Il Sung
while the United States backed the
south.
In Zimbabwe, the North Koreans are loathed after they were
used by the
then Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Robert Mugabe as
"consultants"
to train and arm the 5 Brigade, (Gukurahundi), held
responsible for the
deaths of 20 000 people in the Midlands and Matabeleland
in the early 1980s.
This brief encounter with the North Korean
soldier left me convinced
that anybody wishing to unleash terror on their
people would most likely,
naturally approach these hostile
people.
Officially, the country is known as the Democratic People's
Republic
of Korea (DPRK), but after going through immigration formalities,
my
colleagues and I were convinced that this was neither a democratic nor a
people's republic.
Before leaving Seoul, the journalists had
been given pieces of paper
listing what we could not carry into North
Korea.
We were told we could not cross with audio recorders,
laptops, video
cameras and cellphones - basically all tools a journalist
needs to function.
A note book and a pencil would do just fine, we were
informed.
We were reminded by our South Korean hosts that foreign
newspapers and
magazines were prohibited in North Korea. Talking to North
Koreans or taking
photographs was also forbidden.
The
journalists were strongly reminded that they should feel free to
spend as
many US dollars as they could in North Korea.
I had read about the
excesses of the North Korean despotic leader, Kim
Jong Il, who has starved
and jailed his political opponents and maintained a
tight grip on his fellow
countrymen and women but seeing it unfold before me
was like a bad
joke.
Before crossing into North Korea, soldiers at the border
ensured that
all the number plates of our five coaches had been covered
over.
When we sought an explanation from our tour guide, we were
told that
North Koreans were not supposed to be exposed to different number
plates as
it would make them curious about lifestyles in other parts of the
democratic
world.
Another requirement that the "comrades" in
North Korea had insisted on
was that each one of our five buses should have
a giant communist red flag
attached to the front, to help reassure the local
population that even
foreigners supported the communist party.
After driving a few hundred metres into North Korea, it became evident
that
we were in the territory of a regime which relishes sabre-
rattling.
Armed soldiers lined the road and were deployed every 500
metres along
the route.
Heavy T-35 tanks were tucked into the
mountain sides while several
menacing mobile 40 barrel Katyusha multiple
rocket launchers, also known as
Stalin Organs, patrolled the border with
South Korea.
All soldiers wore badges of Kim Il Sung, the late
father of the
current leader.
They all looked sad and
depressed.
For a country where thousands of people have starved to
death because
of famine, it looked bizarre that they could have such a huge
arsenal.
Another shock awaited us at the hotel we were booked
in.
There were no beds provided and we were told by dead pan-faced
hotel
staff that sleeping on the floor was "part of the North Korean
culture".
With hotel staff unable to explain coherently to the
mainly
English-speaking journalists why there were no beds, we gave up and
slept on
the floor.
Word soon spread that there were small
microphones concealed inside
the rooms for eavesdropping on
guests.
Over dinner, it was observed that all the waitresses wore
Kim Il Sung
badges. Further inquiries established that the hotel itself
belonged to Kim
Jong Sook, the mother of the current president.
After a largely unexciting tour of the famous Mt Kumgang Mountains, we
returned to the South.
The differences between the two
countries are stark, as the north is
so poor while the south has First World
affluence.
At the border, a Polish journalist who, like many
others, had smuggled
his camera into the communist side was caught as he
took pictures of
soldiers.
Angry soldiers detained him for half
an hour during which they forced
him to destroy the pictures he had taken
inside the people's republic.
Unfortunately, their lack of exposure
to emerging technology worked
against the North Korean soldiers: the Polish
journalist retrieved the
photos as soon as we rolled back into South
Korea.
The pictures were splashed around the world.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - National University of Science and Technology
workers have
reacted with "outrage" to a senior administrators' $100 million
weekend
"strategic retreat" in Masvingo.
They said the timing
was inappropriate as the university was facing
financial
hardships.
Academic staff went on strike a month ago to push for
higher salaries,
while non-academic staff returned to work after staying
away for a week,
demanding better working conditions.
Lecturers
complain the university is unable to fund research
programmes, crucial to
their work, citing lack of funds.
The workers complained the money
would be spent recklessly on
expensive hotel bills and daily allowances at
the two-day Masvingo retreat
which began on Friday, 11 days
ago.
It was attended by all senior administrators from the
country's second
largest university.
