Police 'are trying to break my spirit,' says freed human rights lawyer

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk


Saturday, 16th May 2009. 6:42am

By: Kumbirai Mafunda.

Prominent human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama on Friday accused the
police of trying to break his spirit following his arrest on Thursday on
charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.

Muchadehama, who was freed on bail Friday afternoon, told this
reporter that the police and some authorities were working to weaken his
spirit and scare him from representing human rights defenders in the
country.

"They are trying to destroy my spirit. It's a cheap way of trying to
do that. It hasn't worked in the past and it will not work again,"
Muchadehama said as he left court Friday afternoon.

Muchadehama, a crusading human rights lawyer who was ambushed and
arrested at the Magistrates' Court on Thursday by members of the Law and
Order section of Harare Central police station was freed on Friday after
Harare Magistrate Archie Wochiunga granted him bail of US$100.

The human rights lawyer, a member of the rights group Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) was ordered to report to the police once every week
on Fridays and to continue residing at his given residential address until
the matter is finalized.

Muchadehama was also ordered not to interfere with state witnesses -- 
a schedule of which the State representatives must provide to him by
Wednesday 20 May 2009. The human rights lawyer, who was detained on Thursday
night at Braeside Police Station in Harare bemoaned the conditions at the
police cells.

"They are filthy police cells. Those ones [police cells] are
inhabitable," said Muchadehama, a lawyer for several Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) members and human rights activists, who are facing terrorism
charges.

Muchadehama vowed that he will not be daunted by the indiscriminate
arrests. "Justice and the rule of law should be realized in Zimbabwe," the
human rights lawyer said.

Muchadehama is the latest victim to be arrested in Zimbabwe in a week
of fast moving events in which the police also arrested two veteran
journalists Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure, working for the
Zimbabwe Independent, a weekly newspaper.

Pressure mounts on Zim govt

http://www.mg.co.za

JASON MOYO - May 16 2009 06:00

This week's arrest of two senior Zimbabwean journalists has underlined just
how far the unity government has to go before it can restore confidence.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai gave a sunny-side-up assessment of the
state of the new government as he launched a new 100-day plan on Wednesday.
It is a plan laden with lofty targets. Within the next three months the
government aims to end all farm violence, revive schools and hospitals,
reform the judiciary and raise enough cash to fund the next farming season,
among other pledges.

But Monday's arrest of Zimbabwe Independent editor Vincent Kahiya and news
editor Constantine Chimakure has underlined the resistance of what
Tsvangirai has described as "residual elements of the old regime".

At the launch of the plan on Wednesday the focus was on positives. Support
from the African Development Bank and the Africa Export-Import Bank last
week took Zimbabwe above its $1-billion target for credit lines and an
International Monetary Fund delegation is expected to begin a programme of
technical assistance next week.

Zimbabwe remains far from the total $8.3-billion it needs to stabilise the
economy. Only $35-million in direct aid has been secured.

Kahiya and Chimakure were arrested over a story naming security agents they
said had played a role in the abductions of activists last year.

The article was based on court documents in which police and security agents
are named. Police have charged the journalists with publishing material
"wholly or materially false with the intention of lowering public confidence
in law enforcement agencies".

Journalists view the arrests as an attempt to gag the media ahead of the
activists' trial, which could reveal further details of the abductions and
alleged torture when it opens in June.

The arrests add to a growing list of violations Tsvangirai is under pressure
to be seen to act against. "There have been several tests of who holds real
power in the new government and Tsvangirai has come short each time," one of
his MPs said on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe road accident kills 12

 

 

Zimbabwean police regulate traffic

8 hours ago

HARARE (AFP) — At least 12 people were killed and 20 injured when two trucks collided near Murehwa in northeastern Zimbabwe, state radio said on Saturday.

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation News reported that "a seven-ton truck carrying farmers collided with a 30-ton truck last night about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Harare."

The radio station said 10 people died at the scene while the other two were pronounced dead later.

It quoted a survivor as saying one of the drivers veered onto the other side of the road to avoid a tractor in front of him.

Roads are poorly maintained in Zimbabwe and littered with gaping potholes, often referred to as "drumholes" because of their size, which often cause accidents.

In March the wife of Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was killed in a collision with an aid agency truck.

Chaos at border after visa waiver

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16588

May 16, 2009

By Gift Phiri

BEITBRIDGE - Hardly two weeks after the waiver of visas for travellers to
South Africa, amid tightening of border controls by Zimbabwe's cash-strapped
tax collector, traffic at the Beitbridge Border Post was backing up for
kilometres on end on Friday.

The Beitbridge Border Post traffic jam between South Africa and Zimbabwe
started a week ago, and by Friday, the traffic flow at the border had almost
slowed down to a halt.

Custom and immigration officials at the post complained about being
short-staffed to handle searches of all vehicles in line with strict
check-up procedures ordered by the new government.

Emotions were fraying as uncooperative, angry and delayed motorists clashed
with customs officials, compounding the border crisis.

The latest strict check-up procedures were reportedly sanctioned by Finance
minister Tendai Biti in a fresh bid to boost revenue collection by tax
collector Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) to bankroll the bankrupt
administration.

