Business Day
07 May 2008
Dumisani
Muleya
Harare
Correspondent
A TOP-level delegation led by Local Government Minister
Sydney Mufamadi met
President Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
this week to discuss the
runoff vote for president. It is the strongest
indication yet that President
Thabo Mbeki is continuing as a mediator in
Zimbabwe, despite the MDC
demanding his withdrawal.
Presidential
spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga would not comment last night on
whether or not
a South African government delegation visited Harare this
week.
“The
mediation process under the SADC (Southern African Development
Community)
and President Mbeki continues,” he said. All parties understood
that
mediation “cannot be done in the public spotlight”.
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai — who received more votes than Mugabe at the
presidential polls
on March 29 but not enough to avoid a runoff — last month
asked the SADC to
withdraw Mbeki as mediator and replace him with a special
envoy.
Sources in Harare said the Mbeki emissaries met
Mugabe and ZEC officials to
find out about the date of, and preparations
for, the runoff election.
The ZEC failed to announce results for the
presidential poll for over a
month. Mugabe had insisted on a recount of
votes, which did not reverse his
defeat.
The government and the
ZEC do not have the money and logistical capacity for
another poll. The
schools used as polling stations and teachers who acted as
polling agents
are not available as they are now working.
It is understood that
while their meeting with Mugabe went well, the SA
delegation had problems
with MDC leaders because the party has already said
it no longer trusted
Mbeki as an honest broker.
The SADC has not acceded to the MDC’s request
to remove Mbeki, while African
National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma
has said the mediation team
should be broadened.
The bitter
fallout between Mbeki and the MDC started last year when Mbeki
said dialogue
between it and the ruling Zanu (PF) had succeeded, while the
opposition
thought it had failed.
Mbeki’s view was that the parties had reached a
“substantive agreement” on
all main issues and this was a step forward,
although implementation was not
done.
The MDC said the talks were a
failure because they did not achieve their
main objectives of a new
constitution and postponement of the elections from
March to
June.
On January 15, Mbeki met Mugabe and Tsvangirai in Harare but
failed to break
the deadlock. Between January 17 and 29, Mbeki tried in vain
to persuade
Mugabe to meet Tsvangirai to resolve the issues.
In
February Mbeki emissaries again met separately with the two parties’
negotiating teams, but that did not help as Mugabe had already proclaimed
the election date on January 25, effectively sabotaging the
talks.
Mbeki’s team raised concerns this week about political
violence and
indicated that reports of state-sponsored brutality and murders
would be
investigated. Mugabe is understood to have denied such allegations
and to
have claimed that the MDC was perpetrating the violence. He also
complained
that the MDC and western powers were behind a “regime-change
plot” in
Harare.
Mugabe believes he and his party lost the
elections because the electoral
process was flawed and that the ZEC
officials were bribed by the MDC and
western countries. He also believes he
lost because nongovernmental
organisations and chiefs were part of an MDC
campaign to get rid of him.
Mugabe has accused the MDC of getting election
funding from the UK, the US
and Australia.
Mbeki told
African religious leaders last week he would send a team to
Zimbabwe to
investigate cases of political violence and killings. He is said
to be doing
this to ensure Tsvangirai agreed to contest the runoff.
Church
leaders in Zimbabwe have said the runoff would worsen violence and
that a
negotiated settlement was needed.
Mbeki’s envoys also discussed the
possibility of a government of national
unity or a transitional arrangement.
Mugabe and his party are not rigidly
opposed to this, and the MDC is also
amenable to it.
Although Tsvangirai, now based in SA and Botswana, has
not yet announced his
decision on the runoff, MDC insiders say he would
participate provided the
violence and killings stop, that the environment is
conducive for free and
fair elections and that results are announced within
48 hours. The MDC also
wants assurances that Mugabe would accept defeat if
he loses.
Yesterday the ANC called on Tsvangirai to participate in the
runoff. “While
we cannot tell the MDC what to do, if it does not participate
it will
basically hand the election outcome to Mugabe on a platter,” said
ANC
secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. With Karima Brown
Business Day
07 May 2008
Foreign
Staff
HARARE
— African Union (AU) foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on
Zimbabwe
in Tanzania yesterday, as church and opposition groups in the
country said
at least eight more people had been killed and scores beaten or
threatened
in post-election violence.
AU commission chairman Jean Ping met
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
officials on Monday, as a South African
delegation headed by Local
Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi,
director-general in the Presidency the
Rev Frank Chikane, and presidential
legal adviser Mojanku Gumbi, were in
Harare to meet Mugabe.
Ping was expected to report back on those
talks in Tanzania yesterday.
According to some reports, the foreign
ministers were to consider a unified
position on a likely presidential
runoff.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he
was in talks
with African states about how the UN could help ensure an
election run-off
in Zimbabwe was credible, and voiced concern at growing
violence.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes in
the presidential
election, and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won
majorities in
both houses of parliament. The ZEC said Tsvangirai won 47,9%,
Mugabe 43,2%,
Simba Makoni 8,3% and Langton Towungana 0,6%. The MDC says its
candidate won
50,3%, enough to avoid a runoff.
Mugabe has said he
will stand in a runoff but Tsvangirai, who is now based
in SA and Botswana,
has not committed to the contest.
The MDC said at the weekend it was
discussing the conditions under which it
could take part in a second
round.
Church groups and the opposition said they had
confirmation that eight more
MDC supporters had been “beaten to death in the
past 48 hours”.
Police were said to have stopped a truck ferrying 30
injured supporters, who
had been beaten allegedly by militia in camouflage
uniforms, to clinics, and
had impounded the truck. The MDC says at least 20
of its supporters have
been killed since the March 29
elections.
Church groups released a report yesterday detailing scores of
beatings,
arbitrary arrests, loss of jobs and death threats made against MDC
supporters. The group blames Zanu (PF) officials, youth militia, and war
veterans.
Farm invasions were also continuing. A Nymandlovhu farm was
under siege
yesterday.
The MDC also said yesterday police had
arrested 59 of its supporters in
Bulawayo. The arrests in the country’s
second-biggest city followed
allegations of MDC violence by senior Zanu (PF)
party official Emmerson
Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa, who was Mugabe’s election
agent, has said the
opposition is using armed gangs to intimidate Zanu (PF)
supporters.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said no member of his party was
armed, and that
its members were the victims of rising
violence.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party called on its
supporters to refrain from violence in
the second round of voting. Zanu
(PF)’s Nathan Shamuyarira was quoted by the
state-run Herald as saying: “We
are urging our people to campaign
peacefully. We are also urging the
opposition to avoid violence.”
A Chinese ship carrying arms for Zimbabwe
unloaded cargo in Angola after
Luanda had indicated that the vessel would be
allowed to unload only cargo
destined for that country. A court order had
blocked the weapons from being
unloaded in Durban. With Bloomberg, Reuters
and ZimOnline.
» No Arrests made
» South African investigators
arrive
The death toll of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters killed in post-election violence that is being investigated by South African officials has increased to 24.
Shepherd Mushonga, an MDC MP for Mazowe Central, said four MDC members had been killed in Chiweshe, 100 kilometres north of Harare, on Sunday night after being beaten by youth militia loyal to Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
Mushonga told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the youths went door to door looking for MDC members and that several other people had been hospitalized with injuries following the attack.
It was not possible to immediately verify the report, which the MDC says brings to 24 the number of people from within its ranks killed in revenge attacks by mainly Zanu-PF youth militia and soldiers following Mugabe’s party’s defeat in March parliamentary elections.