Delegates were entitled to
an additional $90 000 in daily allowances
and sources said 100
attended.
Single rooms with bed and breakfast at Chevron, Great
Zimbabwe and
Flamboyant hotels where the senior administrators were booked
cost $180 000,
$345 000 and $280 000 respectively while lunch and dinner,
range from $60
000 to $90 000.
Double rooms for bed and
breakfast at the respective hotels cost $260
000, $431 000 and $380
000.
Academic and non-academic staff said the money should have
been
channelled to other pressing commitments.
"It's quite
surprising and shocking that senior staff will embark on
such an expensive
endeavour, yet there are protests over low salaries and
shortages of
material," said one lecturer.
"The money for research is being
channelled to trivial issues which
are not the core business of
NUST."
Zimbabwe State Universities Union of Academics Association
president
Bernard Njekeya, a lecturer at NUST, said the workers were not
happy "about
the lavish spending when the university is
burning".
"Staff have raised concerns about spending so much money
when there
are problems at the university," said Njekeya. "But the
administration said
they had already budgeted and paid for the retreat in
advance."
NUST director of information and public relations, Felix
Moyo said the
meeting was necessary "for capacity building so that NUST can
achieve its
mission and vision".
He noted that the funds were
donated by Kellogg Foundation. The
conference, he said, was for about 100
people, but not all of them were from
NUST. They invited participants from
other universities.
The seminar was for capacity building in the
spirit of achieving or
making the university a world class centre in
teaching, research . . . of
walking the NUST talk towards a world class
university, Moyo said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
POLICE officers meant to enforce traffic legislation are
ineffective
because of corruption, results of a research show.
The study, which investigated the training needs of commuter bus
drivers in
Harare, says police officers took bribes from traffic offenders.
"Commuter omnibus drivers were inadequately trained to shoulder
responsibilities of passenger public service vehicle drivers," says the
study. "Eighty-three percent of commuter omnibus drivers exceeded the
statutory eleven working hours per day. Some (15%) commuter omnibuses
operated without permits/licences."
The research by Martin
Shangwa Simbi says commuter buses were rated as
the most risky mode of
transport in Harare.
He says his findings and recommendations may
be useful especially in
the wake of the Dzivaresekwa disaster in which
nearly 40 lives were lost
after a commuter bus rammed into a goods train
three weeks ago.
A 1997 ZRP random public opinion survey, according
to Simbi, found out
that bribery and failure by the police to act against
bus drivers who drive
as they like and exceeding speed limits were cited as
part of the problem.
"In the same survey," he says, "some
respondents stated that police
accept bribes in front of the
public."
Simbi, quoting media reports said: "The traffic police are
now working
to enrich themselves. Out of 200 omnibuses that they stop a day
they may
issue only fifteen with tickets. If you refuse to pay up, they will
come up
with an offence or even decide to issue you with a ticket . .
."
He cites the case of an officer who swallowed the bribery upon
arrest.
Simbi identifies lack of political will, interest and
priority in
solving road safety problems on the continent. Citing a 1996
study
undertaken in France, Simbi says driver fatigue was found to be
responsible
for up to a third of all road accidents between 1984 and
1993.
The French study, he says, also showed that educating drivers
to drive
only when they are alert can eliminate up to a third of road
accidents.
The research by Simbi sought to establish whether
commuter bus drivers
met the legal requirements - a driver's licence,
medical certificate and a
defensive driving certificate.
The
need for the research arose after national concern over the
care-free
attitude and reckless driving as well as use of abusive language
associated
with commuter bus drivers in the capital.
Simbi says the selection
process for a driver for passenger public
service vehicle industry in
developed countries "is thorough, hence only the
best become passenger
public service drivers".
". . . Bus drivers undergo a compulsory
refresher-training course
annually. This is done in order to maintain
competencies and
professionalism."
Among the recommendations he
makes are that an anti-corruption unit be
established to deal with
corruption in the police in general and traffic
section in
particular.
He also suggests that council provides toilet
facilities at bus
terminuses for use by bus crews and
commuters.
Simbi recommends that rather than being on commission,
commuter
drivers should be paid a salary.
Zim Standard
By Our
Staff
THE current ban on seed exports and shortage of
fertilizers are a
serious threat to the viability of the country's leading
seed house,
National Seed Company of Zimbabwe (Seed-Co), the company's
managing
director, Dennis Zaranyika said last week.
