The Daily News
(Harare) May 17, 2002 Posted to the web May 16, 2002 Brian
Mangwende
POLICE in Chipinge South have arrested four MDC members,
including three senior officials of the party in Manicaland and impounded two
vehicles that were carrying supporters to a rally at Chibuwe Stadium. The
four are Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC spokesman in Manicaland,
Christine Chishakwa, the provincial chairperson, Elliot Anahu, and Hardmore
Chimoko. Muchauraya was arrested at a roadblock at Mwacheta after he
allegedly questioned a policeman about his conduct when he stopped an MDC
truck ferrying supporters to the stadium. He was taken to Middle Sabi
Police Station. By late yesterday, Muchauraya, Anahu and Chimoko were still
in police custody. Police at the station refused to comment and referred all
questions to Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesperson, who could not be
reached for comment yesterday. Bvudzijena regularly refuses to entertain
questions from The Daily News. The MDC district youth chairman, Parudzai
Manyerenyere, who was with Muchauraya at the time of the arrest, said the
party had received a report about the arrest and the vehicles that had been
impounded. The police said Anahu had a knife which was confiscated. Chishakwa
was arrested on Sunday but released on Tuesday without charges being
preferred. She said the police accused her of organising an illegal rally but
released her two days later. In a bid to frustrate MDC supporters and to
stop them from attending the rally, the police yesterday mounted two
roadblocks about 30km apart, along the Chiredzi road. Plainclothes
policemen took down the registration numbers of vehicles as they drove past
the roadblocks. Asked whether this was normal practice, a police officer who
refused to be identified said it was an instruction from his
superiors. But despite this, about 10 000 people thronged the stadium to hear
the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, speak. Tsvangirai reiterated the need
for a rerun of the presidential election, saying the 9-11 March poll was not
free and fair. To an enthusiastic crowd, Tsvangirai said: " I do not believe
Mugabe won the presidential election freely and fairly. At most, he won about
900 000 votes. If he challenges me, let's go for a rerun."
State Asks Private Sector to Help Provide Infrastructure,
Services
The Daily News (Harare) May 17, 2002 Posted to the
web May 16, 2002 Ngoni Chanakira
The government is alleged to have
revisited its Public/Private Sector Partnerships (PPP) policy first
introduced four years ago, seeking the private sector's help in the provision
of infrastructure and other public services. The policy was first
introduced in 1998. The move comes at a time when the government and the
private sector are engaged in discussions about the best economic way
forward. The government claims most industrialists are sympathetic to the
major opposition, the MDC and are sabotaging the economy by closing factories
and sending workers home willy-nilly. On the other hand, industrialists
counter-claim that the Zanu PF government is not addressing their woes and
is, instead, spending more time tackling political issues and settling
political scores while the economy bleeds. In a major turn of events last
month, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is understood to have
asked the business community to help rebuild the nation's economy by
reverting back to the PPP to salvage it from crumbling. Zimbabwe is fraught
with billion-dollar debts, high and soaring inflation, more than 55 percent
unemployment, as well as a collapsing health system. The government is
alleged to have asked co-operation from the business sector to ensure
adequate, reliable and economical supplies of basic infrastructure such as
electricity, telecommunications, transport, water, schools and hospitals, all
crucial to economic growth and development. A banking industry source said
the government and parastatals, which traditionally supplied these services,
had now found it increasingly difficult to meet the growing demands both in
terms of quality and quantity due to fiscal and capacity constraints. He
said it was against this background that the government decided to involve
the private sector to augment its efforts in the provision of the public
goods. The government says the advantages of reverting to the PPP will be
a reduction of fiscal pressure through sharing the burden of
building infrastructure and other development projects, increasing efficiency
in investment, and promotion of access to modern technology, skills
and expertise, which are required to run large and complex enterprises in
a commercial manner. The government also believes this could enhance
economic empowerment of indigenous people through promoting indigenous
entrepreneurs, as well as promoting the use of local resources in the
country's development. The Discount Company of Zimbabwe Limited, in its
analysis of the situation, said: " . . . the fact that the programme was
launched in 1998 and four years down the line no significant progress has
taken place shows that something is amiss in the PPP policy matrix. From a
private sector point of view the major issue is that of lack of confidence in
government's commitment to implementing policies designed to put the economy
of Zimbabwe back on a sustainable economic path."
From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo A MEMBER of the four-person
Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), appointed by President Mugabe, has
resigned because of differences over the fairness and conduct of the 9-11
March presidential election won controversially by
Mugabe.
Yesterday, Richard Majwabu-Moyo, a lawyer in Bulawayo, told
The Daily News he had sent his letter of resignation from the ESC to the
chairman, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, who is a lawyer and war veteran.
But
Gula-Ndebele insisted yesterday there were no differences among
the commissioners.
"As far as I know, there is no commissioner who has
resigned," Gula-Ndebele said. But Majwabu-Moyo insisted he sent his
resignation letter to Gula-Ndebele.
"I'm no longer a member of the
commission," said Majwabu-Moyo. "I resigned on 8 April after I felt that I
was not comfortable being a member of the commission."
He said he
resigned after the election and dissociated himself from the ESC' s positive
report on the conduct of the poll.
But he declined to disclose why he
felt uneasy with being associated any longer with the ESC and referred all
questions to Gula-Ndebele, who insisted Majwabu-Moyo had not
resigned.
Majwabu-Moyo was appointed to the commission by Mugabe in 1998.
The remaining members of the ESC are the chairman, Gula-Ndebele, Chief
Albert Bepura and Joyce Kazembe.
The three submitted a report to
Mugabe in which they said the election was held in very difficult economic,
social and political conditions".
The report said: "There existed
requisite conditions for the free expression of the will of the Zimbabwe
electorate and the poll result is a reflection of political trends and the
will of the Zimbabwe electorate."
This conclusion is in direct
contradiction to the "very difficult economic, social and political
conditions" stated in the report's introduction.
The report mentions a
number of other issues which led the international community, including some
African countries, to condemn the election as flawed, saying the results were
not an expression of the free will of the people of
Zimbabwe.
Investigations by The Daily News revealed that the conduct of
the poll had displeased Majwabu-Moyo.
Though the ESC's figures on the
election results tallied with those announced by Tobaiwa Mudede, the
registrar-general, there was a discrepancy of more than 400 000 votes on a
constituency-by-constituency count.
A Daily News story on the difference
in the figures resulted in the arrest of the paper's Editor-in-Chief, Geoff
Nyarota, under the new draconian Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act.
Nyarota was charged of abusing journalistic privilege by
allegedly publishing "falsehoods".
Thirteen Chitungwiza Town Council seats, 12 of them held by Zanu PF, have
fallen vacant after the councillors failed to attend at least two consecutive
ordinary council and council committee meetings without permission from the
council.
On 8 May, Simba Mudunge, the town clerk, wrote to
each of the individuals affected pointing out that in terms of Section 78 (2)
(d) of the Urban Councils Act they were no longer councillors.
The Act requires councillors to seek the leave of the council to be absent
from council meetings during a period of two consecutive
calendar months.
Ten of the councillors are: Tsitsi Jadagu,
Clarkson Mandizvidza, Lazarus Mhurushomana, Elias Chingoka, Philemon Chipiyo,
Ben Mubayi, C Rambanapasi, T Macheri, B Chivanga and B
Samungare.
The names of the other three could not be established
yesterday. Chitungwiza has 25 council seats, including that of the executive
mayor.
Chipiyo was elected as an independent. Quoting Section 78
(2) (d) of the Act, Mudunge wrote: "This means that your seat as a councillor
has fallen vacant.
However, if you give good and convincing
reasons why you were absent . . . the case will be tabled before council for
consideration."
