http://news.yahoo.com
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Southern African leaders need to get tough with
President Robert Mugabe or ask the United Nations to step in, Human Rights
Watch said Saturday ahead of a crunch summit on Zimbabwe's crisis.
A
new 47-page report accuses Mugabe's ZANU-PF party of using Zimbabwe's
police
and judicial system against the opposition and civil society despite
a unity
accord signed in September.
The New York-based body estimates that 163
people have been killed in
political violence since the country's disputed
March elections, which saw
Mugabe lose his majority in parliament for the
first time since
independence.
"ZANU-PF's institutions of repression
remain intact, and there has been no
change in their abusive conduct and
attitude," said Africa director
Georgette Gagnon in a statement.
"The
regional leaders in SADC need to get tough on the party leader, Robert
Mugabe, or ask the United Nations to intervene," she added.
South
Africa will host an emergency summit of the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) on Sunday, when heads of state from the 15
members will try
to resolve a deadlock over the sharing of key cabinet posts
between Mugabe
and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Gagnon said it was time for the
regional bloc to put pressure on ZANU-PF.
"It mistakenly trusted former
South African president Thabo Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy and his belief that
Mugabe would restore the rule of law and
respect human rights," Gagnon
said.
Zimbabwe's unity accord brokered by Mbeki is teetering on the verge
of
collapse over a protracted dispute on which party will control the most
powerful ministries, especially home affairs which oversees the
police.
The South African government this week warned that Zimbabwe's
impasse --
which has seen the country plunge farther into humanitarian
crisis -- was
becoming a threat to regional stability.
http://www.eastandard.net/
Updated 23 min(s)
ago
Today, leaders of 15 African States meet under the aegis of Southern
African
Development Community in Johannesburg to try to unlock the
power-sharing
impasse in Zimbabwe.
They will meet hours after the
influential leader of South Africa's African
National Congress Jacob Zuma,
who is expected to be SA's president after
election next year, proposed the
use of 'force' to disentangle the standoff.
Zuma's country has bore the
brunt of the three million refugees fleeing
Zimbabwe, as the think-skinned
President Robert Mugabe, presides over the
world's worst case of
hyperinflation. Mugabe is accusing peaceful and stable
neighbouring Botswana
of interfering in the internal affairs of his tattered
fiefdom.
Zimbabwe is not only grappling with the reality of empty
shop shelves and
pump station tanks, but worrisome food shortages, and
annual inflation that
has now soared above 230 million per cent. Robust
America, which is a global
economic powerhouse, just for reasons of
comparison, has an annual inflation
rate of three per cent.
It is a
sad moment for Africa as Mugabe plays a lethal game of ping-pong
over who
will take which seats, given that across in the troubled Great
Lakes region,
which was the epicentre of the 1994 genocide, it is another
sordid exodus of
hapless humans as a rag-tag militia kills innocent
civilians.
The
prospect of violence in Zimbabwe is real, and this week Mugabe's rival
said
torture camps had been set up and opposition sympathisers were being
harangued by goons associated with the President's Zanu-PF.
It has
been a long and arduous road for Zimbabwe, whose life expectancy
under
Mugabe has dropped by half, even as he blames the economic ruin under
his
watch on sanctions by Western states. That would not, however, stop him
from
thumping his chest while spewing such 'patriotic' and 'nationalistic'
epithets against Western 'imperialism'.
On September 15, Mugabe and
his fiercest rival, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai who is
Prime Minister-designate and
leader of the Movement for Democratic Change,
signed the unity government
deal to avert war. Mugabe did not mince words,
even before the ink dried up
on the deal signed before eminent African
leaders, that it was humiliating.
As it turned out he had other ideas,
probably by signing he was bluffing
even as he groped for a safety valve
that would help ease the pressure on
himself.
The agreement that would have seen Tsvangirai as the PM hit the
brick wall
when Mugabe opted to dish out key Cabinet positions to members of
his party.
The MDC leader accused Mugabe of unwillingness to compromise and
live up to
his end of the bargain.
Today, it is another agonising
moment for a country that has not had a full
and functional government since
the sham elections in March. Tsvangirai, who
boycotted the rerun because
Mugabe took up the instruments of State and its
monopoly of violence, won
the first round. Mugabe, in his usual streak of
bigotry and raw display of
arrogance, then promised his opponents he would
tear them apart.
It
is time the region stopped handling Mugabe with kid gloves in the pretext
of
non-interference in the internal affairs of another State. Pressure must
be
intensified. To sit on our laurels hoping for divine intervention is to
be
his accomplice in the catastrophe.
http://africa.reuters.com
Sat 8 Nov 2008, 14:57
GMT
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders said on Saturday
Zimbabwean parties should stop arguing about the allocation of government
posts and reach agreement at a summit this weekend.
A political and
economic crisis in Zimbabwe has forced millions of
Zimbabweans to leave
their country, mainly to South Africa, to escape food
shortages and high
inflation.
"At the moment they are quibbling around the distribution of
ministries. We
think this is a luxury we can least afford," South African
President Kgalema
Motlanthe said on SABC radio.
"They should be
striving to form one government for the people of Zimbabwe
so that they can
begin to tackle the challenges of economic recovery and
political
stability."
The Southern African Development Community is due to meet in
Johannesburg on
Sunday to try to solve an impasse between President Robert
Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over allocating cabinet posts
under a
power-sharing deal they reached in September.
South Africa's
government on Thursday said it would take a tough stand at
the summit. This
was a sharp change from the style of former President Thabo
Mbeki, whose
softly-softly approach as official southern African mediator
has been
criticised as ineffective.
SADC's Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao told
reporters: "We have to be
always optimistic. We need to have an optimistic
approach when it comes to
Zimbabwe."
"I believe it is the hope of the
Zimbabweans, the hope of the region, that
we will have an inclusive
government in place so that it can concentrate on
the burning issues ... in
particular the humanitarian part. Time is not on
our side."
Past
meetings of regional heads of state have failed to produce a
breakthrough
and there were signs that the parties may face another round of
difficult
negotiations.
Salamao said Tsvangirai was in South Africa for the summit
and Mugabe and
Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction were invited but
had not yet
arrived.
SABC
November 08,
2008, 15:00
President Kgalema Motlanthe has emphasised that fact that all
political
parties in Zimbabwe should get serious and refrain from engaging
each other
in what he has called trivial issues. He was speaking after
re-registering
in his new voting district in Pretoria.
Motlanthe says
Zimbabwe's political impasse cannot be allowed to drag on
forever. He says
he hopes the extra-ordinary SADC summit, to be held in
Sandton tomorrow,
will come up with a lasting solution.
