IOL
Mugabe gets prime time on Zim news
March 27 2005 at
12:10PM
Harare - Zimbabweans tuning in to watch the news on
national
television these days first get to see a band of boisterous youths
dancing
and raising their fists in a campaign ad for President Robert
Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF.
The young supporters urge Zimbabweans
to vote for Zanu-PF "to put
Blair and his local puppets to shame", seconds
before the news anchor
presents the top news stories.
Often,
the news bulletins feature the all-too-familiar report of
Mugabe donating
computers to schools, slamming British Prime Minister Tony
Blair and urging
Zimbabweans to support his party in parliamentary elections
on
Thursday.
Footage shown night after night shows Mugabe at the
podium, then the
camera pans across a sea of heads draped in the ruling
party signature
green, yellow and red colours, before returning to the
podium again where
the 81-year-old leader delivers his
message.
When the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) gets
coverage, it is usually confined to brief footage of leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai whose pronouncements are rarely aired, and is immediately
followed by a Zanu-PF ad, suggesting the MDC is sponsored by the British
government.
As the campaign heads into its final stretch,
Zimbabwe's state media
are giving Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic
Front party flattering coverage while the main
opposition party is
struggling to have its voice heard.
In a
country where the government controls all electronic media and
the largest
newspaper group while the independent press is emasculated by
tough media
laws, the state is providing the main sources of information to
millions of
Zimbabweans who are preparing to vote.
The polls are being closely
watched to gauge whether Zimbabwe will
adhere to guidelines for free and
fair elections adopted by regional leaders
last year that include equal
access to the media.
But a local media watchdog concluded in a
report this week that 90
percent of some 31 minutes allocated by Zimbabwe's
national television to
the campaign from Monday to Wednesday this week was
devoted to Zanu-PF,
against 10 percent for the MDC.
"The MDC
receives brief and inadequate reports. Coverage of the ruling
activities
often includes disparaging attacks against the MDC which is not
given the
right of reply," the Media Monitoring Project said.
MDC secretary
for foreign affairs Priscilla Misihairabi-Mushonga says
the state media have
failed to give fair access, despite regulations adopted
last month by the
government stating that all parties should be given equal
time.
"There is no equal and fair media coverage," Misihairabi-Mushonga told
AFP.
"It's a fallacy."
Two weeks ago MDC secretary-general Welshman
Ncube lodged a complaint
with Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), charging
that the national
broadcaster was offering "a facade of fair media
coverage."
"The Zimbabwe television and radio news and programmes
continue to
function as part of the Zanu-PF campaign machinery," said Ncube
in the
letter to the national broadcaster.
He cited as examples
of bias the launch of Zanu-PF's election campaign
which was broadcast live
on national television for four hours while the
MDC's launch was allocated
one minute 25 seconds.
The country's national television began on
Tuesday to air a MDC
advertisement featuring the party's slogan of "A New
Zimbabwe, A New
Beginning" but this was only after the opposition party
managed to raise the
equivalent of 612 US dollars per
broadcast.
South African Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, who
heads the observer team from the 14-nation Southern
African Development
Community (SADC), last week noted that "there is room to
increase the
coverage of other parties and independents" on national
television. -
Sapa-AFP
Declaring 'enough' in Zimbabwe
By Michael Wines The New York
Times
Monday, March 28, 2005
HARARE, Zimbabwe She is
in her 40s and the mother of four, though in the
dappled sunlight of an
outdoor restaurant here, clad in a floppy hat and a
thin cardigan, she looks
too young to be either.
.
Nobody would see her as a provocateur, much less
a revolutionary.
.
But when Rebecca took one child to the doctor on a
recent morning, she left
behind a clinic restroom plastered with stickers
urging resistance to the
25-year reign of Zimbabwe's president, Robert
Mugabe. Later, she littered
her bus seat with condoms emblazoned with a
large Z and a call to "Get up!
Stand up!" against the
government.
.
"There are more than 10,000 of us," she said. "And every one
is excited,
because you know you are playing a part in something you believe
in."
.