The MDC defeated Zanu-PF in the 210-seat House of Assembly. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai also took more votes than 84-year-old Mugabe in the presidential election, but not enough for an outright win.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is expected to announce a date for a runoff between the two leading candidates in the coming days. Mugabe has said he will participate but Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, which insists he won decisively, has yet to announce whether their man will partake.
A team of South African officials led by Local Government Minister Sydney Mumafadi has arrived in Zimbabwe Monday night to investigate the violence.
“They are already here and they are busy conducting wide-ranging interviews. This is not going to be a selective process. They are going to talk to all relevant players,” William Geerlings, First Secretary at the South African embassy in Harare, said.
The African Union (AU) was also due to discuss the Zimbabwean crisis at a two-day meeting in Tanzania’s northern town of Arusha starting Tuesday, the country’s foreign minister Bernard Membe confirmed.
MDC activist in Hurungwe North, Tapiwa Mubwanda(Pictured) was reportedly killed by Jawet Kazangarare and Private Peter Madamombe, a militia of the Zanu-PF and soldier of Zimbabwe National Army, respectively. But no arrests have been made,the perpetrators are still in Hurungwe.
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO, May 7, 2008 (thezimbabwetimes.com) - The Zimbabwe
Election Support
Network (ZESN), an independent electoral watchdog, has said
the police must
stamp out politically violence, which is raging in some
rural areas
countrywide.
The call comes as the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), which now
controls Parliament following the March
29 elections, accused the police,
the military and Zanu –PF members, of
assaulting and kidnapping its
supporters in rural areas.
At least 20
MDC supporters have reportedly perished at the hands of Zanu-PF
gangs while
more than 5 000 have been displaced from their homes in the
post-election
mayhem.
Teachers working in rural schools have been prime targets of the wave
of
violence, according to the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ).
Some schools have remained closed at the start of the second term
last week
as teachers have fled from marauding Zanu-PF militants.
“ZESN
calls for zero tolerance on the prevailing political violence,” said
ZESN
chairman, Noel Kutukwa.
“We call upon political leaders to denounce political
violence publicly.
Furthermore ZESN urges the police to act swiftly and
decisivelyin dealing
with the perpetrators in accordance with the law. It is
essential that the
conditions prevailing prior to the March 29 poll should
serve as minimum
requirements for this (run-off) election.”
According to
the result issued by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC),
neither of the
two leading presidential candidates, President Robert Mugabe
of Zanu-PF or
Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, won more than 50 percent of the
valid vote
required to be able to form a government.
But Tsvangirai beat Mugabe after he
secured 47, 9 percent to the incumbent’s
43,2 percent. Independents, Simba
Makoni and Langton Towungana scored 8.3
percent and 0,6 percent of the poll
respectively.
This means, in terms of the Constitution, that a run-off
election should be
conducted between Mugabe and Tsvangirai at a date yet to
be fixed by ZEC.
However, Tsvangirai has rejected the results saying he won
outright. The MDC
is still to decide whether or not to participate in the
second round.
Tsvangirai has, however, been reported as having said that a
decision had
been made but would be only announced once ZEC makesa
catergorical statement
on the timing of the run-off.
“This is a clear
circumstance,” said Kutukwa of the run-off, “that will
necessitate an
electoral run-off in terms of Section 110 of the Electoral
Act. We urge the
ZEC to ensure that said run-off is undertaken within 21
days as is outlined
by the Electoral Act.
“The law provides that where two or more candidates are
nominated and no
candidate receives a majority of the total number of valid
votes cast, a
second election must be held within 21 days.”
He said the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) principles and
guidelines on
democratic elections must be adhered to during the run-off.
Kutukwa said that
all the observers who were in the country for the March 29
poll must be
invited back for the second election. He said his organisation
was looking
forward to observing the run-off and would continue deploying
its long-term
and short-term observers countrywide.
Kutukwa warned Mugabe against using
presidential powers to tamper with
electoral laws.
Kutukwa said ZEC must
make announcements in good time on the numbers and
distribution of postal
ballots, the number of registered voters per
constituency and the location
of tabulation centres.
ZESN also insisted on the provision of a list of
polling stations and exact
details of procedures such as the verification
and tabulation of results as
well as the flow of information from the
polling station to the national
level.
“Results should also be released
in a timely, transparent and accountable
manner as this will definitely help
reduce tensions following any election,”
said Kutukwa.
The MDC has set
four preconditions on which it would take part in the
run-off. They include
the announcement of the result within 48 hours after
polling and the
presence of international observers.
The party also wants SADC to verify the
presidential election result
announced by ZEC and for Zanu-PF to stop
violence against MDC supporters.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri and Blessing Zulu
Washington
06 May 2008
Post-election violence in
Zimbabwe intensified late Monday as soldiers and
self-styled liberation war
veterans attacked four villages near Chiweshe in
the constituency of Mazowe
North, Mashonaland Central Province, killing 11
people and leaving more than
20 others seriously injured, according to
opposition sources.
These
sources said the attackers were led by a recently elected member of
parliament for the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe, Cairo Mhandu, a
recently retired soldier. Sources informed on conditions in Chiweshe said
soldiers continued to go door-to-door in the area on Tuesday beating
suspected opposition members.
Similar attacks were said to have taken
place in the Shamva North and Mount
Darwin East constituencies, also in
Mashonaland Central. VOA was unable to
confirm reports of eight deaths in
Shamva North from attacks on members of
the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, which posted major gains in
elections March 29.
In
the Maramba-Pfungwe constituency of Mashonaland East, a mother was said
to
have collapsed and died on Monday as she watched ruling party militia
members beat her son. In Hwedza, Mashonaland East, activists were severely
beaten at Mwai Farm and the ZANU-PF militia was said to be denying them
access to medical attention.
Sources said soldiers and militia
members were torturing opposition
supporters at the Nembudziya business
center in Masvingo Province, where a
camp has been set up.
Reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reached MDC member
Gilbert
Kagodora who said he was on his way to Chinehasha village near
Chiweshe to
remove three bodies from homes there and to evacuate the
injured. In an
interview he confirmed that a total of 11 people had died in
the violence
around Chiweshe.
Senior members of the army and war veterans were
warning, meanwhile, that
the violence is set to escalate. These sources said
members of the army and
war veterans have established camps on farms to
train ZANU-PF youth in
military tactics.
Such camps have been set up
in Murewa and Mutoko in Mashonaland East and
Shamva in Mashonaland Central.
Army sources said top army and police
officials in the past week have been
moving from one camp to another telling
junior officers to be ready to
defend Zimbabwe against the allegedly
Western-backed
opposition.
Sources told VOA that such an indoctrination team was in
Gweru, capital of
Midlands Province, on Tuesday. Army sources said most of
the soldiers
deployed to date have carried out reconnaissance and more will
be fielded
before the presidential run-off election the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
has called without setting a date.
Spokesman Nelson
Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of
first-round
front-runner Morgan Tsvangirai told VOA that the opposition
knows about the
camps and would issue a statement about them on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans Association Chairman Jabulani
Sibanda told
VOA's Blessing Zulu that his organization is not involved in
such
operations.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum released a report on
political violence
on Tuesday, charging that ZANU-PF has mounted a
“countrywide terror
campaign” which mainly targets rural dwellers thought
to have voted for the
opposition.
It said a “substantial number of
senior army officers are the main
organizers of this campaign,” and war
veterans and youth militia members are
“the main instruments of terror.”
Local ZANU-PF party organizations are also
involved, the group
said.
The report said the terror campaign is intended to “ensure that in
the
event of a run-off in the presidential election people will be too
frightened to vote for the opposition.”
The Human Rights NGO Forum
said that between election day on March 29 and
April 18, 323 “casualties of
post-election retribution” had been examined
and treated, and that 18 people
remained hospitalized with fractures and
soft tissue injuries.
politicsweb, SA
Movement for Democratic
Change
07 May 2008
Statement issued by Movement for Democratic
Change May 6 2008.
