Zim activists, lawyers & journalists arrested at SADC Summit

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
20 May 2011

A group of civil society activists, including top lawyers and a journalist,
were on Friday arrested and ‘violently ejected’ from the Summit of Southern
African Development Community (SADC) leaders underway in Namibia.

Among those picked up by police in Namibia were Irene Petras from Zimbabwe
Layers for Human Rights, Joy Mabenge of the Institute for Democratic
Alternatives for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM), and freelance journalist Jealousy
Mawarire. The three were being detained and questioned on Friday evening,
while another nine civil society leaders were being held under heavy police
guard. Zimbabwean CIO agents were leading the interrogations of the
activists, along with Namibian police.

The civil society groups, including representatives from the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition, traveled to Namibia to keep the pressure on SADC to lay
out a clear plan for democratic change in Zimbabwe.

On Friday afternoon, the groups were set to deliver a position paper to SADC
leaders, calling on them to “urgently lay out in clear terms, firm
pre-conditions to ensure democratic elections in Zimbabwe that are without
violence and intimidation and that fully comply with SADC principles and
guidelines governing democratic elections.”

But according to the Crisis Coalition’s Dewa Mavhinga, who contacted SW
Radio Africa by SMS on Friday, about 20 civil society leaders were
‘violently ejected’ from the Summit by Namibian police. Mavhinga said that
the group’s vehicle was also impounded, explaining how Namibian police,
together with Zimbabwean security agents, were ‘harassing’ the group. He
said equipment like cameras was also confiscated.

Crisis Coalition director Mcdonald Lewanika and Mavhinga, Philip Pasirayi,
Pedzisai Ruhanya and Dadirai Chikwengo, along with five other activists,
were guarded by armed police on Friday evening. Petras, Mabenge and the
journalist were questioned.

The group was finally released late Friday evening, after the heads of state
at the Summit had left. Mavhinga said the group was interrograted by more
than 16 Zimbabwean CIO agents. He also slammed the involvement of Namibian
security officials, saying "Namibia is hostile to democracy."

Zimbabwe State Security Agents Target CSO'S At Sadc Summit

ZANU PF demands reversal of SADC resolutions on Zim

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
20 May 2011

ZANU PF has demanded that recent strong resolutions on Zimbabwe, adopted by
the regional security organ the Troika, be overturned, calling on the Summit
of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to reverse the
position.

The summit of regional leaders got underway in Namibia on Friday. The
meeting was unlikely to include any substantive discussion on Zimbabwe,
after the regional mediator in the political crisis, South Africa’s Jacob
Zuma, pulled out of the event. However, it is understood that Zimbabwe did
feature on the agenda of talks.

Dewa Mavhinga from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, which is attending the
summit, told SW Radio Africa on Friday that SADC leaders were set to discuss
recent resolutions adopted by the SADC Troika in March.

That summit in Livingstone, Zambia, had condemned the lack of progress in
the unity government, in the first meaningful criticism of ZANU PF the
region has ever issued. The Troika called for an end to violence and
intimidation, and called for the drafting of an election roadmap towards a
credible and violence free poll in Zimbabwe.

ZANU PF had been left visibly stung by the Troika’s position, which has been
praised for being much tougher than the usual SADC policy of quiet
diplomacy. Robert Mugabe’s party this week also launched a regional
offensive trying to get support, and a contingent of party members have
since called for these SADC resolutions to be overturned.

Mavhinga explained that the party has been on a “massive propaganda drive,”
trying to “mislead the region that conditions are right for an election this
year.” The party brought in a mob of supporters and members, who were been
handing out copies of a dossier said to contain ‘evidence’ of MDC violence.
Mavhinga explained that “much work needs to be done to counter this
propaganda.” He added that civil society hoped the SADC Summit would, none
the less, endorse the Troika resolutions and put on public record a clear
timeframe of its plan of action in Zimbabwe.

SADC has since officially deferred the Zimbabwe issue until June. The matter
will now be discussed on the sidelines of the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (Comesa) summit, scheduled for June 11 in Johannesburg.

Mavhinga meanwhile said that the fate of the SADC Tribunal was also up for
discussion, with ZANU PF urging that the court’s ruling on Robert Mugabe’s
land grab campaign be overturned. The court ruled in 2008 that the exercise
was unlawful, but the Mugabe government has refused to honour the rulings,
insisting the court has no jurisdiction in Zimbabwe.

Controversially, a SADC summit last year decided to review the role and
functions of the court, rather than be forced into taking action against the
Zim government for its contempt. That review has since been concluded, and
has upheld the court’s decision and has further stated that the Tribunal was
properly constituted. The report was presented to a SADC Council of
Ministers meeting last month, who were said to have endorsed it.

But according to Zimbabwe’s state media the Ministers reportedly agreed that
the Tribunal’s rulings were null and void. Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister and
ZANU PF top dog, Patrick Chinamasa has in recent days insisted the Tribunal’s
rulings must be overturned.

Mugabe clashes with Zambian President, again

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

20/05/2011 19:22:00    Staff Reporter

WINDHOEK, Namibia - The increasingly frustrated and isolated Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe has again clashed with the SADC Troika Chairman and
Zambian leader Rupiya Banda and the pair are said to have exchanged harsh
words in front of other heads of State at the SADC Summit in Namibia, The
Zimbabwe Mail can reveal.

Ahead of the summit, SADC issued a Comminique saying that the the Zimbabwe
issue had been removed from the agenda, but the boisterous Zimbabwe State
media loyal to Robert Mugabe insisted that the summit was going to fully
discuss the progress that had been made by the political parties in the
inclusive government in implementing the GPA and the roadmap to the holding
of elections in the country.

Zanu PF insisted that it was going to come out armed with a favourable
resolution to call for elections this year and, in that spirit, a full
delegation of a high powered delegation arrived in Windhoek bubbling with
confidence, but the truth began to unravel at the airport as the Namibian
President Hifikepunye Pohamba failed to turn up to welcome his Zimbabwean
counterpart, preferring to delegate his Foreign Minister Utoni Nujoma
instead.

Discussions on the Zimbabwe issue at the SADC Summit in Windhoek, Namibia,
was never of the agenda following the failre of the SADC facilitator on
Zimbabwean talks, South African President Jacob Zuma's failure to attend due
to pressing domestic issues.

