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Mugabe 'accepts that Morgan Tsvangirai won
The Telegraph
'
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger, Southern Africa
Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:49PM BST 30/04/2008
Zimbabwe's ruling
Zanu-PF party has signalled that it is willing to accept
that the opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai came first in the country’s
presidential
election.
But they insisted that, contrary to claims by his Movement for
Democratic
Change, he had falled short of the absolute majority required for
victory.
More than a month after the poll, the Zimbabwe Election Commission
has still
not announced the results. Nonetheless senior government sources
said that
Mr Tsvangirai took 47 per cent, with President Robert Mugabe
second on 43
per cent.
A top Zanu-PF official said: “Those figures
are in line with the official
figures and the MDC knows that the official
tally is more or less around
that but they have been inflating their numbers
to claim a false victory.”
The ruling party’s willingness to concede a
first-round lead to Mr
Tsvangirai may be a sign that, having delayed the
results and used the time
to launch a campaign of violence against
opposition supporters, it is now
confident of winning a second round. It may
also have been the best they
could hope for if Mr Tsvangirai really did take
more than 50 per cent and
rigging has had to be employed to bring down his
share of the vote.
According to Zimbabwe’s Lawyers for Human Rights about
150 teachers who
acted as local presiding officers at the elections have
been arrested and
are being prosecuted accused of favouring the
MDC.
In the days following the vote on March 29 sources in Harare said Mr
Mugabe
and the Zanu-PF hierarchy had been shocked by the fact and scale of
his
defeat. By throwing a blanket of silence over the results, it plunged
the
country into a political impasse and weakened the MDC’s
momentum.
Mr Tsvangirai threatened to boycott a run-off, then said he
would take part
if UN-led observers were allowed. If he does not participate
Mr Mugabe will
be declared the winner by default, but a third candidate, the
former finance
minister Simba Makoni, will back Mr Tsvangirai, according to
his campaign
co-ordinator.
Zimbabwe’s election law says the second
round must be held within 21 days of
the first vote, but that deadline has
already passed and it is not clear
when it will take place.
The
chairman of the election commission, George Chiweshe, is a Mugabe
loyalist
and sources close to the body said their figures were similar to
the Zanu-
PF officials’.
"We don’t have the final figure yet but at the last count
we had between 48
and 50 percent” said one. Another said it was above 47 per
cent, “but less
than 50”.
On the basis of the Zanu-PF figures, Mr
Tsvangirai’s share is at the very
bottom of the margin of error found by the
independent Zimbabwe Election
Support Network, which projected he had taken
49.4 per cent, plus or minus
2.4 per cent. By contrast Mr Mugabe’s share is
at the top end of his
estimate of 41.8 per cent, plus or minus 2.6 per
cent.
The government has also promised to inject a note of reality into
its
bizarre economic policies, saying it would abandon its fixed exchange
rate
for a market in hard currency.
The destruction of Zimbabwe’s
economy has left 80 per cent of people
unemployed and was a key issue in the
country’s election in March, which has
thrown it into a political crisis as
Mr Mugabe seeks to hold on to power,
but analysts were sceptical about the
announcement.
Officially one American greenback is worth 30,000 Zimbabwe
dollars — a
currency which traded at more than the US dollar at
independence.
But on the black market the rate is 150 million to one,
making the
government rate almost meaningless — and some banknotes worth
less than a
sheet of lavatory paper.
Nonetheless the discrepancy is
one of the drivers of Zimbabwe’s
hyperinflation, now over 165,000 per cent
according to the government, and
businesses suffer by being forced to swap
foreign currency earnings at far
below their real value, wreaking further
havoc on an economy already
shattered by Mr Mugabe’s misrule.
In a
statement on monetary policy, Gideon Gono, the governor of Zimbabwe’s
central bank, said that authorised foreign exchange dealers would be allowed
to match buyers and sellers.
He said the authorities were committed
to taming the hyperinflation.
“This dragon cannot be allowed to continue
and we will be dealing a decisive
blow to its existence,” he
said.
But the key issues of what the new exchange rate would be and
whether a
truly free market would be allowed to operate remained
unclear.
John Robertson, an independent economist based in Harare,
pointed out the
language being used was similar to when an auction system
was proposed a few
years ago.
“They very quickly stepped in to stop
the auction price being anywhere near
the market price, and very quickly the
market was not being supplied with
foreign currency any more. I think they
are going to interfere in exactly
the same way again.
“There’s a
basic philosophy in government that there’s no market so powerful
they can’t
legislate it out of existence, and of course the market always
does
predominate.” The highest ranks of Mr Mugabe’s regime, who can buy US
dollars at the official rate, had too much to lose from a free market in
hard currency, he pointed out.
“They give themselves the privilege of
buying very cheap foreign currency.
The ones who do have all become very
rich on that gap. It’s immensely
rewarding to them and they don’t really
care very much about the suffering
of the rest of the population.” Another
economist, who did not want to be
named, added: “While this move may
temporarily stall the rate as people try
and work out what is going on, it’s
not going to last.”
Zimbabwe 'set for election run-off'
aljazeera
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
20:21 MECCA TIME, 17:21
GMT
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition in Zimbabwe, has
beaten Robert
Mugabe in a disputed presidential election, sources close to
the country's
electoral commmission say.
If the results of the March 29
poll are confirmed, it will set
the scene for a second round of
voting.
Tsvangirai took 47 per cent of the vote
against the incumbent
president's 43 per cent, the sources said on
Wednesday.
Each candidate had to win 50 per cent of votes
cast to avoid a
run-off election.
Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
has already
said that he has won the presidential election outright.
He
says that Mugabe, who leads the Zanu-PF party, has delayed
the results of
the presidential poll in order to rig the election.
Figures
'credible'
Mugabe will be declared the winner of the presidential
poll if
Tsvangirai decides not to take part in a run-off vote, according to
election
rules.
A senior Zanu-PF party official said that
the figures suggested
by the government sources had
credibility.
"Those figures are in line with the official
figures and the MDC
knows that the official tally is more or less around
that but they have been
inflating their numbers to claim a false victory,"
the official said.
Another source said that Tsvangirai had in
fact taken a higher
proportion of the vote, between 48 per cent and 50 per
cent, while another
said the opposition leader had won more than 47 per cent
"but less than 50"
per cent.
The electoral commission is
due to start a collation and
verification process on
Thursday.
Mugabe's chief spokesman George Charamba said he
was not aware
of the figures leaked by government sources on
Wednesday.
"I was with [electoral commission chairman]
Justice [George]
Chiweshe yesterday and he was waiting for results from
different centres,"
he said.
Intimidation
campaign
The MDC and human-rights groups say that Zanu-PF has
led a
violent campaign to intimidate Zimbabweans into voting for Mugabe in a
run-off.
The government has dismissed the
accusations.
The presidential vote in Zimbabwe was held
simultaneously with
parliamentary and senate polls, amid a worsening
economic crisis.
The Zanu-PF party has already lost control
of the 210-seat
parliament after results of that poll were
released.
