The Zimbabwe Situation

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
13 October, 2011

This week has seen two High Court rulings against the seizure of Anglican
church buildings and evictions of staff by the ex-communicated Bishop of
Harare, Nolbert Kunonga.

The same court granted the renegade bishop provisional custodial rights to
Anglican Church properties earlier this year. And questions are now being
raised regarding the timing of this week’s reversals, as they come just days
after the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams met with Robert Mugabe and
asked him to intervene.
In one case the High Court nullified the eviction of 14 staff members and
clergy at Daramombe Mission near Chivhu in the Midlands. Headmasters,
teachers, nursing staff and priests were evicted last month as Kunonga
continued to use court judgements to loot church properties.
On Wednesday Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that the evictions at Daramombe
were illegal and the workers should immediately be reinstated.
According to the state run Herald newspaper, the new ruling stipulated that
Kunonga has no powers to evict “workers who are willing to submit to the
authority of anyone who is in lawful control of the institution, without
recourse to due process of the law.”
In the earlier High Court case that went against Kunonga, a former Anglican
bishop who used loyal priests and the police to take over a church building
illegally in Mutare was evicted on Wednesday.

Elson Jakazi, the ex-communicated Bishop of Manicaland and an ally of
Kunonga, was ordered to return control of the All Saints Zimunya Church to
the Church Province of Central Africa (CPCA), or face imprisonment at
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

Reverend Luke Chigwanda at All Saints told SW Radio Africa that the surprise
ruling by Justice Tendai Uchena on Monday was celebrated by parishioners as
they took back control of their church on Wednesday.
“Our people were not put off by the takeover. We worshipped outside in open
spaces and in fact we got stronger,” Father Chigwanda explained. All Saints
had been taken over a month ago by priests aligned to Reverend Jakazi, who
used the police to force the church wardens to hand over the keys.

Reverend Chigwanda was also cautious. He added that this is only the
beginning and he hopes that many other churches that were seized by Kunonga
are soon returned to the parishioners that built them.

Precious Shumba, spokesperson for the Harare Diocese under Bishop Chad
Gandiya, said the High Court rulings were not linked to Mugabe’s meeting
with Archbishop Williams, but they were “a good omen” and “coincidence worth
celebrating”.

“It’s a double victory because we hosted the Archbishop and also put a
dossier of the victimization of Anglicans into Robert Mugabe’s hands. The
facts are now in the public domain,” Shumba explained.
Meanwhile the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba, this week
described the dispute within the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe as “a result
not of schism but of thuggery.”
Dr Thabo Makgoba was part of the delegation that visited Zimbabwe with the
Archbishop of Canterbury at the weekend. In a statement released after the
visit, he said that he had taken the opportunity “to express the solidarity
of Anglicans in Southern Africa with persecuted Anglicans in Zimbabwe.”
The statement read in part: “In South Africa’s bleakest moments under
apartheid, we were held and encouraged by solidarity visits. If those who
persecute Zimbabwean Anglicans touch Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare, they
touch all Southern African Anglicans; if you touch Southern Africa, they
touch the Archbishop of Canterbury and all of us.”
The full text of Archbishop Makgoba’s statement can be found on our website.

Zimbabwe's Anglicans in rare victory following Archbishop of Canterbury visit

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Zimbabwe's Anglicans have won back control of a mission school previously
taken over by a renegade bishop in a rare court victory, just days after the
Archbishop of Canterbury visited to try to resolve the rift in his church.

By Aislinn Laing, and Peta Thornycroft in Johannesburg

4:58PM BST 13 Oct 2011

A High Court judge sitting in Harare ruled that 14 members of staff,
including the headmaster, house masters, a nurse and teachers, who were
evicted last month should be allowed to return to their posts at Daramombe
Mission School immediately.

The group were to forced to leave on September 6 after Dr Nolbert Kunonga, a
former Bishop of Harare who split from the main church in 2007 over the
ordination of homosexuals, declared a takeover of the school.

Dr Kunonga has seized an estimated 40 per cent of church property since he
appointed himself Archbishop of the Province of Zimbabwe in 2008. When
priests, teachers and nurses refuse to join his faction, they have
frequently found themselves forced out, often with the backing of police.

Last week, Dr Rowan Williams gave a powerful sermon in Harare in which he
denounced the "injustice and the arrogance of false brethren" and their
"Godless" assaults on members of Zimbabwe's 350,000-strong Anglican church.

