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Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai says gov't on right track

http://in.reuters.com

Sun May 10, 2009 2:26pm IST

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said his
unity government with President Robert Mugabe was on the right track,
despite their differences.

On Monday, Mugabe and Tsvangirai hold what the MDC says will be the last
round of talks on outstanding issues from a power-sharing deal such as new
appointments of the central bank governor and the attorney-general.

If they are not resolved the MDC's national council will meet to decide on
the party's next step.

Any crisis in the new government could make it even harder for Tsvangirai
and Mugabe to get help from sceptical Western donors, who want to see
political and economic reforms before pouring money in to help rescue
Zimbabwe's shattered economy.

"It is only 100 days so far, but this government has consolidated. We have
our problems, who doesn't? Some people are not happy with everything that's
happening," Tsvangirai told South Africa's Sunday Times in an interview.

"But sceptics are now the minority. The majority believe we are on the right
track and I believe so myself."

Eighteen opposition activists arrested on terrorism charges were released on
bail on Wednesday. Their indictment and imprisonment brought new tension to
the unity government.

Failed talks on Monday could threaten the power-sharing agreement. But
Tsvangirai did not seem very concerned.

"I have been disappointed at the slow pace on (the agreement). But that
deadline is set by my party -- we have worked through all that. We have
viewed (Mugabe's) approach as a delaying tactic," he said.

The southern African country has said it requires $8.3 billion to rebuild an
economy ravaged by years of hyper-inflation and contraction.

Although much of the funding is expected to come from sceptical Western
donors, Zimbabwean officials are looking to raise about $1 billion from the
African continent.

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Tsvangirai plays down Mugabe dispute

http://www.ft.com/

By Richard Lapper and Tom Burgis in Johannesburg

Published: May 10 2009 14:47 | Last updated: May 10 2009 14:47

Zimbabwe's prime minister has moved to defuse a looming crisis inside the
country's transitional government by denying that President Robert Mugabe
has been set a deadline to meet demands from the Movement for Democratic
Change, the former opposition party now in government.

"We had to express ourselves with the frustration with resolving some of the
outstanding issues [including Zanu PF's control of the central bank and the
continued detention of MDC political prisoners] but there is no deadline,"
Morgan Tsvangirai told the Financial Times.

Mr Tsvangirai said the MDC, which agreed to form a coalition government with
Mr Mugabe in February, was still pressing for the appointments of Zanu-PF
veterans as the governor of the central bank and the attorney general to be
overturned but was confident of making progress.
The central bank governor, Gideon Gono, presided over hyperinflation until
Zimbabwe's currency collapsed in November. International donors see his
continuing presence in the government as a major obstacle that prevents them
extending economic aid to Zimbabwe.

"We are dealing with this," said Mr Tsvangirai. "It is not helpful to get on
the bandwagon about Gideon Gono but his appointment [and that of the
attorney general] were flaws of due process.

"Who would want to put money in a bank where officials were saying 'I will
raid people's accounts when I want,'?" he said. "That doesn't give
credibility. Behind the scenes a lot of work is being done to ensure we have
a credible reserve bank."

Mr Tsvangirai said that since government's projected revenues were way below
expenditures, budgetary support was "essential". As for a campaign to raise
credit lines and balance of payments "a billion US dollars would do us good
this year".

The transitional government has been dogged by disputes ever since its
formation, with Zanu-PF loyalists - the party of Mr Mugabe - using their
control of state institutions to press ahead with takeovers of land owned by
white farmers, hold more than a dozen MDC activists prisoner and block the
appointment of the MDC's deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett.

Last week Tendai Biti, the finance minister, said that these and other
issues had to be resolved by Monday. The formerly opposition party won the
first round of elections last year before withdrawing from a second round
after extensive violence against its supporters. Its national council is due
to meet next Saturday.

Mr Tsvangirai, however, said that 95 per cent of the disputed issues had
been resolved and that only opposition from hard-line elements within
Zanu-PF was holding up a more complete agreement. He said Mr Mugabe wanted
to see the unity government succeed. "We don't want to give any succour to
those remaining forces that are resisting this process."

Mr Tsvangirai, who like Mr Mugabe was in Johannesburg to attend the
inauguration of South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday, denied that
the MDC was simply legitimising Mr Mugabe's continued tenure in power.

"We work with an objective of moving away from the crisis and reaching the
stage where we can have a free and fair election. My leverage over Mugabe is
that there is no other option. Mugabe can't go out and say I am going it
alone. He can't do it."

Mr Tsvangirai said that the transitional government had achieved a number of
advances in its first few months in office. Inflation has been eliminated;
civil servants were being paid an allowance and schools and hospitals had
been reopened. "I can stand up and say there are achievements."

He also said that Zimbabwe could take an important step towards lifting
restrictions on local  and international media in the next few days.

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Stench of Mugabe's decaying rule hangs heavy

http://www.iol.co.za/

    May 10 2009 at 06:42PM

By Peta Thornycroft

Harare - If the state of the toilets in public and even private
buildings in Harare were a measure of the inclusive government's progress,
then it has failed miserably.

In the courts, in the ministries, in all public buildings and some
privately owned office blocks, the putrid smell of human waste is perhaps
President Robert Mugabe's most telling legacy.

Emaciated prisoners in fetid cells where water pipes have not been
fixed since the days of Rhodesian rule are another legacy of Zanu-PF's
staggering failure, which goes way beyond the 10 years of political turmoil
since the Movement for Democratic Change emerged.

Even top government schools which used to produce some of the best
education results are shells. Some of the bricks and mortar are still there,
but the windows, desks, doors, blackboards and books are missing.

Despite this aversion to maintenance, Mugabe's power is slowly ebbing,
mostly because he can't get hold of the cash for his power base.

The redetention on Tuesday of 18 activists accused of a repetitive
plot - trying to overthrow Mugabe - was the most serious Zanu-PF breach of
the political agreement to date, even if 15 were freed on bail 24 hours
later.

There are so many breaches of the political agreement it is
astonishing that it still there at all. But neither side has any
alternative.

As one diplomat said after the rearrests: "Prime Minister (Morgan)
Tsvangirai can't threaten to walk out more than once. So he has a very
difficult balancing act. But we do wish he, personally, would speak out more
critically."

Mugabe never gives up, even as his control - now limited to a
diminishing group of thugs in the riot police and their senior officers, the
hard core of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and military
intelligence - is waning.

The ordinary policeman is much more interested in organising a
roadblock to extract bribes from motorists than looking for the mythical
weapons Mugabe claims photo-journalist Shadreck Manyere, still in detention
in hospital on Friday, had stashed somewhere among his laptop and cameras.

It has begun to dawn on some Zanu-PF civil servants that the US
Marines, the British Army and Rhodesians on Zimmer frames have not been
massing on the border, as their CIO masters have been telling them.

Mugabe has been at this particular game - keeping Zimbabwe on a war
footing for a mythical invading force - for decades.

His methods are not working as well as they used to, but he is not
finished yet. Three times in the past week he put off a meeting to address
his violations of the political agreement.

Will he make concessions after he has attended President Jacob Zuma's
inauguration?

Probably not. Then what?

Then the MDC will have to recommend that the SADC tries to resolve
outstanding issues, which even some of its apologists recognise are, indeed,
outstanding.

Emerging from this mish-mash unity government are insights into
Zanu-PF.

It is, mostly, spectacularly incompetent and Mugabe knows it. He even
makes jokes about some party officials behind their backs over lunch.

Mugabe, at 85, is in control of his petulant generals and not the
other way around. He is not senile, nor is he in poor health.

He is the chief manipulator and is trying to work out how to get his
hands on foreign funds to rescue Zanu-PF from obliteration. The party has
run out of money and it has always needed huge resources to keep going.

The CIO needs projects to keep money flowing to its coffers, and there
are fewer and fewer ways of creating new enemies to jump-start campaigns and
deploy personnel.

The cancellation of the Zimbabwe dollar was the blow Mugabe hadn't
counted on.

As economist John Robertson said last week, central bank governor
Gideon Gono can no longer manipulate the exchange rate, allowing Zanu-PF
cronies to exchange one US dollar for trillions of Zimbabwe dollars.

Mugabe also uses his other weapon, charm, to disarm his opponents.

"He is so charming we sometimes have to remind ourselves what he has
done to us personally and to the country," said a top businessman after
meeting Mugabe.

If Mugabe were to die or retire his departure, in practical terms,
would not be noticed.

He plays no role in government operations except the arrests and
violence, disruption and theft of crops from white-owned farms.

Could he stop that? Yes, he could, but he chooses not to. The white
farmers were always going to be a soft target, according to one ex-CIO
official.

Zanu-PF tried to manipulate a teachers' strike this week, but it was
outmanoeuvred by the Progressive Teachers' Union because teachers would
rather earn $100 than nothing.

Mugabe has had nothing to do with the reopening of hospitals, schools,
a few gold mines, or the token payment of civil servants in a currency they
can use.

These are the few fruits of the unity government so far, as well as
much less political violence, fewer arrests, and shops groaning with
imported groceries.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has to constantly violate the political agreement of
last September to push the MDC into the covers.

He needs to find a way to protect himself from the taint of gross
violence during last year's elections. None of his agents who committed the
violence on his orders have been prosecuted, even though their names are
known and there are witnesses longing to testify.

So that is another reason he fouls the political agreement: he is
looking for a deal to get them and him off the hook.

This article was originally published on page 14 of Cape Argus on May
10, 2009

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The woman who took on Mugabe

http://www.guardian.co.uk
 

Freedom campaigner Jenni Williams is a persistent thorn in the side of the Zimbabwean dictator. She tells Elizabeth Day about her shocking experiences of police brutality and jail - and how the fight for justice has meant sacrificing a normal family life

Elizabeth Day
Elizabeth Day
The Observer, Sunday 10 May 2009
 
Freedom campaigner Jenni Williams

Freedom campaigner Jenni Williams. Photograph: Karl J Kaul

Of all the terrible things that have happened to Jenni Williams over the past six years - and there have been many - there is one incident that stands out from the rest.

