Zim Online
Tue 1
November 2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party on Monday appeared more than certain to
break-up after its top
six leaders failed to resolve sharp differences over
whether to contest a
senate election at the month-end.
Last
ditch talks between MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and five other
top leaders
of the party opposed to his decision to boycott the senate poll
ended in
deadlock with none of the two wrangling sides moving an inch on
their
positions.
Bango said after today's flopped talks a meeting of the
national
council - the MDC's highest decision-making body in between
congresses -
will be held on Saturday to, among other things review the
state of the
party ahead of its first congress since
1999.
In a statement after the meeting,
Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango
told journalists that his boss remained
unshaken on his position that the
MDC should boycott the November 26
poll.
Attempting to give the impression of a party at peace with
itself,
Bango said Saturday's meeting will also plot the way forward on how
to push
President Robert Mugabe's government to agree to a new and
democratic
constitution.
He said: "The president's position on
the senate election remains
unchanged. He maintains that the MDC should stay
out of the polls.
"The president shall give the council an overview
campaign for a new
constitution which the party has adopted in concert with
the MDC's civic
society partners."
MDC secretary general
Welshman Ncube, leading the other leaders
opposed to Tsvangirai's poll
boycott plan would not even speak about Monday's
flopped meeting. He
referred all questions to his deputy Gift Chimanikire.
And in an
illustration of how things are rapidly falling apart in the
opposition party
that had given Zimbabweans the only realistic hope for
change, Chimanikire
was quick to dismiss the Saturday meeting announced by
Bango as a non-event
that would serve no useful purpose.
Chimanikire insisted the MDC
stood by the decision of its national
council which narrowly voted two weeks
ago to contest the senate poll.
The national council voted 33:31 to
take part in the poll but
Tsvangirai overruled the ballot arguing that it
was pointless to contest an
election that is sure to be rigged by Mugabe and
his ruling ZANU PF party.
Chimanikire also accused Tsvangirai of
overthrowing the party's
constitution by rejecting the national council
ballot and of seeking to run
the MDC with the help of a "kitchen cabinet" of
unelected officials.
The deputy secretary general also accused
Tsvangirai of allowing
officials close to him to unleash violence against
MDC members who have
chosen to stand in the election in open defiance of
their party leader.
Commenting on Monday's proceedings, Chimanikire
said: "We agreed to
disagree ... the national council took a decision and
that decision still
stands, it has not been reversed.
"It is up
to individuals whether to attend the (national council)
meeting on Saturday
but personally I don't see a reason for such a meeting
when other people are
flouting the founding principles of the party."
Tsvangirai has
vehemently opposed the senate poll saying that besides
the fact that it will
be rigged, the proposed new senate itself was a waste
of resources for a
country that should be putting its energies into fighting
hunger threatening
a third of its 12 million people.
But Ncube and his faction say the
MDC should contest the polls because
it would not be wise for the MDC to
surrender political space to Mugabe and
ZANU PF by boycotting the poll. The
Ncube group also argues that the
constitutional position of the party was
that it should contest in line with
the vote of its national
council.
The dispute between the two factions of the MDC has also
assumed an
ethnic dimension with support for Tsvangirai's position strong
among regions
dominated by the Shona ethnic group to which he belongs while
Ncube, an
Ndebele, is solidly backed in south-western regions populated by
his Ndebele
tribe.
But last Thursday, the bickering MDC leaders
had appeared to realise
the sense in uniting their ranks when they met for
the first time after
weeks of trading damaging accusations in the
press.
Tsvangirai and his deputy Gibson Sibanda, issued a terse
statement
after that meeting recommitting themselves to dialogue and to
focusing
pressure on Mugabe and his government. They had also indicated that
the
Monday meeting would come up with one position to be presented to the
national council. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 1 November
2005
HARARE - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
yesterday
suspended a legislator of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party,
Job Sikhala, for claiming that the party illegally received financial
donations from outside the country.
Tsvangirai's spokesman
William Bango said Sikhala had been suspended
from the MDC as well as being
the party's Member of Parliament (MP) for St
Mary's constituency in the city
of Chitungwiza south-east of Harare.
