http://news.yahoo.com/
AFP
– Thu Nov 18, 3:44 pm
ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Roy Bennett, a Zimbabwean politician who has come
under
repeated attack from President Robert Mugabe, said Thursday the
long-time
leader's rule is coming to an end.
Bennett, whose stalled
appointment as deputy agriculture minister has
threatened to grind the
country's power-sharing government to a halt, told
an audience in
Johannesburg that he is confident Zimbabwe's next elections
will be peaceful
and remove the 86-year-old Mugabe's ZANU-PF from power.
"For ZANU-PF to
use violence in the next election is going to be nigh
impossible," Bennett
said.
"I disagree (that) they can steal the next election," he said. "It
is us
that control the process. We the people of Zimbabwe. And no one is
going to
force their will on us."
Zimbabweans "have chosen the
peaceful way in seeing out a dictatorship", he
said.
Bennett, a top
aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has been one of the
major
stumbling blocks for Tsvangirai's uneasy partnership with Mugabe in a
compromise government formed after violent and inconclusive elections in
2008.
The power-sharing deal was meant to steer the country toward a
new
constitution and fresh elections, but the constitution-making process
has
been marred by renewed violence and a date for elections has not been
set.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's ruler since independence in 1980, has refused to
allow
Bennett, a 53-year-old white farmer, to take up his appointment as
Tsvangirai's pick for deputy agriculture minister in the unity
government.
Bennett was arrested just an hour before Mugabe swore in the
compromise
cabinet in February 2009. He was charged with terrorism for
allegedly
plotting to overthrow Mugabe.
Bennett was acquitted in May,
but prosecutors are appealing the decision.
Speaking at Johannesburg's
University of the Witwatersrand in a public
conversation with Peter Godwin,
the author of a new book critical of Mugabe,
Bennett said the Zimbabwean
president fears him because he is a white man
who appeals to black
voters.
Bennett, a fluent speaker of the majority Shona language, is
popular with
his constituents, who have nicknamed him "Pachedu", meaning "We
are one".
"Everything that I stand for Robert Mugabe abhors," Bennett
said Thursday.
"I have a very strong constituency. I'm a farmer. I happen
to be white. I
happen to be a third-generation Zimbabwean. It flaunts all
the conceptions
that he's been trying to put out that someone like me would
have a
constituency and a following from the Zimbabwean people
spontaneously."
Bennett said he has been in exile in South Africa since
he learned in
September that police were looking to re-arrest him, the
second time in four
years he has fled across the border to avoid
arrest.
"I don't feel I'd serve...the interest of my constituency sitting
in prison
in Zimbabwe," he said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
19
November 2010
The three principals to the Global Political Agreement are
in Gaborone,
Botswana for the SADC Troika meeting on Zimbabwe. The meeting
began Friday
afternoon and is expected to finish late in the
evening.
The Troika, chaired by Zambian President Rupiah Banda, will
examine the
latest crisis in Harare over the unilateral senior appointments
by Robert
Mugabe. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is seeking guarantees
from the
meeting that SADC will establish a roadmap to ensure free and fair
elections
in the country, set for 2011.
The meeting at Gaborone’s
Grand Palm hotel is expected to be a highly
charged Indaba as it comes at a
time when Tsvangirai has lost his patience
and recently labelled Mugabe ‘a
crook.’
Mugabe unilaterally appointed governors, judges and ambassadors
without
consulting the MDC leader and has also refused to implement
outstanding
issues in the GPA, a situation that has culminated in the two
protagonists
not seeing eye to eye in the past month.
After Friday’s
Troika meeting President Banda is expected to brief other
leaders on the
outcome and recommendations on Zimbabwe, when he presents his
first report
an extra-ordinary summit on Saturday.
A senior figure in the MDC-T told
us Thursday that Tsvangirai is to insist
on a clear roadmap for a free and
fair election, with concrete measures to
eliminate intimidation and
violence, if a poll is to go ahead next year.
He is also expected to
insist on the full implementation of the already
agreed matters in the
Global Political Agreement. Some SADC leaders are
pushing for the immediate
deployment of a SADC team to oversee the reform
and electoral process. But
some observers remain concerned that other
leaders in SADC are firmly on
Mugabe's side and are not impartial enough to
help run free elections in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Friday 19 November
2010
HARARE – The Kimberley Process (KP) has placed its members
on high alert
amid allegations that Zimbabwe has exported a US$160-million
parcel of
diamonds from Marange to India in violation of an embargo on trade
in gems
from the controversial fields.
