Britain is
meeting with one of Robert Mugabe's top lieutenants as it hosts an
international coalition to ensure Zimbabwe holds a clean election later this
year.
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent11:34AM GMT 26
Mar 2013
The Friends of Zimbabwe group is made up of the country's major
aid donors and seeks to use its leverage to control the worst potential
excesses of Robert Mugabe's regime. A new constitution adopted last week
paves the way for the first presidential and parliamentary elections since
the disputed poll in 2008 led to the establishment of a power sharing
government between Mr Mugable and his main rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The new constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms
in office, boosts parliament's powers but abolishes the post of prime
minister, now held by Mr Tsvangirai.
Officials said the Friend of
Zimbabwe meeting would seek to draw up a joint plan that ensures the
elections are free and fair.
"The Friends of Zimbabwe meeting on 26 March
will provide a unique opportunity for donors to hear from all political
parties in Zimbabwe and to present a unified voice emphasising the
importance of free and fair polls, " an official said.
The talks will
include the most senior Mugabe ally to visit Britain in more than a decade.
Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party has boasted that the presence of Patrick
Chinamasa, the interior minister, is a victory over the Foreign Office,
claiming Whitehall has been forced to drop its "hostile" policy towards
Harare.
His meeting is "an indication that Britain realises that its
foreign policy on Zimbabwe is collapsing and they want to embark on a new
path," a party spokesman said.
The Friends of Zimabwe group includes
EU Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, the US, the European
Commission (EC), the EU Council Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United
Nations.
The European Union announced on Monday it was immediately
suspending measures "against 81 individuals and eight entities", commending
the people of Zimbabwe for "a peaceful, successful and credible vote" to
approve a new constitution on March 16.
EU officials confirmed Mugabe
was among 10 Zimbabweans still targeted by the decade-old European Union
measures.
The sanctions were originally imposed in 2002 on the grounds of
political violence, human rights abuses and the failure to hold free and
fair elections.
Zanu-PF party immediately dismissed the partial
lifting of sanctions as a "non-event".
"We are looking for the total
and unequivocal lifting of sanctions which were not justified in the first
place," party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said.
Monday's removal of dozens of
names from the blacklist was the largest since a policy U-turn last July,
when on Britain's suggestion the 27-nation bloc pledged to lift sanctions
should the country hold a "credible" vote on a new constitution.
In
February, 21 Zimbabweans out of 112 on the EU blacklist, and one of 11
firms, were removed after Harare announced a firm intention to hold the
vote.
The UK-based pressure group, Zimbabwe Vigil, on Tuesday braved the
icy British weather to demonstrate outside a venue hosting a meeting between
the international community and a Zimbabwean delegation discussing
cooperation ahead of this year’s elections.
The ZimVigil has met
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday, since 2002 to protest
the human rights abuses by the ZANU PF regime.
On Tuesday the group’s
protest was particularly aimed at ZANU PF’s Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, who is attending the meeting together with the MDC’s Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Elton Mangoma of the MDC-T.
Rose Benton,
ZimVigil coordinator, said their message to Chinamasa was a demand for ZANU
PF to end human rights abuses, torture and killings of
Zimbabweans.
Benton said: “We have always said that as ZimVigil we
will always target any member of ZANU PF who came to the UK once the
sanctions were lifted and that’s what we were doing.
“We were also
there to alert the international donors and the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office that Zimbabweans are not happy with what is happening.
“We were
asking the donor community and Britain not to give money to Mugabe unless
there is rule of law in Zimbabwe and international observers are allowed to
monitor free and fair elections,” Benton said.
Benton added that ZimVigil
members feel that the lifting of most of the targeted sanctions, announced
by the European Union on Monday, was not based on any real political change
in Zimbabwe but “has a lot to do with the EU wanting to lay its hands on
Zimbabwe’s diamonds.”
Benton said it was too early for the international
community to start giving funds to Zimbabwe and urged donors to attach
conditions such as accountability, respect for the rule of law and the
holding of credible elections, among other demands.
Although the
ZimVigil group did not meet Chinamasa or any member of the Zimbabwe
delegation, Benton said the head of the FCO Zimbabwe desk had asked to meet
the group.
“We will be arranging a meeting with the FCO to express our
feelings about what is happening in Zimbabwe and what the British government
is doing. It is wrong for the international community to pretend that all is
well in Zimbabwe when it clearly is not,” she said
Benton said the
recent March 16th constitutional referendum, on which the international
community was basing its actions, was a sham and said there was no democracy
in telling people how to vote in any poll.
The London meeting was
organised by a group called the Friends of Zimbabwe and was attended by
representatives of major development partners and several foreign ministers
from all over the world.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 10:03 HARARE -
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) chief executive Ngonidzashe Gumbo
will remain in custody despite being granted bail by Harare magistrate Don
Ndirowei yesterday.
Ndirowei had freed Gumbo on $1 000 bail but
prosecutor Michael Reza appealed against the decision and invoked Section
121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
Gumbo will remain in
custody until April 8 if the State manages to successfully push through its
appeal.
Section 121 automatically overrides a magistrate’s bail ruling
and gives the State seven working days within which to file an
appeal.
Ndirowei had said there were no reasons for Gumbo’s continued
incarceration.
The court heard that Gumbo, on behalf of Zacc, approached
the Home Affairs ministry seeking accommodation after the body’s former
landlord served an eviction notice.
He managed to get premises in
Harare’s Mount Pleasant suburb.
According to court papers, government
deposited $1,7 million into a Zacc bank account after Gumbo had allegedly
requested for $1 680 million for the purchase of the premises.
It is
the State’s case that Gumbo allegedly instructed Zacc officials Sukai
Tongogara, Christopher Chisango, Edwin Mubataripi and Gibson Mangwiro to
form a shelf company called Property Mortgage in which they were directors
with equal shares.
According to court papers, the $1 680 million was
deposited into a CBZ bank account for a company called Perpetual Properties,
where Gumbo’s daughter was an administrator and in charge of the
transactions.
The court heard the property was bought for $1,2 million
and a balance of $435 500 remained after Perpetual Real Estate Agents
deducted their $44 500 commission.
Another $160 000 was used to buy a
property owned by Poptechnologies where Gumbo and one Popatlal Samir are
directors, while a further $100 000 was given to a person only identified Da
Silva, according to the prosecution.
Samir received $95 000 and Gumbo
allegedly allocated himself $80 000 for “renovations”, according to the
prosecution.
He is yet to respond to the allegations. - Helen Kadirire
The Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission is regrouping to find ways to address the probe
of government ministers alleged to be involved in corrupt
practices.
This was after ZACC investigators were reportedly
blocked by armed police from conducting searches at National Indigenization
and Economic Empowerment Board and Zimbabwe Mining development Corporation
offices.
ZACC was targeting Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere,
Transport Minister Nicholas Goche and Obert Mpofu, the Minister of Mines
before the commission was blocked by the High Court last week.
“We
did not challenge the High Court order ruling because we wanted to regroup
and discuss as commissioners what to do next,” ZACC spokesperson, Goodwill
Shana, told reporters today at a press conference.
Desperate
attempt
ZACC has been the subject of attack by state media with Zanu (PF)
Tsholotsho MP Jonathan Moyo accusing the anti-graft body’s commissioners of
corruption and receiving covert funding from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon Gono.
However, Shana yesterday denied the allegation
saying ZACC was not receiving money from anywhere except the
Treasury.
“It is a desperate attempt to cast aspersions on the image of
ZACC,” Shana said.
Shana denied that ZACC secured search warrants
from the High Court to “pursue under-hand and malicious investigations
against certain organisations”.
“ZACC wants to put it on record that
it exhausted all prescribed procedures and avenues for obtaining search
warrants, including the police and magistrate courts,” he said.
Shana
said they approached the High Court after all channels failed, which was
unusual looking at recent history. He said the High Court judge who issued
the search warrant believed it had legal merit to grant it.
Shana added:
“As ZACC, we are not prompted by political considerations but by reasonable
suspicion that a crime has been committed.” Shana said ZACC commissioners
were appointed by President Robert Mugabe after he was satisfied they met
the criteria.
The High Court has reserved judgement to Wednesday on a bid
for freedom by four workers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office.
They were arrested last week on charges of impersonating a police
officer.
On Monday defence lawyers for the four, who are still in remand
prison, appealed to the High Court to set aside an earlier bail refusal by a
lower court.
Thabani Mpofu, Felix Matsinde, Mehluli Tshuma, and
Warship Dumba were refused bail by Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa on the
grounds that were likely to interfere with police investigations or abscond
if released.
The four were arrested together with their lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa, during a raid on the Prime Minister’s offices in Avondale on March
17th. They were charged with possessing dockets on senior government
officials, including police chief Augustine Chihuri.
The defence team
wants the High Court to set aside magistrate Gofa’s ruling, and argue that
their clients are suitable candidates for bail.
Defence lawyer Chris
Mhike said the court will decide on the bail appeal after the presiding
judge indicated that he needed time to study submissions by both the defence
and prosecution.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai raised the issue of the arrest of
his staff during the principals’ weekly Monday meetings, attended by
President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
According to Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, “the
PM is disturbed by the serious allegations against his office and by what
appears to be a deliberate strategy by the police to attack one arm of the
executive arm of government.