Five more MDC activists murdered by Zanu PF - toll
reaches 25
Five more MDC activists have been murdered following heavy
attacks by the
Zanu PF militia bringing the total number of killed party
supporters to 25
since the 29 March elections.
However, the cases
might be higher as some of the deaths are going
unreported as the families
of the deceased fear further retribution from the
illegal Zanu PF
regime.
Tawanda Meda, Joseph Maguranhende and Alex Chiriseri all of
Nehasha village
in Chiweshe communal lands, Mashonaland Central province
were beaten to
death by Zanu PF supporters who were accompanied by men in
army uniforms on
5 May 2008.
Meda, 28, was an MDC polling agent in
Mazowe North constituency and died on
the spot after being severely
attacked.
Maguranhende and Chiriseri were also attacked in the same
manner.
Police were notified about the attacks and the attackers have
been
identified but no action has been taken.
Other villagers also
sustained serious injuries and several of them are
receiving treatment while
others have fled their homes and have sought
shelter in the
mountains.
In Kotwa, Mudzi, Gilbert Nyagupe a well known activist from
Nyagupe village
was axed to death by Zanu PF youth militia and one of the
assailants was
identified as Jessie Nau.
In another shocking
incident, Catherine Makwenjere of Mwenezi died on 29
April at Morgenster
Hospital in Masvingo after she had been assaulted by
Zanu PF supporters for
voting and supporting the MDC.
The continued assault and destruction of
people's property by Zanu PF on
accusations that they voted for the MDC in
the last elections is a desperate
attempt by the party to cling on to power
despite clear evidence that the
people of Zimbabwe have rejected Zanu PF
after they voted for change and
jobs in March.
The Zanu PF thugs are
also confiscating national identity cards of people
perceived to be MDC
activists in an attempt that these people will not vote
in the event of a
runoff in the presidential election.
At least 33 families at Vine Farm in
Mutorangashanga, Mashonaland West, were
evicted from their homes on Monday 5
May after being accused of voting for
the MDC.
During the evictions
everyone above the age of 18 years had his or her
identity document
confiscated by the Zanu PF militia.
Villagers at Nehasha and Garande
villages in Chiweshe fled their homes early
this morning after two Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA) truck loads of descended
in the area and threatening to
kill everyone who is perceived to be of the
MDC.
Meanwhile, the MDC
parliamentray candidate for Chakari, Moscow Chabvamuperu
was left for dead
after he was attacked by over 20 armed Zanu PF thugs and
people claiming to
be war veterans at his home on Sunday.
He is battling for his life at
Kadoma General Hospital where he is in the
intensive care
unit.
Statement issued by the Movement for Democratic Change May 6
2008
politicsweb, SA
The
General Council of the Bar of South Africa
07 May 2008
Statement
issued by General Council of the Bar May 6 2008.
The General Council
of the Bar of South Africa (GCB) notes the compelling
evidence of
orchestrated and brutal political intimidation that has targeted
supporters,
and in particular organisers, of the party that has
democratically come into
power.
As a body committed to upholding the rule of law and human rights,
we are
concerned that the African Union and the SADC leaders have failed to
speak
out and condemn the serious repression of human rights perpetrated by
President Mugabe's regime against citizens of Zimbabwe who exercised their
basic democratic right to vote for change.
The serious human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe do not make it possible for
people to freely exercise
their right to vote in any presidential election
re-run.
It is
essential that the rule of law be restored and that an environment be
established free from fear and intimidation before Zimbabweans can be
expected to again exercise their right to vote.
There can be no
democratically competent election re-run without ensuring
beforehand that
repression, intimidation and fear of reprisals ends, and is
seen to end. It
is essential therefor that a level playing field be secured
now.
Accordingly, in our view, the provisions of the African Charter
to which
Zimbabwe is a signatory, can only be respected if there is freedom
from fear
at the ballot box, secured in advance both by a UN endorsed
international
arms embargo and guarantees being secured from President
Mugabe to the
African Union or to the world body ensuring that intimidation
in whatever
form ends and guaranteeing the free movement of and access by
truly
independent observers appointed by the UN in consultation with the
African
Union as from now until the announcement of the successful
presidential
candidate.
J W Eksteen, S.C.
Chairman General Council
of the Bar of South Africa
B S Spilg SC
Convenor: Human Rights
Committee
Issued by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa,
Johannesburg, May
6 2008
The Zimbabwe Times
By Our Correspondent
BULAWAYO, May 7, 2008
(thezimbabwetimes.com) - Zimbabwe’s Information
Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
has said the government is plans to tighten
controls on the media further,
while limiting the accreditation of foreign
journalists ahead of the
expected run-off presidential election.
He said foreign journalists who
were accredited to cover the March 29
elections had undermined the
controversial polls through their coverage.
Ndlovu said the foreign
journalists had filed “hostile coverage” and the
government will use such
coverage as the criterion to deny foreign
journalists accreditation to cover
the expected run-off.
He was responding to questions from journalists on
whether the government
would widen the accreditation of foreign journalists
to cover the second
round of the presidential election. Ndlovu spoke during
World Press Freedom
Day celebrations at the Bulawayo Press Club on Saturday
evening.
“The government will be tighter and tougher this time in the
accreditation
of foreign journalists for the up-coming run-off,” Ndlovu
said. “Most of the
foreign journalists who were accredited to cover the
March 29 elections had
pre-conceived agendas.
“They had a specific
purpose and came to the country to undermine the
elections. The government
can run the elections without them and the
government will not make such a
mistake when looking at their applications
to cover the run-off. Foreign
media that provided hostile coverage and
undermined the elections will not
be accredited again to cover the run-off.”
Zimbabwean authorities barred
most foreign media from covering the March 29
elections and warned that they
would deal severely with journalists who
sneaked into the country to report
illegally.
A number of foreign journalists did sneak into the country but
the risks
involved were highlighted when some of them were
arrested.
Among those arrested were New York Times correspondent, Barry
Bearak,
British journalist Stephen Bevan, Times of London journalists,
Michael
Clayton and two South African satellite television technicians,
Sipho Maseko
and Abdulla Gaibee.
Ndlovu defended the ongoing arrest
of freelance Zimbabwean journalists and
said the government would continue
to maintain its tight grip on the media
through harsh media laws “to instill
discipline among journalists”.
Ndlovu’s growing hard-line stance appears
to be motivated by a need to keep
abreast of his confrontational deputy,
Bright Matonga, who over recent weeks
has become the darling of the foreign
correspondents, who seek his opinion
as Zanu-PF spokesman, which he is not
and as government spokesman, which
officially he also is not.
That
has not deterred Matonga from being the self-appointed defender of the
beleaguered Mugabe regime or from issuing threats against the victorious MDC
since Zanu-PF and President Mugabe lost the March elections. Apparently, not
to be outdone by the youthful Matonga, Ndlovu, once hailed as a reasonable
Minister of Information, used the occasion of the Press Freedom Day
celebrations in Bulawayo to issue his own threats again journalists local
and foreign.
Ndlovu is said to be the patron of the Bulawayo Press
Club whose executive
committee comprises journalists from the
state-controlled media. He is a
regular guest of honour at the club, where
he is reputed to make the
occasional generous donation.
On Friday was
requested to leave a World Press Freedom day function
organised by private
media journalists in Bulawayo. Ndlovu who presented
himself at the function
as the patron of the Bulawayo Club was requested to
leave before he
addressed journalists. The function had been organised by
the Zimbabwe
chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), which
is in the
forefront of campaigning for press freedom and media diversity in
Zimbabwe.