KP chairperson Boaz Hirsch
said KP participants must exercise vigilance and
immediately report to the
body’s Working Group on Monitoring (WGM) any
shipments suspected to contain
diamonds illegally exported from the Marange
fields.
He said no trade
in Marange diamonds can currently take place until Zimbabwe
meets the
conditions of a Joint Work Plan (JWP) agreed by both parties at a
plenary
meeting held in Namibia last November.
Under the JWP Zimbabwe committed
to a phased withdrawal of the armed forces
from the diamond fields and for a
monitor to examine and certify that all
shipments of diamonds from Marange
met KP standards.
“Participants are therefore reminded of the need for
vigilance and ask
participant to notify the WGM chair in the event of
receipt of an irregular
shipment of Marange diamonds, until new arrangements
are agreed that will
allow continued implementation of the Joint Work Plan,
including the
supervised export mechanism,” Hirsch said in a notice to KP
members.
KP monitor Abbey Chikane allegedly cleared a batch of Chiadzwa
stones for
export two weeks ago without seeking the watchdog’s
approval.
Diamonds worth some US$160 million were sold and may have been
already
exported to India.
The action by the South African monitor
came despite the failure by KP
participants to agree on trade in Marange
stone during a meeting in
Jerusalem earlier this month.
Zimbabwe was
granted more time to fall in line with the minimum
international standards
of diamond trade. But there are still ongoing
reports of brutal military
control of the diamond fields and smuggling.
At a special meeting in
Russia in July, KP members agreed to permit Zimbabwe
to export two shipments
of diamonds under supervision of the body's
monitors, on condition that the
body would investigate conditions in the
Marange fields.
The
agreement also tied all future exports of diamonds to clear and
measurable
progress in ending smuggling and abuses, and allowed for local
civil society
groups to participate in monitoring progress in the fields.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
19 November 2010
A Bulawayo magistrate denied Standard
journalist Nqobani Ndlovu bail on
Friday, because she is ‘afraid of getting
into trouble’ if she released him
without properly checking the
facts.
Ndlovu was brought to court to face charges of criminal
defamation, after he
alleged that exams in the police were being scrapped to
facilitate the
absorption of war vets and retired officers back into the
force ahead of
next year’s elections. The scribe was arrested by the police
in Bulawayo on
Wednesday.
Magistrate Sibongile Msipa who presided
over case, ruled that she needed
‘more time’ to go through submissions from
the defence and prosecution teams
before making a decision on the bail
application. She remanded Ndlovu in
custody to Monday 22nd
November.
Our Bulawayo correspondent Lionel Saungweme told us the
magistrate shocked
the court when admitting she was not comfortable in
granting Ndlovu his
freedom, because of the ‘sensitivity’ of the
case.
Saungweme said; ‘She kept repeating the same words—I’m afraid I
will get
into trouble—when Ndlovu’s lawyer pressed her to release his
client. We can
only guess she takes instructions from her bosses otherwise
judges and
magistrates should be independent people.’
The state
opposed bail after making submissions that Ndlovu might abscond as
he was
facing a very serious charge which attracted a prison term of 20
years.
However Josephat Tshuma, Ndlovu’s lawyer, rubbished the state
assertion that
his client faced a prison term of 20 years. He told the
magistrate a
criminal defamation conviction carries a penalty of up to two
years’
imprisonment, or an option of a fine. Tshuma argued that any penalty
that
attracted an option of a fine could not be considered too
serious.
http://www.radiovop.com/
19/11/2010
15:11:00
HARARE - A Zimbabwean artist with interests in promoting
human rights,
democracy and good governance will next Wednesday hold a one
man
demonstration at the Parliament of Zimbabwe to demand that all public
office
holders declare their assets as a way of abating
corruption.
Silvanos Mudzvova an award winning and internationally
acclaimed theatre
actor and director and producer with Vhitori
Entertainment, told Radio VOP:
“I am motivated by the desire to ensure
that public office holders are
accountable to their constituency. Just look
at the Chombo case he has
stands in high density areas where the poor live
and what that tells us is
that he is taking from the poor and the poor have
to speak against this,”
said Mudzvova who will be following in the footsteps
of James Maridadi who a
few years ago marched to parliament when he was
still a radio presenter at
ZBC.