He asked each councillor to respond by Monday this
week. Yesterday, Misheck Shoko, the executive mayor, said: "Most of them had
responded by Monday."
He could not give further details as he
said he was still to be briefed by Mudunge because of a busy schedule on
Tuesday and yesterday.
Section 78 (3) of the Act, however, allows
the council to apply to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and
National Housing for a councillor's reinstatement.
The dismissal
of the councillors follows a High Court application by Simon Mapengo, the
Chitungwiza stores controller, who, together with Maxwell Dzvete, his deputy,
were dismissed in May last year after building materials worth $271 526,57
went missing from the council's central stores some time in
2000.
Mapengo maintains he was not to blame as he was away from
work when the materials went missing. Dzvete did not challenge his
dismissal.
In his court application on 20 March 2002, Mapengo said
the meeting that resolved to dismiss him was not properly constituted because
some of the councillors had already lost their seats and their decision
was, therefore, null and void.
Scanlen and Holderness, the
council's lawyers, wrote to Mudunge on 11 April 2002 recommending Mapengo's
reinstatement.
They said his High Court application was likely to
succeed. The lawyers said: "To save itself from embarrassment and unnecessary
legal costs, we advise the municipality to reinstate Simon Mapengo without
loss of salary and benefits."
Mapengo would then withdraw his
court application, the lawyers said. Last month, three Chegutu councillors
were fired for failing to attend council meetings for two consecutive
months.
PEOPLE applying
for birth certificates at the Registrar-General (RG)'s Makombe Building
offices in Harare are bitter at the slow pace at which the staff are
working.
Hundreds applying for passports, birth and death
certificates and national identity cards endure long hours in the queues.
Some spend the night at the offices in order to be among the first the next
morning.
Mavis Makuwaro of Mbare said this week: "I slept here in
the open because I wanted to be the first person to be served but it seems I
will have to come again tomorrow."
She has been going to Makombe
Building for some time after she lost her son's birth
certificate.
"My son is in Grade Seven and he cannot write the
examinations without his birth certificate," Makuwaro said.
James Mamvura from Highfield was in a similar predicament. He said: "We're
now paying people to stand in the queue for us. I really wonder what' s
happening to our country. You cannot obtain a passport or a birth certificate
without these hassles."
The passport office is apparently not
adequately computerised. Ordinary passports, which cost $600, are processed
in seven months on average.
Emergency passports were suspended
last year at the height of the mass exodus to the United Kingdom the and
United States by health personnel.
Nurses, medical doctors,
pharmacists, teachers and social workers are emigrating to South Africa, the
US, the UK and other countries where working conditions are better compared
to Zimbabwe.
Efforts to get comment from the RG's office this week
were unsuccessful.
The police on Tuesday took
37 of the 40 farm workers and their dependents at the Cleveland Dam camp site
near Mabvuku back to farms in Marondera and Hwedza from which they were
evicted by farm invaders last month.
The last three were
waiting to be fetched by their employer. James Chivirugu,18, said: "Our
employer came here yesterday and said he would come and fetch us today."
Chivirugu was apprehensive about going back to the farm.
He
said: "I am not sure what the situation is like out there. We might end up
living in the bush again."
Those returned to the farms over the
past three days were chased away by the invaders, mostly Zanu PF
supporters.
The invaders accused the workers of continuing to work
for the commercial farmers who, as a result, refused to leave their
farms.
On Sunday, the riot police descended on the farm workers at
the Coronation Park campsite in Msasa and at Cleveland Dam. They took some
of them back to the farms the same day.
Those remaining at
Coronation Park were cleared on Monday. There were about 270 workers and
their dependents at the two sites.
The farm workers and their
families were brought to Harare by the farmers after being violently evicted
the Zanu PF supporters.
Most of them left their possessions at the
farms as they fled, and their property was either stolen or destroyed by the
attackers.
Reports from Marondera on Monday said the workers taken
to the farms on Sunday had met a hostile reception and had fled into the
bush.
THE
Nigerians say if you bring ant-ridden faggots do not complain if lizards pay
you a visit. Likewise, rather than being a result of colonial ills, the
crisis that has befallen Zimbabwe is a direct consequence of Zanu PF's errant
policies and the resultant problems should be blamed on the party and its
leadership.
While the ruling party is apportioning blame on
everyone else except itself, we must not be fooled because the most lethal
and clear threat to Zimbabwe's national sovereignty emanates from within this
country. Specifically, Zanu PF is the greatest such threat.
The
gobbledygook the Zanu PF leadership has hatched and from which the public
media have invented a chorus about and against the West, in particular
Britain and Tony Blair specifically, as being the prime, if not sole, cause
of our quagmire is unfortunate.
Only superficial observers and the
lily-livered can believe the fallacy that Britain and the United States pose
a clear and present danger to our national sovereignty at the moment. The
truth is that the two countries are a threat to Zanu PF. This is different
from threatening the sovereignty of Zimbabwe because Zanu PF is not Zimbabwe
and Zimbabwe is not Zanu PF.
If sovereignty means the existence
of political power within a given territory, which is exercised through the
functions of the state, then there is no reason why we should be pointing at
other countries.
However, states need legitimation for the
effective exercise of the authority in the territory in which they have
jurisdiction.
Zanu PF does not pass the test of a party and
government that has the legitimacy to rule this country and from the way in
which they are running this country, it is clear that they know it and they
don't care.
As better minds in political science put it, a regime
that has maintained order, provided important services, kept the people out
of war or did not lose one, preserved individual security and rights, and
allocated resources evenly or generously will be accepted, respected and
supported by most.
This is the essence of popular sovereignty,
which means authority derived from the fact that the people who are governed
identify and feel that those who govern satisfy their needs. This is
necessary for the stability of a country. It also enhances the image of the
country among global stakeholders, whether African or European.
A country cannot be seen as legitimate among so-called African brothers
only.
The sovereignty of any nation and the legitimacy of its
government is guaranteed by engaging with civil society in building national
consensus through processes of consultation and participation.
However, when all has been said and done, the greatest and indispensable
guarantee of legitimacy is effective performance in managing the national
economy. When a government, which is the visible form of the state, fails to
achieve some or all of these functions effectively, then its sovereignty is
at stake. Elections are there for the people to renew or terminate the
mandate of governments that satisfy or do not satisfy the general happiness
of the governed.
The Zanu PF government has been on a consistent
and unchecked progression to a total disrespect of all these functions and
this is the cause for the malaise in which we find ourselves. In short, Zanu
PF cannot and has become incapable of guaranteeing our national
sovereignty.
Rather than constitutionalise authority, Zanu PF has
personalised and privatised it in the Presidency.
Zanu PF made
most of the amendments to the Constitution, which have created a demagogue of
a President. This has lumped Parliament, the Judiciary and the Presidency
into one edifice, which cannot serve the interests of the
people.
Even the Lancaster House Constitution with all its
imperfections made a better reading in that respect. That is why President
Mugabe has to use the police, the army and the secret service to enforce
obedience when it is clear that his authority has evaporated and only exists
among his cronies who are benefiting from the corruption that is going on in
this country. It is also a sign of how scared the President is of his own
people.
While the health delivery system is collapsing, the
President is channelling millions of dollars to a dubious "National Youth
Service", just to protect himself from the people he is supposed to be
leading. For all the hype and pomp of being re-elected, the President has not
appointed his Cabinet some two months after "winning" a disputed
poll.
This surely should be a sign of the confidence he has in the
mandate that he was given by the people.
If the President has so
much confidence and won the election fairly and squarely, then why is he
seeking this thing called "unity" with the MDC? As the Minister of State for
Information and Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, put it, Zanu PF is a "confident
party with confident policies", so what is the problem?
