The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
Back to Index
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Globe and Mail, Canada

      Can Ottawa act against Mugabe?

      A small, courageous group thinks so. STEPHANIE NOLEN reports on a plan
that would see Zimbabwe's leader charged with abuse of human rights under
Canada's new war-crimes law

      By STEPHANIE NOLEN
      Friday, November 5, 2004 - Page A13

      PRETORIA -- Working alone, moving quickly through the countryside and
attracting as little attention as possible, a dozen courageous Zimbabweans
are assembling the dossier they hope will drive Canada to indict their
President for crimes against humanity.

      The evidence-gatherers, who cannot be named for their safety, work for
the Accountability Commission Zimbabwe, one of a small number of rallying
points for the millions of Zimbabweans in exile, who in the face of the
seemingly endless deterioration of their homeland are increasingly looking
toward drastic measures. They are attempting to collect sworn statements and
evidence, including medical photographs of injuries received under torture,
from 100 victims of Robert Mugabe's regime, which they hope Canada's
Attorney-General will use to charge him.

      A year ago, a small group of Canadian and Zimbabwean lawyers presented
Martin Cauchon, who was then justice minister, with a draft indictment
asking him to take on Mr. Mugabe under the Crimes Against Humanity and War
Crimes Act, which they say allows for universal jurisdiction for Ottawa to
act against those suspected of gross abuse of human rights.

      Their strategy is ambitious and controversial, and experts in
international law are divided about whether it is even possible. The
government took months to respond to their request, before finally replying
in July that there would have to be a Canadian victim or some Canadian
connection for a case to proceed.

      Justice Minister Irwin Cotler declined to comment on the case. But as
a member of Parliament in 2000, he was a key force behind the new war-crimes
act.

      "When we enacted it, we stated that this legislation is an
implementation of our obligations under the International Criminal Court
treaty to bring perpetrators of international crimes to justice," Mr. Cotler
told reporters at the presentation of the draft indictment a year ago.

      "President Robert Mugabe is responsible for the perpetration of crimes
against humanity, including state-orchestrated murder, torture and massive
sexual violence," he added.

      With those words ringing in their ears, the volunteers in Zimbabwe
have been carrying out their surreptitious work, contacting people
terrorized by the national youth militia, arrested on suspicion of
supporting the political opposition or denied food aid because they cannot
produce a membership card for the ruling party.

      Although Canada is their best hope, they will also take their case to
the African Union and the International Court of Justice, said Gabriel
Shumba, a human-rights lawyer who was tortured by intelligence officers in
Harare last year and has since fled to South Africa. But "the international
legal system does not offer much consolation to victims," Mr. Shumba
lamented.

      Last year, the Accountability Commission asked a British court to
indict Mr. Mugabe as directly responsible for crimes against humanity, but
that court refused to hear the case because the President is a sitting head
of state. Mr. Mugabe may also be guaranteed immunity by a 2002 International
Court of Justice ruling that such leaders cannot be prosecuted in national
courts without the permission of the state in question.

      However, Canada's war-crimes act itself offers no such protection.

      "We in Canada have a law that classifies such things as torture and
forced starvation and the kind of criminal realities that face the
Zimbabwean people every day . . . as crimes against humanity. This is a
chance for Canada to lead," said Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law
professor who teamed up with Mr. Shumba and his colleagues, along with two
other Canadian lawyers, Craig Jones of Vancouver and Paul Champ of Ottawa,
after the failed British prosecution.

      Lynn Lovett, deputy director of the war crimes and crimes against
humanity branch of the Justice Department in Ottawa, declined to comment on
the case against Mr. Mugabe, but she repeated the government's position that
the act's intent is that there be some connection with Canada.

      David Matas, a Winnipeg refugee lawyer who works on crimes against
humanity, said this is the only reasonable position.

      "Otherwise, we'd be like Belgium; we could prosecute anybody,
anywhere, for anything, no matter what their ties to Canada . . . and it
caused all sorts of problems for Belgium," he said, referring to a law in
that country that gave courts universal jurisdiction on human-rights issues,
but which had to be repealed after people including British Prime Minister
Tony Blair and former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger were indicted.

      "We can't become a criminal court for the whole world; there have to
be some ties to Canada before we have jurisdictional right to take over a
case," Mr. Matas said.

      Mr. Attaran and his team are hunting for a Zimbabwean victim who will
provide that "nexus" with Canada, but he contends that the law does not
require it. Some experts agree, such as William Schabas, a Canadian who is
the director of the Irish Centre of Human Rights and who served on the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone.

      "The Justice Department is wrong if they say that the intention of the
act is that there be a nexus with Canada. The whole point of the Crimes
Against Humanity and War Crimes Act is to give Canada universal
jurisdiction, which means you can prosecute people when there is no nexus,"
he said.

      But Prof. Schabas said there is no getting around the head-of-state
problem.

      "If we indict Mugabe in a court in Canada, guess who is going to be
indicted in a court of Zimbabwe?" he said. "I don't think [Prime Minister]
Paul Martin or the Queen would like it, and that's why you do it; it's out
of respect for national sovereignty and you have to give some room to that
even when you're trying to hold people accountable."

      Mr. Shumba and Mr. Attaran say their ultimate goal is creating a blunt
diplomatic instrument of the kind that is now lacking in the international
response to Zimbabwe.

      "If we have a filed indictment against him, we don't need to prosecute
to have a meaningful impact," Mr. Attaran said, adding: "It's worked before
and it's the only approach that's ever worked before."

      The precedent is Charles Taylor, the despotic president of Liberia,
who was indicted for crimes against humanity by the Special Court of Sierra
Leone in 2003. Mr. Taylor was arrested after travelling to an event in
Ghana, and was forced to accept a negotiated solution that sent him into
exile in Nigeria.

      "How much better of a precedent could we have?" Mr. Attaran asked. "If
tiny little Sierra Leone could do it, my God, don't tell me Canada can't."

      'The nightmares don't stop'

      Today: An appeal to Canada

      Tomorrow: Flight into exile

Back to the Top
Back to Index

Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe

Monday October 25th – Sunday October 31st 2004

Weekly Media Update 2004-43

 

CONTENTS

 

1. GENERAL COMMENT

2. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

3. PERSECUTION OF DISSENTING VOICES

 

 

1. General comment

 

ALTHOUGH the few remaining alternative sources of information have been vigilant in exposing government excesses, they have failed to provide a context to the latest round of government largesse.

In the week under review the media have been reporting a new spate of donations of computers to selected schools by President Mugabe and the recipients of the new vehicle purchase scheme for chiefs, which allows them to “buy” pick-up trucks for less than a tenth of their value.

This new “facility” adds to the extraordinary powers recently vested in the country’s chiefs, while some government ministers have gone even further, offering to cover the cost of some chiefs’ contributions in what appears to be the most arbitrary manner. 

Except for The Daily Mirror (29/10), none of the private media have recently examined the vote-buying implications of these donations, which the government media continue to present as normal practice.