“We have been quite for too long and as
long as we are quite these things
will continue,” he said.
Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo is believed to own several housing
properties and cars listed in a report published by the Herald Newspaper
quoting High Court papers filed by his estranged wife Mariam with whom he is
engaged in a messy divorce affair. Chombo, has however, through his lawyers
disputed the published list of the properties.
Mudzvova said his
demonstration will last for three hours and the police had
granted him the
permission to stage the march.
He said the demonstration is aimed at
Members of Parliament, the Attorney
General, Reserve of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
Governor, civil servants, mayors and
councillors across the country whom he
said should declare their assets
before taking office.
“It is my hope
that after the demonstration Parliament will craft a law that
makes it
mandatory for every public office holder to declare assets and fear
to abuse
office by enriching themselves as is the case with Chombo. The
public office
abuse has been going on since independence and in the end of
every office
abuse we end up with a commission that doesn’t bring out any
result hence
the need to call for a law that makes it criminal to abuse
public office,”
said Mudzvova in a posting on his Face book page.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
19 November, 2010
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General, Johannes
Tomana, is reported to have dismissed
a letter sent by human rights lawyers
calling for the prosecution of
political violence perpetrators. Representing
the survivors of attacks that
occurred in Muzarabani during the 2008
elections, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) told SW Radio Africa
that they had written to the
Attorney General, the police in Muzarabani and
the Ministry of Home Affairs,
demanding that the cases be
investigated.
Lawyer Rangu Nyamurundira said they had not received a
response from any of
them. But the Zimonline news site reported on Thursday
that the Attorney
General had dismissed the letter as ‘political and
trivial’. The report
quoted Tomana as saying ‘he will not even bother
looking at the dossier
because it was not compiled by the
police’.
“If these so-called human rights defenders have genuine cases
why do they
not work with the police and the cases are investigated. I can
only work on
a docket brought to my office by police,” said
Tomana.
Nyamurundira explained that the lawyers are acting on behalf of
about 100
political violence victims from the rural area of Muzarabani
district
,northeast of Harare. “What we had to do because there were so
many, was
just pick the more serious cases and that’s why we have only 12
victims who
suffered various criminal offenses,” he added.
After
Robert Mugabe lost the 2008 presidential election by a small margin,
ZANU PF
thugs, war vets and youth militia embarked on a violent campaign
around the
country. The MDC said ‘officially’ 20 people died, although it’s
known that
more died much later, due to injuries received after many tens of
thousands
were tortured. The idea was to ensure a Mugabe victory in the
presidential
runoff. But Tsvangirai withdrew from that race because of the
violence and
Mugabe’s subsequent victory was denounced as a sham.
Nyamurundira said:
“We have cases of alleged murder where lives were lost
during the
presidential election. Some of our clients were tortured at
bases. Some
people had their homes and property burned down and some
property taken from
them by the alleged perpetrators.”
The ZLHR said they would now consult
their clients and consider legal action
against the police, the Ministry of
Home Affairs and the government’s chief
prosecutor, Attorney General
Johannes Tomana.
The police have not investigated cases of political
violence against the
MDC. And in fact it is the victims that have wound up
behind bars after
reporting to the police. The lawyers fear that this
culture of impunity will
encourage more acts of political violence if
elections are held before this
situation is changed.
http://www.africanmanager.com
Friday,
19 November 2010
PANA
Zimbabwe earned US$807 million from mineral exports in
the first nine months
of the year, a government mining agency said
Friday.
The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe said the earnings
represented
an increase of 25 percent over the same period last
year.
It said platinum, of which Zimbabwe has the second largest reserves
in the
world after South Africa, accounted for the bulk of the earnings at
US$540
million.
This was followed up by diamonds at over US$100
million, and smaller
earnings fr om nickle, coal and granite.
The
government-run minerals marketing agency said the figure excluded
earnings f
rom gold, which is marketed independently by the central bank.
But gold
production has surged strongly this year, and export earnings were
proj
ected around US$500 million for the full year.
Zimbabwe has a strong
mining industry, but it has been thrown into
uncertainty a fter the
authorities announced plans to seize controlling
shareholdings in all
foreign-owned businesses, particularly mining
companies.
http://www.mg.co.za
JASON MOYO | HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Nov 19 2010
13:22
Zimbabwe's Ignatius Chombo is an inspiration to government
ministers and
public servants everywhere. His example to them is: on your
measly
government salary, one day you too can divorce your wife and send her
on her
way with a bus, a few dozen of Harare's best addresses, a
Mercedes-Benz,
eight trucks, a block of flats, 10 or so companies and the
odd farm.