The
reason why Zanu PF is in the talks is because they know that the election was
neither free nor fair and they want legitimacy derived from talks and not
from the people. It is also because Zanu PF has realised that they do not
have a legitimacy of their own derived from the people. That is why the
party, through its ministers and its media, has not stopped telling the
nation that the election was endorsed by the Southern African Development
Community, Cuba, China and a few other African states.
In any case,
who has heard any statement by Presidents Thabo Mbeki or Olusegun
Obasanjo saying the election was free and fair?
Never mind the
outward macho stunts being performed by the unelected Moyo, in reality, the
king is scared of his subjects.
Alliances between governments and
civic groups based on principle and not allegiance are a way of
legitimatising authority. Zanu PF has increasingly become paranoid of any
form of dissent or criticism. The result has been the harassment of civic
organisations, non-governmental organisations and the media.
These are actions of a government that has lost confidence in itself to deal
with problems afflicting the people and would rather they be silenced, or
even eliminated. As a result, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the
National Constitutional Assembly have been viewed as having political agendas
or as being funded by foreign donors seeking to undermine the government.
This is a convenient explanation because government is protecting none of the
rights that these organisations are crying for
THE United
Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday said it was reassessing the
food aid needs of Zimbabwe as another international agency warned that three
million Zimbabweans could be at risk of starvation by
next month.
"There was an assessment done in September-October
last year and we are currently doing an update of that assessment," WFP's
Zimbabwe representative Kevin Farrell told the Financial
Gazette.
"We haven't completed that yet." The UN agency's
initial assessments identified about 557 751 people in need of food aid in
the provinces of Manicaland, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North
and South as well as in the Midlands.
The WFP last year made an
appeal for 120 000 tonnes of food and has received pledges from donors
amounting to slightly more than half of that, up from one-third. The food is
expected in the country in the next three to four months. Farrell
would not disclose whether his organisation's reassessment would result in an
increase in the number of people deemed to be in need of food aid or the
amount of assistance needed.
He however said the assessment was
likely to be complete in the next two weeks and that the WFP was also
involved in preliminary discussions about the possibility of extending its
one-year programme in Zimbabwe, which is due to end in November.
"At the moment, we are in preliminary discussions about the possibility of an
extension that would in effect take it on until after the next harvest," he
said. "But this is still at discussion stage."
A WFP spokeswoman
said in Johannesburg this week that assessments were also taking place in
Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland, with Malawi, Zambia and
Zimbabwe being regarded as the most critical countries.
The
assessments have been undertaken ahead of a meeting of aid agencies and
southern African governments due to take place in South Africa next month and
come amid fears that the food crisis could be worsened by a drought induced
by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
In Zimbabwe, the United
States-based Famine Early Warnings Systems Network (FEWSNET) has just issued
a report which estimates that as many as three million Zimbabweans could be
among the "food insecure population" by June. But analysts and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say such estimates could be
an underestimate because of the increasing number of Zimbabweans facing
starvation who might not be covered by programmes such as those run by
WFP.
The WFP is targeting special groups such as female-headed
households, the terminally ill who have no means of support, the widowed,
orphans, the elderly and handicapped and those with no or low food
harvest. But a rising number of people, especially in the urban areas,
are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families because of loss
of income or the rising cost of living.
"Three million is
probably a conservative estimate," the MDC's economic affairs secretary Eddie
Cross said yesterday. "If you look at areas that have no crop at all, we are
probably talking about half the rural population. "In the urban
areas, many people are living on bread and we are running out of wheat. By
the end of July, wheat stocks will definitely be exhausted and when that
happens, the whole caboodle will come down.
There are 14 000
workers in the baking industry and 3 000 in milling who might be without
jobs. It's a very serious situation." Aid agencies and analysts say the
situation is being compounded by food shortages and high prices, which are
threatening some of their food programmes. Richard Miller, the
regional representative of the Catholic aid agency CAFOD, said in a
statement: "We have been providing supplementary feeding for 100 000 very
vulnerable children in schools in rural areas for the past six months, but
the food supplies are running out. In some areas, we only have 10 days' worth
of food left.
"We are having difficulties finding food to buy as it
has become scarce and the prices have soared - the price of the porridge we
give to the children has gone up by 300 percent. We have some time on our
side, but we need to plan now for the crisis that is looming later in the
year." In its Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation Report, FEWSNET estimated
that Zimbabwe needed to mobilise US$345 million ($19 billion) to import 1.3
to 1.4 million metric tonnes of maize to meet the 2002/03
consumption requirements at a time when it is facing acute foreign currency
shortages. Other constraints would be logistical and transport problems
and a "slow response to the UN humanitarian appeal".
Farrell
however said although the WFP was still lobbying for more assistance from
donors, the organisation, which is distributing maize meal, beans and cooking
oil, had enough stocks to keep it going. "Whereas the need is still
very great, I would like to recognise the support we have received from a
number of donors who have been extremely generous," he said.
BULAWAYO - Police on
Tuesday questioned an employee of Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ)
over a meeting the anti-corruption group held in the city to discuss
Zimbabwe's disputed presidential election, it was established
yesterday.
Daniel Molokela, a human rights lawyer employed by TIZ
as a programme officer at its Bulawayo office, was held at the Bulawayo
Central Police for about an hour.
Molokela said yesterday police
wanted him to submit a report on what transpired at the post-election
discussion held by TIZ at a local hotel here two weeks ago. "I was
interrogated over a meeting we held on May 2, which was a post-mortem of the
March presidential polls. The discussions on that day centred on issues of
transparency in the election process and the police feel that some people who
spoke at the meeting were in violation of POSA so they want a report from
me," Molokela said.
POSA is the short-hand for the Public Order and
Security Act, which the government rushed through Parliament last year ahead
of the presidential vote, controversially won by President Robert
Mugabe.
Critics say the law is being used by police to clamp down
on dissent and all protests except those staged by ruling ZANU PF
supporters. Molokela said police were particularly concerned about a
speech made at the meeting by Nkululeko Sibanda, leader of the Zimbabwe
National Students' Association (ZINASU).
"The police say
Nkululeko violated POSA during the meeting by allegedly attacking the
government and the person of the President. They want a report tomorrow
(Friday). He (Nkululeko) spoke on that day but I am not sure if he was in
violation of that law."
Sibanda was arrested by police last week
over statements he made at this year's May Day celebrations in Bulawayo,
where he criticised what he said was the government's insensitivity to the
plight of college and university students. He was released three
days later after the intervention of his lawyers. Police say he will be taken
to court soon apparently over his remarks at the May Day rally.
Lucas Nkomo, the lawyer representing Molokela, said police had assured him
that Molokela had no case to answer and that his interrogation was meant to
assist them in pressing charges against the ZINASU leader and
other unspecified people. "The police say they want to charge some
individuals who attended the meeting. They detained my client because they
say as the organiser of that particular meeting, he should give them a full
report of what transpired," Nkomo said. Police said Molokela's
interrogation was a routine investigation but gave no other
details.
A DECISION by
Zimbabwe's ruling party to postpone talks with the main opposition movement
is a sign that President Robert Mugabe is regaining his political confidence
after his controversial re-election, analysts say.
But Mugabe's
ZANU PF government remains vulnerable to international pressure as it battles
severe food shortages in the southern African state.
He could yet
be dragged back to the negotiating table to ease post-election tension, they
said. ZANU PF announced at the weekend that it had cancelled further
talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) until the
courts ruled on an MDC challenge to Mugabe's declared victory in the March
9-11 presidential elections.