The country is experiencing severe food, fuel and
foreign
currency shortages.
Its current rate of inflation
- 165,000 per cent – is the
world's highest.
Zimbabwe to float its currency:
central bank governor
Yahoo News
Thursday May 1, 04:13 AM
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe has decided to float its local
currency on foreign
exchange markets in an attempt to eliminate speculation
on the black market,
the governor of the Central Bank said
Wednesday.
"The Reserve Bank has with immediate effect introduced a
willing
buyer-willing seller... arrangement in the foreign exchange market,"
governor Gideon Gono said at a news briefing.
The official exchange
rate in Zimbabwe has been kept at 30,O00 Zimbabwe
dollars for one US dollar
since September 2007 -- but on the thriving black
market, one US dollar can
be exchanged for around 100 million Zimbabwe
dollars.
Gono said that
with the new reforms, "the availability of foreign exchange
will gradually
improve to a point not experienced over the last few years."
This is the
second time in four years the beleaguered southern African
country has opted
to liberalise its foreign exchange trading system.
In January 2004
Zimbabwe introduced a foreign exchange auction system in
which the central
bank determined the rate in a bid to narrow extreme
differences between the
official and parallel rates.
Economic experts said the move was long
overdue.
"It was a very bold and welcome move. It will work for the
economy," John
Mangudya, chairman of the Bankers Association, told
AFP.
"There was no need to continue starving the economy" of foreign
exchange.
He said bankers were due to meet on Friday to decide on rates
from which
trading could kick off.
Zimbabwe has long been
experiencing a shortage of foreign currency which saw
the government failing
to import adequate vital commodities such as fuel,
electricity, food and
medicines.
Traditional top foreign currency earners such as tobacco and
tourism have
nosedived in recent years due to failure of the country's
controversial land
reform programme and political tensions, according to
critics.
Zimbabwe is currently in the throes of one of its worst economic
crises
since independence from Britain in 1980, with unemployment at 80
percent and
inflation at 165,000 percent.
Sokwanele Urgent Press Release
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough -
Zimbabwe PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE
DEMOCRACY
|
PRESS
ALERT
Farmer and family
currently under seige in Zimbabwe: farm workers are being violently
assaulted Sokwanele : 30 April 2008
Wayne Munroe, a farmer in Nymandlovhu (just outside Bulawayo in Matabeleland
South, Zimbabwe), has been under siege since early this morning. His property
has been encircled by in excess of 100 "war veterans".
He phoned the police in Nymandlovhu to inform them of the problem and was on
the phone to them when 4 "war veterans" entered his office. He immediately told
the member in charge that they were there and that a 303 (gun) was being pointed
at his chest. He was forced to hang up.
A tussle ensued: Munroe was injured on the hand with the head of an axe blade
and he sprayed the attackers with pepper spray enabling him to escape.
He was fired at 4 times, but they missed, and Munroe managed to get to the
farm house where his mother and grandmother live.
The war veterans moved into the compound outside the perimeter fence and are
busy right now beating the workers.
Munroe's wife and his two children, aged 4 and 5, are holed up in their own
house some 100m away.
One of the workers managed to escape the beating at the compound (which is
outside the perimeter fence of both farm houses) and managed to get to Munroe.
He told Munroe that after they finished beating the workers, they were coming
for the farmhouses.
Mrs Munroe (Ursula) managed to phone out that she was going to attempt
getting to her husband, but has failed because more armed "war veterans" have
moved in.
She is currently there now.
Senator David Coltart has repeatedly called Chief Inspector Munyira at
Nymandlovhu to go and assist the Munroes.
Coltart was told by the police they would send a detail out but at 3.10pm one
- ONE - police officer arrived at the gate of the farm and then left.
To add to the sinister nature of the situation, this morning the regular
member in charge and various other officers were replaced at Nymandlovhu police
station. This points to the fact that the police were not trusted to carry out
this brutal assault.
Yesterday Munroe was warned that there had been a meeting at stops camp in
Bulawayo where the decision to invade had been made.
==== For more information please contact =======
SWRadio Africa (http://www.swradioafrica.com) are
attempting to contact the Munroes. To prevent the Munroe telephone line from
being blocked up with calls at a time of crisis we are asking the press to
please contact SWRadio Africa directly for information. They will be functioning
as an intermediary for press enquiries.
- Gerry on (44) 2083871407 direct line until 6pm UK
- Gerry mobile (after 7pm) (44) 7789874019
- Tererai mobile (44) 7985140135
- Gerry@swradioafrica.com
David Coltart can be contacted on : +2782-5520988
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|
South Africa Blocks UN From Sending Envoy
SW Radio Africa
(London)
ANALYSIS
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April
2008
Tichaona Sibanda
South Africa once again showed on
Tuesday that it was in bed with the regime
in Harare, when it blocked
attempts by the United Nations Security Council
to send an envoy to
investigate atrocities against MDC supporters.
President Thabo Mbeki has
come under attack at home and abroad for his
softly softly approach to
Zimbabwe, when the regime is butchering unarmed
civilians as punishment for
voting for the MDC in last month's elections.
Other nations who spoke
up against any Security Council discussion and
action on Zimbabwe were
China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam. Burkina Faso said
that Africa should take
the lead and the Southern African Development
Community should be given the
opportunity to mediate in the crisis.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti
was in New York at the UN where he briefed
the council on the post-poll
crisis. He had called for a 'strong and
decisive' resolution from the
15-member Security Council against the Mugabe
regime, as well as for the
dispatch of a UN envoy or fact-finding mission to
Zimbabwe. 'The meeting was
frustrating,' Biti said, in reference to South
Africa's position to block
the Security Council from taking any action
against the regime.
The
MDC MP for Harare East has openly accused Mbeki of sympathising with
Mugabe.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa called the Security Council's failure
to take
action against the regime a 'tragedy'. Last week the MDC called on
Mbeki to
step down as the SADC mediator.
At the UN meeting Tuesday, Western
countries pressed for a UN mission or
envoy to visit Zimbabwe, where the
results of the disputed presidential
election four weeks ago have still not
been released.
The MDC won the parliamentary majority in the elections
and says its leader
Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 vote outright. The
party accuses Mugabe
of delaying results to rig victory and says a prolonged
crisis will lead to
further and widespread bloodshed.
Reports from
New York indicated that European countries, Latin America and
the United
States supported sending a verification team, but South Africa,
which
currently holds the council presidency, said such a move was not a
matter
for the council.
France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, told
reporters the fact the
Security Council had met to discuss the crisis sent a
signal to the regime
that 'we are looking very carefully at what they are
doing'.
The UN under-secretary general for Political Affairs, Lynn
Pascoe, had told
the closed meeting that Zimbabwe was in the midst of its
worst humanitarian
crisis since independence from Britain in
1980.
Countries including the United States and UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon
have said it was clear Tsvangirai won the election.
Political
analyst Bekithemba Mhlanga described the stance taken by the South
Africans
at the UN as demoralising and depressing to all Zimbabweans. He
said what
would be helpful is for South Africa to make their position clear
as to why
they are taking that position.