“The Prime Minister sees the arrests as
not only an attempt to harass him and his office but is an extension of the
clampdown on civil society. The actions by the police do not inspire
confidence at all that Zimbabwe is going to have a free and fair election,
Tamborinyoka said.
Tamborinyoka told SW Radio Africa that the Principals
will be holding a meeting with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri
to discuss the recent actions by the police.
Many Zimbabweans have
expressed concern over the disregard for the rule of law by those who are
expected to enforce the law. But it seems unlikely such a meeting will
change anything.
Last week the police ignored a High Court order granting
bail to Beatrice Mtetwa, an acclaimed human rights defender who was arrested
while carrying out her duties as a lawyer. Mtetwa’s week-long incarceration
finally ended Monday, after her legal team lodged another High Court appeal
to secure her release.
Since the beginning of this year state
security agents have embarked on a nationwide crackdown on civil society and
individuals suspected of being anti-ZANU PF.
The onslaught has seen
the police confiscating radios from rural communities in an attempt to stop
people listening on shortwave to radio stations such as SW Radio Africa.
HIGH Court judge Joseph Musakwa on Tuesday recused
himself from hearing the case of four MDC-T officials charged with
impersonating the police and possessing classified documents covered by the
Official Secrets Act. The four – Thabani Mpofu, Warship Dumba, Felix Matsinde
and Mehluli Tshuma – were arrested on March 16 in coordinated police raids
at several addresses in Harare.
Lawyers for the four men who are
seeking their release on bail met Justice Musakwa in the judges’ chambers at
the Harare High Court.
“The judge told us that he cannot proceed with the
matter because he once worked with three of the accused while he was the
director of prosecution in the Attorney General’s office, so we are now
trying to look for another judge ,”lawyer Alec Muchadehama said after the
meeting.
Chris Mhike, another member of the defence team, was hopeful
another judge would be found on Tuesday to hear the case. Mpofu, Dumba,
Matsinde and Tshuma are charged with accessing secret government documents
and investigating senior government officials including police chief
Augustine Chihuri, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo for alleged corruption.
Mpofu, a former
prosecutor, is also accused of possessing a gun without a licence.
WASHINGTON DC — President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday discussed the arrest of human
rights activists and the detention of staff from the prime minister’s office
and agreed this was tarnishing the image of the country,
according.
According to Mr. Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka,
the two leaders also discussed the behaviour of police officers in the
country, which the prime minister had said is of concern.
President
Mugabe is now expected to meet with Police Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri to discuss the issue.
Mr. Tsvangirai is said to have confronted
President Mugabe during their Monday principals meeting and told him that he
was unhappy with the arrests of three members from his research department,
the arrest of rights activists and others ahead of polls expected later this
year.
Tamborinyoka said the leaders also discussed and agreed that the
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission be allowed to operate as it is mandated
by the law.
The leaders are said to have also agreed that the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) must be allowed to work with
the Southern African Development Community in making sure that all the
outstanding issues are solved.
Tamborinyoka said JOMIC is expected to
present a report Tuesday to the Cabinet to outline their
operations.
The three principals are said to have also tasked Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Constitution and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga to work together and come up with a time-frame for
the general elections.
He said there were no dates for the elections yet,
contrary to what was recently announced by Chinamasa that the country will
hold elections by June 29 this year.
Zimbabwe's top
human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says her arrest was a ploy to intimidate
activists ahead of elections in the country.
Mtetwa was released by a
court after eight days in jail for allegedly obstructing justice. The
alleged intimidation of activists and pro-democracy groups come ahead of
elections expected in July.
A visibly tired Mtetwa walked from the High
Court in Harare in the company of two colleagues and her lawyer after her
release papers took several hours to complete. She told reporters she
believed she had been targeted by police.
"It is a personal attack on
all human rights lawyers but I was just made the first example. There will
be many more arrests to follow as we near elections," Mtetwa
said.
"The police were all out to get me. They wanted me to feel their
might and power because I call myself a human rights lawyer and I felt
it."
Mtetwa was arrested on March 17 along with four officials from Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party.
The officials are accused of
illegally compiling information on high level corruption and are schedule to
appeal for bail on Tuesday. Mtetwa was accused of shouting at police
officers who were conducting a search at Tsvangirai's staff offices when she
demanded to see a search warrant.
'Illegal, unlawful and
undemocratic' Mtetwa and the four officials denied any wrongdoing. She said
she merely told the police that "what they were doing is illegal, unlawful
and undemocratic".
High Court Judge Joseph Musakwa ruled early on
Monday that Mtetwa was following professional legal procedures when she
demanded to see a search warrant from police at the offices of the four
officials.
"She was entitled to be appraised of the legality of the
search," Musakwa said.
After her release, Mtetwa said she was not
well-treated while in police custody. She was not allowed to take a bath and
was denied access to her lawyers and family. But she said she would not give
up the fight for human rights.
"I will not be cowed," Mtetwa said.
"There has to be mutual respect between police and lawyers because we will
all be doing our job."
'Deeply concerned' Critics cited Mtetwa's
prolonged jailing as the start of a fresh wave of political intimidation
against President Robert Mugabe's opponents by loyalist police and judicial
officials ahead of elections.
The European Union (EU) said in a statement
on Monday that Europe's governments were "deeply concerned" by Mtetwa's
arrest and the onslaught against civic groups as Zimbabwe prepares for
elections to end the shaky and dispute-ridden coalition
government.
The European bloc conceded that a referendum vote on March 16
on a new constitution was "credible" and reflected the free will of about
three-million voters who cast their ballots and overwhelmingly accepted the
reformed constitution, EU spokesperson Carl Skau said on Monday.
As a
result the EU suspended with immediate effect travel and banking bans on 81
leaders of Mugabe's party.
But Mugabe, his wife, military, police and
security chiefs and several others key loyalists remained on the ban
list.
The restrictions were imposed in 2002 to protest the human rights
record, violence, corruption and allegations of vote-rigging by Mugabe's
party in past elections.
Regional mediators forged the coalition
government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai after the disputed and violent
elections in 2008.
Intimidation So far this year, four rights and
advocacy groups have been raided by police searching for alleged subversive
materials relating to their activities campaigning for free elections and an
end to political intimidation and human rights abuses that have dominated
past elections.
Mtetwa was scheduled to act as lead defence attorney in
the trial, resuming on Monday, of 29 supporters of Tsvangirai's party
charged in the murder of a police inspector in an impoverished township
suburb in western Harare.
Most of those suspects were denied bail for
more than a year. Defending them, Mtetwa noted that six police officers
charged in the assault and murder of a theft suspect received bail within a
month of their detention.
The officers are still to go to trial in that
case, which was opened nine months ago.
Swaziland-born Mtetwa moved
to Zimbabwe in 1983. She represented key leaders in Tsvangirai's party,
including its treasurer Roy Bennett, now in self-imposed exile after
repeated threats.
She has also defended journalists and prominent rights
workers, some of whom were tortured, according to evidence in court, and
held incommunicado without charge for several weeks late in
2008.
Obstructing justice Last week police ignored a High Court order
to free Mtetwa and on Wednesday the lower Harare Magistrate's Court ordered
her held in custody to reappear in that court on April 3.
Charges of
obstructing justice carry a maximum of two years imprisonment.
The judge
said Mtetwa should not have been denied bail because of her "professional
standing". He said the police officers conducting the search could have
"easily subdued her because she is a woman" if they felt she was hindering
them from doing their job.
"She is a lawyer of many years, with a
forceful, combative and at times aggressive personality but she remains
professional and dignified" when doing her job, the judge
said.
Mtetwa is a recipient of an array of awards from international
jurists' groups, including the American Bar Association over a distinguished
career of three decades.
Mtetwa is known for her feisty and outspoken
style and for quickly responding to calls for representation around the
clock by activists and journalists held by police.
Media freedom
groups said her detention, the first time she was jailed, left independent
reporters and rights campaigners fearful of being left without her
voice.
The state's Sunday Mail criticised Mtetwa for thinking she was
"untouchable" and said her "stage-managed antics in and outside the courts"
earned her "dubious awards" from lawyers groups worldwide.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 10:00 HARARE - The murder
trial of 29 Harare residents accused of killing police inspector Petros
Mutedza in May 2011 has been deferred to next week Tuesday.
The case was
expected to proceed yesterday.
“The transcribed record is not yet ready.
They said it would be ready by tomorrow (today),” said Gift Mtisi, who is
part of the legal team representing the 29 residents from Harare’s Glen View
suburb.
Mtisi said they would need the transcribed record for easy
reference when applying for discharge.
The lead counsel Beatrice
Mtetwa was not readily available yesterday, as she was separately appearing
in court following her arrest on charges of obstructing or defeating course
of justice last week.
High Court judge Joseph Musakwa however, freed her
on bail meaning she will be available when the Glen View trial returns to
court.
Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba closed the state case on March 11,
prompting defence lawyers to give notice that they would apply for the case
against the 29 to be dropped.
Out of the 29 suspects, only five
remain in remand prison after their bail bid was turned down by judge
Chinembiri Bhunu, who ruled that they were a flight risk and that the state
had a strong case against them.
The activists are being charged with
murder or alternatively public violence as defined in Sections 47 and 36 of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. - Tendai Kamhungira
"The ball is now in Mugabe’s
court" Geoffrey Van Orden
Senior UK MEP Geoffrey Van Orden has given a
guarded welcome to the EU's decision to suspend sanctions against 81
officials and eight firms in Zimbabwe.
