The ZIMBABWE Situation
An extensive and up-to-date website containing news, views and links related to ZIMBABWE - a country in crisis
Please note: You need to have 'Active content' enabled in your IE browser in order to see the index of articles on this webpage
Zimbabwe army accused of sniper plot to kill
Morgan Tsvangirai
Times Online
May 19, 2008
Jenny Booth and agencies
Zimbabwe’s opposition party
today publicly accused the army of plotting to
assassinate opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai using snipers.
The leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change would have been gunned down
soon after he returned home to
Zimbabwe, said Tendai Biti, the
Secretary-General of the MDC, at a press
conference in Nairobi, the Kenyan
capital.
“The assassination plot
involves snipers,” said Mr Biti, confirming rumours
first reported in The
Sunday Times yesterday, and adding details.
“It is the military, the JOC
(the army's Joint Operational Command) that has
been running the country. I
cannot speak (more) of that because it would put
a lot of lives at
risk.”
Mr Biti said that 18 snipers were involved in the alleged plot
drawn up by
the JOC, which he said had been running Zimbabwe since President
Mugabe lost
parliamentary and presidential elections to his rival Mr
Tsvangirai on March
29.
The opposition said that it had received details
of the alleged plot on
Saturday as Mr Tsvangirai was on his way to the
airport in Johannesburg,
South Africa, to fulfill his commitment to return
home and fight run-off
elections.
Mr Biti said today that Mr
Tsvangirai still planned to return to Zimbabwe to
contest the June 27
presidential run-off, but only once security measures
were in place to
protect him against assassination.
Not contesting the run-off was not an
option as it would hand Mr Mugabe
victory, he said.
The MDC claims
that Mr Tsvangirai won the elections outright in the first
round, but
official results and those compiled by independent monitors
suggest that he
did not win the 50 per cent plus one vote needed to avoid a
run-off.
Mr Biti criticised the run-off, saying that it legitimised
Mr Mugabe’s
“theft" of the election, and would not resolve Zimbabwe’s
crisis.
It still was not too late to negotiate a “unity government of
national
healing”, he said.
“The basic problem is that we have an old
man, a geriatric, who is not
prepared to give up power and that situation
isn’t going to change on June
27,” Mr Biti said.
A runoff was “merely
extending and exacerbating the crisis" and legitimising
“Mugabe’s
constitutional coup”.
The answer, Mr Biti said, should have been for
African leaders to persuade
Mugabe to negotiate a coalition government, but
instead the leaders of
neighbouring countries had failed to confront Mr
Mugabe.
“What’s concerning us is this lack of statesmanship, of
leadership by
African leaders,” he said.
“I think that the paralysis
of leadership and perspective lies (with)
certain officers indebted to
Robert Mugabe ...”
Mr Biti’s party has asked the Southern African
Development Organization to
replace Thabo Mbeki as its chief negotiator in
the Zimbabwe crisis.
The MDC says the South African President's insistence on
“quiet diplomacy"
to persuade Mr Mugabe to change has largely failed. His
negotiations that
led to election results being posted outside ballot
stations did however
ensure a more open process that allowed the opposition
to claim victory.
International efforts to intervene have been hampered
by Mr Mbeki and South
Africa’s current chairmanship of the UN Security
Council.
“The Zimbabwe crisis is exposing every leader on the African
continent,
embarrassing us as Africans because we are not able to resolve
our own
problems,” Mr Biti said.
He called for the Southern African
bloc, the African Union and the United
Nations to help ensure a secure and
democratic environment for run-off
elections, including an end to the “reign
of terror" which has left dozens
of opposition supporters dead, hundreds
injured and thousands displaced from
their homes.
The MDC also wants
an international force to police the country, freedom for
the opposition to
campaign, international election observers not biased
toward the Mugabe
regime and a reconstitution of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission to include
international board members.
Mr Biti claimed that many of the millions of
Zimbabweans who have fled the
country planned to return to vote in the June
runoff election.
A third of the population has fled Zimbabwe in recent
years as the country
confronts chronic shortages of food, medicine, fuel and
cash precipitated by
the government’s seizure of white-owned farms that once
produced enough to
feed the country and export to neighbours.
The
government this month introduced a half-billion Zimbabwe dollar note in
efforts to deal with runaway inflation that unofficial estimates put at
700,000 percent a year.
Military tried to wipe out opposition leadership:
MDC
Yahoo News
by Fanuel Jongwe Mon May 19, 6:12 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's
opposition accused Robert Mugabe's military
intelligence Monday of trying to
wipe out its leadership as the ruling party
outlined battleplans for a
run-off presidential election next month.
With opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai refusing to return home over fears
for his safety, his
number two Tendai Biti claimed he was one of dozens of
top figures in the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who were on a
hitlist.
"They
have been killing our people since 1980 and now Mugabe's military
intelligence has compiled a list of 36 to 40 people to be assassinated," MDC
secretary general Biti told AFP during a visit to Nairobi.
"Top of
the list are our leader Morgan Tsvangirai, myself and our spokesman
Nelson
Chamisa."
Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in the first round of voting on
March 29, had
been due to return home at the weekend to begin campaigning
for the run-off
but cancelled at the last minute after the MDC claimed it
had uncovered an
assassination plot.
The party at the time refused to
give any details of the alleged plot which
has been laughed off by Mugabe's
governing Zimbabwe African National Union -
Popular Front (ZANU-PF) party as
pure fantasy.
However Biti said it now had firm evidence that pointed to
military
intelligence involvement.
"We know that there is a group of
about 18 snipers from the military
intelligence who have been assigned to
carry out the killing of our leader
and the rest of us. But we will not be
cowed," Biti claimed.
The allegations by Biti, who has himself been out
of the country since
shortly after polling day, will raise the stakes yet
further in the
countdown to the run-off in which 84-year-old Mugabe is
seeking a sixth term
in office.
Many analysts believe Tsvangirai,
regardless of fears for his safety, is
losing the momentum he built up in
the first round by declining to return
home.
Tsvangirai fell only two
percentage points short of an overall victory in
the first round and should
in theory be the favourite to beat Mugabe in the
run-off with another
opposition candidate Simba Makoni now out of the race.
ZANU-PF is now
trying to seize the initiative, setting up special committees
to address
failings in the first round which also saw it lose control of
parliament for
the first time since independence in 1980.
According to a report in the
state-run Herald newspaper, one committee would
be dedicated to ensuring
voters do not go hungry for the run-off while
another would help bus voters
to the polling booths.
"We have realised that people were hungry when
they went to the polls and
the committee has been mandated to ensure food
production while another
committee would also look at mobilisation of
transport," said the party's
chief spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira.
The
paper said the committees had been agreed at a meeting Friday of
ZANU-PF's
central committee when Mugabe gave a damning assessment of what he
called a
"disastrous" electoral performance.
Shamuyarira said it was vital that
ZANU-PF supporters who stayed at home on
the original polling day are
encouraged to vote in the June 27 run-off when
Mugabe will seek to extend
his 28-year rule in the former British colony.
"We believe many people
did not go to the polling stations to vote," he
said.
"We have also
discovered that they did not go to the polls maybe because of
over-confidence and we would also like to make sure that all our supporters
who did not vote in the last election would do so in the presidential
run-off."
ZANU-PF's share of the vote took a notable dive in rural
areas, previously
seen as strongholds of the ruling party but where near
drought conditions
have badly hit agricultural production.
The MDC
believes authorities are also trying to intimidate rural voters
against
casting their ballots in the second round through a campaign of
violence.
The party says more than 30 supporters have been killed by
Mugabe followers
and tens of thousands displaced, although the president has
accused the
opposition of trying to spread terror.
MDC Say SADC Working On 'Safe Passage' for Tsvangirai to Return
Home
SW Radio Africa (London)
19 May 2008
Posted to the
web 19 May 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
The Southern African
Development Community is making every effort to ensure
that MDC President
Morgan Tsvangirai gets back into the country safely and
in the shortest time
possible, his spokesman George Sibotshiwe said on
Monday.
'He
(Tsvangirai) is facing a very serious threat to his life and the MDC
security team had to restrain him from going ahead with his return trip to
Zimbabwe on Saturday,' Sibotshiwe added.
The MDC is accusing the
country's military of plotting to assassinate
Tsvangirai.
His
spokesman said they got a tip-off from a well-placed source within the
security services in Harare of a planned assassination.
Sibotshiwe
said Tsvangirai has received many messages of support from people
in
Zimbabwe and the region, adding that SADC was working on a plan to ensure
he
returns home safe to start his campaign for the run-off poll of 27th
June.
There are reports that SADC was considering asking South African
President
Thabo Mbeki to try again, as facilitator of the Zimbabwe crisis,
to put
pressure on the regime in Harare to guarantee Tsvangirai's safety
during the
campaign period. It's believed Mbeki tried but failed to get
these
assurances when he met Mugabe a week ago in Harare.
Responding to
suggestions that the MDC leader was damaging his credibility
and his hances
of toppling Mugabe in the second round, Sibotshiwe said
anyone saying that
was failing to understand the political terrain in the
country.
'He
has done the right thing to make sure he's protected to complete the
struggle, so that people in Zimbabwe will be freed from this tyranny,'
Sibotshiwe said.
Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday MDC
Secretary-General Tendai Biti said
the assassination plot involved snipers.
He said the military, which has
been 'running the country' since Mugabe lost
to Tsvangirai in the March
elections, were involved in the plot.
Biti
said he could not give more details because it would put a lot of lives
at
risk. He also condemned African leaders' failure to confront Mugabe. He
also
said that Mugabe's campaign of violence will almost certainly backfire,
as
so many victims have said they are now more determined than ever to vote
out
the regime. Many Zimbabweans in exile have also vowed to return to vote
in
the June runoff presidential election.
Mugabe party targets food as key in
Zimbabwe run-off
africasia
HARARE, May 19 (AFP)
Zimbabwe's ruling party has set up a special committee to
ensure voters do
not go hungry ahead of a run-off presidential election next
month, state
media reported on Monday.
The Herald newspaper said
President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) had set up committees responsible
for food distribution and for
transport while conducting an inquest into a
first round defeat in
March.
"We have realised that people were hungry when they went to the
polls and
the committee has been mandated to ensure food production while
another
committee would also look at mobilisation of transport," the party's
chief
spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira told the daily.
The paper said the
establishment of the committees had been agreed at a
meeting Friday of
ZANU-PF's central committee when Mugabe gave a damning
assessment of what he
called a "disastrous" performance in joint
parliamentary and presidential
polls on March 29.
The elections saw ZANU-PF lose control of parliament
to the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change for the first time while
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai fell just short of an overall majority and now
faces Mugabe in a
run-off on June 27.
Shamuyarira said it was vital
that ZANU-PF supporters who stayed at home on
the original polling day are
encouraged to vote in the run-off when Mugabe
will seek to extend his
28-year rule in the former British colony.
"We believe many people did
not go to the polling stations to vote," he
said.
"We have also
discovered that they did not go to the polls maybe because of
over-confidence and we would also like to make sure that all our supporters
who did not vote in the last election would do so in the presidential
run-off."
ZANU-PF's share of the vote took a notable dive in March in
rural areas
which had previously been seen as strongholds of the ruling
party.
A one-time regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe has recently experienced
shortages
of basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and sugar as a result of
an economic
meltdown characterised by an inflation rate officially put at
165,000
percent.
The situation has been exacerbated by near drought
in some parts of the
country which the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organisation has warned could
badly damage the upcoming maize harvest.
MDC say 43 killed in worsening political violence
By Lance Guma
19 May
2008
The MDC have said 43 of their activists have been killed so far in
worsening
post-election violence countrywide. The official death toll stood
at 41 over
the weekend, but the party received information on Monday that
two
decomposed bodies had been unearthed in a village near Goromonzi just
outside Harare. The bodies had gunshot and knife wounds. The party is yet to
confirm the identity of these murdered activists, but party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa told Newsreel they had dispatched a team to verify the
identities.
Meanwhile concern is growing over the welfare of activist
Tonderai Ndira who
was abducted from his home in Mabvuku by heavily armed
police last
Wednesday. Ndira, a veteran of 35 police arrests, was beaten up
in front of
his wife and children before his abductors bundled him into a
white 4x4
pick-up and drove away. Ndira is the MDC secretary for security in
the Youth
Assembly and an activist with the Combined Harare Residents
Association. His
abduction is part of a state-sponsored crackdown targeting
key opposition
activists. Lawyers, students, trade unionists, diplomats and
other activists
have all been targeted.
The President and Secretary
General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
were finally released on
Monday after spending almost 11 days in custody.
Lovemore Matombo and
Wellington Chibebe were released on Z$20 billion bail
each and told not to
interfere with state witnesses and not to address any
political rallies. The
state accuses the two of communicating falsehoods
when they allegedly told
workers during May Day celebrations that two
teachers had been murdered at
Kondo School in Guruve. Both deny that they
ever said this.
