Zim Online
Mon
22 May 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party on Sunday said it would push ahead with plans
for
anti-government protests, saying victory in a key by-election at the
weekend
was a "sign the electorate supported its policies" including
democratic mass
resistance.
Spokesman of the main faction of
the splintered MDC Nelson Chamisa
said victory over President Robert
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF and a rival MDC
faction in a Saturday by-election in
Harare's Budiriro constituency was a
sign Zimbabweans still had confidence
in party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
his policies.
Tsvangirai,
the founding leader of the MDC, heads the main rump of the
opposition party
whose candidate, Emmanuel Chisvuure, polled 7 949 votes to
win the Budiriro
House of Assembly seat.
Gabriel Chaibva of the other faction of the
MDC led by prominent
academic, Arthur Mutambara garnered 504 votes while
ZANU PF's Jeremiah
Bvirindi polled 3 961 votes.
"This election showed that the electorate still has confidence in the
MDC
(Tsvangirai-led) leadership and its policies," Chamisa told
ZimOnline.
He added: "We will now move to consolidate our position
.. we still
believe in mass protests, until we have attained our goals we
see no reason
why we should abandon (plans for protests)."
Tsvangirai has threatened to call mass protests this winter against
Mugabe
and his government who he accuses of stealing elections since 2000
and of
plunging Zimbabwe into its worst food and economic crisis.
The
opposition leader says the mass protests, whose date he is still
to name,
are meant to force Mugabe to relinquish power to a government of
national
unity to be tasked to write a new and democratic constitution that
would
ensure free and fair elections held under international
supervision.
Tsvangirai's key allies in the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions
(ZCTU) weighed in with support for protests, announcing after a
congress at
the weekend that the country's biggest union body would call a
national
strike by workers to press for better pay and living
conditions.
Like Tsvangirai, the ZCTU leaders did not say when
exactly they will
order workers to strike, only saying it would be sometime
later in the year.
Mugabe and his government, who had hoped for
victory in Budiriro to
show they were recapturing urban support from a
splintered MDC, have not
taken idly the opposition's threats to call mass
protests, with the veteran
President warning Tsvangirai he would be "dicing
with death" if he ever
attempted to instigate a Ukraine-style popular revolt
in Zimbabwe.
In a fresh crackdown against dissension, the police
last week arrested
several church and civic leaders for organising public
prayers and marches
to mark last year's controversial home demolition
exercise by the
government.
The police also banned the marches
and prayers, fearing they could
easily turn into mass protests against
Mugabe and his government.
The marches however went ahead in the
second largest city of Bulawayo
after organisers had obtained a court order
barring the police from stopping
the march.
Zimbabwe - which is
battling a seven-year economic recession
dramatised by acute shortages of
foreign currency, fuel and food and the
world's highest inflation of more
than 1 000 percent - has remained on edge
since Tsvangirai warned Mugabe
last March that his more than two-decade rule
was nearing its
end.
Political analysts say although Zimbabweans have largely been
cowed by
Mugabe's tactics of routinely deploying riot police and the
military to
crush street protests, worsening hunger and poverty were fanning
public
anger which Tsvangirai - with proper planning and organisation -
could
easily manipulate. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 22 May 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's biggest labour
federation on Saturday threatened
to call massive demonstrations against the
government over poor salaries and
worsening living conditions for workers in
the country.
The threats are seen ratcheting up pressure against
President Robert
Mugabe's government after similar threats by the biggest
opposition party in
the country, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
about two months ago.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) conference on
Saturday, the labour body's president, Lovemore
Matombo, said the powerful
union wanted the government to award workers
salaries that matched the
country's ever rising inflation.
"I
can assure you we will stage massive demonstrations to force them
(employers) to award workers minimum salaries that tally with the poverty
datum line," said Matombo.
Matombo did not say when exactly the
ZCTU would order workers to
strike.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of
a severe six-year old economic crisis which
has seen inflation breaching the
1 000 percent barrier. Last year, the World
Bank said Zimbabwe's economic
crisis was unprecedented for a country not at
war.
The MDC and
major Western governments blame Mugabe for wrecking the
country's economy
which was one of the strongest in Africa at independence
from Britain 26
years ago.
Mugabe denies the charge blaming the crisis on sabotage
by Britain and
her allies after he seized white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless
blacks six years ago.