It was October 2008. She had been arrested by Zimbabwean police after taking part in a peaceful protest outside a government complex. The marchers were asking for food aid, in a population where three-quarters of the population is starving under Robert Mugabe's oppressive regime. Bundled into a police van, Williams and a colleague were taken to prison and denied bail.

She was in jail for three weeks. On one "particularly bad day" Williams recalls being forced by the guards to sit for hours in the burning sunshine. "I am of light skin, they knew I was going to get very badly sunburnt, and we were just made to sit there for some form of punishment," she says. "And when we tried to object, they started accusing myself and my colleague of being lesbians because she had been beaten and I was rubbing her back.

"So it was a very bad day, and our lawyer had not been able to come to give us any update on our appeal process and I just thought: I don't know how we're going to get through this."

At 47, Jenni Williams has experienced more brutality than most of us will face in a lifetime. She is the founder of the underground activist movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), an organisation that, since 2003, has been mobilising Zimbabwean women to demonstrate in defence of their political, economic and social rights. In a fragmented country where women are marginalised by patriarchy, downtrodden by severe financial hardship (official inflation runs at 7,000%) and weakened by the acute lack of food or clothing for themselves and their children, Williams faces an almost insurmountable daily struggle simply to keep going.

Under Mugabe's dictatorship, the threat of state-sanctioned violence is ever-present. Despite being a movement dedicated to peaceful protest, Woza's 70,000 members are routinely arrested, beaten and intimidated.

As an outspoken critic of the current Zimbabwean regime, Williams is one of the most troublesome thorns in Mugabe's side. In a region where anti-government protesters have an uncomfortable habit of disappearing or turning up dead, her day-to-day existence is hazardous: although her main residence is in Bulawayo, south-west Zimbabwe, she moves in and out of safe houses and never stays more than six months in one place. She has been arrested 33 times.

Once she was abducted by police for 24 hours and driven 45km outside the city to an unknown destination. "They were telling me they were going to murder me and bury me and no one would ever know," says Williams. "Luckily for me, we ended up in a police station and some of the police officers were very sympathetic. There was no food there but one of those police officers came and whispered into the window of our cell: 'I'm bringing you food from your house. I know you are hungry.' So sometimes in life when you suspect the absolute worst thing, God sends you an angel."

She says, when I ask her if she ever loses hope in humanity, that this is her answer: finding goodness where you least expect it. Even at her lowest point in that prison yard, forced to sit for hours in the sunshine, her skin burning and her spirits shattered, something happened to salvage her hopes and keep her going. "My colleagues came and told me that Barack Obama had won and was going to be the next president of America and it was - " She breaks off, then emits a loud squeal of delight: "YES! And that made the pain not so bad."

In person, Jenni Williams looks as strong as she sounds. She has a broad face, substantial shoulders and thick, powerful arms. Her hair is braided in tight plaits that snake across her skull. She is mixed race - her mechanic father, who was absent for most of her upbringing, was black. Her mother Margaret is the daughter of an IRA man who emigrated to what was then Rhodesia from County Armagh. He became a gold prospector and married a local woman from the Matabele tribe.

Williams readily admits that dissidence runs in the family: "It's an incredible mix of this Irish and this Matabelean nation, which is a fighting nation. My grandmother was once arrested during the early 80s because the Mugabe regime said she had arms caches. That's the melting pot that I come from."

At first the combination of her looks and her history can make Williams seem a slightly forbidding presence, but as soon as you talk to her you realise that she has an internal composure that gives her a tender, almost maternal quality. She comes across as a protector rather than an aggressor. When she talks, it is in a bubbling stream of flat Zimbabwean vowels spliced with laughter. She smiles a lot.

We meet on one of her infrequent visits to the UK - she is deliberately vague about her movements in case the Zimbabwean authorities attempt to stop her, but she has the backing of Amnesty International and this time has been able to move around relatively freely.

"We [Woza] get scared like anyone else," she says. "But I think what gives us the commitment to continue to do the things we do is that we speak 100% the truth, and we speak it from the moral authority that we are the mothers of the nation, and if your mother cannot speak out on your behalf then you have no one that will speak for you. So that is why we are committed to doing this: because we want a better future for our children."

The horrible irony for Williams is that being the mother of a troubled nation means she finds it increasingly difficult to be the mother of her own family. Her husband Michael, an electrician, and her three adult children - one daughter, Natalie, 28, from her first marriage, and two sons, Christopher, 24, and Richard, 22 - all live in the UK. It would be too dangerous for them to stay in Zimbabwe.

When Woza organised its first Valentine's Day march in 2003 (14 February, with its connotations of love and understanding, is a crucial date for the organisation, which promotes strategic nonviolence), Christopher, then 18, was arrested for handing out roses. Although the Zimbabwean constitution grants the right to peaceful protest, the authorities argue that it cannot be carried out in the streets without prior notification.

"I couldn't do anything," says Williams now, twisting her hands on the table in front of her. "It was just deeply frustrating for me to be a mother and see that my child had now gotten arrested for something that I was doing, and I was helpless. And so with Christopher's arrest, my mother-in-law [who lives in the UK] got a little bit worried and said: 'Look, please can we have the kids?'

"Also, because of my activism there were threats that they would be taken and put in the youth militia, where they train these kids to be violent, so I had no other option but to allow my two sons, who were still living in the house, to come and be in the UK. My daughter is much older; she had already left home.

"It's not easy for me to live apart from them. But we are very, very busy leading this organisation. I already work 14 to 15-hour days. There's no way right now I can be a mother to my children because I'm too occupied being a mother to the nation."

Does she feel guilty about the choice she has made, about placing the political over the personal? "No, I don't because I know and they know and we all understand and discuss these issues and they know why we're doing it. So it's not a matter of guilt. I miss them terribly. I miss my husband terribly. But I know it's for them I'm doing it, and they know that, too."

Much of her life has been spent taking care of other people - at the age of 16 she dropped out of school to help her single mother care for her six siblings. And, like the Woza members, 70% of whom have not completed secondary education, she has experienced at first hand the vicious hardships of a Zimbabwean upbringing: in 1994, her eldest brother died of Aids, and because of her mixed heritage she has experienced racism from both sides of the ethnic divide.

"In some ways, my blood has been too black to be beautiful," she says sadly. "In other ways, my skin has been too white to be right. And yeah, it's been a problem... My first marriage failed because, at the wedding ceremony, my ex-husband's mother and father arrived at the wedding and the reality that I was mixed race hit them when they saw my mother and they saw my brothers, who are much darker than me, and they just couldn't take it and they left the ceremony. They hounded my husband with all this stuff about the son of Ham and all this racist rhetoric, and: 'You're going to have black children' and our marriage failed as a result of that.

"And now under Mugabe, quite often police officers who do not know me, who do not know my background, will make all sorts of racist [anti-white] comments to me and so I've also had that... So it hasn't been easy."

But perhaps it was this sense of never quite belonging, of having to prove herself in the face of adversity, that gave Williams the sheer single-mindedness she has needed to pursue what she believes is right in a land where the idea of justice is, at best, illusory. "Seeing my mother want something better for me and seeing her sacrifices [as] a single mother raising seven children - it motivated me a lot... It was her as a role model and the fact I had seen so much discrimination that made me want to become a human rights defender."

In what she refers to as "my previous life", Williams ran her own public relations company. From 1994 to 2002 the business was so successful that it won a sizeable contract to do all the communications for the Zimbabwean Farmers' Union. This brought Williams directly into conflict with the government - Mugabe's controversial policy of land reform enables white farmers to be forced off their properties in order to "redistribute" wealth. "It was very hot and heavy and I was under threat," says Williams. "The police kept visiting the offices. It was just impossible. It ended up losing me my company." Enraged by the injustice of what happened, Williams became politically active. A year later, Woza was formed.

Its grassroots members, many of whom come to the organisation from church groups, are the ordinary women of Zimbabwe who would otherwise remain voiceless - the seamstresses, the vegetable sellers and hairdressers. Williams leads regular street demonstrations, during which the protesters sing gospel songs and carry brooms, embodying their desire to sweep the government clean. It is a terrifying process: "Sometimes when we are singing, we are extremely discordant because, you know, your mouth is dry, you're scared and you're watching out the whole time for the police."

Dispiritingly, Williams says that there has been no noticeable improvement in conditions since the power-sharing agreement brokered in September between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition. "We had huge expectations that it would have... but we have not noticed any change. In fact, in some ways we can say the pressure on us has increased because post the signing of this deal, I then found myself back in prison. And after having made bail - and it was a huge legal battle - we then found that we were restricted to a 40km radius, and that has never happened before.

"Since Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in, there is more food on the shelves, but our members certainly cannot afford to buy that food. There's 94% unemployment, and the 6% that's left over probably cannot even afford to pay for their bus transport into work.

"Our members, what are they going to do? They can't afford the school fees. They're desperate for their children to get educated. The decision is: do I feed this child right now or do I buy chalk so they can go to school? And that's a horrible choice that parents are being forced to make in Zimbabwe. So daily life is just horrific."

In prison, conditions are even worse. "It's a living nightmare," says Williams. "It's a death sentence." At mealtimes food is so scarce that the portions are measured out in teaspoons. After Williams's three-week incarceration last October, a female prisoner begged her to leave behind her underwear. "They said: 'We have not seen a pair of panties for two or three years while we've been in prison.' And, I mean, someone can be stripped of their dignity, but if you're a woman you really want to be able to have a pair of panties - it's something basic."

She has a vivid memory of being taken to a men's prison and seeing hundreds of skeletal inmates in the courtyard. "These were men who were - what's the word - you can't say crouching because that implies a bigger body space - people were so thin that they looked like spiders, when they close themselves up and you can't see any limbs. They were like ghosts: rows and rows of ghosts."

Although she would never admit to it, it is clear that the prospect of being sent back there fills Williams with dread. The trial relating to her October arrest on charges of disturbing the peace is still ongoing - at the time of going to press, Williams and her co-leader Magodonga Mahlangu were due to appear in front of the Bulawayo magistrate's court on 30 April.