“There is nothing like absolute freedom in
journalism,” Ndlovu said, once
safely ensconced in the premises of the
Bulawayo Press Club on Saturday.
“There has to be censorship by
the government to instill responsible
journalism. Some journalists break the
law under the guise of press freedom
and get arrested. Some journalists for
example in the private media are
undisciplined and stubborn. That is why
they get arrested.”
Away from the Press Club Zimbabwean
journalists called for more media
freedom during the World Press Day
celebrations. The key issues raised were
the repeal of repressive media
laws, radical media reforms and an end to the
use of “inflammatory messages
and hate language” mostly in the
state-controlled
media.
Zimbabwe has some of the toughest media laws and a
terrible record of
harassment of journalists and repression of the
media.
Some of the hostile laws include the Access to Information
and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Interception of Communications
Act, the
Broadcasting Services Act, the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act,
Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Censorship and
Control of
Entertainment Act..
Zimbabwe Today
The violent end to a
peaceful demonstration by Zimbabwe's women
Harare, Zimbabwe, May
6
Yesterday I stood in the streets of Bulawayo and watched Mugabe's riot
police launch a savage attack on a peaceful demonstration by the women's
civic organisation, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA).
Some hundreds of
WOZA members had gathered to march in protest at the
politically motivated
violence which has left more than 20 supporters of the
opposition MDC dead
and hundreds injured and homeless. Their intention was
to march to the High
Court with a demand that the election by a clear
majority of MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai as President be declared official.
Before the march
could begin a police riot squad arrived on the scene and
began attacking the
demonstrators, mostly women and children, with batons.
Several arrests were
made, and many injuries suffered. But worse was to
come.
I followed
the survivors of the attack to St. Mary's Cathedral, where they
regrouped,
and finally began the march. They marched in silence for four
blocks, but
were intercepted by uniformed police one block from the High
Court.
The WOZA national coordinator, Jenni Williams, took part in a
discussion
with the senior officer present, then began asking her
demonstrators to
disperse peacefully. At this point two truckoads of riot
police, most of
them believed to be either members of the notorious Police
Reaction Group or
a paramilitary Support Unit, drove up.
The police
in one vehicle got out and began indiscriminately beating the
women. The
second truck, a Mazda with number NRP 3039 M, drove deliberately
into the
back of the crowd, knocking over several demonstrators.
Jenni Williams
herself was beaten on the street, then thrown into one of the
trucks where
she was beaten again. The truck number was ZRP 2030 M. She and
12 other
members of WOZA were arrested, and released later in the day.
Two other
WOZA members went missing at this time, and so far their fate is
unknown.
They are believed to have been taken to a Support Unit base on the
outskirts
of the city. It is easy to imagine the treatment they are
suffering.
Posted on Tuesday, 06 May 2008 at 17:01
AFP
32
minutes ago
MANICA, Mozambique (AFP) — Taurai Chimombe queues up
patiently for the
chance to land a job as a mineworker in Mozambique -- a
far cry from his
dreams of running his own business back home in his
Zimbabwean homeland.
"As long as I've got a contract I will be here,"
says the 24-year-old.
"We have suffered so much thinking the situation
would improve but there is
no hope right now."
When Chimombe was
growing up in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare,
neighbouring Mozambique
was seen as a poor relation, synonymous with poverty
and misery as a result
of a civil war which raged from independence in 1976
until
1992.
Zimbabwe by contrast was seen in the first decade and a half after
independence in 1980 as a regional model, with its citizens enjoying a
standard of living envied by all of its neighbours.
Now the fate of
the nations has been well and truly reversed with Zimbabwe
racked by an
inflation rate of 165,000 percent -- the highest in the
world -- and an
unemployment rate of around 80 percent.
Chimombe initially enrolled for a
course in Mutare as a trainee mechanic but
he later decided to drop out of
college after deciding there was little
prospect of landing work at the
end.
"I just heard from my friends that it is easier to get a job in
Mozambique
especially if you can speak English," said Chimombe.
In
the past, it was Mozambicans who used to walk across the border to
Zimbabwe
in order to shield themselves from gunfire and look for food after
thousands
were displaced by the guerrilla war that ended in 1992.
Nowadays hundreds
of thousands of Zimbabweans are believed to be in
Mozambique, although exact
numbers are impossible to quantify as many only
stay only a few weeks at a
time to to earn money before heading back home.
Eduardo Koloma, the
Mozambican deputy foreign minister, said there was no
question of trying to
close the border to Zimbabwe.
"We have a lot of Zimbabweans entering the
country, some settling in the
country while others come in search of jobs,"
Koloma told AFP. "We cannot
close our borders, our people interact so
much."
Mozambique's Manica town is a favourite destination for
Zimbabweans because
of the common language -- Shona -- which both groups
often use in preference
to their official languages of English and
Portuguese.
The two groups also share the same culture.
"Most
people understand the situation of the Zimbabweans and this has
resulted in
people interacting without problems," said Isabel da Melucha
Luis, a 20-year
Mozambican student who lives in Manica.
"They are our brothers, we depend
on each other," said Armando Julio, a
police officer, who refused to call
them Zimbabweans refugees.
Most of the Zimbabweans are illegal immigrants
who have either overstayed
their visas or entered the country without
documentation.
Immigration department estimates an average of 400
Zimbabweans who pass
through the border on a daily basis either to buy food
or look for jobs.
"The numbers have steadily gone up after the March 29
elections...," one
immigration official said, putting the latest figure on
above 500 per day.
Simon Mutasa, a teacher from Mutare, about 20
kilometres (12.5 miles) east
of the border into Mozambique, says he crosses
over every weekend to sell
old newspapers, used by vendors to wrap their
products.
"I do not make a lot of money from selling the old newspapers
but it keeps
me going until the end of the month," said Mutasa as he
balances two bags
laden with old newspapers at Machipanda border
post.
While the Zimbabwean economic crisis has managed to put smiles on
Mozambican
traders in the Manica town, local residents are wary that the
increase in
price of basic food products could lead to a food
crisis.
"Prices of products such as rice and cooking oil have almost
doubled since
the end of March as more Zimbabweans come here seeking to buy
stuffs," said
Pedro Dias, a taxi driver opening in Manica.
In 1983,
at the height of Mozambique's civil war, there was a widespread
food crisis
which swept throughout the country and those who had enough
money resorted
to buying basic food stuffs from South Africa and Zimbabwe.
"But this
time the difference will be that food will be available in the
market and
people cannot afford the price," Dias said.
In addition to those in
Mozambique, it is estimated that about three million
Zimbabweans have left
the economic meltdown in their homeland, most of whom
have crossed into
neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Zambia.
VOA
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
07 May
2008
Some Zimbabweans are reportedly upset with the main opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) for what they say is the opposition’s
failure to
protect their vote in the March 29 elections. According to
presidential vote
results released last week by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC), a
runoff was necessary because no candidate won an
outright majority. Some
political analyst say although the MDC has been seen
as fighting to protect
the vote of its supporters, many see the party’s
fight as lame because it is
unable to seriously challenge the 28 year rule
of incumbent President Robert
Mugabe.
Glen Mpani is a Zimbabwean
political analyst with the University of Cape
Town in South Africa. He tells
reporter Peter Clottey from the capital,
Pretoria that Zimbabweans will
reject outright the Mugabe regime in a
run-off.
“Zimbabweans are
disappointed with what transpired after the general
elections where the
MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential election
and the result of the
parliamentary election. But I think the way the whole
process was handled,
Zimbabweans in general are quite despondent, and they
are quite disappointed
and they are dejected and they have lost confidence
in the whole electoral
process. Despite some evidence of excitement in other
quarters that the
results of the presidential and parliamentary elections
reflects that
despite that the electoral process might be skewed in favor of
ZANU-PF they
can be able to salvage the victory in an environment that is
partisan and
biased towards to ZANU-PF ruling government,” Mpani pointed
out.