On Friday buses, trucks and vehicles queued for almost four kilometres from
the entrance of the Beitbridge Border Post.

The shortage of staff to search the mammoth number of vehicles at the border
had seen the border clogging with motorists as customs struggled to keep up
with the volume of traffic of Zimbabweans crossing the border, many of them
taking advantage of the waiver on visas.

Immigration officials said they were also overwhelmed by Zimbabweans who
were attempting to cross into South Africa using identity cards.

Despite the waiver on visas, the charge for obtaining a passport is still
too steep, with a regular passport costing about US$300, a figure beyond the
reach of many in a country where civil servants subsist on a US$100
allowance monthly.

Authorities were apparently locked in denial about the crisis at the border.

An immigration official told The Zimbabwe Times during the two day-long
investigations at the border that the long queues were not quite as bad as
they were in the past week, soon after the waiver on visas.

The visa waiver was announced by co-Home Affairs minister Giles Mutsekwa and
his South African counterpart, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula last week.

"The lines are long, but manageable," claimed an immigration official.

On the South African side of the border post, trucks were standing still for
about four kilometres at noon on Friday. On the other side, the queue was
much longer.

Visitor traffic was also busy but not congested, added the customs official.
"We are able to cope," he claimed.

The border post was open from 7 am to 4 pm for trucks, and 24 hours for
visitors both ways.

Despite claims by authorities that they had capacity to handle the
situation, during the past two days, officials were apparently unable to
cope and many truck and bus drivers had to spend the night at the border
post.

Livid travellers in one bus said they had spent eight hours at the border.
They complained of intrusive body searches by customs officials and
elaborate searches of all bags.

A senior immigration official who declined to be named told The Zimbabwe
Times that about five additional staff was brought in to help to try and
relieve the congestion at each unit. But, clearly, they were overwhelmed.

The senior immigration official, who referred further questions to Gershom
Pasi, the ZIMRA boss, admitted the current congestion was "absolutely not
normal."

The delays were worsened by the fact that access control on the Zimbabwean
side of the border post was still being processed by hand, while South
Africa used computers, said another immigration official.

ZIMRA legal and corporate services commissioner, Faith Jambwa said ZIMRA had
intensified revenue protection measures in line with its mandate.

"Such searches are meant to protect fiscal revenue, public health and safety
among others," said Jambwa.

However, public health is actually being gravely threatened at the border
post where travellers have to wait for days with no access to ablution
facilities or clean running water.

In fact Beitbridge was in recent months devastated by a cholera outbreak
that was eventually slowed down by interventions by humanitarian agencies.

Jambwa said: "ZIMRA is carrying out among other measures, post importation
audits, border patrols, physical inspections and joint operations with law
enforcement agencies."

Physical inspection of goods, said Jambwa, was a routine part in the
clearing of goods that are being imported or exported. However, it was
apparent that ZIMRA had woefully inadequate material and human resources to
timeously carry out the elaborate inspections.

One tourist travelling from South Africa in a Greyhound Bus said: "You guys
are not serious about reviving tourism. You want tourists to return to your
country when you subject them to five-hour-border checks?"

Along the Beitbridge and Harare Road, at least two spot checks by ZIMRA were
conducted where passengers were ordered to offload their luggage. The buses
were only allowed to pass after customs officials were paid bribes by bus
staff.

Jambwa said: "Our officers are authorised to conduct searches anywhere in
Zimbabwe including at business premises or on persons."

7000 Zimbabweans Now Crossing Into S.A Daily

http://www.radiovop.com

Beitbridge - South African authorities say the number of Zimbabweans
visiting the country since the introduction of visa waiver two weeks ago has
increased from 3000 to 7000 people daily.

A customs official at the Beitbridge border post told Radio VOP
Friday: "Ever since the withdrawal of the visa regime by the South African
government we have experienced quite an increase in the number of
Zimbabweans coming in South Africa."

Sam Muremi, South Africa's , Limpopo  Customs Officer said: "Before
the visa waiver 3000 Zimbabweans were crossing into South Africa but after
the waiver was introduced 7000 are now crossing per day and that quite a
huge number to us but we are managing well and have since deployed more
officers."

The Zimbabwean and South African government early this year signed an
agreement allowing Zimbabweans to visit South Africa without a visa for a
period of up to three months.

The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) has welcomed the
decision by the South African government.
The organisation which deals with deported citizens and those abused
in South Africa when travelling illegally says the move by the South African
government will help solve the problem of illegal migration. "The move is in
the best interests of the government of both South Africa and Zimbabwe. By
so doing they will be able to protect the migrants from abuse usually
associated with illegal migration," said IOM official, Nde Nditonga.

Many Zimbabweans had resorted to crossing into South Africa illegally
through the crocodile infested Zambezi river. They also risked themselves to
being raped, mugged, arrested or even shot by South African police, army or
famers for tresspassing. Some were even attacked by wild animals. IOM has a
funtional facility at Beitbridge Border post to deal with deported
Zimbabweans. The centre helps deported people with travel back home and
food.

International award for leading Zimbabwean humna rights lawyer

http://www.zimtelegraph.com

By MIKE MAKOMO
Published: Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Jury meeting on Friday May 15th 2009, in House of Lawyers in Paris, and
presided by Bâtonnier CHARRIERE-BOURNAZEL from Paris Bar Association decided
to award the fourteenth "LUDOVIC-TRARIEUX INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE »
2009 to Beatrice Mtetwa.