However, the face-saving Zimbabwe State media is now honking on spin saying
the issue have been deferred and will now be held at the Tripartite Summit
in South Africa next month.

Sources close to the deliberations said Robert Mugabe failed to salvage the
issue back on the agenda as he was rebuffed by his regional peers and
complained of what he called inaccuracies in the Livingstone report
presented by SADC Troika Chairman, President Rupiya Banda of Zambia.

Heads of State present also told him that some of the issues he raised on
the report needed a response by the facilitator, President Jacob Zuma of
South Africa.

Mugabe also complained that procedures were not being properly followed as
he was not was never given a chance to see the report and at that point
Banda told him that his he was on an equal footing with his coalition
partners.

This sparked an angry exchange of words between the two leaders with Mugabe
saying he was the Head of State and entitled to that privilege, but the
feisty Zambian President was having none of it.

The other reasons cited was that the other parties in the GPA were not
present for a full discussion.

Zanu PF was armed with bags of Dossiers of DVDs of MDC Congress violence
which it planned to present to SADC heads of States but all was in futile as
the Zambian leader prevailed with indefatigable authority, leaving Robert
Mugabe and his mob frustrated.

Meanwhile, the embattled former ruling party Zanu PF’s Chairman, Simon Khaya
Moyo, has distributed a statement of defiance reiterating his party’s
position regarding the political situation in Zimbabwe and the holding of
elections, amid reports of escalating frustration and tensions from the as
they struggled to get their way at the summit.

The Zimbabwe Mail correspondent, in Nambia, reports that the Moyo said the
only way forward for the parties in the Global Political Agreement, is to
speedily conclude the constitution-making process and allow Zimbabweans to
participate in a referendum and in polls.

He said the current delaying tactics employed by the MDC formations is a
recipe for political and economic instability in Zimbabwe.

Moyo added that as a party, Zanu PF is totally against an idea of a new
roadmap to elections as it means re-negotiating the GPA.

The two MDC formations have of late been advocating for a fresh election
road-map, divorced from the dictates of the GPA. They are both united on
full implementation of the outstanding GPA agreements.

The Zanu PF chairman said he hoped the on-going SADC summit in Namibia will
review the position taken at the last summit in Livingstone, Zambia and
facilitate the full implementation of the PGA, particularly the holding of
elections this year, without further delay.

He also said the GPA parties should, in unison, call for the removal of
travel restrictions on Zanu PF leaders and against what he called the
illegal broadcast by western radio stations into the country.

Moyo’s said the three parties in the inclusive government have clearly
failed to bust travel restrictions together and to support the agrarian
reform as well as the indigenisation and empowerment thrust together.

He said Zanu PF will stick to the letter and spirit of the GPA, which
stipulates that elections should be held after the completion of the
constitution-making process.

Commentators at the summit said Moyo’s statement seemed to be an act of
desperation as no one was listening to Zanu PF’s plea at the summit to get
the Zimbabwe agenda back on the table in the absence of the facilitator.

SADC mediator and facilitator on the Zimbabwean crisis, South African
President Jacob Zuma, is not attending the Namibian Heads of State Summit
due to domestic commitments.

A South African embassy official in the Harare has said Zuma would be
overseeing the local government elections in his country and SADC had seen
it fit that the Zimbabwe crisis problems could not be discussed without the
facilitator.

This has left Robert Mugabe clutching at straws because he and his party
wanted the summit more than the MDC formations.

Zanu PF had bands of hired party mobs and thugs in Namibia ready for
legendary defiant chant at the Summit venue in demand for elections this
year in support of its beleaguered leadership, today The Zimbabwe Mail has
met some of them loitering in the streets of Windhoek doing shopping clad in
party regalia.

One Zimbabwean journalist attending the summit said, “things have turned the
corner for Zanu PF. A few months back it was the MDC demanding SADC summits,
and now it is Zanu PF’s turn, I hope they write a headline, “SADC Ignores
Zanu-PF” in the Herald, like they used to do in the past”, he said in a
burst of laughter from the joint.

Battle for Zim report in final round

http://mg.co.za/

GLENDA DANIELS JOHANNESBURG - May 20 2011 00:00

The Mail & Guardian's three-year battle to gain access to a report by two
senior judges on Zimbabwe's 2002 presidential election finally reached the
Constitutional Court this week.

The report was commissioned by former president Thabo Mbeki, who sent judges
Dikgang Moseneke and Sisi Khampepe to Zimbabwe to investigate
"constitutional and legal challenges" in the build-up to that country’s
disputed and highly controversial 2002 poll (See accompanying story below).

The M&G requested a copy of the report under the Promotion of Access to
Information Act in 2008, but was turned down by the presidency.

The newspaper then won a high court victory, subsequently confirmed by the
Supreme Court of Appeal, ordering President Jacob Zuma to disclose the
report.The Constitutional Court hearing on Tuesday represented Zuma's final
appeal against this order. Judgment was reserved.

Questioning by a panel of nine judges (Deputy Judge President Dikgang
Moseneke and Judge Sisi Khampepe recused themselves as they were the authors
of the report) threw up the question: Did their two colleagues travel to
Zimbabwe as "special envoys" on a diplomatic mission, as "the embodiment of
the president", as claimed by the presidency?

Marumo Moerane, senior counsel for the presidency, told the court that all
the democratic presidents of South Africa had mediated in Zimbabwe's
turbulent political climate, lending sensitivity to the judges' report.

The presidency has maintained that the judges' assessment was a "Cabinet
report", which was exempt from disclosure under the Act. The M&G disputes
this because, among other reasons, the president is far more than the head
of Cabinet.

The paper also argues that the judges' role cannot be regarded as that of
special envoys on a diplomatic mission, which would also make their report
exempt from disclosure under the Act, because such a mission would conflate
the functions of the executive and the judiciary.

Jeremy Gauntlett, senior counsel for the M&G, said the case raised "the
worrying issue of the separation of powers".

Pretending they were presidential envoys, he said, was a case of trying to
"squeeze into a tiny Cinderella's slipper to make them envoys", when, in
reality, "they are judges".

"Pariah regimes"
In an affidavit before the court, M&G editor Nic Dawes said: "What is
concerning is that the presidency prioritises its relations with the Mugabe
regime over its clear constitutional and statutory obligations [to
disclose]. It is this attitude which would fracture international relations,
not the disclosure of 'innocuous' (the president assures this court)
discussions.