'All along they were saying it's a problem
that needs to be sorted out by
Zimbabweans and yet people in Zimbabwe did
just that on the 29th March when
they voted the MDC into power to change the
country's fortunes,' Mhlanga
said. People are now beginning to seriously
question the moral compass of
the South Africans.
'At his inaugural
speech when he took over the South African presidency
Mbeki said he was
proud to be an African walking the streets of Mbare
(Zimbabwe) and Guinea
Conakry. What people should ask him now is does he
still feel proud to be an
African seeing all the atrocities in Zimbabwe?
asked Mhlanga.
Farm Workers Severely Assaulted By Zanu-PF Thugs in Nyandhlovu
SW
Radio Africa (London)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April
2008
Tererai Karimakwenda
A group of about 200 ZANU-PF thugs
descended on a farm compound in the
Nyamandhlovu area outside Bulawayo on
Wednesday, and brutally assaulted farm
workers and their
families.
Some in the group were armed and they fired shots into the air
while
toy-toying. The farm owner and his wife have been barricaded in
separate
houses all day, along with some farm workers who escaped from the
compound.
The attackers have been shouting that they want Munroe and
singing in
Ndebele. The police came and left without getting involved. It is
believed
that Obert Mpofu, the local ZANU-PF MP, ordered this
attack.
Wayne Munroe, the farm owner, was phoning the police when 4 war
vets entered
his office. It is not clear whether they grabbed the phone from
him, but a
scuffle followed and Munroe was injured on the hand with the head
of an axe
blade. He managed to spray the attackers with pepper spray and in
this way
created an opportunity to escape. The attackers fired at him 4
times but
they missed. Munroe made it to the farmhouse where his mother and
grandmother live.
One of the farm workers escaped the beatings at the
compound and ran to join
Munroe. He reported that the attackers were
planning to come for the farm
houses, after they finished beating the
workers.
Newsreel spoke to Ursula Munroe, while she was barricaded in the
farmhouse
and the attackers were out in their yard shouting for her husband.
She has
her two children with her aged 2 or 4. She said some of the
attackers appear
to be local settlers from neighbouring farms. She believes
that they were
offered food or other scarce commodities for carrying out
these attacks.
Among them are women and children in ordinary clothing who do
not appear to
be war veterans.
State-sponsored violence and
intimidation on commercial farms has
intensified this week. Several white
farmers have been barricaded in their
farmhouses and others have been
evicted without much notice. As we reported,
the President of the Commercial
Farmers Union (CFU) Trevor Gifford is
barricaded in his house and
experiencing serious problems on his farm. Deon
Theron, the CFU Vice
President, has been evicted from his farm.
Schools in Crisis As Teachers Flee Rural Violence
SW Radio Africa
(London)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Tererai
Karimakwenda
An educational crisis has developed around the country
with many schools
suffering from a shortage of teachers, due to the current
crackdown on
suspected opposition supporters and officials.
Our
correspondent Simon Muchemwa said teachers are not returning to work
because
they are being hunted down and victimised for the role they played
during
the elections and because the ruling party considers them agents of
the
opposition.
The problem is most serious in the rural areas where the
state-sponsored
violence is more intense. Muchemwa said teachers in these
remote areas are
normally provided accommodation on the school grounds or
near the school so
that they do not have to travel to work. This makes them
easy targets to
find.
Our correspondent spoke to a teacher from
Murehwa who said he was threatened
with death before schools opened. He had
worked as a polling officer for his
constituency and was being blamed for
ZANU-PF's loss in the area.
The teacher told Muchemwa that his story is
not unique. He said most of his
colleagues in the profession are refusing to
go back to rural schools until
they are promised safety. This will not
happen because the authorities who
can guarantee that safety are the ones
ordering the attacks.
Tens of thousands of teachers have left the country
seeking better
opportunities so they can support their families. Those who
stayed have been
working for extremely poor salaries and without adequate
resources. Muchemwa
said even these dedicated professionals are now looking
for opportunities
outside Zimbabwe.
Six workers with anti-poverty agency arrested in
Zimbabwe
Monsters and Critics
Apr 30, 2008, 16:07 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's police
have arrested six members of the international,
non-governmental
organization, Action Aid, in eastern Zimbabwe.
Police said the aid
workers were helping them with their investigations into
post-election
violence in the area.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa that the
six Action Aid workers who include the
Zimbabwean acting director Nancy
Kachingwe had been located by police in
Manicaland province.
'We are holding them so that they assist us with
investigations of
violence,' said Bvudzijena.
Tensions have erupted
into violence in the area ahead of the release of the
disputed March 29
presidential election results.
'They were seen in the areas were violence
took place so we want them to
assist with investigations. As soon as they
finish cooperating we will
release them,' Bvudzijena said.
Action Aid
is a South Africa-based organization that fights poverty and
works to uphold
human rights.
'We are yet to be charged, the police want us to explain
why there was
violence in Manicaland,' read a text message sent by one of
the Action Aid
workers.
Continuing criminality by the mugabe regime
STATEMENT
COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION [CHRA]
The
continuing failure of the regime to call duly elected councillors to office must
be opposed. The City of Harare has been occupied by an illegal commission for 4
years. Local Government elections were held on 29 March and the winning
candidates were declared duly nominated on 30 March. A month later, elected
Councillors have still not been sworn into office in a flagrant breech of the
law. This serves to emphasize the illegal and criminal nature of the
regime.
CHRA calls upon the elected Councillors to be pro-active and to
press ahead with the business of Council, starting with neighbourhood meetings
to inform residents about their intended policies for our city. CHRA is ready to
facilitate such meetings.
CHRA
30 April
2008
RELEVANT LEGISLATION:
Chapter
29:15 Urban Councils
Act
Act 21/1997
[As amended by Local Authorities Election Laws Amendment Act,
1997 - (LAELA)]
[Note: Repeals made to this Act by LAELA were superseded by
amendments to the Electoral Act.]
47 Assumption of Office by
councillor
(1) A person who is deemed to have been elected as a
councillor at the close of the nomination court in terms of section 103M of the
Electoral Act [Chapter 2:01], or who is declared to have been elected in terms
of section 103N of that Act following the withdrawal of a candidate, shall
assume office—
(c) in the case of a general election of councillors, on
the day following polling day.
[Subsection as substituted by LAELA,
s.27(a).]
(2) Any person who is elected as a councillor as a result
of a poll shall assume office—
(b) in the case of any subsequent general
election or by-election, on the day following polling day.
(3)
Before undertaking any duty as such, a councillor shall take and subscribe
before the town clerk of the council such oath of loyalty and office as may be
prescribed.
[Subsection as inserted by LAELA, s.27(b).]
....
