From ZWNEWS, 6 March
War vets to green
bombers
Since the constitutional referendum in 2000, government
militias, under
various guises, have been a key component of Zanu PF's
strategy to influence
electoral results, and to maintain itself in power.
Land reform was - and
is - a pretext for a variety of unlawful activities,
but most importantly as
a cover for the moving around the country of militia
groups. Externally, the
land issue continues to be exploited to counter
international criticism.
Internally, however, the land issue no longer
persuades many, and as a
result, recourse to militia groups has had to be
maintained. We have
available an in-depth study of how the strategy of the
use of militia groups
has developed since February 2000. Written by Tony
Reeler, an Executive
Committee member of the International Rehabilitation
Council for Torture
Victims, this paper lays bare the organisation and
tactics of the various
militia groups as they have become increasingly
integrated into Zimbabwe's
structure of power. If you would like a copy of
this study, please let us
know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an
email message - total size
400 Kb, or approximately 8 times the size of the
average daily ZWNEWS.
ironhorse@zimnews.net
ABC News Australia
Thursday, March 6,
2003. Posted: 17:00:53 (AEDT)
Zimbabwe fans arrested at Pakistan
match
A total of 26 fans were
arrested for carrying banners and political messages
during the World Cup
match between Zimbabwe and Pakistan, lawyers and police
said on
Wednesday.
The group, which according to lawyer Kucaca Phulu included a
minor, were
arrested during Tuesday's match at the Queens Sports club in
Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second city.
A police spokesman confirmed the
arrests, but was unable to give the numbers
of the people
picked.
"Here we have a social event where people have different
political
orientation and some want to take advantage of such a situation and
that
might provoke others into animosity," police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena
said.
"If they want rallies they can notify the police and
that is where they can
display banners as big as they want."
Tuesday's
arrests bring to 68 the numbers arrested at World Cup matches in
Bulawayo in
less than a week.
Some 42 anti-government protestors were arrested at the
game between
Zimbabwe and the Netherlands on Friday for displaying a banner
reading
"Mugabe equals Hitler."
Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry
Olonga also protested against the
Robert Mugabe government by wearing black
arm bands during Zimbabwe's first
match against Namibia in
Harare.
Business
Day
SA's judges taken to task on
Zimbabwe
Chief justice criticises
Paradza arrest
Legal Affairs
Correspondent
A SENIOR African National
Congress (ANC) figure yesterday criticised
SA judges for voicing concern over
the way some of their counterparts were
being treated in
Zimbabwe.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC MPL Dumisani
Makhaye, in a speech prepared for
delivery in the legislature, accused the
judiciary of hiding behind their
independence when they got into trouble. His
comments came hours after SA
Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson and eight of his
southern African
counterparts questioned the action taken against Zimbabwean
Judge Benjamin
Paradza.
Paradza, who
was released on bail about two weeks ago after spending a
night in jail, is
to appear in court again on March 21 to face charges of
corruption and
attempting to obstruct justice.
According
to the charges filed in Harare, Paradza interfered in the
trial of a friend
and business partner who is facing a murder charge.
Paradza has denied the
allegations. He has filed a wrongful arrest suit
against the Zimbabwean
government in the Supreme Court over his
detention.
Paradza is the second judge to
be arrested in Zimbabwe after retired
high court judge Fergus Blackie was
arrested in September last year, also on
allegations of obstructing the ends
of justice. Blackie is still
awaiting
trial.
"When the law takes its
course against them (the judiciary in
Zimbabwe), they cry foul and plead the
independence of the judiciary. They
hope to be the only ones to be
unaccountable to anybody," said Makhaye.
"Elements from the SA judiciary who themselves think they are the only
ones
that are unaccountable to anybody, including some from the ranks of
the
struggle, have instinctively come to the defence of elements of
the
Zimbabwean judiciary, who think they are above the
law."
Chaskalson and judges from Botswana,
Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia,
Tanzania, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia said in a
joint statement yesterday
that Zimbabwe's actions had served to undermine the
credibility of the
bench. "Like everyone else judges are not above the law.
Their position as
judges in a democratic state, however, requires that they
must be seen to be
independent and not subject to direct or indirect pressure
from the
executive," it said.
The usual
procedure when a judge faces criminal charges is to hold an
independent
inquiry. If the allegations are found to be true and the judge
is impeached,
he could face prosecution.
"The
constitution of Zimbabwe makes provision for such a procedure to
be followed
in respect of the impeachment of judges. It is regrettable that
this
procedure, rather than an arrest, detention and prosecution, has not
been
followed in respect of the allegations against Judge Paradza," the
statement
said.
In January this year, Paradza
ordered the release of Harare Mayor
Elias Mudzuri, who was detained after
being accused of holding an illegal
political meeting. Paradza also struck
down government eviction notices
affecting 54 white farm owners. He also
ordered the government to issue a
passport to a veteran human rights activist
after she was stripped of
her
citizenship.
Makhaye said that the
SA government had been very vocal on issues in
Zimbabwe that had violated the
stated policy, laws and constitution.
With
Sapa
Mar 06 2003
07:06:43:000AM Chantelle Benjamin Business Day 1st
Edition
canoe.ca
March 6, 2003
Lawyer for
jailed Zimbabwean politician says RCMP withholding
evidence
MONTREAL (CP) -- A lawyer for Zimbabwean
Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai
says he may use Canadian courts to force
the RCMP to disclose evidence
related to the leader's treason trial in
Africa.
Lawyer Innocent Chagonda said this week the Mounties won't
release the
results of their probe into allegations Tsvangirai hatched a plot
in
Montreal to assassinate Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai and two colleagues face the death penalty if
convicted.
The RCMP says its investigation last year into the alleged
plot found no
evidence a crime took place in Canada.
Chagonda said
the RCMP files on the case could be "useful" to
Tsvangirai's
defence.
"We may have to make a court application to
see that they (the Mounties)
comply," Chagonda said in an interview from
Zimbabwe.
"Time is of the extreme essence. If they did not find that
there was a
crime that Morgan Tsvangirai committed, then we want their
report."
The RCMP acknowledged this week they conducted a probe and
found no
evidence of wrongdoing in Canada, but they refused to discuss any
details.
Tsvangirai is currently on trial alongside two senior
colleagues from the
Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube and Rensen
Gasela.
The treason charges against them were filed last March after
Ari Ben
Menashe, a Montreal-based consultant and the trial's star witness,
accused
the three of hiring him to help them kill Mugabe.
Last
month, a Harare court heard a secretly recorded videotape of a meeting
in
Montreal on Dec. 4, 2001, in which Tsvangirai and Ben Menashe discussed
what
would happen if Mugabe were no longer in office.
A media monitoring
group in Harare has said the recording had been heavily
edited and
rearranged, and Tsvangirai insists his remarks were taken out
of
context.
Chagonda said he would prefer not to take the Mounties
to court, explaining
that Movement for Democratic Change officials in Canada
are trying to
persuade the Canadian government to voluntarily release the
results of the
RCMP probe.
"I still believe they might give it to us
because the implications are
quite serious," Chagonda said.
RCMP
Staff Sgt. Paul Marsh confirmed the Mounties received questions on
Feb. 13
related to the Zimbabwe matter and that the Mounties issued a
response the
following day.
But Marsh refused to say what questions were asked by
the lawyers or what
answers and documents were provided by the
RCMP.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that because it relates to the
matter that
is before the courts," said Marsh.
An Ottawa-based
source close to the Movement for Democratic Change, who
said he received the
RCMP's written reply to the defence, claimed in an
interview that many pages
were heavily censored.
The source, who refused to be identified, said
some pages had a heading on
top, with the rest of the page completely
blank.
"I read it, and I can't tell what the hell they're talking
about," said the
source.
Marsh refused to say how the Mounties
concluded no crime was committed in
Canada in connection with the alleged
plot against Mugabe. He would only say
the RCMP "exhausted all leads and that
the investigation is closed."
Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin, the
party's critic for Africa, said
Canada will share the blame if Tsvangirai,
Ncube and Gasela are found
guilty.
Martin urged the Foreign Affairs
Department to press the RCMP to co-operate
fully with Zimbabwean opposition
lawyers.
"Our failure to fully disclose could result in the deaths of
three innocent
people," Martin, a medical doctor and outspoken critic of
alleged
human-rights abuses by the Mugabe government, said from Victoria,
B.C.
But Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron blamed the
Mugabe
administration for hampering Canada's efforts to get to the bottom of
the
Tsvangirai case.
Doiron said the Mounties have asked to analyse
the videotape of the
Montreal meeting involving Tsvangirai, but that the
Zimbabwean government
refuses to hand it over.
Foreign Affairs
officials in Harare are monitoring the trial, said Doiron,
who suggested the
RCMP's hands are tied without the co-operation of the
Mugabe
government.
"Until the alleged evidence is provided by the Zimbabweans
to the RCMP for
some forensic analysis, there's nothing that can be
concluded," Doiron said.
"It is, and will remain until that day,
unsubstantiated allegations."
ROBBERY IN KARIBA
This e-mail has come from a lady who has
recently been to Kariba
Hello everyone,
I dont normally send a
"round-robin" letter, but this time l am, a. time
and b. repitition.
Dont have a very nice story to relay at all, but feel l
have to get it
off my chest!!
The reason why l have mailed so late is basically cos my
mail has been down
at home, only got back on line yesterday in-fact, and that
we just had to
make an important call to Barry and Lyn first, before
this story got out.
As most of you know, we have Nicks with us here on
holiday from Aussie.
We have had a fabulous time so far taking her around the
country - Vumba,
Gweru, and this last week spent 5 nights on a
houseboat. The tripe ended
with a real nasty for all of
us.
There was 8 of us on the boat and our second last day on the boat -
Monday
morning we had an armed robbery on-board. The first ever on
Kariba,
according to the Police and the Army!!
It was 8.30 a.m. the
men (Ian, Chinky, Rob, Nigel and the captain of the
boat) had all gone
fishing, which left myself, Jenny, Nicky and Marlene on
the houseboat.
Marlene decided to get into her boat and just go a few
metres from the main
boat and fish, which left Jen, I and Nicks. All was
well, Jen and l
were talking on the top deck, Nicky reading on her bed in
the cabin down
below, when suddenly this shot went off!! WOW!! Next thing 3
"creatures" were
standing in front of us pointing a gun down our noses,
shoting "dont move, we
kill you"...... Anyway cut a long story short, we 3
girls were held at
gun-point and knife point, whilst they robbed us of all
our cell-phones (6),
cameras, video cameras, money ($60 000.00 cash),
clothing, all our food -
left us nothing but fish and ice and a pkt of
sausages!! This was like
you see in the movies!!! Well we were besides
ourselves, as you can
imagine, when you have a knife to your throat and a
gun pointing at you and
been told dont move otherwise we kill you - well
ones knees go totally weak,
your adrelelin just gets going and ones saliva
dries up!! All l remeber
saying to Jen was. shit what do we do, and l was
going to
faint..........