The extra-ordinary summit was
called after the SADC Troika on Defence,
Politics and Security failed to
broker a settlement on cabinet allocations
in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile,
Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo says they
are anxious
about tomorrow's SADC heads of states summit, which will be the
final push
to resolve the current political stalemate in that country.
Leaders of
the 15-nation regional bloc are due to meet in Johannesburg. They
will try
and solve the impasse between President Robert Mugabe and
opposition MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai over the allocation of cabinet posts
under the
power-sharing deal, which was reached in September.
http://ap.google.com
By DONNA BRYSON - 43 minutes
ago
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - President Robert Mugabe's peers are
losing
patience, the top negotiator for the Zimbabwe opposition said on the
eve of
an extraordinary regional summit called to deal with the southern
African
nation's power-sharing deadlock.
Tendai Biti, who has been
trying to form a unity government between Mugabe's
ZANU-PF and Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, said in an
interview with The
Associated Press on Saturday that Mugabe was increasingly
surrounded by a
new, democratic breed of leader. Biti singled out Botswana's
President
Seretse Ian Khama, who has condemned state-sponsored political
violence in
Zimbabwe and called for internationally supervised elections to
resolve its
leadership crisis.
Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF party responded by
accusing its neighbor
Botswana of training militants to overthrow him,
charges that Khama and Biti
dismissed. Biti said the accusations were the
sort of "grandstanding" and
"nonsense" Mugabe's neighbors were no longer
prepared to accept.
"With Mugabe, you're dealing with a very arrogant,
very experienced
dictator," Biti said. "You've got to deal with Mugabe,
first, with courage.
Second, you've got to have a game
plan."
Increasingly, Biti said, African leaders were bravely saying to
Mugabe:
"You're wrong, wake up."
As for a game plan, Biti said he
expected leaders at Sunday's Southern
African Development Community summit
in Johannesburg to press for what the
opposition sees as a fair division of
Cabinet posts in a proposed unity
government. The opposition in particular
wants the ministries that control
police and finance - posts Mugabe has
tried to claim unilaterally for
ZANU-PF.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed
in September to share power, with Mugabe as
president and Tsvangirai as
prime minister. But the deal has not moved from
paper to reality because of
the Cabinet dispute, leaving Zimbabweans without
leadership as their economy
collapses. Inflation is the highest in the
world; health, education and
public utility infrastructure is crumbling; and
the U.N. predicts half the
population will need food aid by next year.
Biti said Zimbabweans needed
an urgent solution, but that they could not
expect a dramatic breakthrough
at Sunday's one-day summit. That did not mean
the opposition was ready to
abandon the regional bloc's mediation effort,
which has been under way for a
year.
"You make progress in small steps," Biti said.
Earlier
Saturday, Human Rights Watch recommended the leaders meeting Sunday
seek
more help from the U.N. and the African Union. Human Rights Watch has
long
questioned the strategy of the regional bloc's mediator, former South
African President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki says confronting Mugabe would be
counterproductive. But critics say Mbeki's quiet diplomacy amounts to
appeasing an increasingly brutal dictator.
http://www.sabcnews.com
November 08, 2008,
12:00
Zimbabwe's state media blamed the opposition today for the deadlock
over a
power-sharing deal and called on President Robert Mugabe to go ahead
and
appoint his new cabinet.
"We urge President Mugabe to exercise
his constitutional prerogative by
appointing cabinet as soon as possible,"
the state-owned Herald daily said
as regional leaders gathered for a crisis
summit in South Africa.
"We have wasted too much time as it
is."
Regional leaders aim tomorrow to put pressure on Mugabe and rival
Morgan
Tsvangirai to resolve their differences and form a unity government
in line
with a September 15 power-sharing agreement.
The formation of
an inclusive government between Mugabe's ZANU-PF,
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway faction of
the MDC has been delayed
by bickering over the allocation of key cabinet
ministries.
The
Herald blamed the stalemate on the MDC, accusing the opposition party of
making endless demands that were stalling further progress.
Singing a
different tune?
"Regrettably, the MDC-T (Tsvangirai) leadership, whose
prevarication stalled
previous rounds, is singing a different tune that
appears designed to
scupper tomorrow's talks," the Herald said.
The
paper suggested the parties should share control of the home affairs
ministry - one of the most contentious portfolios due to its control of the
police and security apparatus.
"Since the parties do not trust each
other over home affairs, we believe
ZANU-PF's proposal, endorsed by the
(regional Southern African Development
Community) troika, to co-share the
ministry is the best way forward," said
the newspaper.
The MDC has
accused Mugabe of allocating all key ministries to his party.
Meanwhile,
Mugabe and Tsvangirai are under mounting pressure to end their
feud on
forming a unity government, ahead of a regional summit this weekend.
SADC
leaders are meeting in Johannesburg tomorrow for urgent talks in a
last-ditch attempt to save the power-sharing deal signed on September
15.
The agreement had been hailed as a step toward ending months of
political
turmoil and halting Zimbabwe's descent into economic chaos. The
inflation
rate is estimated at 231-million per cent. But the deal now hangs
on whether
Mugabe and Tsvangirai can agree on who will control the most
powerful
cabinet posts, particularly home affairs, with its oversight of the
police. - Sapa
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za
Michael
Trapido
AFP is
reporting that the Zimbabwean state media is blaming the opposition
for the
deadlock in the power sharing deal and urging President Mugabe to
simply go
ahead and appoint his own cabinet.
What a load of
cockcustard!
This is so far removed from the reality as to demand an
explanation lest all
those who work for the state media be burdened with the
hostility which will
surely flow once the situation is resolved. The reality
is that Zanu-PF
controls what goes in and out of the state media and any
attempt to deviate
from the party line is slapped back into
place.
After the power sharing deal was reached certain members of the
Herald tried
to put a more balanced slant on the items they were covering
only to be told
in no uncertain terms that they were counter revolutionaries
and better get
a grip on what Zanu-PF consider the reality.
Or
else.
I have received comments from their members to my articles on
"Traps" as
well as by email, which suggest that they too would love to see a
restoration of normality in Zimbabwe. They would never, however, dare to
suggest it in public.
Never forget, lest you be too judgmental, that
these people earn their
living from working for the state media and, like
the National Party
spokesmen and women of the South African press during
apartheid, are happy
to go along with the flow.
You might suggest
that this lacks courage, which in a way it does, but that
is far too
simplistic. Like the apartheid crowd many of them grew up
believing in papa
Zanu-PF or the National Party and were taught that
anything good flowed from
Mugabe and all evil emanated from those who dared
to oppose
him.
Pretty much the same as we in South Africa were taught about the
terrorists
in the ANC who would slaughter every white and impose communism
on the day
they seized power.