Meanwhile, the daily struggle continues. Williams refuses to dwell on the negative, and perhaps this is a necessary technique of self-preservation: how else would she be able to carry on fighting, with such good-humoured courage and tenacity, in the face of such intimidation and danger?

Before she leaves, I tell her that I know no one who possesses the necessary strength to do what she does. "I know lots!" she shrieks happily, shrugging herself into a huge padded black coat. "I know all the Woza members. We are constantly arrested, hundreds of us, and we make each other strong, defend our rights and help each other cope. So I am in extremely good company."

She zips up her coat and gives me a warm hug. Then she walks away, back to fight the battles that no one else dares to face.

Amnesty.org.uk/woza

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Anger, hatred pervades Zimbabwe: Forum

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
 
Friday, 08 May 2009
“The trend of human rights violations threatens to distabilise the fragile peace in the country”

“The ghost of the 2008 pre and post election period continues to haunt many communities”

“Much of this anger has been aggravated by seeing perpetrators of violations walking free”

“Some students who have been arrested have been beaten and tortured while in custody”

jestina_mukoko_recent.jpg Jestina Mukoko – Top human rights defender who was kidnapped and tortured by state agents.

chihuri_augustine.jpgPolice Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri -- His officers are accused of applying the law selectively.

mdc_supporters_happy_2.jpgMDC supporters – Many members of the party have been assaulted tortured and murdered by Zanu (PF).

In its latest report, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum says anger and hatred pervade Zimbabwe after the political violence of 2008. The Forum reports a decrease in violence in the month of March but attributes this more to a lack of stimulus such as an election or public protests.
The Forums -- grouping 16 local groups involved in human rights work and assisting victims of organised violence  -- warns that that Zimbabwe faces more violence in future elections unless more was done now to ensure justice and closure for those wronged in the political violence of the past.  Excerpts from the report:

Overview 
The month of March saw a continuation of the disturbances on commercial farms, thwarting of civic activity and political polarisation, as the rule of law continued to be compromised despite the formation of an inclusive government. Human rights violations remained a worrying trend in a society that hopes to transcend from a past of violence, political polarisation and intimidation, into a new democratic dispensation. 
In fact, even though the month shows a reduction, the trend of human rights violations
threatens to distabilise the already fragile peace in the country and discourage any efforts to bring to an end the socio-economic challenges that have bedeviled the country for so long. 
As in the previous month, clashes between ZANU PF and MDC supporters were reported in March; another indication that political polarisation is far from over. Members of both parties have been implicated in violent retributive attacks, reminiscent of the violence that occurred pre and post the 2008 harmonised elections.  
This report documents  incidences in which MDC and ZANU PF supporters clashed at the funeral of the Prime Minister’s late wife Susan Tsvangirai, leading to massive property destruction. Inter-party violence was  also reported in the Zimunya area as well as in Mufakose and Glen View.

Anger
These attacks are a sign of deep rooted anger and hatred which still pervades in Zimbabwe, especially after the violence that occurred in 2008.  Many of the victims still bear the physical and emotional scars of what happened to them during that time. 
Much of this anger has been aggravated by seeing the perpetrators of the violations walking free, and in some cases threatening to do more harm.  Some victims of the 2008 election violence have thus taken the law into their own hands and have sought revenge on those who wronged them. This retributive violence raises fears of an even bloodier election in the future unless more is done to ensure justice and closure for the wronged. 
The ghost of the 2008 pre and post election period continues to haunt many communities in the country, and this has prevented attempts to return to some form of normalcy in their day to day activities.

Decline
The total of 155 violations recorded in March is much lower than the 435 recorded in February. There was also a significant decline in the number of individual violations such as the freedom of assembly/association/expression which recorded 94 violations in February as compared to 30 in March. 
Another significant decline was in the number of unlawful arrests and unlawful detentions in which 105 violations were recorded in February as compared to 31 in March.  Violations of political discrimination/intimidation/victimisation were also on the decline with 37 violations being recorded in March as compared to 110 in February. 
The decline in these violations can be attributed largely to the decrease in civic activity in March as compared to February when a number of protests occurred
resulting in the arrests and detention of some of the protestors.
The most significant increase was in property related violations which is attributed to the disturbances that have been occurring on commercial farms; seven in February and 16 in March.   The first incident of torture in 2009 was recorded in March. 
The decrease in the violations recorded in March cannot necessarily be attributed to an improvement in the human rights situation in Zimbabwe but basically to a lack of stimulus such as an election or public protests; although some cautious optimism must be expressed that the situation will improve under the terms of the GPA.
The Human Rights Forum therefore calls upon the GoZ to put in place measures to end violence and restore the rule of law.  Unless such measures are taken, Zimbabwe’s legacy of violence and human rights violations will continue unabated.

Sources
The information contained in this report is derived from statements made to the Public Interest Unit of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, its members and statements taken by a network of human rights activists and newspaper reports,
Note: The identities of victims whose names have not been published in the press and are not public officials are protected. This is done in order to protect the victim from further violence, intimidation and possible recriminatory attacks.
The Report cannot be considered as the exhaustive record of all incidents of politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe in the period under review.
All reports derived from the press are denoted by a star symbol.

Selected cases of Violence

Bulawayo Central
25 March 2009
Two WOZA members, Patricia Ndlovu, aged 53, and Georgina Muzaza, aged 84, were arrested whilst trying to engage the Headmistress of Mpumelelo Primary School over the way the school was being run and the demands being made by the school on parents. They were charged under Section 37 1 (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act - ‘participating in gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of the peace or bigotry’.  They spent the night at Bulawayo Central Police
Station before being released the following day after the prosecutor dismissed the case against them.

Harare
Glenview
25 March 2009
The male victim reports that he was severely assaulted by suspected ZANU PF supporters for “being too loyal to the MDC”.  Two of the assailants came to the victim’ s home at 20:00hrs and dragged him to their home which is about 100 metres away. Two other men who were already there then tied his hands and feet.  One of the assailants allegedly told the victim that as he was “too loyal to the MDC”  he had to be punished.
The victim allegedly tried to negotiate with the assailants arguing that since the Global Political Agreement had been signed and consummated, there was no need for parties to continue fighting. 
The assailants then took turns to assault the victim using an axe handle and a baton stick to beat him on his back and under his feet.  He was also beaten on the head twice with the axe handle. One of the assailants then brought a large dish of cold water into which the victim was submerged.  During the attack, the assailants were playing loud music to prevent the victim’s screams
being heard by passers by. 

Glen Norah
31 March 2009
*.A Glen Norah Anglican Parish Priest, Vincent Fenga, was reportedly arrested and detained for two nights on allegations of inciting public violence.  He was charged together with the assistant priest, a youth leader and the churchwarden.  A group of parishioners, together with their parish leaders, tried to reclaim the church building that has been under the control of former Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga since 2007. 
A man who was in his yard during the disturbances was reportedly shot and
injured by a stray bullet after police fired gunshots and teargas to disperse the crowd and prevent parishioners from entering the church.  A feud has been raging in the Anglican Church following the stripping of former Bishop Nolbert Kunonga’s credentials to practice as a priest by the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa.

Mufakose
25 March 2009
Six MDC office bearers report that while holding a meeting at Mufakose area J Hall, they were assaulted by suspected ZANU PF supporters.  The group of ZANU PF supporters reportedly came to the area J Hall and disrupted the meeting, demanding to see the Member of Parliament (MP) and man-handling the MDC party chairman for the Mufakose area.  Some of the assailants then turned on the other MDC officials, assaulting them with booted feet.  The MDC officials managed to flee from the attack and went to Mufakose Police Station to report the incident

Manicaland
Buhera West
11 March 2009
*Ten homes and livestock belonging to known MDC supporters in Buhera West were reportedly burnt to the ground after violence erupted between ZANU PF and MDC supporters at the funeral of the Prime Minister’s late wife Susan Tsvangirai. It is further alleged that family members of MDC office bearers in the area were targeted for harassment and intimidation during the spurt of violence.  In the Zimunya area, suspected ZANU PF supporters also reportedly burned the home of MDC provincial security officer Robert Jack Saunyama.   

Mutare Central
6 March 2009
*Mutare Magistrate Livingstone Chipadze was reportedly arrested for ordering the release of Roy Bennett.  He was charged with criminal abuse of office for allegedly contravening section 174, sub- section 1A of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, Chapter 9.23.  He was detained at Mutare Central Police Station and released on bail on 7 March 2009.
The Mutare Magistrate’s court latter ruled that there was no evidence that he had committed any offence when he permitted MDC treasurer and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate Senator Roy Bennett to pay bail and later signed a warrant for the politician’s release from jail.

Mashonaland Central
Bindura Central
4 March 2009
*Three student leaders, Respect Ndanga, Innocent Kapoya and Kelvin Veremu, were reportedly arrested and detained at Bindura Central Police station, following a protest at the campus.
Students reportedly arrived at the University campus while all entry points were locked, with security guards only allowing in students who had paid tuition fees.  The students then began to protest against being barred from entering the campus as well as what they complained was an inadequate reduction of fees by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education. 

Mashonaland West
Chegutu East
19 March 2009
Suspected ZANU PF supporters reportedly targeted New March farm owned by Jocky Beattie for occupation.  Clever Kunonga, accompanied by police officers, came to the farm wanting to leave one of the youths taking part in the occupation in the Beatties’ home. Their son, who was at home at the time, refused to let them into the house and the group left.
That night, all electrical gadgets and food items were taken from the house, allegedly by the youths who had come to the house earlier in the day. A police report was made, but no follow up was done. New March farm has reportedly been
allocated to a Mr. Chigwada, a Senator for the Mhondoro-Ngezi constituency.
On 19 March 2009 Bill Nicolson of Umfuli Banks farm was forced to leave his home following a visit from members of the Local Lands Committee and a police Sergeant Zuze and two others claiming that Mr. Shingrai Bob Makoni had been designated as the new owner of the farm.  Nicolson was told that Mr. Makoni needed to move into the farm cottage immediately. 
Despite being in possession of, and showing to the police officer present, a High Court Order, allowing Nicolson to stay on the farm, the Nicolsons were threatened and had to leave the farm.  Mr. Makoni had been previously arrested following disturbances on Stockdale Estate at which he allegedly took 14 weapons.  He was released on free bail.