Oh my God what an experience, Jen, Nicky and l were
trapped in the cabin
below with this one "creature" - putting it
mildly.... holding a knife not
far from my neck, while he "loaded" himself
with our clothing, money, etc
etc demanding forex and money etc. I cant
tell you how ones life flashed
before all of us l honestly thought we were
going to be raped, and l
remember saying to Jen, please God tell him to shoot
me before he rapes me,
l was besides myself, we all were! Poor little
Nicks had been lying on her
bed reading when this thing shot downstairs and
demanded money from her
holding a friggin screwdriver at her, poor child, she
was in total shock,
fortunately contained herself very well, and my biggest
worry was to get
downstairs to her to protect her. She was as white as
a sheet when l was
marched down there at knife point, and all l remember
saying to her was
dont say a word, just sit still , as l didnt want them to
hear she was a
foreigner. I then proceded pleading with "this creature"
to pse not harm
us, we are all locals, no foreigners here, all he kept asking
for was
money. In the meantime the two cooks upstairs had been held at
gun-point,
made to lie down on the kitchen floor and not move.
Fortunately they were
cooking in the kitchen when this happened, and had
managed to save us some
food in the oven, as these bastards stole all our
food. When these 3 fired
a shot before getting onto the boat, and
shouted dont move ors-else we kill
you, Marlene, fishing in her boat realised
what was happening and sped away
with full-throttle, to find the men.
Poor girl, in a state, headed in one
direction, the wrong direction as to
where the men had gone! Poor girl,
she eventually found them, which to
us seemed like a friggin eternity, and
they came back.
In the
meantime, we had no knowledge that they had got off the boat, and we
crept
upstairs and asked the 2 staff to quickly untie the boat and reverse
the boat
off the land, i thought by getting in the middle of the lake, they
had less
chance of getting back to us, l was afraid they would come back,
as the men
seemed to take an age to get back to us. Well this Steven (the
cook)
did very well, considering he had no idea of how to drive the boat!!
By this
time you can imagine what a state the 3 of us girls were in!!!!
I have never
been so blady scared in all my life, my life flashed before
me, cos l thought
we were "gone". What kept scaring me was the fact that
my last promise
to Barry and Lyn was "Dont worry about Nicks, l will look
after her" - well
folks l have never prayed so hard and so much in all my
life, that l can tell
you, the words that Barry kept saying to me....
"Cripps, will my daughter be
safe in Zimb"..... yes l replied, of course,
she is with me..... well l just
kept praying that we wouldnt be raped by
these bastards, a fate worse than
death l think, my 3 boys lives flashed
thru my head of how they would be
brought up without a Mother... Oh my
God...... all l do is cry and cry and
cry ,re-living this experience is a
nighmare, we are all very
traumatised. All l want to do is get OUT of this
place, and Ian still
CANT understand why!!!!
What does it take for him to flippin wake
up??!! I think we are still in
such shock, night times are the hardest
to try and sleep, that doesnt come
easy, and just knowing that l have to get
out of these 4 walls and go
shopping with "masses" around me, l cant stand
it. I have refused to go to
the shops, my cupboard is like Mother
Hubbards cupboard,... and guess
what... l dont care!!
I just thank God
we are alive and not harmed and werent raped. It could
have been worse
l know, but shit if that is what the worst choice is, well
then, l would
rather not live thru that!!
We managed to radio Kariba, they also stole
our portable walkie talkie
radio - thankgod we had another one. The
cops and army were very good
-pitching up 6 hours later - WOW!! Once
they did arrive, they scoured the
area, travelled on water to the nearby
fishing camp, and found it deserted!
This is certainly a first for Kariba,
according to them. What was found on
the land was a 38 special revolver
doppie, that they had fired, and a pork
chop and a bread roll that they had
dropped.
Ian most expensive video camera and all our holiday pics
for Nicky - gone,
cell phone which he had just bought - gone. we had no
communication with
anyone, which was scary.
When the men did get back
to us, which was about 9.00 a.m. - on hearing
this, they were very very
stressed and besides themselves, - shame and feel
very bad at leaving us -
but hey.. who would ever think that this would
happen on a boat!!!?? They
went thru quite a difficult time consoling us 4
women, l think Nics and l and
Jen killed a crate of Ians beers in a space
of 20 minutes!! In-fact, by night
time he was totally out of beers!!!! Our
nerves are shot and we are just
extremely traumatised to say the least.
Lyn & Jeans, as l said to you in
last nights e-mail, and, sorry - it is a
very "traumatised" one, l am going
crazy, l just want out now, l have had
it. I dont know how much more of
this l can take here.
Nics has been very brave Lyn, as she said to you
this a.m. on the phone,
she hasnt cried yet - which worries me, she mustnt
bottle up her feelings,
l have asked her if she wants tranquillisers/sleeping
pills, she said no,
but she has handled it well. I did hear her say to
you, she would probably
only cry when she had her family with her - well l
dont want her to think
she cant confide her feelings in us, for heaven sake
we are her family too.
Anyway besides that awful, awful incident, we are
all well, bearing up
amongst the shortages and all the shit going on here. We
do feel a little
bit anxious about still continuing our travels around the
country, but
hopefully, all will be well. - Have to try and think
positively , -but hey
thats HARD here!!
I WOULD prefer to just pack my
suitcase right now and get the hell out NOW!
Anybody know of any jobs going
in Aus right now???? I'm available!!
O.K. guys, must end, this probably
seems like an Enid Blytin story to you,
remember we love you all and look
forward to hearing from you all soon.
Love and miss you.
Heaps of
love
P, I & N
ABC Australia
Friday, March 7, 2003.
Posted: 09:15:33 (AEDT)
Witness asks for dismissal in Zimbabwe
treason trial
The key witness in the treason
trial of Zimbabwean Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has asked to be
dismissed from the case.
The Canadian-based political consultant Ari Ben
Menashe says he has been
abused by the defence and prosecution
lawyers.
Mr Ben Menashe has made an emotional plea to step down from the
trial.
The prosecution witness says he has been treated like a
prisoner.
Mr Ben Menashe has faced several days of cross examination
about his
involvement in a meeting with Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The prosecution alleges Mr Tsvangirai who was captured on
video tape, spoke
about plans to eliminate President Robert Mugabe.
Mr
Ben Menashe has admitted that he lured Mr Tsvangirai to the gathering
under
false pretences.
The trial is continuing in the capital Harare.
If
found guilty Mr Tsvangirai and two of his colleagues could face the
death
penalty.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe judges condemn colleague's
arrest
HARARE, March 6 - Half of Zimbabwe's High Court judges
condemned as
unconstitutional on Thursday the arrest of a colleague charged
with
interfering in the case of a business
partner.
Justice Benjamin Paradza is
suing President Robert Mugabe's
government for wrongful arrest over a
''humiliating'' night spent in a jail
infested with lice, which he said was
an assault on judicial independence,
his lawyer
said.
In a statement on Thursday, half
of the High Court's 20 judges said
the state had failed to follow procedures
laid down in the Constitution to
handle allegations of misconduct against a
judge, including the appointment
of a tribunal to
investigate.
''The image of the
judiciary is severely tarnished and the status of
judges is belittled if a
judge, who has not been suspended from office in
terms of...the Constitution
is detained in police cells,'' the
statement
said.
''If any judge is
treated in the manner in which Justice Paradza has
been, the impression is
unavoidable that the judge concerned is being
harassed and
victimised.''
Paradza was detained
overnight in February over allegations he
interfered in the case of a
business partner, which was being handled by
another judge. He was
subsequently charged with corruption and freed on
bail, to appear in court on
March 21.
His aides say the charges were
politically motivated and designed to
punish him for embarrassing Mugabe's
government the previous month when he
freed Harare's mayor, a member of the
main opposition held for holding an
illegal political
meeting.
Police say the corruption
charges against Paradza are not politically
motivated. He stands accused of
trying to influence a fellow judge to
release the passport of Russel Wayne
Luschagne, his partner in a safari
hunting business
venture.
Luschagne's passport had been
held by a court under his bail
conditions for a murder charge, and police
said Paradza had said he stood to
lose $60,000 if he Luschagne did not get
his passport back in order to make
a business trip to
Spain.
ARRESTED - WORLD CUP CRICKET BYO
STAND UP FOR THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!
Last lot appear in Court!
1. Tadious / Fibian Musara Fri 28 Feb
Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
2. Polite Ngwenya 27yrs Fri 28
Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
3. Brian Van Blerk 31yrs Fri
28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
4. Bukhosi Ndlovu Fri 28
Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
5. John Tlou 47yrs Fri 28 Feb
Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
6. Khathaza Ncube 21yrs Fri 28
Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
7. Makhosi Ncube 23yrs Fri 28
Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
8. Lovemore Gunda 22yrs Fri
28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
9. John Edward Dietrechson
65yrs Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
10. George
Parkin Jnr 49yrs Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
11.
Charles Jenkinson Fri 28 Feb Paid fine and released
12. Trigger Mkiza 21yrs
Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
13. Terence Arthur
Albery Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
14. Blessing
Moyo 20yrs Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
15.
Blessing Ndlovu 25yrs Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21
March
16. Daiton Laudon Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21
March
17. Kindness Moyo Fri 28 Feb Hospitalised, released from Custody
18.
Rosinah Ngwenya Fri 28 Feb Assaulted, released held at Mzilikazi
19. Similo
Mpofu Fri 28 Feb Assaulted, released held at Sauerstown
20. Sibonile Mhlanga
Fri 28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
21. Thulani Ndlovu Fri
28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
22. Sithembile Ncube Fri
28 Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
23. Sehlile Ncube Fri 28
Feb Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
24. Benjamin Moyo Fri 28 Feb
Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
25. Majaja Kavhala Fri 28 Feb
Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
26. Rorisang Sibanda Fri 28 Feb
Court 4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
27. Lloyd Jari Fri 28 Feb Court 4
Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
28. Sinikiwe Ndlovu Fri 28 Feb Court 4
Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
29. Philemon Bwerimwe Fri 28 Feb Court 4
Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
30. Sinikiwe Mkhwananzi Fri 28 Feb Court
4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
31. Sikhululekile Moyo Fri 28 Feb Court
4 Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
32. Alfonso Mathuthu Fri 28 Feb Court 4
Mar & Bail - To appear 21 March
33. Mehluli Ncube Mon 3 Mar Arrested at
home. Bail/released to appear 25 March
34. Thamsanga Ncube Mon 3 Mar Arrested
at home. Bail/released to appear 25 March
35. Zibusiso Thodlana Tues 4 Mar
Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25 March
36. Thandumuzi Nyoni Tues 4 Mar
Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25 March
37. Janet Tshuma Tues 4 Mar Court
6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25 March
38. Khumbulani Nxumalo Tues 4 Mar Court
6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25 March
39. Paul Ncube Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar
& Bail - To appear 25 March
40. Tsarelo Nare Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar &
Bail - To appear 25 March
41. Malvin Zitha Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail
- To appear 25 March
42. Linzima Zitha Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To
appear 25 March
43. Bright Maguri Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To
appear 25 March
44. Marlon Pamugwagwa Minor Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail
- To appear 25 March
45. Tranios Tshuma Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail -
To appear 25 March
46. Ndabezezere Vike Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail -
To appear 25 March
47. Christopher Sibanda Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail
- To appear 25 March
48. Owen Matavire Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To
appear 25 March
49. Thabani Sibanda Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To
appear 25 March
50. Nomvelo Ngibari Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To
appear 25 March
51. Wonesa Leo Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear
25 March
52. Jonathan Gondowe Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear
25 March
53. Melusi Nyathi Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25
March
54. Siphatisiwe Nyoni Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25
March
55. Takesure Moyo Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear 25
March
56. Thulani Ncube Minor Tues 4 Mar Court 6 Mar & Bail - To appear
25 March
57. Zenzo Moyo Tues 4 Mar Released without charge
58. Garry Rudhe
Tues 4 Mar Released without charge
59. Lovemore Phiri Tues 4 Mar Released
without charge
60. Nqobizitha Ndlovu Fri 28 Feb Released without
charge
61. Eugene Moyo Fri 28 Feb Released without charge
62. Zanele
Ndlovu/Dube Fri 28 Feb Released without charge
63. Billy Ndlovu Fri 28 Feb
Released without charge
64. Ntokozo Nkomo Fri 28 Feb Released without
charge
65. Thembinkosi Fri 28 Feb Released without charge
66. Sister of
Thembinkosi Fri 28 Feb Released without charge
67. Ntokozo Nkomo Fri 28 Feb
Released without charge
68. Mxolisi Moyo Fri 28 Feb Released without
charge
69. Francisco Nyoni Fri 28 Feb Released without charge
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email:
justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter
Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open
Letter Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1: Sam Baker
Please can you pass this on to anyone who might be
interested?