As in the case of many South Africans
who refused to accept the evil of
apartheid, they could have refused to work
for the Zimbabwe state media. Of
course that presupposes that before they
started working there they were of
the view that Mugabe and the Zanu-PF were
in the wrong.
That is not the case for many.
In the main much of
the worst of the Zanu-PF onslaught occurred post the
2000 referendum. (Yes I
am fully aware of the massacres and history prior to
that). The slow train
to genocide, which has now become an express bullet
train, was not in most
of their contemplation as yet.
Now that they are fully involved and aware
that this train is going to
derail, they are "voting" Zanu-PF, through their
writing, but hoping that
the power sharing deal stops the train in
time.
In other words where the "state media" suggests that Mugabe appoint
the
cabinet, which will effectively destroy any hope of Zimbabwe's power
sharing
deal coming to fruition, it is a Zanu-PF functionary who has
dictated what
the government mouthpiece has said.
As is common
knowledge, if the MDC don't obtain Home Affairs and Finance as
part of their
13 cabinet portfolios, the international community will laugh
off the new
cabinet in terms of any investment into Zimbabwe.
As we all know the
overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans, the international
community and dare I
say it the SADC region now wants to see Tsvangirai
taking the reigns in a
power sharing deal.
And that includes many in the State
media.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 2:29
pm
http://www.bloomberg.com
By Brian
Latham
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change
denied as
``absolutely ridiculous'' a claim made by President Robert
Mugabe's party
that it has established militia bases in neighboring
Botswana.
The allegations were made as members of Mugabe's Zimbabwe
African National
Union-Patriotic Front party and the MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai prepare to
meet for talks in South Africa tomorrow. The
negotiations are the latest bid
to break a stalemate that has pitted Mugabe
against Tsvangirai since
disputed presidential and parliamentary elections
on March 29.
Two days ago, Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper,
which backs
Mugabe, quoted senior Zanu-PF official Patrick Chinamasa as
saying the MDC
plans to destabilize Zimbabwe from bases in Botswana.
Chinamasa, who is
Zanu-PF's chief negotiator in talks with the MDC, alleged
that unnamed
western backers hoped to use Botswana as a base to undermine
Zimbabwe.
``It is typical Zanu-PF tactics, but it is they who have the
sinister agenda
because they're desperate,'' Nelson Chamisa, an MDC
spokesman, said in a
telephone interview from Harare today. ``As before,
they have concocted
charges and created false stories to justify targeting
and victimization of
their political competitors.'' Zanu-PF has throughout
its history ``made up
stories of political destabilization to undermine
democracy,'' he said.
Botswana dismissed the claim yesterday and invited
the Southern African
Development Community, or SADC, a development body
comprising 15 African
states based in Botswana, to investigate
immediately.
Zanu-PF, the MDC and a splinter group of the MDC led by
Arthur Mutambara
will meet with SADC officials in South Africa tomorrow. In
a Sept. 15
agreement brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki,
the
parties agreed to share power without specifying which of them would
control
each ministry.
From The Cape Times (SA), 7 November
Deon de Lange
The South African government
has raised the volume in its approach to the
ongoing political crisis in
Zimbabwe, moving closer to "megaphone diplomacy"
and away from the much
criticised "quiet diplomacy" of former president
Thabo Mbeki. The Cabinet
yesterday expressed "extreme concern" over the
failure of Zimbabwe's
political leaders to conclude a power-sharing deal. It
said the Southern
African region "cannot be held to ransom" by the three
parties' failure to
agree on ministerial posts. "This is becoming a matter
of extreme concern to
us and we will be taking a pretty hard stance to make
sure that an agreement
is reached quickly," government spokesperson Themba
Maseko told journalists
at a post-Cabinet briefing yesterday. The Cabinet
meeting came as regional
heads of state prepare for an extraordinary
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) summit to be held at the
Sandton Convention Centre on
Sunday, where the situation in Zimbabwe and
renewed violence in the east of
the Democratic Republic of Congo will be
discussed.
The
Zimbabwean parties are all expected to attend the meeting, which will be
hosted by President Kgalema Motlanthe as the current chairperson of the
multilateral body. "It is our view that the (SADC) heads of state must now
take urgent steps to make sure that political solutions are found to the
situation . (and) we believe the failure of the parties to agree on a new
Cabinet is becoming a major hindrance to the political stability we so
desire in the SADC region," said Maseko, in one of the strongest
condemnations yet by the South African government of the lack of progress in
the Zimbabwe talks. He said the government "will be taking a very firm
position" to make sure the negotiating parties in Zimbabwe "understand the
urgency of finding a settlement". The United Nations World Food Programme
has appealed for $140 million to feed nearly four million Zimbabweans who
face starvation as hyperinflation, unfavourable weather conditions and the
ongoing political deadlock lays to waste the country's domestic food
supplies.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Herald
Reporter
SIX more people from Budiriro, Harare, have succumbed to
cholera,
bringing the death toll to 15 following an outbreak that hit the
suburb last
week.
The latest deaths occurred at Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases
Hospitals this week. The hospital was designated for
cholera cases along
with Budiriro Polyclinic.
In a statement
yesterday, the City of Harare's Health Department said
more than 260 people
had been admitted at Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases
Hospitals and
Budiriro Polyclinic.
"Budiriro high-density suburb has been subject
to an intense cholera
outbreak since last week. The outbreak has to date
caused 15 deaths - all
from Budiriro suburb - while 267 patients were
attended to at Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases Hospitals.
"Harare has set up an exclusive cholera camp at Budiriro Polyclinic to
deal
with the outbreak and Beatrice Road Infec- tious Diseases Hospitals as
a
referral centre.
"This is meant to concentrate council's resources
towards the war
against the disease. Staff has also been increased at the
Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases Hospitals to ensure sufficient attention
to patients,"
the statement said.
The two centres will remain
functional until the outbreak is
contained.
The statement
further appealed to residents to seek urgent medical
attention at the
slightest suspicion of cholera discomfort such as vomiting
and
diarrhoea.
It also urged them to boil drinking water, wash hands
with running
water and avoid shaking hands at funerals.
The
city, read the statement, would continue providing clean water
through
bowsers to Budiriro residents while an assessment of the boreholes
to be
sunk in the suburb is being carried out.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6949#more-6949
November 7, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabweans have reacted angrily to the plunder of
US$7.3 million
donated by the Global Fund to buy medicines for Zimbabwe's
sick, with people
living with HIV/AIDS calling for a national apology,
investigation and
prosecution of those responsible.
Outraged
Zimbabweans said they were incensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ)'s
squander of US$7.3 million, part of US$12.3 million that the
Geneva-based
donor group, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria.
The
money was deposited with the central bank last year to help in the fight
against the three major communicable diseases in Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria.