He
reckoned that he understands the frustrations some Zimbabweans are
expressing about the opposition MDC.
“After any process, people trade
accusations and they go through a process
of critiquing the process. I think
those comments should be taken as valid
and should be seen as comments that
can aid in any future process that the
MDC would like to be engaged in,” he
said.
Mpani called on partisans of the opposition MDC to support the
opposition in
its fight to protect their vote.
“But we need to go
back and ask ourselves who is the MDC? The MDC is not
Morgan Tsvangirai; the
MDC is not Tendai Bitti. They are the leadership. And
each and everyone who
voted should be pushing their leadership to say this
is what we should be
doing because if the leadership call to say lets do
this and there is very
little response, there is nothing that the leadership
can do without their
followers. So, each and everyone should hold themselves
responsible for not
having done enough to protect their vote,” Mpani noted.
He said the
ruling party would make sure it does everything possible to win
the run-of
election with or without the opposition participation.
“ZANU-PF has put
all indications in the open that they want a predetermined
result to ensure
that they are going to win. That is why they are beating up
supporters they
are beating up election observers and they are beating up
electoral
officials. All these are being done to ensure that they create an
environment where they emerge as the winner. That is why the MDC has been
saying that the environment does not allow for free and fair election,” he
said.
Mpani said there seems to be a ray of hope that Zimbabweans
would massively
vote against the ruling party again.
“I am convinced
that despite all those serious setbacks, despite the fear,
the intimidation,
and the violence that is within the country, Zimbabweans
have reached that
point where if another election is announced they are
going to go again and
express more revulsion of the way they have been
governed and the way they
have been treated because for them an election is
the only avenue that they
can be able to show that they are disappointed
with this regime,” Mpani
said.
Meanwhile, the ruling ZANU-PF party says it is continuing with its
campaign
with the priority to win the run-off.
22:26 GMT, Tuesday, 6 May 2008 23:26 UK
|
Zimbabwe's opposition has charged President Robert Mugabe's government with sponsoring a campaign of violent intimidation against its supporters ahead of a run-off presidential vote. The BBC is banned from Zimbabwe, but our correspondent Orla Guerin has been undercover in rural Zimbabwe and gathered detailed accounts from village elders, members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and victims of violence. Much of what is happening here is hidden from view, but we travelled deep into the rural areas to learn about the mechanics of the campaign.
At a remote homestead in an opposition stronghold, village elders described the command structure in their area. We have decided not to reveal their names or their location. They told us the operation was run by officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party, and so-called war veterans, with the help of a senior army officer. The intimidation began at the top, with local chiefs, who then passed instructions down to village elders. "The chief's headman told us the message from Zanu was go and tell the people to vote for the president," a village elder said. "If you don't, you will see what will happen to you." This man knows only too well what to expect come election time. He says his home was torched and his wife was beaten back in 2002. Hint of desperation At meetings called by the ruling party and its henchmen, explicit threats were made, according to an opposition councillor. "They told us that if President Mugabe lost in the run-off, there would be war," he said. "They said what happened during the war of liberation would happen again. There would be a second round of that."
But mixed with the threats was more than a hint of desperation. "They said 'we are begging you to vote for Zanu, in the name of Jesus'." These accounts are consistent with reports from elsewhere. There is a systematic attempt under way to change the political landscape. The aim is electoral cleansing - to drive opposition supporters from their voting areas, or make them too afraid to vote for the MDC again. The local leaders we met said it would not work in their area because their people would not bow to intimidation. "The people themselves say they will vote for the opposition, no matter what Zanu does, even if it means them dying," said one elder. Harvest of fear But there is another weapon in this campaign - hunger. The leaders showed us their empty grain store, and gave us a tour of their fields of withered corn. They desperately need maize, but say they cannot get it without a party card - another way the opposition is being weakened before a second round. While the MDC supporters in this homestead may be determined to fight on, in others areas there is a new harvest of fear.
Arson attacks, beatings, and killings have driven many opposition supporters into hiding. No one knows how many, but the number could be as high as 1,500. In some cases they have been forced to take refuge in the bush. "We sleep in the maize fields because we know there's trouble ahead and we are very scared," said an MDC organiser. "In the eyes of the ruling party it's a crime to vote for the MDC. They said they had taken control of the area by force in the past, and that was how it would stay." An elderly relative who fled with her said that war veterans had threatened to burn any villages that voted for the MDC for a second time. Human rights activists in Zimbabwe fear the campaign of intimidation is working only too well. The say the ruling party has learnt lessons from the past. This time it is being more subtle. They say it is "choosing easy prey" - beating people who are not in the public eye. |
Jakarta Post
Opinion May 07, 2008
Desmond Tutu and Aryeh Neier,
Johannesburg
Although the Chinese ship that was carrying arms
to Zimbabwe,
the An Yue Jiang, has reportedly turned back, we don't know
where else
President Robert Mugabe's military and paramilitary forces may be
acquiring
weapons.
In light of the escalating violent
repression of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and of
those whose support apparently
helped the MDC to prevail in the presidential
election, the results of which
have still not been announced after four
weeks an international arms embargo
on Zimbabwe is urgently
needed.
In addition, we call on the African Union, with the
support of
the United Nations, to send an investigative mission to Zimbabwe
to
determine what additional measures may be required to carry out the
internationally accepted responsibility to protect.
The
concept of the responsibility to protect was adopted
unanimously by the UN
World Summit in 2005. Yet, it remains controversial
because it is often
assumed that it implies the use of military force for
purposes of
humanitarian intervention. We believe, as was recognized at the
UN World
Summit, that military force should only be a last resort when
needed to
prevent or halt large-scale loss of life. The first step is to
gather
reliable information so that it is possible to know what
international
measures are required to prevent a disaster.
In the case of
Zimbabwe, it is extremely difficult to obtain
such information. Mugabe's
regime has systematically shut down independent
media, attacked independent
civil society organizations, denied visas to
foreign journalists, and has
arrested and beaten journalists who
nevertheless enter the
country.
Foreign observers were present when the voting took
place in
Zimbabwe on March 29, and their presence helped to ensure that the
election
itself was peaceful. The observers have long since left the
country,
however, and the reports that have filtered out suggest that in
some parts
of the country, Mugabes opponents are now experiencing a reign of
terror.
The Constitutive Act of the African Union provides in
Article 4
the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to
a decision
of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war
crimes,
genocide, and crimes against humanity (as well as a serious threat
to
legitimate order).
Here too, however, actual military
intervention should only be a
last resort. In the case of Zimbabwe, for
example, it is possible that
sending in unarmed observers from other African
countries would be
sufficient. Their presence and ability to provide
objective information
might prevent continuation or further escalation of
the violence of the last
few weeks to the point where it would require
military intervention. Unarmed
observers could also help to ensure that
emergency international food
assistance, on which much of Zimbabwe's
population now depends for survival,
is distributed equitably, without
regard to the political leanings of those
requiring it.
Earlier this year, the African Union, through the good work of
former UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan, averted a calamity in Kenya after a
disputed
election led to widespread violence. The danger in Zimbabwe appears
to be
comparable. Once again, the African Union, with the support of the UN,
should provide the leadership that would demonstrate that Africa has the
capacity and the will to resolve a great crisis in a manner that mitigates
the suffering of African people.