HP Learning Centre is offering an online stress-management
course.
Enrolment is free. The web address is:-
http://www.hplearningcenter.com/course/course.jsp?courseId=43
The course started on 20th February and ends on 4th April, but
you can join
any time and catch up with the lessons.
Stressed-out
Zimbos might find it useful!
Cheers,
Sam
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON
THE LIGHTER SIDE:
There has been a storm of outrage amongst us Free
Zimbabwe Activists since
Chirac invited Mugabe to Paris. Never mind his
other gallic politicking.
These are some of the jokes circulating in the UK
amongst the population in
general. (See French military magazine
attached). It may not be
politically correct but is true.
What's
one good thing that came out of France?
The
Huguenots!
----------------------------
In Paris they grow a lot of
trees - Why?
So that the Germans can march in the
shade!
-----------------------------
What is the difference between
the French and a piece of toast?
You can make soldiers out of
toast!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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for Agriculture mailing list
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Natal
Witness
Maduna stands by SA judiciary
CAPE TOWN - Justice Minister
Penuell Maduna distanced himself on Thursday
from an attack on the region's
judiciary by a senior ANC MPL and pledged to
protect the rights of South
African judges to express their views.
This follows criticism from the
official opposition and the General Council
of the Bar of KwaZulu-Natal over
MPL Dumisani Makhaye's comments.
On whether Maduna shares Makhaye's
views, ministry spokesman Paul Setsetse
said: "We distance ourselves from
what he said.
"Judges in South Africa are independent and are indeed at
liberty to express
their views on local, as well as international,
issues.
"It is within their rights to express their dissatisfaction as
the judiciary
on the Zimbabwean situation," Setsetse said.
"As the
Ministry of Justice we will protect our judiciary to express their
opinion
and views."
On whether Maduna shares the chief justices' concerns about
Zimbabwe,
Setsetse said the situation in Zimbabwe is being handled at a
diplomatic
level "and we would like to leave it at that".
"We would
not want to comment outside that all-inclusive approach
embarked
upon."
Setsetse said Makhaye's comments do not represent
Maduna or the South
African government.
"He was just speaking for
himself."
On Wednesday, Makhaye criticised the region's chief justices
for raising
concerns about the arrest of Zimbabwean judge Benjamin
Paradza.
The General Council of the Bar said it is disconcerting and
regrettable that
a member of a South African legislature acted in this
way.
"The tone of the statement suggests a contemptuous attitude towards
those
voices that express concern about the independence, perceived and real,
of
the judiciary," council chairman Willem van der Linde
said.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Sandy Kalyan (DA) called on the
ANC to
repudiate Makhaye, whom she described as "this dangerous
man".
Publish Date: 7 March 2003
Source: SAPA
Zim
Independent
Judge slam Chidyausiku
Vincent
Kahiya
IN a bold stand against government attempts to undermine the
judiciary,
Justice Benjamin Paradza who is facing charges of corruption, has
attacked
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and Judge President Paddington
Garwe,
accusing them of allowing his arrest and thus compromising the
independence
of the judiciary.
Justice Paradza in a Supreme Court
application challenging the
constitutionality of his arrest has charged that
the Chief Justice and the
Judge President failed to protect him because they
feared the executive.
Ten High Court judges on Wednesday signed a
statement denouncing the arrest
of Paradza, which they said tarnished their
image and belittled them. They
said Justice Paradza should not have been
arrested until the correct
procedures had been followed.
In
hard-hitting remarks forming part of his Supreme Court application filed
this
week, Paradza described the conduct of the two most senior members of
the
bench as "completely unacceptable".
"I must point out that the
conduct of my immediate superiors, both the Judge
President and the Chief
Justice, is completely unacceptable," said Justice
Paradza in his founding
affidavit.
"I would have expected them to protect the integrity of
the bench by
insisting that there was no need for my arrest and being placed
on remand
without the correct procedure being followed.
"I can
only assume that they did not do so for fear that they would fall out
of
favour with the executive, as happened in the case of the former
Chief
Justice Gubbay and the other judges of the High Court who resigned
their
offices," he said. "In so acting they have indeed compromised
the
independence of the judiciary."
Justice Paradza was released
on bail two weeks ago after spending a night in
police cells at Borrowdale
police station and is to appear in court again on
March 21. He is accused of
interfering in the trial of a friend and business
partner who is facing a
murder charge. Paradza has denied the allegations.
The state has said it will
call two judges, Justices Malaba and Cheda, as
witnesses in the
case.
Paradza is the second judge to be arrested in Zimbabwe after
retired High
Court judge Fergus Blackie was arrested in September last year,
also on
allegations of obstructing the course of justice. Blackie is still
awaiting
trial.
Paradza said prior to his arrest he had phoned
Justice Garwe advising him of
the impending arrest. He said the Judge
President gave him the impression
that "he did not know anything about
it".
"I have since found out that, indeed, the Judge President, the
Chief Justice
and the first respondent (the Minister of Justice) had been
aware of my
impending arrest three weeks before," he said, "and they did not
have the
courtesy to advise me at the time that they had been made aware of
it,
giving me an opportunity to respond to the complaints made against
me."
He added: "The Judge President, the Chief Justice and the first
respondent
did not care if the complaint against me was false, malicious or
otherwise,
but merely allowed the police to arrest me.
"This again
demonstrates the point that it is impossible to have an
independent judiciary
if the executive can interfere at will and be allowed
to be the first judge
of a judge." This meant any police constable could
walk into a judge's
cha-mbers and arrest him, Paradza argued. Legal experts
said the statement by
the judges condemning the arrest of Justice Paradza
puts the Chief Justice in
an invidious position.
"If the Chief Justice is going to preside over
the case, it means he would
have to make a ruling in a case in which 10
judges on his bench have already
pronounced a determination," said a senior
partner with Harare law firm.
Justice Paradza said his arrest was
unconstitutional as President Mugabe, on
the advice of the Chief Justice,
should have first set up a tribunal to look
into the allegations levelled
against him. Once a determination had been
made he could face arrest after
leaving the bench.
Zim
Independent
Thailand tightens visas for Zim
Staff
writers
IN a blow to President Robert Mugabe's "Look East" policy, Thailand
has
imposed visa restrictions on Zimbabweans wishing to visit that country.
The
news comes only days after Mugabe visited Bangkok to open a trade expo
in
the Thai capital designed to enhance business contacts.
Despite
Mugabe's shuttling between Harare and Far East capitals, trade
figures
obtained from Zimtrade this week reveal that trade with the Asian
Tigers has
been on the decline for the last five years.
The diplomatic shuttles
undertaken at considerable cost to the ficsus do not
appear to have brought
any meaningful benefits.
Exports to Thailand declined sharply to
US$8,78 million in 2001 from US$37,1
million in 2000, compared to imports
worth US$4,03 million in 2001. Cotton
and asbestos made up the larger part of
the exports. The pattern for 2002 is
much the same, the Zimbabwe Independent
has learnt, although figures are
still being collated.
Mugabe
opened the Zimbabwe-Thailand Expo Centre, a shop window for
Zimbabwean
products, on February 26 while on one of his whirlwind tours.
He launched
another expo centre in Singapore on February 27. Exports to
Singapore
declined to US$2,2 million in 2001 from US$14,5 million in 2000,
while
imports from Singapore were worth US$2,6 million.
Despite the opening
of the Zimbabwe-Asia Expo Centre in Kuala Lumpur in
Malaysia last year,
exports to that country were worth only US$1,2 million
compared to imports of
more than $11 million.
Mugabe returned from his trip to the Far East
last weekend declaring he had
"done a great job" in wooing investment from
that part of the region.
Until January, Zimbabwe passport holders could
obtain a visa on arrival at
Bangkok airport. But this facility has been
withdrawn. Zimbabweans will now
have to obtain visas before travelling to
Thailand. The visa restriction
came into effect on December 29 after Mugabe
had been to Thailand twice on
business trips.
The Independent has
it on good authority that businessmen, led by banker
Enoch Kamushinda, who
accompanied President Mugabe to Thailand last week had
to get visas before
travelling to that country.
The Thai authorities signalled their
intention to tighten entry restrictions
for nationals of a number of
countries, many in Africa, shortly after the
September 11 2001 attacks in the
United States but waited until this year
before doing so. They have also
referred to a lack of reciprocity on visa
issues with these
states.
The citizens of many countries do not require visas for
Thailand while
others can still obtain visas on arrival. South African
passport holders
benefit from an exemption that permits them to enter and
stay in Thailand
for 30 days without an entry visa.
Mugabe visited
Thailand with an entourage of officials and businessmen last
week, his second
visit this year. But it is not clear if the new
restrictions were discussed.
There has been much fanfare in the official
media surrounding the policy of
forging closer relations with countries in
the Far East. A visit to Zimbabwe
last November by a trade delegation from
Thailand discussed trade and tourism
ties. It was proposed that Air Zimbabwe
should fly to
Bangkok.
Zimbabweans - business people and tourists - have been
visiting Thailand in
growing numbers in recent years and it is thought the
latest clampdown will
affect the flow. Visas will now have to be obtained
from the Royal Thai
embassy in Pretoria prior to travel.
A Thai
business delegation led by Dr Nalinee Joy Taveesin last year promised
to
export fertiliser to Zimbabwe and establish an airlink between Bangkok
and
Harare. None of this has happened.
Zim
Independent
Zanu PF officials accused of raping militia
trainees
Loughty Dube/Cynthia Mahwite
SENIOR Zanu PF officials in
Bulawayo have been implicated in a rape scandal
at national youth militia
training camps that were scattered throughout the
city in the run up to the
2002 presidential election, the Zimbabwe
Independent has learnt.
The
revelation came last Thursday when a number of female "Green Bombers"
gave a
harrowing account of rape ordeals they endured. The girls testified
during a
church meeting organised by church leaders in Bulawayo for torture
victims.
Archbishop Pius Ncube presided.
The MP for St Mary's, Job Sikhala,
testified on his torture by police at the
meeting that was attended by church
leaders from South Africa.
Implicated amongst the perpetrators of the
rape ordeals are senior Zanu PF
executive members for Bulawayo province
(named) and base commanders for the
training camps (names supplied). Girls
who were based in a training camp
situated in Burnside spoke of serious abuse
of female members in the camps.
"I do not know the father of my baby
because I was repeatedly raped by a
number of different men and boys every
night," said one of the girls who
spoke on condition of
anonymity.
"When we reported the incidents to our base commander we
were beaten up and
told we were MDC sellouts."
She said the cases
of rape were reported to Hillside police station but the
police have remained
silent on what course of action they have taken.
"Police would also visit
the camp and leave with some girls," said one of
the girls.
Police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said if the cases of rape were reported to
the
police they would be investigated irrespective of whether they were
political
or not.