The Harare
authorities recently hiked salaries for civil servants with
the lowest paid
soldier now earning about Z$27 million while the lowest paid
school teacher
now takes home about Z$33 million.
But the salaries are still way
below the poverty datum line which the
government's Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe says now stands at a staggering
Z$42 million a month for an average
family of six.
The Zimbabwe government often accuses the ZCTU, a
strong ally of the
MDC, of pushing a political agenda to remove Mugabe from
power.
Meanwhile, Matombo and Lucia Matibenga retained their posts
as
president and first vice-president respectively during the ZCTU congress
which ended on Saturday. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 22 May
2006
BULAWAYO - Police in Zimbabwe's second biggest city of
Bulawayo at the
weekend seized placards they deemed "political" from about
500 people who
marched in the city to commemorate the government's
controversial home
demolition exercise last year.
The march and
public prayers went ahead on Saturday after the High
Court overturned a
police ban on the demonstrations and prayers last Friday
to mark the slum
clearing exercise that the United Nations said left at
least 700 000 people
homeless and indirectly affected another 2.4 million
people.
But the police, led by officer commanding Bulawayo district Alphios
Maphosa,
kept a close eye on the demonstrators, screening most of the
placards and
posters they did not like arguing that the material carried
political
messages.
A spokesman for churches that organised the weekend
activities,
Hussein Sibanda, said the police visited the church leaders
before the march
and asked them to withdraw some of the
placards.
"The police insisted that some of the placards and
banners we intended
to use were political and also forced us to take a
shorter route after they
had insisted that they did not have the manpower to
monitor the procession
if we took a longer route," said
Sibanda.
The protesters marched from the city's oldest suburb of
Makokoba to a
church in central Bulawayo where a prayer ceremony was
conducted while
victims of the government clean-up exercise related their
ordeals during the
clean-up exercise.
"Ever since my shack was
destroyed at the Killarney squatter camp, I
have not had a permanent home
and we have been moved from one area to
another.
"As a result I
have returned to the ruins of my squatter camp where I
stay with my children
in a plastic shack," said one of the marchers who
refused to be named for
fear of victimisation.
The Bulawayo march was one of several
activities countrywide which was
organised by church and civic society
groups to commemorate the home
demolition exercise.
The police
had attempted to ban the marches fearing that they could
end turning into
mass protests against President Robert Mugabe accused by
many Zimbabweans of
plunging the country into its worst ever economic
crisis. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 22 May
2006
HARARE - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) at the weekend
announced
it had cancelled registration of Time Bank Limited, sending shock
waves
throughout a banking sector still recovering from a crisis two years
ago
that forced several banks and financial institutions to
close.
Time Bank, put under curatorship by the RBZ in October 2004,
was a
fortnight ago given a ray of hope when the central bank extended
curatorship
to June 30, 2006, saying the extension was to enable the curator
to finish
work he was currently carrying out at the bank.
In
addition, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa earlier this month
lifted
specification of the Time Bank's directors and six companies linked
to the
bank, a move the market took to mean the way was being paved for the
locally-owned commercial bank to resume operations.
But in a
notice published in the official Herald newspaper on
Saturday, the RBZ said:
"Take notice that the Registrar of Banking
Institutions has cancelled the
registration of Time Bank of Zimbabwe Limited
in terms of section 14 (1) (j)
and (k) of the Banking Act (Chapter 24:20)."
Time Bank was placed
under curatorship following a probe by the RBZ
which showed the commercial
bank's balance sheet had a negative equity of
$174 billion. But Time Bank
were contesting the decision and was also
claiming $400 billion from the RBZ
which it said it was owed by the central
bank and if paid would
significantly alter its liquidity position.
Analysts view the
latest twist on the Time Bank saga as reflective of
the inconsistencies in
policies between the government and RBZ.
Two other troubled banks,
Royal and Trust, recently lost an appeal
against forced amalgamation into
the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG),
majority-owned by the state. But
the banks could still appeal to Minister of
Finance Herbert Murerwa
according to Section 73 of the Banking Act.
Uncertainty has gripped
the banking sector as a September 30 deadline
to raise capitalisation to a
new US$-linked minimum level fast approaches.
Commercial banks will
be required to raise capitalisation to Z$1
trillion, building societies and
merchant banks $750 billion, discount
houses $500 billion and asset managers
$100 billion.