For example, the Chronicle (25/10) and ZTV (26/10, 8pm) passively reported that Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo had handed over 11 vehicles to chiefs from Matabeleland North under the government’s Chiefs Vehicle Loan Scheme.

Reportedly, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo paid for four of the vehicles on the chiefs’ behalf. However, the report did not reveal the identity of the chiefs who had benefited from this spontaneous expression of generosity.

But Moyo’s donation is not isolated.

Earlier, ZTV (17/10, 8pm) reported that State Security Minister Nicholas Goche had also donated $12 million to chiefs in Mashonaland Central for part-payment of their vehicles. Chombo was quoted as having promised to do the same in his constituency.

In the same issue of the Chronicle, Chombo was quoted telling a rally in Brunapeg, Matabeleland South, that government had also given chiefs the power to impose fines of up to $100 million in their courts as part of the authorities’ “sweeping reforms…to make the institution of chieftainship respectable”.

Currently, the maximum penalty chiefs can impose on offenders is $40,000.

Apart from a singular lack of public information in the media about the “sweeping reforms”, the most disturbing aspect of this measure is the fact that the fines will not be surrendered to Treasury but will be used at the “discretion of the traditional leaders in terms of their customs”. Such a measure has profound implications for Zimbabwe’s rule of law, let alone the communities under the chiefs’ jurisdiction. None of the media have attempted to explore the details about how these so-called reforms will work and how they will affect rural communities.

Chombo also reportedly handed over six new vehicles to chiefs in the area and promised to give their messengers bicycles.

While the government media reported these events, they also failed to examine how such irregular benevolence would affect the chiefs’ loyalties in next year’s elections.

In a related matter, ZTV (21/10, 8pm and 28/10, 8pm) unquestioningly reported on President Mugabe’s donation of computers to schools in Goromonzi and Nyazura.

None of the media queried whether this constituted another vote-buying gimmick or questioned the criteria under which the beneficiary schools were selected.

Instead, the government media merely gave the impression that the donations were part of government’s policy to develop rural schools.

But they failed to question why President Mugabe has personalised a government policy or why the events doubled up as ZANU PF campaign platforms if his mission was genuinely meant to empower the schools with information technology. Once again the media have allowed the distinction between the role of government and the interests of the ruling party to be completely lost.

 

 

2. International Relations

 

THE deportation of the visiting delegates from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), who were in the country on a fact-finding mission, further exposed the government media’s role as docile conduits of government propaganda bent on stifling public access to fair and accurate reporting.

Their coverage of events only reflected a crudely bigoted attack on the integrity of the COSATU delegation, which they accused of being fronts for Britain’s imperialist machinations.

No attempt was made to discuss the legitimacy of their deportation or to fairly examine the validity of the authorities’ excuse for kicking them out of the country.

Instead, the official media submissively provided the authorities greater latitude to extensively criminalize the COSATU visit by giving the impression that the delegation had violated an International Labour Organisation (ILO) protocol governing such visits. This procedure, they claimed, empowered the South African and Zimbabwean governments to organise dialogue between their respective labour organisations on issues pertaining to labour-related matters.

But no clear details of the ILO declaration were given. For example, the government media did not clarify whether the protocol barred the two from interacting freely with any civic or political groupings of their choice.

In fact, so partisan were the government media on the matter that they suffocated the fact that government had defied a High Court order barring them from deporting the delegation.

As a result, those who rely on these media were left with the impression that the deportation of the unionists was legal.

Only the private media offered a sober perspective of the saga, which they condemned as yet another example of government’s disregard for the rule of law.

Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa (25/10), for instance, provided a background to the COSATU team’s visit. SW Radio Africa noted that the trip was meant “to get an actual picture of the situation on the ground… with the intention of contributing to the settlement of the economic and labour crisis” in Zimbabwe.

The government media evaded such debates, preferring to bombard their audiences with officials’ misrepresentations and the denigration of the SA unionists as exemplified by all six stories ZBC devoted to the issue.

For example, ZTV, Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe (26/10, 8pm), The Herald and Chronicle (27/10) abdicated their professional obligation to report on facts by creating the impression that the SA unionists were not genuine.

They simply used a statement by the Department of Information falsely claiming that the 12-member team from the SA labour body were actually “dubious individuals claiming association with COSATU” and that their fact-finding mission in Zimbabwe was “an integral part of Britain’s disguised manoeuvres to meddle in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe”.

The statement, reproduced by these media without analysis, also claimed that the team’s visit was therefore “a treacherously calculated assault on the country’s national laws” and a “direct and most frontal challenge to the sovereignty …of Zimbabwe”.

Local, regional and international civic and political organisations cited by Studio 7 (26/10), SW Radio Africa (26, 27 & 28/10) and The Zimbabwe Independent (29/10) disagreed.

They reported widespread condemnation of government’s ill-treatment of the delegation.

For example, one of South Africa’s ruling ANC’s tripartite partners, the South African Communist Party, was reportedly “outraged and angered” by the deportation and told SW Radio Africa (27/10) that this showed that “the [Zimbabwean] government will go to any length to de-legitimise any criticism”.

COSATU leader Patrick Craven also commented on Studio 7 (26/10): “It is not normal in a democratic society… for trade unions… and civil society organizations to be barred or told who they can or cannot meet.”

The government censored these observations with The Herald (27/10), Power FM (27/10, 8pm and 28/10 8pm), ZTV (28/10, 8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (29/10, 8pm) citing authorities contending that COSATU “bulldozed their way” into the country.

In fact, these media’s determination to depict the COSATU visit as illegal was also illustrated by the way they ignored reporting on the court order barring the deportation of the delegation.

While The Daily Mirror (28/10) reported news of the order, it quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denying that government had defied it since it was served when the “COSATU delegation had already been deported”.   

Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi echoed this claim in The Financial Gazette (28/10) but trivialised the matter: “One thing which should be clear is that I did not deport them. I refused them entry”. Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge also told Power FM (28/20) that government had merely “invited them (COSATU) out”.

But The Daily Mirror quoted the delegation’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama rebutting government’s claims. He said he had served the order on an immigration official named Moyo who was with five other officials.

Said Muchadehama: “All of them refused to take the order, but we served Moyo through the accepted means of throwing it to his feet”.

However, The Herald (28/10) selectively quoted the SA government and the now obscure opposition Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) to project the impression that even South Africa supported the deportation.

It quoted the PAC hailing government “for not allowing COSATU to become the barking dog of reactionary forces…aimed at the destabilisation of the national sovereignty of the people of Zimbabwe”.

The next day (29/10) the paper handily used South Africa’s statement accepting that “Zimbabwe is an independent, sovereign state that had an inalienable right” to enforce its immigration laws “as it may deem appropriate” to give government’s actions a seal of approval.

But Studio 7 (27/10), The Financial Gazette (28/10) and The Zimbabwe Independent painted a different picture. Both Studio 7 and The Financial Gazette reported SA Defence Minister and ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota as saying the incident was “embarrassing” and that his government took “the view that the matter could have been handled in a better way”.