"Irrespective of whether these cases are political or not, if
they are true
rape cases the culprits would go to court because we would be
dealing with
criminal cases," Bvudzijena said.
He however said
some people were taking advantage of the current political
climate to
misrepresent facts.
However, the girls insisted that serious abuse of
female members of the
youth militia at the youth camps took
place.
"It is painful to speak of that today, the filth I went
through of being
made a wife of so many men is horrible, especially the fact
that some of the
boys we shared the same room with forced themselves on us,"
said one of the
girls.
She said the training they underwent
included a 20-km marathon in the early
hours of the morning and returning to
base where they had to do 200 press
ups before going for party sloganeering
and re-education lectures.
Zim
Independent
Zim in bid to end isolation
Mthulisi
Mathuthu
AHEAD of the European Union/Africa Caribbean and Pacific Joint
Parliamentary
Assembly meeting to be held in Congo-Brazzaville this month,
Zimbabwe is
already lobbying for the lifting of sanctions and adoption of a
resolution
that Britain is to blame for its problems.
The meeting is
scheduled for March 31 to April 4.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week
obtained details of the motion which will
be tabled by State Enterprises
minister Paul Mangwana at the end of the
month.
"The only issue
obstructing the return to normalcy in the country is the
sustained hostility
of the United Kingdom government which is engendering
polarisation in
Zimbabwean society and blocking cooperation between Zimbabwe
and the
international community," it reads.
The resolution claims Britain used
"coercive diplomacy" to have the EU, the
Commonwealth and the United States
impose "declared and undeclared"
sanctions on Zimbabwe.
It says: "The
United Kingdom has used coercive diplomacy to conscript the
EU, the
Commonwealth and the United States to impose declared and
undeclared
sanctions on the government and people of Zimbabwe with a view to
creating
an economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe."
Zimbabwe hopes
to convince the EU/ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA)
that Britain, as a
former colonial master, is opposed to the land
resettlement exercise and has
hence campaigned for Zimbabwe's isolation.
The resolution blames Britain
for undermining the growth of genuine
democracy, the rule of law and the
culture of respect for human rights
through inciting international host-ility
against Zimbabwe and by sponsoring
organisations to arouse domestic upheaval
and render the country
ungovernable.
Crafted on February 27, the
document claims that Britain is at the forefront
of Zimbabwe's demonisation
in the media helped by some journalists, "as was
the case with the disgraced
Financial Gazette and London Observer (sic)
journalist, Basildon
Peta.
"Opposition to the land reform programme has also led to the
nurturing and
sponsoring of surrogate political forces and NGOs in Zimbabwe
to provoke the
forces of law and order so that the just cause of
redistributing land to the
landless black majority can be condemned by the
international community on
the basis of malicious and false allegations on
non-observance of the rule
of law, human rights and good governance," the
resolution claims.
According to the document circulating among diplomats
and MEPs in Brussels,
Zimbabwe wants the JPA to endorse the Abuja summit and
Presidents Thabo
Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo's observations that land, racial
and external
interests were at the core of its
problems.
Zim
Independent
Govt intensifies crackdown against
dissent
Blessing Zulu
THE clampdown on dissent has intensified
over the past two weeks with
growing evidence of police brutality - further
denting claims by Presidents
Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo that the
situation in Zimbabwe has
improved.
Some of the worst cases of
brutality followed a World Cup cricket match in
Bulawayo last
Friday.
Nigerian leader Obasanjo came to Zimbabwe on February 8 on a
one-day visit
from South Africa. Following his visit over 280 people have
been arrested
under the draconian Public Order and Security Act
(Posa).
Mbeki told the SABC that his government had a commitment from the
Zimbabwean
leadership that repression would stop. But there has been an
increase in
police violence since then.
On February 13, a meeting
organised by the Zimbabwe National Pastors
Conference at Northside Community
Church in Borrowdale was brutally broken
up by the police.
The police
assaulted prominent academic and civic leader, Dr John Makumbe.
They briefly
detained human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro, Bishop Trevor
Manhanga and an
American diplomat.
On February 14 police arrested 73 people, mainly
women, who were marching
for peace. Those who were detained included seven
journalists who were
covering the event and a clergyman whose camera was
confiscated after
video-taping the demonstration.
In another
potentially embarrassing case, the vice-president of the Bulawayo
Queens
Sports Club and an accredited member of the International Cricket
Council,
Paul Dietrechsen, was arrested and assaulted after the cricket
World Cup
match between Zimbabwe and Holland. Dietrechsen and another member
of the
Bulawayo Queens Club, George Robert Parkin, had gone to the police
post at
the grounds to inquire about a club member, Monty Jenkinson, who had
been
arrested for allegedly verbally abusing a youth who had entered an area
of
the club reserved for members.
"After the match the young man returned
with five policemen who arrested
Jenkinson," said Parkin in a
statement.
"As we got there Jenkinson was pushed into the police post
building. A
senior police member in uniform with a faulty right eye then
punched
Jenkinson in the mouth and about the head with a clenched fist,"
Parkin
said. There were up to eight officers present he said.
"At that
stage Paul Dietrechsen walked in. He was wearing his official ICC
badge. He
had to push his way through the policemen and wanted to know what
was going
on."
As Dietrechsen tried to make his way out he was assaulted, Parkin
said. Then
a plain clothes officer arrived, Parkin said.
"I saw him
grab a long rubber riot baton from one of the uniformed officers
and start
assaulting Dietrechsen with the baton."
Parkin said he shouted for the
officer to stop and threw himself in the way.
Dietrechsen is 65 years old.
Parkin claims the plain clothes officer then
started beating him.
All
three - Jenkinson, Dietrechsen and Parkin - were then forcibly pushed to
the
ground and assaulted, Parkin said.
He claims the plain clothes officer
shouted racist abuse at them asking: "Do
you know me, do you know
me?"
"I do not know how many times I was assaulted - but many many
blows," Parkin
said. "This was also happening to Dietrechsen and
Jenkinson."
They were then taken to Bulawayo Central and later to Queens
Park where they
were detained.
"We were not allowed access to any
legal advice, or to see our family
members, or to make any phone calls,"
Parkin said. He and Dietrechsen were
charged under Posa for attempting to
obstruct the course of justice.
At the same match 41 cricket supporters
were detained by the police for four
days after a peaceful demonstration.
They were all released by the courts.
On February 28 the police arrested
23 clergymen who were protesting against
the excessive use of force by the
police. Twenty-eight cricket supporters
were arrested on Tuesday for
demonstrating at the Queens Sports Club where
the match against Pakistan was
being played.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
also suffered from
the latest wave of arrests and assaults.
At least
26 MDC supporters on their way to a rally in Hatcliffe were
arrested on
Sunday along Chancellor Avenue. The MDC said its supporters were
detained and
assaulted in State House grounds for wearing MDC T-shirts.
Nelson
Chamisa, the MDC candidate for Kuwadzana, his campaign manager
Charlton
Hwende, and over 50 supporters were arrested for campaigning.
In the
high-density suburb of Mufakose a further 70 MDC supporters were
arrested and
10 other suspected MDC supporters were picked from their homes
in Mufakose in
the early hours of Monday morning. This was after an MDC
rally sanctioned by
the police.
MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said the arrests exposed
the
government's hypocrisy. About 50 of the 70 were released on Tuesday
night.
"The arrests are further evidence that the Mugabe regime does not
tolerate
political pluralism in the country, and is willing to continually
suppress
opposing views, contrary to the efforts by the regime to hoodwink
the
international community into believing that the country is returning to
law
and order," said Nyathi.
"We reiterate our position that the ZRP
has become a willing tool in Zanu
PF's effort to suppress basic human rights
in Zimbabwe," said Nyathi.
The Speaker of the Swedish parliament, Bjorn
von Sydow, has reacted strongly
to reports of arrests and state-sanctioned
violence in Zimbabwe.
"I want to convey the Swedish paliament's vehement
protests against these
violations of the human rights of MPs and members of
the opposition," he
said.
"The Zimbabwe government must put an
immediate stop to the tide of violence
and torture that has swept across the
country," Von Sydow said.
Zim
Independent
Matsanga Mugabe's 'advisor'
Mthulisi
Mathuthu
THE London-based Ugandan fugitive, David Nyekorach-Matsanga, is now
one of
President Robert Mugabe's public relations advisors.
A
fortnight ago Matsanga told two undercover journalists from the
British
Telegraph newspaper in Croydon that he was one of Mugabe's
advisors.
He said: "I know all the government, they turn to me for
advice. Mugabe is
always interested in what I have to say."
According
to the Telegraph, Matsanga is paid by the Zimbabwean government to
win
publicity for it through his Africa Strategy company which last year
held a
conference in Croydon to market Mugabe's land policies.
This comes at a
time when Matsanga has been publicising Africa Strategy as a
civic
organisation committed only to political debate and research.
Other
companies that have been hired to do publicity work for Mugabe's
government
are Dickens & Madson owned by Ari Ben-Menashe and Andrew Young's
Good
Works International.
Last month Matsanga was staying at the Sheraton
Hotel in Harare from where
he wrote vitriolic columns in the government
papers attacking the British
government and independent
journalists.
He also gave lectures at the Zimbabwe Open University's
department of media
studies during which he admitted to carrying out research
on land on behalf
of the government.
Over lunch with the Telegraph
journalists, Mastanga boasted of being a
British citizen and a member of
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party.
He also claimed to have worked
as a researcher for Robin Cook, then shadow
foreign secretary, before the
1997 election.
"Britain is my home. I have been here many years. I worked
for Robin Cook
before the 1997 election and I am still in the Labour Party,"
he said.
Matsanga is a wanted man in Uganda where he was a spokesperson
for the
Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group which has been listed by the
US
government as an international terrorist organisation.
The
Telegraph quoted an unnamed Home Office spokesman as saying the
British
government was "not in the business of giving asylum to those who
pose a
risk to others" and was "not prepared to offer sanctuary to people who
abuse
our hospitality".
Only last month an East African diplomat in
Harare warned that his continued
abuse of President Museveni in Zimbabwe's
government papers could drive a
wedge between Harare and
Kampala.
Zim
Independent
McKinnon in shuttle diplomacy over Zim's Commonwealth
status
Dumisani Muleya
AS the expiry date of Zimbabwe's one-year
sus-pension from the Commonwealth
approaches, the club's secretary-gen-eral
Don McKinnon is intensifying
shuttle dip-lomacy to break the deadlock over
the issue.
McKinnon, who is compiling a report on the current Zimbabwe
crisis, was in
South Africa this week for talks with President Thabo
Mbeki.
Mbeki, Australian Pri-me Minister John How-ard, and Nigerian
President
Olusegun Obasanjo form the troika which suspended Zimbabwe from
the
Commonwealth on March 19 last year for electoral rigging.
Howard
wants Zimba-bwe's suspension exte- nded for another year while Mbeki
and
Obasanjo are battling to lift the ban. The three leaders clashed over
the
issue at a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, last year but agreed to review
the
situation this month.
However, Obasanjo recently wrote to Howard
claiming the meeting was no
longer necessary and Zimbabwe should be
readmitted to the club because it
has addressed issues of
concern.
Zimbabwe was asked to tackle matters relating to democracy and
human rights
during its suspension. Howard said he is opposed to Zimbabwe's
readmission
because the situation has not only remained unchanged butwas
actually
getting worse.
Apart from failing to address issues raised at
Marlborough House in London
last March, Harare has also barred McKinnon from
visiting the country on a
fact-finding mission.