"Should the international community come to view the presidency's loyalties
as lying not with the rule of law but with pariah regimes, the world’s
confidence in South Africa’s democratic commitment would be destroyed."

The sequence of events in the case, highlighting government's determination
not to disclose the contents of the judges' report, is as follows:

    <="" li="">

    In September 2008 the M&G lodged an internal appeal as provided for in
Paia. It was dismissed by the presidency in November that year.

    In June 2010, after the M&G had applied to the North Gauteng High Court,
Judge Stanley Sapire ordered the presidency to hand over the report within
seven days. He ruled that there was no evidence that the report contained
information that was obtained in confidence.

    In December that year, following an appeal by President Jacob Zuma, the
Supreme Court of Appeal again ruled in the M&G’s favour. Judge Robert Nugent
said that the travails of Zimbabwe and "the consequences for South Africa
were so notorious that it would be myopic not to accord them judicial
notice".

    Nugent also cited the matter Brümmer v Minister for Social Development,
emphasising the importance of grounding South Africa in the values of
accountability, responsiveness and openness. And he cited legal academic
Etienne Mureinik, who captured the essence of the Bill of Rights when he
described it as "a bridge from the culture of authority … to a culture of
justification" and a "culture in which every exercise of power is expected
to be justified".

    Zuma's appeal was dismissed with costs.

Victory is in the eye of the observer

Robert Mugabe's victory in the 2002 presidential election ended all doubt
about the extent to which his party was willing to use violence and defy
world opinion to keep him in power.

Mugabe's inauguration, on a Sunday morning in the gardens of State House,
was boycotted by Western diplomats. A pall hung over much of the country.
Citizens' hope for change had been snuffed out by a combination of violence
and cynical electoral laws.

The first foreign visitor to arrive in Harare to congratulate Mugabe was
Jacob Zuma, then South Africa’s deputy president.

According to a dispatch from the country’s foreign affairs department, Zuma
"congratulated President Mugabe on his re-election, based on the preliminary
reports" of a South African election observer mission that described the
election result as "legitimate".

But it was an election rejected by much of the world. The European Union
sanctions, which Mugabe's party has now made the centre of its anti-Western
propaganda, were imposed in the run-up to the 2002 polls after Zimbabwe
kicked out the head of the union's observer mission, who had entered the
country on a tourist visa. Mugabe would also later withdraw from the
Commonwealth, which suspended Zimbabwe in 2002 over the conduct of the
election.

He won with 56% of the vote, 400 000 more votes than Movement for Democratic
Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

There were various observer groups overseeing that election, but their
verdicts followed old alliances, with African missions mostly backing the
outcome, whereas Western observers rejected it.

The Organisation of African Unity said that "in general the elections were
transparent, credible, free and fair". An observer from Namibia, which has
been one of Mugabe's most dependable allies, said the poll had been
"watertight, without room for rigging".

But rights groups pointed out that more than 30 people were killed in
political violence, more than a thousand polling agents and monitors were
detained and regulations on the eve of voting made a free poll impossible.

Apart from the violence, Zanu-PF set about reversing the voting trends of
the 2000 general election, when it lost virtually every urban seat in the
first poll contested by the MDC.

Zanu-PF drew up a raft of regulations deliberately designed to throttle the
urban vote. In 2002, aware that it could not regain support in the urban
areas, it made sure that votes in these areas would be whittled down.

A report on the elections by ZESN, a coalition of local election observer
groups, recalls how the government had slashed the number of voting stations
in urban areas and other MDC strongholds by up to 50% since the 2000
elections.

At the same time, about 644 new voting stations were opened in rural areas.

In almost half the rural constituencies the opposition was denied the
opportunity to monitor voting and their agents were attacked and harassed.

Only about 400 of the more than 12 000 monitors who applied for permission
to oversee the polls were accredited -- not enough for the more than 4 500
polling stations across the country.

Despite laws allowing voters still in the queue at the close of the polls to
vote, polling stations in urban centres were shut down and thousands turned
away by police.

Urban voters, many of them either tenants or residents of informal
settlements, were forced to produce passports and utility bills to prove
they had lived in their constituencies for at least 12 months.

In Zanu-PF’s rural strongholds villagers hoping to vote had to be registered
by traditional leaders, who were firm Mugabe supporters.

A law was passed on the eve of the elections stripping people of foreign
ancestry of citizenship, effectively denying many people, mostly in urban
areas and farming districts, their voting rights. -- Jason Moyo

MDC-T activists arrested at a funeral wake in Harare

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
20 May 2011

There was pandemonium in Warren Park on Thursday when overzealous police
swooped on a group of mourners and arrested 35 of them, following
disturbances with ZANU PF youth.

Among those picked up by the police was the father of the deceased who died
in a car accident on Wednesday in Harare. The MDC-T confirmed the arrests in
a statement but did not release the name of the deceased or that of the
father.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said since both father and son were staunch
MDC-T supporters, most of the mourners at the funeral wake wore party
regalia and were singing and chanting MDC songs and slogans.

‘We are being told that at some point there was clash between mourners and
members of ZANU PF’s notorious Upfumi Kuvadiki group (a shadowy so-called
empowerment group). This group threw stones at the mourners and some
vehicles were damaged.

‘The group quickly fled the scene only to phone the police that they were
attacked by MDC activists. So when the police came they just picked up the
mourners and took them to Warren Park police station,’ Muchemwa said.

The MDC said the 35 detainees were transferred to Harare Central Police
station on Friday and charged with assault and theft, adding that the police
are yet to identify the assault victims or the stolen property.

In related issues of MDC-T harassment, Midlands North Province Lazarus
Zviito, the Zhombe Ward 6 chairperson, and Tafadzwa Muchakagara, who were
arrested and remanded in custody since February 7th, were released by the
Kwekwe Magistrate’ court on Thursday.

The party said Zviito and Muchakagara were arrested on trumped-up charges of
public violence and had been in remand prison then. The two are facing
charges of threatening ZANU PF ward vice chairperson, Ishmael Sibanda and
intimidating Chief Samuel Samambwa.

There has also been another death this week from an MDC-T official who was
badly beaten in 2008. In the run up to the presidential run-off election
Edward Tseka Tandi, vice chairperson for Nembudziya in Gokwe, was savagely
attacked by ZANU PF thugs in Nembudziya and had to undergo major surgery. He
never fully recovered from his injuries.