Desmond Tutu is a Nobel
Peace Prize winner. Aryeh Neier is
President of the Open Society
Institute.
icwales
May 7 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail
As the fallout from
Zimbabwe’s disputed presidential election continues with
little end in
sight, Prof Paul Moorcraft examines Robert Mugabe – the tyrant
who refuses
to relinquish nearly three decades of power
IT WAS his mincing manner
that surprised me most. When I first interviewed
Robert Mugabe in January
1980, it seemed odd in a tough guerrilla chieftain.
And his articulate
English was slightly contrived; almost perfect BBC. His
intelligence
impressed me the most, however.
For four years I had interviewed many
black and white political leaders in
the dying Rhodesia. Mugabe was head and
shoulders above them all.
Rhodesian propaganda had portrayed this
Catholic-trained Marxist as a
bloodthirsty latter-day Hitler.
Whites
were preparing for the Beit Bridge 500, the dash for the South
African
border, when Mugabe won the election in March 1980. Instead, the
majority
stayed, swayed by Mugabe’s clarion call for reconciliation.
Mugabe was
the popular son of the masses. Only he could bring peace, and
that is why
the majority of Shonas – the name collectively given to several
groups of
people in Zimbabwe – voted for him. Nevertheless, his party still
engaged in
massive electoral intimidation.
Yet, prefiguring by 14 years the almost
saint-like quality of Nelson Mandela’s
magnanimity, the new Zimbabwean
president started well.
He appointed a ministry of all the talents,
including Rhodesian Front
stalwarts. As a former teacher, Mugabe set about
reforming the education
system. Later, he helped to end the civil war in
Mozambique.
Had he anticipated Mandela’s style by remaining in office for
just one term,
Mugabe’s legacy would have been that of a world-famous
statesman. Instead,
in Desmond Tutu’s phrase, he became the caricature of an
African despot. So
what went wrong?
He may be bad, but he has never
been mad. The idea that absolute power over
28 years, plus senility, caused
him eventually to become demented is not
convincing.
Mugabe’s sober
and ruthless determination has always been a mark of his
character. He
outflanked the original Zanu leader, Ndabaningi Sithole, then
imposed his
leadership during the final three years of the liberation war.
Opponents
were crushed.
He has displayed a logical consistency in transforming his
country. The
white settlers seized the land illegally in the 1890s and thus
inspired the
first Chimurenga, or uprising. The second Chimurenga of 1965-79
was based
partly on the historical grievances of the original resistance
movements.
After taking power, Mugabe waged a third Chimurenga against
all his
perceived enemies: first the Ndebele, then trade unionists, and
finally
white farmers and businessmen. Along the way he silenced the
churches,
media, judiciary, social activists and the gay and lesbian
community.
The greatest alleged crime was committed early in his
dictatorship: the
Gukurahundi in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Estimates vary,
but at least
10,000 Ndebeles were killed and many more raped, tortured and
abducted.
It is true that South African intelligence backed a few hundred
dissidents
in the apartheid war of regional destabilisation, but the main
reason for
the devastation wrought by Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade was to
eradicate the power
base of Joshua Nkomo’s rival Zapu party. Eventually,
Nkomo had to sue for
peace, and accept Mugabe’s one-party state. The Zanu
(PF) leader stayed in
power by bribing his cronies.
In many African
states, the military, rather than the ballot box, had been
the main
instrument for leadership change.
This was not possible in Zimbabwe
because of a creeping coup. The generals,
police chiefs and the Central
Intelligence Organisation had been absorbed
into the inner core of the
dictatorship. They would stand and fall with
their boss.
The
president doesn’t like being thwarted. Mugabe faced his first loss of
face
when he was defeated in a referendum on a draft constitution in
2000.
Blaming whites for supporting the opposition, he encouraged his
thugs to
seize white commercial farms, even though many farmers had legal
land
rights.
This accelerated the economic meltdown. A few thousand
white farmers were
ejected, but hundreds of thousands of farm workers were
put out of work.
Agriculture collapsed. Famine meant Mugabe’s henchmen could
control the
countryside by centralising the distribution of food.
The
cities turned to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan
Tsvangirai. Mugabe’s solution? Bulldoze the urban shantytowns. More than
700,000 lost their homes or livelihoods.
Farming had been destroyed.
So had tourism. The final straw was to force
foreign companies, especially
mining, to give 51% control to indigenous
black Zimbabweans, effectively a
last handout to Mugabe’s cronies.
Under Mugabe, life expectancy has been
halved, unemployment reached 80%, and
nearly all whites and more than three
million blacks fled the country.
His last throw was simply to print
money. The inevitable result was
hyperinflation. The Commonwealth turned its
back, largely because of human
rights abuses. And the international
financial organisations deserted him.
Some African leaders stood by him
out of a misplaced sense of solidarity,
including President Thabo Mbeki, who
held the economic levers. Then Jacob
Zuma’s ascendancy spawned a change in
the African National Congress.
Tsvangirai became a much more attractive
option.
The South African role in Mugabe’s long farewell is still a
mystery.
The MDC has said it wants to follow the South African model of
reconciliation, but there may be precious little truth, or justice.
Destroying one’s country with lunatic policies is not a criminal offence,
but crimes against humanity are different.
Liberia’s Charles Taylor
ended up in The Hague, but that is a special case.
In theory, the
International Criminal Court could try Mugabe for crimes
committed after
2002, in this case the destruction of urban settlements in
2005.
The
endgame will be political, not legal. China’s influence in Harare has to
be
finessed, and South Africa might have to provide rock-solid amnesties,
probably in-country, not abroad, for Mugabe and his top military and police
enforcers.
It could be a golden – but brief – hour for possible
reconstruction. The
United Nations and the International Monetary Fund will
promise much, but do
little. All hopes for reconstruction efforts are
predicated on Mugabe’s
exit.
If events again turn violent, perhaps
the Commonwealth, as it did in 1980,
might just provide a core
British-officered monitoring force. It will take
decades to rebuild the
three main pillars of the economy: agriculture,
tourism and
mining.
Mugabe could have saved something of his reputation had he
conceded early
and gone into a dignified retirement.
Instead, he has
created massive uncertainty for a transition, which could
yet become a
second Kenya. Mugabe’s rule destroyed Zimbabwe. The manner of
his departure
might yet disgrace the whole continent.
Prof Moorcraft is the director of
the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis and
a visiting professor at Cardiff
University’s School of Journalism. From
Cardiff, he has reported from 30 war
zones in 20 years. His new book, The
Rhodesian War, is on sale now. This
article first appeared in South African
Business Day.
The
Nation (Nairobi)
5 May 2008
Posted to the web 5 May
2008
Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare
Even if President Mugabe bludgeons
his way into a victory in the runoff he
will find governing during a sixth
term untenable, warns Zimbabwean
opposition legislator and legal expert, Mr
David Coltart.
He spoke as it finally dawned on election weary
Zimbabweans that a second
round of voting was now necessary after the
country's electoral body on
Friday announced the long awaited outcome of the
March 29 presidential
elections.
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) released the results over a month
after the polls were held
giving opposition leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai the
lead, but not the simple
majority needed to avoid a runoff with Mr Mugabe,
the second-place
finisher.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rejected
those results
as fraudulent and on Saturday held off a decision on its
participation in
the second round.
The opposition has threatened that
it will not take part in the runoff
because it believes that it won
outright.
Legal experts say the MDC has no option but to contest the
runoff, which
must be held after 21 days as a decision not to take part
would
automatically hand victory to Mr Mugabe.
Analysts warn the run
off will not be a run in the park for the opposition
as evidenced by the
current wave of political violence in rural areas that
human rights groups
and aid agencies say has killed several people and
forced hundreds to flee
their homes. Rights groups and the MDC say the
violence is mainly aimed at
opposition activists or people who voted for the
opposition and is designed
to intimidate them into voting for Mr Mugabe in a
second round.