South Africa and Nigeria, Africa's
most powerful countries, who have been mediating the inter-party dialogue,
have been applying intense pressure to bring the ruling party back to the
talks, the analysts said.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has
emerged as Mugabe's biggest threat since the 78-year-old former guerrilla
came to power 22 years ago, says the elections were rigged.
The
March poll was condemned as fraudulent by key Western powers, including the
European Union and the United States, southern African parliamentarians and
the Commonwealth, which suspended Zimbabwe. Some African governments and the
Organisation of African Unity endorsed Mugabe's 60-40 victory and South
African observers called the polls "legitimate".
Mugabe's party
insists the veteran leader won fairly and has rejected opposition calls for a
re-run. ZANU PF said its talks with the MDC - which were due to resume
on Monday after a brief session last month - would not be useful in a
political environment "poisoned by the MDC's continuous lies" over ZANU PF's
alleged campaign of violence against MDC activists.
Professor
Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a political analyst at the University of Zimbabwe, said
ZANU PF's decision to suspend talks with the MDC underlined its growing
political confidence and its scepticism over the utility of
the talks. "What we are looking at is an important political
statement from ZANU PF saying that ZANU PF has little to gain from these
talks...," said Dzinotyiwei, chairman of political pressure group Zimbabwe
Integrated Programme (ZIP).
"ZANU PF is saying that it is
confident that it has the ability to defend its political position at home
and on the international diplomatic stage," he said. But other
political analysts said ZANU PF remains vulnerable to foreign
pressure.
Brian Raftopoulos, an associate professor at the Zimbabwe
Institute of Development Studies, said Nigeria and South Africa had the
muscle to pull ZANU PF back to negotiations.
"The Zimbabwe
economy is in a very serious crisis and needs outside help, and Zimbabwe has
a very, very serious food shortage which can only be alleviated with the
assistance of the international community," Raftopoulos said. "If
ZANU PF gets back into the talks it will be for public relations purposes
because in its view these talks are doomed to fail," he added.
South Africa has mostly adopted a policy of quiet diplomacy towards its
troublesome northern neighbour. Remarks by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota
last week suggested there was a cabinet split over that policy.
"The government of Zimbabwe would not listen to us. We asked them to stop
the looting of farms and not to follow the route of lawlessness but we
failed," he said.
Early this week he made clear that view was
his own, not the government's. The Zimbabwe government was gloating
this week that Mugabe, who has been slapped with travel sanctions by the
United States and the EU, managed to go to New York last week for a United
Nations children's conference without any incident.
Zimbabwe's
official Herald newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge as saying that
Mugabe's UN trip, through France, proved that the "smart sanctions" against
Mugabe and his political and business associates had failed. Mudenge
said the trip demonstrated the world recognised Mugabe's leadership of the
former Rhodesia, which he has ruled since it gained independence from Britain
in 1980.
"We wanted to demonstrate that the sanctions will not stop
us from carrying out our diplomatic functions ... that our international
intercourse is not affected by sanctions," he said. The United States does
not normally prevent visits to UN headquarters, which is not US
territory.
In an editorial entitled "(ZANU PF/MDC) Talks were
doomed to fail," the Herald said while Zimbabwe welcomed Nigeria and South
Africa's good faith in trying to restart talks, the talks would be useless
and there was no crisis over Zimbabwe's leadership.
"Zimbabwe is
no longer an international issue except in the minds of the MDC and its blind
supporters," it said. - Reuter
IN Zimbabwe today all sorts of people are
angry and confused, especially those in the Christian community who have held
to a hope that God would somehow come through and deliver this dear land from
the present madness.
People don't and can't sense
what has been and is happening. There is a perplexity, a real disorientation
between faith in the goodness of the Almighty God and the horrors of life in
Zimbabwe.
The whole nation is being shaken, stable
communities are being uprooted and irreversibly broken
up.
For example, some of the latest figures from
the Commercial Farmers' Union are of 250 farmers driven off their farms. At
the average of 40 farm worker families per farm, that means 10 000
families directly affected and some 50 000 people all drift in the raging
waters of uncertainty - if not all sorts of awful and degrading
ignominies.
The scale of the suffering that is coming
with the continuing land acquisitions and the spectre of famine is going to
be absolutely horrendous. Without a change of government this nation will
be drinking a cup of very great bitterness that defies
comprehension.
Even Christian leaders are struggling to
make sense of God while many say something like this . . . "I don't
understand God. I don't know what God is doing."
The
Old Testament Book of Malachi (Malachi 2 vs17) speaks of God being wearied by
the people saying: "Where is God of justice?"
Why was
God wearied by the question? Things were wrong in the society, big things
that needed to be sorted out remained unchallenged.
It
is God's world. He should surely act. And the God of justice appeared
unmoved.
What's going on? Where is the God of justice?
they asked often, and it wearied God. Why?
Your
first three chapters of the Bible are most important for understanding our
world, ourselves as human beings in the world and the contradictions and pain
of life.
Adam was put in the garden of Eden. God gave
Adam a work to do in the garden. He had to work it and care for
it.
To be human is to be responsible for looking after
this world. Even in close fellowship with God, Adam may have prayed about
the trees that needed to be pruned or the weeds that needed to be pulled. But
he had to do the pruning and weeding, the watering and the planting of
new seeds.
God would do his bit - sending the rain,
making the sun rise, changing the seasons and the
like.
But we have to take care of our
world.
Back to the time of the prophet Malachi. They
wanted God's justice but settled down with a society marked by sorcery,
widespread divorce, robbery, oppression of the poor and the alien, adultery
and perjury. And looked for God.
They wanted God to
weed. To prune, to plant.
Don't get me wrong. God is a
God of justice. God does come to the aid of people who cry out to him, who
look to him. But he is not going to do the gardening. He is not going to let
us get away with delegating upwards.
The book of
Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and is a book full of hope and
promises about a coming future. But it is also a serious call to Israel to be
honest about the nation, to repent and to take responsibility for the society
in which the people of Israel lived.
The people have to
play their part. The God of justice works through people. He adds his
blessing to the work of our hands but we must work honestly and
well.
What of us in Zimbabwe? Do we on one hand pray
and call out to God for justice while accepting a government that is
illegitimate?
Morgan Tsvangirai won the election. They
cheated but he won. The present regime is an illegemate regime and that is
non-negotiable.
But all sorts of Christians in this
post-election period are praying for justice but being dishonest. No wonder
that God does not act.
Let us be very clear.
Whenever anyone is dealing with the central government we are dealing with an
illegitimate regime. That is not true of local
government.
We must get in on the table as fast as we
can as Christian people and as responsible stewards of God's
world.
The reality is that the man in the State House
is there not by the will of the majority of the people of Zimbabwe. That is
a fundamental that the God of Truth and Justice looks for because it
arises from an uncompromising desire for justice.
To
those who are asking where the God of justice is comes back the question:
"What are you doing in the garden because I, God, am not going to do the
gardening for you? That's your job."
In the garden of
Zimbabwe we are being overwhelmed by the scale of the problems facing us. If
you like, there is an awful lot of weeding to do. So we have to find ways of
working together.
Businessmen faced with paying taxes
cannot work alone. An individual response is too weak against the
illegitimate regime. One man cannot take on this Goliath of evil in our land
because there are many Goliaths.
We have to make
collective responses and to actively seek out ways of collectively working
together to get the garden sorted out.
The God of
justice will quickly come to a nation honest about itself. And save
it.
lProvincial Canon Tim Neill is a former
vicar-general of the Anglican Church's diocese of
Harare.
THE
opposition forces in this country are defined mainly by three organisations,
namely the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
These organisations have always been strongly linked and
are invariably part of the political force that has more than ruffled
the feathers of the ZANU PF government that is in charge of the country
at present.