"He was suspended by the
president (Tsvangirai) for bringing the party
into disrepute because of his
statements," said Bango, adding that the final
punishment of the radical and
outspoken Sikhala would be determined by the
party's national council when
it meets next Saturday.
Sikhala, a founding member of the MDC who
has clashed with senior
leaders before, shocked the diplomatic community
when he told a press
conference at his home that infighting threatening to
rip apart the MDC was
because of senior leaders disagreeing over control of
funds donated by Ghana
and Nigeria.
The MP, who a day later
backtracked from his claim saying it was based
on rumour, said the African
countries had each donated US$250 000 to the
MDC. The opposition party,
barred from taking foreign funds under Zimbabwe's
Political Parties Finance
Act, had also in the past received US$2.5 million
from Taiwan, Sikhala
said.
The three countries had to issue official statements denying
Sikhala's
claims widely publicised by Zimbabwe government
media.
For a while the bickering MDC leaders forgot their
differences to all
unite in rejecting the claims by the MP that they
received foreign funds.
But Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa has said despite
denials by MDC leaders as well as by Abuja, Accra
and Taipei, the government
was going to ask Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri to open
investigations into the claims.
Since its
formation six years ago, the MDC has expelled only one of
its legislators
Munyaradzi Gwisai, who was dismissed for constantly
differing with the
party's positions on major policies especially land
reform.
But
it remains to be seen whether Tsvangirai will have the backing of
other
senior leaders in acting against Sikhala given the sharp differences
in the
party over contesting a senate election on November 26.
The split
over the election has left the MDC on the verge of breaking
up after
Tsvangirai ordered the party to boycott the senate poll but met
stiff
resistance from his secretary general Welshman Ncube and four other
most
senior leaders of the party. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 1 November 2005
HARARE - The Combined Harare
Residents Association has accused a
ruling ZANU PF legislator in the city of
confiscating humanitarian aid meant
for 19 families that were displaced
during a controversial government
clean-up exercise five months
ago.
In a statement to the press on Monday, the association accused
Harare
South Member of Parliament Hubert Nyanhongo of confiscating the aid
which he
went on to distribute to his party's supporters in Sunningdale
suburb.
The association said Nyanhongo last week confiscated
packets of
maize-meal, peanut butter and blankets that were meant for 19
families that
are staying in the open in the suburb.
"The food
and blankets were forcibly taken by the area MP (Member of
Parliament)
Hubert Nyanhongo. He distributed them to ZANU PF supporters at
the
Sunningdale Community Hall. He told us that we could not do anything
within
his constituency because enemies of the state had sourced the food,"
the
group said.
The association said the families were in desperate
need of assistance
before the rainy season which is expected to kick off in
earnest later this
month.
"When some rain fell a few days ago,
these victims slept in various
toilets after their plastic shelters were
overwhelmed by the pouring rains.
They have nowhere to go," the association
said.
Nyanhongo could not be reached for comment on the matter last
night.
At least 700 000 people were rendered homeless five months
ago after
the government demolished thousands of houses and backyard shacks
in a
campaign President Robert Mugabe said was necessary to restore the
beauty of
cities and towns.
Another 2.4 million were also
directly affected by the exercise,
according to a hard-hitting report
compiled by the United Nations special
envoy Anna Tibaijuka.
The United States, Britain and other major Western powers all
criticised the
clean-up campaign while Mugabe accused critics of the
campaign of
romanticising squalor.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader whose
government is grappling its worst
economic crisis since independence 25
years ago, promised to build thousands
of "decent" houses for the displaced
residents. Very few houses have been
built so far. -
ZimOnline
Scoop, NZ
Tuesday, 1 November 2005, 3:57 pm
Press Release:
United Nations
Annan Appeals to Zimbabwe to Let UN Help Homeless After
Government Rejects Aid
New York, Oct 31 2005
7:00PM
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to the Government in
Zimbabwe to
allow the United Nations to provide humanitarian assistance to
the country
after the authorities rejected the world body's aid amid reports
that tens
of thousands of people there are still homeless and in need of
help.