Finance industry experts say many banks will not be
able to raise
capitalisation to adequate levels and some would be forced
into mergers of
convenience or would have to close shop. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
21 May
2006
In Zimbabwe, an opposition candidate won a special election
for a
parliamentary seat representing a working class suburb of the capital,
as
expected. But, at least one analyst says, the results signaled dwindling
support for the fractured opposition in what traditionally has been an
opposition stronghold.
The candidate who won the special election was
backed by the faction of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change that
is loyal to the party's
founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai. The movement
split late last year,
and both factions fielded candidates.
But poll
watchers say the combined support for both factions was 50-percent
lower
than it was in last year's general election, before the party
split.
Opposition legislator David Coltart, who has not yet joined either
faction
of the MDC, was formerly the united party's top election analyst.
He had
cautioned before the party split that failure to maintain a united
front
could fatally damage the opposition, and he called the results of
Saturday's
special election in a working class Harare suburb
"disastrous."
The opposition has generally drawn its support in urban
areas. But Coltart
said the results of Saturday's special election indicate
the ruling ZANU-PF
party, has a strong core of support, even in urban
areas.
The next big electoral test in Zimbabwe will be presidential
elections due
in 2008, when, Coltart predicts, President Robert Mugabe, who
has ruled
Zimbabwe since 1987, or his successor, would win for
ZANU-PF.
The opposition MDC, which was formed in 1999, nearly
defeated the ZANU-PF in
general elections in 2000. The ruling party has won
all major elections
since then amid allegations of vote-rigging made by the
opposition and
western observers, a charge the party
denies.
Following its election victory, Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC
issued a
statement saying it would begin focusing on democratic resistance.
Tsvangirai has pledged to lead anti-ZANU-PF demonstrations around Zimbabwe
in what he described as a winter of discontent.
IOL
Basildon
Peta
May 21 2006 at 01:34PM
UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan's planned visit to Zimbabwe and his
efforts to resolve the crisis in
that country have been stalled by President
Robert Mugabe's refusal to
implement recommendations of a UN special envoy
deployed to investigate last
year's slum clearance which left nearly one
million people
homeless.
Discounting reports this week that Annan was working out
a deal for
Mugabe's exit from power in exchange for guarantees of immunity
from
prosecution against the Zimbabwean leader, authoritative diplomatic
sources
said the main sticking point remained Mugabe's reticence in
implementing the
recommendations of head of UN Habitat Anna Kajumulo
Tibaijuka.
In her report, Tibaijuka fell just short of condemning
Mugabe's
Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Trash) as a crime against
humanity. She
nevertheless did not mince her words about the "untold human
suffering and
chaos" that the operation had brought on the poor of
Zimbabwe.
She then went on to list a number of
recommendations which she urged
the Zimbabwe government to implement,
including addressing human rights
issues and addressing the land issue in a
sustainable way.
Annan's failure to coax Mugabe into action means
that successive
efforts by the Southern African Development Community, the
UN, the
Commonwealth and South Africa have failed to help, leaving the
option of an
internal sustained campaign of civil disobedience the only
solution to force
Mugabe into dialogue with opponents.
The
capacity of the opposition to mount such a campaign is, however,
severely
restricted, meaning the Zimbabwe crisis is unlikely to be resolved
in the
foreseeable future. - Independent Foreign Service
This article
was originally published on page 8 of Sunday Argus on May
21, 2006
May 21,
2006, 1 hour
By Andnetwork .com
South African-based
Zimbabwean tycoon Mutumwa Mawere says his business
problems were caused by a
Zanu PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa after he
tried to block its front
company, Smoothnest (Pvt) Ltd, from securing a loan
from First Bank
Corporation (FBC) in which he had an interest.
In his first
explanation of what went wrong between him and Mnangagwa,
who was widely
seen as his ally, Mawere this week said the seizure of his
businesses
started after he clashed with the Mnangagwa camp over the
Smoothnest deal
meant to raise funds for the Zanu PF national conference in
Masvingo in
December 2003.
He said he was punished for opposing the release by
FBC of $1 billion
to Smoothnest for the purchase of shares from a Zanu PF
company, M&S
Investments, to raise party funds.
Mawere, who
last week accused the so-called Tsholotsho group in Zanu
PF of instigating
his woes, said the Mnangagwa faction reacted with a fierce
backlash against
him because Smoothnest was owned by ex-Labour minister and
Zanu-PF
provincial chairman July Moyo and prominent lawyer Edwin Manikai,
seen as
Mnangagwa's lieutenants.