Masvingo
Chiredzi
17 March 2009
*Suspected ZANU PF supporters reportedly evicted John Bolland, a commercial farmer, from his Chidza farm. He was placed on the Masvingo Police ‘s wanted list on allegations of refusing to leave state allocated land disregarding earlier notices to do so. 
A group of ZANU PF supporters chanting slogans and singing, reportedly camped outside Bolland’s residence and demanded that he leaves the property within 24 hours.  Following the incident, Bolland reportedly relocated to South Africa.
21 March 2009 -- two farmers, Ben Fayd'herbe and Tony Sarpo, were arrested and detained overnight on allegations of illegally occupying state property.  They had been staying in their homes on their farms. They were released on free bail and remanded out of custody to 16 April 2009. Two farm supervisors in the area were also reportedly arrested.
23 March 2009 -- the farm of Digby Nesbitt, a commercial farmer, was looted by suspected ZANU PF youths who occupied his farm. Nesbitt and his family had left the farm ten days earlier following disturbances there. Upon their return they found most of their furniture and personal belongings had been taken. They also found an unknown woman in their kitchen cooking a meal on their stove.  The woman claimed she had been given permission by one Police Commissioner Veterai to use appliances in the house

Zaka East
23 March 2009
*It is reported that some schools in the Zaka area did not open for the first term as teachers refused to return to work following threats and harassment by ZANU PF youths. It is alleged that the teachers refused to return to the Zaka area, until their security was guaranteed. 
Some of the teachers, accused of being MDC supporters, were forced to flee their homes to cities and towns following victimization by ZANU PF youths.  The most affected schools are reported to be Zivavose Secondary School, Chitonhora Secondary School and other schools in the Ndanga area.

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Zanu in-fighting delays reform

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Friday, 08 May 2009

Emmerson Mnangagwa and Solomon Mujuru

HARARE - Hawkish elements within President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF)
party will do anything to block meaningful political reforms and torpedo a
fragile unity government as a delicate internal succession battle moves a
gear up, analysts warned this week.
The analysts said internal power struggles within Zanu (PF) were
emerging as the decisive invisible "third hand" which is working to derail
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed last September by Mugabe and the
leaders of rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions, Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.
"With more than two months gone since the formation of the unity
government and still no progress in terms of resolving the pressing
outstanding issues from the Global Political Agreement, each day that passes
is exposing the existence of another hand within Zanu (PF) that is not
interested in seeing the success of the GPA," said Takavafira Zhou, a
political commentator and lecturer at Masvingo State University.

Eight-month dispute
Zimbabwe's three main political principals have failed to resolve an
eight-month dispute over the appointment of provincial governors, central
bank chief, the Attorney General, ambassadors and permanent secretaries.
Tsvangirai and Mutambara constantly accuse Mugabe of unilaterally
making key appointments without consulting them as stipulated under the GPA.
London-based Africa Confidential said the scramble for control of Zanu
(PF) was playing out into a national issue, with deep-seated implications
for the implementation of a power-sharing deal that led to the formation of
the coalition government.
The group said Mugabe's unresolved succession issue was widening the
gulf between the MDC and Zanu (PF) over the purpose and pace of reform.

Transitional regime
The MDC factions have insisted that the power-sharing regime was a
transitional one whose main job is to stabilise the economy and approve a
reformed constitution under which fresh elections could be held within two
years, supervised by an independent electoral commission.
"The main concern of the factions jostling for power within Zanu (PF)
is to manage the succession after they persuade President Robert Mugabe to
resign," observed Africa Confidential.
It added: "They adamantly oppose any serious political reform."
Zanu (PF) is riven by sharp divisions as two camps jostle to take over
the reigns at the party when and if Mugabe resigns.

Battle for supremacy
Analysts, therefore, see the battle for supremacy between the two
factions, led by retired army general Solomon Mujuru and defence minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa, stalling progress towards the fulfillment of conditions
agreed to by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Both factions cannot embrace far-reaching reforms as proposed under
the GPA until they are sure of their own future within Zanu (PF).
"What we have seen at play so far are the manifestations of political
power-play within Zanu (PF) as the rival factions try to undo one another
and possibly derail the whole process," said an analyst with a Harare-based
financial institution who cannot be named for professional reasons.
Added Zhou: "With so much factionalism in the party, the success of
the GPA is seen as a threat to the delicate power struggle in Zanu (PF),
hence we have seen every effort being made to derail the whole process or
discredit Tsvangirai and the MDC".

Premature move
The hawks see the unity government as a premature move, which would
have been more meaningful once the issue of Mugabe's succession has been
resolved.
Both factions fear that as presently constituted, the coalition
government worsens the internal power struggles within Zanu (PF) as it gives
one faction an advantage over the other.
The Zanu (PF) hawks are understood to have been behind last week's
re-arresting of at least 15 MDC activists and human rights defenders.
The activists, who included prominent former newscaster Jestina Mukoko
and are facing charges of plotting to topple Mugabe last year, were ordered
to return to prison last Monday after a magistrate revoked their bail
conditions.
They were later released on bail on Wednesday. - BY NEVER CHANDA

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Meeting with Zimbabwean Prime Minister and Foreign Minister

Source: Government of the United Kingdom

Date: 09 May 2009


Foreign Office Minister of State Lord Malloch Brown made the following statement after meetings with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Foreign Minister Mumbengegwi during the inauguration of President Zuma in South Africa.

Lord Malloch Brown said:

'I welcomed this opportunity to meet with representatives of the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe; Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Foreign Minister Simbarashi Mumbengegwi. These meetings, along with the visit of Minister of Finance Tendai Biti to London last month, reflect the UK's concern to promote and to support the ongoing process of political and economic reform in Zimbabwe.

'My exchanges with both ministers were open and productive. I welcomed areas of progress made by the Inclusive Government to date and assured both Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mumbengegwi of the UK's continued willingness to help the Zimbabwean people to rebuild their country. However I also underlined the need for further reform. Areas of strong concern remain: for instance the continuing detention of political prisoners (including the recent temporary re-detention of 15 former detainees, without any opportunity for their defence counsel to be heard); the continued invasions of commercial farms; and the unilateral appointment of officials. Progress is needed in these and other areas before the UK and the international community as a whole can engage more fully. In the meantime the UK remains fully committed to helping Zimbabwe with its most pressing humanitarian and essential needs.

'Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Minister Mumbengegwi and I agreed that our respective governments would continue to maintain a close dialogue as Zimbabwe works through this challenging transitional period.'

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Media reforms before new constitution: Mtetwa

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Saturday, 09 May 2009

HARARE - Prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says Zimbabwe
should prioritise media reforms ahead of the drawing up of a new democratic
constitution whose drafting has already caused a furore among the country's
civic groups.
The award-winning Mtetwa, who has successfully defended scores of
local and foreign journalists accused of flouting the country's tough press
and security laws, described as futile any attempt to draft Zimbabwe's new
constitution under the current climate of intimidation of journalists and
vice-like grip on the state media by the government.
"We cannot embark on a constitution making process before the media is
reformed because you need a free media to reach the people out there," said
Mtetwa during a ceremony on Monday to mark World Press Freedom Day organised
by the US embassy and the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's new government has embarked on an 18-month exercise to
draft a new constitution to replace the 1979 Lancaster House law which has
been used since independence in 1980.
Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo announced last month that a
25-member parliamentary committee comprising legislators from President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
factions headed by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur would lead the process of
writing a new constitution.
The committee is expected to finish the process by early 2010 and
subject the new constitution to a referendum by July of the same year.
The creation of a new Zimbabwean constitution has strained relations
between Tsvangirai's MDC and its civil society partners who are usually
united by their opposition to Mugabe.
Zimbabwe's civic activists want grassroots organisations to play a key
role in drafting an entirely new basic law, enshrining democratic
accountability at all levels of government and public service.
The activists fear that Zanu (PF) and the rival MDC factions would use
their parliamentary strength to amend a draft constitution agreed by their
negotiators in September 2007 during a meeting in Kariba to suit their own
political agendas.
The Kariba Draft, as the document has become known, paved the way for
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) - and ultimately the unity
government -between Zanu (PF) and the MDC.
Mtetwa also emphasized the need to encourage professionalism in the
publicly funded media noting that journalists in these media 'had long lost
their voices.'
"What gets published in the state media are not voices of journalists.
Those are voices of politicians," the lawyer said.
She called for the abolition of government ministries that control
media, referring to the Media and Information Ministry which is under the
command of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF).
Mugabe's spokesman and the ministry's permanent secretary George
Charamba is known to meddle in the day-to-day running of state media outlets
such as The Herald and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, including having
the final decision on what is published by these organisations.
"Those of you who read The Sunday Mail in the early 80s under the
editorship of Willie Musarurwa will know that The Sunday Mail you read today
is not a Sunday Mail that is produced by journalists. The same applies to
The Chronicle when it was being edited by Geoffrey Nyarota," said Mtetwa.