Dr Michel Kazatchkine, executive director
of the Global Fund, confirmed
Friday that the RBZ had late Thursday night
reimbursed US$7.3 million of the
money.
The Global Fund had requested
the immediate release of the money in
September, but the Reserve Bank
promised it would return the funds by
November 6. Through its release
Thursday night, the Reserve Bank honoured
that commitment, Kazatchkine
said.
"The Global Fund greatly appreciates this development which will
accelerate
the live-saving activities of the malaria, TB and HIV programs
supported by
the Global Fund in Zimbabwe," said Kazatchkine.
"We
expect that this signals a more effective way of working in Zimbabwe,
accelerating delivery of interventions against the three diseases in the
country."
The Reserve Bank also informed the Global Fund that all
funding recipients
would be permitted to use US dollars for all transactions
within Zimbabwe,
eliminating exchange rate risks in Zimbabwe's
hyper-inflationary
environment.
The Global Fund said it would
continue its work to ensure that future
disbursements to Zimbabwe reach
recipients without risk of diversion or
delay, Kazatchkine said in a
statement to The Zimbabwe Times Friday.
Outraged Zimbabweans said if the
Global Fund had not publicly raised this
issue, the funds would have been
chewed by the central bank.
Nyasha Murota, a 32-year-old woman living
with HIV/AIDS said she was shocked
by the "stunning silence" of the
Anti-Corruption ministry or the
Anti-Corruption Commission on this case of
misuse of public money.
"Even the State media is complicit in trying to
cover up this scandal," she
said. "Why are they not telling us how the RBZ
used our money? What form of
justice is that which makes fools of
us?
"The people who stole this money must face the music, period. The RBZ
has
committed genocide; people have died because they could not get
treatment.
And the people who stole the money are allowed to walk this
earth? What form
of justice is that? Shame on us."
Irene Petras,
director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said it
was pertinent
to note that, although the RBZ had publicly admitted that the
funds had been
used and not paid over for projects approved by the Global
Fund, there had
been "a resounding silence" over the matter.
She said no explanation had
been given as to where exactly the funds went
and what they were being used
for.
"For this reason, the RBZ's misdemeanours substantiate accusations
and
perceptions by all reasonable people that it is contemptuous of the
suffering of the majority of Zimbabweans and their fundamental rights,"
Petras said.
"The revelations by the Global Fund further confirm the
long-held argument
that the RBZ is unnecessarily deviating from its core
mandate and using
funds held on behalf of non-governmental and
inter-governmental
organizations in an unlawful and non-transparent
manner."
The Anti Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT - Southern
Africa) issued
a statement expressing shock at the misuse by the Government
of Zimbabwe of
money from the Global Fund and calling for a national apology
and
investigation and prosecution of those responsible.
Health
Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa, sought to shift blame to the central
bank
for the theft.
"We strongly recommend that the Global Fund looks at other
means to disburse
this money, recommending that any future grants come
straight to programme
implementers instead of through RBZ, so that we
minimise the interferences,"
Parirenyatwa said.
"We hope the Global
Fund will consider this proposal and not deny the people
of Zimbabwe
money."
Cephas Zinhumwe, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe 's
National
Association of NGOs (NANGO), said those who looted the funds must
face
justice, adding the people felt cheated by the central bank.
The
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights demanded that the RBZ immediately
provide
information about how these funds were utilized, in terms of what
laws, and
why, as it is a matter of public interest.
The lawyers also want the
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to explain
why the funds were seized
and utilized by the RBZ when it is the Country
Coordinating Mechanism (CCM)
chaired by the ministry, which applied for the
administration of the grant,
is responsible for its correct and transparent
implementation.
The
human rights lawyers are also demanding that the Anti-Corruption
Commission
immediately institutes an urgent public inquiry into the
developments and
undertakes a complete and transparent audit of the
activities of the RBZ,
particularly the use of donor funds on a wide scale
for unknown
projects.
"Organizations such as the UNDP and other sub-recipients of
such public
funds need to carry out close monitoring of the movement and
usage of the
funds to ensure that only those who are approved beneficiaries
of the funds
and the related projects benefit from them," the statement
says.
"The RBZ and the de-facto government should cease blaming undue
political
influence for the country's political and socio-economic woes when
it is
clear that such state institutions, themselves, are contributing to
the
failure to deliver for the most vulnerable people and groups affected by
the
escalating humanitarian crisis."
http://kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=982
So the Global Fund to Fight
Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria did an audit on
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) and discovered that £4.5 million of the
£65 million grant money
allocated to Zimbabwe was no where to be found. They
are demanding the money
back, and rightly so.
Mr Gono is understood to have said the money was
diverted "for other
national priorities". Just when you thought the regime
had their fill of
looting, they sink even lower.
But it is no secret
where the money was diverted to. The Mugabe government
has spent a fortune
importing tractors, combine harvesters, limousines,
plasma televisions and a
range of other expensive items. These were handed
out to Mr Mugabe's
cronies, magistrates and others, while cash was used to
bribe
voters.
If ever the ICC needed an excuse to haul somebody before its
grand courts,
now is the time. I think the greatest crime against humanity
is deliberately
denying individuals, and a whole nation in our case - the
opportunity for
better health care and leaving them to die from preventable
diseases.
How does the man called Gono sleep at night?
That Gono
has so far returned $7.3 million of the money is also of no
consequence.
This is a complete outrage and we as the beneficiaries of that
fund and the
rest of the global community must ensure that this does not
happen again.
This regime has been allowed to trample us underfoot for too
long. We demand
proper accountability for that money, not the shallow
diversion Gono gave
yesterday when he said: "Only cheap minds would go as
far as to suggest
that the money was used to buy tractors and TV sets."
Oh
Really?
This entry was posted on November 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am by Natasha
Msonza
08 Nov 2008 04:20:15 GMT
Source: Human
Rights Watch
(Johannesburg, November 8, 2008) � Despite a
power-sharing agreement,
Zimbabwe's de facto ruling party continues to use
the police and justice
system as a weapon against opposition supporters and
civil society, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human
Rights Watch said
Southern African leaders meeting on November 9, 2008,
should insist the
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)
fulfill its formal
commitment to respect human rights, made when it signed
an agreement on
September 15, to share power with the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
The 47-page report, "'Our Hands Are Tied': Erosion
of the Rule of Law in
Zimbabwe," documents how ZANU-PF has compromised the
independence and
impartiality of judges, magistrates and prosecutors and
transformed the
police into an openly partisan and unaccountable arm of
ZANU-PF. The report
also documents how police routinely and arbitrarily
arrest and detain MDC
activists, using harassment and detention without
charge as a form of
persecution. The Southern African Development Community
(SADC) will hold its
summit meeting on November 9 to discuss the situation
in Zimbabwe.