A senior Commonwealth
official told the Zimbabwe Independent from London
this week that McKinnon is
busy consulting on the issue. He is expected to
release a report on Zimbabwe
soon.
"The report has not yet been finalised but it will be ready soon,"
the
official said. "It will be sent to troika members as soon as it
is
completed."
Sources said McKin-non has already consulted the troika
members and is now
talking to other Commonwealth leaders.
"He held
talks with Mbeki this week," a source said. "Last week he spoke to
Obasanjo
during the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) summit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, and
prior to all this he had consulted Howard during his visit to
London on
February 12."
Besides these leaders, McKinnon is understood to have met
more than 20
Commonwealth leaders during the Nam meeting. He has also been to
India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Swaziland.
"In addition to
all this, McKinnnon has also had telephone contacts with a
number of
Commonwealth leaders," the source said. "He will continue
consulting until
the troika decides after March 19 what is the next step
on
Zimbabwe."
Asked how effectiveMcKinnon's overtures during Nam were
giventhat the summit
expressed blanket support for Zimbabwe's land reforms
and called for the
lifting of targeted sanctions imposed by the European
Union, the
Commonwealth official said there was no connection between the two
issues.
"There was no connection between Nam and McKinnon's mission," the
official
said. "It was never the Commonwealth's business to shape the views
and
statements of Nam leaders. We saw the declaration on Zimbabwe but we
know
there was no debate and consensus on the issue.
In any case, the
declaration was actually drafted weeks before the summit.
So there was little
resemblance between what Nam leaders thought and
the
statement."
Zim
Independent
Fuel crisis to stay with us despite price hikes -
Gono
Ngoni Chanakira
GIDEON Gono, the country's main fuel-deal
broker, says despite the recent
price hikes, Zimbabwe is not yet out of the
"dark cloud of scarcity" as far
as the crippling shortages are
concerned.
Gono, the Jewel Bank's chief executive officer, has
facilitated deals by
organising offshore funding for fuel, especially from
Kuwait.
He has also facilitated trade deals between Zimbabwe and
Malaysia,
culminating in the latter agreeing to accept local currency in
payment for
imports.
In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent
this week, Gono was quick to
point out that "issues dealing with the fuel
crisis are now deemed strategic
and confidential".
He said: "We have
been experiencing a rough patch over the last three months
or so. We are not
yet out of the dark cloud of scarcity and it is not very
clear as to when we
will get out."
In a bid to bail out the cash-strapped Noczim, the
Minister of Energy,
Transport and Communications, Amos Midzi, last Tuesday
hiked the fuel price.
Petrol went up from $74,47 to $145,20, while diesel
increased by 80% from
$66,39 to $119,43. The industry had proposed increments
of up to $500 per
litre for petrol and $300 for diesel.
Gono said: "We
still have a long way to go in terms of coming up with a
pricing structure
for fuel that recognises the true nature of procurement
cost as well as the
situation on the ground. I don't think the situation was
meant to correlate
price with availability, but rather meant to correct a
pricing backlog where,
for instance, a bottle of water was costing more than
fuel which it still
is."
He said he would prefer a regular price review in line with the
viability of
the industry, which took account of inflationary
pressures.
Citing confidentiality clauses, Gono refused to comment on the
amount of
fuel the country had so far imported or how much money had been
splashed out
to suppliers by his bank.
He, however, admitted that
Zimbabwe was seriously cash-strapped and did not
have sufficient foreign
currency to continue paying for imports.
Bankers said foreign currency
reserves in the sector diminished from about
US$10,3 million in November,
last year, to about US$600 000 last month.
Gono said since exports had
nose-dived, receipts to the central bank were a
third of 1998
levels.
"Such a decline has meant that all critical areas have suffered,"
he said.
"The country is under sanctions from the donor community, and the
gap has
been left exposed since the land reform programme began. There is no
new
forex to fill this gap. Until and unless we come up with a
self-sustaining
source of energy, we will be seeing queues and fighting among
our consumers.
The supply levels are critical. What Zimbabwe needs is an
investment in fuel
which goes beyond the hand to mouth situation that we are
experiencing right
now."
Zim
Independent
Evicted farmers could lose
millions
Augustine Mukaro
FARMERS served with Section 8 notices
last week face the danger of losing
millions of dollars in crops and
equipment as government could evict them in
May before they round up their
operations.
A Section 8 notice means that a farmer is given 90 days to
complete his
operations and vacate his property.
He is expected to
harvest all crops in 45 days and then round up any other
activities in the
remaining 45 days
Twenty-four of the 44 commercial farmers still
operating in the Karoi/Tengwe
area who were served with Section 8 notices
said an atmosphere of
uncertainty and fear has gripped farmers as evictions
loom.
"Memories of arrests and harassment which were prevalent in
government's
sweeping evictions of farmers last year still haunts us," said
one of the
farmers on Wednesday
Justice for Agriculture vice-chairman
John Worswick said all the farmers
served with the notices had a tobacco crop
in the field currently being
harvested and the process would be completed
next month. Each farmer has
planted up to 40 hectares of tobacco and can earn
$200 million at the
floors.
"The crop would need to be cured, graded
and then marketed," Worswick said.
"Farmers would need up to at least
September to completely round up their
operations at the farms so if
government is going to effect the notices,
farmers would suffer serious
losses," he said.
He said the few farmers still operating throughout the
country had put crops
in the ground following government's assurance that the
on-going land reform
programme would not affect them.
The farmers were
also misled into making huge investments in producing crops
banking on
government's continued rhetoric that the land reform programme
had been
completed.
Zim
Independent
Zim owes IMF US$310m
Ngoni
Chanakira
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the government has
strongly
criticised for "derailing the country's economy", is owed US$310
million by
Zimbabwe, according to reliable sources.
This figure
amounts to $17,050 billion using the official rate of US$1/$55
and a
staggering $465 billion on the black market rate of US$1/$1
500.
Zimbabwe's arrears, on the other hand, now amount to US$211 million
($11,605
billion officially).
The IMF's Senior Resident
Representative, Gerald Johnson, on Tuesday
admitted that the IMF was owed
"millions" by Zimbabwe.
Johnson said in an interview: "As you are aware
the process to clear the
arrears is quite complicated. The IMF, however,
works closely with countries
and gives them time to clear their outstanding
payments. The mission
continues to work with countries even if they are in
arrears."
The IMF and World Bank, both divisions of the Washington-based
Bretton Woods
institutions, have come under severe criticism from government
because of
their outspokenness regarding Zimbabwe's economic and political
affairs and
suspension of balance of payments support to Zimbabwe, resulting
in a
foreign currency crisis.
A high-powered IMF mission is currently
in Zimbabwe holding discussions with
government, business, labour, and
members of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
It
will also grill the top brass of the ruling Zanu PF party about the
situation
prevailing in the country.
Individuals expected to meet the IMF
delegation include Reserve Bank
governor Leonard Tsumba, ministers Herbert
Murerwa (Finance and Economic
Development), Samuel Mumbengegwi (Industry and
International Trade), Joseph
Made (Lands, Agriculture and Rural
Resettlement), and MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The mission is
also expected to consult with the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI),
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU), as
well as the banking sector.
In its last report on Zimbabwe in 2001, the
IMF expressed concern over the
deterioration of economic activity,
inappropriate macro-economic policies,
and the general breakdown in law and
order, saying this had further damaged
confidence, destroyed capital, and
eroded institutions important for
economic development.
The mission
said then: "Zimbabwe's economic crisis continues to deepen."
Johnson this
week said: "The delegation will issue a report when they have
completed
consultations with the individuals they are meeting."
Zim Independent
Zim braces for
showdown
Ndamu Sandu
WITH six months to go before the 5th edition
of the World Trade Organisation
Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico,
daggers are already drawn as
Zimbabwe braces for a showdown at the
summit.
In an interview at a workshop organised by the Southern and
Eastern Africa
Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) in
Kadoma last week,
director of External Trade in the Ministry of Industry and
International
Trade, Rudo Faranisi said the preparatory process towards the
ministerial
conferences was not transparent and lacked
inclusiveness.
She said there were many developing countries being
excluded from council
meetings even after specific requests had been
made.
Faranisi said: "This only serves to entrench the interests of
developed
countries at the expense of the developing countries."
She
acknowledged that the road to Cancun was bumpy for developing
countries,
particularly those from Africa, and called for a coordinated
effort on their
part to come up with coherent strategies in negotiations with
other WTO
members, especially the developed countries.
The director
said her ministry would hold consultative meetings to collect
the views of
all stakeholders.
Faranisi said Zimbabwe, like any developing country in
the world, would put
forward issues that advance its
status.
"Developing countries should look internally to issues that
affect
themselves as nations," she said.
Asked why southern African
nations had not united to form a legislative body
similar to that in east
Africa, Faranisi said her ministry would deliberate
on the formation of a
regional legislative assembly.
Three east African countries have formed a
legislative Assembly, the East
Africa Legislative
Assembly.
Headquartered in Arusha, the Assembly is responsible for
advocating the
views of these east African countries at the summit and to
offer insights on
what to be deliberated on.
The Mexican summit in
September is a follow-up to the WTO's Doha summit in
2001 where developing
and developed countries failed to reach a consensus.
The developing
countries will have a crunch after last month's aborted WTO
Agriculture
Agreement in Geneva, Switzerland.
Zim
Independent
Zim faces 'economic misery' - Jewel
Bank
Ngoni Chanakira
WHILE the Jewel Bank's profit before tax
continues to rise, this time by
246% from $1,3 billion to $4,3 billion, the
bank says Zimbabwe is facing
"economic misery".
Jewel Bank chairman,
Richard Wilde, while smiling about his firm's
impressive results released
this week, spoke strongly about the country's
economic gloom.
He said
the period under review would go down in the history books as one
during
which Zimbabwe's socio-political and economic fortunes reached levels
of
economic misery and instability never experienced since independence.
The
bank's net profit after tax shot up by 233% from $808 million to
$2,7
billion, while headline earnings per share went up from 198 cents to
580
cents.
Despite a very competitive banking sector, the Jewel Bank
managed to
increase its deposits by 81%, from $30,4 billion to $55,2
billion.
Shareholders funds also went up by 107% from $2,6 billion to
$5,3 billion,
while the bank's balance sheet size increased by 93% from $36,1
billion to
$69,5 billion.
The total dividend for the year increased by
120% from 50 cents to 110
cents.
Wilde said: "The year under review
will certainly go down in the history
books as one during which the country's
socio-political and economic
fortunes reached levels of economic misery and
instability never expected
before in our short history of
independence.
"Inflation hit record levels, closing the year at 198,9%.
Foreign currency
shortages reached acute dimensions, which threatened to
cripple essential
imports for the country while the grey market price for the
commodity rose
to levels never dreamt of before. Shortages of power, fuel,
essential basic
commodities and their inappropriate pricing also threatened
the social,
political and economic stability of the country."
The
Jewel Bank's charge for doubtful debts on the other hand increased from
$547
million to $815,9 million, bringing the cumulative provisions held by
the
bank to well over $2 billion.
"Recoveries of previously classified debts
resulted in a release of
provisions of $642,4 million during the year and
measures are in place to
continue with the strategy to reduce non-performing
loans to the absolute
minimum even though the operating environment makes it
impossible to
eliminate this risk," Wilde told shareholders this
week.
"Caution and diligence, without exaggeration, will always guide the
bank's
lending programmes and its subsequent monitoring of
performance."