The Zimbabwe
Liberators Platform (ZLP) has strongly condemned what it calls
the
‘systematic reign of terror unleashed by Zanu PF on innocent children,
women
and men in rural areas across Zimbabwe.’ The organization which groups
together veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war said Zanu PF militants were
targeting anyone suspected of voting for the MDC. Femias Chakabuda, the
national chairman of the ZLP, questioned why Zanu PF bothered to participate
in an election if it was not prepared to accept the ‘people’s verdict’. He
said no genuine war veteran would beat up people, simply because they chose
to vote for a party other than Zanu PF.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
More on the arms shipment to Zimbabwe
Recently a company called Avient Aero flew several containers
of arms from Angola to Zimbabwe.
These containers held, among other things, 3,000,000 rounds of
ammunition.
I have written a letter to Mr Smith, the MD of this
company.
If you feel a similar revulsion, perhaps you might like to do
the same.
Here is my contribution.
Best wishes
C
--------------
Good morning Mr Smith,
I would like to place on record my disgust that you saw fit to ferry arms
to a country with a proven track record of human rights abuses and murder on a
grand scale.
In France there was a serious attempt to take the SNCF to court for ferrying
the victims of the death camps to these camps during the war for the Third
Reich.
That attempt was unsuccessful, but I feel sure that a
similar attempt to take you to the International
Court in The Hague will be successful, in view of the current revulsion that exists in
the world against what is happening in Zimbabwe.
Please be aware that this flight will come back to haunt
you.
If not in a monetary sense, because that is what must have motivated you,
but in a sense that you have directly contributed to the imminent death of
several thousand people.
How many lives is thirty pieces of silver worth, these
days.
C H
CONTACT
US
|
United Kingdom |
Andrew
Smith - Managing Director
Samantha Smith - Commercial Director
James
House - Commercial Manager - Charters
Julie Hedge - Reservations Supervisor
Phone: +44 (0)1980 676010
Fax: +44 (0)1980 626634
Address: Unit 7, Minton Distribution Park, London Road,
Amesbury, Wiltshire SP4 7RT
E-Mail:
info avient.aero
Operations:
Phone: +44 (0)1980 676010
24
Hour contact: + (0)1980
676010
Address: Unit 7,
Minton Distribution Park, London
Road, Amesbury, Wiltshire, SP4
7RT
E mail: opsavient.aero
SITA:
LGWKAXH |
|
|
|
|
France
|
Patrick
Archambeau
Brice Tronchet
Phone: +33 3 26 64 82 47
Fax: +33
3 26 64 82 58
Address: Paris-Vatry Airport, BP 80005,
51555
Chalons en Champagne, France |
|
|
|
|
Zimbabwe
|
Lewis
Kling
Phone; +263 4 497208
Fax: 00 263 4 497136
E mail: lewis@avient.co.zw
Address: 191
Enterprise Road,
Cnr.
Drew Road,
Chisipite, Harare
SITA: HREAVCR |
Zimbabwe Lawyers For Justice:A Bogus Organisation
Recent reports in both the State-controlled print and electronic media
have revealed the existence of an organisation that calls itself the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Justice.As a practising lawyer of more than twenty years
experience,I have never been formally advised of the existence of this so-called
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice.Ordinarily,the Law Society of Zimbabwe,as the
lawful professional body mandated to regulate the affairs of all lawyers in
Zimbabwe,would have circulated a memorandum formally advising all interested
parties of the formation of a body such as the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Justice.I am not aware of any circular to that effect that was generated from
the Law Society of Zimbabwe offices.If such a circular was indeed
circulated,then it certainly didnot reach my chambers.
With due respect to whoever is the brainchild
behind the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice,I strongly suspect that the
membership of this organisation is most probably composed of one person;someone
who regularly appears on the ZANU(PF)-controlled ZTV,who calls himself Advocate
Dinha although he has never practised at any of the Advocates' Chambers
in Harare and Bulawayo.Let me hasten to add that I have absolutely nothing
personal against Mr.Dinha.I have never met him in my life and I have no reason
whatsoever to seek to denigrate his person.All I am stating is that
the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice seems to have no other member besides
Mr.Dinha.
As a member of the legal profession in Zimbabwe,I
have a vested interest in knowing more about the real agenda behind the
so-called ZLJ.For instance,I would be happy to be advised whether or not the ZLJ
is registered as a trust and if so,the identities of its board of trustees and
their connection,if any,with the legal profession.I am alarmed when lawyers who
purport to be driven by an agenda for justice,loudly and publicly clamour for
the imposition of a state of emergency in Zimbabwe.For any lawyer of sound
mind to publicly call for the imposition of a state of emergency surely boggles
the mind.What exact '' justice'' is the ZLJ clamouring for by failing to call
for the immediate cessation of the de facto state of emergency that presently
obtains in Zimbabwe? I am a member of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and
any interested person is free to call at the offices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights to examine its membership register.The constitution of the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights is a matter of public record.Put simply,the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights is a legitimate grouping of lawyers who share common
views regarding the promotion,protection and enhancement of human rights in
Zimbabwe.If I may ask,how exactly does the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Justice distinguish itself from the core agenda of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights? When,where and by whom was the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Justice formed?The legal profession is an
honourable profession no wonder collegues commonly refer to each other as '' my
learned friend ''.The last thing the profession wants is to have the sprouting
of rag-tag groupings of low-profile lawyers masquerading as human rights
defenders.
I will be the first person to passionately and
vigorously defend the constitutional right of freedom of association and in this
respect therefore,I am not by any stretch of the imagination suggesting that
lawyers should be barred from establishing organisations whose main agenda is to
push forward whatever lawful and legitimate agendas that they might have.My main
concern is with rogue lawyers,some of whom have been de-registered for such
dishonourable and criminal activities such as the pilfering of trust
funds,publicly calling for the re-structuring of the Law Society of Zimbabwe
and/or the imposition of a fully-fledged state of emergency.If a person is a
genuine human rights defender then he/she should consistently fight for the
observance of the rule of law as opposed to the rule by law.Zimbabweans are
already suffering under the present de facto state of emergency.What more
suffering can they endure if the call by the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Justice for the imposition of a state of emergency by the illegal regime
presently ruling Zimbabwe is heeded?
As members of an honourable profession,lawyers
should not go out of their way to put the profession into serious disrepute.If
some of our lawyers's personal political ambitions are allowed to denigrate the
otherwise good public image of the legal profession,then perhaps it is high time
the Law Society of Zimbabwe stands its ground and takes appropriate disciplinary
action against such errant members.I am not advocating vindictiveness.All I am
submitting is that as lawyers,we should behave and conduct ourselves honourably
in our professional,political and even private lives.I am not insulting anyone
by concluding that the so-called Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice seems to be a
virtual one-man band; desperate to scandalise and besmirch the good name,public
standing and reputation of the legal profession in Zimbabwe.
Senator Obert Chaurura Gutu
Two more MDC activists callously murdered
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 19 May 2008 11:15
Two more decomposing bodies of murdered
MDC activists were discovered
in Goromonzi, bringing to 43 the number of
opposition activists murdered by
Zanu PF and state security agents in an
orgy of retribution following the
people's victory on 29 March
2008.
The bodies of Ken Nyevhe and Godfrey Kauzani, who were abducted
together with Beta Chokururama last Tuesday at Juru Growth Point, were
discovered in Goromonzi on Saturday. This was three days after Chokururama's
bosy was found in the same area.
Chokururama was found dead the
following in the Chikwaka area on
Wednesday with gunshot and knife wounds.
He was buried at the Warren Park
cemetery on Saturday.
As
Chokururama's body was being laid to rest, another shocking
discovery was
made in Goromonzi district where the bodies of Nyevhe and
Kauzani were found
also murdered in cold blood in the same area by a
ruthless regime.
The bodies of Nyevhe and Kauzani were discovered by villagers in
Goromonzi
with similar gunshot and knife wounds to those of Chokururama.
Their
bodies are at the mortuary at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
The two were
members of MDC national youth wing.
Kauzani's wife, Felistus, was on
Sunday picked up by the police from
Goromonzi police station who are
interrogating her on how the families of
the deceased discovered the
bodies.
Zanu PF and state security agents have been on an orgy of
violence
since the opposition party and its president Robert Mugabe lost in
the 29
March 2008 elections to the MDC.
Over 5 000 families have
been displaced from their homes across the
country while hundreds have been
injured and are receiving treatment at
various hospitals.
The move
by Zanu PF is meant to displace at least 500 000 eligible
voters who are
perceived to be MDC supporters ahead of the 27 June 2008
presidential run
off.
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Tonderai Ndira, Harare province's
secretary for security, who was abducted by armed state security agents at
his Mabvuku home are still unknown.
Riot Police and CIO stop Church services
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 19 May 2008 11:05
Anglican Church in Zim.
HARARE
- Baton-wielding riot police on Sunday burst into a number of
Anglican
church services across the capital Harare, disrupting mass at
churches
aligned with the Right Reverend Bishop Sebastian Bakare.
Bakare was
appointed substantive bishop of the Harare diocese in
December following the
ouster of Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, Mugabe’s prominent
pet
bishop.
At least three priests and several parishioners were
arrested in the
raids on the charge of holding services without the
authorization of police
or government. Only clergy supporting Kunonga may
legally continue to hold
services, police warned parishioners in
leaflets.
Bakare said he was “appalled” by the reports of Zimbabwean
police
forcibly stopping the Sunday services in Harare where clergy have
publicly
refused to acknowledge Kunonga's episcopal authority.
The
Zimbabwean heard that police, for the second week in a row,
viciously broke
church services on Sunday at St. Pauls Parish in Highfield,
St Columbus in
Kuwadzana, Christ Church in Borrowdale, St Francis in
Waterfalls and St.
Andrews Parish in Glenview , where parishioners were
beaten up and some
taken into police custody.
Kunonga, a close ally of Mugabe, had his
priestly license revoked last
December after illegally separating from the
Anglican Central African
Province.
He later claimed he had formed
his own Anglican Church of Zimbabwe and
installed himself as
Archbishop.
An obscure number of Anglican supporters of Mugabe’s Zanu
(PF) party
are accusing Bakare of breaking church canonic law in the ouster
of Kunonga.
While independent of the Church of England, the
denomination - with an
estimated 40,000 active members - belongs to the
worldwide "Lambeth
Communion".
Supporters of the election of
Bakare, the new vicar general of the
diocese, say he is a dedicated and
impartial theologian unlike Reverend
Kunonga, a toadying bootlicker of
Mugabe who preaches Zanu (PF) rhetoric
from the pulpit.
Kunonga,
who has stayed in the United States for years, is alleged to
support
Mugabe's militant black empowerment policies. He is also a former
theology
lecturer at Africa University, in Mutare. Repeated efforts to reach
him for
comment were futile. But Bishop Bakare said he was "deeply
concerned about
the continuous disruption of church services by the police
and the army who
have disregarded High Court orders."
Bakare said Kunonga was giving
false information to the police and
security chiefs that the diocese of
Harare supports the MDC, which Bakare
vehemently rejected insisting “the
Church preaches Christ Crucified and
Righteousness not party
politics.”
Bakare said Kunonga was lying to the authorities that the
diocese of
Harare was an appendage of the Church of England eager to
recolonise the
country and that it was pro homosexual, said Bakare.
In the divide over homosexuality in the Anglican Communion, Kunonga
has
attempted to claim he is on the side of biblical orthodoxy.
Bakare
alleged that Kunonga was personally involved in the roping in
of riot police
and intelligence operatives to stop his services. Bakare said
they had four
High Court orders issued by Judge President Rita Makarau,
reference number
HC.345/08 , Justice Lawrence Kamwi (HC 402/08), Justice
Hungwe (HC 3208/07)
and the latest by Justice Antonia Guvava (HC 2259/08)
giving the Anglican
diocese of Harare a legal right to access and use of
the Anglican
properties and premises.
Bishop Bakare said on Sunday: "We will ask
other religious leaders in
Harare to lend us their churches from next Sunday
so our congregations can
continue to worship. We will also sue the
commissioner of police next week.
"We know the orders are coming from
high up, not from ordinary
policemen."
If violence pays, who
wins?
zimbabwejournalists.com
19th May 2008 15:28 GMT
By Chenjerai Chitsaru
POLITICAL violence is once again
top of the agenda in Zimbabwean politics.
President Robert Mugabe spoke of
it at a meeting of Zanu PF's central
committee.
He sounded as if he
was actually condemning it, which must come as something
of a surprise to
many who have heard him, in the past, espousing "bashing"
as a
stock-in-trade of politics.
His rival for the presidency of the republic,
Morgan Tsvangirai, did sound
off on the subject too, although the
circumstances were different.
Tsvangirai was still out of the country,
having departed these shores after
the 29 March presidential election, which
his party claimed he won.