Addressing
farmers at a field day at Kadoma Research Centre, Zaranyika
said the
unavailability of inputs such as fertilizer delayed the start of
farming
activities countrywide.
This, he said, was going to have a negative
impact on the yields.
"This year we got to January without the
Ammonium Nitrate (AN)
fertilizer which is a crucial element in the growth of
crops.
"The shortage of foreign currency and the current ban on
seed exports
are some of the challenges we are facing and we are calling on
the
government to issue us with seed export permits," he said.
Zaranyika also highlighted the unavailability of vehicles for
Agricultural
Rural and Extension Services (AREX) officers, lack of tractors,
irrigation
tools and equipment as some of the obstacles facing farmers.
In the
past, AREX officers used to visit farms to assess crops and
advise farmers
on the best cultivation methods but they rarely did these
days because of
the harsh economic environment.
The low prices of farm products
gazetted by the government have
resulted in most farmers going out of
business and eventually resorting to
other activities, such as gold
panning.
Seed-Co is a government company concerned with research on
yields,
crop disease tolerance, hybrid seed production, drought resistance,
crop
productivity and educating the farming community.
The
company also produces seed for wheat soya-beans, millet, sorghum
and
groundnuts.
Over the years Seed-Co, one of the leading seed
production houses in
the country, used to export five to eight tonnes of
maize to neighbouring
countries such as Zambia and Malawi.
Zim Standard
Comment
A SNAP survey of ordinary people in any city, town
or village in the
country today would probably yield a predictably bleak
scenario of their
discontent.
Some would grouse about loss of
jobs, others about not being able to
afford a decent meal for their
families, even after receiving their paltry
wages.
Still others
would be aghast at the rapid-fire increase in the prices
of any commodity,
particularly food, or in transport costs.
In the villages, there
would be discontent with the irregular
availability of agricultural inputs
and the arbitrary pricing of their
produce by the government.
There is not one section of the population which would applaud the
government's performance since 2000. Even some of the ruling party's
supporters might find a whole host of reasons to be as thoroughly
discontented as everyone else.
Under the primitive Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), expressing
such discontent publicly could earn a
citizen a long spell in jail -which is
precisely why the law was
passed.
Shortly after the parliamentary and presidential elections
in 2000 and
2002 respectively, Zanu PF realised it was completely out of its
political
depth: it had no ready panacea for the people's mounting
discontent, which
had manifested itself in the two elections.
Accompanying POSA in this obnoxious crusade to silence the people from
expressing their discontent was the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Under it, journalism was criminalised and,
in its wake, four
newspapers were shut down, raising even higher the
government's profile as
one of the worst violators of freedom of expression,
outside communism
Once the government decided that there might be
even an iota of truth
in accusing the West of imposing sanctions on its key
figures which,
nevertheless, could be said to hurt ordinary people, it was
thoroughly
seduced by the sound of its own voice.
For their own
reasons, a number of African countries, their latent
sense of revenge
against the former colonial masters inflamed, joined the
chorus - until
after the 11 March debacle and the bloody aftermath.
The most
unequivocal condemnation came from the Zambian president,
Levy Mwanawasa.
Not surprisingly, the founding father of his nation, Kenneth
Kaunda -
himself not a paragon of democracy during 27 years of one-party
rule - came
to Robert Mugabe's defence.
What is astonishing in all this
circus-like charade is that, even as
Mugabe and his ministers condemn the
West for supposedly orchestrating a
regime change, the people of Zimbabwe
still go hungry, without jobs, food,
drugs, shelter or enough money to pay
their children's school fees.
The government has become so seduced
by the fascination of listening
to its own voice attacking the West, it has
forgotten - it would seem - why
its popularity dipped in 2000 and is still
dropping.
The people themselves are filled with discontent. It's
extremely
insulting to maintain that, were it not for the West, they would
not
recognise the cause of their discontent. They would have to be idiots
not to
know who to blame for the miserable state of their
lives.
The government must cease its self-delusion of being the
victim; the
people are the victims and they will effect regime change, not
Washington or
London or Paris.
After 2000, the people realised
that after 20 years in power, Zanu PF
had lost the will to campaign for the
betterment of their lives. It had
become obsessed with staying in power at
all costs.
As the economy deteriorated after the land fiasco of
2000, the people
discovered a new menace - corruption in high places. While
their living
standards plummeted, the lifestyles of the ruling class
attained obscene
levels of opulence.