In the stalemate that is currently characterising
Zimbabwe's political theatre, there have been somewhat sporadic attempts by
these related organisations to try to put the government under pressure to
accept the necessity of democratic reforms in order for the country to move
forward. These sporadic attempts have come from the ZCTU and the NCA, with
some form of backing from the MDC.
The issue that has now
emerged from these attempts is that the official opposition MDC must now also
begin to take centre stage in carrying out activities that seek to raise the
costs of the ZANU PF regime and also show "people power".
Moreover, the talk has floated around the idea that the NCA, ZCTU and the MDC
must now make an obvious attempt to come together formally and effect
programmes that lead to the promulgation of a new constitution as well as an
election re-run. These two agendas are reasonable translations of the general
anger and frustrations that the ordinary people are feeling about the May
2002 presidential election.
But the mechanism of bringing about
these goals is the more difficult question. More significantly, how should an
alliance of the three strongest bodies in the country work in order to
achieve these goals? Will the alliance not face the risk of swallowing
previous individual agendas of the organisations and thus confuse the public?
These are all very important questions that I shall attempt to give answers
to in this discourse.
Questions will be raised over the primacy of
the constitutional agenda over that of an election re-run and this might be
seen to be the first stumbling block to such an alliance.
The
MDC has already stated at its rallies that it wants nothing short of an
election re-run from the current political impasse with the government, while
the NCA has given an absolute position that the way forward is the re-writing
of the constitution.
The ZCTU has shown support for both the
election re-run and constitutional agenda but has however been less assertive
about this position for reasons yet to be disclosed.
However,
the three bodies can combine both agendas with ease. The election re-run
agenda feeds into the constitutional agenda with so much ease that it does
not have to be a separate agenda. The constitutional agenda not only augments
the election re-run campaign but gives it a wider appeal. This is because it
seeks to ensure that the election will not simply be technical but also that
there would be democratic constitutional change along with the
poll.
In addition, there will be sufficient constitutional
mechanisms to ensure that the election is free and fair. There would be no
clamouring for the United Nations to run the election on behalf of the
Zimbabwean people.
So, in terms of the agenda that would be the
focus of the alliance, it is clear that there should be no
problem.
However, there might be problems that will arise in
relation to the leadership of the alliance.
The three
organisations might not be keen to assume that they can be construed as equal
players in the struggle. One organisation might feel it is more politically
relevant and more suited to make the guiding principle of the alliance a
reality and therefore will only be participating out of token commitment to a
united effort.
To prevent this form happening, the alliance will
have to come up with a technical structure that will govern the alliance.
This technical arm can be given whatever term the organisations deem fit but
must comprise the top leadership of the three organisations, at least at
secretary-general level.
It will serve as the primary policy body
and will determine the form of action to be taken by the alliance at any
given time. It will also coordinate with interested civic organisations with
regards to the role they can play in the quest to attain the ambitions of the
alliance.
In terms of the activity of the normal day-to-day
business of the different organisations, there should be no interference
except when it comes to organising protests and key decisions that seek to
confront the current government.
The chairpersonship of this
organ should be on a rotational basis, with each organisation taking the top
post for a month to prevent a situation where one organisation always has to
take the extra responsibility of bringing everyone together.
Press statements and any other such public announcements should be made
jointly or through jointly signed documents. In the event that
one organisation wants to pull out of the alliance and in effect does so,
the alliance must disband and the organisations must go about their business
as usual.
The alliance must also give itself a lifespan in which
it feels it can achieve these goals. And in the event that the desired
results are not achieved in that lifespan, there must be room for
reassessment with the sole aim of carrying on with the struggle.
The formation of this alliance will not be without reactions from
the government. The initial reaction will be to brand the NCA and the ZCTU
as all along having been "arms of the MDC", a thing that will not be new to
the Zimbabwean populace.
The other reaction will be the almost
immediate arrest of the main leaders of the alliance before any activity even
begins to take place in earnest on the basis of plotting to overthrow the
sitting government of Zimbabwe.
The regional community will
adopt a wait-and-see attitude. In the event that the alliance cannot show
"people power", states like South Africa will maintain their relatively quiet
stance while the rest will see the current government as always having had
the people of Zimbabwe on its side.
The alliance will show its
tenacity and relevance in Zimbabwe in the manner in which it will relate to
all of these attacks on its existence. Simultaneously the alliance will be
able to learn from the South African urban political movement experience
where the United Democratic Front served as an all-important rallying point
for the people of South Africa in spite of detentions and state
propaganda.
The alliance will be misinterpreted by some to be a
political party that seeks to assume ascendancy over the MDC and other
opposition parties. This perception will be short-lived on the basis of the
activities that the alliance will undertake in terms of its founding
principles.
Overall, the importance and necessity for such an
alliance cannot be understated. It is an ostensible way forward to make sure
the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe is at the fingertips of our
citizens.
By virtue of its existence, the alliance will mobilise
Zimbabwean urban masses around a cause that they will see as coherent and
far-reaching. The rural populace will join in by default, that is, after
seeing the effect that the alliance will have had on the political setup that
is in the country.
This united front will also allow people to
realise the importance of democracy in Zimbabwe and that the latter is a
principle that is worth sacrificing for.
lTakura Zhangazha
is an advocacy officer with the Media Institute of Southern
Africa.
STRASBOURG: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO DEBATEZIMBABWE CRISIS TOMORROW [THURS -
16/05] -
STRASBOURG - 15-05-2002 - FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE
Tomorrow afternoon
(Thurs - 16 May), Euro-MPs will hold an emergency debate in Strasbourg on the
worsening crisis in Zimbabwe. With 626 members, the European Parliament
represents political parties from across all fifteen European Union Member
States and takes a close interest in the EU's relations with developing
nations.
This afternoon (Wed - 15/5), Geoffrey Van Orden MEP - Vice
Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee - tabled on behalf of the
233-strong EPP-ED Group - the largest in Parliament - a strongly-worded
Resolution on Zimbabwe [please see full text below] which will form the basis
for Thursday's (16/5) key debate.
The Resolution looks set to receive
support from all other Political Groups in the European Parliament when MEPs
vote on it tomorrow (Thurs - 16/5) evening.
Euro-MPs are determined
that the international community, distracted by many crises, must not shift
its attention away from Zimbabwe, thereby allowing the catastrophic situation
there to deteriorate even further, with murder, violence, intimidation and
now starvation becoming part of the norm of daily life in this much abused
country.
The EPP- ED Group's Resolution highlights "the scale of the
humanitarian disaster, a crisis exacerbated by the failed policies of the
Mugabe regime according to senior WFP representatives, afflicts the
Zimbabwean population in dramatically increasing numbers, with an estimated
7.8 million of the country's 13 million population now in need of emergency
food aid, furthermore compounding the problem of food shortages in Malawi and
Zambia".
The Group warns of "that Zimbabwean government ministers and
officials are continuing to travel freely to EU countries" and "insists that
EU Member States and the Council, whilst ensuring that current measures are
strictly applied, maintain and intensify the resolve and actions of the EU to
bring about an early improvement in the situation in Zimbabwe and, therefore,
to identify and put in place further measures that will put pressure on
the Mugabe regime".
These should include: - extension of the EU's
proscribed list of banned Mugabe associates to include other key figures,
such as the vice-presidents, all ministers, senior military, police and
secret service commanders and leading businessmen who have helped to bankroll
ZANU-PF or benefited from its corrupt activities, and who play a role in
sustaining the regime and its campaign of violence, and include their
respective spouses and children, as they also spend illegally acquired money
abroad, - publication of details pertaining to assets already identified and
frozen as a result of the policy of targeted sanctions, - examination of
Zimbabwe's debt situation and drawing rights in international financial
institutions.