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Amnesty and the cholera economy

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Saturday, 09 May 2009

John Makumbe

The wilful destruction of the agricultural sector by the out-going
Mugabe regime was instrumental in the escalation of the devastation of
service delivery by both the central government and local authorities. The
outbreak of cholera was probably the most telling consequence of this
decline of the nation into the dark ages.
Cholera is essentially brought about by filth. It is a product of
dirt, and the dirt is evident throughout this country, including in
government. More than 4,000 people have since lost their lives to cholera.
What Mr Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank calls in his
book, the Casino Economy should more accurately be called the Cholera
Economy. Further, the defective nature of the GPA has resulted in several
outstanding issues that are causing serious problems for the inclusive
government or GNU. These issues include:
The allocation of provincial governors among the three political
parties; the appointment of permanent secretaries by Mr Mugabe in violation
of the provisions of the GPA; allocation of diplomatic representatives among
the three parties; the unilateral snatching of the key communications
function by Mugabe from Nelson Chamisa's ministry to that led by Nicholas
Goche, again in blatant violation of the GPA, and Mugabe's refusal to swear
in Roy Bennett as deputy minister of agriculture.
Recent reports that some agreements have since been reached on these
issues are encouraging, but we must wait until we see the colour of the
money. Totenda dzamwa.
Besides, the destructive farm invasions have since resumed, and as
many as 150 white-owned commercial farms have recently been invaded. There
is still no respect for private property, and this effectively militates
against the inflow of any meaningful levels of direct foreign investment.
Thus, although most Zimbabweans have welcomed the formation of the
inclusive government, the international community has adopted a wait-and-see
approach and, to date, little if any foreign financial support has been
offered to Zimbabwe.
The continued tenure at the Reserve Bank of Mr Gideon Gono, after
openly admitting to having raided the foreign currency accounts of several
donor agencies, NGOs and other corporate bodies, including mines, is an
affront to justice and a clear discouragement to those who would dare
financially support this bankrupt nation.
As if that were not enough, there are several elements within Zanu
(PF) that are strongly opposed to the inclusive government. These
politicians and security persons are actively seeking ways of destabilising
and frustrating the Tsvangirai government. They are, understandably,
desperate not to be prosecuted for the numerous crimes against humanity that
they have committed over the years. They are demanding to be granted amnesty
and immunity from prosecution for their numerous sins.
My advice to the Tsvangirai government is to grant them that immunity
and allow this nation to move on without further delay. After all, whatever
amnesty they will have been granted can always be revoked by a new
government after the next election.
By that time, it is hoped, these elements will have retired from
national service. If they will not retire of their own accord, they can
always be fired from service in accordance with set-down procedures. No one
is invincible; not even Chiwenga.
The political environment is currently volatile. The lack of funds has
forced the government to pay civil servants a paltry US$100 per month, and
that does not go very far in this cholera economy. This is still a very
polarised environment, and the possibility of civil strife among the people
cannot be ruled out.
The drafting of a new and democratic constitution should be speeded up
so that this nation can go to elections as soon as possible and elect a
legitimate government. It is certainly time that some of the ancestors that
have ruled this country for 29 years were gracefully eased out of office.
Taneta ne kutongwa ne midzimu mipenyu.

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Tsvangirai to Present Review of First 100 days

http://www.radiovop.com/


HARARE, May 10 2009 - Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai will
address parliament this week on the first 100 days of the inclusive
government, a senior party official said.

PM Morgan Tsvangirai"Prime Minister Tsvangirai will address parliament
on the challenges and progress that the inclusive government has made since
its formation in February," a senior party official said.

Tsvangirai meets Mugabe on Monday in an effort to resolve outstanding
issues which are yet to be resolved by the inclusive government, the party
official added.

Of late Tsvangirai said he 'believed the inclusive government is on
the right track' and has urged the international community to stop their
obsession with Mugabe to focus on helping to rebuild Zimbabwe's shattered
economy.

Tsvangirai's address will be his second to parliament after his maiden
speech in February when he called for 'unity of purpose for the betterment
of Zimbabwe.'

The Tsvangirai led Movement for Democratic Change in a statement last
week gave the inclusive government a deadline of up to Monday to solve all
the outstanding issues, failure which the party would refer the matter to
its national governing council.

Among the outstanding issues which are yet to be resolved by the unity
government include the appointment of the permanent secretaries,
ambassadors, the Attorney General, the appointment of the Reserve bank
governor and the freeing of political prisoners.

Zimbabwe witnessed fresh farm seizures in March and Tsvangirai last
week promised to set up set a land commission to deal with the land issue
'once and for all.'

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Five-year jail term for Mutare diamond dealer

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com

10th May 2009 16:04 GMT

By a Correspondent

MUTARE - A 35-year old man here has been slapped with a five-year prison
term after he was caught in possession of 14 pieces of diamonds.

Powerman Mupeta from Dangamvura high-density suburb becomes the first person
to receive a lengthy jail term for possessing diamonds since the precious
gems were discovered three years ago in Chiadzwa, Marange, southwest of the
eastern border city.

Several high profile diamond dealers have been arrested but they were
acquitted in suspicious circumstances.

Mupeta was arrested in May last year after he was found in possession of
diamond pieces weighing 61,56 carats. The value was not stated when he
appeared in court but a carat can be valued at as much as US$500 or US$1000
depending on clarity.

Regional magistrate, Billard Musakwa, found Mupeta guilty of possessing the
diamonds without a licence.
The court heard that on May 6 last year a Sergeant Munyanga of CID Mineral
Unit in Harare was on a routine patrol in Greenside low-density suburb in
Mutare when he stopped a vehicle, which was being driven by a man identified
as Upenyu Chitsiko.

For the state, Nelson Makunyire said: "Sergeant Munyanga then searched
Mupeta and his colleague. He recovered 14 pieces of rough diamonds weighing
61,58 carats in Mupeta's trousers' pockets and arrested him."

Mupeta's conviction to such a lengthy jail term has send tongues waging in
this eastern border city with residents questioning why other diamond barons
who were arrested and found in possession of even more pieces were let off
the hook.

Other barons who were arrested for illegal possession and dealing with
diamonds have simply forfeited, to the state, second hand vehicles.

Most of the known barons are still dealing in diamonds, although much more
discreetly now. Several of the diamond barons are known and are usually seen
hob-knobbing with members of the police force. Some of them publicly brag
that they are untouchables due to their close links with top police officers
and those from the military.

The illegal diamond dealers are said to have formed notorious syndicates
with wealthy foreign buyers and senior members of the Zimbabwe National
Army.

Last year soldiers beat a Mutare businessman, Maxwell Mabota, to death after
he was caught inside the diamond fields.

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CSC Workers Lock Up Management

http://www.radiovop.com

MASVINGO, May 10 2009 - In a desperate bid to get their salaries, Cold
Storage Company (CSC) workers who have not been paid since February locked
up four senior provincial officials at their local offices demanding
immediate payment.

The management were only freed after police came to their rescue, and
escorted them from irate workers who wanted them to spend the night in the
office.

This is the second time workers have locked up their supervisors.

Some workers who spoke to RadioVOP said they had since realised that
locking up management was the only way they could speed up the payment of
salaries.

"We are not happy because we have not received our salaries since
February. Management kept promising us that we would get our salaries soon
but up to now we had received nothing. Our boss had promised us that we were
going to receive our money on Wednesday but on that day, he only ordered us
to slaughter 27 beasts for business, but never bothered to address us
concerning the late salaries.

"When we locked him up in the office, we wanted to show him that we
are not happy. However, when the police came on Wednesday, they asked our
workers committee to go into a meeting with Dube. After an hour long meeting
in the presence of the police, Dube came out to tell us that we were going
to get our money on Friday.

"We were surprised when we were later given R200 without any
explanation as to when we would be given our actual salaries. So we locked
up the four so that they could come up with a reasonable solution to our
problems but they were quick to call the police again," said a worker who
spoke on condition of anonymity.

When contacted for comment, the company's branch manager Never Dube,
said the workers were failing to accept reality as money for salaries was
not there.

"Workers are refusing to understand that the money they get does not
come from my pocket. CSC is broke, there is no money for their salaries.
Those who were not happy with our remuneration packages have left and those
who think that they are being ill treated are free to go," he said.

The company currently slaughters an average of 25 cattle per week.

Recently, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ngoni Chinogaramombe told
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that the company has been operating
at a great loss and needs USd 500 000 to revive.

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ZIMSEC Management Under Investigation

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, May 10 2009 - Government auditors last week moved in to
investigate allegations that the Zimbabwe School Examinations management has
been drawing multiple salaries from treasury, using names of nonexistent
employees.

The existence of ghost workers at the beleaguered examinations body
was discovered  when 91 casual workers went on strike last week protesting
the late disbursement of their US$100 allowances.

ZIMSEC fired all the striking workers who were also processing the
Grade Seven results, which have now been delayed by another six months.

Sources said the processing of the results was now at a standstill, a
development that had prompted the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture
to act.

The ministry is already under pressure to ensure that last year's
ordinary and advanced level results are released.

"As we speak the government auditor a Mr Munhanga wrote to the
directors warning them about their corrupt way of allocating each other
extra vouchers and indicated that he has serial numbers of these vouchers,"
said a senior ZIMSEC manager who requested anonymity.

"The temporary workers went on strike because the council could not
account for their salaries after the directors failed to account for the
money they drew out from the Treasury using the ghost workers."

ZIMSEC director Happy Ndanga confirmed that the casual workers had
been dismissed following a dispute over salaries.

But he denied allegations that the body had ghost workers on its
payroll although he could not comment on the audit.

The ZIMSEC employees are also circulating a document carrying the
names of people who are allegedly involved in the vouchers scam.

"The directors of ZIMSEC have appendixed their ghost house maids and
garden boys to the council's payroll illegally and they use those names to
draw money for personal use," the workers allege in the document.

They also allege that the directors are using the money they draw
using ghost workers to finance shopping sprees in Botswana, Mozambique and
South Africa, using ZIMSEC fuel.

Meanwhile, the main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has warned
its councillors that those caught up in corruption scandals will lose their
positions as the party moves to stamp out indiscipline in municipalities it
controls.

The warning was issued at a meeting of about 500 MDC-T councillors
from across the countries, who were attending a two day meeting that ended
on Saturday.

Nelson Chamisa, the party's spokesman said issues of corruption
dominated proceedings, adding that councillors were warned that the
leadership would punish severely those caught on the wrong side of the law.

"The MDC has come up with what is called democratic councils forum
where issues of service delivery are discussed so that we do not fall short
of expectations," he said.

"We expect feedback from councillors, zero corruption and service
delivery.

The Chitungwiza town council, controlled by the MDC-T has been
embroiled in corruption cases for a long time and last week there were
reports that a councilor in Mutare had been suspended for stealing beef at
the funeral of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife.