Tsvangirai had planned to return to begin his
campaign for the run-off
presidential poll due next month. His party said he
would not, after all, be
returning as scheduled because they had stumbled
upon an assassination plot
against their leader.
What they were
demanding was a guarantee that his diabolical plot would not
be carried out
if he returned. The government seemed to pooh-pooh the whole
suggestion of
an assassination plot.
Again, some people were surprised. Since 1980,
this government has been
involved in skullduggery which has been
documented. One of them, the
attempt on Patrick Kombayi's life in 1990,
ended up in court, with two
people associated with the government charged
with attempted murder.
Both were convicted and sentenced to jail, but the
same Mugabe, who was
president then, got the men released.
In the
2000 election campaign, two people, again associated with either the
government or the ruling party, were identified as the perpetrators of one
of the most gruesome assassinations in the country's history: they killed
two activists of the MDC in Buhera.
To this day, they remain
free.
In the 1990s, Tsvangirai himself was held by his legs out of a
window in the
ZCTU offices by people alleged to be war veterans – they
threatened to throw
him downstairs if he did not repudiate his
organisation's plan to oppose the
payout to the war veterans.
The war
veterans are allied to the ruling party, a fact illustrated by
Jabulani
Sibanda's prominent role in the Re-Elect Mugabe campaign: he is the
leader
of the Zanu PF-allied war veterans' movement.
There has been so much
violence against MDC supporters, particularly in the
rural areas, that it is
emphatically arrogant of Zanu PF to turn around and
claim they are, in fact,
victims of unprovoked, MDC–sponsored violence.
Moreover, it is the ruling
party which would reasonably and even logically
be expected to engage in
such activities because of the results of the
elections.
The party
performed so dismally it would be unreasonable to expect them to
accept the
humiliation without some form of protest.
This is a party of violence, let's
not forget. Perhaps its very origins as a
liberation movement would be
automatically associated with a plan to engage
in violence.
After
independence, that phase would be expected to have been replaced by a
sober,
civilian-like devotion to negotiation rather than violence. But we
all know
bad habits die hard.
Yet a recent development in far-away Nepal might
provide Zanu PF with a
useful lesson: the Maoist opposition, once engaged in
violent attempts to
overthrow the conservative and largely autocratic
monarchy, took part in an
election – and won.
Of course, it is
reasonable to assume that the voters had to bear in mind
the fact that the
Maoists were offering them a chance to endorse them
without a gun being held
to their head.
Today, the monarchy is on the verge of being abolished
altogether, and
hopefully, replaced by a civilian administration, ostensibly
answerable to
the voters.
Of course, Zanu PF is another party
altogether. It has so many skeletons in
its cupboard it is understandable
for it to want to hold on to power until,
as they say, kingdom
come.
It intends to accomplish this by using violence – there can be no
disputing
that. The run-off for the presidency is likely to see one of the
most
violent campaigns we have witnessed, perhaps worse than the 2000 one,
which
must have broken all records.
What Zanu PF and its leaders
ought to consider is the likelihood of this
country degenerating into
another of those African countries where people
kill each other every day in
an insane struggle for power which can end only
after millions have died and
the economy is virtually dead – as in Somalia,
or the Sudan or the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Those countries may have attracted much
international attention, some of it
well-intentioned and aimed at ending the
blood-letting.
But so far the killing continues unabated. In he DRC, Joseph
Kabila, the
youthful president, may turn 70 or even 80 before anything
remotely related
to order is restored to that God-forsaken country,
independent since 1960
but so blood-soaked it must be counted among the few
countries in the world
which should never have been granted full
nationhood.
Someone has to pay for all the violence to which we have been
subjected
since 2000. The economy is in tatters and only people very
intellectually
challenged can take Gideon Gono seriously when he speaks as
if our inflation
rate is not the highest in the world and our growth rate is
not one of the
most pathetic in the world.
Some people will insist
that our problems were not self-inflicted, that we
were doing very well when
foreigners intervened by throwing a spanner in the
good works. This would
not be true at all. At some point after independence,
our economy was poised
on the edge of really taking off, our dollar strong,
the economy sound and
our political and economic relations with the rest of
the world on an even
keel.
Then Zanu PF, a party so self-absorbed in its self-importance and
so
obsessed with creating a one-party, one-leader, and one ideology country
decided to take matters into its hands by using violence – in the land
reform chaos and in the subsequent parliamentary election
campaign.
Almost everything went up in smoke then. Nobody has been able
to put out the
fire since then. Millions of young people fled the looming
disaster and made
their lives in foreign countries.
Zanu PF remains
committed to chaos, unprepared to do the decent thing and
leaving the scene
with dignity. Where violence is the prime factor of
handling sensitive
situations, there can be no winners. Zanu PF certainly
won't be the
winner.
Posterity might, in fact, ensure that it ends up in the dock. It
would have
to answer for all the blood and the destruction of what was once
seen as a
model economy, but has now been reduced to one of the biggest
jokes in the
world.
Beaten, wounded,
bleeding and even lost life for exercising my right to vote
http://www.kubatana.net
Beaten, wounded,
bleeding and even lost life for exercising my right to vote - Post March 29th
2008 elections violence report no. 1
Zimbabwe Peace Project
May 2008
Download this document
- Word 97 version (4.5MB)
- Adobe
PDF version (1.8MB)
If you do not have the free
Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.
Executive
Summary
The levels of political
violence and human rights violations have gone up in the post election period
with a total of 4359 cases of human rights violations being documented by
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP). The patterns of violence have also shifted with
the violence being more physical with an increase in cases of assault, murder,
malicious damage to property, and kidnapping. Cases of harassment and
intimidation are still high. Manicaland tops the list of politically motivated
violence in the form of displacement. Other areas with high levels of violence
include Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central Masvingo and
Midlands. The areas where the violence is rampant conform to earlier ZPP
predications of hotspots in the pre-election period as outlined in the two
Violations Early Warning System (ViEWs) reports published before the
polls.
In Harare most of the cases
recorded are of assault, harassment and intimidation. In the period under
review, ZPP noted a total of 81 cases of assault and 56 of harassment and
intimidation. There have also been cases of raids of NGO offices and arrest of
NGO leaders.
In Mashonaland East, harassment, intimidation and assaults
are common leading to massive displacement of people as the victims run to
neighboring towns like Harare to seek sanctuary. A total of 823 cases were
recorded in Manicaland province in April alone. Cases of malicious destruction
of property of opposition supporters have also been on the rise in the
province.
Mashonaland Central has also
seen an increase in cases of harassment and intimidation, mainly of suspected
opposition supporters. As a result of the violence in the province in April, ZPP
recorded a total of 187 cases of displacement in the province. A case of murder
was also recorded.
Mashonaland West is hot with
a total of 211 cases of politically motivated human rights violations. In total,
ZPP recorded 2 murders, 99 displacements, 59 assaults in the post electoral
period. Some ZANU PF stalwarts (names supplied) are reported to be the key
funders of the violence and human rights violations in the province.
The Midlands province
remains one of the hot spots of violence with 248 cases of violence being
documented in the post election period. The most common cases of violence were
harassment and intimidation (125 cases), followed by assault (81 cases) and
displacements (10 cases). Two cases of murder were also recorded in April. ZPP
has noticed that the recurring perpetrators were mostly from ZANU PF (names of
perpetrators supplied) and these are from areas like Mberengwa, Silobela, Gokwe
Nembudziya, Gokwe, Shurugwi, Mberengwa, Gokwe Chireya, Gweru urban and Gokwe
Nenyunga. ZPP has also noted that one of the perpetrators has been perpetrating
violations since 2001 and one perpetrator from the MDC from Gweru
Urban.
Masvingo had the second
highest recorded cases (622) of violations in the post election period. The most
prevalent violations were harassment and intimidation (417cases), Assault (108
cases) and kidnappings (49 cases). One case of murder was also recorded in
April. It was in Masvingo that initial claims of the presence of white farmers
wanting to take over their former farms was made resulting in the invasion of
farms and harassment of the remaining white farmers.
Manicaland recorded the
highest number of incidents with a total of 1924 incidents of violence in the
month of April. Of these cases, 823 involved displacement and over 400 cases of
harassment and intimidation, 251 cases of assault. Two cases of murder were also
recorded in the province. The case of Manicaland being a hotspot was also
predicted in the ViEWs reports disseminated by ZPP in the run up to the
elections.
Matebeleland has generally
been calm however some cases of violence were recorded in Lwendulu village,
Nkayi and Hwange. Members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) are allegedly
driving around villages with a list of observers, and opposition supporters who
are then assaulted, harassed and intimidated.
Matebeleland South is
generally calm with a few hot spots of violence. ZPP recorded 35 incidences of
violence, one case of torture and one of unlawful detention.
Bulawayo is generally calm
with no cases of displacement recorded. However, some bases have been set up at
municipal offices and schools and are designed for harassment and intimidation.
In total, ZPP recorded 47 cases of harassment, intimidation and 5 Assaults.
In most of the reported
cases of violence and human rights abuse throughout the country the perpetrators
are alleged to be ZANU PF members, youths, some uniformed forces and government
officials. There are some cases in Harare where MDC members have been involved
in perpetrating violence.
Women, men and children are
all victims of the violence directly. There has been reported an arson and
murder case, where a child was killed as the house they were in was burnt down.
There are also numerous cases where women and children are being taken as ransom
and forcibly detained in set up bases until their fathers or husbands who fled
violence return to their villages. Women are also being assaulted, tortured and
sexually harassed.
In most cases the police are
not playing their role of enforcing the law as they get political pressures or
become part of the perpetrators themselves.
The indications on the
ground and the increasing cases of violence point to a worsening
situation.
The reason why the recorded
incidents in Manicaland have been way ahead of all other provinces is that in
those areas not many of the ZPP monitors have been displaced as they flee
violence unlike in areas like Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, and
Mashonaland Central. Most of our monitors have been targeted in one way or
another as most participated as domestic observers. ZPP can safely say that it
has not been able to document all the cases of violence but it will continue to
have presence on the ground and give updates.
Download
full document
Visit the ZPP fact
sheet
The return of the 'necklace': Anti-immigrant violence sweeps South Africa's
townships
Daily Mail, UK
By IAN EVANS - Last updated at 19:49pm on 19th May 2008
A wave of anti-immigrant attacks has rocked South Africa's seething
townships, with mobs beating foreigners and setting some ablaze in scenes
reminiscent of the bloodiest days of apartheid.
And in the most savage of scenes, there were terrifying examples of
"necklacing" - the dreadful punishment dealt out to collaborators and criminals
in anti-apartheid days in which a tyre filled with petrol is put around a
victim's neck and set alight.
Necklacing sentences were handed down in the 1980s and 90s by "people's
courts" established in black townships.
Scroll down for more...
Uproar: Men cheer and dance as people's houses lie burning on the
ground
The practice was frequently carried out in the name of the now-ruling African
National Congress and was alleged to have been implicitly endorsed by Winnie
Mandela.
The country has been rocked by the scale and ferocity of the attacks which
has left more than 20 people dead, with hundreds arrested.
The savage violence has been aimed mainly at Zimbabweans and other African
nationals who have fled violence or poverty in their own countries.
They are accused by the impoverished blacks of South Africa's townships of
taking jobs and fuelling the high rate of violent crime.
Scroll down for more...
Desperation: A man tries to douse the flames on one ramshackle building
In the horrific attacks, mainly around Johannesburg, foreign women have been
raped while men have been set upon by gangs wielding guns, clubs and machetes.
Shops and homes have been looted and dozens of shacks burnt to the ground.
"This is a war," said Lucas Zimila, a 60-year-old Mozambican man who was
attacked by a machete-wielding mob while sleeping in his shack in Tembisa, north
of Johannesburg.
"They screamed at me to get out, that I didn't belong here. Then they burned
everything in my house," said Zimila, who suffered a five-inch gash in his head.
South Africans yesterday woke up to view terrifying scenes on the front pages
of their newspapers while television pictures showed nervous, gun-toting police
struggling to keep order on the outskirts of Johannesburg's central business
district, bringing the violence closer to commerce and the white population.
Scroll down for more...
Violence: A South African policeman shoots a rubber bullet as officers try to
disperse rioters
Last night the country's Human Rights Commission supported by the opposition
Democratic Alliance called on the government to put soldiers on the street of
the areas worst affected by the trouble.
Former president Nelson Mandela said he was saddened by the violence against
foreigners, while Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another of the country's most
respected leaders, made an impassioned plea for the violence to end.
"Please stop. Please stop the violence now," he said. "This is not how we
behave. These are our sisters and brothers."
He said neighbouring states had taken in South Africans during the struggle
against white minority rule. "We can't repay them by killing their children," he
said.
Scroll down for more...
Horror: The dead body of a Malawian national stabbed to death during
xenophobic clashes in the Reiger Park Township lays on the ground as locals look
on
South Africa, with a population of 50 million, is home to an estimated 5
million immigrants. Foreigners from poorer countries have been lured by work in
mines, farms and homes and by one of the world's most liberal immigration and
refugee policies.