The Z stands not for Zimbabwe, but for Zvakwana, an underground
movement
that strives to resist - and eventually undermine - Mugabe's
authoritarian
rule. With a second, closely related group called Sokwanele,
Zvakwana's
members specialize in anonymous acts of civil disobedience - a
meld of
guerrilla theater and the philosophies of Mohandas K. Gandhi and
Martin
Luther King Jr.
.
In ideology, and sometimes even in identity,
Zvakwana mirrors grass-roots
efforts in any number of authoritarian nations.
From Zubr in Belarus to
nascent groups in Egypt and Lebanon (whose names, in
English, mean
"enough"), such civic movements may be the hottest phenomenon
in global
democratic politics.
.
Many take their inspiration from
Otpor, the movement that played a major
role in removing Slobodan Milosevic
in Serbia.
.
Zimbabwe's groups sprang to life three years ago, shortly
after Mugabe won a
re-election campaign that many international election
observers said had
been stolen from his democratic opponents.
.
Their
rationale is embodied in their names: in Shona and Ndebele, Zimbabwe's
two
main languages, both names also mean "enough."
.
That the groups actually
number 10,000 seems doubtful. Yet the government is
nettled enough to paint
over much of their graffiti, and news media reports
say the police assembled
a team of senior investigators 14 months ago to
find and destroy
Zvakwana.
.
The police have failed. In fact, one Zvakwana member in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's
second-largest city, said that members of the movement
stole into a police
station in January to slip antigovernment messages under
supervisors' doors.
.
"We informed them that we are not their enemies, but
their liberators," a
member, who would be identified only as Magamula, said
in an interview.
"Even members of the police - the army, the CIO and the CID
are working with
us," the member said, referring to Zimbabwe's intelligence
apparatus and its
criminal investigations division. "That's how we've
managed to survive this
far."
.
Michael McFaul, a Stanford University
political scientist and student of
grass-roots movements, has spent much of
this year studying groups in the
Republic of Georgia, Ukraine and Serbia. To
a remarkable degree, he said,
they and similar groups are facilitated by the
Internet and by the
increasingly global nature of
television.
.
Although many speculate that movements like Zvakwana are
Western inventions,
McFaul said the opposite appeared to be true, at least
for the moment.
.
In Lebanon, "They're modeling what they're doing on the
Ukrainians," he
said.
.
"It's not an American-centric thing that's
being channeled through the White
House. It's more global."
.
Some
movements do receive foreign money, but no amount of money will sustain
a
democratic movement, McFaul said, if a nation's dissidents lack the
passion
and numbers to carry the battle on their own.
.
In conversations and an
extensive interview via e-mail, Zvakwana members
insisted theirs was a
homegrown protest movement, free of foreign control.
.
But not free of
foreign influence. In a long conversation, Rebecca said she
and fellow
members had begun their membership in Zvakwana by viewing
videotapes on
resistance movements in Poland, Chile, India and Serbia, as
well as studying
civil rights tactics used in Nashville, Tennessee.
.
Rebecca, who refused
to divulge her surname, said she joined the movement in
early 2002 out of
despair. In the preceding years, she had worked for
Zimbabwe's sole
political opposition party, the Movement for Democratic
Change.
.
"Where I was working, people would come to me to report
incidents of
political violence," she said. "Women would call in to say they
were raped.
Men were beaten so badly that they couldn't
walk."
.
Rebecca said she helped start a women's group that prayed for
Zimbabwe's
future, and through that group met other disaffected advocates
for change
who told her of a new nonviolent resistance movement.
.
She
joined, she said, "because what struck me most is that I don't want my
children to lead this life."
.
"I don't want Zimbabwe to be like
this."
.
Since then, Rebecca said, Zvakwana has sunk roots even in small
Zimbabwean
towns and cities and devised an array of tactics to spread its
message.
.
.
But Zvakwana's message is not one of upheaval. It is,
rather, of nonviolent
resistance to oppression.
.
"It is your right to
think, read, hear and think what you like," reads a
yellow slip stapled to a
phone card. "Here in Zimbabwe, this right has been
taken away by the
government."
.