84
Meetings and special meetings of council
(1) A council shall hold
its first meeting on such date and at such place as the Minister may fix and
thereafter the council shall, subject to this Act, meet for the dispatch of
business and adjourn, close and otherwise regulate its meetings and proceedings
as it thinks fit:
Provided that the council shall hold an ordinary
meeting—
(a) as soon as is practicable after each general election;
and
World Bank ties Zimbabwe help to policy shift
Reuters
Wed 30 Apr 2008,
12:25 GMT
By Charles Mangwiro
MALEMA, Mozambique, April 30
(Reuters) - International donors are ready to
help Zimbabwe's ailing economy
recover as soon as the government proves it
is committed to economic and
social change, a World Bank official said on
Wednesday.
"Zimbabwe is
in a bad situation and the reality is that many donors are
ready to assist
Zimbabwe once the government shows the commitment to the
international
community that they are willing to address the critical
economic and social
problems," said Michael Baxter, the World Bank's
director in the
region.
Baxter, who returned from an evaluation mission to Zimbabwe on
Tuesday, said
inflation in Zimbabwe -- the world's highest at 165,000
percent according to
government figures -- was "realistically" at 200,000
percent. That figure is
still far below estimates of other
analysts.
He said the World Bank was prepared to offer emergency grants
to help get
the local economy back on its feet as soon as the government
showed it was
dedicated to reform.
Baxter did not comment on
Zimbabwe's disputed presidential elections, in
which opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai says he unseated veteran President
Robert Mugabe. He was
speaking about Zimbabwe's government in general terms.
"Once the
government says 'we want to address seriously our economic and
social
challenges', many multilateral and bilateral donors are ready to
support
(Zimbabwe)," Baxter said.
"The first thing will be grants and not loans,
because ... it's an emergency
issue," said Baxter, who is also in charge of
Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and
Angola for the Bank.
"We will put up a
programme for emergency support and this will depend on
the government's
priorities. But at the moment, for us, it's food, health,
supplies to
small-scale farmers in the form of seeds and fertiliser, (and)
the repair of
water and sanitation infrastructures including electricity
generation."
Zimbabwe -- which once boasted strong agricultural and
manufacturing
sectors -- has slowly descended into economic chaos over the
past decade,
weighing on regional development.
The country faces
chronic shortages of food, water and fuel and has an
unemployment rate of 80
percent.
About 3.5 million out of a population of 12 million Zimbabweans
have fled
the country since the late 1990's.
Baxter, who was speaking
to Reuters by telephone from Maputo, said
Zimbabwe's arrears to the World
Bank, International Monetary Fund and the
African Development Bank stood at
$1.1 billion.
Torture, murder, threats as Zimbabwe sinks into
violence
Monsters and Critics
Apr 30, 2008, 12:06 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare -
Mid-April, state-controlled radio in crisis-ridden
Zimbabwe began to play
its first war songs.
Songs such as Mr Government, containing the
words: 'We are living like
squatters in the land of our heritage ... give me
my spear so that I can
kill the many sellouts in my forefathers'
country.'
Another song entitled Tora Gidi (Take the Gun) is a call to
arms in the
fight for freedom, according to the non-governmental
organization, Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ).
The songs are
supposed to incite hatred and violence and target opposition
members, from
whom the fruits of the struggle against colonialism must be
defended.
The United Nations confirmed early Wednesday that the wave
of violence in
Zimbabwe had reached alarming levels.
In neighbouring
South Africa, media like the private TV-Station e-tv or
newspapers like the
Sunday Independent are already talking about the threat
of civil war.
Secretly-filmed footage revealed the extent of the violence
with frightening
images of tortured, traumatised people with horrific
injuries. A variety of
human rights groups independently confirmed these
claims.
These
reports show that the army and police are, at the very least,
indirectly
involved in the campaign of terror, being conducted by the
thuggish militias
of President Robert Mugabe, 84.
The victims have all one thing in common
- they are suspected to have voted
for the opposition. They are dragged off,
beaten with clubs or belts,
tortured or burnt.
One victim reported
that militia members had put a plastic bag filled with
inflammables on his
back and set fire to it. Hospital doctors in the
surrounding area had been
strictly warned not to treat the injury, the
opposition claims. The police
did nothing.
'There is a de facto state of emergency in the country,
Movement for
Democratic Change(MDC) Secretary General Tendai Biti said ahead
of the
largely-ineffective general strike to press for the release of
March's
presidential election results.
The MDC has warned of 'massive
violence' through state repression leading to
the deaths of
Zimbabweans.
Speaking at UN headquarters in New York Wednesday morning,
Biti warned:
'Zimbabwe is a war zone with the militias deployed everywhere.
There is a
complete militarization of the country by the military junta and
people are
disappearing.'
Biti said his country was facing a
'humanitarian catastrophe' because of the
lack of food supplies since the
turmoil after the March 29 presidential
elections.
According to
observers, President Robert Mugabe hopes through widespread
intimidation
tactics to win a possible run-off election with MDC leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
A month after the presidential election there are still no
official results.
According to Tsvangirai, Mugabe had expected defeat
immediately after the
election and had made contact with the
opposition.
But than all contact had been broken off.
'I think
what went wrong is this: some of the hawks in the military said we
can't
accept a transfer of power,' Tsvangirai told the South African
newspaper
City Press. 'And that's when the problem started,' he said.
Owing to
human rights abuses, many of the generals in Mugabe's regime would
fear the
retribution of the international courts.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur
UN voices reluctance to act on
Zimbabwe
International Herald Tribune
By Warren Hoge and Celia W. Dugger Published: April 30,
2008
UNITED NATIONS: The Security Council heard on Tuesday
what an American
official called a "sobering" account of electoral stalemate
and violence in
Zimbabwe, but ended up discouraging proposals for direct
United Nations
involvement in the crisis.
"There are a number of
delegations that don't believe the Council should be
engaged on this, which
is regrettable," said the official, Alejandro Wolff,
the deputy American
ambassador.
The briefing, delivered to a closed session of the Council by
B. Lynn
Pascoe, the under secretary general for political affairs, prompted
calls
from the United States and its European allies for sending a
fact-finding
mission or special envoy to the country.
Karen Pierce,
Britain's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Pascoe
had spoken of
"a level of political intimidation and violence that I think
many Council
members found quite chilling."
But diplomats said the proposals ran into
opposition led by South Africa,
this month's president of the Council. "It's
their country; we don't need a
special envoy," said Dumisani Kumalo, the
South African ambassador.
Arguing that the electoral impasse did not
constitute the kind of threat to
international peace and security that
demands the Council's involvement,
Kumalo said: "Different countries hold
elections; some do it very well, some
do it not so well. That is the only
way you can look at elections around the
world."
The final results of the
March 29 election in Zimbabwe have still not been
released, and the delay
has led to accusations that the nation's autocratic
president, Robert
Mugabe, is trying to ward off what appears to have been a
defeat for him and
his ruling party, ZANU-PF.
Tendai Biti, the general secretary of the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, or MDC, called the outcome of the
Council consultations "tragic as
it is disappointing." He added that some
countries "have decided to play
Ping-Pong with our people."
Pascoe
said that the United Nations had "a great deal of concern" about the
unrest
in Zimbabwe and that it was working through the African Union and the
Southern African Development Community. "At the moment, I think they have
the lead on this issue, so let's see what the government and the opposition
want us to do," he said.