Although Manikai this week admitted he has
an interest in Smoothnest,
he denied any links to Mnangagwa's camp. Manikai
said Mawere's allegations
were "sour grapes".
"Mawere is
unscrupulous, greedy and vicious. But above all, he is a
loser, a very bad
loser and a cry baby," Manikai said. "Mawere has messed
himself up and is
now blaming everyone for his problems. I have nothing
against him but he
must have a conscience."
On the Smoothnest deal, Manikai said it
was a tired story created by
Mawere to try and get him into
trouble.
Documents obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent when the
Smoothnest
dispute erupted three years ago reveal that the company applied
for a loan
from FBC in October 2003 to purchase 23 million shares owned by
M&S from the
then listed Southern Africa Reinsurance Company (Sare).
Sare has since been
taken over by FBC.
M&S Investments'
stake in Sare was at that time worth about $500
million but Smoothnest was
offering to buy it at $875 million. The proceeds
from the sale were used to
finance the Zanu PF conference.
The documents show that the loan
was fast-tracked because of
Smoothnest's links to Zanu PF. The FBC
executive director at the time,
Mberikwazvo Chitambo, wrote a strong
supporting letter saying Smoothnest's
application should be given priority
because of its links to Moyo.
"The names behind Smoothnest are
Edwin Manikai and Mr (Patrice)
Dhliwayo recently qualified as an engineer
and man of straw," wrote
Chitambo. "Mr Dhliwayo represents the interest of
Minister July Moyo and
should be accorded that priority."
Shakeman Mugari
The Independent
Reuters
Sun May 21,
2006 3:57am ET
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Mengistu
Haile Mariam, accused of a 17-year reign of
terror in Ethiopia, faces a
long-awaited genocide verdict on Tuesday in a
sign of Africa's new resolve
to bring ex-leaders to account for past abuses.
The former Marxist ruler,
now nearing 70 and living in comfortable exile in
Zimbabwe, is accused of
killing tens of thousands of people after toppling
Emperor Haile Selassie in
1974.
In the most notorious purge, the Red Terror, thousands of suspected
opponents were rounded up, executed by garrotting or shooting, then tossed
into the streets.
Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 but has been
the subject of a 12-year
trial in absentia in Addis Ababa.
The
prosecution blames the lengthy case on the complexity of the proceedings
but
Ethiopians hoping to close the door on a painful era indicated they
weren't
troubled by the delay.
"I know that even if Mengistu and all his
supporters are sentenced to death,
there is no way I will get my son back,"
said Abebe Girma, 60, a pensioner
whose son was accused of being an
opposition supporter and executed in the
1977-78 Red Terror.
"Just
the same, I want justice to be done."
Most of Africa's many former
strongman rulers in the decades since
independence have avoided facing legal
charges. But activists believe the
continent is finally strengthening its
resolve to tackle a litany of past
abuses
Liberian
warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor became the first African
leader last
month to stand before an international court in Sierra Leone,
where he
awaits trial on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
And in June, an African Union summit is to decide whether
to extradite
former Chad President Hissene Habre to Belgium to face charges
of mass
murder and torture during his 1982-1990 rule.
The
International Criminal Court is also probing war crimes in Uganda and
the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Things have changed hugely since the
bipolar (Cold War) world when the only
people who could deliver any justice
were the people there," said Richard
Dowden, head of the UK-based Royal
African Society, referring to Africa's
coup-laden past.
WHISKY
DURING FAMINE
Some 40 members of Mengistu's "Dergue" junta -- ousted in
1991 by guerrilla
forces led by now Prime Minister Meles Zenawi -- have also
been tried and
will appear at the Supreme Court.
Twenty more, like
him, are being tried in absentia.
They could face the death penalty if
found guilty of crimes against humanity
and genocide, which Ethiopian law
defines as intent to wipe out political
and not just ethnic
groups.
Evidence against Mengistu has included signed execution orders,
videos of
torture sessions and personal testimonies.
Despite calls
for his extradition, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is
unlikely to hand
over Mengistu in the event of a guilty verdict. Rights
campaigners hope,
however, that a post-Mugabe government may take that step.
"I simply
cannot believe a new government in Zimbabwe would want to protect
him and I
can't think of anyone else who would take him," Dowden said.