The government media ignored these comments.

In fact, The Herald (29/10) then contradicted its earlier portrayal of cordial relations between SA and Zimbabwe by attacking President Mbeki for meeting opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

This followed a meeting between the two men as part of the opposition’s drive to lobby regional leaders to exert pressure on Zimbabwe to fully implement the SADC protocols on the conduct of elections.

The paper insinuated that Mbeki was being used by the West in handling the Zimbabwean crisis but masked the identities of almost all the “political analysts and diplomatic sources” it heavily relied on to question Mbeki’s honesty in brokering a settlement.

But the saga then took an unusual turn when The Saturday Herald (30/10) carried a story quoting the Department of Information – which controls The Herald’s editorial content - attacking the newspaper for questioning Mbeki’s integrity. There was no explanation for this sudden change in the government newspaper’s stance. And readers would have been even more confused if they also read Lowani Ndlovu’s column in The Sunday Mail the next day who criticised “Professor Moyo’s statement” reprimanding The Herald as “ill-advised”.

Only those who were “lucky” enough to catch sight of the ZANU PF weekly publication, The Voice (31/10) would have gained some insight into this mysterious mix of contradictions. The party paper carried an enlightening story reporting that an “incensed” President Mugabe had dismissed The Herald’s criticism of Mbeki as a “concoction” designed “to instigate hostility between Zimbabwe and South Africa”, and that he would summon Moyo’s Department of Information to explain the issue.

 

Meanwhile, government’s obsession of portraying Britain as incessantly interfering with Zimbabwe’s affairs was allowed free rein in ZTV’s report of a meeting between the new British Ambassador, Dr Rod Pullen, and Lands Minister Joseph Made (26/10, 6pm & 8pm)

Made was heroically showcased denying “allegations” that “the land reform programme was chaotic… and discriminatory” and told Pullen that “no amount of pressure by… Western countries to reverse the agrarian reform will succeed”.

However, ZTV neither accorded Pullen an adequate opportunity to be heard nor conveyed what he had said to Made to elicit such a response.

Instead, it ran a long-winded, biased anthology of relations between the two countries, portraying Britain as the aggressor and meddler in the country’s politics emanating from its desire to topple “Mugabe and a democratically elected government”.

 

 

3. Persecution of Dissenting Voices

 

ONLY the private media continued to question government’s commitment to democracy after ZANU PF used its majority in Parliament to jail MDC MP Roy Bennet for assaulting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa during a parliamentary debate in May.

This followed recommendations made to the House by a five-member Parliamentary Privileges Committee led by ZANU PF MP and Social Welfare Minister, Paul Mangwana, set up to investigate the matter.

The committee, comprising three ZANU PF MPs and their two MDC counterparts, voted on party lines resulting in Bennet being sentenced to 12 months’ jail.

The government media celebrated the decision arguing that this was a deterrent sentence. In the process, they ignored the fact – only carried by the private media – that the incarceration was the culmination of government’s documented systematic campaign to persecute opposition MPs, particularly Bennet.

ZTV (27/10, 8pm), for instance, merely quoted Mangwana, defending the heavy sentence.

The Herald and Chronicle (28/10) also failed to note that the attack on Bennet by the MP for Makoni North, Didymus Mutasa, had escaped the attention of Mangwana’s committee. This allowed the government papers to continue accusing Bennet of attacking Mutasa in their subsequent reports on the matter.

The private media’s coverage was more comprehensive. They quoted a variety of comments from human rights lawyers, the International Bar Association, the MDC and Bennet himself.

SW Radio Africa (27/10) cited MDC’s Shadow Minister for Justice, David Coltart, pointing out that the judgment was “unprecedented” and a “gross abuse of power”, because it ignored the element of “extreme provocation” against Bennet by Chinamasa.

Lawyers Arnold Tsunga and Jacob Mafume (SW Radio Africa 28/10), Lovemore Madhuku (Studio 7 28/10), Gugulethu Moyo, Beatrice Mtetwa and MDC MPs (SW Radio Africa 29/10), all agreed.

Tsunga dismissed the voting process as “an arbitrary process done purely along political party lines and not [based] on principles”, while the IBA believed the “long prison term” slapped on Bennet was “designed” to “eliminate him from standing as MP in next year’s poll” (SW Radio Africa, 29/10).

Bennet himself told the station how government had systematically persecuted him in the past five years “through intimidation, violence and destruction of my property”, culminating in his farm being taken over by government despite court orders preventing this.

In fact, The Daily Mirror (28/10) and SWRA (29/10) queried why Chinamasa and Mutasa had not also been reprimanded for their role in the scuffle, a development that Mafume reportedly told Studio 7 (28/10) meant that, “Parliament is selectively applying its laws”.

The government media ignored these observations. Rather, ZTV (28/10, 6pm), Power FM Power FM (28/10, 8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (29/10, 6am), The Herald and Chronicle (29/10) misrepresented the circumstances leading to Bennet’s arrest at Harare International Airport just before he was jailed. They claimed he was trying to flee to South Africa.

But Bennet and his wife disputed this in stories carried by SW Radio Africa (28/10) and the Independent. Bennet’s wife told SW Radio Africa that her husband planned to consult lawyers in SA over a case in which he is suing the government agricultural agency, ARDA, for allegedly “selling his coffee worth over US$200 000 to Germany” after confiscating his farm.

Ends

 

The MEDIA UPDATE was produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 703702, E-mail: monitors@mmpz.org.zw

 

Feel free to write to MMPZ. We may not able to respond to everything but we will look at each message.  For previous MMPZ reports, and more information about the Project, please visit our website at http://www.mmpz.org.zw

 

Back to the Top
Back to Index
IOL

Labour leaders slam Harare's 'Hitler tactics'
          November 05 2004 at 11:31AM

      By Ed Stoddard

      Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)
launched a blistering attack on Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe on Friday, calling
it a "derailed revolution" and comparing its tactics to Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler's.

      The hard-hitting comments, published in the weekly Mail & Guardian
newspaper, follow Zimbabwe's deportation last month of 13 unionists from the
Cosatu team who had entered the country on a fact-finding mission.

      They signal a widening rift between South Africa's ruling African
National Congress and its left-wing alliance partners over Pretoria's policy
of "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe, accused by critics of widespread
human rights abuses.

      "We will not keep mum when freedom does not lead to respect for
workers and human rights," Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in
a commentary provocatively headlined "We are not quiet diplomats".

      "Liberation must mean a decent life for all, not a selected few."

      Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980, are accused by the West of rigging elections, muzzling the
press and ruining the economy by seizing white-owned farms for distribution
to landless blacks.

      "Recent events in Zimbabwe have opened up a debate in Cosatu as to
whether that country does not now represent a typical example of a derailed
revolution," Vavi wrote.

      He also said Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo - who accused
Cosatu of working on behalf of the British - had modelled his tactics on
Hitler.

      "Hitler, the master propagandist from whom Moyo must certainly have
learned his tricks, believed in repeating a lie frequently enough until it
settles as the truth in the minds of ordinary people," Vavi wrote.