Mtetwa is a prominent media lawyer in Zimbabwe, president of the Law Sociéty
of Zimbabwe and has made essential contribution in the struggle for freedom
of peaceful assembly , of association and freedom of speech and the rule of
law in Zimbabwe.
The Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize created in 1984 is
awarded every year to a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, who, by
his work, will have illustrated his activity or his suffering, the defence
of human rights, of defence rights, the supremacy of law, the struggle
against racism and intolerance in any form, jointly by the HUMAN RIGHTS
INSTITUTES established by bars of BORDEAUX, BRUSSELS, PARIS and the EUROPEAN
BAR HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE (IDHAE) and the UNIONE FORENSE PER I DIRITTI
UMANI (Roma).

The first Prize was awarded on March 29th, 1985 to Nelson Mandela then in
jail.

It is the oldest and most prestigious award reserved to a lawyer in the
world, finding its source in 1898, with the action taken by the French
lawyer, Ludovic Trarieux (1840-1904), who in the midst of the Dreyfus
Affair, in France, founded the " League for the Defence of Human Rights and
the Citizen ", because, he said:

" It was not only the single cause of a man which was to be defended, but
behind this cause, law, justice, humanity ".

The awarded will be presented at the time of a ceremony that will take place
in October 2009, in Paris (France) in the Sénat of the French Republic.

New Cholera Cases In Gweru

http://www.radiovop.com

Gweru - While most people were beginning to relax since Cholera was
subsiding in Zimbabwe, four people have died in some parts of the Midlands
Province.

Speaking during a tour of  the major referral hospital in the Midlands
Province, Gweru General Hospital by the deputy prime Minister, Arthur
Mutambara, the acting Provincial Medical Director (PMD), Milton Chemhuru
said cholera had resurfaced in Gokwe. Chemhuru said: "We have had four
cholera deaths and  47 cases with three critical ones but we want to assure
you that we will contain it as we were able to trace the source of the
disease." The source of the outbreak is Kahobo area in Gokwe North. Almost 3
800 people died countrywide during the cholera outbreak which started in
August last year.
The Acting Medical Superintendent Fungai Makwarimba  said the hospital
was operating without a budget since January.  " We have been surviving on
money collected from patients during admission. The hospital has been
operating without a budget since January  as we didn't have any money and we
only managed to get USd 1000 from the government this month."
The 436 bed capacity hospital did not have a functional mortuary since
September 2008 as it was old and its cooling system continually breaks down.
The mortuary with a capacity of 24 bodies, carries up to a hundred bodies.
He said in December 2008 the hospital carried pauper burials of
approximately 100 bodies. "Most of the bodies were decomposed and the stench
of flesh left stuck on the floors is still evident."
Pauper burials can only be done after seven days of the bodies not
being collected but now these are being carried out after three days as
bodies would have started to decompose. It costs the hospital USD 150 to
bury one body.
The hospital also has a shortage of equipment.
Makwarimba made an appeal to the deputy prime minister for protective
wear.

Mutambara Calls For A People Driven Constitution

http://www.radiovop.com


Gweru - The deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has admitted that
there is a shortcoming in Article 6 of the Global Political Agreement that
calls for a new constitution for Zimbabwe, saying the process should involve
all the people.

Addressing the Gweru business community at Fairmile Motel this week
and journalists at the Gweru press club, Mutambara said that he
was going to convince his partners in the unity government to re-look
Article 6 so that it includes other players.
" To hell with the Kariba draft.Kariba draft can hang.. What is
important in coming up with a constitution is the making process and not
necessarily the end product," he said.
Kariba draft was reached at by the three parties, Zanu PF and the two
formations of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and is now being used
to form Zimbabwe's constitution in the new unity government.
"We have had very good constitutions with very little differences if
you compare them but were rejected by the people because of the process that
was used to come up with them. Remember the rejected 2 000 draft. If we
leave Madhuku, ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions), Civic Society and
students out of the constitution making process we  run the risk of the
constitution being rejected  and not being respected."
Lovemore Madhuku is the head of the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA), a non-governmental organisation formed to spearhead constitutional
reforms in Zimbabwe.
Mutambara also admitted that the inclusive government was facing some
challenges but said they had agreed on some of the outstanding issues of the
GPA that included the issues of governors, permanent secretaries and the
Attorney General whom he described as incompetent. Mutambara said the
announcements would be made soon.
After touring Bata Shoe Company and Zimglass, Mutambara also said it
was important that the government work with the private sector to
recapitalize some companies. "Sovereignty does not mean ownership. Because
the government owns NRZ, ZESA, Telone etc does not translate to sovereignty.
But having an airline that is successful is sovereignty."
Commenting on the recent arrests of Zimind reporters Mutambara said
this was a travesty of justice and said this was tarnishing the brand of the
country that the inclusive government was trying to rebuild.

