Zim Online
Friday 11 May
2007
By Thulani Munda
HARARE -
President Robert Mugabe's government this week re-introduced
in Parliament a
controversial Bill seeking to empower the state to monitor
and intercept
private communications between individual citizens or
organsiations.
The Bill - which human rights groups and
journalists say could be the
last nail in the coffin of the freedoms of
expression and association in
Zimbabwe - was brought back after the
Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) on
Tuesday issued a non-adverse report
on the proposed new law, allowing debate
on it to begin in the
government-dominated House of Assembly.
The committee dominated by
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party but chaired
by opposition Movement for
Democratic Change party secretary general
Welshman Ncube scrutinises
proposed legislation to ensure it complies with
the Constitution before it
is tabled in Parliament.
The Interception of Communications Bill
seeks to establish a centre
for monitoring and intercepting both fixed and
mobile telephone
communications as well as ordinary postal articles deemed
detrimental to the
interests of the state.
It was withdrawn
last October after the PLC year said some of its
sections contravened the
Constitution and because of an outcry by interest
groups who argued the Bill
infringed on freedom of expression.
The Zimbabwe chapter of the
regional Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) immediately condemned the
revised Bill saying it was no
different from the one rejected last
year.
"It remains an undemocratic piece of legislation that targets
individuals or individual organisations," MISA-Zimbabwe director Rashwheat
Mkundu told ZimOnline.
"Its an intrusion into people's privacy.
Our major concern is that in
light of the present crackdown on perceived
enemies of the government, this
law might be abused to target political
opponents," he added.
Nelson Chamisa, who is spokesman of the main
wing of the MDC loyal to
Morgan Tsvangirai said if enacted, the new law
would be "an additional tool
in the dictator's toolbox".
He
said: "With elections around the corner in 2008, the law would be
used
terrorise and punish journalists, the opposition and other
pro-democracy
forces."
Information Minister and chief government spokesman
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
was not immediately available for comment on the
matter.
The Bill seeks to empower the Defence Forces Chief of
Intelligence,
the Director General of the President's Department of National
Security, the
Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Commissioner
General of the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to apply for authority to
intercept
communications.
Authority to issue an interception
warrant will be vested in the
Minister of Transport and Communications who
will do so after satisfying
himself that there are reasonable grounds that a
serious offence had been or
was being or would probably be committed or that
there was threat to safety
or national security of the country.
Telecommunication service providers will be required to install
hardware and
software facilities and devices to enable interception of
communications.
Service providers will be compensated by the
state for helping monitor
or intercept communications, according to the
proposed law.
The Bill provides that any person aggrieved by a
warrant empowering
relevant state agents to monitor or intercept their
communications may
appeal to the Administrative Court, which may confirm,
vary, set aside or
uphold the warrant.
There is also a
provision for the Attorney General to review the
Minister of Transport and
Communications' exercise of power to issue
warrants under the
Bill.
If the Bill finally sails through Parliament, it will add on
to a raft
of tough media laws that the government has used to suppress
independent
journalists.
Zimbabwe already has some of the worst
media laws in the world, with
journalists for example, being liable to
two-year jail terms if they are
caught practising without a licence from the
state's Media and Information
Commission.
At least four
newspapers including the biggest daily, The Daily News
were shut down over
the past four years for violating the country's tough
media laws. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 11 May 2007
By Edith
Kaseke
HARARE - Mozambique said yesterday it could be forced to
eventually switch
off Zimbabwe for defaulting on electricity payments
amounting to US$55
million for supplies although Maputo sympathised with
President Robert
Mugabe's government which is gripped by a serious economic
crisis.
Zimbabwe has battled to raise money for power imports from its
neighbours
due to biting foreign currency shortages, which are part of a
bigger
economic downturn that has pushed inflation to above 2 200 percent
and
unemployment at more than 80 percent.
Mozambique's two power
concerns Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM) and Cahora
Bassa supply more than
300 megawatts of electricity to Zimbabwe. Imports
from Mozambique, South
Africa, Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo
meet 40 percent of
Zimbabwe's electricity demand.
The statement by Mozambique came as ZESA
Holdings tried to ease concerns
over its decision to divert most electricity
to winter wheat production,
which would leave households facing massive
power cuts.
"We understand Zimbabwe's situation as of now, but we want
them to pay
because we should be using the money to fund other local
projects, we want
to see the debt paid," Adelino Muchanga, spokesman for EDM
said.
A Zimbabwe government notice published on Wednesday announced a new
power
cut programme as the struggling ZESA battles to shift supplies to
irrigate
the winter wheat crop in the face of increasing food
shortages.
The southern African country is experiencing frequent power
cuts due to the
declining capacity of its ageing power plants and serious
shortages of
foreign exchange which have hit imports.
Zimbabwe
requires US$2 billion for new equipment and to expand production at
the
country's two main power plants and ease shortages that have also
affected
industrial production and contributed to the economic crisis.
Critics
blame the economic crisis on repression and wrong policies by Mugabe
such as
his seizure of productive farms from whites for redistribution to
landless
blacks.
Failure by the government to provide resources and skills
training for black
villagers resettled on white farms saw agricultural
production plummeting by
about 30 percent, causing food shortages and also
crippling an economy built
on farming.
Mugabe, in power since
Zimbabwe's 1980 independence from Britain, however
denies mismanaging the
economy and blames his country's problems on Western
sanctions. -
ZimOnline
Times Online
May 10, 2007
Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
Britain and
other Western nations are engaged in a rearguard action to block
Zimbabwe
from heading an influential United Nations organisation responsible
for
development.
Zimbabwe runs one of the world's most disastrous economies
but Francis
Nheme, its Environment Minister, is expected tomorrow to become
chairman of
the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the
international body
that monitors the environment and development.
"We
do not find Zimbabwe the right country to head the CSD for the next
period,"
said Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development
Minister, who
raised the alarm in New York.
Normally the chairmanship of the body
rotates annually between the five
board members, who each represent one of
the world's regions. The next
chairman should be the representative of an
African country. But when the
African block on the 53-member organisation
proposed Zimbabwe last month,
other nations reacted with disbelief and
demanded a vote.
In spite of the protests the African members, the most
numerous in the
organisation, have refused to back down and are expected to
push through
their candidate.
"At present we do not have enough support
to block Zimbabwe," said one
diplomat at the UN. "If it takes over the
chairmanship it will have a
negative impact on the work of the
commission."
Once one of Africa's best-performing economies, Zimbabwe is
now one of the
worst on the continent and millions of Zimbabweans have fled
the country to
escape poverty.
Last month inflation reached a record
2,200 per cent. Severe petrol
shortages have crippled transport. Yesterday
the country's state power
utility issued a warning that electricity could be
cut to homes for 20 hours
a day.
The country's agricultural sector
was ruined by land confiscations ordered
by President Mugabe seven years
ago. Once a net exporter of food, there are
now 1.8 million Zimbabweans
receiving food aid.
A US State Department spokesman said that Zimbabwe's
development has "been
going in one direction - and that's
backwards".
Western officials are particularly frustrated with the
behaviour of African
nations, who continue to support the Mugabe regime,
even though it has
remained in power because of flawed elections and a
campaign of intimidation
against the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC). Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, was arrested and beaten
with other opposition
figures in March. He said last month that 600 of his
supporters had been
attacked by the authorities in the campaign of
violence.
Pius Alick Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, blamed African
nations,
particularly South Africa for propping up Mr Mugabe, who has been
in power
since the country's independence in 1980.
"The international
community has tried its best. The people letting us down
are the African
nations. They will not come out and clearly condemn the
injustices that are
in Zimbabwe," he said during a visit to Australia.
"It is a kind of club
of African leaders trying to defend one another. They
will not listen to the
West," he said.
In spite of the strong support for Mugabe on the
continent there are signs
that some African leaders are growing increasingly
worried about the 83-year
old Zimbabwean leader, who has vowed to stay on in
power for another term.
John Kufuor, the President of Ghana and the
current African Union chairman,
said that he was worried about the crisis in
Zimbabwe.
"When the leader of the opposition gets beaten up, for good or
ill,
naturally all concerned should be worried," he said.
South
Africa is regarded as the country that could exert most influence on
Zimbabwe and President Mbeki was appointed as a mediator to resolve the
political crisis.
Critics complain that to date he has failed to use
pressure on his neighbour
to end the economic crisis and the political
violence.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: May 10,
2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's state power utility on
Thursday said that daily
electricity outages were likely to increase but
dismissed reports of blanket
20-hour power cuts.
Power outages occur
daily, affecting homes and industry, but confusion over
increased cuts arose
over reports on an official announcement Tuesday that
priority for
uninterrupted power supplies was being given to farmers using
electrically-driven irrigation on seasonal wheat crops.
The
announcement from the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority said
household
consumers were likely to experience more outages during a 20-hour
period
from 9.00 p.m.(1900 GMT) to 5.00 p.m. (1500 GMT) the following day as
power
was channeled to wheat farming districts.
The three hours of peak
domestic use for evening cooking and other essential
household "chores"
between 5.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m. each day would then
receive priority, state
radio said.
Edward Rugoyi, an official of the state power utility, said
the agriculture
ministry and the energy ministry agreed to exempt wheat
farms from scheduled
power outages known as "load shedding," the state
Herald newspaper reported
Thursday.
Wheat for bread and bakery
products, part of the nation's staple diet, is
grown in Zimbabwe's current
winter season, when demand for domestic power is
also at its
highest.
Rugoyi said if enough power supplies were available, there would not
be
increased domestic outages.
But when there were power shortfalls
no-one could be exempted from cuts, not
even prioritized wheat
producers.
"Under emergency conditions ... ZESA will not be in a position
to guarantee
supply to any customer at any given time," he
said.
Along with power shortages in the worst economic crisis since
independence
in 1980, Zimbabwe is suffering acute shortages of hard
currency, gasoline,
food and most essential goods.
The nation imports
40 percent of its power from its neighbors. Shortages of
coal have shut down
some generating facilities. The also reported shortages
of equipment and
spare parts to keep its domestic services running.
Internationl Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: May 10, 2007
NEW YORK: Zimbabwe's government
is intimidating, arresting and beating
lawyers in an attempt to destroy the
beleaguered political opposition's last
line of defense, one of the African
nation's leading attorneys said
Wednesday.
Arnold Tsunga, the
executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
said in an
interview that years of rough treatment of lawyers by President
Robert
Mugabe's security forces had escalated in recent weeks with the
arrests of
four prominent attorneys. Lawyers who protested two of the
arrests by
demonstrating outside the country's high court on Tuesday were
manhandled
and struck with riot batons. Some were forced into a truck, taken
to a
suburban field and beaten, witnesses have said.
"It's to send a very
clear message that there is no lawyer in Zimbabwe who
is safe," Tsunga
said.
He said the violence was a reaction to his group's success in
slowing
Mugabe's persecution of the political opposition.