"ZANU-PF's institutions of repression remain intact, and
there has been no
change in their abusive conduct and attitude," said
Georgette Gagnon, Africa
director at Human Rights Watch. "The regional
leaders in SADC need to get
tough on the party leader, Robert Mugabe, or ask
the United Nations to
intervene."
Human Rights Watch researchers
conducted more than 80 interviews in August
2008 with victims of political
violence, lawyers, academics, serving and
retired magistrates, and police
officers in six provinces of Zimbabwe. It
found that after the first round
of general elections on March 29, senior
police officers issued specific
instructions to police officers across
Zimbabwe not to investigate or arrest
ZANU-PF supporters and their allies
implicated in political violence. Almost
all senior police officers in
Zimbabwe openly support ZANU-PF, in breach of
their duty to remain
politically neutral.
Human Rights Watch found
that, although there have been at least 163
politically motivated
extrajudicial killings since the March elections, the
police have only made
two arrests, neither of which led to prosecutions.
Almost all the victims
have been MDC supporters.
The report also highlights the fact that
ZANU-PF militia and supporters
continue to suffer no penalty for abuses
carried out in the aftermath of the
recent elections. Members of the ZANU-PF
militia who have been accused of
killing six people in Chaona on May 5
continue to walk free. ZANU-PF
supporters who have been accused of killing
an MDC councilor, Gibbs
Chironga, and three others in Chiweshe on June 20
have not been
investigated. The killing of Joshua Bakacheza, an MDC driver,
on June 24 has
not resulted in any arrests. The police also refuse to
investigate the
abduction and beating by ZANU-PF youth of thousands of MDC
supporters.
This lack of accountability for mistreatment in Zimbabwe
remains entrenched
despite the signing of the power-sharing agreement on
September 15. Police
continue to detain accused persons beyond the 48-hour
statutory limit, show
contempt for court rulings, and frequently deny
detainees access to legal
representation or relatives. Several former
detainees have reported to Human
Rights Watch that police officers
frequently beat or mistreat those in
custody.
On September 18, police
in Masvingo arrested the president of the
Progressive Teachers' Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Takavafira Zhou for
organizing a strike to protest poor
salaries. He was held without charge in
solitary confinement for four days
without access to water, a toilet, or
blankets, before being released. There
are new reports this week of MDC
supporters being abducted and
tortured.
"SADC has had numerous opportunities to condemn ZANU-PF's
abusive behavior
and demand change," Gagnon said. "It mistakenly trusted
former South African
President Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy and his belief
that Mugabe would
restore the rule of law and respect human rights. SADC
must now make sure
that ZANU-PF respects both the letter and spirit of
sharing power. Only then
will we see the fundamental reforms necessary for
restoring normality and
human rights protection in Zimbabwe."
HRW
news
http://www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 8th November 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Going to
visit a friend in trouble this week I saw a very large green snake
trying to
cross a main road. I was on a service road which ran parallel to
the highway
and watched in horror at the events that followed. The snake
must have
already been hit by a car because as hard as it tried, it couldn't
get off
the road. It raised its head and neck and tried to lunge forward but
barely
moved at all. Thrashing from side to side, tongue flicking, the snake
managed to creep forward a little towards the bush on the roadside but it
wasn't enough and freedom and safety was so near and yet so far. Suddenly a
stream of cars came by and one hit the snake full on. A gruesome end was
inevitable and intervention was impossible. Later, when I passed the same
place again, the snake had gone but a handful of people were standing around
looking at something on the roadside and the assumption was
obvious.
This is exactly how it feels to be in Zimbabwe this November
2008. No matter
how hard we try, we just can't move forward. Change and
democracy is so near
and yet so far away.
People have almost given up
hope of ever getting to the other side of the
road to freedom and safety in
Zimbabwe's journey. It's been eight years
since farms were seized, Title
Deeds rendered worthless and commercial
agriculture destroyed. It's been
five years since independent newspapers,
radio stations and television
channels were closed down. Its been four years
since we've been able to buy
fuel from filling stations and nearly two years
since we've been able to buy
food in supermarkets. It's been seven and a
half months since we voted to
change the government of Zimbabwe. Throughout
all these years the assault on
opposition politics, private businesses,
charities, professionals and all
sectors of civil society has been
unrelenting as time and time again we've
been hit head on but still we
struggle desperately to reach the
end.
Its a shocking thing to admit but most of us don't know how many
Zimbabweans
have died in the struggle to change the governance of the
country. A
conservative estimate must be of at least seven hundred people
who have been
killed in political violence in the last eight years. Multiple
thousands
have been arrested and incarcerated for their political
associations or for
daring to protest. Included amongst these are the
outstandingly brave women
of WOZA whose leaders Jenni and Magodonga were
finally granted bail this
week having spent 3 weeks in prison after being
arrested during a peaceful
demonstration in Bulawayo. We also don't know how
many Zimbabweans have had
no choice but to leave the country since the year
2000. A conservative
estimate must be of at least four million people living
in self imposed
exile in the region and abroad.
As I write this
letter the leaders of the Southern African Development
Community are about
to meet, again, to discuss Zimbabwe. We wonder if they
know that ordinary
people here have no food - no maize meal, flour or rice.
If they know that
it is our main growing season but ordinary people have no
seed to plant and
no fertilizer for the soil. If they know we are forbidden
from drawing
enough of our own money out of the bank to buy more than 2
loaves of bread
and are having to buy imported food in US dollars and South
African Rand. Do
they know that hospitals have no medicines and that nurses
earn enough to
buy only two loaves of bread a month. Do they know that
children at most
rural government schools have had no lessons for many
months and have not
written public examinations.
Perhaps the SADC leaders do know all these
things and will find the courage
to insist at last that the voices of the
ordinary people must be heard and
respected. We voted in March, chose new
leaders and have been writhing on
the road for too long.
Until next time,
thanks for reading, love cathy
http://www.cathybuckle.com
7th November 2008
Dear
Friends.
Tuesday November 4th 2008 was a day to remember. Watching the
millions of
people waiting patiently in line to vote in the US elections was
to see
democracy in action. There were people of every race and colour and
of all
ages, standing for as long as five or six hours to cast their votes
for a
new president of the most powerful country in the world. Whatever
one's
feelings about the United States, it was hard not to be impressed by
the
absolute commitment of the American people to exercise their democratic
right to choose a new government. A comment by one of the people standing in
line said it all: "It's like you see in developing countries," she said
referring to the thousands of people waiting in line. And she was right,
that unknown voter. I was reminded of 2002 in Zimbabwe when people turned
out in their thousands to vote and we saw long lines snaking around the
polling booths only to have our hopes dashed yet again of a free and fair
election as Zanu PF and Tobiawa Mudede once again stole the people's
victory. As the saying goes, 'It's not who votes that counts but who counts
the vote.'