Laws used to "criminalise journalism", minister

From IRIN (UN), 12 May

Harare - A senior Zimbabwean government official has admitted that laws
passed by the previous administration were still being used to "criminalise
journalism" and needed to be changed, after two journalists more were
arrested earlier this week. "The developments are really unfortunate, in the
sense that we still have clauses in our statutes which are used to arrest
journalists and criminalise journalism, and hence infringe on media freedom
and freedom of expression," Jameson Timba, the deputy minister of media,
information and publicity, told IRIN. Timba is from the main faction of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the former opposition party. Vincent
Kahiya, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, and Constantine
Chimakure, the newspaper's news editor, were arrested on 11 May for
publishing an article that fingered intelligence and police officers
allegedly involved in the abduction of journalist and human rights activist,
Jestina Mukoko, and members of the MDC in late 2008. Kahiya and Chimakure
were released on bail on 12 May, but a police spokesperson was quoted in the
media as saying that the journalists had sought to "undermine public
confidence in law enforcement and security agents". Dumisani Muleya, a
senior political reporter, told IRIN: "Journalists continue to be harassed
and to work in a repressive environment, which means nothing has really
changed since the inclusive government was formed almost 100 days ago."

Timba underlined the need to review existing media laws, which had been the
objective of a conference held on 9 May. However, the gathering was
boycotted by media unions after Mukoko and freelance journalist Andrison
Manyere were arrested for the second time last week. Mukoko has since been
released. Under the Global Political Agreement signed by Zimbabwe's three
main political parties in September 2008, which underpins the unity
government, the government committed itself to immediately start processing
applications for the registration of media houses, but not much has happened
so far. Two other journalists, the editor of the government-controlled The
Sunday News, Brezhnev Malaba, and journalist Nduduzo Tshuma, are also
expected to appear in court soon to face criminal defamation charges, after
naming senior police officers allegedly involved in a grain distribution
scandal in a report published in 2008. The media reform conference, which
recommended that the draconian media laws be repealed, and that parliament
control the public media, was overshadowed by the arrest of the journalists.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists commented: "The irony is that the manhunt
for journalists at The Zimbabwe Independent was launched on the day" that
the conference on media law reform got underway.

ZAPU breaks into pandemonium in UK

http://www.zimdiaspora.com

Saturday, 16 May 2009 00:19

Political reporter
ZAPU's United Kingdom chapter has failed to take off the ground amid reports
that the party has been infiltrated by agents of Zimbabwe's notorious spy
agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

While the metabolism of the party's revival has increased elsewhere, the
party's UK constituency has lost an ethical direction, and was riddled with
"petty" squabbles and lack of progress, supporters said this week.

Led by former ZimRights chairman Mr Nicholas Ndebele, ZAPU-UK was launched
in February amid pomp and spleandour by former speaker of Zimbabwe
parliament Advocate Nicholas Ndebele and retired magistrate Mr Johnson
Mkandla.

The launch followed the withdrawal from the 1987 Unity Accord by PF-ZAPU
leaders signed between President Mugabe of ZANU-PF and former PF-ZAPU
leader, the now late Joshua Nkomo.

At the launch, more than 400 Zimbabweans living in Britain endorsed the
revival of the party, pledging commitment and loyalty. However, last week
the party's interim committee revealed that they had only managed to attract
a membership of 76 Zimbabweans raising questions on what has dispirited the
initial ZAPU excitement in the UK. During its haydays, the MDC-UK managed to
attract a record membership of more 5000 people across Britain.

It was also confirmed that the only elected woman of the UK interim
committee Mrs Ruth Ncube, seen by many as more progressive had been forced
to suspend her role following what many said was a result of a "frustrating
invisible hand at work".

Supporters here called on for the leader of the revived ZAPU, former ZIPRA
intelligence supremo, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa to intervene before the party is
"totally" hijacked.

Contacted for comment Dr Dabengwa said he would take up the issue with the
executive in a move to try and rectify the situation.

What has riled ZAPU supporters here, is that two months after an "exuberant
and energetic" launch in Milton Keynes, the interim committee has not
kick-started any meaningful membership drive while it has only managed to
hold one public rally.

They also complained that the party's operations were shrouded in secrecy
reminiscent of some communist regime strategy and raising fears whether
ZANU-PF's agenda of destabilising ZAPU has succeeded.

Impeccable sources within the interim committee claim that the party's
interim executive has been infiltrated with individuals known to be working
for Zimbabwe's state security. According to insiders, the infiltration has
caused tribal divisions and continuous meaningless disagreements much to the
detriment of the party's progress. Loyal ZAPU supporters fear that if the
interim is allowed to continue it could result in President Mugabe's
propaganda victory.

Exasperated supporters said two months after the party's UK chapter was
launched amid pomp and splendour, the party has failed to execute any
meaningful programme, instead the interim committee was engaged in
 "childish" acts.

A confirmed former member of the CIO (name supplied), is reportedly working
close with the troubled committee. This has resulted on repeated accusations
of espionage as confidential ZAPU information is said to be frequently
"leaked" to political rivals.

It also emerged this week that there were a several other agents of the CIO
(list supplied) that have been "successfully" planted within ZAPU-UK.

When contacted, Mr Nicholas Ndebele declined comment saying he was "too ill"
to comment. "Let me talk to you some other time, at the moment I am too ill,
as you can hear my voice is very hoarse, I am down with a terrible cold," he
said.