In Zimbabwe, most of the people who were
rounded up Friday at MDC
headquarters in Harare, the capital, were freed
Tuesday by order of the
country's High Court, without being officially
charged.
Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing them, said 182 people,
who had
been scattered to police stations across the capital, were released.
Among
them were people wounded in the postelection violence, some with
broken arms
and legs.
Muchadehama said their detention since Friday
in Harare jails would probably
deter others from coming forward to lodge
complaints with the police about
attacks by the governing party's youth
militias and supporters.
The Herald, the state-owned newspaper, reported
Tuesday that on Monday the
police had released 29 of those taken into
custody Friday, primarily women,
babies and the elderly.
In what
could be interpreted as a clear warning to those who claim to have
been
attacked by state-sponsored thugs, the newspaper quoted the chief
police
spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, as having said, "We have profiled
everyone we
rounded up, so that if need arises, we will always make a
follow-up."
Zimbabwean election officials had raised hopes over the
weekend that Mugabe
and his leading challenger for president, Morgan
Tsvangirai of the MDC,
might be called in as early as Monday to begin
verifying the outcome of the
presidential election, a process expected to
take about a week. But Utoile
Silaigwana, the deputy chief election officer,
said Tuesday that the
verification would not begin until Thursday,
representing yet another delay
in satisfying a growing clamor for Zimbabwe
to finally say who won the
presidential contest.
Election officials
say a recount of 23 of the 210 parliamentary seats is
completed, but they
have yet to officially announce the results for all 23.
There has been no
change in the outcome of races in which they have
announced recount
results.
It is now widely expected that the MDC and a faction that
splintered from it
will together have a majority in Parliament, the first
time the governing
party led by Mugabe has lost control of the legislative
branch since
Zimbabwe gained independence from white rule in
1980.
Warren Hoge reported from the United Nations, and Celia W. Dugger
from
Johannesburg.
Zimbabwe dismisses U.N. talks as "racist and
colonial"
Vancouver Sun
Cris Chinaka, Reuters
Published: Wednesday, April 30,
2008
HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's government dismissed the
United
Nations' first session on Zimbabwe's election crisis as "sinister,
racist
and colonial" on Wednesday and said it would have no impact on the
country.
At the U.N. Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Western powers
pressed for
a U.N. mission or envoy to visit Zimbabwe, where the results of
a disputed
presidential election four weeks ago have still not been
released.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its
leader Morgan
Tsvangiari won the March 29 vote outright. The MDC accuses
Mugabe of
delaying results to rig victory and says a prolonged crisis will
lead to
widespread bloodshed.
"For us, this (U.N. session) is a sign
of desperation by the British and
their MDC puppets. It is sinister, racist
and colonial for Britain to try to
rope in everyone to support its
neo-colonial agenda here ... but it will
fail," Zimbabwe's Deputy
Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.
Former colonial power
Britain has been at the forefront of international
pressure on Mugabe. It is
seeking an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, an
investigation into post-election
violence, and has called for the election
results to be issued
immediately.
"While we condemn all these machinations, we are also sure
that the larger
international community are getting to understand that our
main problems are
with the British. They are behind all these moves against
us, but we will
stand our ground," Matonga said.
Verification of
election votes has been put off until Thursday, again
delaying when
Zimbabweans will know if Mugabe will stay in power in a
country critics say
he has ruined with reckless economic policies. The
process could take a
week.
"HUMANITARIAN CRISIS"
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice
Ripert told reporters the fact that
the Security Council had met to discuss
the crisis sent a signal to
Zimbabwe's authorities "that we are looking very
carefully at what they are
doing."
The U.S. and British envoys said
U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political
Affairs Lynn Pascoe had told the
closed meeting that Zimbabwe was in the
midst of its worst humanitarian
crisis since independence from Britain in
1980.
Zimbabweans had hoped
the election would ease economic turmoil. Instead,
severe food, fuel and
foreign currency shortages are worsening and there are
no signs an inflation
rate of 165,000 percent -- the world's highest -- will
decrease.
In
the aftermath of elections, violence which the opposition blames on
Mugabe
has spread through the country. The government denies it is
involved.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement late on Tuesday that
Zimbabwe's army
is supplying militants with weapons to intimidate voters to
ensure Mugabe
wins a possible runoff.
The rights body said military
forces had equipped war veterans with weapons
and trucks to scare
Zimbabweans into backing Mugabe.
European countries, Latin American U.N.
members and the United States also
supported sending an envoy, diplomats
said, but South Africa, which
currently holds the council presidency, said
such a move was not a matter
for the council.
South African President
Thabo Mbeki has come under attack at home and abroad
for his softly approach
to Zimbabwe.
Countries including the United States and U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
have said it was clear Tsvangirai won the
election.
Zimbabwe's U.N. ambassador suggested both sides would need to
come up with a
power-sharing deal in a national unity government.
"There
is no way anybody can do without the other," Boniface Chidyausiku
told the
BBC.
(Writing by Caroline Drees)
US Senate calls for Mugabe to quit
Channel4 News
Last
Modified: 30 Apr 2008
Source: PA News
The US Senate has called for
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step
aside and begin a peaceful
transition to democratic rule.
In a non-binding resolution passed by a
voice vote, the Senate said the
Zimbabwean Electoral Commission should
immediately release the results of
the March 29 presidential election, which
Mugabe is widely believed to have
lost.
Senator John Kerry, a member
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who
lost the 2004 US presidential
election to George Bush, introduced the
resolution.
Zimbabwe's MDC says 20 members died in poll unrest
Reuters
Wed 30 Apr
2008, 17:17 GMT
HARARE, April 30 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's
opposition MDC said on Wednesday 20
of its members had been killed by
pro-government militias in violence since
last month's elections.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the violence had reached alarming levels
and
soldiers took part in attacks on party members.
"More and more people
perceived to be MDC supporters continue to be beaten
up resulting in over 20
MDC activists being killed in just one month," he
said in a
statement.
"Only over the past two days, five MDC activists have been
killed by ZANU-PF
militia including soldiers." (Editing by Andrew
Dobbie)
Zimbabwe Farmers Hold On To Tobacco Crop Citing Low
Prices
nasdaq
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--Zimbabwe's tobacco selling
season was called off for
the second time in as many weeks Wednesday after
farmers withdrew their crop
from the auctions citing low prices.
The
auction floors in Harare, ranked among the continent's largest, were
supposed to open at 7:30 am local time (0530 GMT), but after around 80 bales
went under the hammer, farmers started ripping off the price tags in
protest.
"The price is useless, I would rather keep my tobacco and
sell to buyers
from Malawi or Zambia," Ottilia Mavhunga, a farmer from
Karoi, a farming
town in northern Zimbabwe, told AFP. "I have been waiting
here since Tuesday
last week for them to offer us this nonsense."
An
AFP correspondent witnessed angry farmers standing on tobacco bales as
they
shouted their protest over the price while some tore the bales and
flicked
tobacco leaves around the floor.