"The MDC leadership is hostile to corruption and more so in local
authorities where we have to send a clear message that whoever is caught on
the wrong side the law will face the consequences."

MDC-T controls all urban councils in the country following its victory
in last year's harmonized elections.

» 1 Comment
1"st" by stink at Sunday, 10 May 2009 20:33
The reason why corruption at zimsec cannot be exposed is because the
deputy director, mr nhandara , his wife is the director of the
anti-corruption commission.

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A gender twist - the business of lobola

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Friday, 08 May 2009

What price a bride? One thing's for certain, it's more likely to be
cash and cars than a token handful of sweets.

Last Sunday, we heard how excessive lobola was a marriage deterrent
for writer Gift Mambipiri. This week, we hear from journalist PETRONILLA
SAMURIWO, who contends that, manipulated by greedy in-laws, lobola is not
only harming women but disenfranchising men too. Such is our Zimbabwean
condition that our cultural and traditional practices are sometimes at odds
with realistic, practical and functional life in a globalised world. Take,
for example, dowry, bride price, roora or lobola.
The institution of lobola is rapidly evolving into a very ambivalent
creature. It is culturally regarded as a rite of passage for the betrothed,
good cement for family ties, and as adding value to the familial and
communal worth of a son-in-law or daughter-in-law.
On the other hand, lobola can be argued to be a totally unnecessary
evil, an opportunistic agent for gender oppression, and totally irrelevant
in our time.
In Zimbabwe, the introductory ceremony commences with the payment of
vhuramuromo. This payment is followed by the bride-to-be picking from a
plate some of the vhuramuromo - money offered in a plate to signify her
acceptance of the man seeking marriage.
Today, groceries are also thrown in as payment at this introductory
stage. The small items payment serves roughly as an engagement in Western
cultures. These payments are full and final, and cannot be returned in the
event of divorce. This is then followed by the main ceremony performed in a
similar manner throughout the region: payments for the bride's mother, her
father and for the transfer of the woman's reproductive capacity from her
biological family to the man's family.

Deemed incompetent
The 'main marriage deal' is conducted in two parts. First is the
payment of rusambo. Rusambo is a payment specifically to the father of the
bride and was never originally meant to buy the 'person of the bride' but
rather, all services to be rendered by his daughter to the groom's family
and relatives - child-bearing, physical labour and so on.
In the event that she is deemed incompetent by her new in-laws, she
can be returned to her parents for further training and counselling. Rusambo
was originally paid in beads.
The second part of the main marriage deal is danga (cattle). This was
traditionally paid in cattle, though nowadays the amount of cattle requested
is calculated in monetary terms.
The danga payment secures a husband's legal rights over the children
of the marriage. According to Zimbabwean customary law, once lobola has been
paid to the wife's family, guardianship and custody of the children rests in
the husband's family and the children are members of his lineage alone. Even
in the event of the dissolution of marriage by death or divorce, the husband
or his kin are the children's guardians and custodians.
In pre-colonial Zimbabwe, an important function of lobola was the
prevention of inter-marriage within families. Lobola was not accepted if
there were any close blood ties between partners. But a 'disowning' ritual
(chekaukama), to officially cut off the blood link between families, could
be performed to facilitate marriage between fourth generation descendants.
This ritual was performed as a safeguard to avoid the harsh reprisal of
ancestral spirits who were believed to regard incest as one of the worst
social violations.
During this period, lobola was also regarded as a social tool to
harmonise kinship bonds.

Brother as protector
Redistribution of wealth in the community is another element which was
closely tied to lobola. Under a system known as chipanda, the lobola
payments received for a daughter's marriage were put aside for her brother's
marriage. The system of chipanda ensured that this particular brother
becomes his sister's protector.
The family that held rights over a woman's womb also had automatic
rights and obligations to her children. In this regard, lobola also ensured
that children from previous liaisons were not considered illegitimate and
were provided with care and security by the mother's new husband. Even
children born out of adulterous relationships came to the husband's family
as part of the package.
In colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe, several factors contributed to
corrupt and immoral changes in the institution of lobola.
The British colonisers imposed criminal and constitutional laws on
Africans that promoted distorted and incompatible ideals of Victorian family
life. At the same time, they regarded African customary laws as
second-class, primitive and barbaric. Despite this apparent contempt,
however, the colonial order of things ingrained the institution of lobola as
the sole legal regime under which Africans could marry.
The new colonial order did not comprehend the relationships
established in African communities, nor the traditional social structures
and their implications for Anglo-Saxon legal ideals of liberty and equality.
Women were simply placed under the continued guardianship of men, preventing
them from attaining full legal status.
Indeed, the colonial judges openly referred to lobola as 'wife
purchase' and their distorted interpretation of the practice left African
women even more oppressed than they had been in pre-colonial times.

Caught in time-warp
This was accomplished by according women a legal status closer to that
of children than to men. In this way, the repressive effects of customary
law on women were intensified, rather than simply maintained.
Through these acts, the institution of lobola was caught in a
time-warp as all its ancillary rules were preserved and protected from the
courts or legislature.
The practice of lobola was further affected by the economic changes
fashioned during the colonial era. The introduction of a money economy and
wage labour altered societal power relations. Industrialisation and the
development of mining, for example, gave young men access to salaries and
other resources that made them less dependent on their families for marriage
payments.
In an effort to retain influence over the young men, fathers kept
tighter control over their daughters and demanded increased lobola payments.
Thus began the commercialisation of lobola and the commodification of women.
Women became tools through which changing power relations were
mediated. Gradually, perceptions of a woman's worth in society became
attached to the bride price she could fetch.
Nowadays, there is no formalised criteria used when charging lobola,
but the academic education, professional attributes and social background of
both the bride and groom are central factors mercilessly exploited in the
institution of lobola.
Left to its own devices, and manipulated by greedy in-laws, lobola is
not only harming women but disenfranchising men too.
Through indiscriminate astronomical charges, the development of young
is being thwarted and set back financially by the one event which should be
a cause of hope and new beginnings.

Women as commodity
Gradually, the validity of the anthropological arguments to justify
the transfer of rights of children and women from one family to another, are
losing bearing.
Women in Law in Southern Africa Research Trust (WLSA) see lobola as a
women's rights issue, as the practice excludes women from the process of
negotiating their own future. It is this lack of consultation and bargaining
that they see as reducing women to commodities on the market.
WLSA is advocating for the abolishment of lobola.
Another issue of contention in this whole lobola business is Zimbabwe's
confusing duality of laws. Lobola is no longer an essential ingredient for
the validation of marriage following the Legal Age of Majority Act (1982).
It should be possible for a young couple of the age of majority to
forego lobola and settle to have their marriage solemnised in church or the
magistrate's court, but few African women would dare to marry or register
their marriages before lobola was paid to their families.
Organisations such as WLSA view the role of the state as still weak in
creating social, political, economic and legal conditions that permit
everyone access to empowering resources. By this they mean that if the
government creates such an enabling environment, women could then advocate
for transformative approaches that seek to change gender roles and create
more gender-equitable relationships.
But the issue really is not whether one is for or against lobola. What
I think is important is to break the silence on lobola and to widen the
debate, injecting fresh thinking and realistic considerations into solving
the anarchy in the institution of lobola. This is also a challenge for the
church, for women and men's rights issues have much to do with what it means
to be human.
Special thanks to the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network
(ZWRCN) for much of the information used to compile this article.

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NetOne off the market - for now!

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Saturday, 09 May 2009

HARARE - Efforts to dispose of Zimbabwe's loss-making parastatals have
hit another brick wall - it has become the latest victim of the global
credit crunch, forcing the government to suspend the anticipated sale of
telecommunications firm NetOne and other state-run companies.

In the ongoing start-stop privatisation saga, a cabinet minister
revealed last week that the government was halting the disposal of state
enterprises - at least for the time being until the global economic climate
improves.
Economic planning and investment promotion minister Elton Mangoma told
members of the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) that undertaking
a privatisation drive could prejudice the government at a time the country
desperately requires funds to kick-start the economy.
"We are not selling anything because prices are very low at present
moment," Mangoma announced last Tuesday during a meeting hosted by EMCOZ in
Harare.
Zimbabwe's new government announced two months ago that it would look
for foreign partners to inject capital into state-run enterprises as part of
efforts to ease the pressure on the fiscus.
Some of the enterprises targeted for disposal included Zimbabwe's
second largest mobile phone operator NetOne, Air Zimbabwe and troubled
steelmaker Ziscosteel.
Mangoma revealed that several foreign investors had expressed interest
to take up stakes in NetOne, Air Zimbabwe and Ziscosteel but there were
fears that selling the companies now would prejudice the state of
much-needed revenue.
NetOne chief executive Reward Kangai last month reported huge interest
in the company from investors from the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy.
NetOne has struggled to improve its service over the past few years,
resulting in congestion on the network and thousands of frustrated
subscribers.
The history of Zimbabwe's privatisation programme is littered with
carcasses of botched attempts to find buyers or partners for perennially
non-performing parastatals, chief among them Ziscosteel which the Harare
authorities have unsuccessfully tried to turnaround despite numerous deals
with foreign investors.
Privatisation of state enterprises has been one of the favourite
recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other
multilateral financial institutions since 2000 when Zimbabwe started facing
economic problems.
The IMF sees a well-structured privatisation programme as crucial to
efforts to rid the Zimbabwe government of costly subsidies which have been a
drain on the economy.

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Stand up Zimbabwe

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Saturday, 09 May 2009

The re-arrest last week of Jestina Mukoko and others once more exposed
that awful characteristic that has come to define us all Zimbabweans. A
collective lethargy and docility that has reduced us to meek bystanders and
virtually accomplices while the future of our children is being wrecked
right before our eyes.