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights has taken the cases of about 1,000
political
defendants a year since 2003, he said. It has managed to win
acquittals in
every case and the release of many defendants within two days,
a stark
change from a time when political defendants were held incommunicado
indefinitely and abused with impunity in jail, he said.
"It gave
the political activists a lot of hope that they are not alone in
the
struggle for greater democracy of our country," he said. As a result, he
said, "there has been a deliberate effort to clamp down on members of the
legal profession ... The government is now showing desperation."
A
spokesman for Zimbabwe's mission to the United Nations referred questions
to
Ambassador Guwa Chidyausiku, who was not immediately available for
comment.
Tsunga, who also helps lead Zimbabwe's bar association, and
heads a group of
350 reform-minded civil society groups, spoke in a
Manhattan hotel room on
his way to Washington, where he was finishing his
work for a 10-month human
rights fellowship at the University of
Minnesota.
He left Zimbabwe for the United States last year with his wife
and three
children after receiving what he described as credible reports
that his name
was on a list of people targeted for death by a government hit
squad.
Tsunga, 40, said that he would return to Zimbabwe next month
despite
continuing fears for his life, because he felt obligated to help
other
lawyers putting themselves at risk to aid Mugabe's opponents. Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights counts nearly 200 of the country's approximately
700 private lawyers as members.
"It would be highly irresponsible of
me to abandon them," he said. "We have
to be part of the group that creates
hope for our country."
He decried what he called the silence of
Zimbabwe's neighboring countries,
particularly South Africa, whose President
Thabo Mbeki has been appointed by
nations in the region as a facilitator
charged with helping to resolve the
crisis.
The South African
government insists that its policy of quiet diplomacy is
more effective than
Western-style criticism. A South African government
spokesman did not
immediately return a phone call seeking a response to
Tsunga's
comments.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since
independence in 1980,
with acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline,
medicines and most
other basic goods. Official inflation is running at about
2,200 percent
annually, the highest in the world.
Mugabe, an
83-year-old former anti-colonial rebel, has acknowledged that
police used
violent methods against other opposition supporters and killed
at least one
activist. He has warned alleged perpetrators of unrest they
would be
"bashed" again if violence continued.
Zimbabwe's ruling party has
endorsed Mugabe as its candidate in next year's
presidential elections.
Victory would allow him to stay in power until 2013,
when he would be close
to 90.
The Australian
Michael Davis and
Jill Rowbotham
May 11, 2007
THE Australian cricket team's tour of Zimbabwe
is unlikely to proceed after
the Howard Government revealed it was
considering legal action to force its
cancellation.
There have been
escalating calls for Australia to boycott the series, which
critics claim
would legitimise President Robert Mugabe's barbaric
Government.
After
meeting Cricket Australia officials in Melbourne last night, Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer warned the Government would take whatever action
was necessary to ensure the tour was scrapped.
Mr Downer said the
Government was examining a range of legal options.
"If, legally, the
Government can stop it, then clearly that's an option," he
said. "I don't
think it's practical for the parliament to legislate to stop
it in a one-off
situation like this but if there is (an) existing legal
basis, then that's
an option for us that we would stop it ourselves."
Cricket Australia
chief executive officer James Sutherland said that if the
Government
intervened to stop the tour, the sports body would not have to
pay a $US2
million ($2.4 million) fine to Zimbabwean officials for pulling
out.
Mr Sunderland said fines had previously been waived over the
past decade
when India and Pakistan authorities had prevented the two
countries playing
each other.
Mr Downer said he wanted to avoid
Australia's World Cup-winning cricketers
being put in an embarrassing and
difficult position if that could be
avoided.
"We take the view that
if the tour were to take place it would be a
propaganda victory for
President Mugabe and his regime," he said.
"It would help them to be able
to demonstrate international recognition for
modern Zimbabwe ... this is the
world's greatest team so it would have a
high profile and we are very
concerned it would be exploited for propaganda
purposes by a regime that is
an evil regime, which abuses human rights and
is a regime that has simply
trashed the Zimbabwean economy."
Catholic bishops joined the growing
chorus, calling on Cricket Australia
yesterday to abandon the
tour.
At the biannual meeting of the church's most senior body, the
Australian
Catholic Bishops Conference, the bishops announced solidarity
with
Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube as they opposed "the cruel
treatment of vulnerable people".
"We support recent calls for the
Australian cricket team to withdraw from
its upcoming tour of Zimbabwe and
believe that this would be a significant
symbolic stance against the
oppressive regime in that country," ACBC
president and Archbishop of
Adelaide Philip Wilson said.
Mr Downer conceded that Mr Mugabe could end
up pocketing a $US2 million fine
if the tour was scrapped. The federal
Government has offered to pay the fine
in return for Cricket Australia
cancelling the tour.
He said he could not guarantee that the money, which
would be paid under
International Cricket Council rules, would not end up
with Mr Mugabe.
"I can't give that guarantee. It's $US2 million, (which)
would go to the
Zimbabwe Cricket Union, and they would of course be able to
do what they
wanted with the money," Mr Downer said.
African Path
May 10, 2007
02:46 PMThe National treasurer of Zimbabwe's main opposition
party, Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), Roy Bennett is setting up party
structures in
South Africa for Zimbabweans in that country to participate in
programme
that will see the opposition holding a congress here this
year.
His efforts to
revive Zimbabwe opposition
politics however appeared at a time when the
South African government is
denying him refugee status despite the political
persecution that he has
been facing in his home country since 2000 when he
decided to contest as a
Member of Parliament for Chimanimani on opposition
ticket.
Bennett fled from Zimbabwe in May last year seeking
refugee here.
Roy told African Path: "I am still waiting for
the department of Home
Affairs as my case is now before the Appeal Board. I
strongly believe that
because the board is independent and there is still
justice, law and order
in South Africa, the adjudicators will apply their
mind to the irresistible
documented evidence around my persecution and
danger under the hands of the
Mugabe regime."
"The
evidence points clearly that I have been not been offered protection
that I
am entitled as lawful citizen of Zimbabwe because there is no rule of
law or
any form of justice in the country. It would be impossible for any
independent body to reject and refute the factual evidence." He
said.
Roy however, believes that the denial was "unfortunate"
and claims it could
have had a political insinuation for the South African
government.
Roy applied for asylum, citing political
harassment in Zimbabwe but the
application was typically turned down on the
justification that his fears of
political persecution in Zimbabwe were "not
well founded".
Confirming Roy's rejection department of Home
Affairs spokesman Nkosana
Sibuyi said his department was not going to treat
the application of senior
Zimbabwe opposition politician differently from
other applicants.
A letter of rejection in position of Roy
reads: "After a thorough assessment
of your claim and careful scrutiny of
all the available information the
Refugee Status Determination Officer has
come to a conclusion that your
testimony does not warrant the granting of
refugee status. In consequence
thereof your claim has been rejected in terms
of Section 24 (3) c. of the
Refugee Act of 1998 as manifestly unfounded,"
reads the document.
Roy once a successful commercial farmer
in Zimbabwe pursued every legal
thoroughfare to protect his life and family
members from state aggravation.
The High Court ordered no less than six
court orders in his favour but the
government, the police, the army, the
Central Intelligence Organisation and
war veterans ignored each order with
impunity.
In South Africa Roy remarked that there is a need
to strengthen the party
and he has started setting up structures and
encouraging Zimbabweans to
stand up and get involved in the National
question, which is to create a
democratic government for the people of
Zimbabwe. "I am here not by choice,
but because the regime in Zimbabwe
hounded me into exile. I am only
concentrating on politics and the situation
back home, I have no time for
pleasure or anything else until I have
finished delivering the message that
the people of Zimbabwe asked me to
deliver.
I think for us to strengthen opposition politics
here in SA we need to
structure the people and then hold a congress after
which we can present a
formidable force to represent the MDC people in South
Africa. Most people
here are not here through popular choice but through
necessity as the
situation in Zimbabwe has nothing to offer in all their
spheres of life.
Being structured and organized we will be able to stand in
solidarity with
our comrades back home, and be ready to mobilize to support
them in what
ever way is necessary".
As political
persecution of opposition and pro-democracy leaders in Zimbabwe
continues
Roy is accusing the South African government for not understand
the
political harassment and socio-economic problems in its northern
neighbor
that have forced more than half of the country's population into
exile.
President Thabo Mbeki and his government have to
acknowledge that there is a
crisis in Zimbabwe.
"One
wonders where the SA government stands in such a scenario. They should
condemn Zimbabwe's human rights travesty in Zimbabwe. The recent arrest of
civic society and political leaders is an indication of how bad things are
in Zimbabwe," Roy said.
The South African government
recently ended its silence on President Robert
Mugabe's brutality as it
urged Harare to respect the rule of law and the
rights of all
Zimbabweans.
President Thabo Mbeki's government had come
under heavy denigration for
maintaining what critics described as a very
"curious silence" on Zimbabwe
after Movement for Democratic change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
scores of other party activists were arrested
and brutally tortured by the
police and army.
His family
that had been in Zimbabwe for more than a half-century, lost
almost
everything in 2000, their 7,000-acre coffee farm, a US$125,000 coffee
harvest, their house and their belongings inside, vehicles and 900 head of
cattle.
On October 28 2004, Roy by that time MP for
Chimanimani was sentenced by the
Parliament of Zimbabwe to an effective
one-year in prison with stiff labour.
His crime was to push over the
Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, in
Parliament after Chinamasa had
insulted and provoked Roy by calling his late
father and grandfather "white
thieves and murderers".
The felony would have attracted a
maximum US$15.00 about R105 fine had it
been tried in a normal Zimbabwean
court. In all probability Roy would have
received a mere caution. Instead,
Parliament used its own powers to get a
biased committee dominated by ZANU
PF to examine the incident then in a
vote, which was divided down party
political lines, Roy was sentenced to
unjust sentence of
imprisonment.
Prior to Roy's sentencing in parliament Heather
urged him to leave the
country to South Africa to circumvent detention but
he refused, saying he
wants to fight for democracy in Zimbabweans.
By
Tichaona Sibanda
10 May 2007
The country is losing an area of green
belt equal to two football fields a
day in the wake of massive electricity
shortages, Newsreel learned on
Thursday.
Since the beginning of the
year the country's urban areas have experienced
rampant deforestation as a
result of persistent power cuts by the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply
Authority.
Harare resident and environmentalist Brian Ndlovu said the
unavailability of
paraffin has also seen a rise in deforestation in areas
adjacent to urban
centres as people resort to firewood for cooking.
Deforestation is the
permanent destruction of indigenous forests and
woodlands.
'The government last year laid down laws that helped curb the
wanton cutting
down of tress but I believe they have been forced to look the
other way
because firewood is the only fuel left for millions of Zimbabweans
to use
for cooking,' Ndlovu said.