But
some analysts say if the 84 year old manages to use violence to win the
runoff he would not be able to rule the country with the iron fist that has
characterised his 28 year-old rule.
Mr Coltart who is also the legal
affairs secretary of the smaller faction of
the MDC believes the end to Mr
Mugabe's tyrannical rule is near regardless
of the outcome of the next round
of voting.
He said the veteran ruler's unbridled power had been already
been shaken by
the ruling Zanu PF's defeat in parliamentary
elections.
The two MDC factions now control parliament with 109 seats
against Zanu PF's
97 in the 210 member assembly - the first time the
opposition has controlled
parliament since independence.
"The
political logjam has been finally broken," Mr Coltart said. "And as is
the
case when a logjam is broken on a swollen river it is going to be
tumultuous
but Mugabe's dictatorship is coming to an end."
The new balance of power
hammered at the watershed polls meant that the
opposition will select a
speaker of parliament from its own ranks and for
the first time it is in a
position to block any legislation that Mr Mugabe
might try to rail road
through the assembly. "He will need us to push
through the national budget
for example," Mr Coltart observed.
"Mr Mugabe will also not be able to
rule by decree because even legislation
introduced through the notorious
Presidential powers must be ratified
through parliament before they come
into force.
"That's a harsh legal reality that Mugabe faces even if he
tries to rig his
way into a sixth term."
But a more unsettling
reality for Zanu PF hardliners who are reportedly
pushing for the second
round because they do not want a compromise with the
MDC is that the
opposition just needs to find 30 ruling party MPs willing to
impeach Mr
Mugabe.
According to Zimbabwe's constitution, a two thirds majority is
needed to
impeach the president and this adds up to 140 MPs. Amid growing
disaffection
in the ruling party ranks, dramatised by former Finance
Minister, Dr Simba
Makoni's decision to run for the presidency in the
elections, finding
dissenting MPs in Zanu PF will not be that difficult for
the MDC.
Mr Coltart added: "We don't know how many Zanu PF MPs support
Makoni or
Tsvangirai so finding the 30 MPs to support the impeachment will
not be a
difficult job to do."
Besides, the political intricacies, Mr
Mugabe would be confronted by an
inclement economic environment.
With
inflation galloping towards 200, 000 per cent and neighbouring South
Africa
and Botswana who have been credited with keeping Zimbabwe's already
battered
economy limping are showing signs they are no longer prepared to
support an
unpopular regime in Harare.
Botswana's new President Seretse Ian Khama
has already banned the export of
fuel in bulk by Zimbabwe's informal traders
who have kept the troubled
country's cars on the roads since fuel stations
ran dry around 2000.
Meanwhile, the MDC is still undecided on whether
Tsvangirai will participate
in the runoff. On Saturday it called on the
nation's neighbours to verify
the vote count from the first round saying
Friday's results were fraudulent.
Brutal campaign
Mr Tsvangirai's
deputy Ms Thokozani Khupe said the party still believed a
runoff was
unnecessary, maintaining the opposition leader won outright on
March
29.
"We still need to be convinced before we participate in a runoff," Ms
Khuphe
said.
International observers have questioned whether a runoff
would be
legitimate, given the violence the opposition has faced. The
opposition's
top leaders, including secretary general Mr Tendai Biti and Mr
Tsvangirai,
have been staying out of Zimbabwe for fear of arrest by security
forces who
have vowed that the opposition will rule the country even if it
wins
elections.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said "the
ruling ZANU-PF party, the
army and so-called war veterans have conducted a
brutal state-sponsored
campaign of violence, torture and intimidation
against (opposition)
activists and supporters."
Not
guaranteed
But Mr Coltart who led research into the 1980s massacres in
southern
Zimbabwe blamed on government forces during the 1980s said despite
the
violence Mr Mugabe was not guaranteed of victory.
"I have
information from credible sources, a group of doctors which says 600
people
have been hospitalised throughout the country because of the ongoing
violence," he said.
"The violence does not guarantee that Mugabe will
win the elections because
we have a scenario where in 1985 the people of
Matabeleland voted
overwhelmingly for the opposition despite the violence
unleashed by the
army." An estimated 20 000 people were killed in
Matabeleland and Midlands,
which were opposition strongholds in the 1980 at
the hands of the North
Korean trained army unit.
Post and Courier, Charleston, US
Wednesday, May
7, 2008
The outcome of Zimbabwe's presidential election in March
continues to be
mired in controversy. The nation's best hope for stability
requires a
closely monitored runoff election, free of violence, in the near
future.
Zimbabwe's close neighbors, and the African Union and the United
Nations
should insist on this, and refuse to recognize the legitimacy of any
other
method of choosing a new government.
Longtime strongman
President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party have
refused to concede
the loss of the March elections. Instead, the president
and his allies in
the security forces and on the national electoral
commission have set up a
series of obstacles to prevent the opposition from
taking power. On Friday,
the electoral commission announced the results of a
recount of the
presidential vote without giving the opposition the
opportunity to review
and sign off on the exercise.
As a result, the opposition has rejected
the announced results giving their
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, 47.9 percent
of the votes to 43.2 percent for
President Mugabe. It contends Mr.
Tsvangirai won outright with more than 50
percent of the vote and should not
be forced into the runoff required under
Zimbabwe's constitution.
The
opposition demands a second recount which it can verify. It cites a
letter
from the official group representing the nations of the region, the
Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC), demanding that the electoral
commission
give both sides an equal opportunity to review and agree to the
recount.
The Associated Press reports that Mugabe is accused of
delaying the official
results — announced five weeks after the election — to
give his party and
the security forces time to intimidate opposition party
workers and
supporters. The opposition continues to demand a second recount,
with the
likely result of more delay in resolving the electoral crisis. A
more
practical course for the opposition would be to prepare for an early
runoff
held under the right conditions.
Regrettably, Zimbabwe's
constitution gives the Electoral Commission, which
is controlled by
President Mugabe, plenty of leeway in setting a date for a
runoff
election.
Some opposition leaders want Mr. Tsvangirai to boycott a runoff
election.
That would be unwise. Under the constitution, the remaining
contestant, Mr.
Mugabe, would win by default.
Instead, the opposition
should appeal to the SADC, the African Union and the
U.N. Security Council
to demand their help in preparing a prompt, safe and
well-monitored runoff,
and to seek assurances that they will deny
recognition to any government not
selected under those conditions.
Mr. Mugabe may try to obstruct these
demands, but he would be writing his
own political obituary.
This day online
05.06.2008
Depositors have resorted to opening multiple bank
accounts to access more
money above the set maximum cash withdrawal limit of
$1 billion.
Early in the month, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe increased the
maximum cash
withdrawal limit to $1 billion from $500 million with the
argument that the
low withdrawal limits would curb illegal dealings in the
economy while at
the same time helping the liquidity position to avoid a run
on the banks.
However, this amount ($1 billion) is too little given the
recent wave of
price increases where lunch in decent eating places ranges
between $300
million-$1 billion and the pending school fees payment.
"I
have had to open different accounts in company names to get more money
from
the bank as the limit is too little given the inflationary pressures,"
said
one account holder. However, multiple cardholders have caused long
delays at
ATM queues.
Banks have said there is nothing they can do as most of the
accounts would
not be in the name of an individual but could be in company
names or family
names.
Barclays head of corporate affairs Mrs Valeta
Mthimkhulu said bank policy
allows customers to hold a number of accounts
under different product types
depending on the purpose for which the
accounts will be used, for example,
current account for day-to-day
transactions and savings accounts for savings
products.
If any account
holder is found to be with two accounts of the same product,
he or she will
be given an option to close one account, said an official at
CBZ.