The people didn't need the
West to point this out to them. Most see
the evidence of their poverty and
hunger in the distended bellies of their
children, afflicted by
kwashiorkor.
The bellies of the leaders have bulged too, but for
different reasons.
The people will never need the West to tell them
why they are poor and
hungry while the leaders are rich and obese.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by Bill
Saidi
THE incurable pessimists - in today's Zimbabwe, they are a
dime a
dozen - believe Zanu PF is implementing its scorched earth policy
before
fleeing in disgrace, or being thrown out of power on its
ear.
The worst case scenario has Zanu PF doing such a thorough
demolition
job on the economy and every conceivable structure of government
whoever
takes over will inherit nothing but the proverbial
whirlwind.
The perennial optimists - fortunately, there still are
many of those
too - believe just as firmly that the "bashing" campaign
constitutes the
last throw of the dice by a desperate gambler, the last
kicks of a dying
horse, the would-be carcass being the embodiment of Zanu PF
and all its
slimy, corrupt paraphernalia of 27 ruinous years of
power.
It's hard to be level-headed or rational when reviewing the
savagery
of the last few weeks.
How do you begin to put a name
to a party which unleashes a deliberate
policy of physically crippling
members of the opposition? This reign of
terror is so calculated there must
exist, in Zanu PF or the government, or
both, a super secret unit of thugs,
trained and paid out of the taxpayers'
money, to brutalise every citizen who
dares to speak out against this
regime.
If both prognoses are
flawed, then after the bashings and killings,
nothing will change. Zanu PF
will remain in the saddle, even if the
10-gallon Stetson sits a little askew
on the head with the dyed hair, as the
hero rides on this scrawny nag, not
into the sunset, but into a hole darker
than The Black Hole of
Calcutta.
This would be like insisting that the results of the 2000
parliamentary election made no impact whatsoever on the political
landscape.
For one thing, the political bonanza of the 2000
results, though not
universally applauded, is almost incalculable and
irreversible.
For another, President Robert Mugabe is 83 years old,
his political
sinews as aged and frayed as any octogenarian's capacity to
run the
three-minute mile.
Zanu PF, its vision of a one-party
system tattered beyond recognition,
was almost hurled out of the window of
history and dumped on the rubbish pit
of political obscurity in
2000.
To survive the near-mortal blow delivered by a new political
party of
virtual novitiates, it resorted to violence, duplicity, chicanery
and
deception - to which it is no stranger.
Today, the party
lies bruised and battered, its self-confidence dealt
a blow to the solar
plexus by internecine bickering and its prospects of
survival - to quote
Edgar Tekere - virtually in the intensive care unit.
Mugabe has
been glorified, ad nauseam, as the perennial survivor. He
has survived
Ndabaningi Sithole, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, James Chikerema,
George Nyandoro
and even Eddison Zvobgo - all men whose frank opinion of him
was unprintable
in a family publication.
But Morgan Tsvangirai is much younger than
all these men. In 1952,
when he was born, Mugabe was 28 years old. He would
have been Mugabe's third
or fourth child, if the schoolteacher had pursued a
typical Shona male
lifestyle.
What does Tsvangirai possess that
so frightens Mugabe he is willing to
sin against one of the Ten Commandments
many, many times over?
Apart from age, Tsvangirai has innocence on
his side. As a politician,
he is almost without any blemish. He himself has
admitted to a period of
being politically naive, particularly in the early
days of the Movement for
Democratic Change.
An admirer has
compared his innocence with that of Jimmy Carter, the
Plains, Georgia,
peanut farmer, who lasted only one term as president of the
United
States.
Tsvangirai has since undergone a crash course in African
politics,
where the cut and thrust of the game is translated, literally. The
recent
physical bashings on his person would not have shocked him much, not
any
more than his encounter with a group of war veterans when, as
secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, he opposed a
levy on the workers' overtaxed wages to pay for the ex-combatants' grossly
inflated gratuities and allowances.
He has been thrown into the
police cells a number of times. Even if he
had been so incarcerated during
the early days of the struggle, he too would
have been bestowed with the
accolade P.D. - prison graduate.
Now, there has to be a new degree
- Bashed Graduate.
What may eventually deter Mugabe from going for
broke - that is,
prolonging the persecution of the opposition to its logical
conclusion - is
a word from the people, a loud, unequivocal voice of protest
from the
people.