"The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned by the humanitarian
situation in Zimbabwe," his spokesman
<"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm10195.doc.htm">said,
citing
reports of continued suffering months after the eviction campaign
that began
in May 2005.
Mr. Annan reacted with dismay to a decision
by the Government to reject
offers of UN assistance. In an official
communication, the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and Urban
Development stated "that there is no
longer a compelling need to provide
temporary shelter as there is no
humanitarian crisis" and claimed that
Government interventions have
addressed the most urgent shelter needs,
according to the spokesman.
The Government's position stands in stark
contradiction to the findings
contained in a report by the
Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Human
Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe,
Anna Tibaijuka, as well as most recent
reports from the UN and the
humanitarian community. "A large number of
vulnerable groups, including the
recent evictees as well as other vulnerable
populations, remain in need of
immediate humanitarian assistance, including
shelter," spokesman Stephane
Dujarric stressed. He added that there is "no
clear evidence" that
subsequent Government efforts have significantly
benefited these
people.
The Government's decision to decline assistance comes despite
extensive
consultations on relief efforts between the UN and the
authorities.
With the impending rainy season threatening to worsen the
living conditions
of the affected population, the Secretary-General made a
strong appeal to
the Government of Zimbabwe to "ensure that those who are
out in the open,
without shelter and without means of sustaining their
livelihoods, are
provided with humanitarian assistance in collaboration with
the United
Nations and the humanitarian community in order to avert a
further
deterioration of the humanitarian situation," his spokesman
said.
ENDS
IOL
Basildon
Peta
October 31 2005 at 10:54PM
All is not well in the
Zimbabwean army, with a growing number of
disillusioned soldiers now
breaking the law to make a living, and
threatening the stability of the
country.
While it is too early to say whether the growing
disillusionment in
the army and other security agencies would spur a mutiny
or coup against
President Robert Mugabe, insiders in Zimbabwe's state
security forces say
the situation is "wholly unsustainable" for the Mugabe
government.
Many soldiers have been sent home in recent weeks
because the
government has no money to feed them in their barracks. Many
have gone for
long periods without uniforms and training
equipment.
The salaries of junior soldiers and
police of around Z$4-million (less
than R100) a month are hardly worth
anything in a country with inflation of
around 360 percent and daily price
increases for basic commodities.
Virtually all the state security
agencies are paralysed by crippling
fuel shortages.
Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri complained before a
parliamentary committee
recently that police officers were so poorly paid
that they had to survive
on bribes of Z$50 000 "to buy cabbages for their
families".
He
also complained that police were paralysed by the lack of fuel and
were no
longer able to keep their fleet of vehicles on the road to fight
crime.
Similar concerns of poor salaries and appalling
standards in army
barracks and police stations are worrying the commanders
of the army and the
air force.
A middle-ranking army officer
interviewed by the Independent Foreign
Service said members of state
security agencies were so poorly paid that
they were deserting the service
in increasing numbers.
The official said the increasing number of
soldiers and police
resorting to violence to make a living was not a good
sign for the
government.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police at the
weekend announced the dismissal of
24 officers, including two senior
officers, from the force over their
involvement in corruption and
unspecified criminal activities.
Elements in the Zimbabwean police
are known to connive with criminal
gangs. Some gangs operating in South
Africa are getting easy refuge in
Zimbabwe, from where they launch
operations.
Stephen Mbengeni and Sibangilizwe Moyo, soldiers from
an infantry
battalion in the southern city of Masvingo, have appeared in
court for going
on a robbery spree using their official
weapons.
Police Commissioner Chihuri expressed his concerns at the
plight of
the police force before the parliamentary committee, but efforts
to obtain
comment from army commanders failed.
This article
was originally published on page 6 of The Star on
November 01, 2005
By Safari Njema
HARARE
31 October
2005
Last month an opinion piece published in the
state-controlled Herald
newspaper argued that the U.S. Ambassador to
Zimbabwe is "a man on a failed
mission." The paper justified this conclusion
by citing the definition of
ambassador as one whose job is to improve
relations between his own nation
and his host country.