CFX
managing director Mr Onesimo Mukumba said opening multiple accounts was
legal be it in company or family names as long as they don’t commit fraud
with the accounts.
Banks have Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious
Transaction Monitoring
systems which monitor the use of the accounts to
detect any instances of
abuse.
However, since last year, the RTGS system
has been used for illegal foreign
currency deals, which has been better
paying than street rates.
Financial Times
By David
Stevenson
Published: March 5 2008 19:15 | Last updated: March 5 2008
19:15
One of the more surprising investment statistics of last year was
that the
Zimbab- wean stock market was the best performing in the world: up
12,000
per cent over 12 months. Surprising that is, until you remember that
these
returns reflect hyper-inflation. In real terms, the local market has
been
flat for the past three years – although that, in itself, is a minor
miracle
given the country’s economic disasters.
According to Tony
Hawkins at the University of Zimbabwe, there has been a 51
per cent fall in
agricultural output between 2000 and 2007, a 47 per cent
fall in industrial
output, and a 35 per cent fall in resources output. Over
the same period,
GDP per capita has fallen back by more than 40 per cent. At
the same time,
inflation has risen to near the 100,000 per cent mark. The UN
World Food
Programme estimates that 4.2m Zimbabweans – a third of the
population – will
face serious food shortages in early 2008.
Not surprisingly, the reaction
of most emerging-
markets investors has been to run as far away as possible.
Consequently,
foreign direct investment collapsed from more than $400m in
1998 to $30m in
2006. Even the International Finance Corporation reported
that Zimbabwe is
one of the worst countries in the world to do business in,
partly because of
legislation aimed at imposing at least 51 per cent
‘‘indigenous ownership’’
of businesses.
In these circumstances, it’s
hard not to disagree with Slim Feriani,
managing director of Progressive
Asset Management who runs its frontier
markets fund, when he declared that
“at present Zim represents one of the
most contrarian bets a global investor
can make”. Still it’s one that
Feriani and many others are quietly making,
in small but noticeable ways. He
says: “Our pan-African managers are almost
unanimous that Zim will offer
huge opportunities when things start to turn
around.”
This contrarian view is backed by researchers at Australian bank
Macquarie.
In a recent report on Zimbabwe, they spelled out three scenarios
for the
future. The “best” scenario – at 60 per cent probability – sees a
transfer
of power from president Mugabe to a successor, possibly Simba
Makoni, and
reform within the ruling Zanu PF party. The “boring” scenario –
with 30 per
cent probability – is an indefinite stalemate and no stock
market recovery.
And the “bedlam” scenario – with 10 per cent probability –
involves collapse
of governance, regional contagion and
devastation.
If you agree that the best scenario is likely, you can start
to consider the
unique nature of the Zimbabwean market: it comprises
commercial survivors.
They have shown themselves to have “good business
models, nimble management
and cash-generative businesses with low capex
needs and pricing power”, says
one analyst. What’s more, they are dirt
cheap. Some are now trading at just
10 per cent of replacement
value.
One big investor that buys into this value-investing story is
Lonrho. Last
year, it raised $60m and set up a separate investment and
trading vehicle
called LonZim, headed by Lonrho CEO David
Lenigas.
LonZim’s initial focus will be on property. At launch, Lenigas
noted that
“commercial property is cheap as chips, the infrastructure in
Harare is
fantastic but it’s fire-sale prices”. Tourism will probably become
another
focus. In addition to the potential offered by game parks, LonZim is
investing in Zimbabweans’ favourite holiday destination – Beria in
Mozambique – picking up two hotels with more than 1.5km of prime beach
front. But the big long-term play, says Lenigas, is to build a huge
industrial company, spanning sectors such as printing, transport,
construction and telecoms. He believes that if Zimbabwe can recover “you’re
going to see a very large inflow of capital into the country” – as happened
to Vietnam.
So when might this happen? Even Lenigas admits that
things are set to get
much worse. He says: “Are we at the bottom of the
curve? Absolutely not. But
we’re not scared of getting involved. The best
time to invest is at the
bottom of the curve and we see plenty of good deals
at good prices.” This
may not be so easy. UK investors may be beaten to
market by the Chinese.
Already, Zimasco Consolidated Enterprises, the
holding company for Zimbabwe’s
largest ferrochrome producer, has been
snapped up by Sinosteel.
On balance I think Zimbabwe may be worth a small
long-term bet. LonZim is
the simplest way in, as it’s listed in London. You
might also want to take a
closer look at the resources sector – Zimbabwe has
large gold, diamond, coal
and natural gas deposits. Mwana Africa is also
rated by Lenigas, even though
it has hit political trouble over its
investments in Congo’s mining sector.
Impala Patinum might be worth
researching, because of its Zimplats
subsidiary.
Personally, I think
mobile phones will be the really clever play, as market
penetration is at
only 40 per cent of the adult population, less than half
the level in South
Africa. One company worth watching is Econet Wireless,
which is listed on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. It runs the largest GSM
network in the country,
with a 67 per cent market share. Investors just need
the inflation and the
anarchy to end soon.
adventurous@ft.com
Business Day
07 May 2008
Chantelle
Benjamin
South
African dispossessed of 14 farms sues president, ministers for
ratification
of treaty or R80m in compensation
Chief Reporter
THE South
African government had undertaken to do its best to help a Free
State farmer
whose Zimbabwean farms were appropriated for resettlement
without
compensation.
This came out in the case that involves Free State
farmer Crawford von Abo,
who is taking President Thabo Mbeki, Foreign
Minister Nkosazana DlaminiZuma
and Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi
Mpahlwa to court to force the
government to ratify a treaty that protects
South African investments
abroad, or pay him R80m in
compensation.
Fourteen farms that he had owned since the 1950s were
taken for resettlement
without compensation.
The high court heard
evidence yesterday that the Danish, German and French
governments intervened
to prevent the confiscation of land belonging to
citizens from those
countries, some of them living on farms bordering Von
Abo’s, but to date
there had been no “meaningful response from the South
African government”,
resulting in the loss of Von Abo’s farms.
Von Abo’s lawyer, Peter Hodes,
spent most of yesterday going through six
years of correspondence. This saw
Von Abo being sent from “pillar to post”
by various government departments
and ministries only to be told in the end
that the South African government
could not intervene because the farms,
registered as companies, were
Zimbabwean companies .
The government’s replying affidavit goes on to
say: “It is not wrong for a
sovereign state (Zimbabwe) to nationalise the
property of its own nationals.
Whether or not such nationalisation is with
or without compensation is a
matter for the laws of Zimbabwe.”
This
is despite a letter written in May 2002 by Minister in the Presidency
Essop
Pahad to Von Abo that “the South African government is fully aware of
the
situation and will endeavour to do its utmost to safeguard South
African-owned property, companies and investments”.
Hodes said Von
Abo, a South African citizen, was a sole director and member
of the
companies and sole beneficiary of the trust, and all were managed,
financed
and controlled from SA.
“The state under international law is required to
take up the protection of
its nationals who have direct rights of control
and management or
shareholding in a company incorporated in a foreign state,
which has been
the victim of a violation of international law,” Hodes
said.
He argued that confiscation of land without compensation was a
violation of
international law.
Judge Bill Prinsloo said : “The
question to be decided here is whether the
South African government’s
handling of the matter was rational and correct
at the time.”
The
South African courts had recognised that states “are better judges of
whether to intervene and if so, the timing and manner of such an
intervention”.
There is some debate in law as to whether a court
has the right to compel
the South African government to become a party to
the International
Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes, which
would enable Von
Abo to take action against Zimbabwe, which is a
signatory.
The case continues.