There can now be little doubt that only a few
people in this country
see this persecution as a legitimate pursuit
compatible with the aims and
objectives for which thousands
died.
Independence, whose 27th year we are due to celebrate next
month, has
been thoroughly abused. For the majority, 18 April will be a day
of wailing
and gnashing of teeth.
Ye shall know the few who
will sing and dance and feast by the size of
their girth. saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
reflections with Dr Alex T Magaisa
For quite some time now,
most observers have been mystified by South
Africa's apparently lethargic
and nonchalant approach to the political and
economic problems obtaining in
Zimbabwe, which sometimes goes by the
appellation of "Quiet Diplomacy". A
commonly cited explanation is that it
follows the usual pattern of African
leaders of the liberation era using the
cover of African solidarity and
comradeship sown during the days of the
struggle against colonial rule. But,
there is more to the story in the case
of SA and Zimbabwe, which probably
accounts for SA's velvet glove approach
to the Zimbabwean government. And
instead of ignoring the plight of their
neighbours up north, South Africans
have cause to worry.
As I see it, SA's reluctance to take an active
role arises from its
own circumstances, which closely reflect those of
pre-crisis Zimbabwe, and
it is these shared circumstances that make it
difficult for the SA
leadership to take a bold stand against the Zimbabwean
leadership. There is
a measure of selfishness on the part of the SA
leadership, who although
uncomfortable with the tactics and results of the
actions of the Zimbabwean
leadership, share similar ideas in relation to the
challenge redressing the
colonial legacy if unequal wealth distribution. The
SA leadership finds
itself incapable of asserting any moral leverage over
the Zimbabwean regime
because in their eyes the Zimbabwean leadership has
done no more than they
(in SA) would like to do.
Besides their
physical proximity, Zimbabwe and SA share a similar
colonial history and
legacy, which is not common elsewhere in Africa, of a
large white
population, co-existing, rather uneasily it must be said, with
the new black
leadership. Compared to the rest of Africa, they were among
the last
colonies to achieve independence. They both share a key factor that
at
independence, there remained the unresolved question of resource
distribution between the black and white populations. So even in the
relative stability of present day SA, beyond the frenzy of the "Rainbow
Nation", there is myriad of unresolved questions and contradictions, which
threaten to unravel with the passage of time.
In this context,
we know that there are things that the SA leadership
would like to do but
has not yet done, for fear of disturbing the current
balance. They know that
the Zimbabwean leadership has done these things that
it would like to do,
and although this has had disastrous consequences, they
still find it hard
to rise to the top of the mountain and admonish what they
would like to do,
given the opportunities.
The SA leadership is aware of the
great challenges it faces,
particularly given that the needs and
expectations of the people are
beginning to escalate into demands. Yet it
faces a dilemma, knowing that any
sudden change Zimbabwe-style is likely to
affect the stability of its
economic base but also that any further
prevarication is likely to draw the
ire of those whose expectations have not
been fulfilled, 13 years into
independence. Hard as it might appear to
believe, President Mugabe still
retains some admirers among considerable
numbers of Africans who choose to
view his actions through the prism of
anti-imperialism.
Similarly, by virtue of SA's circumstances and
the views held by the
SA government that probably closely resemble those of
the Zimbabwean
government, at least in principle, the lens through which the
SA government
views the Zimbabwean problem are different from the lens
through which the
West and other international observers or indeed the bulk
of the opposition
in Zimbabwe sees the same issue.
There is a
selfish basis for SA's approach, which is apparent in its
oft-repeated line
that the Zimbabwe's problems are best solved by
Zimbabweans themselves and
do not require outsiders. SA appears to be
suggesting the principle of
non-intervention in the internal affairs of
Zimbabwe. But what is the
difference between Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast,
Lesotho, Burundi and even Haiti
where SA appears to have taken a bolder
approach in the past? The difference
is that the SA leadership is keen to
intervene more "loudly" where its
self-interest is not at stake. Unlike
others where it has intervened boldly,
the Zimbabwe issue presents a
sensitive challenge to its own interests and
designs. There is in this, an
unspoken message to the rest of the world,
that SA would prefer
non-intervention should issues similar to those in
Zimbabwe arise within its
own confines so it is doing to Zimbabwe, what it
would want others to do
unto it.