Immigrants say that far from being criminals they are more often the victims
of crime. Several claimed organised criminals were using the violence as cover
to rob and loot.
Gangs of mainly male South Africans have been targeting Zimbabweans,
Mozambicans, Malawians as they roam through townships, squatter camps and poorer
suburbs, demanding to see people's identification papers to check their
nationalities.
Refugees from Zimbabwe are bearing the brunt of the attacks. There are an
estimated 3.5 million Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, escaping the horrors
of Mugabe's regime in their own country and lured by job prospects in a country
with one of the world's most liberal immigration and refugee policies.
But despite being Africa's biggest economy with a growth rate of 5 percent
for the past four years, the boom has failed to make a big enough dent in
unemployment which stubbornly remains at around the 25 percent mark.
Scroll down for more...
A man armed with a hammer and stick runs from police during riots in the
Ramaphosa squatter camp
Many in the townships claim foreigners are given preferential treatment on
houses, a claim denied by the authorities.
In truth many refugees work for pitiful wages unprotected by labour laws, or
set up businesses particularly among the Somali community. Poor South Africans
say their willingness to work for lower wages undermines their job prospects.
An estimated 6,000 refugees have been forced to escape their shacks in
townships with only the possessions they could carry, and find sanctuary at
police stations where they are protected by armed officers.
Around 1,000 have taken refuge at the Central Methodist Church in central
Johannesburg which has long been a safe haven for recent newcomers from
Zimbabwe.
The church's Bishop Paul Verryn said: “We consider the situation is getting
so serious that the police can no longer control it.”
He said a group of armed people had approached the church on Sunday night,
and only police intervention kept them away.
“It is so sad. They need security, blankets, food and counselling. But most
of all they just need to be treated as human beings,” he added.
One of those targeted was Emmerson Ziso who fled hunger and repression in
Zimbabwe, but says he now wants to go home.
“Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than here,” said
the former teacher who was chased from his home by a mob on Sunday morning.
“It's spreading like wildfire and the police can't control it,” Ziso said.
The right wing Freedom Front Plus party called for a state of emergency in
Gauteng province where the violence has occurred.
Jaco Mulder, FF Plus's provincial leader said he had been warning government
since 2004 that the handling of undocumented migrants and refugees could lead to
resistance from various communities.
“This uncontrolled immigration has an impact on education, health and job
creation that are already under severe pressure.”
President Thabo Mbeki and ANC leader Jacob Zuma have both condemned the
violence. Mr Mbeki said a panel had been appointed to probe the reasons for the
xenophobic attacks which critics say is not enough. The beleagured leader has
been widely criticized for his failed “quiet diplomacy” towards Zimbabwe which
has seen a flood of refugees from the crisis-hit country.
Mr Zuma added: “We can't be a xenophobic country. It's not good for our
country. The hatred of certain people just because they are foreigners is
becoming a general problem, but how we conduct ourselves says a lot about us in
the international community.”
The unrest is an embarrassment for South Africa, which has vaunted its
tolerance since the end of apartheid and hopes to encourage foreign visitors for
the football World Cup in two years time.
S. Africa police use rubber bullets, arrests
to fight anti-foreigner violence; 22 killed
International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: May 19, 2008
REIGER PARK, South Africa:
Clashes pitting the poorest of the poor against
one another have focused
attention on complaints that South Africa's
post-apartheid government has
failed to deliver enough jobs, housing and
schools to go
around.
Police brought in reinforcements as violence hopped from slum to
slum in
scenes reminiscent of the bloodiest days of apartheid. Most of the
victims
were foreigners in squatter camps.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
made an impassioned plea Monday for the violence to
end.
"Please
stop. Please stop the violence now," he said in a statement. "This
is not
how we behave. These are our sisters and brothers."
Tutu said that when
South Africans were fighting against apartheid they had
been supported by
people around the world, and particularly in Africa.
"We can't repay them
by killing their children. We can't disgrace our
struggle by these acts of
violence," he said.
President Thabo Mbeki also reiterated his call for an
immediate stop to the
attacks saying "nothing can justify it" and that
police will get to the
"root of this anarchy."
South Africans are
struggling to buy food as prices rise. Unemployment is 23
percent and many
complain the government hasn't worked fast enough to build
houses, schools
and hospitals for the long-neglected black majority.
Foreigners have been
targeted because they are seen as competing for scarce
resources — and
because they were the closest targets on hand for the poor.
Leyton
Salaman, a 35-year-old tiler from Malawi, said the trouble started
slowly in
Ramaphosa, a collection of shacks among the mine dumps and
warehouses east
of Johannesburg. A few foreigners were beaten Friday.
Saturday, shacks were
set alight. When the killing started Sunday, Salaman
and hundreds of others
fled to the neighboring community of Reiger Park,
where he sat in a church
yard Monday.
"These people, they said, 'You are taking our jobs,'" said
Salaman, who has
lived and worked in South Africa for eight years. "Now they
just come and
take our things."
Police spokesman Govindsamy
Mariemuthoo said that, since the violence broke
out last week, 22 people had
been killed. Mariemuthoo said more than 200
people had been arrested on
charges including murder, rape and robbery.
Mariemuthoo said police
reservists and officers from other regions were
being called in to help. The
South African Red Cross and other aid groups
appealed for funds to care for
the hundreds of people who have been
displaced.
Some victims were set
alight. Jonathan Whittal, a humanitarian affairs
officer with Medecins Sans
Frontieres, said his group had seen cases of rape
as well as gunshot and
other wounds.
"The violence is extreme," Whittal said, calling for a
broader, more
coordinated humanitarian response. He also said security for
immigrants
would remain a concern even after the current outbreak is
extinguished, and
the underlying causes would have to be
addressed.
The violence would likely only add to South Africa's image as
a crime
capital — it has a murder rate of more than 50 per day — just as it
prepares
to host visitors from around the world for the 2010 soccer World
Cup.
While still shockingly high, crime rates in South Africa have been
slowly
dropping. Many South Africans, though, say they believe crime is
rising,
questioning the official statistics in one measure of distrust of
the
government.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation was among the
organizations called for calm.
The foundation noted that the former
president had sponsored projects aimed
at helping immigrants integrate into
South African communities.
In a statement, the foundation repeated a plea
that Mandela, South Africa's
first black president, made during an outbreak
of xenophobic violence in
1995: "We cannot blame other people for our
troubles."
President Mbeki said in a statement issued by his office that
he was being
kept informed of developments and that "law-enforcement
agencies must and
will respond with the requisite measures against anyone
found to be involved
in these attacks."
"Citizens from other
countries on the African continent and beyond are as
human as we are and
deserve to be treated with respect and dignity," he
said. "As South
Africans, we must recognize and fully appreciate that we are
bound together
with other Africans by history, culture, economics and, above
all, by
destiny. "
Zimbabwean Gina Themba nursed her 2-week-old daughter on the
floor of a room
at a police station in downtown Johannesburg Monday. She
said neighbors
among whom she had lived for three years broke into her house
the night
before and demanded she leave. She said she did not understand
why.
Such scenes were repeated in pockets across the Johannesburg region.
Foreigners fled to police stations, churches and community halls. At one
police station-turned-refugee camp, a young man wandered with a loaf of
bread and a knife, selling slices for a 1 rand (about 15 U.S. cents; 10 euro
cents) each, in a display of immigrant entrepreneurship that has sparked
resentment.
Vincent Williams, head of an immigration research project
of the independent
Institute for Democracy in South Africa, said accusations
that immigrants
take jobs from natives, or that they are responsible for
crime, are heard in
many places around the world.
He said it was rare
for such sentiment to erupt into sustained violence, but
this was not the
first time it has done so in South Africa. The last serious
outbreak was
just after apartheid ended in 1994.
"We've known for quite a while that
levels of xenophobia in South Africa are
high," Williams said. He said
speculation about the reasons has touched on
the isolation created by
apartheid as well as fears the institutionalized
racism of the past has left
even black South Africans suspicious of black
foreigners. Zimbabweans,
Malawians, Mozambicans and others from elsewhere in
Africa have been the
main targets of the violence.
President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday that he
would set up an expert panel to
investigate. Williams said the panel should
probe whether the violence has
been orchestrated, perhaps by an as yet
unknown anti-immigrant group.
Williams also called for a public awareness
campaign to ensure immigrants as
well as native-born South Africans
understood their rights, and understood
that while immigrants may take jobs
here, they also buy South African goods
and services, and pay
taxes.
Some South Africans were moved to help foreigners, dropping by the
impromptu
shelters with food, clothing, blankets and other donations. Lisa
Letsoso, an
18-year-old South African living in the Ramaphosa squatter camp,
was up all
night working with church groups distributing aid to people from
the camp
who had fled to Reiger Park.
"The South African are fighting
the foreigners. Now the foreigners are
fighting back," Letsoso said.
"Everyone is suffering."
Thabo Mbeki's critics demand action not
words
Times Online
May 19, 2008
President Mbeki criticised for standing by as Zimbabwean refugees set
ablaze
in South Africa's townships
Jonathan Clayton, Johannesburg
The
sight of a poor Zimbabwean refugee set ablaze by a jeering mob in a
South
African township has outraged public opinion and once again led to
fierce
criticism of President Thabo Mbeki’s moribund government.
The picture of
the victim covered in flames made the front page of several
newspapers and
triggered a new round of soul-searching following a weekend
of xenophobic
violence from which the death toll has now hit at least 12.
This latest
attack, on a resident of Reiger Park on the East Rand outside
Johannesburg,
has brought back memories of “necklacing” when the townships
were ablaze in
the 1980s during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle
and “informers”
and “traitors” had rubber tyres draped around their necks
and set on
fire.
The violence, which began last week, has focused attention on the
ruling
African National Congress’ (ANC) failure to make life much better for
those
at the bottom of the country’s economic pyramid. Unemployment in the
townships is well over the national average of 25 percent and basic services
are in short supply.
“People are having to find scapegoats, this is
about competition for
diminishing resource. Mbeki has tried to de-racialise
the economy but only a
very small number at the top have really benefited,”
said Sipho Seephe,
President of the South Africa Institute of Race
Relations. Mr Seephe is a
fierce critic of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)
policies which he accuses
of simply recycling "the same bunch of ANC
cronies.”
Mr Mbeki’s government has overseen impressive economic growth rates
which
have created an emerging black middle class, but some 40 per cent of
the
population – 80 per cent of which is black – is little better off than
at
the end of apartheid in 1994.
“The school system is crumbling, the
public health sector is in crisis and
the HIV/AIDs epidemic is taking scarce
resources and this feeds a perception
that nothing is improving,” added Mr
Seephe.
Mr Mbeki has ordered an inquiry into the violence, but his
critics insist
that what is needed is action.
“We have got inquiries
coming out of our ears, but no leadership. What we
need is leadership, we
know the causes of all these problems,” said one
political
analyst.
Mr Mbeki, who is increasingly becoming a lame-duck leader after
having lost
the ANC presidency at the end of last year, is also blamed for
an influx of
some three million Zimbabweans into South Africa to escape
economic
melt-down in that country.
“Mbeki could have probably not
done that much to stop this influx, but he
could have used a language which
better conveyed a sense of crisis,” said Mr
Seephe.
Mr Mbeki’s
government is blamed for failing to grant many of the Zimbabweans
refugee
status, leaving them few options but to work as illegal immigrants
and in
some cases opt for crime which has fuelled “anti-foreigner” sentiment
also
directed at Mozambicans, Somalis and Malawians.
Comments
It has been
forecast in detail and so it is happening. SA will soon be a new
Zimbabwe:
watch this space. The advice to tourists going there is make sure
your life
insurance is up to date. Read the various government web sites.
Cry the
Beloved Country- again!
B J Deller, Marbella, Spain
What a
complete waste of oxygen Mbecki is. He is totally unequal to the
problems
facing southern Africa. Originally in denial over the HIV/Aids
epidemic,
then over the Zimbabwe catastrophe, now over the resulting
problems for his
own country.
It doesn't need an enquiry to know that he has to
go.
Christopher, West Yorkshire, UK
Mr Mbeki could have done
everything to prevent the influx, by helping to
oust Mugabe long ago. His
attitude to Mugabe is hard to understand, except
in terms of ANC history.
Does he want a country run by a bankrupt tyrant on
his doorstep? Or is he in
thrall to the past in some way?
Paul, London, England
The carnage
in Johannesburg is a direct result of Thabo Mbeki’s obstinate
stance on
Zimbabwe and lacklustre attitude to maintaining the effectiveness
of the
South African police services. No debates, no rose-coloured
spectacles, no
excuses. The chickens are coming home to roost. Or roast.
peter
frost, cape Town, south Africa
Mbeki reaps a tragic
harvest
International Herald Tribune
May 19 2008
Posted by Daniel Altman
For years, as heads of state
from around the world bemoaned the worsening
economic conditions in
Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki kept mum. South Africa’s
president couldn’t bring
himself to criticize his opposite number to the
north, Robert Mugabe, even
as the country that had been Africa’s breadbasket
slipped into ruin. At the
same time, thousands of Zimbabweans fled across
the border. Now, violent
anti-immigrant riots have broken out across South
Africa, and Zimbabweans
are the main victims.