The 54 year old died at his Avondale home on Tuesday and has been buried at
his rural home in Mutora, Nembudziya. Hundreds of MDC-T supporters bid
farewell to this strong ward leader who braved the assaults of ZANU PF to
continue fighting for democratic change.

‘Increase in arson attacks against MDC’

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Thulani Munda     Friday 20 May 2011

HARARE – There has been a sharp increase in arson attacks against supporters
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party since the former opposition’s
congress two weeks ago, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
has said.

In the latest of its ‘Political Temperature Bulletins’ the ZimRights said it
has received several reports that suspected ZANU (PF) militia in the eastern
Manicaland province have raided scores of homesteads belonging to MDC
supporters and burnt them down as punishment for not backing President
Robert Mugabe.

“There has been a sharp increase in cases of arson attacks in Manicaland
province since the MDC-T held its congress in Bulawayo almost two weeks
 ago,” Zimrights said in the bulletin made available to ZimOnline on
Thursday.

The rights group gave the example of two families from the rural Mutasa
Central constituency whose houses were burnt down as the militias warned the
families that they would return to kill them should they continue supporting
Tsvangirai and the MDC.

Members of the two families have since gone into hiding in fear for their
lives, according to ZimRights.

“Houses belonging to two MDC families in Mutasa Central families were set
ablaze last week,” the rights organisation said.

“The suspected ZANU (PF) attackers left a note which partly read ‘if you
continue to talk about Tsvangirai, you will continue to do so in heaven,’
implying that they would be all killed). All the property of the victims was
destroyed and they are currently in hiding,” it added.

Police were not immediately available for comment on the matter, so was ZANU
(PF) spokesman Rugare Gumbo.

But ZANU (PF) has in the past denied its members commit political violence,
while accusing non-governmental organisations of falsely accusing the party
of perpetrating violence and human rights abuses in a bid to tarnish its
name and that of its leader, Mugabe.

Political violence and human rights abuses are on the rise in many parts of
Zimbabwe amid growing tension between ZANU (PF) and the MDC-T over when to
hold elections to choose a new government to end their tenuous power-sharing
arrangement.

Mugabe is fighting to have elections this year, which ZANU-PF is confident
it will win after the party’s loss to the MDC in 2008.

The 87-year-old leader was forced into a unity government with Tsvangirai
after a flawed run-off vote but two years down the line ZANU (PF) says it
now wants to go it alone.

The MDC has warned that a rushed election will lead to violence, while
Tsvangirai has warned he could boycott any election hastily called either
without a new constitution or without giving the proposed new charter time
to take root.

Tsvangirai has repeatedly urged the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) to craft a "road map" that will set benchmarks for credible free and
fair elections to end the tenure of the coalition, while avoiding the
bloodbath of 2008 when more than 200 opposition members were killed in
political violence

But today's summit of SADC leaders is not going to discuss Zimbabwe because
South African President Jacob Zuma is not going to attend the conference
because of other pressing commitments.

The SADC is the guarantor of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement while Zuma
is the bloc’s chief mediator between the Zimbabwean parties. Zuma was due to
present a report to regional leaders on Zimbabwe’s troubled transition
process. – ZimOnline.

Cholera looms in Harare

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Friday, 20 May 2011 15:56

HARARE - Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has warned that the city could be
hit by an outbreak of cholera yet again as critical water treatment
chemicals for the city are perilously close to running dry.

Speaking at a media briefing in the capital yesterday, Masunda said the
United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) was terminating its water treatment
chemicals partnership with the Harare City Council (HCC) end of next month.

Unicef had been providing the council with water treatment chemicals since
the outbreak of a cholera epidemic that killed over 4 000 people at the
height of Zimbabwe’s economic and political tumult in 2008.

“If we don’t do something about the problem we risk going back to the
cholera era. If we don’t take any measures we risk going back to the 2008
period,” said Masunda.

He added: “Unicef wrote to us in November telling us that they would  stop
assisting local authorities with chemicals for water purification. We had to
negotiate for the extension which they gave us until June 30 and they have
since written to us reminding us that the deadline is approaching so we need
to find a solution to that issue.”

The looming crisis comes at a time when the local authority is burdened with
financial problems, which it claims are a result of huge unpaid debts by
residents, government and industry.

Masunda said it was time the local authority changed its thinking and
started making use of local resources for survival.

“We are alone and not getting any funding from the central government. So it
is important that we stop this reliance on other people’s tax  money to
sustain us,” said Masunda.

Harare has been experiencing water shortages for the past decade with some
areas such as Mabvuku having gone for years without a drop.

The problem has been worsened by continued power cuts and low revenue being
collected by the local authority.

Residents groups have described the continued water situation as
unacceptable. They argue that the city cannot force residents to pay
exorbitant charges for water that is unavailable for most of the time.

“Council should focus on improving service delivery as opposed to enjoying
the salaries which are coming from rate payers for no service delivered.
We are warning them that we need better water and good roads,” said
Simbarashe Moyo of the Combined Harare Residents Association.

Harare Residents Trust coordinator Precious Shumba said the local authority
should start looking for other revenue sources rather than rely solely on
rate payers.

“The City of Harare should devise new ways of raising revenue in  order to
pay its huge workforce than continue to expect residents of Harare to fund
their huge salaries and administration bill, yet service delivery remains
depressed,” said Shumba.

Mugabe rejects MDC’s calls for security sector reforms

http://www.nation.co.ke/

Posted  Friday, May 20 2011 at 20:11

HARARE, Friday

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has rejected security sector reforms as
proposed by his partners in the inclusive government, saying the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces (ZDF) was an exemplary and reputable force.

Mr Mugabe termed the proposals “nonsensical” and motivated by ignorance of
the operations of the defence forces by the two MDC factions led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry minister Welshman Ncube.

“It is nonsense. Our security forces are well-established, they are
reputable,” Mr Mugabe said in an interview with The Herald published
newspaper, The Southern Times.

The President, who is also the commander in chief of the ZDF, said the unit
did not need any transformation as it had successfully fought colonialism
and had been the vanguard of local independence for the past 31 years.