      The comments are sure to anger the ANC, which tolerates little dissent
in its own ranks and insists that behind the scenes prodding is the only way
to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic quagmire.

      Critics contend the ANC's Zimbabwe strategy shows it cannot bring
itself to criticise an ally from the black liberation struggles against
colonialism and white rule.

      As Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF styles itself as a revolutionary party of
the hard left, condemnation from a labour organisation is particularly
stinging.

      Vavi said Cosatu had a duty to support its trade union allies across
the border and that only a mass movement would force Mugabe to change his
ways - as was the case with the white-minority regimes of Zimbabwe and South
Africa.

      "We have called for an internal debate on how we should take forward
this struggle," Vavi wrote.

      "For this we need no permission from our government."
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Immigrants Protest Ill-Treatment

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

November 5, 2004
Posted to the web November 5, 2004

Johannesburg

Scores of immigrants from five Southern African countries marched to a
deportation centre in South Africa this week to protest against the alleged
abuse of foreigners on the premises.

A director of rights NGO, the Southern African Women's Institute for
Migration Affairs, Joyce Dube, who coordinated the march, told IRIN that
about a 100 immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Angola
had demonstrated at the Lindela Repatriation Centre outside Johannesburg on
Thursday.

"The problem is that the South African authorities do not check whether the
immigrants, particularly the Zimbabweans, are genuine asylum seekers - they
merely arrest them and deport them," Dube claimed.

Gabriel Shumba, the legal advisor of the NGO, Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, said
that of the 5,000 Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa, only 11 had been
given asylum. "We have received reports of torture in the centre, and that
the immigrants do not have access to adequate sanitation."

Emily Wellman, an activist who also participated in the demonstration,
claimed the inmates did not have access to proper medical care. "The centre
has the capacity to hold 5,000 people, but often immigrants are squeezed in
and subjected to inhuman conditions. We were hoping to appeal to the hearts
and the minds of the authorities to accord some dignity and respect to the
asylum seekers [by protesting]."

Home Affairs spokesperson Mike Ramagoma described the allegations of torture
and unhygienic conditions at the Lindela centre as "malicious". "The centre
is open for public scrutiny at all times and is scrupulously clean - I visit
the centre frequently," he said.

Ramagoma also refuted allegations of immigrants being denied asylum status.
"All immigrants, including Zimbabweans wanting to apply for asylum status
are welcome to do so and will be given asylum seekers status after
investigations. If found eligible, the applicant will be granted refugee
status. No illegal Zimbabweans will be tolerated - they have to apply for
the proper permit."

Reuters news agency reported earlier this week on the hearings before the
government's Human Rights Commission, when rights activists said many
illegal foreigners ended up incarcerated in overcrowded detention centres.

In her submission Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh of Lawyers for Human Rights alleged
that at least 25 foreigners had died at Lindela, while others, including
children, had reportedly been abused.

"Assault has occurred, and it does occur ... but it is very difficult to
monitor," Reuters quoted her as saying.

Zimbabweans make up the bulk of illegal foreigners deported by South Africa,
and Ramjathan-Keogh said the process was often brutal, with migrants taken
by train to the Zimbabwe border and held in outdoor pens, pending
repatriation.

The South African Press Association (SAPA) reported that the hearing was
also told there were no free movement agreements between southern African
countries, and immigration laws did not take into account integration and
movement in the region.

There were long delays in asylum applications, with allegations of bribery
in some departments, and when people had the correct paperwork, officials,
particularly in hospitals, discriminated against them, the hearing was told.

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula admitted to the commission
that there were problems and delays in her department, many of them due to a
lack of resources, but said these were being addressed, reported SAPA.

She condemned "the scourge" of xenophobia and said officials who treated
asylum seekers and refugees unfairly were not a reflection of government
policies.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
New Zimbabwe

Mugabe, God and Zimbabwe

     By Msekiwa Makwanya
Last updated: 11/06/2004 04:12:22
AS A Christian I have the benefit of looking at life from a religious point
of view and try to see the meaning of what is happening in my beloved
country, Zimbabwe.

It is not helpful to struggle with such questions as "Why did God allow this
to happen," because there are no satisfactory answers. I think it is more
helpful to ask: "What is the meaning for me in this situation? How can I
respond in a courageous and responsible way?"

Quite often in the discourse of what is happening in Zimbabwe, various
contributors have tried to see the problems in Zimbabwe from a scientific
point of view and forget the tremendous influence of Christianity on people's
live in Zimbabwe. If politicians attend church services they should know how
suffering people are, and what guidance they are asking for their leaders.
People can longer afford school fees, medical fees, bread winners are
loosing their jobs and in some areas violence is being perpetrated by
aspiring candidates.

Some of our political leaders have also attempted to confine the clerics to
the pulpit and warn them to stay away from politics, and Bishop Ncube and
Reverend Kunonga are good examples of clerics whose entrance into politics
has been frowned upon. Not everyone may agree with Bishop Ncube and Rev.
Kunonga but their right to be in politics should be defended under the
freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution.

There is no doubt however that there are dangers of mixing politics and
religion, not to mention a well know fact that churches are not democracies
but a family. Religion is not an acceptable reason to limit someone's
participation in politics whatever their position and how an individual
cleric wish to proceed in politics is a matter of personal wisdom. All the
same let freedom ring from the pulpit!

Christianity is not about perfection, and I know corrupt Christians who
attempt to further political and social and economic injustice. Neither
should Christians seek to dominate or impose their views on the political
landscape because not everyone should a Christian. However they have a duty
to question the absence of moral campus in any political party or candidate
asking for their vote.

Already the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference and Zimbabwe Council of
Churches have expressed disquiet about Professor Jonathan Moyo, Information
and Publicity Minister and Patrick Chinamasa, the Justice Minister denying
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) access to the public media.
Tolerance is the bedrock of Christianity and Professor Moyo and Patrick
Chinamasa risk denying Zau PF the Christian votes. The church realizes that
people need to hear and scrutinize various policies and decide which party
or candidate to vote for.

There are Christians in both Zanu PF and the MDC and they "are all qualified
to, entitled, and morally obliged to evidence the conduct of their rulers.
This political judgement, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but
like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgement that men
cannot part with according to the God of Nature," John Locke.

Zimbabweans are going through a very trying moment in their psycho-social
and political well-being with the 2005 parliamentary election being a
defining moment hence the need for maximum participation. All Christians now
ought to exercise cautious optimism which is predicated on the defiant human
spirit, the belief that what cannot destroy me makes me stronger. Many
people were wondering how they survived the hunger that followed our
controversial land reform since 2000. It has to be admitted that all is not
well and many people are going without basics in Zimbabwe and our prayers
are with them. The defiant human spirit is as illustrated buy the Paul.

Apostle Paul was a Pharisee, a chief persecutor of early Christians, until
he was converted near Damascus. There, he received the calling from Christ
to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He had to face many oppositions and
difficulties in his missionary work. From the depth of his suffering, his
joy and contentment spilled over:

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is
to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the
secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or
hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him
who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:11-13).