Around 400 farmers waited on the auction
floors as officials from
government, buyers and farmers' representatives met
to try to resolve the
price dispute.
The government offered the
farmers 70 million Zimbabwean dollars - the
equivalent of U.S. dollar a
kilogram - falling short of the parallel market
rate widely used by service
providers.
Farmers get paid in Zimbabwe dollars based on the official
exchange rate
with the U.S. dollar which is a tiny fraction of the black
market rate in a
country where inflation is running at around
165,000%.
In April last year, sales of tobacco - once Zimbabwe's top
foreign exchange
earning crop - were also delayed over a pricing
stalemate.
Tobacco production in Zimbabwe has declined from a record high
of 236,130
metric tons in 2000, the year controversial land reforms were
launched, to
just 68.8 tons last year.
(END) Dow Jones
Newswires
04-30-080527ET
Zimbabwe commercial bank eases foreign exchange rules
Reuters
Wed 30
Apr 2008, 14:02 GMT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe,
HARARE (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's central bank eased foreign exchange rules on
Wednesday, allowing
commercial banks to set the currency rate to help thwart
a thriving parallel
black market.
The southern African country is in economic meltdown with
official inflation
at 165,000 percent, unemployment of more than 80 percent
and consumers
facing chronic shortages of food, fuel and foreign
currency.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono said the
country would move
away from the current fixed exchange rate to a
willing-buyer, willing-seller
policy.
"Under this framework,
authorised dealers will match sellers and buyers of
foreign exchange guided
by a pre-determined priority list as set from time
to time by the Reserve
Bank," he said in a monetary policy speech.
The top priorities would be
food and agriculture inputs.
Currently, the official rate is Z$30,000 to
the dollar, while the national
revenue authority uses a rate of
Z$270,000.
It trades as high as Z$190 million on the black
market.
John Mangudya, head of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe: "We
(banks) get
to set the rate because this is on a willing buyer, willing
seller basis."
"If the central bank tries to set the rate then there will
be no willing
seller," Mangudya said, adding he hoped to meet with the
Reserve bank on
Friday to get more detail on the new policy.
Gono
also announced that the main lending rate would increase to 4,500
percent
from 4,000 percent and vowed to tame rocketing inflation.
"We remain
committed as ever before to tame this dragon. This dragon cannot
be allowed
to continue and we will be dealing a decisive blow to its
existence," he
said, without giving further details.
Zimbabwe's inflation is the highest
in the world.
The policy changes come amidst a political crisis over a
delay in announcing
presidential election results.
Opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai has said he won the March 29 election
outright and accuses
President Robert Mugabe of delaying the result to rig
victory.
Raid On MDC Office Claims Another Life
SW Radio Africa
(London)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Lance
Guma
An MDC female councillor for Sadza (Mashonaland East) has died
from injuries
she received after being beaten. She had gone to the MDC
headquarters in
Harare, hoping for sanctuary and medical treatment, but she
was caught up in
the police raid on Friday.
Police bundled over 250
MDC activists and staff members into buses and
trucks and took them into
custody. 24 babies and 40 children under the age
of six, plus 30 elderly
villagers, were among the arrested. All had fled the
state sponsored
violence campaign in rural areas. A Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition statement
says councillor Rusere was part of that group and she
was detained at
Braeside police station in Harare. Despite a High Court
order Monday
allowing for medical attention for all those detained, police
ignored it
until Tuesday when they released some of them. Only then was
Rusere
transferred to hospital where she died.
The crackdown on the
opposition and civil society groups showed no sign of
abating Wednesday when
police raided the offices of NGO Action Aid around
lunchtime. Police from
the Law and Order department detained five people
from the organisation,
including acting country director Anne Chipembere and
senior programmes
officer Precious Shumba. On the same day Fambai Ngirande,
the information
and policy manager for the National Association of
Non-Governmental
Organisations, was released by police following a day in
custody. He had
been arrested Tuesday over NANGO's 'Make Your Vote Count'
campaign. Ngirande
was warned against speaking out against Robert Mugabe.
Meanwhile pressure
group Human Rights Watch released a statement Tuesday
accusing the
Zimbabwean army of supplying Zanu PF militants with weapons to
be used
against opposition supporters. It said war veterans, soldiers and
supporters
of the ruling party are, 'intensifying their brutal grip on wide
swathes of
rural Zimbabwe to ensure that a possible second round of
presidential
elections goes their way.' Georgette Gagnon, the Africa
Director for Human
Rights Watch, said the army was providing the militants
with weapons and
trucks for use in their campaigns. The group has urged the
United Nations
Security Council and the African Union to 'take immediate
steps to help
prevent a further escalation in violence.'
Over 15 MDC supporters have
been killed since the March 29 elections that
handed control of parliament
to the opposition. Mugabe has since blocked
announcement of the presidential
election results, which many believe he
lost to MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai. The Joint Operations Command, who
comprise mostly security
chiefs, have ordered a deliberate state sponsored
campaign of violence
countrywide to condition the population for a run-off.
Reports say Emerson
Mnangagwa has replaced state security minister Didymus
Mutasa as head of
JOC. Mnangagwa is thought to have persuaded Mugabe to hang
onto power and
that a campaign of violence would be enough to see Mugabe
re-elected in a
run-off. The perpetrators of the violence have been given
carte blanche to
do as they please without any legal consequences.
Adding to the evidence
that it is a deliberate Zanu PF sponsored violence
campaign, last week the
Minister of Small to Medium Scale Enterprises
Sithembiso Nyoni is said to
have watched her aides beat up opposition
supporter Zachariah Isaac Ncube in
Nkayi North. Ncube was so badly beaten he
had to be admitted to hospital.
Lionel Saungweme our correspondent in
Bulawayo says the minister watched in
silent approval as her aides set about
beating Ncube while calling him a
'sell out' and 'stupid Blair' (a reference
to former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair). It's also reported that
Mugabe's regime has set up 5 torture
bases in Matabeleland South all manned
by 'young' soldiers, a fact that
would confirm Human Rights Watch's
observation, the army is arming Zanu PF
militants.
Investors eye Zimbabwe, hope regime change will
reduce risk
Santa Barbara News Press
DONNA BRYSON
April 30, 2008 9:50 AM
with
BC-Bullish on Africa
Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG,
South Africa (AP) - For all the current political and economic
chaos in
Zimbabwe, foreign investors are testing the potential of its stock
market.
The Zimbabwe stock exchange and the value of Zimbabwean
companies traded in
neighboring South Africa soared when it appeared
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe had lost March 29 elections. But the boom
went bust quickly as it
became clear Mugabe would try to hold onto power,
whatever the results of
the election, which have yet to be
released.
Alka Banerjee, New York-based global equities vice president
for Standard &
Poor's, said the stock surge, however brief, shows how
closely investors are
watching Zimbabwe, waiting for the right time to move
in.
''Firstly, Africa is hot, everyone wants to invest in Africa because
there's
a commodities boom going on,'' she said.