It may be the message Zimbabweans need right now, said
Tawanda Mutasah, the
executive director of the Open Society Initiative for
Southern Africa, which
encourages democratic change in Zimbabwe and
elsewhere.
.
"In Zimbabwe, it is easy to give up hope," he said. "What a
movement of this
nature is doing, in my estimation, is keeping the hope
alive."
Time Europe Magazine
Sunday, Mar. 27, 2005
For Zimbabwean Mike Maseko, the journey home is a bitter reminder of his
country's decline. It's a trip Maseko makes almost every week, driving the 800
km from Johannesburg to Bulawayo in his blue Toyota minibus. Before setting out,
he packs the van with groceries and televisions, furniture and children's toys,
carefully concealing envelopes filled with South African rand so the corrupt
border guards who inspect his vehicle won't confiscate the money. The cash and
consumer goods are gifts from Zimbabwean expatriates in South Africa to their
desperate families at home. Maseko, 32, makes roughly $700 from each trip; but
for the families in Zimbabwe, where food is scarce and jobs are even scarcer,
his cargo can mean the difference between life and death.
More than 3
million Zimbabweans — about a quarter of the entire population — have left their
country, many in the past five years, as President Robert Mugabe has tightened
his grip on power. In the first decade of independence from white rule, Zimbabwe
boasted a vibrant developing economy and one of the best education systems in
Africa. Those achievements have turned to dust. The economy is the
fastest-shrinking in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled —
across the borders to Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia, or to Australia, Britain,
Canada and the U.S. But the vast majority — perhaps as many as 2 million — now
make South Africa their home.
Maseko's story is typical. He moved to
Johannesburg in 1993 in search of work. After taking odd jobs, he started his
transport business four years ago. But he won't be voting in this week's
parliamentary elections. Last year, Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party barred all expats, except for diplomats,
from casting a ballot; a Supreme Court ruling two weeks ago confirmed the ban.
That decision rankles with the millions of Zimbabweans, up to half the
voting-age population, living in exile. If ZANU-PF wins — or fixes — a
two-thirds majority, it will be able to change the constitution, making it
easier for Mugabe to stay on or handpick his successor. "Of course, [Mugabe]
doesn't want us to vote," Maseko says. "Most of us have left because of him, so
he knows we will vote against him. But in a democratic country, all of us should
have the right to choose our leaders."
That right has proved unpalatable
to Mugabe. In 2000, the Zimbabwean President was shocked when changes to the
constitution he wanted were rejected in a national referendum. During
parliamentary elections a few months later and the presidential campaign in
2002, ZANU-PF used police and trained thugs to attack the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), bullying, beating up and even murdering opposition
supporters to ensure victory. The MDC, led by former union boss Morgan
Tsvangirai, struggles on. While violence in the run-up to this week's vote has
been only sporadic, independent observers, human-rights groups and MDC officials
say that's because Mugabe is now using more subtle means to ensure victory.
ZANU-PF controls the electoral commission, and has closed most of the
independent media outlets in Zimbabwe. The party also oversees the electoral
count and voter rolls — which opponents allege are swollen with "ghost" voters.
Ironically, even reforms urged by the MDC are being turned by ZANU-PF to its own
advantage. Translucent ballot boxes, for instance, meant to symbolize an open
voting system, will instead enable observers to see how people vote, warn
ZANU-PF officials. After the last few years of state-sponsored thuggery, the
threat is clear. "You don't have to murder now," says MDC M.P. David Coltart.
"The mere presence [of those behind past violence] is enough to intimidate."
The massive exodus from Zimbabwe is both symptom
and cause of the country's decline. Beset by drought and food shortages, runaway
inflation and 80% unemployment, Zimbabwe's economy is just two-thirds the size
it was in 1999. The country's best and brightest — medics, accountants,
teachers, engineers and other skilled workers — are leaving in droves. The U.S.