Mengistu,
whose army helped train Mugabe's guerrillas in their 1970's
struggle for
independence from white rule, lives a lavish but reclusive life
in
Zimbabwe.
Officially, Mengistu and his family live in a government villa
in a wealthy
district of Harare, behind a high security wall and guarded
round the clock.
But diplomats believe he moves around a number of
"safe" houses and owns
some properties including farms.
Many
Ethiopians want him back now.
MURDER, FAMINE
"If Mengistu is found
guilty, there's no reason for Zimbabwe to give
sanctuary to a murderer.
Mengistu must be returned home and face the
verdict," said engineer Shimles
Hailu.
Emperor Selassie, dethroned in 1974, was his most prominent
victim. He was
allegedly strangled in bed a year after the revolution that
ended centuries
of feudal rule.
Selassie was secretly buried under a
latrine in the palace. About 70 of his
senior officials were shot by firing
squads and dumped in a mass grave.
When famine struck in 1984, aid
workers recalled how Mengistu flew in
planeloads of whisky to celebrate the
revolution anniversary while denying
there was starvation.
Up to 1
million people died from hunger in the famine that provoked "Live
Aid", the
world's most famous aid mobilisation.
"It is hoped the verdict will show
the world Mengistu's and his regime's
brutality, and will bring peace of
mind to all those who lost loved ones in
his hands," said an Ethiopian
lawyer, who asked not to be named.
Although proceedings against
Mengistu and his henchmen began in 1992, the
trial formally started in
1994.
The co-accused include former prime minister Fikre Selassie
Wogderesse,
former vice-president Fissiha Desta and others who have been in
prison
awaiting verdict since 1992.
Reuters
Sun May 21, 2006 10:23 AM GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) -
Former Ethiopian strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam lives a
lavish but
reclusive life in exile in Zimbabwe, condemned to the "luxury of
the bunker"
amid continued fears over his safety, diplomats say.
The former Marxist
ruler rarely appears in public, but when he does he
carries a
pistol.
Ethiopia's Supreme Court, which has been trying him in absentia,
is due to
deliver its verdict on Tuesday on charges he killed tens of
thousands of
people during his 17-year rule which began with the overthrow
of Emperor
Haile Selassie in 1974.
But in Zimbabwe, which offered him
exile 15 years ago, Mengistu is treated
as an honoured guest by President
Robert Mugabe's government which holds him
up as one of the champions of the
country's 1970s liberation war.
Officially, Mengistu and his family stay
in a government villa in Harare's
plush Gunhill district, behind a high
security wall guarded round the clock
by a crack army and police
unit.
But foreign diplomatic sources believe the former Ethiopian ruler
moves
around in a number of "safe state houses," and has his own properties,
including some farms.
"He is living a very, very comfortable life, a
luxurious life. But the
security kind of makes it the luxury of a bunker,"
one Western diplomat said
about his lifestyle.
Little is known about
Mengistu's life behind the wall, including how many
people live with him,
how he spends his time, who his friends are and
whether he gets visitors
such as Mugabe.
Zimbabwean authorities routinely refuse to discuss their
Ethiopian guest,
and have largely shielded him from the media with a
thoroughness that
sometimes triggers security harassment of journalists
pursuing him.
FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Security around
Mengistu was increased in the mid-1990s after two Eritreans
tried but failed
to assassinate him after ambushing him near his Gunhill
villa on an
afternoon stroll.
In the handful of interviews he has given Zimbabwean
media since his arrival
in Harare May 1991, Mengistu said he had no regrets
about his rule and that
he tried his best for Ethiopia.
Mengistu said
he kept up with politics in his home country and spent most of
his time
reading and watching television.
The few times Mengistu has ventured out
to Zimbabwe shopping malls, those
who are able to recognise him say he
invariably wears military boots and a
hat pulled tight over his
eyes.
The former colonel, branded by this opponents as the Butcher of
Addis, is
always surrounded by guards, the witnesses say.
Mengistu's
mysterious life in Zimbabwe has produced other rumours, including
that he
regularly visits a military gym where he exercises and sometimes
acts as a
tutor.
As Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis deepens, some local
private
newspapers have reported Mengistu was worried over the future and
has
considered relocating to North Korea if Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
loses
power.