Ndlovu added; 'I remember quite
well Environment and Tourism Minister
Francis Nhema launching an awareness
campaign last year to educate people
about the dangers of deforestation,
including its impact on the climate. But
what can he do now. There's no
electricity and there's no paraffin and this
would have a negative impact on
the country's environment.'
The country's economic woes have also
resulted in the over-exploitation of
forests by humans and this has
continued unabated in the last six years.
Increased urbanisation is also
responsible for the deforestation.
Indiscriminate felling of trees for
converting forestlands into agricultural
fields and for building houses in
undesignated areas have all contributed to
the loss of this exhaustible
natural resource.
The government on Wednesday introduced strict
electricity rationing to cope
with the ongoing power crisis caused by the
inefficiencies of the regime.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Times
May 11, 2007
Jan Raath
It
took a while to explain to Pikai, a thin man who sells oranges near my
home,
what the UN Commission for Sustainable Development is meant to do.
Then I
told him that President Mugabe's Government was a serious contender
for its
chairmanship. "Then there is no hope for us," he said and walked
back to his
small pyramid of oranges.
Two years ago police destroyed his
council-approved house. He cannot afford
to send his eight-year-old son to
school. The only work he can do is selling
oranges on the street and last
week he was arrested for "illegal vending".
He spent the night in jail.
Police told him that the presence of vendors on
the street was "tarnishing
the image of the country in foreign countries".
Zimbabwe is on or near
the bottom of every international indicator of human
endeavour. The 40 per
cent crash in GDP in the past nine years is the worst
in the world for a
country not at war. Per capita GDP is down to what it was
in 1953. The
average age of adult mortality is 36 years.
This descent from being
sub-Saharan Africa's second-most-developed nation
was not the blind,
feckless slide into poverty and tyranny that came with
the end of colonial
rule nearly everywhere else in Africa.
It began in earnest 20 years after
independence and was wilful and
sustained. Mr Mugabe saw the writing on the
wall: his people had had enough
of him. His response was to send out wave
after wave of destruction,
starting with the agriculture industry. "Ian
Smith [the former Rhodesian
Prime Minister] says I destroyed his beautiful
country," Mr Mugabe said a
few years ago. Then he added: "Good."
Zim Online
Friday 11 May 2007
By Ntando
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - At least 370 Zimbabweans were on Wednesday arrested
in
Johannesburg, South Africa during a police crackdown on crime and illegal
immigrants in the city.
In an early morning raid, the police stormed
a building in central
Johannesburg that they said was a sanctuary for
"illegal immigrants and
criminals terrorising the city."
"This
combined raid by the police and the departments of safety and
security,
justice and home affairs came following reports that the building
was highly
over crowded and accommodating illegal immigrants.
"The building was a
haven for illegal immigrants, thieves and criminals
terrorising the
inner-city. About 370 illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe and
11 notorious
criminals were arrested during the raids," said police
spokesperson Captain
Neli Qwaba.
The illegal immigrants, who were mostly Zimbabwean, were
taken to Lindela
detention centre outside Johannesburg for deportation to
their countries.
Gabriel Shumba, the executive director of the Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum (ZEF)
that deals with Zimbabwean refugee issues, told ZimOnline
on Thursday that
his organisation was already assisting some individuals who
were
"unlawfully" arrested in the crackdown.
"We have since asked
the Department of Home Affairs to verify the documents
of those who were
arrested since some of them hold valid visa and asylum
papers.
"The
organization (ZEF) is putting extra effort to see that all the people
with
valid or expired asylum papers are not deported," said Shumba.
South
Africa said it deported 51 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants between
January
and June last year.
There are hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans living
illegally in South
Africa after fleeing hunger and political persecution in
their country. -
ZimOnline
Human Rights Watch (Washington,
DC)
COLUMN
10 May 2007
Posted to the web 10 May 2007
Tiseke
Kasambala and Nobuntu Mbelle
Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni
regularly visit Harare's filthy police
cells in their work of defending the
victims of Zimbabwe's repressive
government. But last Friday the roles were
reversed when these two human
rights lawyers ended up prisoners
themselves.
Muchadehama and Makoni were arrested as they were leaving the
Harare high
court, where they were carrying out their routine
duties.
The police did not tell Muchadehama and Makoni they were
being arrested.
They were detained without charge at various police stations
for three days.
This arbitrary detention was in defiance of two high
court orders that
directed the police to allow the men access to their
lawyers and ordering
that they be immediately released because their
detention had been unlawful.
Finally, on Monday, the police released the
lawyers-but charged them with
obstructing the course of justice.
The
arrests of the lawyers comes as no surprise to those who have followed
the
Zimbabwean government's seven-year campaign of repression.
The
government's targets include human rights defenders, activists and
others
who criticise the government-and the lawyers who represent them.
The
police routinely arrest and detain political opponents and government
critics, and then abuse them in custody. They often do so in blatant
defiance of high court orders requiring that the police follow due
process.
Muchadehama and Makoni are among the courageous lawyers who have
defended
hundreds of human-rights activists. They are representing 13
members of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Harare who
have been
accused of orchestrating a series of petrol-bomb attacks around
the country.
They are working to secure the release of the MDC members,
whom they allege
the police have tortured.
When Human Rights Watch
interviewed Muchadehama in September he was aware of
the dangers he
faced.
"We are sometimes verbally abused, insulted or threatened when we
go to the
cells. The police believe that human rights advocates want to
topple a
democratically elected government. Anything linked to human rights
is
construed as an attempt to change the government and can get you in
trouble," Muchadehama said.
In March, as President Robert Mugabe's
government unleashed a violent
crackdown on activists and opposition
members, leaders of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) held
an emergency session in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss the
crisis.
President Thabo Mbeki was mandated to mediate in talks between
the MDC and
Zanu-PF. Mbeki has spoken to the leaders of both the MDC
factions and to
Zanu-PF officials about the talks.
With millions of
Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa, Mbeki urgently
needs to find a
durable solution to the crisis. But time is running out,
with mediation
talks still at a "pre-dialogue" stage and no end in sight to
human rights
abuses.
The arrests of Muchadehama and Makoni have shown that recent
efforts to find
a solution to the crisis have not deterred the Mugabe
government from
circumventing the rule of law. It continues to clamp down on
dissent and
tries to prevent human rights defenders from holding the
government to its
human rights obligations.
The long-term success of
Mbeki's mediation talks rests on a number of
elements. Both sides must come
to the table in good faith. There must also
be focused attention on the
human rights violations. These two elements
require an active commitment
from both sides in Zimbabwe, as well as
objective monitoring, with strong
involvement, by the SADC.
All the SADC leaders must be forthright about
the pressing need to end human
rights violations. The SADC should deploy an
independent mission to Zimbabwe
to investigate allegations of human rights
abuses.
Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary
elections in
March. Mbeki's mediation efforts should take place within a
specific
time-frame to allow for pre-election conditions that will
facilitate a level
playing field in the run-up to the
elections.
South Africa has committed itself to promoting human rights
and democracy in
the region. The crisis is a test of Pretoria's willingness
to press Zimbabwe
to uphold basic rights and freedoms.
Mbeki should
show his mettle and determination by pushing for a meaningful
agenda that
includes respect for human rights and the rule of law as
prerequisites for a
peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe.
Tiseke Kasambala and Nobuntu Mbelle are
in the Africa Division of Human
Rights Watch
Previously published in
the Sowetan
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
10 May
2007
Although Zimbabwe's government and other observers are
forecasting a
significant shortfall in the harvest this year, Harare said it
will not ask
for food assistance from the United Nations until the
assessment under way
by two UN agencies is completed.
The online news
agency Zimonline, Thursday quoted Agriculture Minister
Rugare Gumbo saying
Harare will wait until experts from the World Food
Program and the Food and
Agriculture Organization have finished their
assessment, now in progress.
The assessment is expected to be completed by
mid May.
Zimbabwe is
expected to harvest 850 000 tonnes of maize, leaving a deficit
of about 1.2
million tonnes to be imported. Earlier this year, the
government declared
2007 a drought year and acknowledged that agricultural
inputs were in short
supply.
Studio 7 could not reach Gumbo for comment as he was said to be
visiting his
constituency.
Opposition agriculture expert Renson
Gasela of the Arthur Mutambara Movement
for Democratic Change faction, told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that by the time
the assessment is done it could be
too late for Zimbabwe to formally ask for
aid.
UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks
10 May 2007
Posted to the web 10 May
2007
Harare
Two former inmates have described to IRIN the
horrendous conditions
prevailing in Zimbabwe's prison system, where
prisoners routinely die from
illness and starvation, and are urging human
rights organisations to make an
independent assessment of the country's
jails.
Zimbabwe has roughly 35,000 people incarcerated in 42 jails, but
this is
well over their intended capacity of about 17,000
inmates.
The country is in the in the midst of an economic meltdown,
in which the
plight of prisoners seems all but forgotten: inflation is
running at 2,200
percent, unemployment is above 80 percent and shortages of
electricity, fuel
and food are commonplace.
Moreover, as a
consequence of drought and the disruptions to agriculture
caused by
President Robert Mugabe's fast-track land reform programme, which
redistributed white-owned farmland to landless blacks, the staple food,
maize, is also in short supply.
John, a recently released inmate who
declined to be identified, told IRIN
that there were often food shortages.
"In the morning, prisoners drink a
very watery broth made from maizemeal,
water and salt; in the afternoon they
are fed plain green vegetables with
'sadza' [maizemeal porridge], which is
repeated in the evenings."
He
said there were times when they had to make do with a single meal per
day,
and the food was often so badly prepared that some inmates had stopped
eating.
In the capital, Harare, a medical orderly employed by the
health department
and working in prison services, told IRIN that more than
one hundred inmates
had died of pellagra at Harare Central and Chikurubi
Maximum prisons since
the beginning of the year.
Pellagra is caused
by a deficiency of vitamin B3 and trypophan, an essential
amino acid found
in meat, poultry, fish and eggs, all foodstuffs that are no
longer available
in the canteens of the Zimbabwe Prison Services, or to
employees of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe National Army.
The security forces
are now served sadza and brown beans, because the
government has
insufficient funds to provide other foodstuffs.
The symptoms of pellagra
include high sensitivity to sunlight, aggression,
insomnia, weakness and
mental confusion, followed by dementia and,
eventually, death.
"There
is a disaster waiting to happen, if it is not already happening -
every day,
dead bodies are recovered, especially at Chikurubi Maximum
Prison, where as
many as 10 deaths can be recorded in one day. Health
conditions are also
terrible, as the Zimbabwe Prison Services has no money
to treat the
inmates," the medical orderly, who asked to remain anonymous,
told
IRIN.
Tendai, another former inmate of Chikurubi prison, told IRIN that
the prison
authorities were also no longer able to provide them with
toiletries. "If
your relatives do not bring you some soap then you will go
on and develop
skin diseases. In addition, the government is no longer able
to provide
inmates with prison garb, leaving many to depend on relatives to
supply them
with clothes, or be forced to go naked."