“What reform is required? They are a force that has a history, a political
history. I am Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces; I know how they are
organised,” he said, adding that the ZDF was an acclaimed unit that had
earned the respect of the UN. (Xinhua)

Education Minister says each child allocated only $2 per month

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
20 May 2011

Education Minister David Coltart has revealed that each child in Zimbabwe
has been allocated just under US$2 per month in the budget towards their
education. Coltart made the shocking revelation on Tuesday during an Open
Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) roundtable discussion.

The figure represents a slight improvement on the US$1 per child, previously
cited by the minister last year, but will do little to pacify critics who
point to government leaders and ministers blowing tens of millions of
dollars on foreign trips.

Last month Finance Minister Tendai Biti warned that foreign trips by Mugabe
to Asia for medical treatment, plus trips by ministers, may blow up to US$50
million this year alone if they are not curbed.

“The situation is out of hand. It’s alarming. It’s frightening. It’s
criminal that you can spend $12.5 million on travelling and you can’t put
that money either into health or education,” he said. Biti was referring to
the US$12 million reportedly used by Mugabe, just for his Asian trips. Last
year’s travel bill was US$28 million.

In the first two decades after independence between US$4 to US$6 was
allocated per child for textbooks and other expenses, but years of
corruption and mismanagement under the ZANU PF regime has seen that figure
plummet.

Coltart appealed to the international community to support the struggling
education sector, arguing that such support would not prop up the regime
responsible for gross human rights abuses but would instead be an investment
in the future and help the transition.

Meanwhile the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) has slammed
the chasing away from school of children who have failed to pay their fees.
Since Tuesday numerous schools in the city have been sending children home,
contrary to the announced government policy.

Coltart has repeatedly said school authorities should not disrupt children’s
education for failing to raise fees, but headmasters claim they have not
received this instruction in writing. Roderick Fayayo from the BPRA told SW
Radio Africa that there was a clear disconnect between statements by Coltart
and the reality on the ground.

The BPRA has even claimed some children are being “chased away from school
for non-payment of teachers’ incentives.”

Copac officials blow up US$4m

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Reagan Mashavave, Staff Writer
Friday, 20 May 2011 16:03

HARARE - Close to 700 constitution-making process officials have squandered
US$4 million-plus while camped at expensive hotels during the past two
weeks, the Daily News can reveal.

The officials booked into several Harare hotels since May 02 ostensibly to
analyse data collected at more than 4 500 outreach meetings held last year.

However, they have been haggling over petty issues at the expense of process
that is key in laying the foundation for credible future elections in
Zimbabwe.

Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF Copac joint chairperson, confirmed that the
constitutional-making process was an absolute waste of resources because of
continued haggling and bickering, which hampered progress.

“We reviewed our work yesterday (Wednesday), and identified our challenges.
We lost a lot of time when we had disagreements. That chewed our resources,”
Mangwana said.

“We had 10-11 people sharing a computer and most of the time these people
will be arguing. We decided to streamline our staff because some of the
people didn’t have the skills in using computers” he said.

Mangwana said he could not guarantee that further disagreement could
harmstring the exercise in future.

Yesterday – after negotiating modalities to proceed with the process – main
parties to the project agreed to trim the number of officials by almost
half.

The delayed process will then start afresh on Monday requiring more money,
according to top sources within the Constitution Select Committee.

The parties, Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, agreed to chop the deadwood
and discard officials that were not adding value to the process.

Most of the officials, including some MPs, were so illiterate that they
lacked basic knowledge in using computers yet were part of a highly
technical exercise.

But that was after they had already squandered taxpayers and donor money
painstakingly poured into the process, which has often suffered delays
because of lack of funding.

Resources were wasted in hotel accommodation, daily allowances, lunches and
transport fees for the 676 officials. Only 350 will remain.

The exercise has been extended by another fortnight, according to Edward
Mkhosi, joint Copac chair.

Copac in the last two weeks forked out between $120 to $130 in accommodation
fees at hotels such as Meikles, Rainbow Towers, Cresta Oasis and Holiday Inn
among others.

Officials received lunch worth $27 daily at the Rainbow Towers.

Daily allowances for the officials were: $100 for rapporteurs, team members
$80, team leaders $100 and technical officers or researchers $150 each.

All the staff got transport fees with legislators getting fuel allowances to
and from their constituencies. Ordinary members were given transport
allowances ranging between $30 to $50 for those from outside Harare.

Harare delegates were given $10 each.

“We spend slightly over $4.2 million in the past 16 days. Absolutely nothing
took place in all these days. We are going to start from scratch,” a source
said. “The three parties will submit the names of the people to remain in
the exercise tomorrow. We are expecting to start on Monday.”

The three parties’ major disagreement was on the methodology to be used by
the thematic committees.

Zanu PF preferred to use quantitative methods while the two MDC formations
demanded the use of qualitative methods.

The parties eventually agreed to use both methods but could not proceed
because of other disagreements.

“Most of the time people spent time arguing and waffling over nothing. At
one time we spent about three days not agreeing on the methodology that we
were  going to use,” Mkhosi said.

As the Daily News was speaking to Mangwana, Zanu PF members were taking
aptitude tests to screen the illiterate ones. Copac in January requested
over $6 million to complete the constitution-making  process.

In March treasury reportedly released $5 million dollars after the exercise
had been delayed by over two months.

South African Churches Send Food Aid to Zimbabwean White Ex-Farmers

http://www.voanews.com

Commercial Farmers Union Agricultural Recovery and Compensation manager Ben
Gilpin said his organization will channel the food packages to the farmers
who are mostly over the age of 65, have no source of income and are no
longer able to work

Gibbs Dube | Washington  19 May 2011

Millions of Zimbabweans have received food aid over the past decade as the
country's agricultural sector collapsed under the impact of a chaotic land
reform program, but now South African churches are collecting food to send
to what might seem an unlikely group of recipients: aging white commercial
farmers left destitute in the process.

Commercial Farmers Union Agricultural Recovery and Compensation manager Ben
Gilpin said his organization will channel the food packages to the farmers
who are mostly over the age of 65, have no source of income and are no
longer able to work.

The union will also urge the British government, which has scaled back such
assistance, to step it up again, and ask the Zimbabwean government to lend a
hand.

Gilpin said former commercial farmers receiving such aid lost their
financial assets in the seizure of their farms, saw their savings wiped out
by the hyperinflation that ravaged the Zimbabwean economy through early
2009, and have no pensions.