The decision followed a
"peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a new constitution earlier
this month.
From the 91 originally banned, sanctions will remain in force
against 10 people - including Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe - and two
firms.
The EU imposed sanctions, including a travel ban, in 2002 in
response to alleged human rights abuses and political violence under
Mugabe's rule.
Mugabe, who has shared power with prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirai since disputed elections in 2008, said the sanctions should be
unconditionally removed
Mugabe, 89, and his rival, prime minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, 61, have been sharing power since disputed elections
marred by violence in 2008.
Reaction to the move was swift with Van
Orden, chair of parliament's 'friends of Zimbabwe' group, saying, "We
recognise that there has been some movement in the right direction and this
needs to be reinforced.
"The referendum was just a first step. The really
important event will be the elections later in the year.
"Our concern
now is that all the processes connected with the elections should be carried
out fairly and correctly and that campaigning is free from violence and
intimidation.
"A reduction in the restrictive measures is just about
acceptable provided they can be quickly re-imposed if there is any sign of
violence, intimidation or manipulation of the electoral process. My
understanding is that this is exactly what has been agreed.
"The
changes meet the wishes of other African countries and will signal to
ZANU-PF insiders and to army and police chiefs that they have nothing to
fear from real democratic change."
"The ball is now in Mugabe's
court," added the MEP, who has been personally banned by Mugabe from
entering Zimbabwe.
ZANU PF on Tuesday accused the European Union of
trying to “divide the party and cause confusion amongst our officials” after
sanctions were scrapped on 81 officials to leave just 10 – including
President Robert Mugabe – who are seen as responsible for human rights
abuses.
The EU announced a rollback of the sanctions imposed in 2002
following a “credible” referendum on a new constitution on March 16 which
passed without violence that has accompanied elections in the
past.
But while sanctions were lifted on some of Mugabe’s top loyalists
including Vice President Joice Mujuru, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo,
Mugabe’s name remained stuck on the blacklist along with those of his wife
Grace, Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa as well as heads of the
army and police.
In a statement on Tuesday, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare
Gumbo slammed the EU for what he said were “desperate attempts” to drive a
wedge between the party’s top leadership.
He again called for the
scrapping of the travel and financial sanctions against the 10 individuals
as well as two companies – the state-owned diamond miner, the Zimbabwe
Mining Development Cooperation and arms procure, the Zimbabwe Defence
Industries.
“As long as there remains a single person on the sanctions
list, and particularly if that person is President Robert Mugabe who is the
heart and soul of our nation and who represents everything that is good
about Zimbabwe, we will continue to be appalled by the EU and its
half-hearted efforts,” Gumbo said.
“Let’s put it this way: an assault
on President Mugabe is an assault on the entirety of Zimbabwe and we are not
accustomed to taking assaults very kindly. The EU fools itself if it thinks
Zanu PF is amused by its latest gesture. Quite the opposite!”
Gumbo
insisted that Zanu PF would overcome alleged attempts to divide it because
it is a “50-year-old organisation which knows much better than to be divided
by our detractors, people who have spent the better part of their lives
trying to dislodge us from power through foul means”.
According to the
EU, President Mugabe, the First Lady, Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus
Mutasa, war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda, Central Intelligence
Organisation director Happyton Bonyongwe, Police Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine
Chiwenga, Air Marshall Perence Shiri, Army Commander Lt General Phillip
Valerio Sibanda and Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba will remain
banned from travelling to Europe and will be denied access to the financial
systems of those countries.
Prisons chief Retired Major General
Paradzai Zimondi had sanctions lifted. Zanu PF said the sanctions on the army
chiefs were a plot to “encumber the security sector... to weaken our
country”, adding: “It’s an unacceptable affront to our independence and
sovereignty. It is also very much in line with the MDC-T’s call for security
sector reforms and confirms our long held view that the sanctions are
intended partly as punishment for embarking on the land reform and partly as
an attempt to bolster MDC-T’s chances of winning in the next
election.”
The EU says the sanctions will be reviewed further after
elections expected mid-year.
Washington - The
United States is reviewing its sanctions on Zimbabwe but has made no
decision yet to follow the European Union in easing an assets freeze and
travel visa ban, a top official said on Monday.
Washington congratulated
the Harare government for holding a "peaceful and credible constitutional
referendum" earlier this month, State Department spokesperson Patrick
Ventrell said.
It was "an important first step in the nation's
development of democracy", he said of the March 16 vote called to approve a
new constitution.
But the United States is still waiting to see if it can
"serve as a precedent for upcoming presidential elections".
"So we're
going to continue to review our sanctions, but we want to get the democratic
process back on track in Zimbabwe."
The European Union on Monday lifted
sanctions against 81 people and eight entities in Zimbabwe following the
March referendum.
However, President Robert Mugabe and a handful of
others remained on the EU blacklist, a European diplomat
confirmed.
The United States began imposing targeted sanctions on
Zimbabwe in 2001, which include financial sanctions and travel bans on a
list of firms and individuals, including Mugabe.
Former US secretary
of state Hillary Clinton said in August during a visit to South Africa that
Washington would reward efforts by Zimbabwe's leaders to pave the way toward
free elections, saying the United States is prepared to "match action for
action".
Finance Minister Tendai Biti described as
‘absolute nonsense’ and ‘lies’ reports saying principals and cabinet
ministers in the inclusive government would receive hefty exit packages at
the end of the current coalition arrangement in June.
The weekly
Zimbabwe Independent newspaper revealed last week that President Robert
Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
his deputies Arthur Mutambara and Thoko Khupe would receive golden
handshakes running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The papers
said 35 cabinet ministers and 18 deputy ministers would each get US$30 000,
residential stands in affluent suburbs, three luxury cars including Mercedes
Benz and top-of-the-range SUVs before leaving office.
But the finance
minister categorically denied this: “It’s total undiluted nonsense. There is
nothing like that. Nothing like that.”
Biti told SW Radio Africa this
matter has not been discussed in cabinet, reiterating: “It’s absolute
nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. The President stays in the State House that is
owned by the State. The Prime Minister stays in a residence which is owned
by the State. I don’t know about other officials, but the State House is a
State house and a private residence is a private residence. If there are
agreements to buy back I don’t know about those but the fact of the matter
is that there is no exit package that is going to be paid to anyone. That is
absolutely nonsense.”
He said it is surprising that no journalist has
ever asked him about this issue of ‘golden handshakes’ even though he gives
monthly meetings and press briefings on the state of the economy.
“I
have seen a recent tendency of just writing articles without substantiation.
The other day I was complaining about an article that said the ‘government
is raiding companies for electoral funds’, which is absolute nonsense as
well. We issued two bonds, voluntarily to two companies – Old Mutual and
NSSA and that’s all. You just get tired,” the Finance Minister
added.
The news of the exit packages has been slammed by many
Zimbabweans, with some writing on social networks saying the inclusive
government, which has constantly said is broke and has no money to fund the
elections and is struggling to provide basic services, had betrayed the
people.
MDC-99 President Job Sikhala, who was the first to expose this
story earlier this month, said he stands by his story and challenged the
authorities to arrest him if this is a lie.
Biti insisted that the
allegations are ‘lies and perjury’ adding: “I am a Christian and a lawyer
and I will not put my career at risk. This is absolute nonsense.”
But
Sikhala said what he revealed was the truth and that President Mugabe
approved a cabinet motion by the Minister of Water Resources, Sipepa Nkomo,
to have exit packages.
“This is only Tendai Biti’s shameless dispense
of the truth when he knows that cabinet ministers have already received the
exit packages.”
Sikhala added: “If it is a lie I challenge him to put in
place an independent commission of enquiry into these allegations and if
they come out clean I will celebrate this.”
Sikhala claims some
ministers have shown him transactions of money they allegedly received from
the ministry of finance, “so Tendai Biti must be ashamed of himself if he
defends such kind of greediness. I am really surprised with him because he
is the last person I expected to defend this.”
The MDC-99 leader said the
government should have challenged the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper if the
story was false.
Some government ministers, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, denied they had received payments. They said they were due to
receive housing allowances, especially to help ministers who lived outside
Harare, but that the scheme did not materialise because the government has
no money.
“The law obliges me to pay housing allowances for ministers and
MPs but I have not been able to pay those,” confirmed Biti.
The
sources said initially some ministers were staying in hotels but the
Ministry of Finance failed to pay the hotel bills. It was then the cabinet
decided to rent flats and the government was expected to pay rent for the
ministers who lived outside Harare.
This did not work and some
ministers were evicted after the government again failed to make the rent
payments, resulting in government reinstating housing allowances for all
ministers, as in the Zimbabwe-dollar days. “But no-one is receiving this
allowance and a scheme to apply for CBZ commercial loans, with the
government as guarantors, has also failed to materialise,” revealed one of
the ministers.
Meanwhile, Sikhala accused political opponents of ‘petrol
bombing’ his shopping complex in Chitungwiza early Tuesday morning. He said
ZESA officers were called to the scene and confirmed that it was not an
electrical fault that destroyed his shop. He said children could not have
been “playing with fire at 1 am at my complex when we know that even at that
time witches would have retired to bed. So this was no accident.”
Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba has
described as ‘bittersweet’ a decision by the highest African court, which
found the Zimbabwe government responsible for the torture he suffered in
2003.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights made this
decision last year after it was filed by Shumba in 2004. But the decision
was only finalised in January and communicated to the Zimbabwe government
and Shumba in the past week. The court has now given Zimbabwe 90 days to act
on the decision, including launching an investigation into the torture that
Shumba was subjected to.
The lawyer was arrested by the police and
CIO officials in Zimbabwe in 2003, while attending to a client. During his
detention he was kicked, beaten and severely tortured and ill-treated for
several hours. He was threatened with death, electrocuted, burned with
chemicals and suffered other serious abuses.
Following this torture
he was then forced to flee to South Africa where, almost ten years later, he
still lives and works as an advocate in the High Court. He told SW Radio
Africa on Tuesday that the fact that his case took almost a decade to reach
this point was “concerning.”
“It was really a long, long process fraught
with a lot of disappointments, characterised by despair. I almost withdrew
the case from the African Commission and I think it is not a good thing for
our African jurisprudence to have a case drag on for so long,” Shumba
explained.
He continued: “If you consider the fact that I am a lawyer and
I have had to pester them (the court) at every opportunity at every moment I
could get, try and juxtapose that to a situation where someone with no
knowledge of the law ventures to approach the commission… It is really a
disappointment. As many people have said, justice delayed is justice
denied.”
He said the system at the Commission needs to be improved,
warning that without key changes “it can only work to discourage prospective
applicants or complaints before the commission.” He said that, as the
highest judicial authority in Africa, the court needs to set a standard for
the rule of law and fighting impunity.
But Shumba also welcomed the
decision, calling it a progressive one that sets an important precedent in
Africa. He said that in a specific Zimbabwean context, it also sets a vital
precedent ahead of elections.
“It is fortuitous that the ruling has come
while human rights defenders in Zimbabwe are being harassed, including
Beatrice Mtetwa, Okay Machisa, Jestina Mukoko and others. The pronouncement
made in this ruling from the African Union’s highest judicial body is that
what the Zimbabwe government is doing is illegal in terms of African
charter. And that is an important precedent,” Shumba said.
By Guthrie Munyuki, Senior Assistant
Editor Tuesday, 26 March 2013 09:55 HARARE - Munyaradzi Gwisai, leader of
the International Socialist Organisation (Iso), has warned his colleagues
who pushed for a ‘‘No’’ vote in the just-ended referendum against forming a
political party.
The former Highfield legislator’s warning comes against
corridor talk and suspicion that National Constitutional Assembly chairman,
Lovemore Madhuku, could form a party.
Madhuku, a public law lecturer
at the University of Zimbabwe, has been advocating for a people-driven
constitution for the last 13 years.
“To rush into forming a new party on
the basis of the disparate ‘‘No’’ vote, and one led by the middle classes,
even if formed after the elections, will not take working people far,” said
Gwisai in his organisation’s latest dispatch which reacts to the recently
concluded referendum.
“Its ideological character as well as un-democratic
DNA will be no different from the MDC. It will merely be a popular front in
which radical trade unions, activists, students and socialists will be used
to build another broad church, which will eventually be dominated by
capitalists and their middle class lackeys.
“Working people need to
look hard and learn the hard lessons from how the MDC was hijacked by the
rich. Rushing to form a political party from the disparate groups that made
up the ‘Vote No’ groups would inevitably lead to another MDC
disaster”.
Madhuku has not ruled out forming a party although he
maintains he has unfinished business with Zanu PF and MDC formations who
campaigned for a ‘‘Yes’’ vote.
In the constitutional referendum, the
‘‘Yes’’ vote polled 3 079 966 votes, representing 93 percent of the ballot
while ‘‘No’’ vote scored 179 489, or 5,4 percent.
This paved way for
a new constitution to replace the overly amended and defective Lancaster
House Constitution that has been in use since independence.
Gwisai
said pro-democracy groups, in the event that they think of forming a party,
must strive to build a movement, from the bottom to the top.
“That kind
of movement is not formed overnight in a hotel conference room or an NGO
board-room. It can only be formed in the anvil of real concrete struggles in
which the true colours of activists, leaders and organisations are revealed,
tried and tested.
“The agenda of the ruling classes is clear. As publicly
admitted by the likes of MDC’s Eric Matinenga and Mugabe’s George Charamba,
another elite government of national unity beckons post-elections, with
elections only useful for determining the share-out of power. The Copac
Constitution already accommodates this: a neoliberal property regime, and an
accommodating political framework, with two vice presidents, an unlimited
size of Cabinet and bloated Parliament to give enough positions to the
leaders of all parties,” said Gwisai.
Among those who see Madhuku
forming a party or view that as his only alternative to remain relevant in
the current discourse, is Nathaniel Manheru a columnist suspected to be
President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman, Charamba.
“The votes NCA
attracted may have been too small to dent the ‘‘Yes’’ vote. But they were
numerically big enough to launch a movement, a party… Numerically bigger
when you consider two points. While the two main parties got loyalty votes,
Madhuku got the thinking vote.
Potentially that makes his numbers very
many, magnified. He commanded a leadership stratum, actual and potential and
that augments the quality of his numbers.
“I said potentially because
the same strength is also the same weakness. It is easy to become another
Enoch Dumbutshena and his elitist Forum party (or another Makoni)…You looked
at the geographic spread of the NCA vote, and you were struck by the
national spread, of course with an indicative concentration in Manicaland,
Madhuku’s province…But Madhuku has some following in cities, themselves
locales for politics of the futures…” wrote Manheru on March
23.
Madhuku formed the NCA together with former ally Morgan Tsvangirai in
a bid to usher in a new constitution.
But with Tsvangirai siding with
Mugabe in the just- ended referendum, Madhuku’s aspirations were severely
dented, leaving speculators pointing towards his next move widely believed
to be a political party which they say could be launched after elections
expected later this year.
Don’t miss Thursday’s edition for Gwisai’s full
interview.
WASHINGTON — Green Fuel (Pvt) Limited’s $600 million
Chisumbanje plant in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province remains closed despite
spirited efforts by Vice President Joice Mujuru for the ethanol entity to
re-open Monday.
According to Claris Madhuku, a member of the Chisumbanje
district ethanol plant implementation committee, thousands of retrenched
workers and local people converged at the plant this morning hoping to
witness the resumption of operations following its closure more than 18
months ago.
Madhuku said Vice President Mujuru appears to have been
merely politicking last Tuesday when she told retrenched workers and locals
that the plant will re-open Monday.
He told VOA Studio 7 Mujuru’s
remarks that the plant is a Zanu-PF project have divided the local community
along political lines with former ruling party youths already recruiting
their members for Green Fuel jobs.
Officials in Mujuru’s office
declined to comment. The plant was shut down following a land dispute
between green fuel and villagers, prices of ethanol and the introduction of
mandatory ethanol blending in the country, among other issues.
The
Chisumbanje plant is currently holding more than 80 million litres of
ethanol.
GREEN Fuel resumed operations at its ethanol plant
here yesterday, raising prospects that the country could soon start the
mandatory blending of fuel that has been on the cards for
sometime.
There was jubilation as workers who had become restive after
being sent on forced leave following the closure of the plant last year,
were relieved to get their jobs back. The resumption of operations
follows a directive by Vice President Joice Mujuru who toured the plant and
its sugar estates last week.
Ethanol production is expected to start
after the Easter holidays as the firm is still recalling the
workers. When The Herald visited the plant yesterday, some of the employees
were gathering outside the plant as their names were being called. Said
Green Fuel production manager Engineer David Muwandi: “We have started with
recalling our employees and after that we will do some refresher courses
because most of them have not been doing this job for a long time. We have
projected to start actual production on April 4.”
Eng Muwandi said they
were expecting to have all workers reporting for duty by the end of the
week. He said Green Fuel wanted to procure spares and chemicals used in
ethanol production. The plant, Eng Muwandi said, produces an average of
150 000 litres of ethanol daily.
“We are in the process of upgrading
our machinery and soon we will be producing between 200 000 litres and 250
000 litres daily,” he said. Green Fuel assistant general manager Mr Raphael
Zuze said the re-opening of the plant was a process that took some time
since it was closed for a long time. “It is a process and we are still
mobilising our workers,” he said. “Those who harvest the sugar cane should
come first before the plant starts to run. We are still attending to
logistical and administrative issues.”
Green Fuel workers welcomed the
re-opening of the ethanol plant. Mr Thulani Sibanda, who works as a
supervisor, said the re-opening of the ethanol plant would not only benefit
Green Fuel employees, but the nation at large. “If this plant is running,
the country can reduce its fuel import bill by 10 percent,” he said. “This
is a welcome development that we all cherish not only as Green Fuel
employees but as Zimbabweans.”
Another employee, Mr Stanely Chieza, said
the re-opening of the ethanol plant brought relief to workers who have gone
for almost a year without salaries. “We are happy that this plant has
re-opened,” he said. “As workers, we are now assured that we can decently
look after our families.” Green Fuel is now waiting for the issuance of a
licence that would enable it to sell anhydrous ethanol to all licensed oil
companies in Zimbabwe.
Government recently gazetted regulations making it
mandatory for all licensed oil companies to sell petrol blended with a
minimum of five percent of locally produced ethanol. Energy and Power
Development Deputy Minister Cde Hubert Nyanhongo said yesterday that
consultations with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority to expedite
issuance of a license to Green Fuel had begun.