His vice-chairman, Mr Tichaona Dauramanzi confirmed that the party has been
infiltrated by certain individuals with a "suspicious and very worrying
agenda".

"It has become clear that we have been infiltrated and we know that we are
dealing with a very ruthless system. It is also clear that there are certain
individuals within the party whose agenda is to destabilise," he said.

He added: "We have failed to reach the intended targets, but I want to tell
you that ZAPU will not be defeated this time. We will root out these
elements, and together with progressive people of Zimbabwe, we will prevail,
we will defintely get there".

 "We know where we are going and we will get there. We will work hard by
setting up a stronger ZAPU which I real believe has the answer for the
country's problems," the former airmen said.

It also emerged that supporters were boycotting the party to voice their
concern over the infamous interim executive whom they want disbanded
immediately.

During the launch at Milton Keynes there was a lot of campaign
misrepresentation with candidates faking their CVs to the electorate, Mrs
Christina Ndlovu of, Tonbridge, Kent.

 "There are people who claimed to have been public relations consultants for
big multi-nationals in Nigeria when they were clearly lying. we know these
people very well, they must not be allowed to mislead the public. All what
we need now is that the entire executive must be dissolved as everyone has
lost confidence with the party."

"We want ZAPU leadership in Zimbabwe to intervene because there are people
within our committee who are a liability to the party but still manage to
convince people who dont know his agenda to vote him into office. As it is
now there are many serious allegations against a certain member of the
committee, but still he has been given some senior and responsible task of
the party.

"As long as people like . (named) and his gang are in ZAPU I am not going to
support ZAPU Europe, I will rather pledge my support to the MDC," said
adding that the party's public relations department was not up to standard
and needed to re-organised.

Another potential ZAPU supporter Mr Siphosami Ngulube urged the party
leadership to move in quickly to avert damage.

"I know that there were people who were bused-in for blind votes hired by
certain individuals and people in those buses had strict instructions to
vote for certain people even if they did not know them. They were simply
told to vote for a particular name even they did not know the person. Is
this democracy or criminal? As long as there are those people in the interim
I am not going to buy a ZAPU membership card," he said.

When Mr Mqondobanzi Magonya ZAPU-UK's secretary for Finance was contacted to
respond to the allegations, he said: "I have no comment, and I think I will
not be calling you for a very long time. Lets just leave things as they are".
When the reporter insisted that that the allegations against the interim
were to serious to be ignored, Mr Magonya hung up the telephone. He later
emailed this reporter and warned him not to ring him up again.

Brutal killing of lions in Victoria Falls

 

By Moses Muchemwa

Published: May 16, 2009

   

Victoria Falls (ZimEye) - THE Victoria Falls Anti Poaching Unit (VFAPU) has made a passionate plea for resources to fight rampant poaching in the Zambezi valley.

Charles Brightman of VFAPU said it was disheartening to witness animals dying due to poaching activities that need to be curbed as soon as possible.

A male lion (above-pictured) was killed this week in Victoria Falls by poachers, a move that negatively impacted on the tourism sector.

Victoria Falls is one of the prime resorts areas in the world and wildlife adds the excitement associated with the one of the Seven Wonders of the World

In a letter of appeal Brightman said: “The situation on the ground here is truly CHRONIC! Please refer to the attached picture (not for the faint-hearted) of the male lion that has been gracing Victoria Falls with his presence with a number of sightings in and around town. This lion suffered the most dreadful death yesterday due to poachers, three kilometres from the actual falls. WE NEED YOUR HELP - NO ANIMALS ...NO VISITIORS...NO JOBS! Please contact me on 013 45821 or 011 209 144 or email: cat@yoafrica.com.”

“We all know that times are very tight financially for everyone, but any little bit will help keep the unit actively engaged if fighting these barbaric criminals, that are destroying one of Zimbabwe's greatest assets - our wildlife. The more support we can get means the more scouts we can put on the ground.”

Zimbabwe has a vast of natural resources including wildlife.

Mugabe sows a bitter harvest for Zimbabwe's farmers

http://www.theage.com.au

Russell Skelton
May 16, 2009

The death of Zimbabwe's agriculture.

THE harvest was dead, and it was no longer his. The field of bleached corn
was a great backdrop for a photo of former white farmer Ben Freeth, forced
off his land by the war veterans' campaign of terror. The crop had been
neglected and lost. The futility was overwhelming.

As the shutter snapped, shouts erupted from the nearby mango orchard, and
three figures came dashing towards us. "Come here. Come here. We're going to
shoot you." We heard the dull thump of birdshot being fired. The war
veterans - Robert Mugabe's foot soldiers in the 1970s war of independence -
moved with surprising speed. But they had coils of razor wire to negotiate,
an impediment the ex-farmer had coolly considered.

Mr Freeth, a tall man with a clipped moustache and the bearing of a military
officer, calmly advised: "I think we better go."

We hastily retreated to the improbable safety of Mr Freeth's farmstead - the
home he was still allowed to live in, surrounded by a cottage garden. The
voices gradually receded. Foiled by the razor wire, the veterans' shouts
receded. "Stop. Stop. We want to cut off your heads."