He said some farmers sunk large amounts into farm improvements only to be
driven off their farms by liberation war veterans and other supporters of
President Robert Mugabe who launched land reform in 2000. Most large farms
ended up in the hands of senior officials of Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party -
Mr. Mugabe's own family holds several.

Development worker Liberty Bhebhe said food handouts from South African
churches should also go to the thousands who lost their livelihoods as a
result of land reform.

“We understand that the General Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union is
currently assessing the needs of ex-farm workers who also need help in terms
of food aid and other basic necessities,” Bhebhe told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Gibbs Dube.

Former member of Mugabe secret police granted asylum in UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

A former member of Robert Mugabe's feared secret police in Zimbabwe who
admitted kidnapping dozens of his political rivals and carrying out acts of
torture "too gruesome to recount" has been granted asylum in the UK under
European human rights legislation.

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg 12:19PM BST 20 May 2011

Phillip Machemedze, 46, came to the UK in 2000 along with his wife because
he had "enough of the torture", but waited eight years to apply for leave to
remain.

He was originally turned down by the Home Office in March this year because
he had committed crimes against humanity.

But on May 4, he was granted asylum on appeal under European human rights
laws because a tribunal ruled he would be killed by his former Central
Intelligence Organisation colleagues if he returned to Zimbabwe.

According to sources close to the case, he and his wife are living on social
support benefits in Newport, south Wales.

An estimated 800 people were kidnapped or disappeared, 80 were killed and 90
more tortured in the run-up to the 2000 elections in Zimbabwe, which saw
Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF beat the rival Movement for Democratic Change party
by a slim majority.

The CIO, along with the police and armed forces, was widely blamed for the
worst of the violence – and there are fears that it could be preparing
another crackdown ahead of elections planned within the next year.

Mr Machemedze spent four years in the CIO and admits smashing the jaw of an
MDC activist with pliers before pulling out his tooth and stripping another
naked and threatening to force him to rape his daughters if he did not give
information.

He also confessed to electrocuting, slapping, beating and punching "to the
point of being unconscious" a white farmer suspected of giving money to the
MDC, and to "putting salt into the wounds" of a female MDC member who
imprisoned in an underground cell before being stripped naked and whipped.

But he claims he tried to leave the CIO and was supplying information to the
MDC. He said his wife was tortured after he left the country, prompting her
to leave behind their three children and follow her husband to the UK.

Mr Justice David Archer, of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber in Newport,
said there was no doubt that Mr Machemedze was "deeply involved in savage
acts of extreme violence".

"Some were killed slowly and their bodies disposed of. He witnessed people
with their limbs cut off. Other acts of torture were too gruesome to
recount," he said.

But he said that under the European Human Rights Convention, he himself
should be protected from torture and threats to his life.

"Those rights are absolute and whatever crimes PM has committed, he cannot
be returned to face the highly likely prospect of torture and execution
without trial," he ruled.

The Home Office has said it will not appeal the ruling.

Mugabe denies protecting Mutambara

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

20/05/2011 00:00:00
    by Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has dismissed claims that he is protecting Deputy
Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara who is clinging onto power despite being
deposed as leader of his party.

Mutambara, then leader of the MDC, was appointed deputy prime minister in
2009 at the establishment of the coalition government.

But Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube, insists Mutambara must
now relinquish the post after standing down as party leader at a congress
held in January this year.

However, President Mugabe has refused to have the MDC leadership changes
reflected in government in changes that would see Ncube taking over as
deputy prime minister.

Mugabe maintains he is not refusing to recognise Ncube as the leader of the
MDC and says he has held lengthy meetings with him over the issue.

“We have not refused to recognize Welshman Ncube as president of the party
(and) we have not protected anyone in any way,” Mugabe said in an interview
with a regional newspaper.

“Mutambara … himself says firstly, that there was an agreement between him
and Ncube that should there be a change at the congress, that change would
not affect the principals and he would continue (as deputy prime minister).”
Mugabe also said his hands were tied as the matter was before the courts.

A faction of the MDC led by its former national chairman is challenging in
court the legality of the leadership changes made at the January congress.
Mugabe said the dispute was unfortunate but insisted he would abide by the
decisions of the courts.

“We also feel that the change is unfortunate in that he is the man they gave
to us, with whom we have signed signatures, we have sown seeds, and the
fathering of the GPA was with him,” he said.

“So, to unravel that is an unfortunate thing. But if they succeed in their
quest to have him dropped, we cannot contest the decision of the court.”

Zimbabwe’s dollars and sweets

http://business.blogs.cnn.com

May 20th, 2011

Posted by:
CNN Correspondent, Robyn Curnow

When you buy a 50 cent newspaper in Zimbabwe, you don’t receive change in
coins. Instead, you get a small, round, grey token, which you redeem at the
same newspaper vendor when you buy from him another day.

When your supermarket bill is rung up and the total is $5.21 the cashier
offers you some sweets to make up the 69 cents change difference.

When you buy a pizza or a burger at a Harare fast-food center, your change
is a thin paper voucher, which you’d better cash in quickly because within
days the ink has rubbed off in your wallet. All you are left with is a grimy
blank piece of paper.

When you hop off a local minibus taxi be sure get your change from the
driver. Sometimes he hands it over, other times he rounds up the cost of
trip, leaving passengers shortchanged. Mostly, he hands over a dollar note
to two strangers exiting his taxi at the same place – telling them they have
to divide the change.

Sometimes, frustrated, poor commuters come to blows on the side of the road
over how to split taxi-fare change.

Taxi passengers – like shoppers and newspaper vendors – can’t receive their
change because there are no coins in Zimbabwe. The smallest denomination is
a $1 U.S. note.

The country adopted the U.S. dollar two years ago after the collapse of the
Zim dollar. Since then, rampant, record inflation has stabilized but the
realities on the streets indicate there are still very challenging economic
realities for Zimbabweans.

Firstly, the price of produce and goods has become more expensive because
the country now has to import most foodstuffs. A chicken at a supermarket
costs around $10 U.S.

Secondly, because there are no coins, many shops and restaurants
automatically round up the price of their goods and services – so ordinary
Zimbabweans find themselves footing the bill for an ad hoc “change tax.”

Zimbabweans say proudly that they are a resilient people, that they survived
even tougher economic times in the past decade. Indeed, that seems true
because from what I have witnessed this week on the streets of Harare, they
seem to have stoically adapted to an economy that is run on dollars and
sweets, not dollars and cents.