Early this year, Mugabe's government denied suggestions
Mengistu has been
involved in some of Mugabe's unpopular policy moves,
including the
controversial demolition of slums a year ago which left
thousands of people
homeless.
They said the demolitions were mainly
aimed at destroying Zimbabwe's
opposition urban stronghold and were modelled
on Mengistu's own bloody
crackdown on Ethiopian opponents during his
tenure.
New Zimbabwe
By Lynette
Mhlanga
Last updated: 05/21/2006 20:33:32
"NOTHING is more abhorrent than
to imprison a person or keep him in prison
because he is unpopular. This is
really the test of civilisation."
These are the words of Winston
Churchill.
In this test, Zimbabwe has scored a Zero!
What else can
be abhorrent than the powers of the Zanu PF government to cast
Professor
Mutambara and other MDC party members in cells using an unjust
law, to deny
them freedom to campaign?
This is in the highest degree odious. This is
indeed the foundation of all
totalitarian governments whether Nazi or
Communist.
The Zimbabwean government is at it again! Professor Arthur
Mutambara has
been arrested, and again without any better charges, the
government has
resorted to its unpopular Public Order and Security Act
(POSA).
POSA the unjust law, POSA is the machinery of an unpopular
government and
POSA the is the law which frightens the masses from free
expression. Pieces
of legislations such as POSA can only operate in
entrenched dictatorial
regimes that are insecure and potentially moribund in
the face of overtly
increasing people power.
POSA as currently being
used by the Zanu PF regime is a law whose provisions
and measures have
arisen out of what might be seen as hysteria, it is
draconian, excessive,
and unnecessary. The operation of such unfair
legislation which denies basic
human rights to the Opposition Parties and
certain sections of the
community, is intrusive, extreme, criminal,
discriminatory, open to abuse,
based on suspect evidence, and violates not
only the right to liberty, but
also other rights such as the right to
private and family life, fair trial,
freedom of expression, freedom of
assembly and association, and possible
violations of the absolute
prohibition on torture.
The dreaded POSA
as an instrument of law must be revoked as soon as possible
and be replaced
by something of a more humane appeal should it be necessary.
With a
record inflation at over 1000% the highest in the world, the
government
should ask themselves as to whether their presence in the
corridors of power
is still necessary. What we know for sure is that Zanu PF
is no longer in
power but only in office because they have no people driven
mandate and
legitimacy.
Freedom from executive detention is arguably the most
fundamental and
probably the oldest, the most scarcely won and one of the
most universally
recognised of human rights. However, in times of emergency,
crisis or
serious disorder, it is almost the first right to be curtailed. In
retrospect, the infringements of personal liberty thought to be justified at
the time are later proven to be significantly greater than the necessity of
the hour required.
Zimbabwe is going down the hill. People like
Tongogara, Parirenyatwa,
Mqabuko Nkomo, Chitepo, Ziyaphapha Moyo and many
others who spearheaded the
liberation struggle must be wondering wherever
they are as to whether the
madness and suffering in Zimbabwe today is that
which they sacrificed for.
Liberal democracies are democratic in the
sense that government rests upon
the consent of the governed. This implies a
form of representative democracy
in which the right to exercise government
power is gained by success in
regular and competitive elections. In Zimbabwe
the MDC is not given a fair
level platform to campaign. Leaders are always
arrested in an endeavour to
disrupt their campaigns, in a bid ostracise
Zimbabweans from listening to
what a future MDC government can
offer.
The cornerstone of a liberal democratic government is political
pluralism,
the existence of a variety of political creeds, ideologies or
philosophies
and of open competition for power amongst a number of parties.
Zimbabwe does
not observe all this yet the Zanu PF government parades itself
as a liberal
democracy.
In Zimbabwe today, free speech has not only
been curtailed but criminalised
as well. Very soon our very existence as
supporters of the opposition will
soon be a crime.
The Zanu PF
government is a government without legitimacy hence it is
resorting to the
use of totalitarian laws as a survival mechanism. The right
to liberty is an
important right in a democratic society. But in Zimbabwe
this right is
always violated and evidentially Professor Mutambara is now a
victim of
POSA; he has lost his liberty in an arbitrary fashion.
You can take away
people's freedom from them but not their conscience or
resistance, in jail
or outside. I recall Mutambara once said a cat is gentle
and friendly until
you put it in a corner then it becomes a fox. Mutambara
will soon become a
fox.