Rhetoric
aside, the relationship between Harare and Washington might indeed
be said
to have hit a new low on October 14 when Zimbabwean military
authorities
detained Ambassador Christopher Dell briefly after he entered a
restricted
area not far from the presidential place while on a stroll in
Harare's
Botanical Garden. Foreign Ministry officials apologized, other
Zimbabwe
government officials scolded Mr. Dell, and the U.S. Embassy
accepted the
initial apology and declared the incident closed.
In this interview with
correspondent Safari Njema of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe, Mr. Dell
acknowledges that relations between the two countries are
less than
cordial.
AMBASSADOR DELL: I don't think it's a secret to anyone that the
relationship
is quite strained and that is very much to be regretted. I get
asked by
government officials all the time, why have you changed? Why is the
relationship that used to be good not good anymore? My answer to that is
very simple: it's because you have lost your way. Whereas Zimbabwe at
independence embarked on a course of democracy, respect for human rights,
respect for property and other rules of market economy. Since that time we
have seen a worsening of human rights abuse, lack of respect for private
property, lack of respect for citizens of this country and government
policies which seem almost designed to maker the wrong economic choices. And
therefore my answer is our relationship has indeed become more difficult
over time because of the policies of the government of this
country.
STUDIO 7: Mr. Mugabe blames the country's economic collapse on
the sanctions
and economic boycotts imposed by Western governments. While
that's
disputable, some Zimbabweans feel the sanctions may not be working
that
well. Others argue that the sanctions imposed by the West, and the US,
are
actually punishing ordinary Zimbabweans more than senior officials.
What's
your response to this?
AMBASSADOR DELL: I think that view is
nonsense - the country's problems are
primarily due to the limited targeted
sanctions that the United States has
imposed and other countries as well.
The truth is, it is the economic
mismanagement of the Zimbabwean economy
that has led to the current
paralysis of the state of affairs. The sanctions
do not have a broad impact,
they are designed to affect only the individuals
cited in the various
proclamations by the US President. The argument that
they are responsible
for the general decline of the economy willl only be
true if the 86
individuals named in the economic sanctions in fact control
the entire
economy of the country. Since those individuals are members of
government
and politburo and central committee of the ruling party, to make
that
argument is to say that politicians control the entire economy of this
country. We in fact know that it is the misguided economic policies of the
current government of Zimbabwe which are responsible for the economic
decline, policies which in essence have made everything possible to
discourage foreign investment by utterly disregarding respect for the rule
of law, respect for private property and enforceability of legal contracts.
Alll of which are things that a foreign investor would look to in the first
instance about deciding whether or not to invest her money in a place. And
When the policies of the government seem calculated to undercut the
confidence of potential investors in the future that is what is having a
severe effect on this economy. I believe however that the sanctions are
having effect intended in making those responsible for the sufering of the
people of this country feel the pain themselves. Every time the government
complains about the sanctions, that to me is an indication that the
sanctions are having the intended effect.
STUDIO 7: Zimbabwe faces a
number of serious problems, including decreasing
exports and recurring
shortages of basic commodities including fuel and
food. Harare has said that
it will welcome food assistance from any quarter,
providing such aid has -
in Mr Mugabe's words - "no strings attached". What
is the US government's
position regarding food aid, given Harare's
prerequisite?
AMBASSADOR
DELL: The United States remains committed to respecting
international
humanitarian standards and fulfilling our responsibilities to
help those in
need to the extent that we can. I have personally spoken to
President Bush
about questions of humanitarian assistance in the past and I
know that he is
firmly committed to the principle that we will not play
politics with
humanitarian assistance, in particular, with food aid. That is
a key
governing principle of our approach. Sadly it is not an approach of
this
government in Zimbabwe which continues to make food available based on
political affiliation. We have in the past five years provided more than
three hundred million dollars in food assistance, with the largest food
donor to Zimbabwe. During the current year we have more than 50 million
dollars available and as I speak food assistance is arriving in Zimbabwe
through the WFP, World Food Programme to which the United States is the
largest donor.