He followed up with a visit to President Robert Mugabe, from whom he
extracted a promise to speak to Dr Kunonga, a staunch supporter of the
87-year-old liberation leader.

On Wednesday, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu said that Dr Kunonga and his
supporters had no right to take over Daramombe Mission, which includes a
primary and secondary school and a medical clinic.

"It is a fundamental rule of law that no one shall be evicted or
dispossessed without due process of law and without being heard," the judge
said.

Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa, the lawyer representing the evicted staff, said
they had been thrown out \along with their possessions by the area's deputy
sheriff on September 6.

"Those who were forced to leave were core staff and since then, the school
has been operating with great difficulty, especially as O and A-Levels exams
are around the corner," she said.

"The children were traumatised by what happened - they are neutral parties
who are being caught up in this factional fight."

The judgement coincided with another on a church in Manicaland, the eastern,
diamond rich province, where Dr Kunonga's faction was ordered to vacate All
Saints Zimunya Church.

Elson Jakazi, the former Bishop of Manicaland who was excommunicated by the
Church of the Province of Central Africa along with Dr Kunonga, was told he
would be "incarcerated in Chukurubi Maximum Prison for 90 continuous days"
if he did not obey the order.

Bishop Chad Gandiya, the Bishop of Harare, said he was hopeful the tide was
turning in the fight against Dr Kunonga's faction.

"It's too early to say whether the Archbishop of Canterbury's visit had an
effect, I think it's just the courts doing their job well," he said.

"But yes, there's excitement and yes, there's expectation that things might
now improve."

CIO offices and torture centres exposed countrywide

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

The 2008 list of CIO offices around ZImbabwe

By Lance Guma
12 October 2011

CIO list of offices 2008

SW Radio Africa has published a list on our website containing countrywide addresses of over 76 offices and buildings from which the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) work. The 2008 list includes telephone and extension numbers.

The justification for the exposure is that some of the buildings have been used to interrogate and torture abducted opposition activists. Hundreds of perceived ZANU PF opponents have been and continue to be abducted by CIO agents and taken to these offices to be tortured. In coming weeks we will continue to highlight the abuses that have been committed in some of these places.

In July SW Radio Africa published a list from 2001, exposing by name some 480 CIO agents working in and outside Zimbabwe. This newer document, dated 2008, contains around 759 telephone extensions and 76 different offices and buildings. We believe the number of telephone extensions shows that the organisation has grown in size over the years.

In Marondera is Hurudza House which is found in First Street. SW Radio Africa reported how MDC-T District Chairman Bakayimana and a youth organizer called Kainos were abducted on the 22^nd May 2008 and taken to this building. These and other abductions were conducted by the CIO and other state security agencies in the run up to the June 2008 one-man presidential election runoff.

Last year a remorseful ZANU PF militant confessed publicly at a bus terminus: “We tortured them at Hurudza House for weeks, before taking them to various secret locations. We wanted to use them as bait to lure Ian Kay (local MP) and Farai Nyandoro (local Mayor) to our killing grounds.”

Dressed in ZANU PF regalia the woman known as Chikanya also claimed she and CIO Deputy Intelligence Officer Farai Machekanyanga led a gang in the town that assassinated suspected MDC-T supporters and dumped their dead bodies in shallow graves and dams.

Chakanya added: “We even forced the captives to make distress phone calls for help from Kay and Nyandoro. When the plot failed, we had no option but to assassinate them and dump their corpses in Wenimbe dam. This is a ZANU PF tried and tested solution for dealing with betrayers, dating back to the liberation struggle,” she said. Chakanya was later also found dead in the Wenimbe dam.

On 67 Tenth Avenue in the Bulawayo City Centre is Magnet House. The rightful owner of the building is the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and its former military wing ZIPRA but the Mugabe regime seized this and other properties during a crack down against the late Joshua Nkomo and his party. Magnet House for years has been used as the Bulawayo headquarters of the CIO.

Four ZANU PF youths were in 2004 abducted by CIO agents and taken to Magnet House for allegedly supporting a ZANU PF faction opposed to notorious war vets leader Jabulani Sibanda. The youths approached the late Vice President Joseph Msika at his home and narrated their torture ordeal. They removed their clothes to reveal serious injuries to their private parts and bruises over their bodies.

In March 2009 SW Radio Africa reported how a man was thrown out of the 4th floor of Magnet House, at lunchtime. Huge crowds of shoppers converged on the scene as the man, identified as bank clerk Tawengwa Mavhunga, lay motionless on the road, covered by a red blanket. A Bulawayo City Council vehicle rushed the seriously injured clerk to the United Bulawayo Hospital.