In the past
three months there was no clean drinking water available at
Chikurubi,
Tendai said, because the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, a
parastatal
company, did not have the necessary capacity to supply water to
the
high-security complex. Water bowsers had been brought to the prisons,
but
the water quality was inadequate for drinking.
A recent visit by a
delegation of parliamentarians to Chikurubi found that
toilets had not been
flushed for weeks because there was no running water,
and pages torn from
Bibles were being used as toilet paper. The unsanitary
conditions have made
diarrhoea and skin diseases a permanent feature of
prison life.
In
response to the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the prison system,
justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said the government was working on
formulating an open prison system, in which offenders would serve part of
their jail terms at their homes to help decongest the prisons.
[ This
report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
By Violet
Gonda
10 May 2007
Innocent shoppers and bystanders were at the
receiving end of the wrath of
the Zimbabwe police on Thursday afternoon. A
group of activists from the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) staged a
surprise demonstration at
Africa Unity Square in Harare at around 4pm
catching the police by surprise.
Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the
group of about 50 banner wielding
youths managed to evade the police for
about 20 minutes before there were
running battles with the authorities.
Muchemwa said scores of unsuspecting
people were caught in the crossfire and
beaten as the demonstrators tried to
disappear into the
crowds.
Muchemwa said: "The beatings started in Unity Square, proceeded
to Second
Street and all the way to First Street leaving a trail of injuries
among
people who had not taken part in the demonstrations."
The NCA
has been calling for a new and people driven constitution as
Zimbabwe
continues to deteriorate economically and politically with no end
in sight.
African leaders in Southern Africa appointed South African
President, Thabo
Mbeki as mediator in the Zimbabwean crisis but the NCA
says: "Outside a
facilitation of an inclusive objective national process of
building
sustainable democratic systems, negotiations or mediation efforts
serve
nothing but buy time for those strangling the nation and its
people."
Critics have also castigated Mbeki as the mediator, for failing
to speak out
against the gross rights violations of the Mugabe regime. NCA
Chairman Dr
Lovemore Madhuku said: "Peace and an end to state terrorism are
moral
pre-conditions for a mutual dialogue. No mutual mediation can be said
to
take place when campaigners of freedom continue to endure punitive
detention
and prosecution."
Meanwhile The Zimbabwe Association of
Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)
issued a statement on Thursday condemning
the use of torture and other cruel
treatment against
Zimbabweans.
About 32 political detainees have been in remand prison for
the last 43 days
on allegations of possessing arms of war and carrying out
petrol bomb
attacks. Some of the political prisoners are said to be in
critical
condition but are still being denied medical treatment. The ZADHR
said: "It
is also of great concern that the condition of those affected has
become
difficult to monitor because of the practice of beating people and
then
holding them in detention without access to independent medical
attention.
There are at least 8 such persons currently held in remand
prison."
The human rights doctors also condemned the assault of 4 senior
lawyers by
the police on Tuesday. ZADHR confirmed that the lawyers, including
Law
Society President Beatrice Mtetwa, sustained severe bruising consistent
with
beatings by baton sticks.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th May 2007 16:18 GMT
By Ian Nhuka
BULAWAYO - Riot police, armed
with teargas canisters, baton sticks and AK47
rifles violently broke up a
students protest at the National University of
Science and Technology (
NUST) and arrested 53 students.
The students were protesting against
exorbitant fees being charged at
tertiary institutions, the endless strikes
by lecturers and their mass
exodus from higher institutions of learning due
to poor salaries, and "the
unbridled attack on human rights defenders in
Zimbabwe.
A statement from Zinasu, the students' representative body,
said the
arrested were currently being detained at the Bulawayo Central
Police
station. Their lawyers are fighting for their release.
Among
the arrested are the university's Student Representative Council
President
Clever Bere, and Themba Tapenduka, an SRC member.
NUST's SRC vice
president, Mehluli Dube said: "The scene reminds me of the
one which
resulted in the death of Batanai Hadzidzi. We are afraid that
Bere, who was
on the run together with me a few weeks ago might be brutally
beaten."
The students say Hadzidzi, who was a student at the
University of Zimbabwe
(UZ), was murdered by members of the police force
during a peaceful
demonstration at the UZ in 2002.
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th May 2007 15:52 GMT
By Ian
Nhuka
BULAWAYO - An unlikely crisis has hampered President Robert
Mugabe's
much-hated national youth training scheme in Matabeleland North
province - a
serious water shortage at the now defunct Kamativi Tin
Mine.
A few years ago, the government set up one of its eight militia
training
centres at the former mine, using abandoned infrastructure at the
outpost
which is situated some 300km west of here.
This was part of a
government strategy to "inculcate a sense patriotism"
among youths,
according to Mugabe.
But the critical shortage of water at the centre has
forced the government
to halt the training programme, fearing an outbreak of
water-borne diseases.
Ananius Banda, the chief executive officer of
Hwange Rural District Council
confirmed that the youth training centre is
unlikely to resume operations
until a more reliable water supply is
found.
"Since we do not have enough water at the former mine, training at
national
youth service centre has been suspended. The situation is very sad
but it
is not only the training scheme that has been affected, but also
former
Kamativi employees who are still staying at the defunct mine. They
do not
have running water, so they scrounge around for it in nearby villages
and a
local dam," said Banda.
In addition to the water crisis' impact
on militia training in the province,
added Banda, a sports academy that was
earmarked for the former mine has
also been put on hold.
He added
that although his local authority was this year provided with about
$700
million by the government to revive Kamativi's water system, the money
was
inadequate to do so.
The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, a
parastatal, used to run the
mine, before viability problems forced its
closure in 1994.
Desperate to create pliant youths, the government
introduced the national
youth service training scheme at eight centres
countrywide in 2002.
The first centre in Mashonaland Central province was
named after Border
Gezi, the late Minister Youth and Employment Creation,
who vigorously
campaigned, for the introduction of the scheme.
Others
were set up at in the country's eight rural provinces including
Mushagashe
in Masvingo and Guyu in Matabeleland South provinces.
But the militias
who graduate from the centres are hated countrywide as they
are blamed for
mounting violent campaigns against the opposition and
perceived government
and ruling party critics.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose
supporters have been
terrorised by the militias, has since called for the
disbanding of the
militia.
Soon after the setting up of the Kamativi
militia centre, four years ago,
the recruitees made headlines after they
mounted a violent campaign to evict
MDC supporters who were occupying about
500 houses at the former mine.
The main targets were MDC legislators for
Hwange West and East, as well as
Binga, Jealous Sansole, Peter Nyoni and
Joel Gabuza respectively. Sansole
said then:
"We are being chased away
and I believe with us it is because we are MDC.
Property is being thrown out
by the youth brigades. The situation is bad."
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th May 2007 15:43 GMT
By a
Correspondent
HARARE - The Commonwealth Lawyers' Association (CLA),
the Solicitors'
International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) and the Bar Human
Rights Committee
(BHRC) have expressed extreme concern about reports of the
violent break up,
assault and subsequent dispersal of lawyers participating
in Tuesday's
protest at the High Court by the Zimbabwe police.
In a
statement, the lawyer's organisations called on the Zimbabwe Government
to
respect the role of lawyers, as detailed in the United Nations Basic
Principles on the Role of Lawyers (adopted in 1990) and the United Nations
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (adopted in 1998), and to ensure that
lawyers are able to access their clients without any hindrance and freely
discharge their duties in the interest of effective administration of
justice.
The CLA, SIHRG and BHRC, they said, would continue to
actively support the
legal profession in Zimbabwe in their efforts to uphold
the rule of law.
The CLA is a pan-Commonwealth professional association
of lawyers and exists
to maintain and promote the rule of law throughout the
Commonwealth.
The lawyers argued that notification of the march and
protest was given in
accordance with the terms of Section 24 of the Public
Order and Security
Act.
The march was sparked by the recent arrest of
lawyers Alec Muchadehama and
Andrew Makoni and was against the ongoing
harassment of legal practitioners
in the course of their duties.
The
lawyers, who were beaten up badly by the riot police, intended to give a
petition to the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the
Commissioner of Police, expressing their disgust at the continuing
intimidation, harassment and arrests of lawyers.
"The CLA, SIHRG and
BHRC note in particular that a number of lawyers were
forced into a truck,
assaulted and later dumped several kilometres away,"
read the combined
statement.
The SIHRG promotes awareness of international human rights
within the legal
profession and mobilises solicitors into effective action
in support of
those rights.
The BHRC is the international human
rights arm of the General Council of the
Bar of England and Wales.
It
is an independent body primarily concerned with the protection of the
rights
of advocates and judges around the world.
New Zimbabwe
(London)
10 May 2007
Posted to the web 10 May 2007
Torby
Chimhashu
ZIMBABWE'S Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has
appealed to the African
Union (AU) to call an Extra Ordinary summit to force
President Robert
Mugabe's government to halt escalating torture against
human rights and
political activists.
Tendai Biti, the secretary
general of a faction of the divided MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, told
journalists in Harare on Wednesday that violence and
abductions of party
supporters have reached alarming levels despite promises
of peace brokerage
by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Biti claimed close to 1000
supporters of the MDC had been abducted and
tortured in various camps and
detentions across the country in recent weeks.
He said: "It is imperative
that African leaders, in particular the African
Union and the SADC, take
note of the current crisis in our country.
"We ask the respective African
leaders to call for an extra-ordinary summit
on Zimbabwe which is long
overdue to condemn these atrocities and put
pressure on the regime to stop
the onslaught on democratic forces.
"We ask the facilitator of the SADC
dialogue, President Mbeki, to realise
that no dialogue can take place in an
environment full of fascism and
violence perpetrated by the state. It is our
view that turning a blind eye
on this state-sponsored violence and
atrocities is tantamount to fertilising
impunity."
Biti said that
since the March 11 assault of Tsvangirai and other MDC
leaders, there has
been systematic torture and attacks on the MDC
supporters, especially in
Manicaland province where 150 supporters have fled
their homes.
He
said most of the supporters had been hospitalised following attacks by
the
Zanu PF militia commonly known as the "Green Bombers".
"The situation has
not mitigated. On Monday, 30 April 2007, our Manicaland
provincial
information officer Pishai Muchauraya was abducted from Mutare
and spent a
horrendous week at Harare Central Police being tortured and
beaten by state
thugs.
"The very next day, our youth leader, Godfrey Kauzani was taken at
his home,
bundled into a truck and taken to Beatrice Police station (70 km
out of
Harare) where he was tortured and and brutalised only to be released
on May
3, 2007.
"This is the amazing brutality of this regime, whose
actions shame even the
desperate expressions of the settler regime of Ian
Smith. These acts of
thuggery are the birth pains of a new Zimbabwe. The MDC
is prepared to
change this culture of impunity which Zanu PF has turned into
a national
religion."