Mr Van Orden's Resolution "calls on African leaders,
particularly in the SADC region, not to resume normal diplomatic relations
with the Mugabe regime and thereby jeopardise the 'New Programme for African
Development' ( NEPAD ) and the prospects for the launch of an 'African
renaissance' by the G-8 Summit in Canada this July".
As the Government
continues to intimidate and harass its political opponents and the media with
highly dubious charges of treason against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
MDC Secretary-General, Ncube Welshman, and the arrest of many journalists,
the EPP-ED Group "calls for a fresh Presidential Election to take place
within the next twelve months, according to internationally accepted norms
and under the auspices of independent international observers".
In
addition to Mr Geoffrey Van Orden MEP [Conservative Party, United Kingdom],
the ten other Euro-MPs who co-signed the Zimbabwe Resolution on behalf of the
233-strong EPP-ED Group are from Britain, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland,
and Sweden: - Nirj Deva MEP [Conservative Party, United Kingdom]; - Neil
Parish MEP [Conservative Party, United Kingdom]; - Jacqueline Foster MEP
[Conservative Party, United Kingdom]; - Mary Banotti MEP [Fine Gael,
Ireland]; - John Corrie MEP [Conservative Party, United Kingdom]; -
Michael Gahler MEP [CDU, Germany]; - Eija-Riitta Korhola MEP [KD,
Finland]; - Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP [CDU, Germany]; - Hanja Maij-Weggen MEP
[CDA, Holland]; - Lennart Sacrédeus MEP [KD, Sweden].
EPP-ED GROUP
MOTION FOR URGENCY RESOLUTION
ON THE SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE
tabled
by Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, Nirj Deva MEP, Neil Parish MEP, Jacqueline
Foster MEP, Mary Banotti MEP, John Corrie MEP, Michael Gahler MEP,
Eija-Riitta Korhola MEP, Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP, Hanja Maij-Weggen MEP,
Lennart Sacrédeus MEP
The European Parliament,
- having
regard to its previous resolutions on 13 April 2000, 18 May 2000, 6 July
2000, 15 March 2001 and 6 September 2001, 13 December 2001 and 14 March 2002
on the situation in Zimbabwe,
- having regard to the outcome of the
Presidential Election in Zimbabwe, 9 - 11 March 2002,
- having regard
to the decision of the Commonwealth on 19 March 2002 to suspend Zimbabwe's
membership for a period of one year,
- having regard to the resolution
passed on 21 March 2002 by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Cape
Town on the situation in Zimbabwe,
- having regard to the decision of
the EU General Affairs Council on 28 January 2002 to close its Cotonou
Consultations with Zimbabwe and on 18 February 2002 to introduce a package of
targeted sanctions,
- having regard to the conclusions of the Barcelona
European Council on 15 and 16 March 2002,
A. whereas the
international community, distracted by many crises, must not shift its
attention away from Zimbabwe, thereby allowing the catastrophic situation
there to deteriorate even further, with murder, violence, intimidation and
now starvation becoming part of the norm of daily life in this much abused
country,
B. whereas the Presidential Election was clearly flawed, with a
the range of well substantiated and serious electoral abuses,M
C.
whereas the scale of the humanitarian disaster, a crisis exacerbated by the
failed policies of the Mugabe regime according to senior WFP representatives,
afflicts the Zimbabwean population in dramatically increasing numbers, with
an estimated 7.8 million of the country's 13 million population now in need
of emergency food aid, furthermore compounding the problem of food shortages
in Malawi and Zambia,
D. whereas only one-third of the total amount of
food given earlier this year by the World Food Programme for the 750,000
people facing starvation in the worst affected rural areas in Zimbabwe was
effectively delivered,
E. whereas the Government continues to intimidate
and harass its political opponents and the media with highly dubious charges
of treason against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC Secretary-General,
Ncube Welshman, and the arrest of many journalists,
F. whereas
political violence has intensified since the election, including the murder
of at least a dozen opposition supporters; most recently Jenus Ngamira and
Tiperson Madhobha, as well as other acts of revenge carried out by ZANU-PF
supporters in areas where there has been high support for the political
opposition in the Presidential Election,
G. whereas the plan brokered by
South Africa and Nigeria to reopen negotiations between ZANU-PF and MDC
officials in Harare on 13 May has been blocked by the Zimbabwean
government,
H. whereas legislative restrictions including the Public
Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Privacy Act are now
being used to persecute political opponents and journalists, with eight
reporters arrested in the past month, and the legal move by the Foreign
Correspondents Association in Zimbabwe to challenge the Information and
Protection of Privacy Act in the Supreme Court is a legitimate response to
the unacceptable restrictions on freedom of speech and the media,
I.
whereas there are reports that Zimbabwean government ministers and officials
are continuing to travel freely to EU countries,
1. Reiterates its view
that the Presidential Election of 9 - 11 March 2002 was deeply flawed and
that the circumstances in which they were held were certainly not free and
fair and, accordingly, does not recognise the legitimacy of the Mugabe
regime;
2. Insists that the situation in Zimbabwe remains a high
priority for the EU and for the wider international community and that all
efforts should be made to bring about a benign change in the situation,
including the raising of the Zimbabwe issue by EU Member States in the United
Nations Security Council;
3. Applauds those politicians and citizens
of Zimbabwe who stand up for their democratic rights and for a return to the
rule of law;
4. Expresses its alarm about the breakdown of law and order
and the on-going use of political violence and intimidation by the ruling
party against political opponents;
5. Welcomes the stance taken by
the Commonwealth in suspending Zimbabwe for one year;
6.
Congratulates the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly for taking a robust
stand on Zimbabwe in its resolution of 21 March 2002;
7. Demands that
the charges of treason brought against Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube
be dropped; that all draconian legislation adopted by the government in
recent months to restrict the freedom of speech, freedom of the media and
democracy in Zimbabwe be rescinded; and that those involved in acts of murder
and intimidation be brought to justice;
8. Calls for a fresh
Presidential Election to take place within the next twelve months, according
to internationally accepted norms and under the auspices of independent
international observers;
9. Welcomes the acceptance by African nations
of tough action by the Commonwealth, but regrets the refusal by some to
support the robust resolution that nevertheless was passed by the ACP-EU
Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Cape Town in March;
10. Calls on
President Mbeki to show whole-hearted and consistent support for the
principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and accordingly to
demonstrate the quality of leadership that befits the powerful and crucial
regional position of South Africa;
11. Calls on African leaders,
particularly in the SADC region, not to resume normal diplomatic relations
with the Mugabe regime and thereby jeopardise the 'New Programme for African
Development' ( NEPAD ) and the prospects for the launch of an 'African
renaissance' by the G-8 Summit in Canada this July;
12. Regrets the
refusal of the UN Commission on Human Rights to discuss the crisis facing
Zimbabwe in its meeting in Geneva this year;
13. Notes that the
sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the USA are currently more severe than those
imposed by the European Union;
14. Insists that EU Member States and the
Council, whilst ensuring that current measures are strictly applied, maintain
and intensify the resolve and actions of the EU to bring about an early
improvement in the situation in Zimbabwe and, therefore, to identify and put
in place further measures that will put pressure on the Mugabe
regime;
15. Calls for such measures to include:
- extension of
the EU's proscribed list of banned Mugabe associates to include other key
figures, such as the vice-presidents, all ministers, senior military, police
and secret service commanders and leading businessmen who have helped to
bankroll ZANU-PF or benefited from its corrupt activities, and who play a
role in sustaining the regime and its campaign of violence, and include their
respective spouses and children, as they also spend illegally acquired money
abroad,
- publication of details pertaining to assets already identified
and frozen as a result of the policy of targeted sanctions,
-
examination of Zimbabwe's debt situation and drawing rights in international
financial institutions;
16. Insists that the EU troika, due to be
dispatched to the southern Africa region next week, should urge Zimbabwe's
neighbours to take stronger action to bring about a return to democracy, the
rule of law, and economic prosperity in Zimbabwe, and make specific proposals
to this end;
17. Emphasises that Zimbabwe should continue to receive
emergency humanitarian aid, including assistance with transportation,
dispensed through non-governmental agencies which are not under the control
of President Mugabe; and that wider large-scale financial assistance, such
as the promised support for land reform, including appropriate compensation
for displaced farmers and farm workers, will quickly be forthcoming
once democracy, human rights and the rule of law have been
re-established following free and fair elections;
18. Instructs its
President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the council, the
Member States and candidate countries, the Government and Parliament of
Zimbabwe, the Presidents of South Africa and Nigeria, the Secretary-General
of the United Nations, the Secretary-General of the OAU, the
Secretary-General of the SADC, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and
the President of the World Bank.