This must worry those in SA
and others with an interest in the
country, because SA does not seem to know
how to handle and satisfy the
growing expectations and demands of its
formerly marginalised population.
The conduct of the ANC suggests that it
identifies and sympathises with the
Zanu PF as opposed to the opposition
MDC, which it probably views in the
same vein as its own internal
opposition. South Africans must ask themselves
whether this identification
and sympathy extends beyond ideas to adopting
similar tactics and approaches
towards the opposition. Does the ANC, like
Zanu PF, view the opposition as
nothing more than puppets of imperialism?
The real source of
support for Zimbabwe is the people of South Africa
themselves, who can if
they have the will; influence their own government to
take a bolder
approach. To be sure, South Africans must call on their
government to do
more to address the legacy of apartheid and colonialism
beyond the cosmetic
Black Economic Empowerment which has been hijacked as
has happened elsewhere
in Africa by a minority class of blacks. But if there
is one lesson they can
learn from their northern neighbour, it is that they
must demand their
government to address the issue in a properly planned way.
They must not
allow their plight to be used by a failing ruling party to
launch a campaign
camouflaged in the rhetoric of anti-imperialism. The irony
is that having
stood by all along while Zimbabwe's attempt has failed, the
SA leadership
appears to have put itself in a difficult position, because
every move it
makes towards resolving the key questions of inequality is
likely to be
viewed with suspicion. There will always be the question
whether SA is
becoming another Zimbabwe. The people themselves must remind
their
government to stop quitting responsibilities via quiet diplomacy,
which has
failed to address the questions.
But then again, does the South
African leadership consider that they
have the moral leverage to challenge
the actions of their Zimbabwean
counterparts? I doubt it, though I would be
pleasantly surprised if they
prove me wrong.
* Alex Magaisa
can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Standard
GABORONE -
Zimbabweans trooping
across the border looking for jobs in Botswana face
hardship, but would
rather stay than return to face the worsening economic
crunch at home.
That is a problem for an increasing number of
Motswana, who believe
Zimbabweans have worn out their welcome. Xenophobia is
being stoked by the
daily arrival of economic migrants, and the popular
belief that Zimbabweans
are responsible for increased crime in this
diamond-rich middle-income
success story.
"Coming up with the
exact number of Zimbabweans now living here is
impossible because a sizeable
amount of them are illegal immigrants who use
undesignated crossing points,"
an immigration official, who asked for
anonymity, said.
He
alleged that more than a thousand Zimbabweans trudged through the
Ramokgwebana border post daily. Many fibbed on their entry forms, getting a
90-day entry visa by claiming they were visiting relatives or friends. "It
is common knowledge that the majority of the people would be coming to look
for jobs," said the official.
Precious Kunonga (26), a single
mother, has been in Botswana dodging
the authorities for almost a year,
trying to make enough money to put her
eight-year-old son through school and
look after her elderly parents.
At home she had been impressed by
the stories spun by friends in
Botswana, who boasted about how much easier
it was to earn a living. When
she turned up at the main bus station in the
capital, Gaborone, to try her
luck, no one was there to greet her. Three
nights spent sleeping at the
terminus gave her a crash course in urban
survival.
The first lesson was how to make some money as an
undocumented
migrant. Early each morning Kunonga goes to Broadhurst shopping
mall, an
unofficial employment exchange in Gaborone, and waits with scores
of other
Zimbabweans to be hired to wash clothes, clean houses and tend
gardens - the
chores that locals prefer not to do.
Since 2000,
when Zimbabwe's economic problems took a turn for the
worse, millions have
left the country - to mainly South Africa, Botswana and
Britain. The skilled
and the unskilled are all looking for a way to get
ahead, but also to help
family at home, who are struggling with an annual
inflation rate close to 1
700 and unemployment of 80 percent.
On a good day, Kunonga can take
home 60 pula (US$10) but she can also
go for weeks without work, "and that
means then I hardly have anything to
buy food with".
To save as
much as she can, she shares a small room without
electricity with four other
Zimbabwean women. Between them they pay US$8 per
month; the landlord has
already told them he is going to double the rent at
beginning of
April.
Despite all the hardships, suffering and embarrassment, the
lure that
keeps Kunonga in Botswana is that in a good month she can earn
US$115. When
that's converted on the parallel market in Zimbabwe, it's more
than the
salary of a senior magistrate.
Migrating from Zimbabwe
is not only the prerogative of the young.