A divorce hearing in Zimbabwe's High Court has caused Chombo, a
Zimbabwean
local government minister, some embarrassment. One of President
Robert
Mugabe's closest allies -- who hails from Mugabe's home district --
the
former college lecturer has been a fixture in Zimbabwean politics for
about
15 years.
Mugabe has remained silent on what the divorce action
is throwing up, but
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has compared Chombo to
a greedy baboon
trying to grab every cob from a farmer's maize
field.
Chombo denies he owns all the assets that his estranged wife,
Marian, was
reported by the state daily Herald to be after. The paper listed
nearly 100
properties, 15 cars, trucks, safari camps and 10
companies.
Through his lawyers, he claimed he "didn't own 90%" of the
properties listed
by the Herald, which quoted court papers submitted by his
wife.
As local government minister, Chombo oversees Zimbabwe's local
councils,
notorious for corruption in the allocation of municipal
land.
But he insists that his properties -- ranging from township hovels
to
suburban apartments and a cluster of 30 stands in Harare's wealthy
Borrowdale and Glen Lorne areas -- have nothing to do with the many years he
has spent in charge of the portfolio.
Lawyers and admirers at
Chombo's defence
Chombo's lawyers, indignant on behalf of their avowedly
virtuous and
public-spirited client, have been breathing fire at the Herald.
He knows
nothing about what his wife is on about, they insist. "It paints a
picture
of a corrupt individual who amassed all the properties using his
position
since he has been a government minister for the better part of his
working
career."
In fact, some of it was owned by his twentysomething
son, his lawyers said.
And some of the 15 vehicles -- among which the Herald
reported were four
Land Cruisers and three Mercedes-Benz -— are listed as
"parliament or
government vehicles," they said.
The Chombo scandal
has provided a glimpse of how profitable it is to be a
Mugabe ally and why
those who defend his rule do so with passion.
Some see the Chombo case as
a test of how Mugabe will react to corruption
among his senior officials.
But it's not as if the minister was defying the
ageing president by grabbing
control of the land and the economy.
Chombo does have his supporters.
This week, a writer signing himself
"Bigboy" told the Herald to leave Chombo
alone. "While others were busy
selling their assets to buy foreign currency
... there are many who were
buying properties and creating real value for
their families," he wrote.
Truly, an inspiration.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
Prime
Minister Tsvangirai could pull out, leading to early elections that
would
favor President Mugabe, whose far-reaching powers haven't yet been
curbed by
promised constitutional reform.
By A Correspondent / November 19,
2010
Harare, Zimbabwe
With friction between Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe and his chief rival,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, mounting this
week, the country's always
shaky coalition government appears to be edging
towards collapse.
Zimbabwe’s coalition was formed nine months after
deeply flawed elections in
March 2008 and has spent much of the past two
years bickering over
government appointments and the collapsed economy. It
has also failed to
write a new constitution, one of the coalition’s main
tasks.
Now it looks as if Prime Minister Tsvangirai could pull out of the
coalition, which would probably lead Zimbabwe to early elections. Speaking
to party supporters at a rally in Bulawayo this week, Tsvangirai said he
could no longer see eye-to-eye with Mugabe, whom he described as a “crook”
for failing to honor his promises under the terms of the coalition
agreement.
If the coalition does collapse, analysts say that would
suit Mr. Mugabe
perfectly, and some say he's trying to goad Tsvangirai into
that deciscion.
Why? Because the vote will come before the constitutional
reform that was
promised when the current government was formed, leaving
Tsvangirai and his
allies at a severe disadvantage to Mugabe, who has ruled
Zimbabwe with an
increasingly tight grip since 1980.
The current
constitution gives the president far-reaching powers to appoint
judges,
arrest opposition members, and order mass crackdowns by Zimbabwe’s
many
security agencies. Mugabe has already declared that elections will be
held
next year with or without a new constitution.
“The political climate is
not conducive at all” for free and fair elections,
says Judy Smith-Hohn, a
senior researcher at the Institute for Security
Studies in Pretoria, South
Africa. “Draconian laws such as AIPPA and POSA
still exist, and the election
will be definitely flawed,” she adds,
referring to the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
and Public Order and Security Act
(POSA), which deny members of the public
to gather for rallies without
police clearance.