Lynette Mhlanga, is a, human rights activist, political commentator
and
Doctoral candidate based in the United Kingdom She can be contacted at
lynn.lynette@yahoo.co.uk
May 21,
2006
By Andnetwork .com
Zimbabwe's main labour
federation, a key ally of the divided
opposition movement, has decided to
lead a national strike for higher wages.
The decision
coincided with a by-election in Harare expected to test
the level of popular
discontent with the ruling party Zanu-PF, accused by
critics of driving the
country deep into crisis with an annual inflation
rate now topping
1,000%.
"We are now going to be more militant than ever before
because ... no
matter how hard we try to co-operate with the government,
without the
necessary push from the streets we may not get what we want,"
Wellington
Chibebe, the secretary-general of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU),
said on Saturday.
"The first general council
meeting which we will call any time after
June 16 will decide on the
timetable, possibly end of June, July, August
thereabouts."
He
was speaking on the sidelines of a ZCTU conference ending later in
the
day.
Security forces have intensified a crackdown on the critics of
Robert
Mugabe, to put down protests against the Zimbabwean president
threatened by
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which has
close links
with the labour movement.
Voting was quiet in the
by-election in Harare's Budiriro district,
which is being closely watched
amid signs of increasing stress in Zimbabwe's
fragile political
landscape.
On Friday, police arrested MDC leader Arthur Mutambara,
several senior
politicians from his faction and its candidate for the
Budiriro seat,
accusing them of campaigning without official
permission.
They were later released but are expected in court on
Monday on
charges of violating security laws.
Budiriro was
represented by an MDC legislator who died in office this
year. The party has
since split into two factions, both of which are
fielding candidates in the
election, dividing the MDC vote.
Zanu-PF has vowed to capture the
seat to show its political strength,
despite mounting economic problems
including the rampant inflation, sky-high
unemployment and frequent
shortages of food, fuel and other key commodities.
Election results
are expected in the next few days but will do little
to alter the balance of
power in parliament, where Zanu-PF holds a
two-thirds majority.
Mugabe, 82, blames Zimbabwe's economic problems on sabotage by
domestic and
Western opponents critical of his programme to seize
white-owned farms to
give to landless blacks.
Source : Agencies
New Zimbabwe
MASOLA WA DABUDABU HOPEWELL
Last updated: 05/21/2006
20:33:00
IS IT true that Robert Mugabe is dictatorial and Tony Blair
democratic?
Perhaps some bit of refreshing on the semantics
will enable us to
reach an informed verdict on the poser.
A
dictator is an absolute ruler with no legal, constitutional, social
or
political considerations to restrict his latitude. Dictators exert their
power without any regard to the moral or ethical consequences of their
actions and they survive out of the fear that grips the people.
Dictators often use armed force, propaganda, and arbitrary detention
to
enforce their will, and usually suppress any opinion which runs counter
to
their own. Mugabe runs the army and the police as if they were his
personal
militias. When called upon, the armed services will defend Mugabe
no matter
the consequences.
Mugabe fits this bill as he has parliamentarians
and senators that can
dance to his evil tune. Mugabe has instilled so much
fear to his own people;
especially the Zanu PF parliamentarians that they
even fear Mugabe's
portraits that hang in their offices.
In
government circles, Mugabe is to Zimbabwe what Tony Blair is to the
United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. Mugabe is an elected
President
of a sovereign state as much as Tony Blair is an elected Premier
of a
sovereign monarchy. Both men have mandates to stir their respective
states
towards peace, prosperity and pride through legitimate means.
The
gist is to try to scrutinise the performance of the two leaders
against the
background of their power base; the parliament.
I will not use the
economies of the two countries as a yard-stick for
judging the performance
of the two men. The economies of the two countries
are so far apart, both in
time and space. Comparing the two economies would
be like trying to compare
the haulage capabilities of a mule and that of a
Hercules C140 transport
plane.
Talking of economies, it may be proper to boldly apportion
blame on
Mugabe for destroying Zimbabwe's once thriving economy. Zimbabwe's
economy
was not that mighty but it was big enough to tickle the fancy of the
Zimbabwean people. Then along came one sick old man with a myriad of
destructive policies and before a winking eye could open, he had wiped all
the economic gains that had taken ages to build.
The economy; a
sensitive entity in governance; has taken the
reasonable step to heed the
commands to self-destruct! Now Zimbabwe has set
a new world record on the
meaning of inflation; thanks to Robert.