The state owned Chronicle newspaper claimed Mavhunga lied to his mother that he had been abducted by the CIO when in fact he had slept at a girlfriend’s house. Our sources however said he was abducted after a clash with CIO officers making ‘dubious’ withdrawals from the bank where he worked. Mavhunga is thought to have asked too many questions about the transactions and become a target.

Curiously CIO agents are deployed at the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) in Harare on Alpes Road, Hatcliffe. Our list shows 39 telephone extensions suggesting a large number of agents are probably deployed there. The SIRDC mission statement says the organisation is there “to provide Zimbabwe and the region with technological solutions for sustainable development.”

The strangest deployment has to be in Harare at the Furniture Discount Centre. A single phone number is listed there, begging the question, what would be of interest to the CIO at such a location.

The most notorious torture centre used by the CIO is found in Goromonzi and is conspicuously absent from the list. SW Radio Africa understands it’s a prison complex at Goromonzi Police Camp, 40 km east of Harare. Evidence from the testimony of abducted former ZBC TV news presenter Jestina Mukoko suggests that she might have been taken there.

In December 2008 Mukoko was abducted in the early hours of the morning by six men and a woman who did not identify themselves. In her testimony she said they forced her into a Mazda Familia vehicle and ordered her to lie low on the seat of the car.

“Immediately a woollen jersey was put across my face, covering my eyes, nose and mouth (and) as a result I had problems breathing and almost suffocated,” Mukoko said. Once at the torture base Mukoko said they put her in solitary confinement for 19 days while trying to force her to admit recruiting youths for military training in Botswana to dislodge Robert Mugabe from power.

“Firstly I was assaulted underneath my feet with a rubber-like object which was at least one metre long and flexible, while seated on the floor. Later I was told to raise my feet onto a table and the other people in the room started to assault me underneath my feet. This assault lasted for at least five to six minutes. They took a break and then continued again with the beatings,” she said.

The Goromonzi torture base is so infamous that even a report on torture compiled by the Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition was titled ‘Cries from Goromonzi – Inside Zimbabwe’s Torture Chambers’. The report contained 23 harrowing testimonies from individuals tortured between 2000 and 2009.

The Crisis Coalition said their report exposed the “pervasive use of torture and imprisonment of citizens in secret detention camps in Zimbabwe to extract information, stifle public dissent and determine political processes and electoral outcomes.’

SW Radio Africa believes the list of offices and buildings it has published might help shed some light on where some of these abuses are committed and remove some of the fear that this secretive organisation has created in the minds of all Zimbabweans.

Locals to get 10 pct of Zimbabwe unit:Implats

http://af.reuters.com

Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:06pm GMT

* Expansion to raise Zimplats output to 360,000 ounces/annum

* Offers technical assistance at claim given to state

* $10 mln to fund empowerment programme

By MacDonald Dzirutwe and Nelson Banya

SELOUS, Zimbabwe, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Local communities are to acquire a 10
percent stake in Implats' Zimbabwe unit Zimplats under an empowerment deal,
Implats Chief Executive David Brown said on Wednesday.

Impala Platinum, the world's second-largest producer of the precious metal,
said in September a Zimbabwe government threat to remove Zimplats licence
had "fallen away" after an agreement on a revised plan to comply with a law
requiring foreign mining firms to turn over a 51 percent stake to local
blacks.

Speaking at the official launch of the Zimbabwe Community Trust set up as
part of the compliance measures, Brown said Impala Platinum planned a third
phase of its expansion programme at Zimplats from 2014 which would raise
output to 360,000 ounces per annum.

Since Zimplats would not be able to declare a dividend until its $500
million expansion project was concluded "the Zimplats board has agreed to
fund the operations of the Trust to the tune of $10 million over a
three-year period", Brown said.

He offered Zimplats' technical assistance to help state firm Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation mine a claim valued at $153 milllion he said had not
been utilised since being released to the government.

"In 2006, Zimplats released ground with 36 million ounces worth of resource.
We note, however, that there's no production on those claims. We offer our
technical assistance to bring that resource into production," Brown said.

Zimplats to invest up to $1 billion in Zimbabwe

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

SELOUS, Zimbabwe — Platinum miner Zimplats on Thursday announced a
$1-billion expansion plan for its mines in Zimbabwe, at a ceremony to mark
its first step toward complying with a new local ownership law.