Catherine Zindoga (52), is also
hustling a living in Gaborone. "I was forced
to come to Botswana by the fact
that I have to fend for four children, who
were left in my custody by my two
daughters, both of whom died of AIDS," she
said.
Her visa has
long since expired, a situation she says her employer is
taking advantage
of. "I have not been given time to rest in the last seven
months and I
sometimes go for months without receiving my salary," said
Zindoga. She has
not only worked long hours, but has sometimes been taunted
by her employer's
children as being "mukwerekwere", a derisive term for
foreigner.
The South African Migration Project of the
University of the
Witwatersrand quoted Botswana officials as saying the
government had rounded
up and deported 6 000 Zimbabweans in the first week
of October 2006.
Zimbabwean-run businesses, such as bus and truck
operators, funeral
parlours, vehicle repair shops and sawmills, have
mushroomed in the northern
city of Francistown and the satellite towns of
Tati and Tonota to the south,
all near Botswana's border with
Zimbabwe.
But the popular perception is that Zimbabweans are linked
to
criminality. In 2004 - during which around 72 112 Zimbabweans were
deported - the Botswana government issued a statement accusing "illegal
Zimbabwean immigrants (of involvement) in criminal activities." -
IRIN
Mugabe blaming MDC for own proclivity to
violence
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has become so obsessed with power to
an extent
of not understanding what he says and not believing what he sees
and hears.
He does not know what to do when faced with an array of self-made
problems.
In 2005 he announced that he would not stand for re-election in
2008,
meaning he would retire.
We thought the geriatric leader
had come to terms with common sense
and could spend the remaining years of
his life away from State House.
Unfortunately the man changes colours like a
chameleon in order to suit the
environment. The man has since shifted the
goal posts as reported recently
when he said "if the party elects me, I will
not turn down the wishes of the
people".
Why is he afraid to
go? The country needs to go forward without
Mugabe. The country is now in a
mess because of Mugabe's arrogance. At 83,
he is talking about turning
around the economy when he failed to do that
when he was in his sixties. It
is like expecting scorching heat when the sun
is about to set.
In order to show that he is afraid, he ordered the police to defy a
High
Court Order granting the MDC the right to hold their rally in Harare at
the
Zimbabwe Grounds.
As a result of the ferocity of the raging fire
advancing towards him,
he is undecided - run away or face the consequences
of the inferno. He is
also facing internal ruptures in his party and this he
publicly
acknowledged, although ZBC edited his 83rd birthday
interview.
It can be argued that ZBC realised that the man was out
of his mind
and decided to edit it.
When the MDC arrived at
Zimbabwe Grounds the overzealous and suffering
anti-riot police, popularly
known as Rovai had sealed the stadium in
defiance of a High Court order
barring them from interfering with or stop
the rally. The same anti-riot
police muddied the waters by provoking the
people, making the situation
nastier. They beat defenceless people despite
their illegal actions and the
people responded in whatever way they could.
After the violence in
Highfield, Mugabe declared a state of emergency,
anchored by one of the
draconian laws ever produced in the world, POSA.
Since then the police have
been on the rampage, beating up people in Harare,
as if they realise that
their days are numbered. This exacerbated a
situation that had already
turned tense due to the police's ruthlessness
against the people. This was
all at Mugabe's behest, reminiscent of the
brutality he showed during the
Gukurahundi era, which legally he must be
tried for.
The man
has been the same, will be the same and will never reform. We
have seen
funerals turned into Zanu PF rallies and prayer services also
turned into
Zanu PF rallies.
The prayer meeting under the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign on 11 March 2007
was disrupted by the police who beat up those who
were in attendance and
targeting MDC leaders. In fact, most of them were
left for dead - Morgan
Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, Tendai Biti, Grace
Kwinjeh, Sekai Holland and
others. The violence by police against
defenceless people who are exercising
their democratic right should be
condemned by everyone.
The flimsy allegations of violence levelled
against the MDC, by Mugabe
and his propaganda machinery to justify the
beatings must be dismissed with
the contempt they deserve. Mugabe's
apparatus of violence are working 24
hours, seven days a week to increase
the tension and justify the crushing of
innocent and defenceless
people.
People are much wiser. They know cheap propaganda when they
see it.
They know what happens when Mugabe is cornered and wants to justify
his
brutality.