The chairman took a swipe at the government, saying
President Robert
Mugabe's regime had "not succeeded in reversing the
contraction of the
economy".
Wilde said: "Government's response to the
challenges confronting the country
while commendable in courage and
determination has not succeeded in
reversing the contraction in the
economy."
He said it was very important now more than ever before that
the government
changed its economic principles and followed revival plans
spelt out by
business.
He said the government needed to desperately
tackle the problems being faced
in the transport, communications,
international relations sectors, as well
as poverty alleviation
methods.
The bank chairman said the problems of shortages,
de-industrialisation,
unemployment and inflation, had combined to make
Zimbabwe the "least
competitive investment destination in the
region".
"The matter is extremely urgent," Wilde
said.
Zim
Independent
Zim isolation hurts business
Ngoni
Chanakira
DESPITE the government's insistence that international isolation is
not
hurting economic prospects, leading business executives both locally
and
regionally dispute this, saying Zimbabwe cannot go it
alone.
Zimbabwe has been isolated for more than three years now by
the
international community who cite its unjust human rights record, abuse
of
the judiciary, skewed macro-economic policies, as well as its
land
resettlement programme.
The European Union (EU), the Bretton
Woods institutions that include the
World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), the United States
government, as well as several donor
organizations have imposed sanctions
against Zimbabwe.
President
Robert Mugabe and more than 70 of his senior government officials
and
business associates have been banned from traveling to the EU and the US
as
the international community tightens up on its sanctions imposition.
In
an interview, Yusuf Turundu, Permanent Secretary of the African
Business
Round Table (ABR), said Zimbabwe "definitely cannot
go-it-alone".
Turundu, who is based at the association's headquarters in
South Africa, was
visiting Zimbabwe to meet business executives.
He
said: "Zimbabwe definitely needs to talk to the international community
in
order to get international support. This is the reason why there
are
international groupings and meetings between diplomatic personnel.
No
country in the world survives on its own. It can never
happen."
While Zimbabwe has tried to play down the diplomatic impasse
with the
international community, it has, however, begun to look to the Far
East for
its markets.
Several trips have been made to countries such
as Malaysia, Indonesia, and
China to try and get access to markets
there.
In an interview this week, Gideon Gono, chief executive officer of
the Jewel
Bank, also confirmed that Zimbabwe needed friends because it could
not
conduct its business without help.
Gono said: "The Far East can
help Zimbabwe just like what the Europeans were
doing. Let's face it, we
cannot do things on our own. In the world of
business he that explores new
avenues is one who comes out better."
Zim
Independent
Rio's gold output down
Staff
writer
RIO TINTO Zimbabwe Ltd (RioZim)'s gold production has slumped by 77,4
% to 1
182 kg compared to the previous year, the group said this
week.
In its results for the year ended December 31 2002, the company
said profit
after tax rose by 449% to $582 million while group turnover rose
by 96 %
from the previous year to $4,9 billion.
Rio Zim, however,
attributed the decrease in the production of gold to the
closure of Camp Dump
and the lower available ore grades at both Patchway and
Renco.
The
company said it had made a loss through December after the announcement
of
the budget.
"Following the budget and other pronouncements in November,
the company
operated at a loss through December," the company said.
It
said the exploration joint venture programmes had created an expenditure
of
$218 million and the company was responsible for 50% of this amount.
Rio
said work on existing projects would be completed during the course of
the
year.
"Work programmes on existing ground holdings will be completed
during 2003
and no new ground is being taken," Rio said.
On its future
prospects, the company said it was optimistic that changes to
macroeconomic
policy announced by the Minister of Finance and Economic
Development, Herbert
Murerwa, had removed the conditions which prompted the
cautionary statement
issued in December last year.
The measure announced by Murerwa meant that
government would devalue from
the current $55 to the United States dollar, to
$800.
Zim
Independent
Foreign currency shortages set to
persist
Staff Writer
ZIMBABWE'S foreign currency shortages are
set to persist due to the
decreasing volumes of minerals expected to be
produced this year, according
to statistics released by the Chamber of Mines
of Zimbabwe (CMZ).
The chamber, in its report for October/November
released this week, said
most minerals would record decreases in volumes
produced in 2002 compared to
2001.
Minerals anticipated to record
decreases in volumes include black granite,
coal, chromite, cobolt, gold,
graphite, iron ore, iron pyrite, lithium
minerals, magnesite and
nickel.
Those expected to record increases include asbestos, copper, high
carbon
ferrodrome, palladium, platinum, rhodium and vermiculite.
The
chamber said: "With the decline in the performance of the real
sectors
expected to continue in 2003, the contribution at Pay As You Earn
(Paye) and
other sources of revenue is expected to be greatly reduced in
2003.
The increase in revenue in 2003 compared to 2002 is mainly due to
inflation
adjustments. However, if measures to address inflation through
price
stabilisation work, it is difficult to determine the reason for the
104%
increase in anticipated revenue for 2003."
In his 2003 national
budget, Minister of Finance and Economic Development
Herbert Murerwa,
estimated that $540 billion would be raised.
However, the chamber said
"it is difficult to imagine how these resources
will be raised".
"For
2002 all the sectors are estimated to record significant negative
growth as
follows: mining (7,1 %), manufacturing (17,2 %), agriculture (20,8
%), hotel
and distribution (12 %), construction (10 %), and electricity
(4,7
%).
"The structure of government revenue sources is: PAYE (43%),
sales tax (23
%), corporate tax (11 %), customs duty (six %), excise duty
(six %), others
(10 %)," said the chamber.
The chamber said gold
production had been affected by the support price that
always lagged behind
operating costs creating cash-flow problems for
producers.
"The
shortage of foreign currency and the inefficiency of the gold pool
facility
also presented the sector with challenges that impacted negatively
on
production," the chamber said in its report.
"As long as these two issues
are not dealt with decisively production will
decline further in 2003. Other
minerals battled with operating cost that
continue to escalate with no end in
sight. On the revenue front mineral
prices have not been performing well
during 2002. World economic recovery in
2003 will impact positively on
commodity prices as demand for mineral
commodities is expected to
increase."
The chamber said increased production efficiencies had
resulted in increased
production of asbestos throughout 2002. It said by
year-end production was
anticipated to have increased by 28,6 % compared to
2001.
"A reduction in world production is acting in favour of Zimbabwe as
the
number of competitors has been reduced," the chamber said. "The
asbestos
market has remained favourable."
However, the South Africans
are battling to get asbestos from Zimbabwe
banned in their country.
Zimbabwean politicians have been lobbying to avoid
this happening at great
cost.
South African members of parliament have been invited to attend
several
briefings on asbestos and its advantages, while several Zimbabweans
in the
industry have also visited the neighboring country to try and convince
them
about safety of local asbestos. -.
Zim Independent - letters
Time to
look beyond Zanu PF politicians
I HAVE been following the
Zimbabwe debacle with keen interest. I wish to
make some observations so that
others can learn and maybe add one or two
views of their own.
Zanu PF
is becoming obsolete in the Zimbabwean scenario, as everyone now
knows. We
now need to look beyond these eloquent but useless politicians.
In the
same breath I hasten to add that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is the
best
thing that ever happened to us as Zimbabweans. He has put to shame the
Zanu
PF clique of clueless politicians and their sadistic police force
by
skillfully steering away from the anticipated violent mass
action.
Their tear-gas is gathering dust and soldiers are getting
restless because
the threat of war has not materialised and the promised
booty might not be
coming because the Zimbabwean civilian is much too crafty
to confront a
ruthless armed enemy head-on.
They might brand
Tsvangirai a traitor, a British-sponsored puppet but who is
the real
revolutionary? Certainly not the ruling elite! Because of Zanu PF's
numerous
blunders, the Libyans have colonised us, the Chinese are being
courted to
colonise another chunk of an already mortgaged country, while the
Malaysians
are being promised heaven on earth by taking over whatever they
can lay their
hands on before the curtain comes down on Zanu PF.
What have we got in
common with all these new colonisers?
By now most people will have
realised that you don't have to like a man to
do business with him, and for
the sake of survival, there is nothing like
pride in a fallen man.
We
might not like the British and Americans, but their patronage brings food
to
many a table. Although the Americans don't like the Chinese they still
trade
with them. Which is why someone once remarked that there are no
permanent
friends or enemies, only alliances.
Zanu PF has failed to create any
notable alliances and has made more enemies
than friends - which is why we
are in the current mess. yet they deceive
themselves that they are still
popular at home.
And it never ceases to amaze me how unelected people
such as Jonathan Moyo,
Patrick Chinamasa and Joseph Made keep harping on
about sovereignty,
independence etc. Whose sovereignty? Whose independence?
Shame on them.
My advice to the MDC now is to plan for the next phase of
the battle for
Zimbabwe, to organise peaceful rallies and educate the
electorate on how
best we can survive after Zanu PF is gone. We need people
closer to home
(our neighbours) to understand our plight, and also to
understand that while
we may not be happy, war is not a suitable alternative
as yet.
Thabo Mbeki and friends have to be convinced that the last war
that ended in
1980 is still fresh in the minds of many, and the wounds are
still fresh
too. Some houses that were destroyed during that war are still to
be
repaired.
Zanu PF is still caught up in the time warp of war, which
is why their idea
of a hero is still that of someone who participated in the
liberation war.
What about the other heroes - nurses, doctors, scientists and
all who offer
a great service to their country?
Finally, I think the
idea of boycotting businesses run by Zanu PF apologists
is a very good one.
Let's keep that going and hit them where it hurts most -
their
pockets.
l Two more heroes have been added to the list of those fighting
for
Zimbabwe's freedom from tyranny: Andy Flower and Henry
Olonga.
Welcome aboard guys and thank you for doing what you did.
Zimbabwe needs
you.
C
Kandemiri,
Harare.
Zim
Independent
Creating a desert called peace
By Paul
Taylor
THE Romans knew a thing or two about war and peace. The "Pax Romana"
(Roman
Peace) was created by a succession of wars. A Celtic chieftain said
of
Caesar's legions: "They create a desert and call it peace."
But
even when Rome was at the height of its power, shrewd and prudent
citizens
warned of the dangers of commencing hostilities without thought to
their
eventual conclusion. The writer, Sallust warned: "It is always easy to
begin
a war, but very difficult to stop one, since its beginning and end are
not
under the control of the same men."
The world stands on the brink of
another war. Only fools could claim to
predict its course with certainty.
President George Bush is hopeful that
regime change, democratic stability and
accountability will be achieved by
an invasion of Iraq. Perhaps. But his
wider war is against fundamentalist
terrorism. His opponents' style of
guerilla warfare has been called "the war
of the flea". Those of us who agree
with Bush that fundamentalist terrorism
is a serious threat to world peace
are entitled to ask whether a
conventional onslaught in a highly volatile
region is not akin to a
sledgehammer blow aimed at a swarm of
fleas?
Nelson Mandela has criticised Bush's disregard of international
law. Under
Mandela's presidency South Africa invaded the powerful state known
and
feared as the Kingdom of Lesotho to effect regime change. As far as I
can
recall, the South Africans did not consult the UN General Assembly
or
Security Council beforehand. They effected intensive architectural
change
and reduced much of Maseru to rubble. No-one can predict the course of
war.
Least of all Robert Mugabe. Having started his land war, he created
a desert
which he now calls peace. He says the war is over. But as long as
the crisis
of legitimacy continues, violence will go on. Mugabe's power
depends on
jambanja and the perpetuation of crisis.