Despite a one day special summit called to
discuss the deteriorating
situation in Zimbabwe by SADC heads in Tanzania in
March, violence against
opposition supporters has continued, charges the
MDC.
Although Mbeki was chosen to mediate and help defuse simmering
political
temperatures in Zimbabwe, Biti said the MDC is far from being
happy with the
pace of Mbeki's mediation.
He said: "One can never be
happy in an environment where 80 percent of the
population lives on less
than US$1 per day. One can never be happy in an
economy recording its 10th
year of recession. So, I can never be happy with
the pace of Mbeki in
dealing with our crisis".
Mugabe stands accused of using terror tactics
to destabilise and cow the MDC
ahead of the watershed Presidential
plebiscite set for 2008 which the
opposition party says must be held under a
new constitution and in the
presence of depoliticised civil servants and
international observers.
Vuvuzela
Written by
Phakamisa Ndzamela and Franny Rabkin
Thursday, 10 May 2007
ZANU-PF were "a bunch of thugs", so it was not surprising they skipped
a
campus panel discussion on Zimbabwe, according to a Movement for
Democratic
Change representative.
It was no holds barred after that.
Nqobizitha Mlilo was speaking at a at a Model African Union discussion
on
Tuesday evening. The Zimbabwean consulate declined to attend. But
nonetheless, sparks flew as Zimbabwean students took on the
MDC.
Mlilo and Ayesha Kajee, of the South African Institute of
International Affairs, dealt with the role of the African Union in Zimbabwe
in resolving the political and economic meltdown.
Mlilo said
"there is nothing abstract about the crux of the Zimbabwe
question". The
root of the crisis was a political one, stemming from
disputed elections.
Despite its economic decline, resolution "lies in
addressing the fundamental
political problem".
The social and economic decline were "mere
symptoms of a deeper
disease".
The MDC welcomed the SADC
mediation initiative led by President Thabo
Mbeki. But he emphasised that
"it is a regional effort rather than a foreign
policy initiative of the
South African government" and also not "personal
benevolence on the part of
President Mbeki".
He said the role of the AU was to "insist. on a
constant briefing of
the progress being made in the mediation process [so it
can] redirect the
mediation" if there was any derailing.
But
Kajee said it was not enough just to bring the MDC and Zanu-PF
together,
since both organisations were "fractured right now". There was
also
"disturbing evidence of ethnic divisions" in both parties.
She
proposed a broader initiative, involving civil society
organisations and,
most importantly, organised labour.
Another factor was lack of
political will by some SADC countries to
intervene. She blamed this partly
on those countries' elites having "their
own interests and benefiting in the
meltdown".
Both speakers felt the question mark hanging over
intervention stemmed
from the long-standing tradition of respect by African
countries for the
sovereignty of others.
Respect for
sovereignty was a pillar principle of the Organisation for
African
Unity.
But the AU has a slightly different approach. Respect for
sovereignty
is still a fundamental principle. But it recognises the right of
the AU to
intervene in circumstances of "war crimes, genocide and crimes
against
humanity".
The way these principles were balanced was a
fundamental question
facing the AU, Kajee said.
The discussion
was attended by students from all over Africa, but the
Zimbabwean students
were vociferous in their criticisms of the MDC. Mlambo
Nkoma accused the MDC
of being puppets of the West.
He said it was known the MDC was
funded by the US, which was
unequivocal in its regime-change objectives in
Zimbabwe.
Other issues raised were Morgan Tshvangirai's comment on
amnesty for
Mugabe and forgiveness for the 1982 Matabeleland Massacre. "How
can one
Shona forgive another Shona for a massacre of Ndebeles?" asked
Nkoma.
Mlilo quoted the South African Communist Party in asking why
anyone
critical of Mugabe was labelled a stooge of the West. Even Cosatu, he
said,
had been labelled a stooge of the West.
He denied the MDC
was funded by the US.
His father was Shona and his mother Ndebele,
he said, "but I am
Zimbabwean and I'm concerned about
Zimbabweans".
Kajee said it was right that amnesty should be
decided by Zimbabweans.
But this should include Zimbabweans from the
diaspora, as the majority of
Ndebeles now lived outside the
country.
She said some kind of amnesty should be seriously
considered, if it
was the only way to effect change.
It finally
fell to a student from Botswana to sum up the mood. It
seemed many
Zimbabweans felt helpless and bitter, he said. They didn't want
Mugabe but
they also didn't want MDC.
Maybe a spiritual approach was needed to
overcome the problems in
Zimbabwe - "it seems the best thing I can do now,
is to pray for Zimbabwe".
World Politics Watch
Daniel Moyo | 10 May 2007
World Politics Watch
Exclusive
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe -- In a bid to quash growing dissent amidst a
worsening
economic and political situation, Zimbabwe´s Robert Mugabe has
ordered the
creation of a reserve army made up of war veterans that took
part in the
country's liberation struggle in the 1970s.
The move
comes after thousands of junior soldiers and police deserted or
resigned
from the government's security forces over the past few years,
disgruntled
by poor pay and working conditions, leaving Mugabe short of the
manpower
that is essential to the maintenance of his oppressive regime. Many
have
left to seek better paying jobs as private security guards in the
neighboring Southern Africa Development Community region, especially in
South Africa and Botswana.
This is not the first time that
Mugabe has looked to war veterans to get him
out of a tough situation. In
the run up to the 2002 presidential elections,
Mugabe's chief agency of
violence against his political opponents was a
group coordinated by war
veterans fanatically loyal to him.
The shadowy group now operates
militias comprising youths loyal to Mugabe's
ZANU-PF Party and other ZANU-PF
supporters, most of whom are not war
veterans. ZANU-PF finances the group's
operations and the state security
agencies supply them with arms.
The
group's leaders have repeatedly said they will use violence to ensure
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change does not assume power in
Zimbabwe,
as they regard it as a front for the protection of white minority
interests.
The war veterans have helped Mugabe win the past three
general elections
through a sustained campaign of violence against the
opposition, leading to
Zimbabwe's suspension from the British Commonwealth
in 2003.
The war veterans group's formation into a formal reserve force
with official
state funding has sent shivers down the spines of opposition
members. In the
past, such funding by the government was covert.
The
law that will reorganize the war veterans has been published in the
Government Gazette under the name "Defence (War Veterans' Reserve)
Regulations 2007."
"There is hereby established a reserve force of
the army to be known as the
war veterans' reserve," the regulation reads.
"The war veterans' reserve
shall consist of members of the war veterans from
a register of the war
veterans compiled in terms of the War Veterans
Regulations of 1997 . . . who
volunteer to serve in the war veterans'
reserve and are accepted into the
reserve by the
commander."
According to the government gazette, the war veterans will be
divided into
two classes. The first will consist of members below the age of
50 who could
be deployed to active military duty service and undergo
training if the
commander of the army deems it necessary. The second group
will consist of
veterans over the age of 50 who could be used for duties not
requiring
physical military training.
Commenting on the latest
developments, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa said it is no coincidence that the government
has made the move as
the country's political players gear up for general
elections next
year.
"It was clear that Mugabe is oiling all the institutions of
violence that he
badly needs to disadvantage the opposition," Chamisa
said.
The veterans have vowed to return to war if the opposition wins
elections in
Zimbabwe. Moreover, they have said they would never salute
anyone who did
not fight in the liberation war, an allusion to the fact that
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai did not participate in the independence
struggle.
However, some members of the former Zimbabwe People's
Revolutionary Army,
(ZIPRA), a military wing of the Zimbabwe Africa People's
Union, which was
led by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, say they will
not rejoin the
Zimbabwe National Army, arguing it has been turned into an
instrument of
ZANU-PF.
"ZIPRA has always been a disciplined army and
there is no way we can be used
by ZANU-PF to turn against the people during
election campaigns, for ZANU-PF
to win elections," said Max Mnkanlda,
president of the Zimbabwe Liberators
Peace Initiative, a grouping of former
war veterans. "This is a ZANU-PF
army. As an organization we have urged all
members who were with the
disciplined ZIPRA not to rejoin the ZANU-PF
political army."
Mnkandla, a former ZIPRA captain, said the government
has not recognized the
role played by ZIPRA during the independence
struggle.
"Most left the ZNA unceremoniously during the Matabeleland
disturbances as
members were being targeted and killed, while also being
sidelined for top
posts," he said.
But current ZIPRA officials,
including Dumiso Dabengwa, Nkomo's former
intelligence chief, and Solomon
Mujuru, husband to current Vice President
Joyce Mujuru, are assigned to
oversee the recruitment of war veterans for
the new reserve army and make
recommendations on their operations.
Last month, another splinter group
of war veterans calling itself the
Zimbabwe Liberators Platform (ZLP), an
organization formed by former
liberation war fighters to advocate for peace,
democracy and good
governance, said it noted with deep concern the alarming
rise in
state-sponsored violence since the beginning of the
year.
"There have been abductions, arbitrary arrests and torture in
police
custody, grievous assaults, intimidation and harassment of leaders of
the
opposition and their general membership, labor and civil society
activists
perpetrated by the police and state security agents. The trend
continues
unabated," said ZLP Chairman Happyson Nenji in a
statement.
He said the ZLP condemns all forms of violence being
perpetrated against the
innocent. He also condemned the Mugabe regime's
undermining of the judiciary
by ignoring court orders.
"Impunity now
generally reigns for patronage purposes for the ruling elite,
despite public
admission of plundering of national resources on a grand
scale," Nenji said.
"All these wanton actions in clear betrayal of the
ideals of the liberation
struggle are eloquent testimony to the hijacking of
the liberation struggle
by self-seeking nationalists. Zimbabwe's greatest
tragedy is the
continuation of an erstwhile nationalist leadership devoid of
any interest
to deliver the gains of liberation to the people."
Daniel Moyo is a
freelance journalist based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
BBC
10 May 2007, 13:24 GMT 14:24 UK
By Orla Guerin
BBC News
Africa correspondent
How far would you go to put food on
the table?
Would you take your life in your hands - wading through
crocodile-infested waters, and walking unprotected through land where
leopards roam?
That is what Monica has just done, for the sake
of her three-year-old
daughter.
She has joined the exodus of
Zimbabweans crossing illegally into South
Africa - the so called "border
jumpers".
They travel in the dead of night, guided by traffickers.
The going
rate is 200 rand (£14 or $28).
We met Monica
shortly after dawn, as she emerged from the bush about
6km (3.7 miles)
inside South Africa.
She was on foot with four other women - their
faces showing the
strain.
Monica told us they had been
travelling for four days with traffickers
who abandoned them when their
money ran out.
"They called us baboons," she said. "They told us if
you have no money
we will leave you here and call the police to come and
arrest you.
"We have nowhere to go right now. We have no money and
the police are
all over. We don't know what to do."
Ordeal
Monica was driven out of her homeland by poverty, hunger,
and concern
for her little girl.