Zimbabwe should have
been riding high on that boom, with its platinum,
nickel and other
resources, Banerjee said. Less than a decade ago, she said,
it was seen as a
strong emerging market because of its natural resources, an
agriculture
sector driven by tobacco, and several strong banks and other
companies.
Zimbabwe's key agriculture sector was devastated, bringing
the rest of the
economy with it, by a land reform campaign Mugabe launched
in 2000 that saw
the often violent seizure of farmland from whites. Mugabe
claimed the
program was to benefit poor blacks, but much of the land was
handed over to
his cronies.
Fuel, food and other goods are scarce.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest
inflation, officially 165,000 percent,
though independent estimates put it
closer to 290,000
percent.
Mugabe's response has been to print more money and keep his
exchange rate
artificially low. He has been increasingly isolated -
suspended from the
World Bank in 2000, shunned by Western donors who accuse
him of abusing his
citizens' human and political rights.
Some
potential investors worry about being accused of supporting Mugabe's
regime,
said Barry Davies, chief executive officer of franchising with the
South
African property company Chas Everitt International. But Davies, a
former
Zimbabwean, said investors can help the country recover from Mugabe.
In
the week after the elections, Everitt noted it was opening offices in
Zimbabwe, saying ''hopes are high for a peaceful regime change.'' Davies
says he has heard in the last two weeks from dozens of potential investors
interested in commercial agriculture as well as other real
estate.
''I think it's inevitable there will be change,'' Everitt said,
adding the
decision about when to invest ''depends on appetite for
risk.''
While some weigh when to go in, Johannes Gawaxab, managing
director of
African operations for South Africa's Old Mutual, says his
financial
services group is in the best position: sitting on investments in
financial
services companies and real estate it has held in Zimbabwe for
more than 100
years, waiting for a chance to expand.
''The economy
has got good drivers,'' Gawaxab said. ''We are currently in a
holding
pattern, just to see what the political future is.''
Zimbabwe police accuse opposition
BBC
19:30 GMT, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 20:30 UK
Zimbabwe's police chief has
accused the opposition of trying to rig
elections and stirring political
violence.
Augustine Chihuri said more than 100 cases of fraud had
been found
following last month's elections, whose results have not yet been
published.
Meanwhile, government sources said that opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai had defeated President Robert Mugabe, but failed to
secure an
outright victory.
The report comes as electoral
officials are due to start verifying the
results.
Nelson
Chamisa, a spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC), said reports that his party leader had won 47% of
the presidential
vote to Mr Mugabe's 43% appeared to be a rumour spread by
the government to
prepare people for a run-off.
The MDC insists its leader, Mr
Tsvangirai, won the presidential
election on 29 March outright.
Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said he was not
aware of
any election result, urging people to wait for the official
results.
In a separate development, Mr Chamisa said 20 people
had been killed
in politically-motivated attacks in Zimbabwe since the
polls.
'Old trick'
Mr Chihuri, a key backer of
President Mugabe, described the alleged
fraud as "evil" and a new
phenomenon.
Human rights groups and the opposition say the ruling
party is behind
a wave of attacks on opposition activists.
But
Mr Chihuri blamed the violence on those who were complaining.
"The
old trick of claiming human rights violations when somebody steps
on your
toe, yet you yourself are poking out other people's eyes, will not
work this
time around," he said.
Mr Chihuri is one of the Zimbabwean security
chiefs who reportedly
persuaded Mr Mugabe not to step down immediately after
the 29 March
elections.
Many of Zimbabwe's top security
officials took part in the 1970s
independence war and share the president's
fiercely nationalistic outlook -
blaming the country's problems on the
West.
Before the election, Mr Chihuri said he would not allow
"puppets" to
take over - seen as a reference to the MDC.
'Brutal'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the army of
organising the
attacks on MDC activists, by providing weapons and
transport.
"We have seen incidents of people being made to lie
on their stomachs.
And brutally beaten on their backs and buttocks with
logs, thick logs, with
iron bars with huge rocks and stones," HRW researcher
Tiseke Kasambala told
the BBC.
She blamed most of the violence
on Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party but said
there had been two cases of MDC
revenge attacks, which she warned could lead
to "anarchy".
A
traditional chief in Hurungwe, north-west of Harare, has fled his
home after
being attacked by ruling party supporters.
"The Zanu-PF youths
accused me of not mobilising my subjects to vote
for the party, although I
got a plough and farming inputs [from the
government]," Tendaupenyu
Katongomara told a BBC contributor in the area.
The MDC and HRW say
the violence is intended to intimidate opposition
supporters ahead of a
possible run-off in the presidential election.
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai says he defeated President Mugabe
outright.
But
independent observers and Mr Mugabe's allies say a run-off may be
needed as
no candidate gained more than 50% of the vote.
UN
divided
There are numerous reports of teachers in rural areas
saying they had
been threatened by Zanu-PF supporters after working as
election officials.
One teaching union official said that 9,000 had
not reported for work
at the start of term this week.
Mr Chihuri said that 108 suspects were helping the police over
allegations
of fraud.
"Placing wrong candidates in office who were not selected
by the
people is evil and should never be allowed at all cost," he
said.
"This is a new phenomenon in the electoral history of
Zimbabwe."
The MDC and Western countries say Mr Mugabe and his
supporters rigged
previous elections.
The UN Security Council
on Tuesday discussed the situation in Zimbabwe
but could not agree on what
action to take.
UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Lynn
Pascoe told the Security
Council that Zimbabwe was in the midst of its worst
humanitarian crisis
since independence.
He expressed concern
about a very high level of political intimidation
and violence, and the "use
of food as a political weapon".
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti
had travelled to New York to lobby
members to send a special envoy and
humanitarian assistance.
But countries such as China and South
Africa were not in favour of
taking any action.
Zims face deportations as army assume sub chiefs
roles
The Zimbabwean
Wednesday, 30 April 2008 09:25
By Trust
Matsilele
Pretoria: Over 100 Zimbabwean activists are facing
deportation this
weekend after the Department of Home Affairs found them to
be illegal in
South Africa.
These Zimbabwean nationals were
arrested whilst demonstrating at the
Chinese Embassy in Pretoria, South
Africa last Friday.
The demonstrators had failed to file an urgent
application to the
South African Police Service (SAPS) as to go and hand in
a petition at the
Embassy seven days prior to the demonstration as required
by the law.
Meanwhile Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), Zimbabwe Exiles
Forum (ZEF)
, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Solidarity Peace Trust are
fighting nail,
tooth and claw to have these activists as they face
persecution once in
Zimbabwe.
On Tuesday about thirty of the 150
who had been arrested on Friday
were released after paying a bail of R500
each and among them are the
Revolutionary Youth Movement leaders, Simon
Mudekwa and John Chikwari.
This reporter has it on high authority that
the Ambassador of Zimbabwe
to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo has collected
the names from Sunnyside
Police Station and intent on handing them to the
Beitbridge Law and Order
section unit.