The only
difference is a new "spin". Last week ZBC's Munyaradzi Hwengwere
promised the
cessation of nauseating "Chave Chimurenga".
Perhaps one day he will be
called upon to explain why he abrogated his legal
responsibilities by giving
divisive and inflammatory material airtime in the
first place. It is in the
interests of all Zimbabweans that an investigation
be held into the tawdry
project. When Mr Morrison is given a "barbed wire
tail" Mr Mathe's turn and
Mr Musoni's will follow sooner or later.
The Prince of Bombast,
Muzvinafundo Moyo, has ordered his newshounds to stop
printing the sort of
abysmal drivel which incites racial hatred. May he one
day be called upon to
explain why he instructed them to print it in the
first place.
For on
the street and in the courtroom, there are signs that justice is
emerging
from its slumber.
Only last week a judicial Moses took the first steps to
lead our country out
of the chaotic legal wilderness in which the whim of
Pharaoh has reigned
supreme. Certain Zanu PF cadres, supposed warriors of the
hondo yeminda,
appeared for sentence before Justice Chinhengo. They were
convicted of
having committed brutal murder as part of their politically
delegated duties
and pleaded that in effect they were only following
orders.
The learned Judge stated: "Courts should not be seen to condone
such
unlawful activities or to allow this kind of indoctrination to spread.
Your
lawyer submitted that when you committed the offence, you thought you
were
engaged in the Third Chimurenga, but that was unlawful."
It is
worth repeating that in a Zimbabwean High Court Judge's eyes, the
"Third
Chimurenga" declared by Mugabe is "unlawful".
But unlawful or not, it
continues. Violence continues. Farm seizures
continue. Mugabe does not have
the will or the ability to cease hostilities
against our country. Others will
have to end what Mugabe began. Justice
Moses Chinhengo has made a
start.
We need not expect the "Minister of Justice" Patrick Chinamasa to
welcome
Chinhengo's courageous brand of judicial activism. He may yet be its
target.
In the first flush of delight in the glorious victories of the hondo
yeminda
over peaceful political activists, isolated commercial farmers and
other
recalcitrants, it was Chinamasa who stood up at a conference of
religious
leaders and unambiguously declared "violence is a necessary tool
for a
successful land reform programme".
Chinamasa is allegedly a
lawyer. As such he should understand the legal
maxim, qui facit per alium
facit per se: He who acts through another is
deemed to act in person. If he
were a better lawyer he might have considered
silence to be a wiser option
than making statements which tend to
self-incrimination. Now his comments
stand on record for future forensic
investigation.
Just as the Zanu PF
killers in Chinhengo's courtroom were called to account
for their crimes,
there is no reason why those who benefit from a climate of
political
polarisation, racial tension and violence, who indoctrinate and
instruct and
incite these hondo yeminda thugs, and who deploy them in the
commission of
acts of assault, rape, torture and murder should not come one
day to their
own judgement.
Mugabe himself has made any number of utterances
constituting incitement to
violence and racial hatred. These are a matter of
record. Just as the
senescent Kamuzu Banda once stood in the dock, Mugabe too
may be called upon
to account for his public speeches, as well as his private
instructions.
Thoughtful commentators be-lieve that if the price for a
peaceful transfer
of power to a democratically elected government is an
amnesty for Mugabe and
his bully boys then it is a price that should be paid.
It is argued that he
and his cohorts cling to power because they are afraid
to relinquish it.
Amnesty gives them an "exit strategy", an inducement to
depart the political
scene.
But in truth the converse is increasingly
clear: our ruthless politicians
stay in office in the arrogant belief that
they can indefinitely take
advantage of the legendary capacity of our people
for forbearance and
forgiveness.
They should be made to understand
forgiveness is not finite and must be
earned on a case by case basis. After
all the search for personal
accountability from undemocratic rulers has ample
precedents, under UN and
domestic auspices in Sierra Leone and East Timor,
under International
Criminal Tribunal auspices for the former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda, and under
domestic auspices in South Africa's Truth Commission. Why
should Zimbabwe be
an exception?
Our country has suffered 40 years of
illegality and state-sponsored violence
under what the late Joshua Nkomo
described as "not the rule of law, but the
law of rule". Sooner or later we
must make our leaders and their disciples
understand that the culture of
impunity is at an end. If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?
l
Paul Taylor writes on civic issues.
Zim Independent -
comment
State assaults will scupper revival
plan
THERE has been a marked deterioration in the security situation
in Zimbabwe
over the past two weeks as arrests of civic activists and
opposition
supporters have been stepped up. This has in turn induced a
climate of
uncertainty and increased the likelihood of political
confrontation.
The illegal detention of 41 people last Friday after
demonstrations at the
Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo during Zimbabwe's World
Cup cricket match
against the Netherlands, most of whom were not released
until Tuesday this
week, was merely one aspect of a wider crackdown. Some
claim they were
assaulted in custody.
A separate incident involving
claims of police violence against Queens Club
members and officials at the
same cricket ground confirm perceptions that
those entrusted with upholding
the law have been given carte blanche to
abuse it. The arrest and beatings at
State House of MDC supporters on their
way to a rally challenge any official
claims to political normality.
Twenty-eight people were arrested on
Tuesday for demonstrating at the match
with Pakistan. Five protesters
arrested at Zimbabwe's match against
Australia in Bulawayo on February 24
said they had been beaten. One of the
five reported beatings to his back by a
whip and baton, being kicked in the
ribs, severely slapped on the sides of
his face and being beaten on the top
of his feet. Another said he was beaten
and had his toe crushed with police
boots and suffered multiple minor lesions
and swelling from being beaten,
according to reports.
We have very
quickly descended into a police state where arbitrary and
illegal patterns of
arrest and abuse of detainees have become routine.
Lawyers for those detained
after the match in Bulawayo last Friday have
described the shocking
conditions in which their clients were held. They
described the police as
uncooperative.
Reports suggesting aggressive and hostile attitudes
towards members of the
public, such as those making enquiries at police
stations, underline the
collapse of professional standards in the
force.
The arrest, detention and prosecution of a judge on corruption
charges last
month represents another dimension to the systematic assault on
the fabric
of justice and the rule of law by the state. Justice Paradza's
main offence,
it would appear, was to demonstrate an inconvenient degree of
judicial
independence. Fellow judges have understandably protested against
this
victimisation.
The arrest of church ministers in Harare trying to
deliver a petition
calling for an end to police abuses adds to an impression
of civil society
under siege. It is significant that none of those arrested
in the cases
referred to here were guilty of violence or even incitement.
Their only
offence was to exercise the rights accorded to them under the
constitution -
the rights to assembly and expression.
An Act of
parliament - Posa - passed after Zanu PF suffered serious
electoral setbacks
in 2000, is designed to give the police sweeping powers
to prevent those
rights being exercised. But it is manifestly
unconstitutional. The police do
not have the right - even though they have
the power - to prevent Zimbabweans
exercising freedoms accorded to them in
the country's most important law, its
constitution.
Justice Yunus Omerjee, opening the legal year of the High
Court in Mutare
last week, echoed remarks made earlier by Judge President
Paddington Garwe,
warning the police against the temptation to treat an
accused person as
guilty. Justice Omerjee urged the police to be fair and
thorough in their
investigations before arresting suspects, a call that seems
to have been
widely ignored.
The steady collapse of the rule of law,
mirrored by the abuse of power on
the part of those who possess it,
represents an inauspicious terrain for the
government to launch an economic
recovery plan. Any such plan requires first
and foremost a safe and
predictable political environment. Investors,
industrial captains, and
ordinary business people need to be able to make
calculations over the medium
to long term. In Zimbabwe today that is
impossible.
Businesses have
looming over them an unrealistic and artificially-controlled
exchange rate,
an inflation rate of 208% fuelled by reckless state borrowing
and spending,
and threats of confiscation by the president keen to punish
the private
sector for its perceived support for the opposition.
This is not an
environment in which business can function, let alone
succeed. The National
Economic Revival Plan will fail because a political
culture of coercion,
violence and lawlessness has been nurtured and because
unaccountable
politicians will continue to engage in populist grandstanding.
If Herbert
Murerwa has not learnt that lesson he has learnt nothing.
The recovery
plan dishonestly pretends that forex shortages are a product of
sanctions.
Combined with a worsening export performance, this has led to
shortages of
fuel, power, food and drugs, as well as spares, capital and
equipment, the
document says.
"If not urgently addressed, foreign exchange
unavailability will lead to
national instability and pose a threat to
national security," it warns.
It doesn't mention the state's record in
sabotaging agricultural exports and
tourism which have deprived the country
of forex receipts. Nor does it refer
to the state's role in fomenting
violence, lawlessness and instability.
So long as the state persists in
flouting the rule of law, abusing ordinary
citizens and treating the fiscus
as the cabinet's private piggy bank there
is no prospect whatsoever of the
revival plan working. In fact, like
Zimprest and the Millennium plan it is
already dead in the water.
Zim
Independent
Eric Bloch Column
Corruption is costly for
business
APPROXIMATELY a fortnight ago, the Minister of Finance and
Economic
Development, Herbert Murerwa held a press conference where he
announced what
he suggested was "a new policy thrust", the National Economic
Revival
Programme (NERP). Although the full document on NERP "spelling out
the
implementation modalities" was not then available (and was not released
in
the next week despite his assurance that it would then "be made public"),
he
outlined 17 "sector-specific measures which government and its
social
partners" would implement.
The last of the 17 measures which he
identified was that of combating
corruption. The minister said: "Corruption
has become a serious concern in
both the public and private sectors. If
unchecked, this poses immense
business transaction costs to the economy." He
stated that: "To eradicate
this, government, in partnership with all
stakeholders, is finalising
legislation for an Anti-Corruption
Commission."
If such legislation is forthcoming, and provided that the
legislation is
substantive and having real enforcement powers, and also
provided that the
legislation is unreservedly applied without fear or favour,
it would be a
major contributor towards the development of a stable, sound
economy.
Regrettably, although the minister undoubtedly made his
statement with
utmost good faith and genuine intent, most will inevitably be
sceptical as
to government's determination to curb and contain corruption,
for its track
record of positive action against corruption over the 23 years
of
Independence is not an impressive one, and few believe that the
government
leopard is able to change its spots.
Corruption is a
virulent disease which can undermine and destroy an economy.
Whether that
corruption is the acceptance of bribes by civil servants to
divert tender
awards, or it is an abuse of spending powers and a deliberate
redirection of
state funds, or it is an unauthorised use of state assets for
personal gain,
it repercusses negatively upon the economy.
In particular, it exacerbates
the extent of government spending, worsening
the state's deficits and forcing
increased recourse to borrowings. That
fuels inflation, and crowds the
private sector out of the money market to
the prejudice of
investment.
The same holds good to a major extent when corruption occurs
in the private
sector. Whether a bribe is paid to a state official or to a
private sector
purchasing officer, the payer seeks to recover that cost by
price inflation
for the goods or services being supplied so as to realise his
targeted
profit. Similarly, if assets are misused, be they assets of
government or
those of private enterprise, there is a cost to the owner of
those assets,
and that cost repercusses upon economic wellbeing.
In
like manner, when investment proposals are "hijacked" by officialdom
for
their personal benefit, intending investors are deterred from making
further
proposals, and seek alternative, less corrupt environments in which
to
pursue their investment objectives. When those in power use that power
for
the enrichment of themselves, their near and distant families, and
their
friends, they debase all confidence in law and order, in the integrity
of
the authorities, and in opportunities for individual economic advancement
in
the absence of corrupt interaction with those authorities.