Zimbabwe To Trade Diamonds For Gold As It Prepares To Launch Gold-Backed Currency

http://www.zerohedge.com

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/20/2011 11:35 -0400

A week ago we presented the idea floated by once hyperinflationary Zimbabwe,
oddly jeered by most, that the country is seeking to move to a gold-backed
currency, adding, somewhat surrealistically, that the "days of the US dollar
as the world's reserve currency are numbered." And if anyone should know a
hyperinflationary basket case, it's Zimbabwe. Well, today this bizarre story
just went fuller retard, after the country announced that it may exchange
diamonds for gold "so that it can have a gold-backed currency, according to
a recent proposal from the governor of Zimbabwe’s central bank." Indeed we
speculated previously why: "Zimbabwe, a country rich in natural resources,
took so long to figure out that it was nothing but a puppet in the hands of
western monetary interests." Well, others are now getting this idea -
Commodity Online reports that "The country is a resource hub: It sits on
gold reserves worth trillions. It has the world’s second largest reserves of
platinum, has got alluvial diamonds that can fetch the nation $2 billion
annually and even boasts of chrome and coal deposits." And since Zimbabwe is
now fully on board this whole "pioneering" thing perhaps it should just go
ahead and create the first diamond-platinum backed currency. Just don't give
China and Russia ideas about floating a new reserve currency that actually
has real commodity backing. What's that, you say? They are launching one
soon? Oh well.

From Commodity Online:

    The Zimbabwean dollar is no longer in active use after it was officially
suspended by the government due to hyperinflation. The United States dollar,
South African rand, Botswanan pula, Pound sterling, and Euro are now used
instead. The US dollar has been adopted as the official currency for all
government transactions with the new power-sharing regime, says Wikipedia.

    But the central bank of Zimbabwe—Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)—believes
that the US dollar is no longer stable.

    According to Dr Gideon Gono, RBZ Chief, the inflationary effects of
United States’ deficit financing of its budget may impact foreign countries
and would lead to a resistance of the green back as a base currency; cited
newzimbabwe.com.

    Writing in a blog in New Zimbabwe, Gilbert Muponda, an entrepreneur
based out of Zimbabwe has welcomed the proposal of a gold-backed Zimbabwean
currency. He has applauded the proposal of the central bank governor to sell
diamonds for gold.

On the other hand, for the country to move to some semblance of a gold
standard, it may wish to consider shifting form a despotic dictatorship
controlled by Robert Mugabe to something a little less "centrally planned."

    The government’s protectionist measures have kept the mining companies
at bay. The government wants the foreign miners to sell controlling stake in
ventures to local blacks, which is obviously frowned up on by all. The
companies, given the uncertain situation, have refrained from investing
further in expansion activities in Zimbabwe.

    The country cannot access foreign credit as the ZIDERA Act passed by the
United States in 2001 blocks US entities from trading with certain
Zimbabwean institutions and individuals This has forced the US
representatives in lending agencies like World Bank, IMF, IFC, and ADB to
take a favorable stance when it comes to Zimbabwean credit requests.

That said, where there's a will there's a way. And since this story refuses
to go away, it probably means that Zimbabwe will definitely give it the old
college try. Once again, the question is not what happens in Zimbabwe, but
elsewhere, should the experiment prove to be even remotely successful.

Zimbabwe: Diamond Institute to Open Two Centres

http://www.afriquejet.com

News - Africa news

Zimbabwe-Diamond Institute - The Braitwood Institute of Gemology, a diamond
cutting and polishing school based in Harare, is set to open two additional
schools in Bulawayo and Mutare before year-end. Braitwood group chief
executive officer Mr Bernard Mutanga said the opening of the two schools was
part of the institute's plans to spread its wings all over the country and
accommodate more students who want to study diamond cutting and polishing.
"We opened our learning centre in Harare last year with the co-operation of
MMCZ and due to the demand of such institutes we have decided to open other
centres in the two major cities by September," he said.

"We felt that it is better to equip the youths in Zimbabwe so that they
learn about the uniqueness of local diamonds and be able to distinguish them
from those found in other countries. The institute is keen on equipping
youths with skills that they can use to get jobs," he said.

Mr Mutanga said they were working with the Minerals Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe in their training programmes.

According to Mr Mutanga students who enroll at the institute would be
equipped with diamond cutting and polishing skills that would maximise gem
quality and value.

"Raw forms of the gem are less valuable than the finished product and it is
imperative that the country acquires skills to cut a comprehensive
competitive product that would be well received in the market," he said.

He added that students would also receive diamond-grading skills, as gems
have to be classified into different grades after they have been worked on.
Mr Mutanga said there are four factors that affected diamond value and they
comprised the carat, colour, cut and clarity of the stone and students need
to be taught the importance of each factor.

"Such centres are vital to the country's economic growth as they create
employment while adding value to products. Our aim is to train entrepreneurs
who, after acquiring their certificates, would go on to establish other
centres and employ other people.

"For every unpolished carat that is exported, the country is losing 10 hours
of labour. Once we have trained the youths all those jobs that we are
exporting to India will benefit our own people," he related.

Mr Mutanga said in future they expect to have at least five classes in
Harare of students +/-200 and expanding their enrollment to three intakes
per year.

The classes are divided into two sections that of rough diamond cutting
evaluation and diamond cutting and polishing.

On the whole, it takes three years to complete the course including
internship.

Hellen Mubvumbi

The Herald/20/05/2011

Ambivalence feeds Zimbabwe's diamond tyranny

http://mg.co.za

ALAN MARTIN: BLOOD DIAMONDS May 20 2011 17:31

Why is South Africa enabling corrupt and thuggish elements of Zimbabwe's
government to benefit from ill-gotten diamond revenues? The question is
being asked after South Africa snubbed a recent emergency meeting in Dubai
of the Kimberley Process, the initiative that regulates the trade in the
world's rough diamonds and ensures they are "conflict free".

Zimbabwe has since rejected the agreement reached there in April.

The meeting was called to find a way forward on regularising diamond
production in Marange in eastern Zimbabwe, where state-sponsored human
rights abuses and smuggling have been rampant since 2007. Late last year
legal exports of Marange diamonds were restricted because of a lack of
consensus within the Kimberley Process in measuring Zimbabwe's progress in
meeting agreed benchmarks.