Not in the States or not this time anyway. No endless
delays, no mysterious
pauses while the figures were massaged and
manipulated; within hours of the
last vote being cast in this vast country
the first results were announced.
People had stayed up all night and not
just in the UK but all round the
world, glued to their televisions waiting
for early results to come in. When
I went down to my local newsagent at six
o'clock the next morning the
results were already in and to my astonishment
every single newspaper, even
the tabloids, normally only concerned with
images of half-naked females or
sporting heroes, had Obama's victory as the
front page story. It was history
in the making but for some reason known
only to themselves and their
political masters, the Zimbabwean
state-controlled media as far as I can
discover chose to ignore one of the
most important political developments of
this new century. An African
American had been voted overwhelmingly by
people of every colour and none as
the 44th President of the United States
and Zimbabwe's ruling party has
nothing to say!
Watching Obama's acceptance speech in Washington later
that day was to
witness a moment of history similar to Mandela's
installation as President
of a new South Africa, or the collapse of the
Berlin Wall or Martin Luther
King's 'I have a dream' speech. One knew
instinctively that something had
changed forever; a wrong had been put right
and the balance had been
restored. Nothing can expunge the horrors of
slavery but the for the first
time the White House will be inhabited by a
young African American family
who as Obama himself pointed out have the
blood of slaves and slave owners
running in their veins. As he spoke the
cameras panned the vast crowd and
many were openly weeping. It was the sight
of Jesse Jackson with tears
streaming down his face that will remain forever
in my mind. Such a long and
bitter struggle it has been for men and women
like him but they have never
given up hope. "We never gave up hope," said
Maya Angelou, the African
American writer. "Hope is all you have in the
struggle for freedom. We knew
it would come but we never believed it would
be in our lifetime."
No matter which side you were on you could not fail
to be impressed by the
dignity and grace of Obama's acceptance speech. It
will go down in history
not only as an example of great oratory but for the
leadership and vision
that it demonstrated to a fractured and divided nation
torn apart by wars in
Iraq and Iran and by an economic crisis that threatens
the lives of
thousands of ordinary Americans. Obama will I believe be a
president for all
Americans , "Whether you voted for me or not" as he said.
It has nothing to
do with skin colour; it is a question of national
identity.
Compare the generosity and magnanimity of Obama's speech with
the hatred
that pours from the lips of Mugabe and his cohorts and you see
the
difference between true leadership and the arrogance of power for its
own
sake. The argument I have read this week that the election of an African
American to the White House will weaken Mugabe's hand against the US is not
supported by past examples of racist rhetoric from the master of hate
speech. It seems not to matter to him whether his perceived enemies are
black, white or any shade in between, the truth is that if you are not with
him you are against him.
As we head to yet another SADC Summit to
resolve 'the Zimbabwe problem' what
is desperately needed is not misguided
pan-Africanist loyalty for Mugabe and
his outdated policies but real
leadership and vision from the assembled
African leaders. The lives of
millions of Zimbabweans depend on their
ability to force one old man to see
sense. It is beyond belief that the
political survival of an 84-year old
dictator who has ruled for almost
thirty years carries more weight with
these African leaders than the fate of
11 million African citizens. Dare we
hope that this time common sense,
decency and human compassion will prevail
and the nightmare for Zimbabweans
will end before too many more die of aids,
cholera or plain starvation?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/2535
We are on the eve of yet
another gathering of African leaders aiming at
trying to break the deadlock
between the country's disagreeing political
parties. Whether the summit will
succeed in breaking the deadlock is still
to be seen, but actions by Robert
Mugabe's Zanu PF seem to portray otherwise
as reports of as resurgence in
politically motivated violence and abductions
filter through.
I
boarded a commuter omnibus from Chitungwiza with a couple of bold men who
were not afraid to discuss politics and share their political opinions
freely in a public setting, something not very popular in these parts of the
world where fear of Mugabe and his repressive machinery reigns.
The
whole bus went silent when we began discussing politics, re-affirmation
of
28 years of living in fear in this so called democracy of ours, a
democracy
where people are even scared to share their opinions. It made me
wonder how
we as a people are expected one day to take the bull by the horns
and
confront Mugabe and his administration when we are scared of him to the
extent that we can't speak out against his misrule and debauchery.
A
story was shared about how last week on a trip into town an unknown guy
was
manhandled and almost assaulted after telling some passengers who were
exercising their right to freedom of expression to shut up and stop politics
talk. Tempers easily flare these days, as the current economic hardships
people are facing on a daily basis result in them bottling up anger and
depression to be released at the slightest provocation. I was to learn that
the angry guy had spent the past 4 days trying to retrieve his money from
the bank, had just resigned from his job as policeman, and had lost his wife
to another man who offered her better financial stability.
The guys I
talked to expressed shock and outrage at the cholera outbreak and
how the
Mugabe administration is handling it and denying that people are
dying of
the deadly infection. One of the guys was in the high density
suburbs of
Glenview and Budiriro and said that he saw the cholera outbreak
coming as
the residents had gone for more than a month without clean
drinking water
and relied on water from nearby unprotected wells.
In regards to the
starvation in rural Zimbabwe, I learnt that Stan Mudenge,
a Zanu PF stalwart
openly admitted that people are dying of hunger in his
Chivi constituency,
in direct contrast to fellow Zanu PF MPs who are still
denying that their
constituents have gone hungry and are in desperate need
of food aid.
Emphasis was put on the idea that Zanu PF MPs should visit
their respective
constituencies regularly and personally asse the impact of
their ruinous
policies instead of denying the status quo and pretending
everything is OK
in the house Robert Mugabe built.
It was then brought up that the
Zimbabwean people are very thankful of
Robert Mugabe's service to the nation
and but he should just go as he won't
be able to lead a people who despise
him and a parliament where he has no
majority for the first time since 1980.
The man no longer has a "legacy" to
defend as he personally took it upon
himself to destroy it and now is
embarrassed to be man enough to step
down.
In regards to the summit, the guys predicted that it would probably
end in
failure as Zanu PF is not prepared to lessen its grip on political
power and
the way forward for the country being the holding of another
election under
tight international supervision, a demand that Zanu PF wont
yield to as its
leaders know how unpopular the party is.
This
entry was written by Freedom Writer on Saturday, November 8th, 2008
http://www.africanpath.com
November 08, 2008 07:35 AMBy
Sokari
Ekine
3 weeks after being arrested WOZA activists, Jenni Williams and
Magodonga
have finally been released from Mlondolozi Prison... They report
some
horrific conditions such as having to share cells with mental health
patients and being subjected to body searches everyday whilst male prison
guards are free to wonder around.