Tsvangirai joined Mugabe’s government in January 2009
in the hopes of ending
1 million percent inflation rates and the collapse of
Zimbabwe's commercial
farming industry.
If Tsvangirai pulls out, new
elections would be held immediately
Supporters of Tsvangirai’s opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic
Change, say that Mugabe has stoked the
fires between coalition partners by
unilaterally appointing provincial
governors, judges, ambassadors, and other
senior public officers without
consulting either Tsvangirai or his deputy
Arthur Mutambara, who leads a
breakaway faction of the MDC.
“Mugabe wants elections under the current
constitution as it favors him
because he can still use his presidential
powers as he did in 2008,” says
John Makumbe, a critic of Mugabe, and a
political science lecturer at
University of Zimbabwe in Harare. “They are
saying it is better [to work
with] the devil you know than
not.”
Under the current political arrangement, if one party pulls out of
government, elections are supposed to be held immediately, Mr. Makumbe says.
With Mugabe in control of the security forces, militias of so-called war
veterans loyal to him, and sweeping constitutional powers, he will be able
to control much of the election's outcome.
In 2008, police were
allowed in polling stations – a move protested by civil
organizations,
saying it frightened potential voters. Police forces were
also accused of
detaining, beating, and in some cases killing opposition
activists.
Mugabe's party also seeks early elections
Mugabe's
ruling Zanu PF party wants early elections as much as the president
himself.
Party leaders are worried about Mugabe’s deteriorating health and
want to
ensure elections are held before Mugabe dies as he is seen as the
only
member of Zanu PF who can match Tsvangirai's popularity.
“Zanu PF wants
elections now when Mugabe is still fit because they can’t
think of anyone
who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Tsvangirai,” says
Mr. Makumbe. “This
is compounded by the fact that the party is so divided at
the
moment.”
Rumors of an affair between the president's wife, Grace Mugabe,
and central
bank governor Gideon Gono could also take toll on Mugabe, some
commentators
say. “In African tradition, it is very embarrassing to be told
that another
man is sleeping with your wife,” says one analyst who requested
anonymity.
“People will start to question your manhood.”
But Makumbe
thinks otherwise. “He could have been angry about that story but
it won’t
affect him too much. It is discredited because it had so many
holes,” he
says.
Preparation for elections?
Mugabe has recently dispatched
soldiers to rural areas to do what looks like
political ground work ahead of
elections. Last week, they prevented the MDC
from holding rallies in
Masvingo and Manicaland province.
The police have also tried to block
Tsvangirai’s meetings with supporters,
while Mugabe can freely address his
anytime and anywhere he chooses. This
scenario is reminiscent of the violent
2008 elections, in which the MDC
claims that more than 200 of its supporters
were murdered by state security
agents as they aided Mugabe at the
polls.
Another analyst says both Mugabe and Tsvangirai are using their
positions to
prepare for what look like inevitable elections rather than
focusing on the
national good.
Political analyst Takura Zhangazha
said the political tension between Mugabe
and Tsvangirai was detrimental to
the smooth working of the already shaky
inclusive government.
“On one
hand Mugabe is more concerned about his divided party which is
bracing not
only for a tough election next year but organizing its national
congress
next month,” said Zhangazha. “On the other, Tsvangirai is holding
national
consultative meetings with his supporters across the country to
prepare for
the do-or-die elections.”
Even Zapu, a political party led by former Zanu
PF politburo member Dumiso
Dabengwa, is also preparing for elections and
making inroads. Some analysts
say Zapu could be a major force and take a
bite out of Tsvangirai’s support.
But Zhangazha believes Zapu, which is
largely viewed as a regional political
party, will not make much impact on
the national political scene.
Apart from fighting it out with Tsvangirai,
it will also battle it out with
the smaller MDC faction Mutambara, which
draws most of its support from the
Matabeleland region.
“Zapu will
not threaten MDC-T space in Matabeleland and it will not be as
successful as
it anticipates because it will be also fighting against both
MDC factions,”
said Zhangazha. “It is (Zapu) only going to further split the
vote in that
region.”
Makumbe concurs: “Zapu will be very fortunate if it wins two
seats. It
[Zapu] is just sentimental. It does not have any
support.”
Unlikely handover of power
Even if elections are held and
Mugabe loses, analysts say, it's unlikely
that Mugabe will allow a new
president to replace him.