"The company has to date invested $700 million. It is in the process of
establishing the second phase of our expansion plan which will cost $500
million," Zimplats chairman Dave Brown said at the ceremomy in Selous, west
of Harare.

"After the completion of the expansion in 2014, further expansion including
an underground mine and a concentrator valued at $1 billion will be
undertaken," said Brown.

He spoke at a ceremony to launch a community ownership trust, which will
hold a 10 percent stake in Zimplats and receive $10 million to begin
undertaking projects to improve schools, roads and bridges.

"Today our dream has been realised. Zimplats community trust will acquire 10
percent shareholding in the company," said Brown.

Zimplats, a unit of South Africa's Impala Platinum which is the biggest
foreign investor in Zimbabwe, is one of the first companies to take a step
toward complying with a controversial law requiring foreign firms to cede 51
percent of their shares to locals.

President Robert Mugabe, the biggest defender of the legislation, said at
the event the law was not meant to stifle foreign investment but increase
the role of Zimbabweans in the economy.

"The indigenatisation and empowerment laws are not intended to stifle
foreign investment. Far from it," said Mugabe.

"It is our vision to see more partnerships between indigenous Zimbabweans
and non-indigenous investors," Mugabe said near one of the firm's mines.

Foreign companies in Zimbabwe were given until September 25 to present their
plans to the government on how they will comply with the law. Zimplats was
given an extension to comply fully with the law.

The equity law has created tensions within the country's shaky unity
government, with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai arguing that it will
discourage investment.

Mugabe insisted that foreign investments in the county would be safe, if
they meet the new requirements.

Mines and banks are the main target of the law.

Zim Rejects Security Sector Reform

http://www.radiovop.com

HARARE – October 13, 2011 - The Zimbabwean government has rejected
recommendations and would not entertain any particular recommendation on the
security sector reforms from the United Nations’ Working Group of the Human
Rights Council.

In his closing remarks Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe will
only consider recommendations made in good faith. “On Security Sector
Reform, Zimbabwe will not even entertain the recommendation. Reform for who?
For what? How dare they recommend that to those who fought against
colonialism and all its ugliness, i.e. racism, injustices, discrimination,
oppression, torture, exploitation and total dehumanization should go. Where?
We will not be complacent and allow the creeping in of neo - colonialism! We
know how much they respect and venerate their war veterans including
reserving a day in their honour,” said Chinamasa in his address to the
Universal Periodic Review session Zimbabwe accepted 81 recommendations and
rejected 67 and will, according to Chinamasa, give due consideration to only
31.

Chinamsa said the recommendations were in two clear and distinct categories
and these were those from the Western countries and those from Africa, NAM
including Russia and China.
“Those from the Western Group are very paternalistic and condescending as
they are made in bad faith as if Zimbabwe is a colony. They seek to teach us
the so called human rights and values. This, we reject
because Zimbabweans fought for human rights and we dismiss totally those who
continue to pontificate and display this holier than thou attitude. They
continue to thwart our efforts through various means,
especially the "regime change agenda". Zimbabwe is better placed to teach
them human rights,” he said.
Chinamasa also criticised the International Criminal Court (ICC) describing
a kangaroo court meant to punish Africans and Asians only. “Is the West
Party to the International Criminal Court? NO! But they want us to be. These
countries happen to have some of their citizens who should have long been
docked at the International Criminal Court for having committed horrendous
crimes against humanity. To us in
Zimbabwe, it is very clear that the ICC was created to drag Africans, East
Europeans, Arabs and Asians for prosecution. It is truly a kangaroo court as
we now realize,” he said.
Chinamasa also blamed the targeted sanctions for the failure by the
government to fully implement the provisions of the Global Political
Agreement.

“On the full implementation of the GPA - yes, we are fully committed. What
is slowing or retarding the full implementation of the GPA is the illegal
sanctions. Secondly, the GPA can also only be fully implementable when the
pirate radio stations stop their hate broadcasts over Zimbabwe's air waves.
For the record, there are three major ones based in the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and the USA.
We say lift the illegal sanctions and stop the piracy in our airwaves,” he
said. Zimbabwe’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was held on 10 October 2011
in Geneva, Switzerland.

Defiant Chinamasa Rejects Human Rights Remedies

http://www.radiovop.com

Geneva, October 13, 2011 - Zimbabwe’s defiant government on Wednesday
rejected 67 recommendations to improve the country’s atrocious human rights
situation out of the 177.