“I have talked to
officials from Zera and all I can say at the moment is that we are making
progress to ensure a licence is issued,” he said. “We want to adhere to the
instruction given by the Presidency.”
VP Mujuru ordered company officials
to open the plant while the Government re-aligns the fuel blending
policy. Green Fuel closed its plant in February 2012 after stocking up the
maximum 10 million litres of ethanol that its storage facilities allow.
The eagerly awaited and perhaps the most competitive primary
elections in the history of the MDC-T, since its formation 14 years ago, are
set to be held in mid-April, party sources said on Tuesday.
SW Radio
Africa is reliably informed the party’s election directorate on Tuesday
began vetting the list of candidates who submitted their CV’s wishing to
contest the urban and rural council, senatorial and parliamenatry
elections.
The party’s national council is expected to convene
Wednesday next week to deliberate on the names, after which they will
release a full list of candidates to contest the primaries.
The
party’s national organizing secretary, Nelson Chamisa, revealed earlier this
year that they had an overwhelming response from people who wanted to stand
on the party’s ticket for elections, expected any time between June and
October.
Chamisa said the list contained a “rich menu” of candidates who
include lawyers, journalists, bankers, economists, the old and young. One of
the lawyers who have confirmed submitting his CV’s is Arnold Tsunga, who is
challenging the sitting MDC-T MP and cabinet minister Giles Mutsekwa, for
the Chikanga-Dangamvura constituency in Mutare.
“We have a rich menu
and an excellent combination of young and dynamic, tried and tested leaders,
experienced senior citizens and skilled Zimbabweans who want to be MDC
candidates come elections,” said Chamisa.
Piniel Denga, the party’s
provincial chairman for Mashonaland East, told us they received 300
applications for 180 council seats, while 21 candidates submitted their CV’s
for the 5 senatorial seats in the province. 70 aspiring candidates will be
vying to win the right to represent the party from the 17 parliamentary
seats in the province.
‘We have a strong field of candidates, so those
who are spreading the word that the MDC is going to impose candidates must
be ashamed of their lies,’ said Denga, adding the province was now busy
urging people to register and vote.
Theresa Makone, co-Home Affairs
Minister, said that to register to vote you need to be 18 years old, a
citizen of Zimbabwe, resident in the ward or constituency and possess one of
the following: A Zimbabwe national metal or a polythene ID. A legible
green national registration waiting pass document. A valid Zimbabwe
passport.
Makone used her Facebook page to explain the process and said
she got the information from the Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede. She
emphasized that anyone wishing to register had to appear in person before
the registrar and you needed documentary proof of where you
lived.
‘Confirmation of proof of residence can be done by a landlord,
parent or friend staying with the claimant. The persons confirming you, must
do a written statement accompanied by their house card, electricity bill,
water bill, rates bill, or similar document in their name.
‘You can
also take a sworn statement by your employer confirming your claim of
residence and hospital bills, envelopes with post markings reflecting
claimant’s address and any other information and or document sufficient
enough to enable the Registrar to ascertain the claimant’s address,’ Makone
added.
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara was yesterday
given another lease of political life after the Supreme Court indefinitely
postponed judgment in his appeal against an order declaring him an
illegitimate leader of the MDC.
Two years ago, Bulawayo High Court
judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha declared Mutambara an illegitimate MDC
leader, in an order which was meant to put an end to the long-running legal
wrangle over control of the party between him and his predecessor Welshman
Ncube.
Justice Kamocha’s order was to stand pending the outcome of a
Harare case in which Joubert Mudzumwe and 13 others were challenging Ncube’s
ascendancy to the party’s helm at a congress held in January
2011.
Mutambara appealed against the order and the matter was heard
yesterday by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku sitting as a panel with
Justice Vernanda Ziyambi and High Court judge Justice Martin
Makonese.
Judgment was postponed indefinitely after the judges heard
arguments from Advocate Adrian de Bourbon instructed by Josphat Tshuma for
Ncube and Advocate Lewis Uriri instructed by Alec Muchadehama for
Mutambara.
Ncube’s camp wanted the appeal to be thrown out, arguing that
it had not been properly brought before the Supreme Court as Mutambara did
not seek leave to appeal from the judge.
However, Mutambara’s
lawyers argued that the matter did not need a leave to appeal because
Justice Kamocha had given a final order.
They said the appeal should be
upheld and a declaration be made so that Ncube and Mutambara would know
their positions.
The wrangle followed an application by MDC
secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga seeking to bar Mutambara
from “masquerading” as party president or as one of the coalition
government’s three principals.
Justice Kamocha ordered the robotics
professor to stop acting as a principal in the inclusive government and as
MDC president in any fora in the country or internationally.
He also
ordered him to pay the costs of the lawsuit.
In January 2011, Ncube took
over from Mutambara as party leader at a congress held at City Sports Centre
in Harare.
Mutambara initially endorsed Ncube’s ascendancy in a speech he
gave at the congress.
He made a U-turn after he was asked to step
down as Deputy Prime Minister and make way for the new party leader.-
NewsDay
WASHINGTON — War veterans and their wives Monday
besieged Governor Titus Maluleke’s offices at the Benjamin Burombo building
in Masvingo for the second day running demanding, among other things, to be
allocated sugar cane plots in the lowveld.
The former freedom
fighters also demanded that some youths arrested in Bikita while mining
illegally should not be prosecuted.
Over a 100 war veterans gathered at
the governor’s offices early Monday morning. Their wives joined them after
similar action Friday.
The former freedom fighters are demanding sugar
cane plots in the lowveld arguing they also want to get into the lucrative
industry.
The war veteran leaders were then invited into a private
meeting with the governor while their colleagues waited
outside.
Details of the meeting were not immediately available. War
veterans spokesman Kid Muzenda said they have lost patience with
Maluluke.
Maluleke as governor chairs the Masvingo land committee which
is responsible mainly for allocating land to the people.
At least 150
people are said to have been allocated pieces of land in the lucrative
region but the former freedom fighters claim they have been
shunned.
They are demanding Maluleke should speedily allocate them
their share before crucial elections expected later this year. The governor
refused to talk to the press.
The war veterans are also demanding
that a group of about 100 youths arrested during a police clampdown on
illegal miners in Bikita be released from detention without charges being
preferred against them.
It is alleged that some senior Zanu-PF officials,
among them politburo members, are involved in the illegal mining of
tantalite, a mineral discovered recently near Bikita Minerals
Mine.
The discovery of tantalite in the area has seen hundreds flocking
to the district to for illegal mining activities.
THE Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said Zanu PF was wasting its time
pushing for elections before key electoral reforms were put in
place.
“The election will be determined by processes and fundamental
reforms. It’s a waste of time to talk of elections without reforms. Without
reforms, it’s an empty discourse,” MDC-T national organising secretary
Nelson Chamisa said.
“The good thing is Sadc is superintending this
whole process and we are a creature of a negotiated process and elections
are supposed to be a process. Why should elections be a Zanu PF
affair?”
Zanu PF has made it clear it will push for elections by the end
of June, while the MDC-T says elections could be held as late as
October.
Last week, Justice and Legal Affairs minister and Zanu PF
non-constituency senator Patrick Chinamasa said he would not allow for
elections to be held after June 29 this year.
Chamisa told NewsDay
yesterday his party had also unearthed fresh evidence of a Zanu PF “plot” to
rig the forthcoming harmonised elections.
The plot, he said, involved
using Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede’s office to bar suspected supporters
of the two MDC formations from registering as voters. Chamisa said his
party had raised the matter with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(Zec).
The Welshman Ncube-led MDC formation also made the same
allegations recently, saying some of its members were being frustrated from
registering as voters.
Ncube also alleged that sometimes his
supporters were being made to wait for up to four days to register, while
suspected Zanu PF supporters, in organised groups, were smoothly
registered.
“We are disturbed by reports we have received from across the
whole country of problems being encountered by people who want to register
and are suspected to be from the MDC,” Chamisa said.
“It’s a matter
that has been brought up with high offices and our leader (Tsvangirai). We
have also alerted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of the complaints coming
from the people on the ground. It’s a plot which is difficult to
understand,” he said.
Chamisa added that his party was still pushing for
a clean-up of the Zec secretariat to get rid of what he termed Zanu PF and
State security agents sympathetic to President Robert Mugabe.
This is
despite recent statements by Tsvangirai that the Zec secretariat was
clean.
In a separate interview yesterday, MDC spokesperson Kurauone
Chihwayi said his party members had experienced similar difficulties when
they went to register as voters at Makombe Building in Harare.
The
building houses Mudede’s offices.
“What we know is that preferential
treatment is given to uniformed forces and Central Intelligence Organisation
operatives and we understand they are being lectured and coerced to vote for
Zanu PF. In the last week they were addressed in camps and told to remember
the hand that feeds them. It’s unfortunate and that won’t help them to win
because people know what they want. Zanu PF has run out of ideas and it’s
known,” Chihwayi said.
“What we know is that at Makombe Building, some of
our members only got registered after four days without explanation. Zanu PF
people were registered fast and smoothly and this is clearly meant to
frustrate our supporters.”
Concerted efforts to reach Zanu PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo and Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau were
fruitless yesterday. Mudede too could not be reached.