ENDS
For further information,
please contact: Mr Geoffrey Van Orden MEP [Vice-Chairman of Parliament's
Foreign Affairs Committee] on: Strasbourg Office Tel: +33-(0)3-88.17.5332
/ 7332 Brussels Office Tel: +32-(0)2-284 5332 / 7332 GSM: +44-(0)771-374
2444 e-mail: gvanorden@europarl.eu.int
Editors'
Note: The EPP-ED Group is the largest Political Group in the 626-member
European Parliament and represents Conservative and Christian Democrat
parties from all 15 EU Member States [53 German MEPs; 37 United Kingdom MEPs;
35 Italian MEPs; 28 Spanish MEPs; 20 French MEPs; 9 Greek MEPs; 9 Dutch MEPs;
9 Portuguese MEPs; 7 Austrian MEPs; 7 Swedish MEPs; 6 Belgian MEPs; 5 Finnish
MEPs; 5 Irish MEPs; 2 Luxembourg MEPs; 1 Danish MEP].
Dear All This
update provides you with a press release from the Legal Resources Foundation
regarding Judith Todd's critical court case against the Registrar General
& Minister of Home Affairs. The judge ruled that people who have never
taken up their entitlement to a foreign citizenship continue to
be Zimbabweans.
Also included are three articles from the press which
provide background to the case.
Judith
Garfield Todd v Registrar-General of Citizenship & Minister of
Home Affairs: Case No. Hc 55/2002 Legal Resources Foundation Fri,
May 10, 2002
Herewith a summary of the main features in this case, on
which a ruling was made by Hon. Justice Mungwira today.
Costs of the
case were sponsored by the Test Case Committee in Zimbabwe which is comprised
of representatives from the Legal Resources Foundation, Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association and ZimRights.
The
Judgment in the above case was handed down by the Honourable Mrs
Justice Mungwira on Friday 10 May 2002. The following facts were not in
dispute in the case:
1. Miss Todd, the daughter of Sir Garfield
and the late Lady Todd, was born in Zimbabwe and is a citizen of Zimbabwe by
birth.
2. Miss Todd is the holder of a Zimbabwean passport which
has now expired and needs to be renewed.
3. Miss Todd is not a
citizen of any other country.
The Registrar-General of Citizenship, who
is also in charge of Zimbabwe Passports, refused to renew Miss Todd's
Zimbabwe passport on the basis that her parents were born in New Zealand and
Miss Todd was therefore apparently either a New Zealand citizen or had an
entitlement to New Zealand citizenship. As such, the Registrar-General
argued, Miss Todd was required to renounce her "New Zealand citizenship" or
her claim to "New Zealand citizenship".
The Citizenship of Zimbabwe
Act was amended in 2001 to the effect that Zimbabwean citizens, who were also
citizens of a foreign country, had to renounce their foreign citizenship by 6
January 2002, failing which they lost their Zimbabwean citizenship. The
Registrar-General argued in Miss Todd's case that as she had failed to
renounce her "New Zealand citizenship" by 6 January 2002, she had
automatically lost her Zimbabwean citizenship and he could not therefore
renew her Zimbabwean passport.
The Court did not agree with the
Registrar-General's argument and found that the amendment to the Citizenship
Act only applied to persons who were citizens of Zimbabwe and also citizens
of a foreign country. It did not apply to persons who simply had a claim or
entitlement to a foreign citizenship which they had never
exercised.
The learned Judge quoted, with approval, from an earlier
judgment by the Honourable Mr Justice Adam which stated that:
"The
First Respondent (that is the Registrar-General) if he has been demanding
from Zimbabwe born citizens, one or both of whose parents were born in a
foreign country that they renounce their foreign citizenship, then he is
flagrantly acting ultra vires section 3(2) of the Citizenship of Zimbabwe
Act. His conduct would certainly be unlawful. The First Respondent, a mere
public functionary, seems to have arrogantly and unashamedly arrogated to
himself the functions of the legislation and the powers of the judiciary.
Section 21 of the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act provides that the use of a
current Zimbabwean passport or a current foreign passport contrary to its
provisions is an offence. It is for the police and the Attorney-General to
determine whether or not a person has committed an offence in terms of
section 21. The attitude of the First Respondent shows that he has usurped
those functions and that he regards it as being his responsibility, since he
has taken it upon himself to require Zimbabwean-born citizens of foreign born
parents to renounce their foreign citizenship, as if they would have been
committing an offence under section 21. In his capacity as Registrar-General,
it is not his responsibility to grant citizenship under the Citizenship of
Zimbabwe Act. That Act falls under the administration of the Minister of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs."
Accordingly, the Honourable
Mrs Justice Mungwira found that Miss Todd was still a Zimbabwe citizen and
therefore ordered the Registrar-General of Citizenship to renew her Zimbabwe
passport within 14 days of the submission of the necessary application for
such
renewal.
Zim-born
citizens inalienable From News24 (SA) Fri, May 10, 2002
Harare - A
High Court judge ruled on Friday that the government cannot strip citizenship
from people born in Zimbabwe, and ordered the state to renew the passport of
rights activist Judith Todd. "According to the papers before me, I find that
Judith Todd is a citizen of Zimbabwe. I order the registrar general to renew
the applicant's passport within 14 days" of her asking for a new one, Justice
Sandra Mungwira said. The judge castigated registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede
as having "arrogantly and unashamedly" carried out duties that belong to the
police and attorney-general. "The attitude of the registrar-general is that
he has taken it upon himself to grant citizenship under the Citizenship of
Zimbabwe Act, which is the attorney-general's and police's job," Mungwira
said. Under the citizenship act, a person born in Zimbabwe becomes a citizen
by birth and "that right cannot be renounced", Mungwira said.
In March
2001, government passed a law that required anyone wishing to retain
Zimbabwean citizenship to renounce any right to foreign citizenship - even if
they had never held a foreign passport. The law mainly targeted an estimated
30 000 white Zimbabweans who were entitled to a foreign passport, and also
tens of thousands of black workers whose parents or grandparents had
immigrated from neighbouring nations. Government critics had feared the law
would bar people with foreign-sounding surnames, as well as the small white
minority from voting because they had not renounced their entitlement to
foreign citizenship. The legislation was viewed as part of a
wide-ranging strategy to ensure President Robert Mugabe's re-election in
March. Todd is a rights activist who supported Zimbabwe's liberation struggle
but who now opposes Mugabe, accusing his government of widespread human
rights abuses. Both Todd's parents were born in New Zealand, but she was born
in Zimbabwe, when it was still the British colony of Rhodesia. Her father,
Garfield Todd, is a former prime minister of Rhodesia. She has never sought a
New
Zealand passport.