Anticipating a follow-up visit from a truckload of veterans, Mr Freeth urged
us to leave for Harare. Foreign journalists are banned from Zimbabwe and
face automatic imprisonment in the capital's cholera-plagued and overcrowded
jails.

Speaking from bitter experience, Mr Freeth, who places his faith in God
rather than Zimbabwe's dubious justice system, said there was no telling how
the veterans might retaliate.

Led by a thug with the unlikely name of Landmine Shamuyarira, the brother of
a former information minister in Mugabe's old government, the veterans had
waged a long campaign of violence and intimidation against Mr Freeth, his
elderly father-in-law Mike Campbell and their families.

Several of Mr Freeth's 100 or so farm workers, who last month repelled the
militia, had been arrested and beaten by compliant police. In an earlier
assault, Mr Freeth received a fractured skull. He maintains the police are
taking their orders from Landmine and his politician brother.

In Chegutu district, south-west of Harare, violence against white farmers
and their workers has intensified in recent months as apparently desperate
Zanu-PF politicians scramble over the spoils of power, possibly anticipating
that the opportunity to do so may be fast receding as the "inclusive"
Government gathers momentum. Eight of 15 farmers, including the Campbells,
have been forced off.

MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who in a bizarre
arrangement shares power with Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, has bitterly
opposed the invasions, saying they are wrecking the nation's agricultural
base. He had ordered that they be stopped, but Mr Mugabe and his
Attorney-General, the hardline Johannes Tomana, continue to encourage them.

While the invasions persist, international donor nations and the IMF refuse
to release hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to bail out
Zimbabwe's failed economy and its health and education systems. Britain,
France, the US and the Southern African Development Commission have
condemned the invasions.

The seizures have turned Zimbabwe - a country where 75 per cent of the
population depends on food aid - from an agricultural food bowl to a dust
bowl. Few if any farms remain productive once invaded. Zimbabwe, the world's
largest exporter of white maize in the 1990s, now imports it.

Maize, wheat, tobacco, cotton and dairy figures are 25 per cent of what they
were 10 years ago, and the nation faces ongoing food shortages.

Rural unemployment has also leapt, as farms become unproductive retreats for
the rich and powerful.

Mr Freeth said it was clear the police had been operating under instruction.

"They turned up in riot gear and fired live ammo," he said. "They rounded up
the workers who had resisted the invaders and took them to the Chegutu
police station. They were forced on to the floor and struck on the back with
rifle butts. One of the men had been beaten with a cable.

"There were witnesses to the beatings and the police chief inspector
promised an investigation, but nothing happened."

When the invaders later broke into Mr Campbell's house in the night, a
decision was made by the families to abandon Mount Carmel Farm.

"Ben thought it was too dangerous to stay there. We had no help from the
police; we were on our own," Mr Campbell told The Age from his new home in
Harare last week. "The High Court says we can go back, but there is no law
and order. That is the problem. Police ignore the ruling; they are in the
pockets of the politicians."

What is happening now at Mount Carmel Farm, Mr Freeth says, amounts to
outright theft. "One hundred and twenty tonnes of mangoes worth $US120,000
($A159,000) planted by us have been harvested and sold. You can see them in
supermarkets. More harvesting is under way. No compensation offered, not a
single cent. Not to us, not to anybody."

The veterans also shot wildlife - including wildebeest, giraffe and impala -
reintroduced on the farm by Mr Campbell.

The pattern is repeated throughout Chegutu. On the Etheredge farm, police
shot several workers and jailed the white owners on contrived charges of
refusing to leave the land they owned. The large-scale orange grove was
taken over just before harvest by Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate
and a confidant of Mr Mugabe..

Ironically, ownership of the farms seldom falls into the hands of the war
veterans but the wealthy Zanu-PF elite. Mr Mugabe and his second wife Grace
reputedly own three farms.

A most dangerous time

http://www.theage.com.au

Russell Skelton, Harare
May 16, 2009

In a land of continued violence, struggle and fear, the critical question is
whether the "inclusive government" brokered after last year's national
election stalemate ever had a hope of success.

ASATU sits in the filtered, early morning light, gently sobbing. She is 22
and eight months pregnant. She does not know if her boyfriend is dead or
alive, and fears that her own life may be over before it has started.

A ward worker for the Movement of Democratic Change during last year's
Zimbabwean election, she was dragged from her house by youths wielding
sticks and taken to the local headquarters of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

There, she was beaten and repeatedly raped. Five men took turns to assault
her several times day for a month. The woman, who had done nothing more than
to urge voters in her township to place their faith in opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, had her life systematically destroyed.

Not only is she pregnant from the rapes, Asatu - along with 15 per cent of
women in Zimbabwe - is HIV positive. "I feel sad. I feel alone. When I think
back to that time my heart starts beating," she says.

After escaping from her rapists, Asatu went into hiding and prayed for help
and to be reunited with her 27 year-old boyfriend, who she fears has been
murdered. "I said to God, 'If these are your plans, I want nothing to do
with them. If you are looking after me, then help in my hard times.' "

Driving through the streets of Harare, it is hard to imagine the terror
surrounding the election, an election that, despite the systematic
intimidation of opponents - mass beatings, murder and disappearances - the
85-year-old Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party lost. The stand-off that
followed eventually ended in the creation of an "inclusive government" in
which Morgan Tsvangirai is Prime Minister but Mugabe remains President and
keeps control of the army. Today, roadside stalls offer fresh tomatoes and
green vegetables and there seems to be an extraordinary number of imported,
luxury cars racing over the pot-holed roads.