With over 15 Movement for
Democratic Change activists having been
killed following the post election
violence lives of these Zimbabweans will
obviously be in danger if they are
deported back home any time soon .
Reports’ coming from Zimbabwe
alleges that every chiefdom and sub
chiefs are now under the heavy
surveillance of the Zimbabwe National Army,
Military Police and Joint
Operation Command in preparation of a possible
run-off.
A resident
of Masogwe village in Mwenezi district of Masvingo who just
fled from the
warlike region alerted the Zimbabwean that all sub chiefs in
the district
had been suspended and members of the army were presiding over
these areas
as interim sub chiefs.
Seven days of fantasy in a city of crushing
reality
Sophie Shaw sees the spirit of John
Lennon and Bob Marley inspire Zimbabweans at Harare's International Festival of
the Arts
Artists perform a scene showing a
satirical version of recent elections in Zimbabwe during the main act of the
opening day of the Harare International Festival of the Arts. Photograph: Howard
Burditt/Reuters
The bloated, bloodstained king of an enchanted land
takes centre stage. He extends his life vampirically by stealing the music from
his people. Some he beats until they stop singing, others are persuaded to sell
their melodies for Chinese tractors and other tat. His country's spirit dies -
apart from the songs of hope people sing in their dreams.
This was the motif for Dreamland, the opening event
of Harare's International Festival of the Arts last night. The festival is an
annual miracle that rejuvenates and encourages Hararians, in the midst of one
political crisis after another, and cultural starvation for 51 weeks of the
year.
An astonishing collection of international,
particularly African, talent arrives for a week of performances and
collaborative jams with talented Zimbabweans. The product is a dense programme
of acts ranging from Welsh opera to Malawian tribal dance. The highlights are
always the cultural fusions, like Spanish reggae act Canaman and South African
supergroup Freshlyground.
As Dreamland begins, small choirs dotted around the
arena sing Shona songs of love and freedom. One by one, they are silenced by
storm troopers, who chillingly hood and throttle the singers before dragging
them off-stage.
The backdrop to the festival is that Robert Mugabe's
youth militias are rampaging through the country, dishing out punishment
beatings to those who dared to support the opposition on 29 March. A wave of
refugees has fled the violence, but hundreds, including mothers and children,
have been arrested in Harare on absurd charges and kept in squalid police
cells.
This gave new meaning to songs, like The Cranberries'
haunting Zombie, richly sung by Zimbabwean singer Prudence Katomene:
"Another mother's breaking,
Heart is taking over.
When the violence causes silence,
We must be mistaken."
Anyone who knows the Cranberries' music would have
noticed that Katomene changed a lyric to make clear that she was referencing
Zimbabwe today, not Northern Ireland a decade ago:
"It's the same old theme since 1980."
As Katomene neared the end of her song, actors
dressed as stormtroopers got on stage and clubbed her theatrically to the
ground, stifling her last note.
Also altered by context was Bob Marley's celebration
of independence, Zimbabwe, performed by another superb female native vocalist -
Chiwoniso. Zimbabwe needs to be liberated again, but this time not from white
supremacists, but from a tiny clique of old men.
The comedic high point of the show was the arrival of
the king, tottering, hands dripping with blood, stuffed into military uniform.
The crowd booed and jeered, only to burst out laughing, as the king sang The
Jackson 5's Never Can Say Goodbye.
The climax was John Lennon's Imagine. As the song
progressed, dozens of young children tried to light candles. But it's a chilly,
blowy autumn here and many times their little flames were put out. They kept
trying and in the end, every child was a tiny point of light. It could have been
a saccharine moment, but for the genuine earnestness of the youngsters and the
poignancy of youth here.
If Robert Mugabe was at State House last night, he
cannot have failed to hear the sound of young Zimbabweans singing out their
hopes for a better future, or of 3,000 Hararians cheering as the old man was
mocked and derided.
Zimbabweans feel that this could be the last arts
festival of the Mugabe era. But that does not change the fact that these are
tough and dangerous times. At least for this week, the festival is lifting
spirits and inspiring activists to face the trials that are to come.
• Sophie Shaw is a pseudonym
Robert Mugabe chewed up
Financial Mail, SA
02 May 2008
QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
Edgar
Tekere was a founder member of Zanu, with Robert Mugabe, in
whose first
cabinet he served. The controversial Tekere was expelled from
Zanu-PF by
Mugabe in 1988. He spoke to Amarnath Singh about the Zimbabwe
elections.
Were the elections
fair?
The ending shows they did not go well. But whatever
happens, one thing
is clear: Robert Mugabe lost, he got chewed up by Morgan
Tsvangirai, and now
he is trying all sorts of tricks to hold on. But he is
finished and can
never be an effective head of state again. He is resorting
to criminal and
outright treasonable things, on top of his many other human
rights abuses.
The intelligent thing would be for him to ease himself out,
but I do not
credit him with much intelligence.
Will
Tsvangirai be president?
Tsvangirai won the elections. He ought
to be president. It's up to him
to sort it out. There is talk of a
government of national unity to lift the
country out of the mess it has been
put into by Mugabe. We need brains and
resources beyond any one party, but
absolutely not Mugabe. The people have
said no to him because he has
destroyed the country in every respect.
Has Thabo Mbeki's
mediation helped?
I don't think much of Mbeki - he is a
colourless character. He is not
helping our situation at all. He behaves
like Mugabe's running-boy. I don't
know what animal quiet diplomacy is. He
had no cause to insult ordinary
Zimbabweans by saying there's no crisis in
this country.
Is the army an obstacle to
change?
There's a lot of speculation about that, but on a
slightly amusing
note, would General (Constantine) Chiwenga (head of the
army) accept
Tsvangirai as head of state after Mrs Chiwenga publicly
assaulted the MDC
leader when he was inspecting food availability at a
supermarket in Harare
some time ago?
Will the army prevent
him?
If any commanders don't like him they must resign. We have
rules.
Is the land question settled since farms were seized
from whites?
I said to Tsvangirai this act of land reform was a
revolutionary move
and that he should use his platform to smooth out the
things that were left
unsettled, such as the element of corruption, some top
people having more
than one farm, and to make the resettled farmers more
productive with the
help of the agricultural research and extension service.
But the seizing of
the farms was not illegal. It should not be reversed, but
polished up.
What party do you support?
I am a
founder member of Simba Makoni's project, Mawambo, which means
dawn or the
beginning - a name inspired by the fact that almost everything
has been
destroyed by the Mugabe regime and will have to be rebuilt.
Was
the last election reminiscent of 1990 when your party, the
Zimbabwe Unity
Movement, challenged Mugabe but saw the results "managed"?
The
1990 "election" was a very significant happening, which was not an
election
because at the counting stage Mugabe, typically, was jolted when he
thought
I was running ahead, so the whole process including the ballot boxes
disappeared into State House. It was extremely vulgar. In the 2008 election,
the same thing happened but it was a bit less vulgar. It's the same old
Mugabe - he does not like contests.
In one line, what will
his legacy be?
Disaster.
Harare diary: Lean times for meat eaters
BBC