The octogenarian leader still enjoys the
support of the security forces, who
have vowed that Tsvangirai will not rule
this country as he is “a puppet of
the West.”
Mugabe appears to
believe that with the discovery of diamonds in the country
that he can now
survive sanctions imposed on him and his allies by selling
the gems In Asia.
Though the Kimberley Process – the diamond industry's
internal watchdog on
so-called "blood diamonds" – gave Zimbabwe a clean bill
of health in August,
some major Western diamond networks have refused to buy
the country's
stones.
“Prior to the unity government last year the Zanu (PF) regime was
totally
broke, but having formed a coalition government with MDC, ZANU (PF)
boasts
of more money than before,” says Sisonke Msimang, executive director
for
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. “MDC will not win next
year’s
elections basing on the resources that are in Zanu (PF)’s
disposal.”
In 2008, Mugabe decisively lost the first round of the
presidential poll to
Tsvangirai. But after that, Mugabe added security
forces to the streets and
declared that Tsvangirai had fallen just short of
the required 50 percent of
the vote to avoid a runoff. Tsvangirai refused to
participate in the run-off
citing the likleihood of violence.
“If
elections are held next year, we will witness another blood bath,
another
disputed result, and Mugabe will remain on the helm," says Makumbe.
(The
identity of the reporter for this story was withheld due to security
concerns; Savious Kwinika also contributed to this report from
Johannesburg.)
http://www.tes.co.uk
News | Published in The TES on 19 November,
2010 | By: Ian Evans
Zimbabwe: Fighting for better education has proved
dangerous for a
teacher-turned-Movement for Democratic Change MP
A
teacher's day in the UK is rarely a life or death affair. While a minority
are threatened by violence, they can at least call upon their union or the
authorities.
This isn't the case for Harrison Mudzuri, one-time
English teacher and union
rep, who for the past two years has been an
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) MP in crisis-hit
Zimbabwe.
He has lost count of the number of times he has been threatened
with death
for opposing president Robert Mugabe and fighting for better
education in a
country which has teetered on the edge of economic collapse
since
controversial farm invasions began 10 years ago.
The
39-year-old MP for the Zaka Central constituency in the heart of
Zimbabwe
says: "Education is in a deplorable state and has been decomposing
in recent
years until the elections in 2008. Because the joint government is
not
working properly, we cannot get enough funds into schools where teachers
have classes of 50 or 60 children. They have no books, no pens and
classrooms are bad.
"It is no way to teach our children who are our
future. We once had the best
educational system in Africa - but not
now."
Mr Harrison, who taught for 15 years and was a member of the
militant
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, said only 90,000 of the
150,000
teaching posts are currently filled after many quit or fled abroad
during
the economic crisis and political oppression by Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party
thugs, police, army and intelligence agencies.
Over recent
weeks in nearby Masvingo, teachers complained that they and
pupils were
forced to attend Zanu-PF rallies by so-called war veterans,
while in
Rushinga teachers were targetted for contributing to the debate on
a new
constitution. Zanu-PF youths claimed they would influence pupils in
favour
of MDC proposals who in turn would influence parents.
Many political
analysts believe ageing president Mugabe will call another
election next
year, which the MDC fears will result in another re-run of
2008 when about
200 of their supporters were killed and hundreds injured in
a widespread
policy of intimidation.
Despite claims that opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai won the vote, the
two parties eventually agreed to a shaky
government of national unity.
Mr Harrison, who is married with three
children aged 19, 10 and seven, has
been arrested 12 times in the past and
tortured by secret police but says he
will never be quiet.
"I won't
move an inch and am prepared to die for what I believe in," he
says. "I
value peace, democracy, transparency and will not be silenced as
long as I
am fighting for a better Zimbabwe.
"I am worried about my family but they
give me the courage to continue my
work. I have people all the time shouting
threats like, 'We will kill you,'
and 'We will eliminate you like in 2008'.
They are war veterans, Zanu-PF
activists, militia. They say we are not going
to win next year but we will."
Mr Harrison still keeps close contact with
schools and teachers who earn as
little as £135 a month.
"We have to
improve working conditions in our schools and invest money in
our children,"
he says. "No one will hinder my fight for better education."
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
19 November, 2010
12:34:00 Staff Reporter
SELANGOR, MALAYSIA - The Malaysian police have
arrested six foreigners
including two Zimbabweans in the last three days for
smuggling drugs into
the country, a Malaysian police official said
Friday.