"The situation is very bad,"
she said. "We will try by all means to
get jobs. We can't go back. We are
starving in Zimbabwe."
Mary, one of her travelling companions, is a
mother of four. She also
talked of starvation.
"We've got no
jobs," she said. "We can't do anything in Zimbabwe. We
are
suffering."
After resting for a few moments the women picked up the
few belongings
they were carrying, and began walking towards the
highway.
With no money and no place to go, their ordeal may be just
beginning.
A short distance away a group of taxi drivers were
waiting at a
favourite rendezvous point - under a baobab tree.
They are part of a highly organised and lucrative trafficking
network.
The taxi drivers have spotters with mobile phones, who
warn if the
police or army are near.
A ride to Johannesburg
costs a fortune for a Zimbabwean - 1300 rand
(£92 or $184).
Panic
No-one knows for sure how many border jumpers arrive every
day, but
the estimate from the taxi drivers is more than a
thousand.
"Even pregnant women or women with a baby on their
backs are jumping a
2m high razor-wire fence," one driver said. "Some are
carrying newborns.
It's bad."
The taxis leave with their human
cargo within three to five minutes.
"We phone the guy at the
corner," he says. "If he says the place is
safe, we take everyone. If not,
we offload them quickly."
For some the journey involves jumping
fences, or cutting holes in them
to crawl underneath. But there are easier
places to cross the border, if you
know where to look.
We found
an area protected by only a single fence. There is no need to
cut a hole,
because there is an unlocked gate.
Once through the gate, the
Limpopo River is just ahead, and beyond it,
Zimbabwe.
Risking
everything
The Limpopo is low now, but border jumpers have drowned
when the river
is in flood.
Just downriver another group was
making their crossing, holding their
valuables above their
heads.
They arrived safely on dry land, but there was a
reception committee
of local thugs.
They often lie in wait to
rob or rape the new arrivals, sometimes
tipped off by the
traffickers.
The border jumpers spotted them in the distance. There
was panic as
they rushed to squeeze back through the fence, and return to
the river.
They got away this time, but the thieves are a constant
threat.
Zimbabwe is haemorrhaging some of its brightest and
best.
In Johannesburg these days you find doctors, lawyers and head
masters
from Harare ready to work as cleaners.
Plenty of
illegal migrants are arrested and sent home. So far this
year, 57,600 have
been deported to Zimbabwe, according to the International
Organisation for
Migration.
But many attempt the crossing again and again, unable to
survive in a
country with 80% unemployment and the world's highest inflation
rate - now
2,200%.
The price of corn, the staple food in
Zimbabwe, has just risen by a
staggering 680%. That may drive many more
desperate men and women into the
arms of the traffickers.
Along
the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, a tragedy is
unfolding -
though its victims usually pass unseen.
They are women like Monica
and Mary - mothers risking everything for a
chance to feed their
children.
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
EDITORIAL
10 May 2007
Posted to the web 10
May 2007
Harare
This newspaper has this week been carrying
potentially depressing news about
electricity and water supplies. Zesa
Holdings "promised" a 20-hour
electricity cut while Zinwa said it intended
to increase water charges while
also calling us to brace for the worsening
water situation.
The news, coming to an already overburdened consumer
could be a bit too much
to stomach. I was just imagining how we will survive
with little or no
electricity and water at the same time.
The two
are critical components of our daily lives. There may be a few
substitutes
for electricity, which are hard to come by, but there is
definitely no
substitute for water.
We are told we have to brace for the power outages
for the next three
months!
Zesa warned early this year of massive
power cuts due to high demand in
winter while the general shortage of
electricity in the region has also
begun to affect this country, but nothing
had prepared us for the 20-hour
power blackout.
Of course, this is
being done to ensure wheat farmers are allocated
uninterrupted power
supplies. Well and good, but the effects of the power
cuts are not in any
way ameliorated by the reason behind this.
When I saw the headline in the
paper I immediately thought of the meat and
other perishables in the
freezer.
What will become of them, never mind other inconveniences of not
having
electricity when you need it.
Those of us with electric
cookers will have to use firewood for cooking.
That we can live with, but
what do you do with foodstuffs that will
obviously rot?.
In previous
cases we have been criss-crossing the town, rushing to areas
where there are
no blackouts to ask a friend or relative to keep our food,
but in this
instance we'll be stuck.
"We urge consumers to understand that this is
being done for a worthy cause.
We want to keep our industry and our
agricultural sector ticking. It is
better for us to produce adequate wheat
than to import flour in the end,"
Zesa chief executive engineer Ben Rafemoyo
was quoted as saying.
Indeed, increased wheat production will benefit the
country immensely.
Zimbabwe can save foreign currency that could otherwise
have been used to
import wheat.
However, we still feel Zesa could
have come up with a less painful
arrangement.
Zimbabwe has immense
potential to produce enough power supplies for local
consumption and for
export.
The sector, as enunciated in the Interim Monetary Policy
Statement, needs a
tariff structure that ensures recovery of average
production overheads,
consistent coal supplies for thermal power production
from Hwange Colliery
and the implementation of already identified expansion
programmes such as
Hwange Power 7 and 8, Batoka Gorge and the Gokwe North
Project.
Construction of hydro plants for power generation will also save
the
situation.
The story about Zesa needs to change for the better at
some point. We hope
the powers that be at the parastatal will take
heed.
One of the major causes of the power challenges we are facing is
lack of
spares and ageing equipment.
It has taken long to
recapitalise the power utility but we are optimistic
the energy deal with
Nampower of Namibia under which Zesa will receive a
loan of between US$30
million and US$40 million will begin to bear fruit
soon.
Already,
Zesa has started procuring spare parts for the rehabilitation of
Hwange
Thermal Power Station under the energy co-operation
agreement.
Electricity output is thus expected to increase by 100
megawatts once the
spares arrive from Germany.
It is our fervent hope
that this will happen well before August, so that the
situation normalises
again soon.
The repair of another generator at Hwange will also result in
a maximum
production of 780MW. Wow! That would be the day.
Presently,
Hwange is only producing 350MW, with only two of its six units
functioning.
We hope Zesa has sorted its problems with Hwange
Colliery. We understand the
third unit at Hwange Thermal functions well if
it receives enough coal
supplies, but it has been down most of the time
because the two parastatals
are always squabbling over payment and the
quality of coal delivered.
Electricity is vital in our everyday living.
We need to cook and eat, we
need to study, we need to warm ourselves and we
need to bath. These are
daily routines which are made easier by the
availability of electricity and
water.
Now that Zinwa has also said
water will increasingly be scarce. Some of us
have had to make do with water
cuts everyday for months and we thought it
could not get any
worse!
We were warned yesterday of reduced water pressure and
rotational water
cuts.
We were also told we would have to pay more.
Of course, it does not make
sense that Zinwa produces a cubic metre at $2
200 and sells at $180. This
naturally calls for a price
review.
However, the paradox exists where in the same announcement we are
told that
water will be scarce but we will still have to pay more. It sounds
discordant!
We can only hope that the situation will get better
soon.
However, the onus is also on us as citizens to conserve both water
and
electricity where we can. Sometimes we think we are cheating the system
by
using hosepipes when we have been advised against doing so. In the end,
we
will be cheating ourselves.
Let's do what we can as citizens and
try to make life easier for these
utilities. Who knows, we may end up
getting a better deal from them if we
comply.
We also challenge wheat
farmers to take note of the sacrifices we have been
forced to make by Zesa.
We hope higher wheat output will be reflected in
better deliveries to the
Grain Marketing Board.
It would not make much sense if we were to
sacrifice for farmers who go on
tosell their wheat elsewhere for other uses
while starving the national
grain procurer. We would still have to import,
hence we would be back to
square one.
Stringent measures have to be
put in place to ensure that that does not
happen at all.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
10 May 2007
Posted to the web
10 May 2007
Marondera
More than eight million cubic litres of raw
sewage have flowed into Rufaro
Dam, Marondera's remaining source of water,
over the past five weeks after
the breakdown of a pump and the collapse of a
temporary reservoir holding
the filth.
The Chicago Pump Station,
which pumps effluent from Rujeko, Dombotombo,
Yellow City, Ruvimbo Park and
other eastern suburbs to Elmswood Treatment
Works, broke down five weeks
ago, the Environmental Management Agency has
learnt.
An attendant
at the station said this meant that all the effluent had to be
diverted into
an emergency holding sewage pond. The pond was overwhelmed
because of the
other effluent flows from Rufaro sub-station and Dombotombo
Pump Station,
resulting in the wall collapsing and all the raw sewage
flowing unabated
into Rufaro Dam.
Since then, EMA has established that more than 8 000
cubic litres of raw
sewage per hour have been flowing into the dam from
Chicago Pump Station.
Mashonaland East provincial chief environmental
officer Mr Robson Mavondo
said Zinwa was breaching the EMA Act, which states
that when effluent is
discharged into the environment, an appropriate plant
has to be installed,"
he said.
A health disaster is looming in
Marondera amid revelations that Zinwa is
allegedly "blending" water from the
sewage-infested Rufaro Dam with the
meagre supplies left in Nyambuya
Dam.
Marondera Municipality had been forced to draw water from Nyambuya
Dam
following its conviction in court last week for deliberately polluting
Rufaro Dam with effluent.
The local authority was fined $10 000,
which was suspended for three years
on condition that the council
implemented within the period recommendations
put forward by the two
complainants, Zinwa and EMA.
10 May 2007 08:37:02
GMT
Source: Reuters
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA, May 10 (Reuters) -
African nations were to blame for the ongoing
repression of Zimbabwe by
President Robert Mugabe because they refused to
pressure the strongman to
step down, the country's Catholic archbishop said
on
Thursday.
Archbishop Pius Alick Ncube said the president would never
surrender power
until South Africa, the region's heavyweight, stopped
treating its neighbour
as part of an untouchable club.
"The
international community has tried its best. The people letting us down
are
the African nations. They will not come out and clearly condemn the
injustices that are in Zimbabwe," Ncube told Reuters in
Canberra.
Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, has been one of the
strongest critics of
83-year-old Mugabe, who last year accused the cleric of
being "possessed by
a demon".
In reply the Roman Catholic Church has
been asked by Mugabe critics to
consider excommunicating the president -- an
action not taken against a
world leader since Cuban leader Fidel Castro's
1962 excommunication.
Ncube said South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was
reluctant to criticise
Zimbabwe because he shared Mugabe's mistrust of
former colonial powers and
it suited his country's economy.
"It's a
kind of club of African leaders trying to defend one another. They
will not
listen to the West," he said.
"South Africa seems to be benefitting
economically, because they are buying
up property and investing in
Zimbabwe."
African Union chairman and Ghanaian President John Kufuor said
this week
Africa should be worried about the growing crisis in Zimbabwe and
he planned
to question Mbeki on the situation.