What a glorious anthem of contentment! The above paragraph is all the more
remarkable, given that Paul wrote it under very harsh circumstances. He was
alone in a jail cell, having gone through many trials and tribulations in
his twenty odd years as a missionary. Notwithstanding his self-sacrifice and
accomplishment, he was questioned and attacked by those, who "preach Christ
out of envy and rivalry" (Philippians 1:15).

Here is a litany of the various problems he had experienced: ". in great
endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments
and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger.genuine, yet regarded
as impostors; known, regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten,
and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many
rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2 Corinthians 6:
4-10).

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in
despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2
Cor. 6:8, 9).
"I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from
my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger
in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have
labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the
churches" (2 Cor.11: 26-28).

In spite of his troubles and struggles, he remained faithful to his calling:
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called
me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil.3:13-14).

Paul's Letter to the Philippians was the happiest letter ever penned by him;
there was not a single trace of bitterness, self-pity or complaint about
being in such dire straits.

What can we learn from Apostle Paul and others who have mastered the secret
to contentment that transcends circumstances and self-interests? How can we
cultivate a spirit of contentment that shines through the darkest night?
The most important point to keep in mind is that inner contentment is not
incompatible with a healthy dosage of discontent. Take Apostle Paul for
instance. He was content whatever the situation, yet he remained discontent
with regard to knowing and serving Christ.

Similarly, we need to choose contentment for our mental health; but we also
need to take courageous actions to improve the situation for the betterment
of humanity. The secret is to achieve a balance between accepting our place
in the world and aspiring to develop our potential and improve the human
condition.

Henri Nouwen in Seeds of Hope (1989) observed that "the victims of poverty
and oppression were often more deeply convinced of God's love than we are"
(p.xiv). These individuals have discovered Apostle Paul's secret simple
abundance and rich poverty.

2004 is about to die in a splendid sent-off. Let's say good-by to all our
sorrows, disappointments, heartbreaks and grief. Let's welcome a brand new
year with all its challenges and hopes. Let's embrace living and dying with
contentment, because there is something worth fighting for, human dignity.
This is a challenge to all Christians in Zimbabwe and all those who share
the values of honesty, integrity, and peace. Now is the time!
Makwanya is a Zimbabwean social commentator based in London, England and
writes regularly for New Zimbabwe.com

Back to the Top
Back to Index
VOA

Zimbabwe Using Food As A Weapon
VOA News
05 Nov 2004

Amnesty International reports that millions of people in Zimbabwe may go
hungry in part because the government of President Robert Mugabe is
manipulating the food supply for political purposes.
In some places, according to Amnesty International, Zimbabweans without
ruling party membership cards have been denied access to grain distributed
by the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board.

The board has a near monopoly on the wholesale trade in and distribution of
maize -- the staple food in Zimbabwe. State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher underscores the U.S. concern about the Zimbabwe government's use of
food for political purposes.

Until about six months ago, international food donors were providing relief
to the Zimbabwean people. But most of these programs were stopped when the
Mugabe government told the United Nations and other donors that the country
no longer needed assistance and began to obstruct independent efforts to
assess the food situation. Since then, the government's claim that there are
sufficient food resources in the country has been at odds with most
available evidence.

It has been estimated that more than 2 million rural people in Zimbabwe may
need food assistance before next April's harvest. Some 2.5 million people in
urban areas are also expected to have difficulty getting adequate food.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
From ZWNEWS, 5 November

Bennett held in atrocious conditions

Roy Bennett, the opposition MP sentenced last week to a year's hard labour
after he shoved the justice minister Patrick Chinamasa to the floor during a
parliamentary debate, is being held in atrocious conditions in prison.
Speaking yesterday, his wife Heather told of serious overcrowding, very poor
diet, inadequate clothing and restricted access to her husband. Bennett
shares these privations with the large numbers of other prisoners in
Zimbabwe's prisons, which are notorious for brutality and insanitary
conditions. Bennett was sentenced to 15 month's imprisonment, with three
months suspended, by a parliamentary vote, becoming the first person to be
given a prison sentence in Zimbabwe outside the court system. Immediately
after the vote in parliament, Bennett was taken to Harare Central Prison,
where he has since been held. He has been given a prison uniform that is so
badly torn that he cannot keep himself adequately covered, and is subject to
the dietary deficiencies which affect Zimbabwe's prison population. He is
not allowed to receive any food from outside prison, except for the
possibility of fruit once a week, which would be dependent on the good will
of his prison guards. His wife is only allowed to see him once a week for
ten minutes, and then only in the presence of a guard who writes down
everything they say. His prison cell, designed for four inmates, is shared
by Bennett and 17 others.

Bennett's sentence has been widely condemned inside and outside Zimbabwe.
Peter Hain said yesterday in the British parliament that "the treatment of
Bennett is outrageous, the way trade unions are being treated in Zimbabwe is
outrageous". The human rights committee of the English bar association said
"twelve months hard labour for shoving the Justice Minister in Parliament is
unprecedented and fundamentally unsafe. Bennett was given no right of appeal
or other recourse to a court of law. The speaker of the Zimbabwean
parliament is reported to have obstructed efforts to have the sentence set
aside by a court of law." The Geneva-based Inter Parliamentary Union has
written to the speaker, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the minister of justice to
express their concern at the actions taken against Bennett. Bennett's
lawyers have lodged an application with the High Court to review the
sentence he received and have appealed to the Supreme Court over the flawed
parliamentary process by which he was tried.

The fracas between Bennett and Chinamasa occurred after Chinamasa insulted
and provoked him by calling his father and grandfather "thieves and
murderers". Had he been tried in the courts, it is likely that he would have
received a modest fine, or a caution. The insults in parliament were the
culmination of four years of relentless political persecution against
Bennett and his family, and their employees. Bennett has been arrested twice
and assaulted three times. His wife Heather suffered a miscarriage when they
were first forcibly evicted from their home by Zanu PF supporters. One of
Bennett's employees was murdered by soldiers, another shot and wounded. Many
more workers and constituents in Bennett's constituency in Chimanimani have
been viciously beaten or detained without charge. Three young women were
raped. None of the Zanu PF and State agents responsible for these crimes
have ever been prosecuted or even arrested. Over 800 people have been
forcibly evicted from their homes and the Bennett's house in Chimanimani has
been looted and vandalised. State agents have also killed or stolen their
cattle, and have stolen over 150 tons of coffee. For more information on the
efforts to get Bennett released, contact freeroybennett@yahoo.com .
Back to the Top
Back to Index
From The Daily Mirror, 5 November

President robbed again

Thieves make off with designer suits from State House

Clemence Manyukwe

Thieves have once again targeted President Robert Mugabe - this time hitting
his wardrobe at State House and making off with an undisclosed number of
designer suits worth millions of dollars. It is suspected that the theft was
an inside job by employees at the heavily guarded State residence. Only two
months ago, the President lost irrigation equipment worth millions to as yet
unidentified thieves at his rural homestead in Zvimba communal lands,
Mashonaland West. A senior spokesperson in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF)
public relations office, Lloyd Mukoterwa, yesterday confirmed the theft, but
referred further questions to police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena.
Mukoterwa said: "This story is bad. Even if we know something, we cannot
tell you. Why don't you challenge Bvudzijena to tell you? You are a
journalist, you must know that the police are the ones who provide those
details. Police must tell you because even if it is a soldier who happened
to be the one who stole, they can arrest him. But first you must understand
who guards where," said Mukoterwa.