The Australian
From correspondents in
Harare
November 01, 2005
A LAWYER for Phil Simmons appeared in the high
court overnight to outline
the former Test player's contract dispute with
the Zimbabwean cricket board.
The former West Indies all rounder, hired
as the national coach here, was
served a deportation order a week ago by the
country's Immigration
Department and told to be out of the country by the
end of the day.
He has been in job limbo since being told during a Test
match against India
at Bulawayo 13 months ago that his services were no
longer required. He was
replaced by locally born Kevin
Curren.
Zimbabwe Cricket contests that Simmons' contract has been
terminated, he has
no valid work permit and this means he has to leave the
country.
But Simmons maintains that his contract has not been properly
terminated and
there has been no letter to him. He is challenging the
cricket board to
prove otherwise and he intends to seek
compensation.
Judge Benjamin Hlatshwayo ruled
that a full hearing will start on Friday.
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 11/01/2005 13:16:13
ONE of Zimbabwe's finest
judges, Justice Sandra Mungwira, has died in exile
in Scotland, relatives
said.
The former High Court judge was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer
at the
time of her death last Saturday.
She will be buried in
Scotland on Friday, November 4.
A family spokesman told New Zimbabwe.com:
"Justice Mungwira stood for the
judiciary, not politics. She will be greatly
missed."
Mungwira left Zimbabwe two years ago, becoming the 11th judge to
do so,
following a government purge on judges who refused to tow the
line.
Last night, MDC legislator and women's rights activist Priscilla
Misihairabwi spoke glowingly of Mungwira's legal career, describing her as
"the bravest woman I ever met."
"As the cancer took its toll on her,
the more determined she got to defy
threats and intimidation by government
agents," Misihairabwi said.
"She used to tell me that there was nothing
Zanu PF could do worse than the
cancer. She felt liberated when all other
judges were cowing to the regime's
crude tactics. Her judgments in her last
days on the bench bear testimony to
that. She certainly was the bravest
woman I ever met."
The case that parachuted Mungwira to prominence in
Zimbabwe was the trial of
six supporters of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement
for Democratic Change and
an MP, who were accused of killing war veterans
leader, Cain Nkala.
Before the defence could present its case, Justice
Mungwira shot the
prosecution case down and discharged all the suspects
after finding that
police had used torture to gain confessions from the
suspects.
In a barbed judgment which shook the legal fraternity, Mungwira
said all 14
police officers involved in the investigation "spewed forth
untruths"
throughout the trial, their records were "an appalling piece of
fiction" and
they had conducted themselves "in a shameless fashion" by
torturing the
suspects.
Soon after the judgment, her clerk was
hounded by Central Intelligence
Organisation agents who went to his office
and demanded copies of her
judgment. When he said he could't get them, they
told him to snoop into her
computer.
Justice Mungwira's legal star
also rose when she found for human rights
campaigner, Judith Todd, after she
had been illegally stripped of her
citizenship by the registrar-general,
Tobaiwa Mudede.
Justice Mungwira accused Mudede of usurping the role of
parliament.
In 2003, Justice Mungwira added her signature to those of
nine other High
Court judges in a protest letter to President Robert Mugabe
following the
arrest of their colleague, Justice Benjamin
Paradza.
The judges said in a joint statement Justice Paradza was
supposed to be
investigated by a tribunal set up by President Mugabe before
any arrest
could be made.
"Acceptance of the principle that any
police officer who may, if he believes
that a judge has committed an
offence, whether or not his belief is
reasonable, proceed to the judge's
chambers and arrest him would undermine
completely the independence of the
judiciary," said the 10 judges who signed
the statement.
The Telegraph
By
Mike Pflanz in Zanzibar
(Filed: 01/11/2005)
An African country held up
as a beacon of hope for the continent was racked
by violence yesterday as
troops clashed with opposition supporters.