The extreme hunger experienced by
most prisoners means that even orange
peels and the scraps on dirty plates
are fought over. There is also no
privacy for the female prisoners. Male
prison guards are allowed to wander
around the female prison and can see
into washing facilities. Prisoners in
Yard Two are also stripped naked every
day for inspection by prison officers
as they are locked down. At least
three minors (aged 15 and 16) were being
kept in the same cell as
Williams
Life on the outside of prison is not that great either. Apart
from women
being invisible in the media and political landscape they are
also living to
survive a life expectancy of just 34 years. Living to survive
physical and
sexual violence and 300 million % inflation (don't even bother
to do the
math) forage for food and scrape through the days. Shereen Essof
comments on
the political infighting and maneuvering over the past 6 months
none of
which has addressed the needs and priorities of women and therefore
the
freedoms of everyone.
The polarisation of Zimbabwean politics
means that women only have two
options (now three in truth, with the split
in the MDC producing MDC
Tsvangirai (T) and MDC Mutambara (M), along with
the ruling ZANU-PF). If you
take the time to examine the parties'
constitutions, election manifestos,
and programmes, none adequately
addresses or expresses a commitment to the
priorities and needs as
identified by women, thus none provides a really
viable alternative for a
new dispensation that seeks alternatives that allow
for the freedom of all.
For this freedom is not something to be decreed and
protected by laws or
states, it is something that we shape for ourselves and
share.
But
despite the very real dangers, women are also struggling hard against
the
daily tyrannies of living. How many have survived these past months and
years is incredible as the odds against them are high on every level not
just from the tyranny of the state and their truncheon carrying battalions
of bullies but also from sexism and local patriarchies and as she writes
"being held hostage by three men"!.
The eternal', according to
Spinoza, 'is now', and women in Zimbabwe are
living history and taking it
very personally. The worst cruelties of life
are its killing injustices.
Zimbabwean women's acceptance of adversity is
neither passive nor resigned.
It's an acceptance that peers behind the
adversity and discovers there
something nameless. Not a promise, for women
know that (almost) all promises
are broken; rather something like a hiatus,
or parentheses, in the otherwise
remorseless flow of history. And the sum
total of these parentheses is
eternity and in that the knowledge that 'on
this earth there is no happiness
without justice'
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6945
November 7, 2008
By Mxolisi
Ncube
Johannesburg - South Africa-based Zimbabwean exiles remain
skeptical of the
Southern African Development Community's (SADC) ability to
resolve Zimbabwe's
political crisis, despite recent assurances by top South
African officials
that the country will adopt a tougher stance against
political leaders from
its northern neighbour this weekend.
The
15-member SADC bloc will Sunday hold a full summit in South Africa,
which
seeks to resolve the ongoing haggling over the sharing of cabinet
posts
between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition, which has delayed
the
implementation of a government of national unity.
On Wednesday, Jacob
Zuma, president of South Africa's ruling African
National Congress (ANC)
called on the regional leaders to find a solution to
the Zimbabwean deadlock
and warned that failure to do so would seriously
affect other Southern
African countries, some of which are already bearing
the brunt of Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis.
A day after Zuma's statement, cabinet
spokesperson, Themba Maseko, also
promised that his country would move away
from the quiet diplomacy that was
favoured by its ousted leader, Thabo
Mbeki, and adopt a tougher stance
against Mugabe and opposition leaders,
Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara of the splintered Movement for
Democratic Change.
However, some Zimbabwean exiles still believe that
despite South Africa's
recent shift, the SADC might still fail to reign in
the Zimbabwean leaders,
especially Mugabe, believed to be under pressure
from security chiefs and
his Zanu-PF party's Politburo, to call off the deal
if the opposition does
not accept a weaker role in the all-inclusive
government.
"It is good news that South Africa has at last heeded our
calls for it to
abandon its appeasement of Mugabe, but in this new policy,
it should have
the consensus of the region. From past experience, I doubt if
this will
happen, because other SADC leaders are still bedfellows with
Mugabe," said
an official from the Southern Africa Centre for Survivors of
Torture (SACST)
on Friday.
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Director, Gabriel
Shumba, said that the Sunday summit
would provide a stern test on the
regional bloc, and described the
Zimbabwean crisis as SADC's second biggest
challenge, eclipsed only by the
war situation in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC).
"Apart from the DRC, Zimbabwe has been the biggest challenge
for the region.
Success or failure in resolving this issue before it
explodes into a civil
war will be portentous for the future of the region's
ability to resolve its
own conflicts," said Shumba.
Shumba added that
even if the regional leaders manage to force a compromise,
it was highly
unlikely that Mugabe would respect the deal, saying that the
geriatric
leader would only hand over key ministries to the MDC to
"legitimise his
illegal regime, as well as paint florescent red lipstick on
intolerance,
tyranny and corruption".
"It would be naļve to think that Mugabe is
negotiating in good faith," said
Shumba.
The exiled human rights
lawyer added that if the SADC fails to get the
Zimbabwe deal working,
ordinary Zimbabweans would be acquiescence to the
repression under Mugabe,
more mass action to push for internationally
supervised free and free
elections, fleeing to neighbouring countries or a
civil war, which would
mean untold suffering to the masses.
"We are depressed and disillusioned
as exiles, that where there was a
glimmer of hope that we would go back and
rebuild Zimbabwe, there is now
only anxiety and gloom as to what the future
holds," said Shumba, on the
apparent failure by the Zimbabwean politicians
to resolve the crisis in the
country.
The exiles called on the SADC
leaders to remind Mugabe that he lost the
election and should therefore, not
dictate terms, but allow the opposition
to be an equal partner in the
all-inclusive government, which is expected to
steer the country out of a
the multi-facetted crisis that has dragged on for
close to a
decade.
"The current suffering of the masses of Zimbabwe can be blamed on
the
inability by the SADC leaders to find common ground in dealing with
Mugabe.
So far, we have witnessed the gradual loss of credibility and
integrity of
the SADC as a representative body for the entire people of
Southern Africa.
This issue must be resolved now and Mugabe must know that
he cannot continue
to hold the people at ransom because he lost the
election," said Andrea
Sibanda, chairperson of the Johannesburg-based
Matabeleland Freedom Party.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Saturday, 08 November 2008 17:07 Ashley
D. Mwanza
Exactly ten years since the last conflict dubbed the Second
Congo War in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it is back to haunt
Zimbabwe.
We reminiscence how imprudent our leaders were to
support the war to a far
fetched extent, stretching Zimbabwe's resources.
Main question to be asked
is who it really benefited. At that time in 1998
the first African countries
to respond to Laurent Kabila's request for help
were fellow members of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC),
with Zimbabwe and Angola at
the forefront.