South Africa's absence from Dubai was a departure from its past role as an
anchor nation of the Kimberley Process, including having chaired it in 2003.
Its absence was also sharply at odds with its rebuke of Zanu-PF at the
recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Livingstone.
There President Jacob Zuma's tough position was informed by some hard
truths: Zanu-PF's failure to keep its side of the global political agreement
that underpins the national unity government, increasing evidence of Zanu-PF
leading the intimidation and attacks on the opposition, and a concern shared
with other SADC countries that, if left unchecked, Zanu-PF's lawlessness
could spill over Zimbabwe's borders.

Diamonds underlie much of Zanu-PF's misbehaviour. The finance ministry is
now controlled by the Movement for Democratic Change so Zanu-PF found a
game-changer in Marange -- it provides riches to a coterie of military and
political insiders with which they can fund off-budget activities such as
intimidating political opponents.

Hence the disconnection in South Africa's diplomatic logic. It criticises
Zanu-PF's misdeeds but looks the other way when it comes to what fuels much
of that behaviour.

Perhaps one reason for this is that South Africa's Kimberley Process
representation has been politicised. South Africa was represented by civil
servants from the department of international relations until earlier this
year when they were replaced by Susan Shabangu, the minister of mining. She
immediately took to parroting her Zimbabwean counterpart, Obert Mpofu. Both
insist that diamond production in Marange has been deemed compliant with the
"minimum requirements" of the Kimberley Process and should be given the
green light for export.

The result has been to confuse South Africa's message and diminish its
resolve to rein in Zanu-PF -- Zuma's facilitation team reads them the riot
act, Shabangu offers them a tissue and sympathetic words of encouragement.

Shabangu's defence of Zanu-PF's operations in Marange is also a selective
interpretation of the facts. A Kimberley Process review mission last August
did find evidence of some progress (notably a drop in state-sponsored
violence against artisanal miners and improvements in the internal
operations of two South African companies in joint-venture agreements with
the Zimbabwe government) but it was far from a clean bill of health.

CONTINUES BELOW

Military and police involvement in mining syndicates and smuggling remain a
serious problem. The compliance of one of the joint ventures, Canadile, was
also thrown into doubt late last year after it imploded amid allegations of
corruption involving Mpofu and many of the company's directors. Compounding
matters were revelations by Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's finance minister, that
as much as $300-million in diamond revenues failed to make their way to
government coffers in 2010.

Which brings us back to efforts to regularise mining activity in Marange.
One Zimbabwean told Partnership Africa Canada during a recent visit there:
"The poachers are in charge of the zoo. Unless the Kimberley Process gets
serious with Zim, its reputation will be destroyed and the entire African
diamond trade will go down the toilet."

Unlike other examples of rogue behaviour that the Kimberley Process has
faced, Marange is not just a matter of weak internal controls, corruption or
even violence in the diamond fields. Ultimately, it is a political problem
that demands a political answer. In this respect, the Kimberley Process
should not be the only, or even primary, vehicle to adjudicate the issue.
South Africa needs to step up its political engagement with Zimbabwe over
the matter. The parallels between the Kimberley Process and SADC's long,
frustrated experience with Zanu-PF are instructive. Left to its own devices
Zanu-PF will stall, obfuscate and do business as usual.

South Africa and SADC cannot ignore the tight link between Zanu-PF's
political behaviour and its control of Marange. South Africa cannot turn a
blind eye to the murky role its citizens are playing in Marange's joint
ventures and in smuggling. For Zuma, the stakes are high -- failing to
accept these realities will derail his new-found activist policy on Zimbabwe
before it gets away from the station.

Alan Martin is the director of research for Partnership Africa Canada, which
undertakes research and policy dialogue on natural resources, conflict,
governance and human rights. In 2003 it was co-nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize for its work in exposing links between conflict and diamonds in
several African countries

Zimbabwe’s bishops undermined by Vatican welcome for Mugabe

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 May, 2011

Church officials at the Vatican have been strongly criticized for the warm
welcome they extended to Robert Mugabe when he attended the beatification
service of the late Pope John Paul II.

Mugabe travelled to Rome for the ceremony on May 1st and was seen on
television being happily welcomed by Vatican clergy. An editorial in the
latest edition of the Southern Cross (a Catholic publication) said;
"Zimbabwe's bishops have been undermined and the faithful have been
scandalized. Now that damage requires correction."

Editor of the publication, Gunther Simmermacher, defended the Vatican for
allowing Mugabe to take communion at the ceremony but stressed that the warm
embrace given to him did undermine bishops in Zimbabwe, whom Mugabe has
repeatedly attacked.

Simmermarcher wrote that televised images of “the tyrant being warmly
embraced by a broadly smiling prelate was embarrassing for the courageous
bishops of Zimbabwe, and to the clergy, religious and laity who strive for a
peaceful transition to an equitable and accountable democracy."

The editor has said he was compelled to do something after receiving
passionate letters from Catholics who were “upset, hurt, confused and
scandalized” by Mugabe’s Vatican visit and the welcome he received.
One such letter talked of reading the reports "with such utter disgust that
my 54 years as a practicing Catholic have been ripped from within me, and I
do not know what to believe anymore."

Father Nigel Johnson, based in Zimbabwe, spoke to SW Radio Africa and said;
“For the past 20 years all sorts of people have floated the idea of
ex-communicating Mugabe”. Ex-communication would mean that Mugabe would no
longer be able to receive communion or be allowed to be buried in a Catholic
cemetery. But more importantly it would send a very strong message to Mugabe
that his actions were considered completely unacceptable.

Officials at the Vatican are fully aware of the horrific crimes that have
been perpetrated by the Mugabe regime over the years. Catholic clergy in the
country, including Father Oskar Wermter and former Matabeleland Archbishop
Pius Ncube have been outspoken critics of the Mugabe regime. And it was the
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace that produced the detailed report
on the Gukurahundi atrocities of the mid-eighties.

The church’s mandate to welcome all sinners, including murderers and
dictators, has been defended even by those who were upset by Mugabe’s visit.
But it is the level of warmth that was shown to the ZANU PF leader that has
been of great concern. Observers have said this sends the wrong message to
the dictator.

 

ACTION ALERT: Six WOZA women arrested for protesting about electricty supplies