Recently, the
Sadc Troika recommended urgent security sector reforms in Zimbabwe to enable
the holding of free and fair elections.
Mugabe has, however, remained
defiant, saying there will not be any security sector reforms. - NewsDay
WASHINGTON — Zimbabwe has frozen processing of
transfers and filling of vacant posts setting a collision course with the
country’s 230,000 workers.
This means that even teachers who want to
further their education will be affected by the move. The government said
this was because of budgetary constraints.
Relations between
government and civil servants have remained frosty following the public
service’s failure to meet the workers’ demands on a salary
increase.
The latest announcement worsened the relations between the
government and its workers who say their working conditions will be
worsened.
In a letter addressed to heads of ministries recently, Public
Service Commission secretary Pretty Sunguro said government would no longer
allow any working conditions adjustments within the civil
service.
“Please be advised that at its meeting of February 26, 2013 the
public service commission directed that there shall be no more creation of
new posts, filling of vacant posts and processing of performance
advancements services due to budgetary constraints,” the State-run Herald
quoted her as saying.
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association secretary
general, Richard Gundane said they are not happy that the announcement was
made in the media without them knowing anything.
Government has
enacted new laws imposing stiffer penalties of up to 11 years for poaching
protected animals, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has
said.
ZPWMA public relations manager Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo said the
new laws would affect criminals who kill any protected animals gazetted by
the Ministry Environment and
Natural Resources
Management.
“Any person who is convicted for unlawful killing of a
rhinoceros or elephant is expected to be sentenced to nine years for a first
offender or eleven years for a second or subsequent offender,” she
said.
The new penalties are contained in the General Laws Amendment Act
of 2011, amending the Parks and Wildlife Act. Ms Washaya-Moyo said the
new laws would help curb rampant poaching of rhinos and
elephants.
Zimbabweans are known to target rhinos and elephants for
markets in Far East countries fronted by wealthy international criminal
syndicates. Financial challenges have crippled ZPWMA efforts to curtail
poaching.
Zimbabwe is currently stuck with over 50 tonnes of ivory which
the country has been prohibited to sell under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species. It had been hoped that
permission to sell the ivory stockpile worth over US$10 million would
boost capacity of the authority to fund its conservation
activities.
CITES, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand last week noted
that reliable techniques on wildlife trade tracking and forensic methods
were needed to combat organised wildlife crimes, together with stronger
punishments. - New Ziana.
HARARE - Zimbabwe is considering new restrictions on foreign
journalists in the wake of the referendum vote on a new
Constitution.
Authorities were riled by footage of Mbare township
residents attacking a BBC team just before the March referendum.
The
Information Ministry said the incident was “stage-managed”.
The ministry
said some journalists want to show Zimbabwe as a country full of
violence.
The BBC team claimed it was attacked as it covered Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) campaigners putting up posters in the area, a day
before the vote.
The official line is that residents had concerns
about the environment and that is why they were objecting to the
posters.
Authorities now say international journalists abused freedom of
the press.
The official Herald newspapers said talks were being held to
determine what position should be taken on the foreign press ahead of
elections.
HARARE -
Zambians are scared that Zimbabwe’s forthcoming polls will compromise the
smooth-running of a global tourism event being co-hosted by the two
countries, according to United States ambassador to Zambia Mark
Storella.
Both Zimbabwe and Zambia are hyping the United Nations
World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) as a catalyst to winning back tourists,
but poor preparations by Harare and elections that are likely to turn
violent have kept Zambia on the edge.
Storella told journalists that
he learnt of the concerns through his “associations” in Zambia who are
keenly following Zimbabwe’s road to watershed elections to be held most
likely before end of July.
“According to my contacts Zambians are
concerned about peace during elections. They want the elections to be
peaceful for UNWTO. As we know problems in Zimbabwe mean problems in Zambia.
It affects visitors’ flow and reduces economic activity,” Storella
said.
Speaking to Zimbabwean female journalists visiting Zambia on a US
programme, Storella said Zambians drew “some comfort” from the peaceful
referendum held in Zimbabwe on March 16.
“Just as referendum went on
peacefully, Zambians are optimistic that all goes well during the election
as well,” he said.
But a recent crackdown on civil society and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s staff by police has renewed
concerns.
Zambia and Zimbabwe will co-host the 20th UNWTO General
Assembly from August 24 to 29, probably a month after Zimbabwe’s
election.
Successive elections in Zimbabwe since 2000 have been blighted
by violence, with the 2008 poll seen as one of the bloodiest. Stakes are
higher this year given that this could be 89-year-old President Robert
Mugabe’s last election and his campaigners are not leaving anything to
chance.
The MDC party led by Tsvangirai claims it lost more than 200 of
its supporters during the 2008 disputed elections which led to the formation
of a “unity” government.
Funding for the tourism indaba has also been
problematic.
While Zimbabwe is struggling to fund the tourism indaba amid
discord in the coalition government, the US — a key player in global tourism
— is happy with progress made thus in Zambia.
According to Storella,
the Zambian government was doing its best to pool resources towards UNWTO
preparations.
“Though infrastructure is still not enough to support the
conference, Zambia is making a big effort and I am sure it is going to do a
great job,” he said.
Just like Zambia, Zimbabwe has so far passed two
inspection examinations by the UNWTO inspectorate but without any financial
assistance from Finance minister Tendai Biti.
Tourism minister Walter
Mzembi, a Zanu PF appointee, accuses MDC secretary general Biti of
neglecting the country’s preparations for the tourism extravaganza to spite
Mugabe.
Mzembi said although his ministry had a budget of $11,9 million,
only $6 million was pledged by Biti.
Treasury is yet to release a
cent despite the pledge, according to Mzembi.
UNWTO officials have since
assisted Zimbabwe in drafting a Tourism Master Plan (TMP) expected to double
tourist arrivals and increase the sector’s economic contribution by
2015.
The TMP is expected to adopt a fast-track strategy that would see
arrivals grow to five million in 2015 from the current 2, 2
million.
During this period, the sector should subsequently create 150
000 new jobs and reach 450 000 jobs compared to the current 300 000,
according to the master plan. - Wendy Muperi
A Zimbabwean shows his support for the draft
constitution. Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
Elections are in the air in Zimbabwe. A referendum on
the new constitution was held this weekend and the general election is due
before the end of October. But the signs all suggest that the upcoming vote will
take place under conditions not dissimilar to 2008, when elections were
characterised by widespread intimidation and political violence.
Yesterday the office of the prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai,
was raided by police, who arrested four officials - apparently for impersonating
officers. A prominent human right lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, was also arrested for "defeating the course of justice".
I
was in Chegutu, near Harare, recently. An elderly church pastor had held a
meeting at his local church to discuss the constitution. Three policeman barged
in and arrested the pastor and some of his parishioners under the notorious
public order and security act, as they had been having a meeting of more than
three people without getting police clearance, as required.
Gift
Konjana and Pastor Bere described their ordeal of sleeping on the concrete
in a dark and over-crowded cell, sharing dirty blankets and a toilet, an often
overflowing hole in the ground, in the corner of the room. It is an experience
that many Zimbabweans know only too well.
After a couple of nights inside the magistrate gave Konjana bail, but he
was immediately re-arrested without charge. Konjana went on hunger strike,
saying that he would not eat until he had been charged. They finally let him out
the next day.
Several days later 14 people in Movement of
Democratic Change T-shirts were on their way to a meeting with Tsvangirai. Under the
long standing security laws, used selectively prior to each election, such
meetings need to be cleared by the police at least four days before, and this
one had been. Unfortunately, though, they stopped their bus in Chegutu to get
some lunch. Police accused them of congregating illegally and they were arrested
and put in the cells, where they spent the next week.
At
the same time a witch hunt has begun for anyone with
wind-up short wave radios. In Lupane, in the south of the
country, police have asked children at school whether their parents have these
radios. Zanu-PF retains control of the airwaves and is determined to crack down
on anyone listening to broadcasts from outside the country.
One
of our employees told me about his parents-in-law a few weeks ago. They had
refused to go to a Zanu-PF rally up in Mount Darwin, in the north of Zimbabwe.
The next thing they knew a group of youth arrived and burnt their house down.
They lost everything that they owned. I thought back to when the same thing
happened to us and a number of our workers on the farm.
In
Headlands at the end of last month, Shepherd Masiri, a
well-known MDC activist, was out campaigning when his house
was petrol bombed and burnt to the ground. In it his 12-year-old son
Christpowers Masiri was sleeping; and like so many victims over the last
four decades, he was burnt to death.
When I saw pictures of his charred body lying on the burnt floor of his ruined
home, I could only think of my own son, born at the same time, who managed to
survive despite our
house being burnt down. "It could have been him," I kept thinking. "How many more and going to
suffer the same fate in 2013?"
The
draft constitution was voted on this weekend. Although there are those in civic
society who have expressed grave concerns about the document, both MDC and
Zanu-PF – including the war veterans – campaigned for a yes vote. Although there
are some better things in the constitution, I have yet to understand why MDC
supported it. President Robert Mugabe approves
the draft constitution essentially because, firstly, his powers remain little
diminished but secondly because it allows him to continue to take land without
any legal process. Property rights remain insecure and the door is open for the
grabbing of white-owned mines, banks and businesses which will create further
job losses and will continue to stifle investment.