Mbeki failed to deal with the problem when it was
on his doorstep, and now,
as Barry Bearak reports, the problem is in his own
house. The president
allowed Zimbabweans into his country, but he offered
them no more than
informal support networks so they could find their feet.
Unemployment and
crime were already problematic before the mass immigration,
so it didn’t
take long for poor neighborhoods to turn into
tinderboxes.
Some of the Zimbabweans are political refugees, but the vast
majority appear
to be economic migrants - a pattern that is repeated around
the world.
Economic output in Zimbabwe has tumbled, inflation is through the
roof and
at one point male life expectancy had fallen below 40 years. These
problems
might just have been avoided with a little more pressure and
foresight.
Mbeki’s example will serve other heads of government well:
Watching out for
your neighbor’s economy is the same as watching out for
yours.
"Stand Up (for)
Zimbabwe" Day ~ 25 May
|
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough -
Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE
DEMOCRACY
|
|
Stand up (for) Zimbabwe Campaign : 19 May
2008
Concept for “Stand Up (for) Zimbabwe” Day
The 25 May is commemorated annually as Africa Day, recalling the founding of
the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, in 1963. Flowing from
the communiqué issued by the African Civil Society Meeting held in Dar es Salaam
in April 2008, we ask concerned organizations regionally and internationally to
commemorate Africa Day, Sunday 25 May 2008, as one on which to show solidarity
for the people of Zimbabwe - a "Stand Up (For) Zimbabwe" Day.
Although the concept originates with a group of southern Africa-based NGO's,
concerned for issues of democracy and human rights, in Zimbabwe, it is intended
that people all over the world build on this concept and that the "Stand Up For
Zimbabwe" campaign have varied and multiple dimensions, not controlled or
explicitly coordinated by the originating organizations.
It is thus envisaged that on this day there would, for example, be protests
and assemblies outside offices of the Zimbabwean government, like embassies;
outside offices of SADC, the AU and the UN calling for stronger action; outside
offices of those individual governments which have roles to play in resolving
the crisis (specifically southern African governments). All such protests and
assemblies might be marked, for example, by a few minutes silence in which all
those assembled stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.
But the campaign can also be carried out through other activities: through
asking congregations assembled at places of worship to rise and stand in
solidarity with those beaten, tortured and killed in the post-election violence
in Zimbabwe; by asking those gathered to watch sporting events to do the same.
HOW TO ORGANISE YOUR "STAND UP (FOR) ZIMBABWE" ACTIVITIES FOR 25 MAY
2008
The day in a nutshell:
We are asking organizations and people from
around the world to "Stand up (for) Zimbabwe", by planning and participating in
a series of activities around the African continent and the world that seek to
show solidarity with those Zimbabweans impacted by the escalating post-election
violence. We ask that you plan these events to around the week of the 25 May
2008, a day traditionally commemorated as Africa Day, being the day on which the
Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) was founded.
The theme
The theme of the International Day of Action is "Stand up
(for) Zimbabwe" to highlight that the people of the region and the world are
standing up and with the people of Zimbabwe in their desire for a democratic,
peaceful transition of government and an end to the violence that is so much
part of their lives.
Useful materials and news items can be downloaded from the www.standupforZimbabwe.org webpage,
currently under development and available here: www.standupforZimbabwe.org. You can
also register your activities on the website.
Before the event:
- Your organization will want to think about what type of activity/event is
most suitable for it to plan and organize. You may want to plan a protest
outside the nearest Embassy of Zimbabwe or an assembly outside the nearest
African Union offices. It may be that you organize for your local church
congregation to stand and observe a few minutes silence in solidarity with those
affected by the violence in Zimbabwe.
- Before the event your organization should contact relevant media outlets to
inform them of the day of action, where and when it is taking place, and contact
information if they need further information. You may want to do this as a press
advisory.
- Your organization may want to focus on the following messages when
communicating with the press and others: a. the people of the world stand with
Zimbabweans in their desire for a peaceful democratic transition
b. the
people of the world/Africa call on their government, the AU/SADC/UN to:
--
ensure an end to the crippling violence in Zimbabwe
-- resolve the governance
crisis in Zimbabwe
We will also be creating a central website, www.standupforZimbabwe.org, where
you can find further information regarding the day of action including materials
to distribute, contact information of organizations in other countries
coordinating similar protests.
Depending on your resources, you could also reach out to stadiums and arenas
which are planning on holding events to ask the audience to stand up at the
specific time.
On 25 May
- We call on people from around the world to literally stand up at a scheduled
time and observe a few minutes silence. If you have a banner, buttons or
T-shirts, ensure they are visible. It would be ideal if the protestors were
standing up in a place that is usually reserved for sitting, for example a
stadium. But it need not be.
- You should appoint someone to take photographs of the (hopefully) masses of
people standing
- The photographs should be distributed to the local press soon after the
event and posted on www.standupforZimbabwe.org
Subscribe to receive mailings by sending an email to elections2008@sokwanele.com.
You can also subscribe yourselves automatically via our website at the
following address: www.sokwanele.com/join.html.
Visit our website at
www.sokwanele.com
Visit our blog: This is Zimbabwe
(Sokwanele blog)
Send an e-card!
www.sokwanele.com/sendcard/
We have a fundamental right to freedom of expression!
Sokwanele does not endorse the editorial policy of any source or website
except its own. It retains full copyright on its own articles, which may be
reproduced or distributed but may not be materially altered in any way.
Reproduced articles must clearly show the source and owner of copyright,
together with any other notices originally contained therein, as well as the
original date of publication. Sokwanele does not accept responsibility for any
loss or damage arising in any way from receipt of this email or use thereof.
This document, or any part thereof, may not be distributed for
profit.
|
Some more local authority election results
Here are some more local
authority election results that I've counted
from a notice published by ZEC
in the Financial Gazette of 15 May and
Zimbabwe Independent of 16 May. Both
had (different) pages printed
twice, but I think I've added them up
correctly. If there are any
errors, they will be mine.
But they do
help give an indication of the scale of ZANU(PF)'s defeat.
R
=========
Mashonaland Central
Bindura
Municipality
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 12 wards
Bindura Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 4 out of 12 wards
Chaminuka Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 23 out of 24 wards
Guruve Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 13 out of 15 wards
Mazoe Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 13 out of 26 wards
Mbire Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 11 out of 13 wards
Muzarabani Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 12 out of 13 wards
Pfura Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 23 out of 26 wards
Rushinga Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 11 out of 11 wards
Mashonaland
East
Chikomba Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 11 out of 28
wards
Goromonzi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 14 out of 22
wards
Manyame Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 6 out of 9
wards
Marondera Municipality
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 12
wards
Marondera Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 10 out of 15
wards
Mudzi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 13 out of 17
wards
Murewa Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 16 out of 24
wards
Mutoko Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 23 out of 29
wards
Ruwa Local Board
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 9
wards
Zvataida/Uzumba Marama Pfungwe Rural District Council
ZANU(PF)
won 8 out of 8 wards
Hwedza Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 5 out
of 10 wards
Masvingo
Bikita Rural District Council
ZANU(PF)
won 9 out of 27 wards
Chiredzi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 11
out of 15 wards
Chiredzi Town Council
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 8
wards
Chivi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 14 out of 20
wards
Gutu Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 12 out of 36
wards
Masvingo Municipality
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 10
wards
Masvingo Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 11 out of 26
wards
Mwenezi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 4 out of 4
wards
Zaka Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 10 out of 28
wards
Mashonaland West
Chegutu Municipality
ZANU(PF)
won 0 out of 12 wards
Chegutu Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 17
out of 22 wards
Chinhoyi Municipality
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 12
wards
Hurungwe Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 2 out of 7
wards
Kadoma Municipality
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 16 wards
Kariba
Town Council
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 18 wards
Karoi Town
Council
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 10 wards
Kariba Town Council
ZANU(PF)
won 0 out of 18 wards
Makonde Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 5
out of 7 wards
Mhondoro-Ngezi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 8
out of 12 wards
Norton Town Council
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 12
wards
Nyaminyami Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 5 out of 8
wards
Sanyati Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 10 out of 11
wards
Zvimba Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 6 out of 10
wards
Matabeleland North
Binga Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 25 wards
Bubi Rural District
Council
ZANU(PF) won 5 out of 10 wards
Hwange Local Board
ZANU(PF)
won 2 out of 14 wards
Hwange Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 3 out
of 18 wards
Lupane Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 3 out of 24
wards
Nkayi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 6 out of 25
wards
Tsholotsho Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 1 out of 15
wards
Umguza-Bubi Rural District Council
ZANU(PF) won 4 out of 11
wards
Hwange-Victoria Falls
ZANU(PF) won 0 out of 11 wards
ZINWA workers on strike
16 May 2008
Workers for the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (ZINWA) have gone on
strike in Mabvuku demanding
protective clothing for their daily chores. CHRA
ward leaders reported that
there are pools of sewer flowing in Mabvuku owing
to the strike. The problem
is complicated by the water problems that have
hit Mabvuku over the last 2
years.
The situation is a threat to the livelihoods of residents in the
area. In
December 2007 over 95% of residents suffered from a Cholera
outbreak that
claimed lives of children and some adults. The Association is
intensifying
its calls to have the administration of sewer and water
services returned to
local authorities from ZINWA. CHRA further demands that
the newly elected
council must start its work.
"CHRA for enhanced
civic participation in local governance"
Farai Barnabas Mangodza
Chief
Executive Officer
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
145 Robert
Mugabe Way
Exploration House, Third Floor
Harare
ceo@chra.co.zw
www.chra.co.zw
Landline: 00263- 4-
705114
Contacts: Mobile: 0912638401 and 011862012 or email info@chra.co.zw,
programs@chra.co.zw and admin@chra.co.zw
Time for right minded security people to speak
up
The Zimbabwe Times
May 19, 2008
By Liberty Mupakati.
THE deteriorating
political, economic and security situation in Zimbabwe has
reached alarming
levels.
It is sad that it is allegedly being planned and orchestrated by
members of
the military, state security and police forces, the very same
people who are
supposed to uphold, protect and defend the people. The
dictates of the state
security and military machinery is that they have to
discharge their duties
with honour and discipline.
What is happening
in Zimbabwe right now should put to shame any members of
the armed forces,
both former and serving, the very same people who are
supposed to uphold law
and order and ensure security. We were made to
believe that discipline was
sacrosanct in the way the armed forces conduct
themselves and in the way
they discharge their mandate. We were made to
believe to believe that the
people and the state came miles ahead of
individuals, no matter what their
rank or political office.
It was stressed to the security forces that
their mandate was to safeguard
the people, not the politicians, and
certainly not to follow orders blindly.
It is a pity that some of those
people who had served their country
illustriously and with distinction have
fallen into the proverbial trap of
greediness thereby sacrificing their
values for two pieces of silver.
How else, can one explain the
summersault performed by such valiant
soldiers, police officers, central
intelligence officers like Zimbabwe
National Army commander Phillip V
Sibanda, Chief of Staff Martin Chedondo,
Major General Trust Mugoba, Rtd
Major General Gibson Mashingaidze, Air
Commodore Chiganze, Air Commodore
Marangwanda, Air Vice Marshall Abu Basutu,
Air Vice Marshall Moyo, Close
Security Unit Head Simbi Tonde, Deputy Police
Commissioner General Godwin
Matanga, CIO Deputy Director, Planning,
Madzorera, CIO Director of the
Director General’s pool, Chaunoita, CIO
Economics Director Mupamhanga, CIO
External Branch Director, Maringa and CIO
Director of Administration Meke,
amongst others?
It is an open secret that the crisis in Zimbabwe has
spawned untold
hardships for the ordinary man and women of this once great
nation. It is
equally true that the crisis has been a boon to those who are
intimately
involved in the running of the state. This may explain why some
fine men and
women in uniform have decided to turn against the wishes of the
oath that
they took when they either joined or were commissioned into
service.
One just has to look at how well-fed and pampered these people
have become
to understand why they have gone astray. It would be the height
of naivety
to think that they are doing what they are doing because as
uniformed
officers they are supposed to obey orders, that they are showing
discipline
by acquiescing to the whimsical wishes of their 84 year-old
Commander -In-Chief. It is no secret that Zanu-PF is mortally wounded and
sharply divided. The people who are wreaking havoc on us are certainly not
acting with the blessings of the majority of the former ruling
party.
It is clear that they want to safeguard their own personal
interests. Prior
to 2000 almost all these people did not have any riches to
talk about.
Chiwenga had just assumed leadership of the army and did not
even have a
farm and was seen at his father’s Wedza homestead literally
every weekend,
Chedondo was running a night club in Marondera’s Nyameni high
density
suburb, Chihuri and Matanga were running commuter omnibuses plying
the
Harare-Ruwa route, whilst PV Sibanda was admired by both friend and foe
for
his humility.