Landmark
citizenship judgement ZWNEWS Thurs, May 09
Veteran human rights
activist Judy Todd, 57, has won a major test case in the Zimbabwe High Court
blocking attempts by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to strip her of
Zimbabwean nationality because he said she had not renounced a possible claim
to New Zealand citizenship. Her father, 1953-58 Prime Minister Sir Garfield
Todd, 92, came to former Southern Rhodesia more than 60 years ago and was
recently struck off the voters' roll by Mudede because he was born in
Invercargill, South Island. The judgment could have major implications for
thousands of other Zimbabweans facing citizenship problems as a result of
recent legislation, including many in rural areas of Malawian or Mozambican
descent. Parliament last year empowered Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo to
revoke the citizenship of any Zimbabwean who had not by January 6, 2002,
renounced dual nationality in terms of the laws of the foreign country to
whose citizenship they might be entitled. "I am delighted not only for myself
but for all those hundreds of thousands of farm workers," Todd
said.
The landmark judgment applies, for the time being, only to
Zimbabwean citizens born in the country. Costs of her case were sponsored by
Zimbabwe's Legal Resources Foundation and five other human rights groups.
However, legal sources here warned that President Robert Mugabe's government
may simply once more ignore the courts, either by introducing fresh
legislation or invoking the Presidential Temporary Powers Act. But, the
sources said, Zimbabweans who spent up to ZWD13 000 renouncing potential
claims to, for example, British, South African or Zambian citizenship by
birth or descent have obtained proof of renunciation that may still be vital
to retaining their Zimbabwean passports and votes. Justice Sandra Mungwira
said she would sign orders on Wednesday requiring Mudede to issue Todd with a
new Zimbabwean passport within 14 days of making application, and to continue
to recognise her in all other respects as a citizen of
Zimbabwe.
Arguing the case on Tuesday, Todd's lawyer, Bryant Elliot, said
Mudede had simply made up requirements that attempted to force Zimbabweans
who had never claimed a second citizenship to obtain proof from the foreign
country involved that they had renounced it. Mudede contested Todd's
challenge, but the Home Affairs Minister who is responsible for moves to
deprive Zimbabweans of citizenship, made no response, and consequently the
state case collapsed. Zimbabwe-born Todd's lawyer argued that last
year's legislation did not apply to her as she had never attempted to acquire
a foreign citizenship. He added that the Registrar General was not entitled
to deprive Zimbabwe-born nationals of citizenship because he suspected
they might have some claim through their parents to dual nationality -
even though they had never asserted the claim. He said the renunciation form
that Mudede had printed, without legal authority, forced a Zimbabwean
suspected of having a claim to a foreign citizenship to assert that he or she
did in practice hold the foreign citizenship.
Todd had been unable to
sign such a declaration renouncing a New Zealand citizenship she had never
possessed. Todd did not know whether New Zealand would refuse her citizenship
if she applied. However, said legal sources, if she had applied - even as a
mere exploratory exercise - this would be taken in terms of the Zimbabwe
legislation as automatic renunciation of her Zimbabwean citizenship. During
the March presidential elections, thousands of white Zimbabweans were turned
away from polling booths because officials found their names on a "Removed
Citizens List" of those suspected of being eligible for a foreign
citizenship. Mudede had refused to give copies of the list to opposition
parties or human rights groups so those named could challenge their
disenfranchisement.
Court
deals blow to Mugabe's citizenship law IOL Tues, May 07 2002 at
06:36PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's government conceded on Tuesday in a high
court that it cannot strip rights activist Judith Todd of her Zimbabwean
citizenship, even if she could qualify for a passport from another
country.
"I concede the heads of argument presented by the applicant, so
I have no further submissions to make," Nelson Mutsonziwa from the
attorney-general's office told the court.
Zimbabwe's government had
refused to renew Todd's passport, saying that she was a citizen of New
Zealand because her parents were born there. Government argued that a 1943
New Zealand law gave citizenship to anyone whose parents were born in that
country. Todd's lawyer, Bryant Elliot, said Zimbabwean law required an expert
from New Zealand be present in court, if that nation's laws were to
be considered. He also argued that Zimbabwean law automatically gives
citizenship to anyone born here. Judge Sandra Mungwira is expected to hand
down her judgment on Wednesday. Both Todd's parents were born in New Zealand,
but she was born in Zimbabwe, when it was the British colony of Rhodesia. Her
father, Garfield Todd, is a former prime minister of Rhodesia. She has
never sought a New Zealand passport. Judith Todd is an activist who supported
Zimbabwe's liberation struggle but who now opposes President Robert Mugabe,
accusing his government of widespread human rights abuses. Todd's case
could have wide-ranging implications for all Zimbabweans of foreign
descent. In March last year a law was passed that required anyone wishing to
retain Zimbabwean citizenship to renounce any right to foreign citizenship -
even if they had never held a foreign passport. A high court judge had
ruled in February that people cannot give up a right, but only a citizenship
they actually hold. The law targeted the estimated 30 000 white Zimbabweans
who were entitled to a foreign passport and tens of thousands of blacks whose
parents or grandparents had immigrated from neighbouring
nations. Government critics had feared the law would bar people with
foreign-sounding surnames as well as the small white minority from voting
because they had not renounced their entitlement to foreign
citizenship. The legislation was viewed as part of a wide-ranging strategy to
ensure Mugabe's re-election in the elections. - Sapa-AFP
Subject: ZIMBABWE EMERGENCY: An urgent appeal for the farming
community
Dear friends
This email is an urgent appeal, on behalf
of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust (ZAWT), to all Zimbabweans,
ex-Zimbabweans (and anyone with a love of the country).
Please read
it, make a donation and forward it to all Zimbabweans you know, wherever in
the World they are.
Over recent months, we have witnessed unprecedented
change and turmoil in our country. As expected, the people hardest hit by the
recent upheavals have been the farmers and their workers. The two are
dependant upon each other and are facing the same crushing
pressures.
We have spent the last few months working in close contact
with farmers groups, the workers communitys, human rights organisations and
NGOs to establish a workable plan to help the people who are battling it out
on the ground. Our plan is called Project Survival. It aims to support those
who without help would lose everything: and it depends upon people like you
to succeed.
The biggest problem facing the farmers, and by extension
the communities that they support, is keeping up with the costs associated
with maintaining a labour force whilst unable to produce. To this end, one of
the most recent focuses of Project Survival is to help farmers to cover the
costs of their labour force, who will benefit by being able to stay in their
homes and their communities in relative safety. We normally offer this
support for 3-month periods.
This support is vital to keep farmers
going. For the workers, it can literally be the difference between life and
death, as starvation haunts the country.
We need your help.
We
are reliant upon the Zimbabwean community around the world to fund our work.
We are currently receiving no other support.
I am pleading with you to
dig deep and donate as much as you can. Our funds are at an all time low as
the crisis in Zimbabwe worsens. Those of us lucky enough to be earning Forex
can have an enormous impact.
We are now able to receive online Visa
donations through our totally secure website. This is the quickest way for
you help out. Failing that, please send a cheque (payable to ZAWT) to the
address at the bottom of this email.
Please do not reply to
this email address & mails to this address are processed by servers and
never read. If you would like to contact us please email us at admin@zawt.org
Registered in the UK as a
Charity No: 1091003 Patron: The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu O. M. S.
G. D. D. F. K. C. Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
If you feel
that you have received this communication in error, and you wish not to
receive updates on our work, then please send a blank email to unsubscribe@zawt.org and you will be
permanently removed from our databases. We are unable to take responsibility
for the actions of 3rd parties, who may forward communications on