On August 2,
1998, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) deployed troops to the
DRC, almost
half of the army at the time, to defend the regime of slain
Congolese leader
Laurent Kabila against a rebel incursion backed by Uganda
and
Rwanda.
While officially the SADC members are bound to a
mutual defence treaty in
the case of outside aggression, many member nations
took a neutral stance to
the conflict. However, the governments of Namibia,
Zimbabwe and Angola
supported the Kabila government after a meeting in
Harare, Zimbabwe on 19
August Several more nations joined the conflict for
Kabila in the following
weeks: Chad, Libya and Sudan.
A
multisided war thus began. In September 1998, Zimbabwean forces flown into
Kinshasa held off a rebel advance that reached the outskirts of the capital
city while Angolan units attacked northward from its borders and eastward
from the Angolan territory of Cabinda, against the besieging rebel forces.
This intervention by various nations saved the Kabila government, and pushed
the rebel front lines away from the capital. However, it was unable to
defeat the rebel forces, and the advance threatened to escalate into direct
conflict with the national armies of Uganda and Rwanda that formed part of
the rebel movement.
Rebels in DRC are now accusing Angola
and Zimbabwe of mobilizing troops to
fight in Congo in a repeat of a
1998-2002 war that drew in armies from a
half-dozen African nations. The
Zimbabwe officials vehemently deny this
accusation. The current conflict is
said to be fuelled by tensions left over
from Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Angola
and Zimbabwe fought for DRC in exchange
for access to copper and diamond
concessions. Rwanda and Uganda backed rival
rebel
factions.
President Robert Mugabe, lured by DRC's rich
natural resources and a desire
to increase his own power and prestige in
Africa sent troops to assist
Kabila, was the most ardent supporter of
intervention on Kabila's behalf.
Kabila and Mugabe had signed a US$200
million contract involving
corporations owned by Mugabe and his family, and
there were several reports
in 1998 of numerous mining contracts being
negotiated with companies under
the control of the Mugabe family. Mugabe
resented being displaced by Nelson
Mandela as the premier statesman of
southern Africa. The war was a chance to
confront another prominent African
president, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. As
the head of the SADC's Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security Mugabe
believed he could reclaim his position
as southern Africa's premiere
statesmen by aiding Kabila. Mugabe pitched the
war as an effort to shore up
a "democratically elected government."
Involvement in the war triggered a
precipitous decline in Zimbabwe's
economic performance and the value of the
Zimbabwean dollar. In addition, it
caused severe shortages of hard currency.
Despite protests at
home that Zimbabwean lives were being put at risk in an
ill-fated adventure,
as well as pleas from Nelson Mandela that the conflict
should have been
resolved by negotiations rather than firepower, in November
of the same year
Mugabe stepped up his support for Kabila. Zimbabwe then had
6,000 troops in
the DRC along with tanks, helicopters and Mig fighter
planes, costing an
estimated £1million a day. The budget at the time saw a
46 per cent increase
in defence spending. While Mandela wanted a negotiated
settlement in the
Congo, Mugabe believed that military intervention will
establish Zimbabwe as
a regional sphere of influence and refuses to
countenance talks with the
rebels. Oh right we are exactly that, the
negative centre of
influence.
Years went on and then a bodyguard shot and
wounded Laurent Kabila in an
assassination attempt on 16 January 2001. Two
days later Kabila died from
his injuries, some sources say he died on the
same day. It is unknown who
ordered the killing but most feel Kabila's
allies were to blame as they were
tired of his duplicity, in particular his
failure to implement a detailed
timetable for the introduction of a new
democratic constitution leading to
free and fair elections. Angolan troops
were highly visible at Kabila's
funeral cortege in Kinshasa.
In
April 2001 a UN panel of experts investigated the illegal exploitation of
diamonds, cobalt, coltan, gold and other lucrative resources in the DRC. The
report accused Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe of systematically exploiting
Congolese resources and recommended the Security Council impose
sanctions.
There was even criticism from within the upper
ranks of the ruling party,
ZANU-PF.
The increasingly outspoken then
chief whip, Moses Mvenge, accused the
government of getting its priorities
wrong. In an apparent reference to the
fact that more than 1,200 Zimbabweans
were dying each week as a result of
AIDS, Mr Mvenge said, "It is sad to note
that the death rate in Zimbabwe has
gone to levels above those found in any
war situation...The resource
allocators do not seem to realise that the war
back home is more serious
than the war in the DRC."
Plain
and simple the main reason as to why the war was supported was down to
greed
and pride.exactly what has destroyed Zimbabwe. The DRC war was a war
with no
victors. The DRC war has done more harm than good to the late
president's
allies, despite the immediate economic and security benefits for
Zimbabwe
and Angola. The commitment of forces to the Congo accelerated the
decline of
Robert Mugabe's regime as the Zimbabwean opposition made
opposition to the
war into its battle cry. For Zimbabwe, involvement in the
DRC was also an
economic affair. The president committed $200m to funding
the first war and
entered the second to defend the integrity of the country,
support his old
friend Kabila and, not least, protect his investments.
Although some of
the commercial holdings established at the time lined the
pockets of the
regime's bigwigs, they have done little for Zimbabwe itself.
The
international financial institutions penalised Zimbabwe specifically for
its
involvement in the DRC war, among other things by holding back a loan of
$240m, and the regime found itself in deep crisis.
Africa's "first
world war" was a defeat for the regime, Zimbabwe, the
Organisation of
African Unity (OAU) now (African Union) AU. Despite all the
meetings and
summit conferences, and the appointment of then Zambian
president Fredrick
Chiluba as mediator, the OAU proved incapable of imposing
a settlement. The
UN, too, has suffered a major setback. The war flashed
again and now it
brings bad memories to Zimbabwe.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Friday, 07 November 2008
06:36
Lusaka - The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on Thursday
suspended the verification of votes cast in last week's disputed
presidential election after supporters of new President Rupiah Banda and
opposition leader Michael Sata traded punches.
State radio
reported that a number of election workers got caught in
the middle when
fists started to fly at the hall where the verification was
taking
place.
Tensions are running high in Zambia, where the opposition
Patriotic
Front of Sata is refusing to recognize the outcome of last
Thursday's
election. Banda won the vote narrowly, with Sata coming a close
second.
The PF has accused the ECZ of rigging the election in
Banda's favour
and begun court action to obtain a recount.
Thursday's verification was a routine post-election exercise and not
part of
that request, ECZ spokesperson Chris Akufuna said. The process was
suspended
indefinitely.
Zambia was required to elect a new president after
ex-leader Levy
Mwanawasa died of a stroke in August. Banda was hastily sworn
in after the
election to serve out the remaining three terms in Mwanawasa's
second term.
He got 40,09 percent of the vote, against 38,13
percent for Sata. -
Sapa-dpa