However, Bvudzijena refused to comment. In an earlier interview, following
the theft of the irrigation equipment, Bvudzijena said he did not comment on
Presidential matters and referred all questions to the Department of
Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet. " I do
not have a comment," Bvudzijena said. The secretary for Information and
Publicity, George Charamba, also refused to comment. "I don't want to talk
to you. After what your paper wrote about me, do you expect me to talk to
you?" Charamba said. He was referring to a commitment that he made to
furnish this newspaper with details of the Zvimba theft, but on which he
later backtracked. According to sources, the theft at State House, which
took place towards the end of last month, was discovered by the President's
housekeepers. The incident is said to have angered the President, who
demanded an inquiry into the matter. Some security personnel who were on
guard duty that day were reportedly transferred. It could not be established
if any culprits had been brought to book as yet. Said a source: "The suits
were stolen by people who are believed to be employed at State House. There
is tight security at State House, and the only logical explanation is that
it must be someone who is trusted, and could not be searched. But I must
tell you that this has come to be an issue of considerable concern." Over
the years, President Mugabe has been a victim of theft at both his official
residence in Harare and his Zvimba rural home.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 4 November

Lindela: 'My week in hell'

Joe Ncube, a Zimbabwean asylum seeker, spent a week in the Lindela
Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp. This is his story:

'People die every day here." This warning, from a Burundian I met on my
first day in Lindela detention centre in Krugersdorp, came as no surprise. I'm
a Zimbabwean who has been living in South Africa for the past six years -
and the centre's reputation is legendary among us - the amakwerekwere
(foreigners). For illegals it is the first stop on a round-trip journey back
into South Africa. But for legal foreigners like me, who have asylum-seeker
status, it is where we learn what it feels like to be a victim of this
phenomenon called xenophobia. The day my luck ran out was September 28 when
I was travelling to work in a taxi that got stopped at a road block. I was
immediately identified by the police as a foreigner. Maybe it is because I
am darker skinned, or maybe because I replied in English, and not in Zulu,
that I had no ID on me. I was told to get into the back of the police truck
where I joined more than 100 people. There were children, women, men and old
people. But I knew I was better off than many of them - I had my asylum
papers with me.

But the police said: "No we don't need an asylum papers, you must have a
South African ID." I asked how they expected me to have a South African ID
when I was not a citizen, but they were not interested. It was as if their
orders were exclusively that all foreigners must be arrested and taken to
Lindela. I also have a work permit, but it would not have made a difference
because the police were arresting anyone foreign - regardless of whether
they had papers or not. The fear in the truck was tangible on the journey
there, with children crying and women clutching their meagre possessions.
The truth is that many Zimbabweans give other names so they can get back
into the country. We all know how to get around the system, but this time I
had no reason to lie. I was a legitimate immigrant. What could possibly
happen to me? The procedure on arrival at Lindela is that men and women are
separated in a courtyard. Security guards then do roll-call and allocate
prisoners according to nationality. Our names are called out by the
detention centre's home affairs officials to identify our immigration
status. But we arrived late that day and the officials had closed their
offices - which meant we all had to stay until they returned the next
morning.

My first impression of the dreaded place was that it was a prison. We were
searched for any cellphones, cameras, pens and notebooks, and warned that we
were not allowed to take these to the cells. But the fear started clawing at
my gut when I realised that I would be spending my first night in a cell
with 50 other men. I did not know what to expect or how to behave. But I
decided to keep my mouth shut and watch what happened. I remembered my
friend Edwin Ndlovu, who died at the age of 24, just a week after he was
released from Lindela. His cause of death was unknown, but his nose was
bleeding and he was coughing before his death. I was curious about why he
died and what happened to him. Was there TB or other illnesses in the air at
Lindela? Dinner was a plate of anaemic cabbage and pap that looked like it
had been cooked days before. I refused to eat, remembering tales of food
poisoning and noticing that other inmates looked unhealthy. The time for
sleeping grew closer. We were given a blanket each and divided into
different cells. I wasn't expecting a five-star hotel, but I was not
prepared for the conditions of cell number 29 where I was taken. Picture
about 54 men all crammed into a tiny cell with double bunks and room for
only 24 people. But the putrid smell of a blocked shower and toilet overrode
my anxiety about where I was going to sleep.

An elderly Zimbabwean, who seemed to command respect in the cell, ejected a
guy from the Côte d'Ivoire from a bunk bed for me. Lying on the bunk with
the smell of smoke and the soft sound of cards being played I wondered what
I should do. My girlfriend could bring my work permit in the morning, but I
knew that this was the place where Edwin had died and wanted to stay longer
to see what really happens to us foreigners in Lindela. I could not sleep
because there was an old man who was coughing and whose nose was bleeding.
The elderly Zimbabwean called the security guard to take him to the clinic.
Thirty minutes later they brought him back. It did not seem as if he was any
better. The next day I heard he had died. How will his family know what
happened to him? Where will he be buried? I thought about how my mother
would feel if she never heard from me again. Could I die like this - having
been persecuted into coming to South African by Zanu PF, just to rot in this
hole? I felt like everything was for nothing because the only decision left
was where I preferred to die - in Zimbabwe or in Lindela. I tried to find
out what it is that happens in Lindela that causes people to die here or get
sick.

I sat with three South African boys who were mistaken for foreigners because
they were found in the street and did not have IDs. In the courtyard, where
most of the foreigners sit around to pass the time, I noticed that dagga was
openly sold for R5 a bankie (a packet of dagga). I phoned my girlfriend. She
was afraid I would be kept in Lindela indefinitely. This is what happened to
Eugene Makwinja, a former colleague who I met on the second day there. He
had been in Lindela for three months and had no way of knowing why he was
being detained instead of being sent to Zimbabwe. "If I had R900 to pay for
a bribe I could get out of here," he said. Looking around I began to realise
that there weren't many Chinese and Indians. "That is because the Chinese
and Indians can afford to pay to get out of here, even the Nigerians,"
Makwinja said. If you are a foreigner and you don't have the money to pay
bribes you go back to your own country. Many Nigerians pretend to be
Zimbabweans because it takes three months to get back to Nigeria; but
Zimbabweans and Mozambicans leave every month and it is easier to get back
to South Africa across a river than across a continent. Those too poor to
afford bribes get deported and make their way back, even if it means jumping
off a moving train. Ishmael, one of the two Malawian brothers who slept on
the beds next to mine, had been living in Lindela for two months because the
train to Malawi was not yet full enough to warrant a trip. His brother was
sick during the stay and I later heard he had died when he reached home. We
had spent time talking about our countries and what it felt like living in
South Africa.