For Zimbabwe's ruling elite, with their fortunes built on illicit mining and
diamond deals and milked public funds, life continues uninterrupted. They
live in vast walled mansions protected from their people by electrified
fences, security guards and watchdogs. Their only inconvenience, it appears,
is the international travel bans placed on the 200 more-notorious citizens
and generals.

If there was any doubt about Zimbabwe's institutionalisation of fear, it is
dispelled after just a few days in the capital. On the outskirts of Harare,
at a secret location, I meet a "venerable" member of Mugabe's Zimbabwe
African National Union - Patriotic Front. "If I am caught talking to you, I
am a dead man," are his opening words. The international media are banned
and foreign reporters face imprisonment if caught.

Our meeting takes place in a deserted warehouse. "It is a most dangerous
time. The party is divided and there are many who believe Mugabe should not
be in the inclusive government at all." He describes a bleak political
landscape. The party of liberation long ago morphed, in Orwellian style,
into the party of greed and self-interest. But tensions are rising within
the Zanu-PF; a mood of desperation grips the inner circle surrounding the
President.

"These are the people who have acquired a lot of wealth and don't want to
lose it - they think they can hold on. They worry that if the MDC succeeds,
they will be brought to justice, they will be held accountable. Nobody
should rule out a coup. They control the army, the police and the CIO
(Central Intelligence Organisation)," he says.

Mugabe's problem, the politician says, is that he has indulged his cabal of
supporters for 50 years. "He cannot dump them and he cannot discipline them.
He should have retired 10 years ago when he had the chance. Now nobody knows
where all this is going, especially if Mugabe retires or dies without naming
a successor."

The politician describes himself as moderate. He knows Mugabe, knew his
first wife ("who would never have let it come to this"), and is well
acquainted with the rival powerbrokers and faction leaders Emerson Mnangagwa
and Solomon "Rex" Mujuru (and his Vice-President wife, "Avarice" Joyce
Mujuru) - who, he says, are manoeuvring to replace Mugabe should he resign
or stumble. Mnangagwa, often mentioned as Mugabe's heir-apparent, was head
of security when the first massacres of political opponents took place in
the 1980s.

Zimbabwe may not yet meet the technical criteria of a failed state, but to
most observers that is surely academic - with 90 per cent unemployment, a
compromised justice system and a bankrupt economy staggering along on US
dollars and South African rand. The United Nations estimates 75 per cent of
the population still depend on food aid. And state-sanctioned violence,
including the seizure of white-owned farms, continues.

Most of the nation's factories are in mothballs and, in the capital,
constant blackouts interrupt what business there is. Silos that once held
grain for export are empty. Harare's public hospital wards are filled by
empty beds, stripped of sheets, pillows and blankets. Zimbabwe's cholera and
AIDS-HIV patients are forced to attend clinics operated by non-government
organisations - or, if they have $A10, get a consultation in a private
hospital.

On the other side of Harare, in a modest building on a street where the
traffic lights wink intermittently, the former union leader, now Prime
Minister, Tsvangirai plays a deadly game of poker with the nation's founding
President. Tsvangirai and the MDC were dealt an impossible set of cards
under the Global Political Agreement brokered by the unsympathetic former
South African president Thabo Mbeki, after last year's election stalemate.

Tsvangirai won more votes but has been forced to play a subservient role to
the discredited Mugabe. The lines of demarcation, like so much in the
agreement, are vague and open to interpretation - usually the President's.
The agreement makes no reference to the Prime Minister's powers and
responsibilities. Recently, Mugabe stripped Nelson Chamisa, an MDC minister,
of half his communications portfolio - the half that contained phone and
internet snooping powers.

Chamisa tells me, in a hurried encounter at a union conference, he is
confident of getting his full ministry back. But from all accounts, he is
the only minister in the 61-member cabinet who believes it. "This is the
last supper for some," Chamisa says. "Political bacteria and corruption
still threaten the Government, but we are shining a torch on it." Brave
words.

MDC insiders say Tsvangirai, still grieving for his wife, who recently died
in a road crash, and a grandchild who drowned soon after in a pool, is
asserting himself with fresh determination. He told a rally this month he
was committed to making the inclusive government work.

For weeks, MDC and Zanu-PF ministers have been haggling over the
nitty-gritty of office: the appointment of ambassadors, regional governors
and senior public servants, and the ousting of discredited Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono. Gono trashed the economy by printing worthless
currency - a $Z100 trillion note can be bought as a keepsake for $US20
($A26) - and stole money from private bank accounts to keep the government
afloat while amassing a small fortune for himself, the President and his
cronies.

The cabinet negotiations have been acrimonious, with Zanu-PF ministers
sabotaging progress in the MDC-controlled portfolios of health and
education. Violence and intimidation by the Zanu-PF-controlled Central
Intelligence Organisation, the military and the prosecutorial wing of the
Attorney-General's Department has prevented an international bail-out. In
open violation of rule-of-law undertakings, farmers are beaten, jailed and
driven off their land; MDC activists remain missing or imprisoned; and this
week journalists were prosecuted for printing publicly available
information.