Pink pepper gas was sprayed at
protesters from lorries on Tanzania's
Zanzibar archipelago and special
forces from the mainland fired rubber
bullets and tear gas into
crowds.
Demonstrators were beaten by soldiers and dragged into police
Land Rovers as
rumours grew that the ruling party had again cheated its way
to victory at
the polls.
Such election headlines were the last thing
that Tony Blair wanted to hear
from a nation headed by a man he chose to sit
on his Commission for Africa.
President Benjamin Mkapa's Tanzania is one
of the West's model African
pupils, praised for its free primary education,
campaign against corruption
and obeying the International Monetary
Fund.
Mr Mkapa has announced his intention to leave office after two
terms in
power, in his case next month. The former socialist has been
rewarded -
Tanzania will receive more than £675 million in aid this year, of
which the
largest chunk, £100 million, is from Britain.
But Mr Mkapa
was silent yesterday as international observers on Zanzibar
complained of
vote-rigging, allegedly orchestrated by his Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM) party
and the army.
Zanzibar is semi-autonomous from the rest of Tanzania and
has its own
president - so far always from the same CCM party as the
national leader -
military and civil service.
Islanders, 99 per cent
of them Muslim, like to feel independent from the
mainland. Yet in the last
two supposedly democratic elections, in 1995 and
2000, pre-vote support for
the local opposition Civic United Front failed to
materialise into
seats.
Analysts blame mainland support for electoral fraud planned by the
CCM's
island wing, headed by Mr Mkapa's right-hand man, the Zanzibari
president
Amani Karume.
Perhaps Mr Mkapa, 66, and his aides have been
taking lessons from one of his
heroes, President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe.
"For us in Tanzania, Zimbabwe is more than a friend. We are
brothers in the
struggle for justice and freedom, for human rights and
democracy," Mr Mkapa
said at a dinner in Harare last week.
"A new
leadership is emerging in Africa that cannot accept tutelary
relationships
with our erstwhile colonisers, a new leadership which would
rather listen to
its elders, such as Comrade Mugabe."
The spectacle of one of Mr Blair's
allies flattering one of Africa's worst
tyrants highlights the perils of
changing the continent and countries.
"It shows what manner of company
Blair keeps in Africa," said Ahmed Rajab,
the editor of London-based Africa
Analysis magazine.
A senior western diplomat said: "It is not in Mkapa's
interests to let the
opposition win in Zanzibar. It would split his party
and could allow the
opposition to get a foot in the door on the
mainland."
Mr Mkapa's cronies dispute claims that he is responsible for
the fraud
reportedly carried out during Sunday's poll, which the opposition
says
included the expunging of 80,000 pro-CUF voters from the electoral
roll.
"It should have been a purely Zanzibari affair, yes, but it was the
mainland
government which cleared 7,000 heavily armed police to come here to
supposedly help out," said a CUF spokesman.
"They are under the
command of Mkapa. If he wanted fair elections he could
have ensured they
happened. He has chosen not to do that."
News24
01/11/2005 08:14 -
(SA)
New York - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday
criticised
Zimbabwe for rejecting UN assistance while "tens of thousands" of
people
remain homeless despite Harare's denials of hardship.
Annan
said in a statement that he was "particularly dismayed" because months
ago,
the Zimbabwean government had already stated that there was no further
need
for temporary shelters for squatters and that "there is no humanitarian
crisis" in the country.
Zimbabwe began expelling more than 100 000
squatters in April from slums
near the capital and bulldozing their homes in
what the government called a
sanitation campaign.
Annan said that
Zimbabwe had rejected UN offers for assistance, and the
minister of local
government, public works and urban development had assured
him of no further
need to help the squatters.
"A large number of vulnerable groups
including evictees as well as other
vulnerable populations remain in need of
immediate humanitarian assistance,
including shelter," Annan
said.
"Furthermore, there is no clear evidence that subsequent government
efforts
have significantly benefited these groups."
A UN
investigation in the summer said that tens of thousands of Aids
patients
among the squatters have lost health services. The evictees
included also
thousands of children. - Sapa-dpa