It is
not surprising that so many of the populace ponder as to how, after a
little
more than two decades of Independence, such a large number of the
nation's
leaders and civil servants in high office (albeit not all of them),
having
been possessed of nothing of substance in 1980, now own several farms
(some
being concealed in carefully structured companies or registered in the
names
of relatives), own diverse businesses, numerous urban properties, have
luxury
vehicles for all adult members of their families, and can afford to
fund
their children's education overseas.
Certainly that could not have been
possible on the unrealistically low
ministerial and public service salaries
paid to them. That debasement of
confidence in law and order and in the
integrity of the authorities erodes
business confidence and dispels investor
interest, whilst alienating the
international monetary and donor communities,
all to the prejudice of the
economy and, therefore, of the populace as a
whole.
During the almost 23 years of Zimbabwe's Independence, there have
been only
two significant official reactions to corruption. The first was
when the now
much maligned Geoff Nyarota, then editor of the Chronicle,
exposed the
scandalous corruption within the state-controlled motor industry.
That
exposure became known as "Willowgate", and even if with some
reluctance,
government did react, establishing the Sandura Commission to
conduct a full
investigation.
Justice Sandura and his commissioners
did so unreservedly and energetically,
their findings resulting in several
prosecutions, ministerial resignations
and even one ministerial
suicide.
The other instance was when government set up the Chidyausiku
Commission to
investigate allegations of abuse of disability awards to war
veterans.
The commission diligently carried out its terms of reference,
and its report
exposed numerous incidents of corruption. Regrettably, whether
out of fear
of losing its war veteran support base, or whether to protect
relatives and
friends, government proceeded with prosecution of very few of
those exposed
by the commission.
A similar reluctance to prosecute has
been evident on many other occasions,
even when it has been that ministers of
government have publicly disclosed
awareness of corrupt practices in
parastatals under their control.
The continuing reluctance of the state
to act against many who have been
blatantly corrupt reinforces what was said
by a British premier of
yesteryear when, on January 9, 1770, William Pitt
told the House of Lords
that "unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of
those who possess it".
That government now intends, even though very
belatedly, to establish an
Anti-Corruption Commission is very commendable,
but it will be an act of
futility unless it has several major
characteristics. First and foremost, it
must comprise commissioners of
absolutely undoubted integrity, whose honesty
is totally
assured.
Although some say that "it takes a thief to catch a thief", that
is without
substance. If the commission is to be successful, there must be no
doubt
that its commissioners are incorruptible. Moreover, if their
appointment is
to be transparent and completely credible, they must be
persons without
political affiliation or association.
They must,
between them, also have the necessary fiscal, legal and
commercial expertise
to enable them to operate effectively, and must be
equipped with the
necessary resources to enable them to supplement that
expertise with access
to specialists whensoever necessary.
Even if the commission is
well-structured, it will not be able to be a
meaningful force in containing
corruption unless it is equipped with major
powers and authority.
It
must have the power to investigate any as it may consider necessary,
no
matter how great the status or high the authority of the persons that
it
considers require investigation. To bolster its powers of investigation
it
must be vested with the power of subpoena, enabling anyone to be required
to
give evidence to the commission, and that power must be extended to
provide
that any who give false evidence can be prosecuted for
perjury.
The investigative powers must also include the right of access
to any
records and documents of any person, with the sole exception of
any
protected by the privilege that extends to the legal profession
on
documentation from clients in their possession, and on advice given by
them
to clients, or made to them by such clients.
Of great importance
is that the commission must be vested with the power and
authority to grant
amnesties, total or partial, in order to access valid
evidence not otherwise
available, and that it is also imbued with the power
to initiate prosecutions
of those that it finds to be corrupt, irrespective
of whether in the public,
or the private sector.
If government does not devolve that power upon the
commission, it will be
clear that it remains determined to retain absolute
power unto itself. If
that is its perception, then government needs to recall
that, as stated by
Lord Acton on April 3, 1887: "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power
corrupts absolutely."
Any reluctance on the part of
government to create a fully-empowered,
transparent Anti-Corruption
Commission would be a demonstration that
"absolute power corrupts
absolutely", whilst creation of such a commission
would not only evidence
good faith on the part of government, but would also
be a major contributor
to the much needed economic revival.
Zim
Independent
Muckraker
The Zim Expo everyone is
attending
DOES President Mugabe really think Zimbabwean newspaper
readers are so
gullible as to believe his story about Tony Blair "admitting
that his stance
on Zimbabwe over the land reform programme was
wrong"?
Blair is said to have disclosed this in his talks with Thabo
Mbeki at
Chequers last month, and Mugabe retailed the tall story to reporters
in
Singapore last week.
But the language used indicates a source
closer to home.
"Blair admitted to President Mbeki," Mugabe was quoted by
the Herald as
saying in regard to land reform, "that they were wrong and we
are right but
that he has no way now of adjusting and accepting publicly that
they were
wrong."
Does that sound remotely like anything Blair would
be likely to say? His
government supports land reform, as agreed at the 1998
Harare donors'
conference, but not the arbitrary seizures that have been
witnessed over the
past three years. Now it has evidence of corrupt practices
in the
redistribution process, collapse of agricultural productivity and
mounting
starvation, Blair's government is hardly likely to announce that it
was
wrong!
Nor is Britain or any other donor about to "adjust" its
position. The silly
story about Peter Hain and Clare Short constraining Blair
only exposes the
extent of official ignorance in Zanu PF about how Labour
party policy is
formulated.
Then we had "leading British experts on
African affairs" telling Blair that
he had failed on Zimbabwe "because
President Mugabe was not only popular
with his people but also with his peers
in the entire developing world
because his cause is right and is shared by
the leaders of the developing
world".
So "British experts" on Africa
would use perspectives and terminology
identical to those of Zanu PF and the
Department of Information? What a
coincidence!
It is little wonder
that while Mugabe's remarks were given headline
treatment in the Herald, they
were virtually ignored in the media of the
target markets they were designed
for. Evidently Singapore's press doesn't
treat its readers as completely
stupid!
Speaking of which, the Herald quoted "analysts" as welcoming
Jacques Chirac'
s intervention. And who were these "analysts"? Our old
friends Vimbai
Chivaura and Tafataona Mahoso.
Chivaura, who is
evidently not ashamed to advertise his extensive ignorance,
told us Chirac
was "educated" while Blair was "uneducated". The British only
survived
through "plunder and deceit", he claimed, "while the French use
civility and
are gentlemen in their conduct".
This is evidently what passes for
"analysis" in the Herald!
Then we had Mahoso who we gather was speaking
as head of the Media and
Information Commission. He said Britain was only a
minor force in the
Commonwealth compared to Nigeria. Blair had lost the
battle to isolate
Zimbabwe.
He cited as evidence for this claim
support rendered to this country by
those attending the recent summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement in Kuala
Lumpur. He didn't say what form that support
took. It certainly hasn't been
evident to anybody living in Zimbabwe but may
be discernible to professors
of the press happy to parrot whatever the
government wants them to say.
As for the "information bulwarks" the
president is building against the
spread of "lies" about Zimbabwe, will they
be effective in preventing
reports about the arrests of judges, church
leaders, and cricket
demonstrators, not to mention the pervasive use of
torture, which are
finding their way into the international
media?
Will they be able to prevent reports about the arrest of
opposition
supporters for "insulting" guards outside State House when all
they were
doing was singing, or other aspects of the police state Zimbabwe
has become?
Mugabe must get real. The Zimbabwe that is making the news
pages every day
of the week is the one he has shaped in his own image. It is
this ugly face
of the Zanu PF state that the world is coming to know so well
- the Expo
everybody is attending.
There is another point to be made
when we hear of these Zimbabwe Expo
Centres. Is it seriously believed that
investors in Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand don't speak to their
counterparts elsewhere in the world and ask
them about their experience of
investing in Zimbabwe before they risk their
money? By the way, what happened
to Nhlanhla Masuku's CD Rom? We wonder what
the return on investment was in
that case!
Viewers watching SABC's coverage of the cricket World Cup's
spectacular
opening ceremony in Cape Town last month will have been struck by
the tall
and elegant - if rather robust - figure heading the Zimbabwe team as
they
marched confidently into the stadium at Newlands.
But, it now
comes to light, Zimbabwe's standard-bearer was not all she was
cracked up to
be. The Cape Times reports that Barbara Diop, a Senegalese
model working for
a Cape Town agency who was hired by the Zimbabwe Cricket
Union to accompany
our flag, is in fact a transsexual awaiting her
final
operation.
Sadly, this means there won't now be a photo
opportunity of "Barbara" being
embraced by the ZCU's patron. What a story
that would have made!
We liked Mark Doyle's piece on the BBC about the
pecking order in Paris
during the Franco/African summit.
French body
language is very explicit, he pointed out. Particularly
President Chirac's.
Most African leaders on arrival at the Elysée palace got
three kisses - right
cheek, left cheek, right cheek.
But some favoured leaders got four while
those less esteemed got two.
"Up for four kisses," Doyle reported, "were
special friends of France or
countries that for one reason or another fitted
the French view of the
world."
Under this heading came the democratic
leaders of Senegal and Ghana. The
King of Morocco, despite a lack of
democratic credentials, also got four
plus a firm squeeze on the shoulders.
The ruling dynasty is a particular
friend of France.
Further down the
scale the despotic leader of Equatorial Guinea only got two
kisses. The
Rwandan head of state got none at all. Just a very stiff
handshake. The
current regime in Kigali has publicly blamed France for
permitting the
massacres of 1994 and is now committed to a policy of using
English as an
official language.
With President Mugabe the approach was only slightly
different. Chirac's
right hand shook Mugabe's, but in a limp sort of way
while the Frenchman
kept his head firmly back. No question of a peck there,
Doyle pointed out.
"The body language was completed by Chirac using his
left hand to usher Mr
Mugabe along, out of camera shot as soon as possible,"
Doyle said
Masterful diplomatic stuff, heconcluded. France thereby
expre-ssed concern
about human rights in Zimbabwe while leaving the door open
to negotiation
with Africa.
This placed African leaders firmly behind
Chirac's diplomacy on Iraq -
exactly where the sly old French fox wanted
them. Another boot in la
derriere pour Blair!
We hear Mugabe apologist
Baffour Ankomah recently made a spectacle of
himself at City University,
London, where he was invited as a guest speaker
to talk on how the Western
media report on Africa.
Journalism students and practicing journalists
attending the meeting
expected something inspiring from the Ghanaian exile
but instead were served
up a Department of Information-style diet. Ankomah
tried in vain to sell his
tired old horse, Bob, but there were no takers in
the audience. On human
rights abuses, famine and the economic crisis facing
Zimbabwe, Ankomah
appeared completely uninformed claiming Mugabe has been
stitched up by the
British government and the BBC.
He unashamedly
denied that foreign journalists were refused entry to
Zimbabwe but was
embarrassed when a Canadian journalist stood up and told
the audience how he
was denied entry.
Ankomah came with seemingly fiery but hollow arguments
based on isms and
schisms - he did not do any thorough research and his
delivery insulted the
intelligence of scores of African journalists in London
who could have made
a better case for Zimbabwe without making a fool of
themselves!
We are grateful to Brian Wood of Warwickshire in the UK for
this belated but
nevertheless welcome tribute to Andy Flower and Henry
Olonga. It is a quote
from Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870).
"Life is
mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in
another's trouble,
Courage in your own."