It is enough to ensure that donor funds remain at a dribble. The question
most are asking in Harare is whether the MDC ministers are being set up by
Mugabe to fail. When the next election is held - and nobody really knows
when - will Mugabe blame the MDC for unfunded schools, empty hospital beds,
food shortages and a spike in cholera and AIDS-HIV?

David Coltart is the MDC Education Minister. I find him on the top floor of
the department building, a drab 18-storey edifice in Harare's CBD. The
building's toilets were unblocked and the water, he says, was reconnected
with funds donated by Australia. A polite and genial minister, Coltart is,
when we meet, in the middle of an industrial crisis, rushing from one
meeting to the next. Teachers have threatened to strike, claiming the $US100
a month they receive is not enough. A senator and a white minister, Coltart
is surprisingly, if cautiously, optimistic, believing the inclusive
government was always going to be tough.

"The majority of people in all the parties want to make the agreement work,
even though there are hawks out to derail it. We are trying to stop the
country from falling into complete chaos.

"I have hundreds of thousands of kids that had no education last year," he
says.

The education system is a shambles. Coltart says he has no idea how many
teachers are employed even though 90,000 people receive salaries. The
bureaucracy has been loaded with so-called "ghost workers", Zanu-PF
activists who collect wages as teachers but who never set foot in a school.
They are the thugs and foot soldiers, deployed to intimidate voters, carry
out abductions and enforce Mugabe's political will. They probably include
the cadres who abducted Asatu.

"We need 140,000 teachers - that is the establishment figure - but we are
not sure how many teachers we have. There is no computer (data)base. Trade
unions tell me the real number of actual teachers is only 60,000." Like
other MDC ministers, Coltart has set up an audit to identify the ghosts.

What Coltart needs most is money. With just $US40,000 a month to operate
7000 schools, he can't hire more teachers even if he wants to. While Zanu-PF
ministers continue to breach the Global Political Agreement, the prospect of
an injection of UNICEF money - and there's plenty available - is unlikely:
Britain is opposed to releasing the funds while the farm invasions continue.

Coltart acknowledges there is good reason to believe the MDC has been set up
to fail, but he clings to optimism. He says the agreement allowed the
country to break the circle of "viciousness" and has provided a way forward.
"We are going in the right direction since that truly awful time in May last
year (when Morgan Tsvangirai was admitted to hospital after a beating). We
have our good days and our bad days.

"There is a critical mass of people inside the Government (including Zanu-PF
ministers) who want this to work. If we can improve the lives of people and
we get a free and fair constitution, the MDC will be able to take absolute
power."

Another minister who supports Coltart's qualified optimism is Jameson Timba,
the MDC's deputy minister for the media. While there are many outstanding
issues yet to be settled, Timba says, MDC ministers are making significant
progress.

He says MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti has stripped governor Gono of his
powers, and found other ways of getting international funds without them
flowing into the pockets of Zanu-PF members. Biti also has ended the
currency crisis by adopting the US dollar and paying public servants.

"We now have a semblance of order," Timba says. There is food on the
shelves, prices have gone down, and there is deflation." He says agreement
has been reached, but not yet announced, on many big issues, including the
appointment of ambassadors, regional governors and permanent secretaries.

But he says serious obstacles remain, including the farm invasions -
strenuously opposed, without success - and the antics of the Zanu-PF
hardline Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, who was behind the jailing of MDC
politician Roy Bennett and other party activists.

Tsvangirai acknowledged as much this week, when he publicly accused Zanu-PF
hardliners of deliberately violating the Global Political Agreement and
blocking access to international funds, thereby endangering the lives of all
Zimbabweans.

Otto Saki, a senior lawyer and co-ordinator of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, which has been monitoring the agreement, says violations have
been many and varied. Comparing the inclusive-government pact to a "forced
marriage that nobody wanted", he says the violations can be expected to
continue.

Saki says the Zanu-PF is split between moderates and hardliners, but he
believes the hardliners and Mugabe are dominant. "Zanu-PF is like the Mafia,
once you are in it, you cannot get out. Accidents do happen and we have had
people killed by non-existent trains and cars that nobody has ever seen."

He says the future of the inclusive government is uncertain, possibly fated
to fail. The Prime Minister cannot quit because that would hand a "blank
cheque" to the hardliners. There has been speculation that Mugabe may step
down when the Zanu-PF Congress meets at the end of the year. That could pave
the way for a smooth transition or, more likely, a bitter and bloody power
struggle between his would-be replacements Emerson Mnangagwa and Solomon
Mujuru.

While politicians haggle over the nation's future and their own, Asatu says
she is resigned to the fate God chooses for her. She would like to go back
to school and study - a faint hope for a single mother in a country where
the education system barely functions. She would also like to reopen her
roadside vegetable stall, but has no money for that. "I do want justice, but
God will decide that," she says.

Asked what name she will give her baby, she says without hesitation:
"Struggle. I will call my baby Struggle."

Russell Skelton is a contributing editor.