State Department says that 1,200 doctors trained in Zimbabwe in the 1990s, but
by 2001, only 360 remained; some 18,000 nurses departed, too. The situation is
now even worse. "It's no longer just a brain drain; it's much broader," says
human-rights lawyer Daniel Molokele, who left Bulawayo for Johannesburg two
years ago. "This is not just a question of leaving for greener pastures. This is
a direct result of the lack of confidence in the future of Zimbabwe."
For Dr. Samukeliso Dube, the futility of writing out prescriptions for
patients who could not afford to have them filled became too much. She left in
2003 after watching the health-care system deteriorate and her own living
standards plummet. "The health system has been ravaged by hiv/aids," says Dube,
who is now studying for a masters degree in public health in Johannesburg.
"Almost everyone I knew working there had a strategy to leave."
Zimbabwe
can ill afford to lose so many skilled workers, but those who do leave become
crucial supports for families and friends back home. Expats send an estimated
$100 million a year to relatives, money that many poor Zimbabweans depend on to
survive. John Nzira left Zimbabwe in 2002 after the purchasing power of his
salary, worth roughly $100 at the time, was devoured by double-digit monthly
inflation. When three of his brothers died of aids, he found himself responsible
for their eight children and other needy relatives. Nzira now lives in
Johannesburg, where he works for an environmental group. But every three months
he fills his truck with groceries for a trip to his mother's village, where a
total of 11 family members rely on him for support. "We are not here because we
want to be here, but because we have to be here," he says. "I love Zimbabwe, but
the way things are now, we wouldn't survive." Ironically, the expat community is
helping to sustain Mugabe's regime. "What keeps Zimbabwe from total economic
collapse is the Zimbabwean diaspora," says Elinor Sisulu, who is a co-ordinator
of the Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition, an advocacy group for the expat community in
Johannesburg. "Mugabe's investment in education is paying off now. The diaspora
is providing something of a buffer against the real anger of the people, because
they are being kept from total poverty."
The diaspora also funds
opposition groups and organizes protests against Mugabe's misrule in
Johannesburg, London and other expat centers. In London, a gaggle of protesters
gathers every Saturday outside the Zimbabwean embassy. Britain is also the base
for Short Wave Radio Africa, which beams news into Zimbabwe, and the recently
launched weekly newspaper The Zimbabwean. Activists plan to stage mock polls on
election day in Johannesburg, London and Sydney to highlight the ban on expat
voting.
Still, most Zimbabweans abroad would rather be at home, but few
seem likely to make that journey anytime soon. On his return trips from
Zimbabwe, minibus driver Maseko carries a different freight: Zimbabweans headed
for Johannesburg and the possibility of jobs, money and something to eat. "There
is nothing to bring from Zimbabwe except those who want to leave," he says. "My
country exports only people now. It breaks my heart."
| Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Promises Reforms During Election
Campaign |
By Tendai
Maphosa
Harare
27
March 2005
|
|
 |
| Morgan
Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) addresses
supporters during an election rally in
Harare |
In
Zimbabwe, political parties are winding down their campaigns for Thursday's
parliamentary election.
An estimated 30,000 supporters of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change attended Sunday's rally.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai appealed to Zimbabweans
to vote for his party to bring to an end what he called 25 years of misrule by
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. Mr. Tsvangirai said, although President
Mugabe played a crucial role in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle against colonial
rule, his image is now tainted.
"When you take Mugabe's legacy, you find that he has
a serious democratic deficit over the last five years. How can you starve your
own people? How can you repress your own people? How can you embark on a violent
campaign against your own people? What is needed is a new vision, a new Zimbabwe
that is able to respond to the national crisis that we face," he
said.
Mr. Tsvangirai said, if his party gets the necessary
majority in parliament, it will repeal laws introduced by Mr. Mugabe's
government that he said deny Zimbabweans their rights.
Mr. Tsvangirai also pledged to revive the ailing
health care system, to ensure all Zimbabwean children have access to free
primary education and to ensure the elderly are looked after.
He also promised to ask for international assistance
to address the country's food shortages.
The Movement for Democratic Change is participating
in Thursday's election under protest, as it says the electoral playing field is
heavily tilted in favor of the ruling ZANU-PF party.
People should pluck up just a bit of courage and stand up against him
and chase him away 