In
the classic Orwellian tradition, the draft constitution goes against
international law on a few fundamental issues. The most critical area of concern
is that the bill of "rights" allows a wrong. Just like the Animal Farm
inscription on the barn door which said that "all animals are equal but some are
more equal than it others", it asserts that "discrimination is unfair…unless it
is found to be fair."
The developments on Zimbabwe are a
typical comedy of errors. On 25 March 2013, whilst the country's top human
rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was literally walking from the ordeal of a
week-long detention, the European Union was swapping a stick for a carrot
against the very government that tormented her by removing all sanctions
against the government.
On the face of it, particularly to someone
who had no background on how and why the EU made this decision, they would
think the decision was irrational. This article provides basic insight on
current international developments on Zimbabwe and the rationale behind the
developments.
The European Union on 25 March 2013 made a decision to
suspend most of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, under the Cotonou
agreement, with the exception of the measures against President Mugabe and
those very close to him. Please read the decision here. You can also access
a fact-sheet on how sanctions are imposed including how they are adopted,
what they can include, where they apply and the legal remedies available
here.
The sanctions decision comes in the wake of Zimbabwe’s
constitutional referendum which was held on 16 March 2013. According to the
international community, the referendum appears to have passed peacefully
and credibly – although they pointed out some areas of longer-term
concern.
The international community’s attention will now focus on the
period during the build-up to elections, which are due any time between 29
July and 27 September. The current decision is a follow up to the previous
roll over in July 2012, where a peaceful and credible referendum was agreed
as a key benchmark upon which the EU would suspend the measures.
The
March 25 decision did not include the President and those who are involved
in planning and decision making and are in strategic control of the
apparatus of violence
The sanctions against Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) will also stay until one month after the
elections, upon which they will lapse, unless the EU is of the opinion that
either the elections were not free and fair or that ZMDC sponsored violence
in the course of the elections, the key being the malignant influence of
diamonds on the course and outcome of the elections.
We carried out a
quick random survey on the EU decision and our informants have largely
welcomed the EU decision but for different reasons. Some feel that sanctions
had given the Zimbabwe government an excuse not to institute necessary
reforms while some stated that sanctions fueled resident Mugabe’s rhetoric.
Ordinary Zimbabwe’s views are diffusive rather than formulaic. Others felt
the sanctions caused the economic collapse while others feel that they
should have remained since there have been little or no meaningful
reforms.
Against the backdrop of the EU decision, the international
group known as Friends of Zimbabwe are also currently meeting in London to
discuss the international response to Zimbabwe’s constitutional referendum
and preparations for its elections. This group also known as the fishmongers
is an informal annual meeting of major international donors to Zimbabwe
which attracts all major Western countries that have an interest on
Zimbabwe.
Representatives from all three parties of Zimbabwe’s Inclusive
Government (Elton Mangoma of MDC-T, Patrick Chinamasa of ZANU-PF and
Priscila Mishihairabwi-Mushonga of MDC-N) as well as SADC representatives
are attending the meeting as part of discussions. We have also been
attending some of the meetings and will keep you up to date on any decisions
made which are open for public sharing.
Ongoing abuses and alleged
intimidation by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has prompted many to question the
easing of sanctions
David Smith, Africa correspondent The
Guardian, Tuesday 26 March 2013 17.42 GMT
A Zimbabwean policeman
confiscates a banner from protesters as they demonstrate against the
detention of lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. Photograph: AP A leading human rights
lawyer spends eight days in jail; the prime minister's office is raided, six
of his staff arrested and three computers allegedly go missing; civil
society groups warn of rising political violence and intimidation tactics.
Plus ça change in Zimbabwe.
Yet thousands of miles away that is not,
apparently, how things look from Brussels. On Monday the European Union
dropped most of its sanctions against the southern African country, the most
far-reaching olive branch for more than a decade.
This was in effect
a reward for a "peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a new
constitution and designed to encourage further progress. The EU dropped its
targeted measures against 81 officials and eight firms in Zimbabwe. Only 10
people, including President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, and two
companies, including the state-run Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC), remain on the sanctions list, restricted by asset freezes and travel
bans.
The move comes after years of declining political violence and slow
economic recovery under a power-sharing agreement that followed the
violently disputed 2008 election. Since then, with the world's gaze diverted
by the Arab spring and African coups, Zimbabwe has dropped down the list of
crises requiring urgent attention and begun to woo tourists again. Now the
incident-free referendum and easing of sanctions appears to put the seal on
the notion that the country has more or less "normalised".
Yet the
unfortunate coincidence of the referendum with the arrest of lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa, finally released on Monday, and six members of prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's staff, suggests that in Zimbabwe "normal" is still a long way
from ordinary. Mtetwa warned: "It is a personal attack on all human rights
lawyers but I was just made the first example. There will be many more
arrests to follow as we near elections."
Hardliners in Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party are accused of ongoing abuses. Four rights and advocacy groups have
been raided by police searching for alleged subversive materials so far this
year. Activist Okay Machisa was locked in police cells for almost a month
only for the charges to be dropped.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) alleged recently that one of its members lost his 12-year-son
to a house fire started by "known Zanu-PF thugs".
Analysts predict a
rise in intimidation tactics before elections this year.
"It looks
somewhat incongruous to lift sanctions in the context of some of the
violations that are continuing," said Piers Pigou, Southern Africa project
director of the International Crisis Group. "It's another episode of bad
timing from the EU. They said, 'If you have a good referendum process, we'll
reward you'. They could have put it in a broader context with qualifiers.
They've been clumsy in the way they've handled this. It's part of a broader
pattern of clumsiness."
Emily Armistead, a lead campaigner on conflict
diamonds at Global Witness, said: "It's a relief that the EU has at least
maintained sanctions against state-owned diamond miner ZMDC. Our research
shows the company is involved in off-budget financing of the army and secret
police, organisations linked to violence and intimidation in previous
elections. We remain concerned, though, that relaxing sanctions reflects the
EU's keenness to see the Zimbabwe problem 'solved' before free and fair
elections have taken place, so that it can turn its attention
elsewhere.
"Now is a critical time for EU governments to do all they can
to support Zimbabwe's full democratic transition."
However, the
relaxation of sanctions is welcome news to those who believe they have long
been counter-productive, gifting Mugabe and Zanu-PF an excuse for the
country's economic troubles and a rallying point to whip up anti-western
sentiment. From this perspective, Mugabe has just lost a major propaganda
tool.
David Coltart, the education minister and member of an MDC faction,
said: "My view is that sanctions have outlived their purpose and were being
cynically manipulated for political ends. There are elements of hardliners
in government who don't want sanctions lifted. Often we see that when
sanctions are about to be lifted some appalling action is taken, which may
help explain the arrest of Beatrice Mtetwa. It happens too often to be a
coincidence."
The new constitution was endorsed by Zanu-PF and the
MDC, so serious violence was never likely during the referendum. The
elections, which Mugabe wants in June, are likely to be a different story.
"Although things have improved dramatically in the last four years, there
are still terrible things happening in the country and there are still
hardliners doing all they can to derail the process," warned
Coltart.
"The lifting of sanctions should be seen as a calculated step to
help the moderates in both the MDC and Zanu-PF to chart a peaceful course
amid these ongoing human rights violations."
Few believe the
elections will be as disastrous as in 2008 when some 253 people died,
according to an MDC count. The new constitution will be in place and Zanu-PF
is seen as less united. But its hardliners may have become more adept at
using intimidation without spilling blood. And it is still hard to imagine a
scenario in which Mugabe, who has ruled for 33 years, accepts defeat and
leaves the stage gracefully. As Pigou noted: "We are far from out of the
woods."
With crucial clauses not taking effect for 10 years, document
recognises that nothing will change with the president
around
Simon Allison for Daily Maverick, part of the Guardian Africa
Network guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 March 2013 16.22 GMT
It
was, by all accounts, the most fair and trouble-free vote in recent memory.
As Zimbabweans went to polling stations last Saturday to approve a new
constitution – which they did, by a 95% margin – reports of intimidation and
foul play were few and far between, at least by Zimbabwe's admittedly low
standards: a beaten up journalist here, an arrested activist there.
"Transparent, orderly and professional," was how the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) observer mission characterised the referendum,
and it was right, for the most part.
This was not a surprise. That
the referendum would be a success was never in doubt once both major parties
– Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai – agreed to campaign to approve the draft constitution.
For once, those old enemies found themselves in agreement, making
intimidation or coercion on a significant scale unnecessary, ballot-stuffing
and vote-rigging redundant. There was nothing at stake, so nothing to fight
about: an important point to remember for those who think that this
referendum might be the model for the presidential elections planned for
later this year. It is not.
And now Zimbabwe has a nice, shiny new
constitution that's worth taking a closer look at. Of course, there are some
good points. "The constitution is particularly strong where it puts the
aspirations of ordinary Zimbabweans at the centre of government," writes
Petina Gappah on Comment is Free. "A strengthened bill of rights obliges the
state to put the empowerment of women and girls ahead of regressive cultural
practices; makes significant inroads into the death penalty; forbids all
forms of torture; guarantees freedom of expression and belief; and imposes
obligations on the state to take steps to ensure access to shelter, health
education, food and legal aid."