Mukoko - may the Lord watch over the brave woman - and other activists
are accused of committing acts of terrorism and plotting to overthrow
President Robert Mugabe, charges we all know are false.
The activists were later released not because Zimbabweans stood up and
demanded that they be freed but because of mounting diplomatic pressure
against their jailers - meaning their release was largely the work of
outsiders!
Much has been said about Mugabe not being genuine about sharing power,
that he hoodwinked Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara into joining the
unity government while giving nothing in return.
Much more has been said about Tsvangirai falling for Mugabe's trick
hook, line and sinker, as the old cliché goes. That he ignored the sad tale
of Joshua Nkomo and the Unity Accord of 1987. That he naively accepted
Mugabe's every promise without any guarantee that the old man would keep his
word.
Whatever the case, the one indisputable truth is that those who today
hold us prisoners in our own land are assured of one thing: that is all
Zimbabweans will ever do is to complain and when they are done doing that,
plead for help from the international community - whoever that is - and is
if it were God.
True, the global political agreement (GPA) is an unsatisfactory
compromise as some of our friends in civil society love to remind all who
care to listen. But compromises, more so political ones, are by definition
imperfect and unsatisfactory documents.
The truth of the matter is that the GPA, imperfect as it is, can be
made to work if we Zimbabweans, the ultimate guarantors of that document,
demand that Mugabe and Zanu (PF) live up to their word - and there are many
lawful and democratic ways to do this.
The truth of the matter is that Commissioner of Prisons Paradzai
Zimondi and his fellow service chiefs would not dare lock up a defenseless
woman - Mukoko - and the others if they knew they that the whole of Zimbabwe
would pour out onto the streets in peaceful demonstrations, demanding that
the innocent be set free.
Ultimately, it does not matter what is written in the GPA. It matters
little whether we shall have a people-driven constitutional reform process
or whether politicians shall draft a new governance charter for the country.
It matters even less what is put in that new constitution.
The GPA is a mere piece of paper and so will be the proposed new
constitution. That is all they can ever be - worthless paper -- until the
day that we as a people learn to stand up in defence of our God-given
rights.

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Rooftop food

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/

Farms have lain fallow because of no seed, no fertilizer or quite simply no
interest from the people who took them over.

Cathy Buckle
10 May 2009 03:48

Winter is moving into Zimbabwe and even though the days are shorter, the
wind cooler and the temperatures dropping, it is a beautiful time of year.
The grass is tall and gold, the cassia and mimosa trees are covered in
yellow flowers and the aloes are promising a spectacular display in the
weeks to come: their spikes a mass of blooms waiting to open. On the
roadsides the white poinsettias are covered in flowers, the Munondo trees
are crowned with chocolate pods and in the vleis and wetlands the red hot
pokers are a sight to behold.

As our growing season comes to an end and after the good rainy season we've
had this year, I'd like to be able to tell you that out here in the country
areas there is a great bustle of harvesting underway. Sadly that is not the
case this May 2009. Roads out of once busy commercial farming areas are
stagnantly quiet. All season many of our farms have lain fallow because of
no seed, no fertilizer or quite simply no interest from the people who took
them over. Zimbabweans travelling east, west, north and south can testify to
seeing this same picture of empty fields in all directions.

Thankfully in urban areas the small roadside, suburban plantings (similar to
allotments) of maize, beans and sunflowers have done quite well. Maize cobs
are lying out to dry on verandahs and roofs in urban areas and this has
become a common sight; it is a graphic demonstration of how hunger has
infiltrated right into our cities, towns and urban neighbourhoods. This
rooftop food is how Zimbabwe's teachers, nurses and civil servants are going
to survive the months ahead - on what they've grown on the side of the road.

We are reminded this week that the MDC have been participating in Zimbabwe's
power sharing unity government for a hundred days. Most days its been very
hard for ordinary people to see the power sharing as it has had so little
effect on our daily lives. Criminals still walk free on our streets;
political prisoners are still juggled in and out of detention; chaos
continues on farms; water and electricity supplies are pathetic and an
undoubtedly fierce battle for real power rages just out of view.

Most people are saying that 100 days is long enough, the honeymoon is over
and its time to get down to business. No more delays, stalling, empty
ultimatums and promises. We want to see action from this enormous government
that we have, real action that will improve our lives and lift us out of the
filth and despair that we've tolerated for the last decade. Until next week,
thanks for reading, love cathy

© Copyright cathy buckle 9th May 2009

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A letter from the diaspora



Dear Friends.

Anyone who has ever brought up children knows that one of the biggest
mistakes you can make is to issue threats you know you can't carry out.
After a while even very small children get to know that their parents'
threats are meaningless if they are not accompanied by action.  The end
result is the collapse of trust; threats - and promises - must be adhered to
if there is to be a solid framework of trust between parent and child.

This seemingly trite observation about child-rearing applies equally to
relationships in later life. Without trust and belief in the integrity and
honesty of the other side, there can be no meaningful basis of sound
relations, in whatever sphere of life you operate. It is as true in
international relations as it is in politics at a national and local level.
Put simply, it means that each side must trust the other to say clearly what
they mean and mean exactly what they say, threats and promises included.

It is a lesson that the MDC seem not to have learned. We heard yet another
ultimatum and accompanying threat from them this week. It was Tendai Biti's
turn to issue an ultimatum to the Unity Government, a government of which he
is himself a part. In effect what he said was 'Settle all outstanding issues
of the Global Political Agreement by Monday, May 11th. or the MDC will refer
the matter to the party's National Council which is due to meet on May 17'.
That was the threat Biti held over the heads of his 'partners' in this Unity
Government. I can't imagine that threat had any of his 'partners' in
government shaking in their boots! Zanu PF's response was predicatable: 'We
are committed to the GNU' they affirmed. No threats can frighten them! Why
should they be scared when they know that they hold all the levers of power?
That was powerfully demonstrated this week with the re-arrest of MDC
activists: Jestina Mukoko and the fifteen others. Press reports said Jestina
and all the others in the crowded courtroom were stunned by the magistrate's
decision to refuse them bail. One can only imagine their anguish as they
were taken back to the hellish Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. The next
day the very same magistrate granted them bail. So they go back to their
homes again but with the very real threat of their upcoming trials hangs
over them. No one can say that Mugabe's threats are not real!  It would be
comforting to think that this reversal of the bail decision was a
demonstration of people's power but what it, in fact, revealed yet again was
that justice and the rule of law in Zimbabwe have become nothing more than a
tool whereby Mugabe demonstrates his complete domination of the legal
process. The hapless magistrate was simply acting on orders from the
politically motivated Attorney General. Meanwhile Ghandi Mudzingwa, Chris
Dhlamini and the jounalist Shadreck Manyere remain in police custody. Their
'crime' is more serious we are told; they were found in possession of
weapons of war; more to the point is the fact that Mudzingwa and Dhlamini
are MDC officials and Manyere is an independent journalist, another of Zanu
PF's perceived 'enemies'.

Speaking to the National Endowment for Peace and Democracy in the US last
week, Tendai Biti made this staggering assertion to his audience of
Zimbabwean observers. Zimbabwe was experiencing "Peace and stability, the
biggest achievement of the inclusive government." he claimed. By the time he
arrived in London and gave an interview to the BBC, Biti's message had
changed somewhat. The interview was broadcast on the Today programme and I
made a note of Biti's words: "People are suffering and that's the reality.
When you have 95% of the population surviving on less than 20c a day that's
a disaster. So I think our people need help." If that is Tendai Biti's
understanding of what constitutes 'peace and stability' then we are entitled
to ask whether he and the MDC as a whole have become so divorced from the
reality that, like Zanu PF, the people's continued suffering - on the
invaded farms, in the rural villages and in the poor townships - means
nothing to them?

Meanwhile the latest report on the situation in Zimbabwe from the IMF
states, "Poverty and unemployment have risen to catastrophic levels. 70% of
the population is in need of food assistance.These disastrous outcomes have
resulted from poor policies and weak governance." And this is the government
of which the MDC is now an integral part. It is becoming clearer by the day
that neither their threats nor their promises have any real value without
the power to implement them. And Robert Mugabe and his cronies remain
adamant that they will not share real power with them. No one should be
deluded into thinking that Robert Mugabe is being manipulated by some
so-called third force of army generals or other assorted malcontents. It is
Mugabe alone who wields the power and he is not about to surrender it.

Someone should tell Tendai Biti that the absence of outright war is not the
same as the 'peace and stability' that he claims now exists in our poor,
benighted country. There is no peace without justice, Mr Biti.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH

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Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 9th May 2009

On the day when Jacob Zuma was sworn into office the Vigil’s best wishes were for our friends in South Africa. We appreciate their latest visa moves and we trust that under President Zuma’s guidance, South Africa will no longer prop up Mugabe – though we were dismayed that Mugabe was given a standing ovation when he arrived at the inauguration.

 

The Vigil notes that the ‘elders’ have urged the West to pour money into Zimbabwe. We have always called for as much humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe as possible but it is unrealistic to expect Western governments to hand over other funds to Zimbabwe without assurance that this money will be used properly. Zimbabwe must demonstrate that it respects the rule of law. 

 

Take for instance the case of Mr Gandhi Mudzingwa. Some of us know him and we are appalled that this tortured elderly man should be held hostage. We know that big issues are at stake, but is nothing a matter of principle? The Vigil is convinced that there can be no progress until the inclusive government acts on what it agreed.

 

The longer this situation drags out the more difficult it will be to get people in the diaspora to go back to Zimbabwe because they will be putting down deep roots in their new countries. In other words Zimbabwe could be a permanent basket case.

 

Our partners Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) are issuing regular statements which you can read on their website: www.rohrzimbabwe.org.  It is useful to have a commentary from inside Zimbabwe on current issues. There have been recent pieces on the need for a human rights commission, the state of the prisons, the harassment of human rights activists, the Harare International Festival of the Arts’ exposure of the murderers during last year’s elections and naming and shaming of ‘new farmers’.

 

Other points:

·   Vigil team member Luka Phiri addressed a recent weekend meeting of the Trades Union Congress. He spoke about the failures of the new unity government but his main contribution was to help conduct a seminar on immigration and asylum.