As police intensified the beatings, on 14 March
2007, we were shown on
television a police quarters housing several female
officers. This had been
"bombed" by alleged MDC "thugs" leaving one woman
officer severely burnt.
The Central Intelligence Organisation is working
full throttle.
We know what they did to Cain Nkala when the
government was cornered.
The problems facing the country can only
be dealt with by removing
Mugabe from office and disbanding his diabolical
apparatus of violence.
Andy Mangoma
Bulawayo
-------
Retired civil servants reduced to
paupers
CIVIL servants the world over are an essential arm of
governments. No
government can hope to succeed without the services of this
group of people.
The lot of these government servants in Zimbabwe
is horrible, to say
the least. They are grossly underpaid while they are
still employed. They
are given very little on retirement. They do not
receive any word of thanks
for using up half of their lifetime working or
rather slaving for a
thankless master.
Whenever civil servants
anticipate going on strike, they are
threatened with all forms of
punishment. Some governments even declare that
civil servants are not
allowed to go on strike.
Once a civil servant retires, he/she loses
a lot of allowances such as
transport and housing allowances. Salary
adjustments made for serving civil
servants are at the discretion of a very
stingy paymaster. Does retirement
mean that one no longer needs travelling
or living in rented accommodation?
On the contrary, retired civil
servants need their transport
allowances because they have to travel a lot
if they are ever going to
receive their meagre pensions. They need their
housing allowances because
landlords are not going to forfeit their monthly
rents from retired civil
servants.
Rumours from the grapevine,
once upon a time indicated that very
attractive packages were being prepared
for retired civil servants and for
those intending to retire. The so-called
attractive pensions have remained
pie in the sky. Civil servants, fight for
meaningful pensions while you are
still able to fight. Those already retired
are at the mercy of unscrupulous
pension officers. What is being received by
already retired civil servants
is so little that the former government
workers have been reduced to
paupers.
Does our government have
such a short memory that it has already
forgotten the role played by civil
servants? The majority of civil servants
who are now retiring worked
slavishly for colonial masters who gave them
nothing when they relinquished
power. The same government workers went on to
work for their black masters
who are today giving them next to nothing for
their labour.
Today, corruption has taken root because of the raw deal given to
civil
servants who have seen their black masters getting rich beyond belief
while
they have become worse than beggars.
The government must review the
salaries of all the civil servants,
backdated to the year we attained
independence and then work out proper
pensions using the reviewed salaries.
Please improve the living standards of
all civil servants, past and present,
otherwise this government will be
doomed forever.
Retired
Masvingo
----------
Time we confronted the
dictator on the streets
I am writing this letter in extreme anger,
after seeing the damage
done to Morgan Tsvangirai and Lovemore Madhuku by
state agents.
My question to all progressive Zimbabweans is: "Why
should we be cowed
by one Robert Mugabe who continues to destroy this
country with impunity?
Ambori nemangani . . . anoita kuti 12 million or so
Zimbabweans fear him so
much?
It is high time we now show him
that he has had his time.
I just wish someone out there could rally
people who could block the
man's motorcade right in the centre of Harare and
tell him that it is time
for him to go, and go forever! If millions of
people respond and corner him
along Samora Machel Avenue or somewhere in The
Avenues, I don't think the
six or so soldiers who always accompany him can
do anything; even armed to
the teeth, as they usually are.
They
have already shown that they are prepared to waste innocent lives
if the
shooting to death of Gift Tandare is the harbinger of things to come.
That,
my fellow countrymen, was a declaration of war and we must rise to the
occasion.
We will challenge them to shoot as many people as
they can, until the
bullets run out, after which the survivors can pounce!
Killing of innocent
civilians is not new in dictatorships. It happened at
Tiananmen Square in
China and Sharpeville in South Africa. This is how
martyrs are made.
Zvakwana!!
Ndugu
Harare
------------
SA seeing the reality THE cost was too high
but I don't believe things will
ever be the same again in South Africa. The
Business Day had Sekai Holland,
terribly bruised, bandaged and plastered
lying across the front page under
the heading "Mugabe's Dirty Work" and the
Cape Times had Morgan Tsvangirai
lying across its front page.
The front page cartoon in the Cape Times is of the SABC interviewing
Deputy
Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad who is saying: "Well, we called on both
the
government and the opposition to respect human rights and act
peacefully.
Already we have received reports of several policemen suffering
from
severely fractured batons".
Judith Todd
Cape Town
South Africa