I knew that I could not live in this place for two or three weeks, having
two meals a day, being beaten up, sleeping in a cell with blocked toilets.
On Saturday and Sunday the electricity was cut and when there is no
electricity there is no water. You are left alone most of the time unless
you piss-off security guards, as did one of the foreigners who lost his
identity tag (which we all had to carry). They beat him with sjamboks until
he bled from his mouth. It was a lesson that made us feel powerless. We knew
that there was no one here who cared whether we lived or died. No high
commissioner from our country fighting for our release, no lawyers to sue
the security guards for torture or abuse. The clinic is a joke: there is
only Panado available, even for the most severe pains. Most of the
foreigners who are sick are left to rot on bunks until it is too late to
save their lives. Just when I thought I would never see my baby or my
girlfriend again, I was released - a week after my arrest.

Maybe the reason why the South African government treats foreigners so badly
in Lindela is to ensure that we never want to come back to this country. But
most of the people who stay in Lindela will come back: they have no other
option. Ultimately I blame the South African government, which claims to
fight for the rights of all human beings. We are not animals. Even though we
Zimbabweans work among South Africans I always feel like a prisoner here.
When President Thabo Mbeki talks about Zimbabwe and says we should solve
conflict in the region I want him to go to Lindela and see how South
Africans treat other Africans. What is the New Partnership for Africa's
development if other Africans cannot be treated with dignity and respect ?
As a foreigner I feel that some South Africans are too proud of their
nation, but too blind and forgetful to remember that it is the same
amakwerekwere who you scorn that allowed you to flee your apartheid
government. I never heard a South African exile saying there was a hell like
Lindela waiting for them.

As told to Nawaal Deane

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Sydney Morning Herald

Police brainwashed in Mugabe's camps
November 6, 2004

Zimbabwe's police, once the most respected and efficient in southern Africa,
have been ordered to attend brutal "reorientation" camps to be fed
anti-white propaganda in the run-up to next year's elections.
In a tactic akin to those used by hardline communist regimes, police
officers face "reprogramming" at the hands of Robert Mugabe's feared Central
Intelligence Organisation.

One officer who recently attended the course told of racist propaganda about
a white, neo-colonial conspiracy against the Mugabe regime. Dissenting
officer face beatings and torture at the camps, which are run on military
lines with early-morning physical exercise and strict internal discipline.

"We were told that anyone who doesn't support Comrade Mugabe is an enemy of
the state," the low-ranking police officer said.

The programs are held at the notorious Stops Camp, on the edge of Bulawayo,
once a smart officers' mess during colonial times but, since independence,
used as a police holding centre and place of torture.

The officer said he and colleagues had been taught about the "great success"
of Mugabe's land reform program. Anyone who criticises the Comrade's rule is
denounced as in the pay of Britain's MI6, the CIA and white agents intent on
recolonising Zimbabwe.

The propaganda overlooks the fact that Mr Mugabe's land reform program
resulted in millions of Zimbabweans facing starvation, while the mainly
black opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is more popular than
the ruling Zanu-PF Party.

The camps, which have been established to help to ensure victory for Mr
Mugabe in parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, are similar to
those used in the late 1990s to brainwash the youth militia. The gangs,
known as the Green Bombers, were responsible for murder, rape and torture of
opposition campaigners and supporters.

Lecturers warn that "all police personnel must have nothing to do with
enemies of Zimbabwe, who include all members of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change Party and former white commercial farmers", the officer
said.

Trainees are taught that the Government drive to restore land to poor blacks
has succeeded despite "economic sabotage by Britain and her Western allies
opposed to the land redistribution program", the lecture notes state.

A police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, refused to comment on the training
courses.

Earlier this year, the Government admitted that it had trained more than
18,000 youths under its controversial national youth service - the Green
Bombers - program.

The MDC has threatened to boycott the March poll because of fears that its
members will, once again, face beatings, abductions and intimidation.

The Telegraph, London
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Observer, Gambia

      Gambia excluded in press friendly list
      By Bakare Muritala
      Nov 5, 2004, 10:23

The Gambia has not been included in the list of countries that respect press
freedom.

According to an annual index of press freedom by Reporters Sans Frontiers,
Benin, Mali and Ghana are countries in West Africa that have made noticeable
improvements, polling 27, 56 and 57 respectively in world ranking.

"In addition, South Africa is ranked 26, Cape Verde, 38, Namibia, 42,
Mauritius, 46, Botswana, 50. These are countries that have traditionally
respected press freedom," the RSF report stated.

The Gambia is also not mentioned in the list of worse repressive countries.
Zimbabwe is deemed one of the worst repressive countries against the press,
worse than war-torn Iraq and Cote d'Ivoire, according to world media rights
watchdog, Reporters Sans Borders (RSF).

Zimbabwe is ranked 155 out of 167 countries polled. Iraq is ranked, 148 and
Cote d'Ivoire is 149.

President Robert Mugabe, is lumped together with some of the world's worst
dictatorships such as Burma, 165; Eritrea, 163; and North Korea, which
anchors the list at number 167. In the Southern African nation, journalists
can be jailed for up to two years for denigrating state.

In its citation on Zimbabwe, RSF said: "The media landscape is almost as
denuded in Zimbabwe. Since the repeated attacks by the authorities on The
Daily News, the independent press has been reduced to one or two weeklies
with a limited circulation.

The Daily News, which was Zimbabwe's only independent and largest
circulating daily newspaper, was last year forcibly shut down and its
equipment seized by armed police because it had not registered with the
government's Media and Information Commission.

According to RSF, countries with the greatest Press freedom were Denmark,
Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway. Of the 20 top-ranked
countries only three, New Zealand, 9; Trinidad and Tobago, 11; and Canada,
18 are outside Europe.

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Zim Daily

Friday, November 5, 2004

HARARE CITY COUNCIL DOES IT AGAIN

HARARE- BELEAGURED Harare City Council has for the second year running
missed the deadline for the submission of budget proposal to the ministry of
Local Government, it emerged this week.

All local authorities were supposed to submit budget proposals to the
ministry by October 30.

The news came in wake of revelations that Bulawayo had unveiled a $1,1
trillion budget that would see tariffs shooting up to 250% by July. The
Bulawayo budget is awaiting approval from Government.

Last year Harare submitted its proposals in November. The full council
meeting in January approved the budget. Local Government minister Ignatious
Chombo endorsed the budget in April.

Council sources say the delay in meeting the deadline was necessitated by
the chaos at Town House.

Sources say it was unclear who was in charge of Harare. There is a committee
running the affairs of Harare. James Kurasha chairs the 7-member committee.

There is also acting Mayor Sekesayi Makwavarara and Zanu PF appointed
governor for Harare Witness Mangwende.

Sources attributed the chaos at town House to the absence of councillors who
monitor developments in the city.