Mbeki was recently
appointed by the Southern African Development Community
to mediate in
Mugabe's crackdown on political rivals, which saw the police
beating of
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Ncube urged Australia to abandon a planned September
cricket tour of
Zimbabwe to avoid handing Mugabe a propaganda
victory.
The archbishop, who met Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer on
Thursday ahead of talks between Downer and Cricket Australia, said
the
situation in Zimbabwe was "unbearable".
Zimbabweans were coping
with shortages of food, medicine, fuel and foreign
currency, and the
government had just announced electricity rationing, he
said.
"I
encouraged him that the Australian cricket team should not go. The tour
would be propaganda. Mugabe will spend a lot of money on cricket to try and
show things are normal," Ncube said.
Downer said he also wanted the
team to abandon tour plans, with the
government prepared to pay a possible
$2 million fine.
"They are the world champions. The regime will be able
to say 'well some
politicians are isolating us, but look, we have the
world's greatest cricket
team here'," Downer told Australian
television.
Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, says the MDC is
being funded by
the West to carry out a campaign of terror to topple his
government. The MDC
denies the charges.
Ncube, who returns to
Zimbabwe on Friday, said a solution in Zimbabwe would
come only through the
Southern African Development Community, which was
slowly beginning to harden
against Mugabe.
"Change must come, Mugabe knows how unpopular he is,"
Ncube said. "He
regularly changes his bodyguard. He is
shaking.
"Something must happen for Zimbabwe to continue to exist."
The Herald (Harare) Published by
the government of Zimbabwe
10 May 2007
Posted to the web 10 May
2007
Harare
THE MDC yesterday lost its bid in the High Court to
have parts of the
Electoral Act and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act
declared null.
The opposition party was told its application amounted to
an abuse of the
court.
The court rejected the MDC case on the
basis that the Sadc principles and
guidelines on free and fair elections
were only a guide, and were not part
of Zimbabwe's domestic
law.
Judge President Rita Makarau said there was no legal standard that
made the
Sadc principles and guidelines binding on member states.
"To
me, the principles and guidelines are no more than guiding principles.
They
set forth the principles and guidelines upon which election legislation
is
to be modelled by member countries," she said.
The Judge President said
being a model, the document had no binding nature
and could not be enforced
in its format.
MDC faction leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai had brought the
application
following the August 2004 Sadc summit held in Mauritius, at
which the
principles and guidelines governing democratic elections for
member
countries were adopted.
Zimbabwe, as a member state, approved
of the guidelines and assented to
them. After the summit, the Government
enacted two specific laws to regulate
the conduct of the elections in
Zimbabwe in accordance with Sadc
principles -- the Electoral Act and the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act.
At the time of the enactment of the
two laws, the Public Order and Security
Act, the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act and the
Broadcasting Services Act were already in
existence.
In his application, Mr Tsvangirai had sought to attack some of
the
provisions of these Acts as being inconsistent with the fundamental
principles set out in the Sadc election principles and
guidelines.
But Justice Makarau, in her judgment, found that Mr
Tsvangirai had "elevated
the Sadc principles and guidelines to a law and
then placed that law in a
position superior to domestic law".
"In my
view, the fact that the Sadc principles and guidelines are not a
source of
domestic law should mark the end of the inquiry as far as the
first two
orders are concerned," she said.
The MDC also failed to convince the
court to consider the doctrine of
legitimate expectation to hold that the
provisions of the guidelines were
relevant and applicable in the
court.
Justice Makarau said the agreement entered into by President
Mugabe and his
Sadc counterparts in Mauritius in 2004 in setting out
principles and
guidelines was not a direct source of rights and obligations
under the
country's law.
"The signing of the agreement by the first
respondent (President Mugabe),
acts to indicate to the national and
international community that his
Government ascribes to the minimum standard
set out in the guidelines.
"It does not give the applicant (Mr
Tsvangirai) or any other citizen of
Zimbabwe a cause of action that is
enforceable in a domestic law court based
on the guidelines," she
said.
Justice Makarau said she could not find merit in the application,
which in
her view amounted to an abuse of the court. The Judge President
rejected the
relief the MDC sought to set aside the delimitation of
constituencies upon
which the March 2005 elections were held and subsequent
by-elections.
The opposition party had also sought to have the Electoral
Supervisory
Commission, which had already been abolished, nullified on the
grounds that
it was improperly constituted among other
orders.
Justice Makarau said she was not satisfied that the declarators
sought in
the application by the opposition party would have an effect of
finally
deciding the question of the 2005 elections between the MDC and all
interested parties.
She also noted that since the 2005 elections had
been held, the opinions
sought from the court by the MDC were not in the
interests of the public
policy considerations.
Some MPs, she said,
had been elected and would want to keep their seats
while those who lost
during the elections challenged the results under law.
Justice Makarau
said considering the developments that had taken place since
March 2005, it
was her view that the declarations sought would serve no
practical
value.
President Mugabe, the Delimitation Commission, the Electoral
Supervisory
Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Minister
of Justice
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Cde Patrick Chinamasa were cited
as
respondents.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 05/11/2007 03:28:17
ZIMBABWE'S Trade Minister Obert
Mpofu has been convicted over the Ziscosteel
saga by the parliamentary
privileges committee that recommended that he be
fined as jailing him would
be disproportionate to his offence.
The committee that was chaired by
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi gave
its findings on Mpofu on Thursday,
and recommended that must be fined Zim$40
000 for prevaricating, but
acquitted him on the serious charge of lying
under oath.
Presenting
the findings Sekeramayi said: "The committee considered section
21 of the
Act which only provides for a fine not exceeding $40 000 or
imprisonment for
a period of two years.
"The committee was agreed that imprisonment would
be
disproportionate to the offence and hence settled to recommend that the
Hon
Obert Mpofu be fined be fined the maximum fine provided in section 21 of
the
Act which is $40 000."
MPs were last night calling for Mpofu's
resignation.
Sekeramayi said the privileges committee's terms of
reference were "to
investigate whether Hon Mpofu prevaricated or gave false,
untrue, fabricated
evidence before the foreign affairs, industry and trade
committee."
The Trade Committee had pushed for Mpofu's impeachment on
grounds that
during two separate hearings in September 2006, he gave
conflicting
statements about allegations of corruption at the state-run
steel
manufacturing firm, Ziscosteel.
In his first appearance, Mpofu
said there was a "shocking" report that
showed Ziscosteel had been massively
looted by his colleagues in Zanu PF,
only to backtrack during the second
hearing.
"Accordingly, it is your committee's conclusion that Hon. Mpofu
is not
guilty on the charge of presenting to parliament any falsehoods,
untrue,
fabricated, falsified evidence.the committee recommends that he be
acquitted."
MPs are expected to soon debate on the privileges
committee report before
the minister is given an opportunity to respond to
it. After that,
parliament will vote on whether to adopt the
recommendation.
Mpofu will not be present when his fate is
debated.
Sekeramayi said during his committee's probe on Mpofu, the
minister had
conceded to the existence of the damning report saying: "Let
the report
prove me wrong or correct. I keep on saying this report is
there."
Zim Online
Friday 11 May 2007
By Patricia Mpofu
HARARE - The
United States on Wednesday condemned this week's assault of
legal
practitioners by Zimbabwean police saying the assault was part of
Harare's
efforts to suppress all opposition ahead of next year's key
elections.
"The government's assault on the legal profession and the
rule of law is
part of its continuing effort to suppress all opposition in
advance of next
year's election," said said US State Department
spokesperson, Sean McCormack
in a statement.
The lawyers were
assaulted in Harare on Tuesday for protesting against the
detention of their
two colleagues, Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni, last
weekend.
The
US called on President Robert Mugabe's government to respect the rule of
law
and the rights of all Zimbabweans saying the latest crackdown by Harare
would not augur well for the holding of free and fair polls next
year.
Washington said at least 30 members of the main opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) party were still being detained in police
custody
following their arrest last March.
"Many of them have been
refused access to legal counsel and some are in
critical medical condition
as a result of beatings inflicted upon them by
government security
forces.
"We call on the government of Zimbabwe to respect the rule of law
and the
rights of all Zimbabweans," said McCormack.
The Zimbabwean
government says the MDC activists were behind the bombing of
state
institutions in March following the arrest and subsequent torture of
MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other senior party officials.
The MDC denies
the charge saying Harare is using the petrol bombing
incidents as a ruse to
crack down on the resurgent opposition ahead of key
presidential and
parliamentary elections next year. - ZimOnline
Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, May 10, 2007-The
Committee to Protect Journalists today called
for a full and transparent
investigation into the police beating on Tuesday
of prominent Zimbabwean
human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, a 2005
recipient of CPJ's International
Press Freedom Award, and three other
attorneys.
Mtetwa, president
of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, suffered bruises on her
back, arms, and legs
after police in Harare beat her and three colleagues
with rubber clubs for
several minutes, she told CPJ. The four attorneys were
forced to lie face
down before being beaten, said Mtetwa, who was treated at
a local hospital
and released later that day.
"We condemn this vicious assault on
Beatrice Mtetwa, a champion of the
rights of journalists in a country that
has trampled on the independent
press," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon
said. "The government must conduct
a full and transparent investigation into
this outrageous act of police
brutality and bring all those responsible to
account."
The four lawyers, dressed in professional robes, had been
forced into a
police truck and driven to an open area in Harare's outskirts
after officers
broke up a protest of more than 60 lawyers outside Zimbabwe's
High Court,
said Irene Petras, acting director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights.
The lawyers were gathering to present the justice minister
with a petition
protesting the treatment of two colleagues arrested last
week, according to
news reports. The two arrested lawyers were challenging
the government's
detention of several opposition officials accused of
involvement in bomb
attacks after a police crackdown on the opposition in
March.
Also injured in the beating were lawyers Chris Mhike, Colin
Kuhini, and
Terence Fitzpatrick, according to Petras.
In February,
police banned demonstrations for three months, but Mtetwa
told CPJ the
gathering was lawful since required notice had been served to
police the day
before. The legality of the ban is being challenged in court.
Sternford
Moyo, a veteran lawyer and president of the Southern Africa
Development
Community Lawyers' Association, told CPJ that legal action
against the
police will follow. "We will not be encouraging impunity for the
brazen
contempt of the rule of law," he said.
Mtetwa has defended dozens of
journalists and fought for press freedom,
all at great personal risk. In
March, police officers manhandled and
threatened her while she was serving
them court papers, according to news
reports. In October 2003, she filed
charges against police after being
detained on specious allegations of
drunken driving for three hours, during
which she was beaten and choked,
according to CPJ research.
"The government should not frustrate the
efforts of lawyers to provide
anyone with their entitled right to legal
counsel. It has nothing to do with
politics," Mtetwa said.
Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw or justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Contracts in the DRC
Wanted: for six
month renewable contracts in the DRC, three Zimbabwean farm
managers. One
with experience in orchard and plantation crops especially
citrus and
bananas, the second with experience in row cropping: potatoes,
maize/soya,
wheat and barley and the third with experience in dairy
production. Formal
agricultural qualifications an advantage but not a
necessity.