The fast-track land reform suddenly made these
commissioned officers, top
brass of the police force as well as CIO land
holders complete with
homesteads, perched on top of hills and mountains in
the fertile Arcturus
and rich Mazowe Valley. It is not surprising that they
now simply do not
want to let go of their opulent lifestyles. This is
evidenced by the rabid
statements that are made in Zimbabwe’s Pravda, the
Herald, by their Josef
Goebbels, George Charamba that the MDC is advocating
for the return of white
farmers to the commercial farms. He says that there
are regular sightings of
white farmers all over the country and he tells
everyone who cares to listen
that they are coming back to recover their
farms.
Intelligent Zimbabweans take such ranting in their strides,
knowing that
these are the last kicks of dying horses.
The post March
29 election period brought in the mix three people whose
lives were
intricately twinned during the 1980s Matabeleland massacres;
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, Perrence Shiri and CIO deputy boss Maynard Muzariri.
With Mujuru
effectively eclipsed Mnangagwa is now to all intents and
purposes, vice
President of Zimbabwe with the luck-lustre Patrick Chinamasa,
who lost
dismally in the elections the de facto Prime Minister.
Some people have
argued that Shiri is open-minded about whoever takes over
control of the
country as he has never openly declared his opposition to a
Morgan
Tsvangirai government unlike his colleagues who openly stated in 2002
and
2008 that they would never salute Tsvangirai if and when he assumes the
Presidency. What they forget to realise is that behind the façade of silence
lies a cold and ruthless streak that would not stop at anything to preserve
the status quo.
The Mnangagwa-Shiri-Muzariri nexus is a potent and
evil one that can only
spell more suffering for the people of Zimbabwe as
the later two see the
ascension of the ruthless Mnangagwa to the throne as
their only chance of
landing or maintaining top positions and securing their
future. Shiri does
not like Mujuru and has never forgiven him for having
recommended Chiwenga
for the CDF top job to Mugabe, whilst Muzariri also
loathes Mujuru for twice
having engineered the appointment of former
soldiers to the top CIO job that
he considered himself a shoe-in, given the
wealth of experience that he has
as the perennial number two since the days
of Dr Elleck Mashingaidze.
They are fiercely loyal to Mnangagwa. Former
Midlands governor, July Moyo, a
known Mnangagwa ally, is widely alleged to
be involved in the ongoing
violence campaign as he has allegedly been
quietly brought back to the fold.
He is already credited with the idea of
deploying the marauding youth
militia away from their own areas where they
would be easily recognised.
It is my view that the time may have now
arrived for Retired General Solomon
Mujuru and other like-minded former high
ranking officers of the army, the
police and state security machinery to
break their deafening silence over
the brutality that is currently being
perpetrated. In this regard it is
heartening that Retired General Vitalis
Musungwa Gava Zvinavashe has boldly
condemned violence and has stated in no
uncertain terms that there should be
no violence in his Gutu
District.
What is required now is for these esteemed liberation war
veterans to
unreservedly condemn the violence that is being wrought on the
people that
they struggled for so long to liberate?
Mujuru will be
remembered as the real kingmaker in the country if he were to
intervene and
use his influence for peace building, for bringing an end to
the
catastrophic suffering that is being experienced by the people at the
hands
of Mugabe. It is widely reported that Mujuru played a pivotal role in
Mugabe’s rise to the leadership of Zanu-PF in the 1970’s and surely, it
would not be asking too much for him to play that same role again, to rein
in Mugabe, Mnangagwa and their uncontrollable, rampaging dogs of
war.
I have heard and listened to the argument that is emanating from the
inner
sanctum of the Mnangagwa camp that the current siege that is being
laid on
the people is to provoke them to fight back where upon Mnangagwa and
his
acolytes will force the almost senile Mugabe to declare a state of
emergency
that would enable them to crush any dissent and banish the
leadership of the
victorious MDC into permanent exile.
I am almost
tempted to believe this given the ranting coming from an obscure
group
called Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice led by Martin Dinha who has been
on the
CIO payroll since his days at the University as a Vice SRC Chairman
to Paul
Rumema Chimhosva. It is known that Dinha is the protégé of
Kasukuwere and
Manyika, who were allegedly his handlers at the University of
Zimbabwe.
Mujuru’s deafening silence has surely not helped the
people’s cause. His
role as a kingmaker would be greatly enhanced were he to
publicly denounce
violence and join Zvinavashe’s denunciation of violence.
The people yearn
for peace and are perplexed that the people who brought it
together with
universal suffrage through the barrel of the gun are
perpetrating heinous
crimes against them, when the only people who wield
tremendous influence on
the perpetrators are quietly watching from the
sidelines. They also wonder
whether it was worth all the loss of life and
suffering at the hands of Ian
Smith, if the people who fought the war to
enable them to elect their own
leaders are now changing and shifting goal
posts.
They have arrogated to themselves the role of final arbiters, who
decide
when and when not to accept the results of democratically conducted
elections.
Mozambique switches off power supplies
The Zimbabwe Times
May 19,
2008
By Our Correspondent
MASVINGO - Zimbabweans face power
blackouts following a major breakdown of
equipment at the Hwange thermal
power station amid reports that Mozambique
has cut power supplies to the
country by 50 percent.
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution
Company (ZETDC) officials
yesterday advised customers in a statement that
they should expect more
power cuts as the shortage of foreign currency to
procure vital equipment
and to import power continues to be severely
reduced.
ZETDC spokesman Fullard Masikati advised consumers to use power
sparingly.
“The breakdown of equipment at the Hwange Thermal power
station and an
expected demand of electricity in winter means that the
shortage of power is
going to worsen” said Masikati.
“Some areas will
spend almost a week without power because of this problem.”
Said
Masikati,
.
“We are urging our customers to use power sparingly by
adopting power
conservation measures such as cooking early before the 5 pm
peak period as
well as switching off lights and electrical gadgets in rooms
that are
unattended.”
Sources at the power utility yesterday said of
the four generators at the
Hwange thermal power station only two were
operational.
“Our equipment at Hwange continues to break down because the
materials were
bought from China and they are of poor quality,” said the
source.
It also emerged yesterday that the power problem has been
worsened following
Mozambique ’s decision to cut power supplies to Zimbabwe
by about 50
percent.
Mozambique used to provide Zimbabwe with 200
megawatts of electricity but
has since reduced the power allocation to only
100 MW.
“Mozambique has reduced its power exports to the country by about
50
percent; hence we are trying to come up with ways of covering up for the
shortfall,” said Masikati.
Zimbabwe is grappling with an
eight-year-old economic recession which has
seen the country failing to
secure enough foreign currency to meet its
import demands.
Nearly all
fuel stations are dry; fuel is only available on the thriving
parallel
market. Severe food shortages coupled with President Robert Mugabe’s
poor
economic policies have reduced the once potentially rich country to one
of
the poorest in the world.
Inflation is hovering above 200 000 percent and
Mugabe, who has been in
power since 1980, blames the western countries for
causing his country’s
economic problems.
Mugabe who lost to Morgan
Tsvangirai of the MDC in election held on March 29
believes he can win the
hearts of the electorate during the presidential
run-off slated for June
27.
Zimbabwe threatens to
monitor text messages ahead of runoff
zimbabwejournalists.com
19th May 2008 17:59 GMT
By Patrick
Chikwande
SHORT message service (SMS) monitoring is the latest weapon
being used by
the Robert Mugabe regime to silence many
Zimbabweans.
The government continues to suppress freedom of expression
as it controls
what is said or to be said by the general public.
With
almost a month before the second round of the disputed presidential
elections to be held on 27 June, Zimbabweans are reeling under violence and
threats mostly from government supporters who are punishing people for
voting for the “wrong” political party after the the opposition MDC
emphatically won control of Parliament with Morgan Tsvangirai pipping Mugabe
to second place in the presidential poll.
On Sunday Charles Sibanda,
the acting chief executive of Postal and
Telecommunications Authority
(Potraz) spoke on Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation radio warning
subscribers from abusing the SMS service.
Sibanda said his organisation
would prosecute subscribers found abusing the
system. Zimbabweans are known
for sending humorous SMS messages which have
kept them going since the
collapse of the economy and the poor governance.
For a month Zimbabweans
were denied the right to know the outcome of the
March 29 elections. Many
resorted to SMS as it was the only way to
communicate freely and to amuse
themselves from the drama made by the Mugabe
government.
It took a
month to release the presidential elections but Zimbabweans waited
patiently
as they communicated jokes and humorous SMS texts on their
mobiles.
Some of the SMS messages found their way into the diaspora
in countries like
United Kingdom, United States of America and many
others.
"Please tell Robert Mugabe to leave the keys under the doormate
or under the
bin outside the main gate as he leaves the State House to pave
way for
Morgan Tsvangirai," read one text message sent as people waited for
the
presidential election results last month.
In another one, the
text read, “We would like to apologise for the late
release of results, this
was due to the rigging process which was more
difficult than we
anticipated.”
Zimbabweans have always been known for their humour in
dealing with
difficult situations. Faced with a catastrophic economic and
political
crisis, Zimbabweans have been finding some relief from their
general misery
through SMS texting. Valid information about many other
things affecting the
country has also been relayed through text
messages.
With the latest warning coming from the Chief executive of
Postal and
Telecommunications Authority Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) this is likely to
send
shivers on the spines of some Zimbabweans.
It is yet to be seen
if Zimbabweans will stop sending humorous SMS attacking
Zanu PF and its
leader Robert Mugabe even before or after the 27 June
presidential
elections.
One thing is certain, if POTRAZ is successful in prosecuting
subscribers or
scaring people from sending the humorous jokes, many
Zimbabweans living in
the diaspora will be starved from the hilarious
messages saving many poor
Zimbabweans from the stresses of everyday life in
a country whose economy
has fallen from being a model for Africa into a
basket case.
2 Zimbabwe Union Chiefs Bailed; Banned From Political
Rallies
nasdaq
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--Two Zimbabwean trade union
leaders who were arrested
earlier this month for inciting rebellion against
President Robert Mugabe's
regime were granted bail on Monday by the high
court in Harare.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, or ZCTU, President
Lovemore Matombo and
Secretary-general Wellington Chibebe, who had been in
custody since their
arrest May 8, were released by Judge Ben Hlatshwayo on
condition that they
don't address any political rallies until their case is
concluded.
"The judge gave conditions that they should continue residing
at their given
residential address, refrain from interfering with witnesses
and that they
should not address any political gatherings until the matter
is finalized,"
the pair's lawyer Alec Muchadehama told AFP.
The pair
were arrested following speeches made to supporters on May Day
which
included withering criticism of President Robert Mugabe's government.
The
ZCTU was formerly led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe's
opposition who is taking on Mugabe in a run-off election next month after
narrowly failing to secure an outright victory in a first round poll in
March.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-19-081208ET
Muradzikwa accused of promoting opposition
The Zimbabwe Times
May 19,
2008
By Our correspondent
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC) board of governors has
offered no single viable reason why
it abruptly terminated Henry Muradzikwa’s
19-month run as chief executive
officer of the public broadcaster on May 14.
Judging from what board
members and corporation executives are willing to
say, it boiled down to a
lack of confidence in Muradzikwa’s ability to lead
the organization in a
direction that the defeated Zanu-PF party expected in
the impending
presidential election run-off.
Top level government sources said
Muradzikwa was fired for authorising the
flighting of MDC adverts on ZBC
radio and TV in the run-up to the March 29
poll and his alleged links to
losing presidential candidate Simba Makoni, a
former Finance Minister in
Robert Mugabe’s government.
“I am sorry I am not giving interviews. Talk
to the board,” Muradzikwa told
The Zimbabwe Times Friday.
ZBC board
chairman Justin Mutasa was not immediately available for comment.
But he
confirmed to the State press that the board had decided to relieve
Muradzikwa of his duties but gave no reason. Mutasa is also the chief
executive of government’s newspaper publishing company, Zimbabwe Newspapers
(1980) Ltd.
“The board met with Mr Muradzikwa and we reached an
agreement that he leaves
ZBC,” said Mutasa. “After the meeting we agreed
that aziva kwake aziva kwake
(we go separate ways).
Impeccable
sources in government said the decision came from the highest
office in the
land. Muradzikwa was reportedly fired at the instigation of
the permanent
secretary in the President’s Office, George Charamba.
Muradzikwa has, since
his appointment, had fierce run-ins with Charamba, who
before the new chief
executive’s appointment in October 2006, had become de
facto boss at
ZBC.
The Zimbabwe Times understands that the decision to fire Muradzikwa,
together with ZBC TV general manager Robson Mhandu and editor-in-chief
Tazzen Mandizvidza was first taken two weeks ago. Charamba wanted Mhandu
replaced by his blue-eyed boy Chris Chivinge, a former editor-in-chief for
Newsnet, who was fired by Muradzikwa when he took over the reins at
ZBC.