Speaking at a press conference here in Selangor, a central state in
west
coast Peninsula Malaysia, the official said that the suspects included
three
Iranian males, two Zimbabwean females and a Nigerian male.
Once
convicted, they could be sentenced to death under the Malaysian law,
said
the official.
According to the police, this is the first time that
suspected drug traders
from Zimbabwe were held in Malaysia.
Syabu of
11.4 kilograms worth 2.8 million ringgit (909,000 U.S. dollars)
were seized
from the drug mules, said the official.
He also said that the suspects
not only hid the drugs in the inner layer of
their luggage, but also in the
oil filters of vehicles and rollers of
escalators.
The two Iranian
men were believed to come from the same syndicate as the way
they had
carried the drugs were similar, said the official.
Friday, 19 November 2010
‘The dictator
only lets go of what he can control’ I read that comment
somewhere as I was
studying the reports of Aung San Su Kyi’s release from
house arrest last
week and I wondered how the generals were going to
‘control’ this woman.
Were there any conditions attached to her release, she
was asked. No, none,
came the firm answer. She wanted a ‘revolution’ she
told the BBC journalist
who interviewed her after her release, but not
through violence.
In most
people’s minds, the words revolution and violence go together.
History shows
us that ‘the overthrow or repudiation of a regime or political
system by the
governed’, as the dictionary defines revolution, generally
comes about
through massive social upheavals accompanied by violence and
bloodshed.
In Zimbabwe, Zanu PF boasts that it is a revolutionary party.
The means
whereby the system of white rule was overthrown was, in reality, a
war of
liberation from an unjust system where skin colour and racial
identity were
the deciding factors. In fact the ‘revolution’ did not change
the system, it
merely changed the colour of those in power. The war that the
‘revolutionary’
party is fighting thirty one years later is, so we are told,
to defend that
revolution. The MDC cannot be allowed to gain power, goes the
‘reasoning’
because they are no more than British-backed imperialists,
nothing more than
a cover for the return of the country to white colonial
rule. No evidence is
given to support this claim but as propaganda it serves
its purpose - even
though half the population was not even born when the
whites ruled.
The ‘revolution’ Mugabe boasts of on every occasion, was won
through the
barrel of the gun, not through the ballot box and everything
that is
happening in Zimbabwe today as we head towards 2011 and possible
elections
shows that Zanu PF has not changed; violence and repression are
still their
weapons of choice. On Tuesday, we heard reports that Zanu PF has
drafted the
General Laws Amendment Bill to prevent public access to
information such as
court judgements, legislation, official notices and
public registers – that
would of course, include electoral rolls. Mugabe’s
spokesman George Charamba
stated quite categorically this week that “he had
no intention of issuing
licences to private players (in the media field)
until the government
develops the capacity to monitor and regulate the new
players.” Only let go
of what you can control! Journalists are increasingly
being picked up and
any journo reporting police misbehaviour can be sure he
will find himself in
custody. Threats against citizens such as Minister
David Coltart are issued
openly by the likes of so-called war vet, Joseph
Chinotimba and the police
do nothing. Such is the absence of the rule of law
in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
Strangely enough, even war vets themselves are liable
to be turned off the
farms they took from the whites if someone comes along
prepared to pay a
good price for the land. The Chinese, with Zanu PF
approval, this week took
over a resettled farm for a brick making project,
leaving the war vets with
no land, no homes and no crops – just like the
white farmers the war vets
kicked out. It’s dog eat dog in Zimbabwe.
As
the Unity Government stumbles towards its almost inevitable demise, SADC
meets today in Gaberone to discuss Zimbabwe – yet again. Mugabe says he will
abide by the GPA but only when sanctions are lifted. Perhaps the time has
come to put Mugabe and the regime to the test: lift the sanctions and see
whether he will honour the Agreement he signed two years ago. Will Zanu PF
call off their dogs of war; will we have free and fair elections with
international monitors in place; will the media be free to report; will the
ZRP once again uphold the rule of law and will the army stop their
relentless violence against innocent civilians? Whether the lifting of
sanctions will bring about that transformation in Zimbabwe so that citizens
of all races can live together without fear in a truly democratic society
is, as they say, the $64.000 question. Never forget, the dictator only lets
go of what he can control.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka
Pauline Henson