Fluency
in Swahili preferable but not essential.
Contact:
011610073.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
JOB OPPURTUNITY
We have a vacancy for a
mature/semi retired man to join our team. The
position would be as workshop
manager to be in charge of maintenance and
repairs of all farm equipment.
Accomodation and competitive package offered
for the right person. Situated
30km from Beit Bridge (Zim)
Please send CV/References to fergs@netconnect.co.zw or
benfer@netconnect.co.zw
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY AT NO COST
We are
looking for a business partner in Bulawayo or Gweru or Masvingo to go
into a
50/50 venture to offer instant passport and visa photographs. We will
provide
all equipment and training. The equipment comprises 1 compact
digital camera
and 1 printer (the size of a supermarket till). The partner
will need to have
a shop outlet close to the CBD and be able to devote a few
square metres of
floor space to the passport/visa photography. The partner
will operate the
venture and share all costs and profits on a 50/50 basis.
No photographic
experience is required. The net profit to each party should
be in the region
of USD 600 (equivalent) per month. Please reply to
acacia@africaonline.co.zw giving
details of your location and any other
relevant
information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Management Couple / Professional
Guide
Management couple/professional guide needed to run small,
exclusive, safari
camp in Kariba/Matusadona as soon as possible. Salary and
benefits
negotiable depending on experience and qualifications - please
contact one
of the following:
Steve - steve@saflodge.co.zw Phone 013 43358
011 207 307
Wendy - wendy@saflodge.co.zw 0912 307
875
Belinda - email: belinda@zol.co.zw phone: (04)
301494/301496 or 011
603
613
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Transport Manager
To co-ordinate all
aspects of transport for cane haulers, mechanical
background is a
pre-requisite
Please contact Rob Buchanan, E-Mail - robbuchanan@yebo.co.za
Cell
082-3371290, Tel
033-3431106
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Manager for Sawmill
We are a large
furniture manufacturing company (J.W.Wilson Int (Pvt) Ltd).
Based in Harare.
We are currently looking for a manager for our sawmill in
Matabeleland, which
supplies our Norton factory with teak.
The position entails travel to the
mill in the Thlotsho area spending 2
nights, 3 days, a week at the mill
attending to the management of the mill.
We feel that the job would suit a
person with a farming background.
Should you need any further details
please contact me at dave@wilson.co.zw
of phone on cell
0912231 511 or Harare
620131.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
COMPUTER STUDIES TEACHER - PRIMARY
A
leading Independent School in Zambia requires a teacher of Computer
Studies
for September 2007. Experience in a CHISZ school in Zimbabwe or
an
Independent School in South Africa is essential. A good US dollar salary
is
offered along with accommodation and other benefits which include
medical
cover.
There is a possibility of other vacancies at both primary
and secondary
arising in the future and interested teachers with appropriate
experience
should register there interest.
A brief resume should be
emailed to zamvacancies@fsmail.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
URGENTLY NEEDED
Looking for an honest hard
worker in Harare to work in the house as well as
in the garden. We would
prefer a mature male who has experience.
Please if there is anyone out
there who is leaving or knows of someone
please contact me on 011207583 or
0912308410.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
GIRL FRIDAY
Busy office in Avondale
requires a full day lady to take care of
correspondence and general office
duties. Email/computer knowledge an
asset but we can teach
you what you
need to know. Pleasant working environment - to start as
early as
possible.
Please contact - dundawidaho@mango.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Employment Offered
I am a South African
farmer who needs employers for the following vacancies:
1: A person with
mechanical knowledge who can do welding and am able to work
with steel as
well. He must be reliable, able to attend to my vehicles and
help with
general work on the farm and with the cattle
2. A reliable chef,
housekeeper. He/she must have experience in western
cooking
I would
like to see references which can be e-mailed to the following
E-mail
Address(as): vermaasboerdery@telkomsa.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 3 May 2007)
EMPLOYMENT OFFERED:
Looking for a retired
Christian couple - will suite ex-farming couple - to
be caretakers of a dairy
enterprise. 70kms from Harare. Accommodation on
farm. Package to be
discussed. Please email CV and contact details to
dapayne@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Employment Offered
OXFORD IT is looking for
cvs for the below mentioned positions. Please send
your cv as soon as
possible if you wish to be considered for the positions.
Administration -
Temp PA's/Receptionists and Secretaries, Company Secretary
Advertising -
Graphic Designers, Public Relations Executives, Marketing
Officers, Key
Account Executives
Consultants - SAP, Spectrum
Finance - Bookeepers,
Chartered Accoutants, Accountants, Internal Auditors
IT - Developers (esp Web
and Oracle), Network Engineers, Workshop Managers,
Technicians,
Linux/Unix
Management - General Managers, Managing Directors, Chief Executive
Officers,
Finance Director/Manager, Project Managers
Other - Mornings
Only, Part-time, Flexi-time, Contract, Driver/Messenter,
Stores/Warehouse,
Procurement/Purchasing Buyer
Hotel/Catering - Attachments
Human Resources
- Training Officer/Manager
Sales & Marketing - Sales/Marketing Managers,
Regional Sales Managers,
Corporate Sales Personnel, Business Development
Manager
Shipping - Import/Export Controller, Transport/Logistics
Distribution
Tourism - Reservationists, Consultants
Please email you
cv to the below email address or contact the General
Manager for more
information. We have many other jobs that are not
advertised, so call today
to find out more!
Miss Sarah Vale
GENERAL MANAGER
Oxford IT
Recruitment
Agriculture House, c/o CFU Building, Cnr Adylinn Road/Marlborough
Drive,
Marlborough, Harare
Tel: (Direct) 309274
Tel: (Switchboard)
309855-60 (ext 23)
Fax: 309351
Email: sarah@oxfordit.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Vacancy for Farm Assistant
Samona (Z)
Ltd.,
P.O. Box 630557
Choma
ZAMBIA
Tel: +260 3 225 018
Cell:
+260 97 790 209
E-mail: samona@zamtel.zm
The
above-mentioned company has a vacancy for a Farm Assistant to work
directly
under the Managing Director, to help with the running of a large
tobacco
enterprise situated in the Choma/Kalomo farming area in the Southern
Province
of Zambia.
Qualifications required:
Internationally recognised
Diploma/Degree in Agriculture
The farming programme for the 2007/2008
season is 120 Ha Tobacco (55
Irrigated and 65 Rainfed), 60 Ha Soyabeans
(Supplementary Irrigation), 60 Ha
Winter Wheat. There is currently no
livestock production.
Remuneration package:
Commission (paid in US
Dollars) will be calculated as a percentage of farm
profit, details of which,
together with other benefits, will be made
available to applicants considered
for the position once all CV's have been
received and
processed.
Applicants should apply to Samona Zambia Ltd using the above
e-mail address
attaching their CV for consideration by the
company.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Project Manager in Tanzania
we have a pretty
large Eco-Tourism and residential Beach Plot scheme going
on for which we
are looking for a Project Manager with overall
responsibility for the whole
thing. A farmer background would be ideal.
Please advise whether there are
still farmers willing and able to leave Zim
for a new horizon. If affirmative
we would of course provide you with
further details.
Look forward to
hearing from you.
Best Regards - Georges C. Hess / Amboni Sisal
Properties Ltd - Nairobi
Liaison
Office
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Vehicle Sales Administrator :
This position
is in the busy front office of our Vehicle Sales and would
suit a
self-motivated, efficient and pro-active lady. The post combines all
aspects
of Administration, client interaction and sales. Must be able to
work under
pressure.
Building Foreman :
Must have hands-on-experience in all
aspects of building including :
- Setting Out
- Foundation work
- Steel
re-enforcing
- Concrete Work
- Brick laying / Plastering
- Carpentry /
Roofing
- Plumbing / Electrics
- Material Ordering / Quantity
Estimating
- Labour Procurement & Supervision
- Must be able to work
on own initiative.
Forward CV or apply in person with contactable
references to ABC Auctions,
Seke Road, Graniteside, Harare.
Glynis Wiley,
751343 or 751904 or cell 011 630164
ABC Auctions
Hatfield
House
Seke Road
Telephone 263 4 751904/751906/751343/751498
Fax 263 4
751904/751906/751343/751498
Website: www.abcauctions.co.zw
Email Address:
auctions@yoafrica.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Job Title: Chief Executive
Officer
Based at: Asamankese, Ghana
Reports
to: Direct reporting to Shareholders
Introduction: Pinora
is the 3rd largest fruit processing plant in sub
Saharan Africa. Completed in
2006, the state of the art facility, and its
dedicated Pineapple orchard,
occupies 610 acres, employs 250 staff and is
capable of processing 320,000mt
of locally procured oranges and pineapples.
Job purpose
summary:
Identify, develop and direct the implementation of business strategy
leading
to growth and profitability
Plan and direct the organisation's
activities to achieve stated and agreed
targets and standards for financial
and trading performance, quality,
culture and legislative
adherence
Evaluate existing staff, and thereafter where necessary, recruit,
select and
develop executive team members
Direct functions and
performance, where necessary, via the executive team
Maintain and develop
organisational culture, values and reputation in its
markets and with all
staff, suppliers, partners and regulatory and official
bodies
Key
responsibilities:
Evaluate existing procurement process and thereafter plan
and implement
procurement strategy, including transportation of fruit to the
plant.
Plan and implement supply(ier) retention, expansion and
development.
Producing an operating budget and thereafter its monitoring,
implementation
and reporting.
Maintain administration and relevant
reporting and planning systems.
Evaluate existing and thereafter select and
manage external agencies, such
as transportation companies, banks, insurance,
quality management standard
bodies and inspection companies etc.
Identify
and manage new business development and further
potential
investments.
Plan, develop and implement strategy for
organisational development
Contact: petermacsporran@iconnect.zm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 10 May 2007)
Housegirl
Maid needed for Avondale West
area. We are looking for a maid to help with
housework, for a "growing"
family. She needs to have her own accomodation.
Please call 091-2-300 059 or
e-mail mbav@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT
REQUIRED
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
BUILDING CONSULTANT
Available to oversee
construction operations and
alterations/modifications, assess and monitor
quality control; submission of
appraisals for repairs and maintenance
undertakings, and other associated
tasks.
For further information
please reply to the following contact.
mhowarth@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 April 2007)
Employment Sought
A husband & wife
team looking for employment with accommodation in Harare.
They both come
highly recommended; he in the garden and she with housework,
cooking and
child minding. They have 4 children, 3 of whom are school
going. Current
employer does not allow the family on the property so he
spends his entire
earnings on visiting them every 6 weeks in the Eastern
districts. Please
phone Julie on 011 605 083 or evenings only on 744156;
email: julie@fresh-value.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
(updated 10 May 2007)