Single-handedly, Mugabe has turned
the course of the economy doom-wards.
Gabriel; the angel of hell
from hell.what an earthly paradox! For
Mugabe, a coin has two sides; heads
you lose and tails he wins. Loser!
Whilst Tony Blair cannot take
credit for making the British economy
what it is, he certainly has managed
it within a respectable growth range.
Mugabe takes credit for making
Zimbabwe's economy what it was not! People
may rant and rave that the
British economy was founded on cheap resources
from its former colonies;
hence its solid status. That does not give anyone,
not even the worst
economist like Mugabe any latitude to bleed the economy
into emaciated
submission.
Besides running a solid economy (ignore its historic
base), Tony leads
vociferous, scrupulous, knowing and performance-led
parliamentarians who are
hungry with ambition. British parliamentarians will
not hesitate to show
their displeasure with the leadership hence the
pressure Tony Blair finds
himself in. The parliamentarians demand
accountability and honesty from Tony
Blair.
In Zimbabwe, Mugabe
demands loyalty and allegiance to himself from
parliamentarians. None of the
parliamentarians can openly declare their wish
to know when Mugabe will
retire from politics. They risk losing their lives
by asking any questions
along those lines or declaring themselves available
for leadership contest.
The fear Mugabe instils upon his parliamentarians
denies them the pleasure
to dream about any ambitions of being the next
official resident at state
house!
Zimbabwe's parliament is at limbo; more so because the
parliamentarians allow themselves to be overly subservient to Mugabe.
Parliamentarians are supposed to be the people's representatives, the
guardians of democracy who fear no other man but God.
The
parliament is normally an institution capable of reining in
run-away horses
like Mugabe. To this effect, Frederick Forsyth wrote about
the British
parliament, 'Of all the governmental systems known to man, the
greatest is
parliamentary democracy. Parliamentary democracy alone will
suffice, now and
forever, as the governance of Great Britain and the British
people.' This
applies to Zimbabwe; it universal.
Fredrick Forsyth also warned,
'This democracy is a complex and fragile
system, not easy to acquire and
hard to maintain, being only maintained by
the constant vigilance of the
governed.'
For sheer parliamentary democracy to flourish there
should be
political parties. Political parties are the basis of
parliamentary
democracy. These parties are voluntary associations of free
people who share
common hopes, aspirations, beliefs and commitments in
governing themselves
and their fellow citizens without any coercion or
inducement.
Zimbabwean parliamentarians are political neuters who
always look
forward to kow-towing to Mugabe at his citadel of evil in
Zvimba. We
shamefully recollect from the dustbins of memory how two
parliamentarians
were adamant that Mugabe was the Emmanuel, the Son of Man.
Their wish was
for a law to be passed deifying Mugabe.
I spit
in disgust to such blatant sacrilege. Mugabe lost his
blamelessness and
honour whilst he was in his mother's womb! Agh, the
godfather of sin I
presume!
Zimbabwe ruins! Zimbabwe is ruined. Zimbabwe's
parliamentarians are
ruined. Our pride as the citizens of Zimbabwe faces
certain ruin.
Perhaps Mugabe has been given too much slack to ruin
our lives.
Mugabe is to Zimbabwe what the devil is to the world; an
unwanted
phenomenon of no known origin and a harbinger of doom! Mugabe is
the devil's
ambassador to Zimbabwe. He seems to enjoy diplomatic immunity
for all his
crimes against the people of Zimbabwe. Parliamentarians seem
powerless to
admonish him for his cruelty.
The chronic illness
afflicting upon Zimbabwe is a pointer to the
destructive power of one senile
dictator who has a primitive mix of yes-men
for parliamentarians. In
reality, Mugabe's parliamentarians seem to think of
themselves in the same
level as the twelve apostles that Jesus Christ
hand-picked to spread the
Word. The difference being that Mugabe's disciples
lack human hearts and
compassion.
They are so passionate towards protecting Mugabe's sins
and crimes and
in the process they taint themselves with the blood of the
people.
(Next we shall look into shopping in Zimbabwe the povo
way).
Masola wa Dabudabu is a columnist for New Zimbabwe.com and
was
previously a regular columnist with the banned Daily News. He writes
from
London. CONTACT MASOLA: hopemasola@hotmail.com