But the board blocked the decision saying the reasons given were not
compelling.
A livid Charamba was said to have pressured the board to
relieve Muradzikwa
of his post, blaming him directly for Mugabe’s loss in
the controversial
March 29 presidential poll.
Under fierce “undue
political pressure”, the ZBC board buckled and relieved
Muradzikwa of his
duties last Wednesday but spared Mhandu and Mandizvidza.
The Zimbabwe
Times heard that Charamba launched into a furious tirade
against ZBC last
Friday at the Zimpapers awards ceremony, blaming Muradzikwa
personally for
giving the MDC an edge over Zanu-PF by broadcasting their
adverts with
“reckless abandon.” A forlorn-looking Mutasa attended that
event.
Charamba reportedly branded Muradzikwa’s management as
“suspicious.”
Muradzikwa is said to have appealed against his dismal to
Mugabe on
Thursday, copying the letter to the board. His letter reportedly
chronicles
his achievements and how much he had given his all at the
broadcaster since
taking over from Susan Makore. The letter states how he
disbanded 11
loss-making companies under ZBC into two units namely ZBC-TV
and radio
services and installed a competent management team at the public
broadcaster
The letter also states that he had tried to change things,
including having
the public broadcaster on DStv, where it is available on
Channel 138, making
it available to over 1,5 million viewers.
On
Friday Muradzadzikwa cleared his office and left the broadcaster after
addressing workers briefly. He told them he was leaving with a heavy
heart.
He was due to be replaced by war veteran and avowed Zanu-PF
supporter
Happison Muchechetere, who has been tasked with blacking out MDC
material
from both TV and radio. In the run-up to the run-off, no MDC advert
is to be
flighted, editors have been told, with Charamba stating that this
strategy
is aimed at ensuring Mugabe retains power by shutting out
opposition views.
The government media empire was first banned from
publishing adverts of the
opposition in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary
election. The MDC had
still put up a spirited fight despited the
blackout.
Zim Food Crisis: Jailed Suspects Starve
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 17 May 2008 18:18
ZIMBABWE’S over-crowded
jails have run out of food and prison
officials are asking relatives to
bring supplementary supplies for inmates,
The Standard has been
told.
Sources said this week most prisons had food supplies
for less than a
month. They said the situation was most desperate at Harare
remand prison
where the conditions for visiting suspects have been relaxed
to allow
relatives to bring additional food for inmates.
"We
are giving them food at least once a day to keep body and soul
together,"
said a prison warden at the remand prison. "This is why visitors
can come
here as many times as they want every day to see and give their
relatives
food. This was unheard of before."
For the past three months,
suspects at the remand prison have been
receiving one meal a day at 3PM. In
most of the cases, they eat sadza with
beans or vegetables prepared without
cooking oil.
"You can count the number of beans in each plate,"
said the warden.
"The situation is so bad that there is need for urgent
intervention."
Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) officials last week
said the food crisis
was countrywide. Among the most seriously affected are
major prisons,
Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare and Khami in
Bulawayo.
Those who have been incarcerated recently said that
several prisoners
were succumbing to malnutrition-related diseases and
HIV/Aids in the crowded
jails.
Among the most common diseases,
said the officials, are HIV/Aids,
tuberculosis and pellagra.
Freelance journalist Frank Chikowore, who recently spent 17 days at
Harare
remand prison and Harare Central police station cells, described the
food
crisis as "dire".
"We would spend the whole day without a meal.
Most of the inmates
survive on food brought in from outside by relatives and
friends," said
Chikowore, who is charged with public violence.
He said many inmates were suffering from pellagra and other
malnutrition-related diseases while sodomy was prevalent.
"Sodomy is rife. People are sodomised for food by those who have been
incarcerated for a long time," said Chikowore, who said he himself had not
been a victim.
MDC director of information and publicity Luke
Tamborinyoka said
"starvation is the story of that prison".
Tamborinyoka, who spent three weeks at Harare remand prison on a
charge of
public violence, said at times they ate sadza without relish.
"If
you eat a banana or orange and throw away the peels, there is a
stampede for
those peels. I said to myself: if conditions are like this in
remand prison
where innocent people are kept, then the real jails must be
hell on earth,"
said the former news editor of the banned Daily News.
Tamborinyoka
said apart from the food shortage, there are no drugs and
running water.
Inmates take a bath after relatives and friends bring them
water from
outside.
Both Chikowore and Tamborinyoka are on bail.
ZPS public relations department had not responded to questions
submitted to
them by the time of going to print.
Acting ZPS public relations
officer Granisia Musango was not in the
office but senior prison officer,
Simba Mhare, had promised to respond to
the questions before the end of the
day on Friday.
A parliamentary committee which visited the jails
two years ago noted
that there were serious shortages of food, water and
health services.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice,
Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, led by Faber Chidarikire, described the
situation in
the prisons they visited as "disturbing".
It said
malnutrition and disease outbreaks were common as a result of
food
shortages.
"There were serious shortages of foodstuffs, such as
sugar,
maize-meal, cooking oil, beans, meat and most basic commodities. The
committee was informed that as a result of these scant allocations it was
very difficult to maintain the basic human standards, resulting in prisoners
suffering from malnutrition," the committee said.
It is
estimated that there are more than 25 000 prisoners in 42 major
jails, which
have a capacity of 16 000. But the number has drastically
increased as a
result of the on-going political clampdown and the
incarceration of MDC
supporters by the government.
Before the land invasions which began
in 2000, prisons would produce
enough food to feed the thousands of inmates.
The farms are now derelict
because of neglect.
By Caiphas
Chimhete
Top Cop Faces Arrest Over Farm
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 17 May 2008 18:14
A top police officer faces possible arrest
on contempt of court
charges after he allegedly led Zanu PF militias to beat
up a messenger of
court delivering an order to force him off a sugar estate
he occupied in
January.
Assistant Commissioner Edmore
Veterai has resisted a court ruling
ordering him off N&B Sugar Estates
in Chiredzi. The order was issued last
Friday by Masvingo Magistrate,
Phineas Mapiye.
The farm is owned by Digby and Jessie Nesbitt who
have sought the
court’s intervention to force Veterai off their land. They
are represented
by Rodney Makausi of Chihambakwe & Makonese Ncube legal
practitioners.
The Standard understands that the messenger of court
sent to deliver
the order on Monday was forced to flee the Zanu PF militia
allegedly led by
the top police officer.
The messenger,
identifying himself only as Svuure, told The Standard
Veterai refused to
take delivery of the court order but would not confirm
whether he was
assaulted.
"I went to the farm to deliver the court papers and
there was
violence," said Svuure. "Veterai refused to accept the papers,
saying he was
the owner of the farm.
"But as you know the
matter is still going on and I cannot comment
further and I do not think you
can publish this story as the matter has not
yet been
resolved."
Veterai could not be reached for comment. But a lawyer
representing
the commercial farmers confirmed the incident.
"This is the third time that Veterai has defied a court ruling and on
Monday
he went to extremes to lead Zanu PF militias to beat up the Messenger
of
Court," Makausi said.
Veterai is among officials who are still
trying to secure farms as
government continues to give mixed signals on the
fate of the remaining
white commercial farmers.
Some government
ministers have called for the outright removal of the
white farmers while
some have lobbied for them to remain on their land.
Since the
seizure of white commercial farms in 2000, annual food
shortages have forced
the government to import food and rely on handouts
from international
agencies.
The beneficiaries of the chaotic land reform have largely
failed to
produce enough food for the nation.
ZBC Journalist In Trouble With CIO
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 17 May 2008 17:37
A senior Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings Corporation (ZBC) journalist
was in trouble with the
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) after
exposing plans by war veterans
to set up torture camps in their campaign for
President Robert Mugabe in the
run-up to the presidential election run-off.
Sifiso
Sibanda, an assistant news editor, reportedly told an internal
editorial
meeting at Montrose Studios a fortnight ago that war veterans had
told him
there would be a number of no-go areas for the public media as the
campaign
progressed.
The meeting was attended by senior ZBH editors from
Harare.
The sources said the areas he referred to were torture
camps and bases
from where the war veterans would reportedly launch their
attacks on
opposition supporters.
On Monday last week, Sibanda
was picked up by the CIO from the ZBC
Montrose studios before being
interrogated by its officers at their Magnet
House headquarters in the
city.
"He is still shocked by the incident," said a source. "People
no
longer trust each other because we do not know who is feeding the CIO
with
such information."
Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA)
leader, Jabulani Sibanda, denied allegations
that they had set up areas from
which State media journalists were
barred.
"I am not aware of that and at the moment I am in Masvingo
campaigning," he said. "I have been around the country addressing people in
halls.
"Why would we as war veterans have secret places to
torture people?"
Tazzen Mandizvidza, the ZBC editor-in-chief said
he was unaware of the
war veterans’ directive and Sifiso Sibanda’s brush
with the CIO.
"If anything like that had happened to him he would
have told me," he
said. "But since he has not told me I presume that it is
not true."
The incident came hot on the heels of the ouster of the
corporation’s
CEO, Henry Muradzikwa and barely a week after two ZBC
journalists were
questioned by police after Information and Publicity
Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu’s mobile phone went missing as he addressed a
press conference, and
was found under their car.
There was
speculation the alleged theft was in fact a "sting
operation" by the CIO,
Sifiso Sibanda being the real target, as he had been
using the car that day
before surrendering it in the evening.
President Mugabe’s
spokesman, George Charamba has singled out the ZBC
for blame following his
boss’s defeat and sources say the CIO have stepped
up the surveillance of
journalists at the state broadcaster as they suspect
them of sympathising
with the opposition.
Last week, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, met state-controlled media editors where
he reportedly gave them
the editorial guidelines and a political agenda for
the run-off.
The editors were told to campaign vigorously for
Mugabe and intensify
the demonisation of the opposition, sources
said.
Interview With A Dead Man
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 17 May 2008 17:32
I recently interviewed an MDC activist,
a victim of political
violence.
He was at a private
hospital in Harare with two broken legs and facial
injuries.
But I was shocked this week when I was informed that the subject of my
interview had been found dead in Murehwa.
This is the story
which I wrote after the interview although it had
not yet been published.
Before we could start the interview, he demanded
that I should prove that I
was not from the "anti people media".
I was saddened. This is the
story which I wrote after the interview.
BETA Chokururama (32),
is the official driver of Theresa Makone. She
is a senior MDC official and
MP-elect for Harare North.
He was recovering in a private hospital,
one of the few still
functioning in the country.
After reports
that Zanu PF hitmen wanted to assassinate winning MDC
candidates to force
fresh polls in the constituencies, most of the
leadership went into
hiding.
It meant Chokururama had a lot of free time because his
employers had
gone underground.
"On Saturday 19 April, a day
after commemorating our independence, I
went with a friend, Ishmael Kawazi,
another MDC member, to an entertainment
centre in Marlborough, The Globe
Trotters," he told me. "At around 6PM,
Kawazi and I took to the crowded
dance floor. We were surprised when several
men in plain clothes pointed
pistols at us and ordered us out.
"At that point they appeared like
police officers, genuinely on
assignment, because I could tell fellow
revellers assumed we were common
criminals on the WANTED list.
"We were led outside and I was bundled into one car, my friend into
another.
By then more men in plain clothes had joined us and I realised some
were
brandishing AK 47 rifles. They were reeking of alcohol and my hopes
sank."
The truck drove off into the darkness.
"Before I had time to recover, my skull was nearly cracked open when a
hard
object came crashing on my head. I felt dizzy and weak. I managed to
ask
them why they were beating me."
After the blow came clenched fists
and other unidentifiable objects.
"The beatings stopped suddenly,
and then they all started speaking at
once. They asked if I was Theresa
Makone’s driver. I said I was. The
beatings continued.
As the
truck drove on, they demanded to know where his employers had
hidden the
arms which would be used to fight the government.
"I told them I
was not aware of such weapons. They said they were
going to kill me if I did
not tell them where the guns were.
"I told them they could kill me
because I was not aware of any arms.
This enraged them because the beatings
intensified. They started bashing my
knees and my legs with what I thought
was an iron bar. I felt one of my legs
crack.
"I was convinced
they were going to kill me. I told them I knew they
belonged to the CIO,
because I knew some of them. Because I thought they
were going to kill me, I
was not afraid to tell them beating people would
not change anything because
the opposition had for the first time defeated
Zanu PF.
"They
laughed, and then threw me out of the moving vehicle. I landed
on the side
of the road and the pain was excruciating. I noticed that my
friend had also
been thrown out of the other car. Lucky for us, we were
dumped near a
hospital which we later discovered was in the farming
community of
Mutorashanga, north of Harare. Some Good Samaritans took us to
the
hospital."
The MDC youth deputy organising secretary, Simangaliso
Chikadaya said
after his discharge from hospital, Chokururama went to his
rural home in
Murehwa last Sunday.