There are only 8 councillors remaining after Movement after councillors
elected on a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ticket resigned this year
citing interference from Chombo.

For council to pass resolution a quorum constitute 16 councillors. Initially
Harare had 45 councillors.

Since the suspension and subsequent dismissal of elected Mayor Elias Mudzuri
council affairs have not been properly run.

Council spokesman Leslie Gwindi said the council was in the formulation
period consulting internally.

"We are putting together the figures and once we have completed the figures,
we will present them for consultation," Gwindi said.

Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), a civic group that speaks on
behalf of residents, castigated the delay by council to unveil the budget
saying that "the move had put council in a difficult position to negotiate
on tariff increases over a period of time".

ZIMDAILY CORRESPONDENT

editor@zimdaily.com
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Zim Daily

Friday, November 5, 2004

BENNET HAS SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF STATE SECRET AGENTS SINCE 2000

HARARE - PARLIAMENT overlooked the horrible experiences of jailed
Chimanimani Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Bennet at the hands of State
security agents and ruling party militants since May 2000 when it voted in
favour of jailing the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP last Thursday.

According to a fact sheet produced by the MDC this week, Zanu PF
militants, army personnel and policemen, led by fugitive Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agent Joseph Mwale illegally invaded
Bennet's Charles wood Estate farm on 89 occasions and none of the
invaders was arrested for the several offences that they committed
while on the farm.

Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman yesterday refused to comment. He
said: "You are operating outside our laws. I have no
comment."

The MDC said it was shocking that Bennet had survived the harassment from
state security agents and ruling party supporters between May 10 2000 and
August 2004.

"Since May 2000, there were 89 illegal farm invasions, two illegal
arrests and three assaults on Honourable Bennet," the MDC said.
"There were three rape cases of young farm women who worked for the MP. Most
shocking was the murder by known Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officers of
24-year old Shemmy Chimbarara, who was shot in the head and died instantly.

"In the majority of the cases, the perpetrators are known and yet, as of
this date, no arrests have been made and no body has been brought to the
Courts for their crimes. The army again shot and wounded farm worker John
Kayitano before they burnt down the house of Bennet's farm manager Amos
Makaza."

Bennet clashed with Zanu PF and the government since 2000 after he was voted
MP for Chimanimani constituency to become one of the few MDC MPs
representing a rural constituency in parliament.

President Robert Mugabe upped the pressure for Bennet to vacate
Charles wood estate when he told a gathering in Mutasa district that whites
like Bennet and De Klerk, a farmer in Odzi should be removed whatever the
prize because they allegedly represented British and American interests.

De Klerk jointly owned Kondozi Estate with businessman Edwin Moyo before
government, through the Agriculture Rural Development Authority (ARDA)
forcibly took over the farm, displacing over 5 000 workers and their
families.

The dispute over the ownership of Charles Wood Estate led to the
displacement dispossession of over 800 men, women and children from the farm
on several occasions with repeated media reports of rampant stock theft and
property destruction in the guise of land reform.

The farm invaders, the majority being known Zanu PF supporters, war
veterans, and CIO agents, are alleged to have axed to death one breeding
bull, 36 milk cows and calves with 700 herd stolen including theft and
subsequent sell of 150 tonnes of coffee by ARDA.

The opposition party said: "It must be reiterated that the facts
alluded to above are only a tip of the iceberg - Bennett and his
entire farm work force have been under siege, illegally harassed,
assaulted, arrested, detained, displaced and dispossessed for over
four years, with absolutely no recourse to the law."

The MDC said at the height of the illegal farm invasions, the
invaders burnt alive Bennet's cat and killed a dog belong to the
security manager using spears and snares.

The governor for Manicaland Major General Mike Nyambuya has publicly stated
that he would take over Bennet's farm. Reports from sources in Mutare
yesterday indicated that Nyambuya had appointed a Major Mosebeya as his farm
manager. Mosebeya, the sources said, was now occupying Bennet's homestead.

The MDC named some policemen and CIO agents among them, the infamous Mwale
as being the culprits in the rape cases, assaults and thefts at Charles Wood
Estate.

Nathan Shamuyarira, the Zanu PF secretary for information and
publicity and George Charamba, the government spokesman could not be reached
for comment on the allegations against their party and the government. Their
mobile phones were not reachable

ZIMDAILY CORRESPONDENT

editor@zimdaily.com
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Zim Daily

Friday, November 5, 2004

ZIM TO RUN OUT OF FOREIGN CURRENCY
HARARE-ZIMBABWE will run out of foreign currency in the next few months if
the current tide on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's foreign currency auction
market persists.

The Reserve Bank's foreign currency inflows have continued to dwindle as the
auction market fails to meet demand for the elusive hard currency.

In past two months, the RBZ has made available only US$270 million against
total applications for foreign currency of US$891 million.

The average rejection rate rose from 66 percent in August, to 87 percent in
September and 88% in October this year. Figures obtained from the RBZ's
auction market show that in September alone the RBZ rejected 87% of the bids
for foreign currency, allotting only 13%.

Total bids amounting to US$ 419 million were rejected in the same month and
the RBZ allotted only US$90 million out of a total of US$509 million bids.

In October only US$70 million was made available at the auction market
against total bids of 10339 amounting to US$382 million. The central bank
rejected 8984 amounting to US$312 million.

Although foreign currency receipts during the first nine months of this year
significantly rose to US$1,2 billion against US$301 million for whole of
2003; currency allocations at the auction have failed to meet demand.

Foreign currency improvements have been attributed to the improvement in
gold deliveries to the official channels such as Fidelity Printers. The
Zimbabwe dollar has also continued on a downward trend losing ground against
major currencies. It closed the month weaker against the South African Rand,
Botswana Pula and the Euro, while it remained stable against the US Dollar.

Currently the dollar is trading at $8000 to the greenback, $14500 to the
British Pound, $1400 to the South African Rand and $2200 to the Botswana
Pula. Economic analysts say the government must re-ignite the manufacturing
sectors of the economy as opposed to monitoring the performance of the local
currency.

Production capacity figures indicate that the manufacturing industry, which
should be bringing foreign currency in Zimbabwe is still depressed.

The growth rate in the overall index of the volume of manufacturing
production tumbled by 13,4 percent in the first five months of 2004,
compared to a decline of 8,3 percent registered in the corresponding period
in 2003.

For the twelve months to December 2003, the sector declined by 11,3 percent
against a contraction of 5,8 percent in 2002, according an economic report
by Zimbabwe Financial Holdings Limited released recently.

Major contraction in output during the period under review occurred in the
sub-sectors of drink and tobacco, down 35 percent; metals and metal products
(22,3 percent); paper, printing and publishing; clothing and footwear as
well as chemical and petroleum products which respectively shrunk by 16,5
percent, 12,1 percent and 11,1 percent.

The decline in the manufacturing sector also saw the decline in foreign
exchange inflows.

ZIMDAILY CORRESPONDENT

editor@zimdaily.com
Back to the Top
Back to Index