·   We were joined by a bagpiper, Ben Buckland nan Cameron, in full regalia who was lifted shoulder high (with his bagpipes) when he accompanied our singing. He also accompanied the national anthem at the end of the Vigil.  We were very surprised to find out he was a relative (third cousin) of Ian Smith, the UDI Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. He was travelling on a bus when he saw us and decided to join in.

·   Many thanks to our extra helpers this week: Reginald Gwasira, Rebecca Rutsito and Patience Madjgara.

·   Our thoughts are with Vigil team member Sue Toft who is recuperating from an eye operation. We wish her a speedy recovery. 

 

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/

 

FOR THE RECORD: 264 signed the register.

 

FOR YOUR DIARY:

·   Central London Zimbabwe Forum. Monday 11th May. Dr Patrick Musami will talk about the health service in Zimbabwe. Venue: Bell and Compass, 9-11 Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NA, next to Charing Cross Station at the corner of Villiers Street and John Adam Street.

·   ROHR Cambridge general meeting. Saturday 16th May from 1.30 – 5.30 pm. Venue: Arbury Community Centre, Campkin Road, Cambridge CB4 2LD. Substantive committee to be elected. The ROHR President and his executive and a well known lawyer will be present. Get advice and learn more about your rights. Contact: Josephart Hapazari 07782398725, Maggie Jenkins 07894064600, A Mubaiwa 07846170094 or P Mapfumo 07915926323/07932216070.

·   ROHR Milton Keynes launch meeting. Saturday 23rd May. Venue: The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes MK12 5RL. Contact Martha Jiya 07727016098, Josephine Sibongile Phiri 07853572982 / 07930276126, P Mandere 07946717754 or P Mapfumo 07915926323 / 07932216070.

·   First Zimbabwe Vigil Forum. Saturday 23rd May at 6.30 pm. Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog, John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HL.

·   Service of solidarity with the torture survivors of Zimbabwe.  Friday 26th June from 7 – 8 pm. Venue: Southwark Cathedral. This is the 8th year the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has marked UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. For more information, visit: http://www.hrforumzim.com.

·   Zimbabwe Association’s Women’s Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays 10.30 am – 4 pm. Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Nearest underground: Finsbury Park. For more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open Tuesdays and Thursdays).

 

Vigil Co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.

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Bill Watch Special of 9th May 2009 [Zimbabwe Media Commission]

BILL WATCH SPECIAL

 [9th May 2009]

Zimbabwe Media Commission

It now seems likely that the Media Commission will be the first Constitutional Commission set up by the inclusive government.  Last month the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Gorden Moyo said that the Human Rights Commission and the Media Commission would be established within the next few weeks.  More recently Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Eric Matinenga has said that the aim is to have all four Constitutional Commissions in place as soon as possible and that his personal view is that the Media Commission should be the first commission to be set up.

Constitutional Provisions for a Media Commission

Background: Until January 2008 there was the Media and Information Commission [MIC] set up by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act [AIPPA] in 2002.  Because of the repressive nature of MIC and the AIPPA provisions it administered, part of the package of legislative amendments agreed to under inter party negotiations before the March 2008 Elections was an amendment to AIPPA.  The AIPPA  Amendment Act of 11th January 2008 made provision for the Zimbabwe Media Commission, but the members of the Commission were never appointed. 

The provisions for the Commission were incorporated into the Constitution by Constitution Amendment No. 19 passed in January 2009 as a prelude to the inclusive government.  The provisions for the Media Commission are found in sections 100N to 100Q of the Constitution  [Full text of these sections available on request] and are summarised as follows:

Composition of the Commission

·    the Zimbabwe Media Commission will consist of a “chairperson and eight other members appointed by the President  from a list of not fewer than twelve nominees submitted by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders"

·    persons appointed to the Commission "must be chosen for their knowledge and experience in the press, print or electronic media, or broadcasting".

Functions of the Commission

·    “to uphold and develop freedom of the press;  and

·    to promote and enforce good practice and ethics in the press, print and electronic media, and broadcasting;  and

·    to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe have equitable and wide access to information;  and

·    to ensure the equitable use and development of all indigenous languages spoken in Zimbabwe;  and

·    to exercise any other functions that may be conferred or imposed on the Commission by or under an Act of Parliament.”

Note: it is not necessary to pass another Act of Parliament before the Media Commission is set up – AIPPA, as amended in January 2008, already contains ample provision enabling the Commission to carry out the functions conferred on it by the Constitution and the additional functions conferred on it by AIPPA itself.  [Full text updated AIPPA available on request]

Media Commission Urgently Needed

This important commission presently exists on paper only.  Its precursor – the Media and Information Commission [MIC]  ceased to exist on the 11th January 2008, when the AIPPA Amendment Act, 20 of 2007 came into force.  This amendment repealed the provisions setting up MIC, without making any provision for it to continue [even pending the appointment of its successor body, the Zimbabwe Media Commission [ZMC].  As the ZMC has never appointed been there has been no legally constituted authority since 11th January 2008 to process applications for registration of mass media services or accreditation of journalists.  Media services and journalists were nevertheless called on to register with MIC even after it became a non-legal entity. [An extraordinary demand, putting media house and media practitioners into the invidious position of whether to register with an illegal body or risk penalties for not registering.].  In the Interparty Political Agreement, article 19, the three political parties agreed that the inclusive government would ensure the immediate processing of all applications for re-registration and registration in terms of AIPPA.  The Zimbabwe Media Commission would be the only legal route to do this.  So the appointment of the Commission is an essential first step towards honouring the IPA commitment.

Parliamentary Procedures for Nomination for Media Commission

For the Media Commission, the Constitution states that Committee on Standing Rules and Orders [CSRO] puts forward a list of not fewer than twelve nominations from which the President appoints the chairperson and eight other members.  A subcommittee of the CSRO was tasked with working out appropriate procedures for this.  The Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, who is a member of the subcommittee, reported that the subcommittee recommended that advertisements should be published calling for applications from persons wishing to be considered for nomination and the nominees would be selected from the applications.  This procedure is still subject to confirmation by the full CSRO next week.  The Minister also reported that the subcommittee had not envisaged receiving recommendations for commissioners from civil society, or public sector consultation in the selection process.

The nomination of candidates for appointment to extra-Parliamentary bodies is a relatively new function for CSRO.  It would have been inappropriate to follow the methods that CSRO used for making appointments to Parliamentary Portfolio Committees and the Select Committee on the Constitution, where membership was simply shared out between parties.  However, the proposed advertising process does not preclude the CSRO choosing [or not choosing] applicants on political grounds.  The selection process, after applications are received, by which the CSRO shortlists, interviews and decides on nominees needs to be transparent if the public is to have confidence that the Commission will be impartial and not tied in to party politics.  In addition, because party political considerations are likely to play a major role in the President's choice of appointees from Parliament's list, that list should be kept to the minimum twelve names stipulated by the Constitution.  Party affiliation should not be one of the criteria for commissioners.  Rather, nominations should be made on the basis of impartiality, independence from government or political party influence and the qualities stipulated by the Constitution – “knowledge of and experience in the press, print or electronic media or broadcasting". 

What can Civil Society do to Ensure an Independent Media Commission

It the Media Commission is to be appointed soon, there is little time for civil society to get involved in the nomination process.  The following are some suggestion on what CSOs with an interest in the media could do:

·               proceed on the basis that the CSRO is likely to approve the advertising for applications procedure recommended by its subcommittee, and be working to ensure that suitable applicants are identified and alerted to have their applications and supporting material [CVs etc.] ready for submission when advertisements appear for applications

·               lobby the CSRO to permit CSOs and public sector organisations to put forward candidates to Parliament

·               ask the CSRO to publish a list of all applications received

·               lobby the CSRO for a more open and transparent process for the shortlisting, interviewing and selection of nominees out of the applicants  [e.g. respected observers from civil society on shortlisting and interviewing panels]

·               lobby CSRO for not more than 12 names to be sent to the President.

·               ask the CSRO to publish a list of the nominees forwarded by Parliament to the President

·               lobby the President to select the most suitable applicant for chairperson of the Commission and to select the other eight commissioners strictly on merit and without party political bias.

Same Selection Process for all the Constitutional Commissions

Minister Matinenga envisaged that the same procedure will be followed for all the four Constitutional Commissions to be set up – in addition to the Media Commission, there is also the Human Rights Commission, Electoral Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission to be established.  The principle of Parliamentary involvement in the selection of commissioners applies to all four Commissions with slight variations [see Bill Watch Special of 20th April 2009 for appointment procedures for the Human Rights Commission].  CSOs should accordingly be preparing to play an effective role in the ensuring that the best possible candidates are appointed to membership of all the Commissions.

 

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

 

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Mugabe's final throes

http://www.boston.com

Globe editorial

May 10, 2009
AFTER STRIKING a power-sharing agreement with the opposition earlier this
year, Zimbabwe's 85-year-old President Robert Mugabe and his thuggish
cronies made a clumsy attempt this week to get around it. Mugabe's intent
became obvious on Tuesday, when a judge revoked bail and ordered the
re-arrest of 18 human rights and opposition activists who are facing trial
on patently bogus charges of seeking to overthrow Mugabe and his
kleptocratic colleagues.

But there is reason to hope that Mugabe has become too dependent on
international aid to risk sabotaging the power-sharing deal with Morgan
Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change leader who is now prime
minister.
Zimbabwe is asking for $8.5 billion in aid to revive the economy that Mugabe
wrecked, but Western donors have wisely conditioned any such assistance on
the release of all political prisoners.

After a meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, bail was reinstated on the
activists and 15 of the 18 were released. Western aid gives Tsvangirai
leverage over Mugabe. Even though Mugabe's cronies are desperate to stay in
power, they are even more desperate for foreign cash.

Human-rights groups such as Amnesty International acted as conscience of the
international community when the revocation of bail was first announced.
Amnesty condemned the regime's repeated resort to "political trials" and
human rights violations against its political opponents. Equally forthright
was the South African Municipal Workers Union, which implored the South
African government to "condemn this chronic abuse of state power."

South Africa as well as other democracies should be no less forceful in
demanding that Mugabe relinquish power peacefully.

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