Chikadaya said: "Chokururama
and three friends had gone to visit
friends and relatives and when they had
just left Murehwa Centre, they were
sandwiched by two double cab trucks with
suspected war veterans and Zanu PF
militia. Chokururama and another
colleague were bundled into one truck while
the other two were forced into
the other truck."
Chokururama was not so lucky to escape with his
life this time.
His body was found in a riverbed on Tuesday with
multiple stab wounds.
Chokururama’s widow, Sabina, told The Standard
yesterday at Warren Hills
Cemetery where he was buried that he had left to
visit his mother in
Murehwa, when he was abducted and murdered.
"I was telephoned by police in Murehwa, who told me that he had been
found
murdered," she said. "I identified the body, which had multiple stab
wounds
on the back and on the abdomen. He had what appeared to be gunshot
wounds on
his legs."
By Foster Dongozi
Lawyers Sue Senior Police Officer For Assault
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 17 May 2008 17:28
THE High Court has ordered a
senior police officer to pay $90 billion
for ordering the assault and abuse
of two prominent human rights lawyers.
High Court judge
Justice Lavendar Makoni two weeks ago ordered
Superintendent Joel Tenderere
to pay the money for ordering the assault and
abuse of Mordecai Mahlangu of
Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans and Tafadzwa Mugabe
of Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR).
Mahlangu’s claims against Tenderere amounted
to $80 billion while
Mugabe’s totalled $10 billion.
Mahlangu
had demanded $200 billion in damages for pain and suffering
and $100 billion
for contumelia while Mugabe was suing for $10 billion for
the same
damages.
Both lawyers said they suffered pain, a severe loss of
dignity and
standing and were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment
after being
abused by Tenderere.
Mahlangu was assaulted by
police officers acting on Tenderere’s orders
following an aborted Law
Society of Zimbabwe march to the offices of
Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, the Attorney General
and the Commissioner of Police
last year.
The lawyers wanted to hand in a petition relating to the
unlawful
detention of two colleagues, Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni of
Mbizvo,
Muchadehama & Makoni.
In October last year,
Tenderere assaulted and verbally insulted Mugabe
at Harare Central police
station.
Mahlangu and Mugabe were represented by Simon Sadomba of
Gill,
Godlonton & Gerrans.
Tenderere is not new to
controversy. He has in the past been accused
of ordering the assault and
torture of accused persons, among them Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) leaders in September 2006.
By Jennifer Dube
Zambia Power Line Fault Hits Zimbabwe
Zim Standard
Business
Saturday, 17 May 2008 16:54
ZIMBABWE is headed for
serious power shortages since its northern
neighbour, Zambia failed to
reconnect a 330 kilovolt power line that had
developed a technical
fault.
The failure will have a serious knock-on effect on
Zimbabwe’s troubled
industries, already weighed down by foreign currency
shortages and constant
power cuts.
Reports last week said the
330 kilovolt inter- connector power line
which links Zambia and Zimbabwe,
would not be reconnected owing to
electricity shortages plaguing Southern
African.
Instead, the 330 kilovolts at Kariba power station on the
Zambian side
would be transferred for domestic consumption to that country,
according to
reports from the Zambia News and Information Service
(ZANIS).
The reports say Kariba North Bank technical manager,
Wesley Lwiindi,
confirmed Zambia’s power utility, Zambia Electricity Supply
Corporation
(Zesco) would not switch on the high voltage power line
connecting Zambia
and Zimbabwe.
"Zesco would not reconnect the
line to Zimbabwe to avoid another
countrywide power blackout," Lwiindi was
quoted as saying last week.
Last January, Zambia suffered a
countywide blackout when the
interconnector power line shared by the two
countries developed a fault.
This comes amidst warnings by Zesa
Holdings of severe power shortages
"owing to a reduction of electricity
supplies by Mozambique’s HCB due to
planned maintenance work during the
month of May and increasing power demand
as the winter sets
in".
Fullard Gwasira, Zesa Holdings spokesperson told
Standardbusiness the
power utility was not receiving any power from Zambia
"owing to the fact
that we decoupled our systems temporarily since the
nationwide blackout of
21 February 2008".
"The two systems were
decoupled to allow for investigations by both
sides as to how best to reduce
the contagion effect in future and allow for
start-up power in the event of
national blackouts affecting the two Kariba
stations," Gwasira
said.
The joint technical team of Zesa and Zesco members met to
finalise the
closing of the breaker which would give Zesa the opportunity to
access power
from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Snel.
"Ironically, the closing of this inter-connector will allow us to
access
power from Snel of the DRC, which we are unable to do, despite having
a
power purchase agreement in place," Gwasira said.
Zimbabwe is
experiencing constant power outages due to diminished
imports from regional
suppliers as well as declining capacity of Zesa to
generate enough
electricity for domestic use.
Domestic power generation by Zesa has
been affected by lack of spares
and foreign currency to repair aging
equipment at the power stations and
inadequate coal supplies.
Zesa is generating 750MW from six units at Kariba power station and
110MW
from one unit at Hwange power station.
Gwasira said the loss of two
of the three units at Hwange had
significantly increased the scope and
extent of load-shedding.
Two units were restored Thursday night
while small thermal power
stations in Harare, Bulawayo and Munyati were
firing as of Friday.
Zesa currently imports 100 MW from
Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa
(HCB) of Mozambique, down from the 200MW due
to maintenance works at the
power utility.
The southern African
region is experiencing power outages as demand
has far exceeded supply,
setting the stage for power cuts.
Zesa’s bid to import electricity
has been hampered by a shortage of
foreign currency to settle its
arrears.
In January HCB switched off Zesa over a US$19 million
debt. Power
supplies were restored after Zesa paid US$10 million as part
payment of the
debt.
Zanu PF's Empty War Mongering
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 17 May 2008 16:04
THE war of liberation was
no picnic. There were real heroes and
heroines. But atrocities were
committed — war is essentially one huge
atrocity against
humanity.
Anybody who claims they were "right" and were
entitled to brutalise
the enemy wily-nilly and persecute their alleged
collaborators would sound
like a psychopath.
War can turn
perfectly rational people into beasts, although it’s
always a Himalaya of a
task to rationalise Hitler’s, Mussolini’s or even Ian
Smith’s obsession with
power.
From the outset, it is imperative to set out the morality of
a
liberation war. To end oppression can be justified in any moral code —
Christian, Zionist, Taoist, Buddhist, Muslim, Zen, Confucian and
Hinduism.
After the enemy has been vanquished, the victors set out
to accomplish
the objective for which so much blood was
spilled.
This would be the enhancement of the lives of the formerly
oppressed,
including their right to decide who should lead them and how.
They ought to
enjoy more freedom than they did under the
oppressors.
In a number of notorious instances, the hiatus was long
and painful:
China and the former Soviet Union —and Zimbabwe.
What may be hard to swallow, even for those whose relatives died in
the war,
is the threat by the new rulers of "returning to the bush" if
people don’t
vote for them in an election.
Is this threat for real? Or another
Zanu PF gimmick, in place of a
platform listing its most notable
achievements?
A graphic portrayal would feature the former
fighters, gray-haired,
shoulders stooped under the guilt arising from the
people’s discontent,
shedding their designer suits and retrieving their
faded fatigues from the
attic — or wherever they store such keepsakes — and
searching for their
trusty old AK47s.
What remains
unidentifiable is the enemy. Their compatriots are the
same people for whom
they waged the war, the same people, in the case of
Zimbabwe, who were the
chimbwidos and mujibas, or their offspring.
The real enemies would
be unarmed and, in the Zimbabwean instance, so
weakened by hunger and
thirst, they are sitting ducks against a soldier on
three meals a day — even
of beans and sadza.
Would Zanu PF call this the Fourth, Fifth or
Sixth Chimurenga?
Zanu PF has used this threat of "returning to the
bush" in every
election campaign since 1985, especially among the villagers
who bore the
brunt of the struggle.
The party’s successes
—until 2000 — must suggest the ruse worked like
magic.
Most
people, remembering what they endured during the 15-year war,
decided it
wasn’t worth it to invite that same horror on their more or less
placid
lives once more.
What memories did they have of the war? Of young
men and women
protecting them from the evil white menace, assuring them of
everlasting
peace and prosperity once the white supremacists had been
subdued?
Yes, there was that, but also the other side of the same
coin –—
almost. There was retribution for those who did not co-operate —
allegedly —
for whatever reason.
hen there was the
name-the-enemy game. In any community, some would be
identified as being
half-hearted supporters — by people often with
long-standing grudges against
them.
These people would be used as examples: if anybody was in any
doubt as
to the consequences of not co-operating with the "vakomana", this
is what
would happen to them, invariably instant justice.
In a
guerilla war, some atrocities are ideologically unavoidable — if
you wish to
be absolutely generous. True, there were sell-outs, as there was
Quisling in
Norway during World War ll. But any war nurtures a dubious
disregard for
human life: basically, life could be dispensed with for what
was thought to
be the "nobler" cause: victory against the enemy.
It’s probably
naïve to suggest the slogan "make love, not war"
contained a serious moral
choice for humankind. Or that, when he wrote "Give
Peace a Chance", John
Lennon was serious, and not being silly, or stoned out
of his mind with Mary
Jane (marijuana).
But clearly, for Zanu PF the threat of a return
to the bush is a
legitimate scare-mongering tactic. Today, even if there is
a run-off for the
presidential job, what achievements can the party dangle
in front of the
voters?
Its record is pathetic: there is hunger
on a huge scale — except for
the fat cats — little development. There is
violence, some of it in
retaliation to Zanu PF’s, the other planned by
opposition activists
demonstrating they are not "sissies" when it comes to
an eye for an eye.
Above all, there are not many good reasons for
any voter to believe
Zanu PF can do better than it has done in the last 28
years. The
war-mongering is as empty as the party’s record.
By
Bill Saidi
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zanu PF's Sickening Display Of Cynicism
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 17 May 2008 16:01
Zanu PF represents the
interests of a minority in our midst and a few
beneficiaries of its
patronage who are its willing tools.
Last week’s declaration by
that party’s Politburo that it condemns
acts of violence in the countryside
and urged law enforcement agents to
arrest anyone found perpetuating
violence, while the judiciary was
encouraged to deal decisively with any
cases of politically-motivated
violence, amounts to the most cynical and
callous display of crocodile
tears.
During the run-up to the 29
March harmonised elections, this newspaper
and its sister publication, the
Zimbabwe Independent pointed out the need
for political parties to reach an
agreement on zero tolerance of violence.
We even went further and
suggested to the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission that parties participating in
the elections commit themselves to
expulsion of any of their candidates
found encouraging or giving rise to
violence.
We also said if
Zanu PF was sincere about rooting out violence, its
Presidential candidate,
Robert Mugabe, could order an end to the brutalities
and that this order
would be complied with immediately. No such thing
happened.
This newspaper and other independent publications have carried
harrowing
reports of victims of politically-motivated violence.
Some of the
victims lost their livestock, property and homesteads. In
most instances the
victims have identified their attackers as supporters of
Zanu PF, its
militia and security officers.
Zanu PF has divided the country into
areas, each under officers from
the security agencies, who have established
torture bases.
This fact is supported by various non-governmental
organisations
working in the countryside.
Even regional
fact-finding missions have confirmed the presence of
widespread violence,
but more significantly they have identified the
perpetrators. They have also
reported that these torturers enjoy free rein.
Therefore for Zanu
PF to turn around and feign concern is a most
despicable display of
cynicism. It can only be a measure of how contemptuous
it is of the people
of this country.
A test of Zanu PF’s sincerity in stamping out
violence would be for it
to agree to the deployment of regional and
international
observers/peacekeepers.
Since it says that it too
is concerned about the levels of violence
and the extent of internally
displaced populations, it should have no
objections.
If it is
the MDC and its supporters responsible, let’s have a neutral
party, an
outsider identifying the perpetrators. Above all let them be dealt
with
swiftly. We are aware that perpetrators of gross human rights abuses
from
2000 still enjoy their freedom while their victims, in some cases, have
long
since died.
In addition to these measures, there is need to scrap
postal ballots,
except for those working in Zimbabwe’s foreign
service.
In recent weeks reports received from throughout the
country paint a
picture of senior military and police officers addressing
their juniors and
their family members on how they will vote during the
postal ballot, because
on 29 March they did not “vote wisely”.
Threats of a return to war are made during these meetings.
There
can be no doubt as to what the intention is of postal votes for
the
uniformed forces – it is intended to manipulate the outcome of the
run-off.
During the harmonised elections it was relevant to
vote in one’s ward
because councillors were also being elected.
However, in the proposed run-off, the contenders are presidential
candidates. Therefore ward-based voting should fall away.
In
fact, as long as a voter has his/her identity documents, they
should be
allowed to vote wherever they are.
It is important for the MDC,
civil society organisations, and the
regional grouping to get this
commitment from Zanu PF.