So far, so good. But then things
start to unravel as it becomes clear that this document was written in the
spirit of bitter compromise. On the vexed issue of land ownership, only
"indigenous" peoples are entitled to compensation for appropriated land. It
will be up to the new constitutional court to decide who falls into this
category, but it's unlikely to be broad enough to include white farmers
booted off their farms or narrow enough to signal a bonanza for Zimbabwe's
1,200-strong San population. It's "a not particularly subtle code for
black," says Gappah.
The constitutional court is a bit of a problem in
its own right. In South Africa, the constitutional court functions as the
prime guardian of the constitution, and in practice has been one of the most
effective bulwarks against the expansion of government powers and the
passage of bad law. In Zimbabwe, the constitutional court will be drawn from
the ranks of the existing supreme court, which has been thoroughly
discredited as an independent judicial body. No judges can come from
anywhere else for the next decade, the new constitution says – guaranteeing
that Zimbabwe's top judicial organ will continue to be a mouthpiece for
Zanu-PF policy until then.
Then there's the constitution's most
exciting clause: the introduction of term limits. Each president is allowed
a maximum of two five-year terms, but this does not apply retrospectively,
meaning that – if he is re-elected – Mugabe is constitutionally entitled to
another decade in office. And if he should die, or resign, within that
10-year period, then his party would be allowed to appoint a successor
rather than go back to the electorate.
The number of these special
clauses which expire in 10 years is telling. They were inserted at the
insistence of Zanu-PF negotiators, and they offer the greatest clue yet into
the party's plans for Mugabe's succession. The likely scenario is that
Zanu-PF will ride the wave of Mugabe's still great popularity to earn
another win in the upcoming elections (or, at the very least, get enough
genuine votes to ensure that not too much dodgy business is needed to get
him across the line). Once he's installed in office, the party can manage
the issue of succession at its leisure. And if Mugabe doesn't want to be
succeeded, then he's got 10 years in which to pop off and leave the party
firmly in control. Given that he's 89 now, this is not an unlikely
scenario.
So why did the MDC, which has been fighting for so long to get
rid of Mugabe and Zanu-PF, agree to these provisions? The obvious answer is
that it feels confident it can win the upcoming elections; and, by being so
cooperative during the constitutional negotiations, that it has guaranteed
that SADC will step in if Zanu-PF tries to fiddle the vote. But perhaps
there's more to it. Perhaps the MDC, like the Zanu-PF wannabe leaders
jockeying for position, knows that nothing will really change until Mugabe
passes over power or passes on – and, until that happens, this constitution
is the best way to keep things relatively stable.
The Election Resource
Centre has produced a comprehensive analysis of the Referendum entitles "Miracle
Votes". The report highlights the fact that 3,316,082 people reportedly voted -
the highest voter turnout in the history of Zimbabwe - as people did not have to
register to vote.
Harare is awash with
allegations that the ballot boxes were somehow stuffed with ballots as there
were very few reports of long queues anywhere on polling day.
The full report follows:This report
is an attempt to interrogate and analyse the voter behavior that influenced the
relatively 'high voter turnout' in this poll. What could have driven Zimbabweans
to come out and vote in such unprecedented large numbers, what is the
comparative analysis? Could the numbers have been tampered with? And what does
this mean for the coming crucial elections in Zimbabwe?
The Increased Voter
Turnout
The March 2013
referendum witnessed an increased voter turnout by all standards in Zimbabwe
since 1980, and all the subsequent elections that have taken place since then.
The table below depicts the voter turnout in all of Zimbabwe’s elections since
1980.
VOTER TURNOUT IN
ZIMBABWE: From 1980 to 2008
Further, it is also
evident that, compared to the February 2000 referendum, the March 2013 recorded
a significantly higher voter turnout. The February 2000 referendum had a total
voter turnout of 1 312 738 whilst the March 2013 recorded a voter turnout of 3
316 082. The table below depicts the 2000 Referendum results
2000 REFERENDUM
RESULTS
A comparative
analysis of the March 2008 Elections and the 2013 Referendum is also made, which
shows that there has been a significant increase of people who voted in the
referendum than those who participated in March 2008. The table below shows the
numbers of the people who voted in March 2008 and those who cast their vote in
March 2013.
It also depicts the
numerical increase that each of the 10 provinces registered for the referendum
as well as the percentage increase. Harare recorded the highest percentage
increase followed by Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East,
Masvingo, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and the province with the least
percentage increase was Matabeleland South.
The graph below
illustrates the pattern of voting in the ended referendum, which shows Harare
had the largest voter turnout followed by the three Mashonaland Provinces. The
Southern regions, comprising Bulawayo, Matebeleland North and Matebeleland South
had the lowest voter turnout.
The graph below
illustrates that there was an increased voter turnout for the March 2013
Referendum when compared to the March 2008 Election.
The chart below
depicts the voter numerical increases of the provinces in terms of voter turnout
when compared to the March 2008 elections.
3.0 Unpacking the
Miracle Votes:
The Implications ers
than questions, with various suggestions being made to explain the rise in the
voter turnout. The reasons The requirements for casting a vote in a referendum
were not as stringent as those in an election. Voters were only required to use
their mplete voting. -T. ms that were widely used especially by the s
spearheaded by both civil society and GPA. and they believe that since The
recent flurry of votes in the just ended referendum has left more answhave
varied from vote rigging to an increased interest in the electoral process. In
this section, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) unpacks some of the reasons
which could have led to the comparatively high voter turnout.
• Relaxed voting
requirements: national IDs in the absence of a voter’s roll which enabled a
number of unregistered, but ineligible voters to cast their votes. This included
almost 3 generations of voter grandaunts who turned 18 years between 2008 and
2013.
• The Voting
procedure was less complex as compared to an actual election, exemplified by the
average 3 minutes that voters took to co
• The relatively
prevailing peaceful political engagements could have revitalized confidence in
the electoral processes.
• Political party
canvassing manifested in the tussle for numbers between the two main political
parties ZANU PF and MDC
• The utilization of
social media as a platform for public debate increased the interest in the
Referendum. The social media platforyoung people included facebook and
twitter.
• A new generation of
first time voters that voted.
• Effectiveness of
voter awareness programmethe main political formations who are party to
the
• The swirling desire
to end the transitional period, it might be that most Zimbabweans have grown
weary of the tripartite governance framework and they believe that since the
constitutional reform exercise was one of the major obstacles, ensuring its
passage would expedite the conduct of elections, hence the end of the coalition
government.
3.1 The
Fears…
There are fears from
other sections of the society such as the National Constitutional campaigned for
a no vote that the referendum result could U PF, to drive out ). There was
consensus amongst ll walks of life that this constitution is a good document for
women in electoral processes. Assembly (NCA) and those whohave been rigged and
that the high voter turnout was manipulated through ballot staffing. This
thinking is motivated by the belief that ZANU PF was using the referendum as a
test case for the forthcoming General elections slated for this year, and that
the results reflect on ZANU PFs test run of its rigging machinery and its
coercive machinery of systematically driving out its supporters especially in
the rural areas to vote en’masse.
Whilst we cannot be
able to authenticate claims of rigging, this high voter turnout could be
attributed to the coercive capacities of the political parties, especially
ZANtheir supporters in a systematic manner to vote in a block. There were
reports of voters being given cards before voting in the rural areas as well as
registering their names with party officials before voting. Such coercive and
intimidatory practices could be replicated in the next
elections.
3.2 Where the “Yes”
could have come from?
• Core supporters of
the three parties in the GPA.
• Forced
voters.
• Women (who
constitute the majority of voters)
There was consensus
amongst women from all walks of life that this constitution is a good document
for women hence the massive mobilization by women’s groups and women politicians
to endorse the draft.
• The youth vote,
although more still needs to be done to ensure that young people participate in
electoral processes.
3.3 Where the “No”
could have come from?
• Core members of the
National Constitutional Assembly anPTUZ and MDC-99).
• Some MDC members
whose voting was not polluted by group action and party opinion leaders. They
retained their freedom of choice.
• There was a clique
in ZANU PF which found expression through Jonathan Moyo, which at some point
vehemently opposed the completioexercise. There is no telling that this clique
could have made a sudden about turn to endorse this draft given how vigorously
they campaigned for the disbandment of COPAC and the holding of elections under
the Lancaster House Constitution.
• Some ZANU PF
members who at some point were told about the ‘toxic’ issues in the proposed
constitution. For instance, those who once were told that the COPAC draft would
allow gay LGBTI rights (gay and lesbian rights) – at some point ZANU PF embarked
on a campaign against the draft which spread to most areas like Gokwe Chireya.
However, following their ultimate agreement ZANU PF could have failed to
effectively reach some of its members who already had embarked on a campaign
against the draft to re-orient them on the party’s new
position.
Conclusion
The results of the
just ended referendum show a trend of increased voter turnout in the
poll.
Political Parties in
the country will analyse and interpret the results in an attempt to prepare for
the forthcoming elections. It is most likely that the voter turnout in the
referendum could be a mirror of the next elections. On the whole there was a
marked increased voter turnout in Harare and the three Mashonaland Provinces.
The referendum was also characterized by a low voter turnout in Bulawayo,
Matebeleland South and North provinces. Against this background it is clear that
stakeholders charged with electoral management and voter mobilization that a
deliberate strategy be employed to target these provinces which had a low voter
turnout. The need to increase voter mobilization around the country, especially
targeting the youth and first time voters, remains
urgent.