Speaking during the consideration of the adoption of the Zimbabwe National
Report on Wednesday, a representative of the troika within the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) said the government delegation led by Justice and
Legal Minister Patrick Chinamasa had only accepted 81 recommendations out of
177.

The troika representation said the government undertook to consider the
remaining 31 recommendations which it will advise whether these will be
taken up at the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) scheduled for March next year.

The UPR is a unique human rights mechanism of the UNHRC aimed at improving
the human rights situation on the ground in each of the UN Member States.
Under this mechanism, the human rights situation of all UN member States is
reviewed every 4 years. At each of its meetings the Council devotes much of
its time to consideration of country reports from the process of review in
which every UN member State has agreed to participate.

Early this month, a coalition of 27 local and influential civil society
organisations (CSO)’s convicted the government for failing a human rights
appraisal.

The CSO’s including the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said the coalition
government has failed to implement its own declared objectives on key issues
like human rights, ending torture, freedom of expression and assembly,
relations with labour and trade unions other commitments.

According to the Advocacy Charter, which was prepared by local civil society
organisations in relation to the government’s National Report, Zimbabwe has
not ratified all the outstanding human rights treaties and their Optional
Protocols such the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Cruel or
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced
Disappearances.

The government has also not ratified the Optional Protocols to Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic
Social Cultural Rights and the Convention Rights of the Child.

The CSO’s noted that although the government had created commissions on
human rights, the media, anti-corruption and elections no measures were put
in place to ensure that the legislative framework for the independent
commissions comply with the international norms and standards and to address
human rights abuses which were committed over the last four years.

Who will counter Chinamasa’s fraudulent report?

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s twelfth session of the Universal
Periodic Review will this week at its meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, hear
the report on the situation in Zimbabwe.
10.10.1101:13pm
by Stanford G Mukasa

On the face of it, this looks like a great opportunity for the international
community to learn about the horrid and oppressive conditions Zimbabweans
are living under Mugabe’s regime as well as the fraudulent nature of the
supposedly coalition government.

If this were the best of all worlds, Zimbabweans would be looking forward to
the international body taking firm action against the Mugabe regime.

Ironically, the official human rights report on Zimbabwe will be presented
by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a sycophant of the Mugabe regime. A
copy of this report has been leaked to the public. It reads like fiction and
is reeking with fabrications. One can be forgiven for asking if this report
refers to some country other than Zimbabwe. It looks as though it could have
been in part written by Mugabe’s chief propagandist, Jonathan Moyo.

What is conspicuously missing is documented evidence of blatant
state-sponsored human rights abuse. A recent report by the United States
Department of State charged that Zimbabwe’s security forces last year
committed extra-judicial killings, tortured, raped, and effected arbitrary
arrests on opposition party supporters as the country’s human rights record
continued to worsen.

This is not the first time Zimbabwe has come under the periodic review of
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Zimbabwe has also being
brought before the African Commission on Human Rights. In all cases, human
rights organizations have fervently lobbied for strong measures against
Mugabe’s regime.

But each time attempts were made to either discuss or take action against
Mugabe, African members of the United Nations always came in support of
Mugabe. South Africa under Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria at one time actually
blocked a debate on Zimbabwe’s human rights abuse record. They argued that
Zimbabwe was Africa’s “internal affair” and should be left to the African
Union or SADC to handle.

A very simple and straightforward proposal to condemn the Mugabe regime for
its destruction of people’s properties under the so-called Operation
Murambatsvina was blocked by Thabo Mbeki’s South Africa – even after
voluminous evidence had been produced by a special representative of the UN
about the systematic abuse of human rights inflicted by the Mugabe regime on
civilians.

But when both the African Union and SADC were given the opportunity to
resolve the Zimbabweans crisis, they, for the most part, came way short.
Mbeki at one time said he saw no problem in Zimbabwe. He said this at Harare
airport after meeting Mugabe, when all around him in the country state
security agents and militia thugs were wreaking havoc on innocent civilians.
Somebody remarked that an MDC-T supporter could be shot dead by the militia
thugs right in front of Mbeki and he would still say he saw no problem in
Zimbabwe.

When over 500 hundred MDC-T supporters were murdered during the 2008
elections, SADC still came short of a fair and just solution to the crisis
in Zimbabwe. All the regional body could do was to make a toxic concoction
of what they called a coalition government in the unrealistic and pie-in-sky
daydream that power would be equally shared between MDC-T and ZANU. This, of
course, turned out to be a pipe dream because power remained firmly in
Mugabe’s hands. What more could anyone expect when Mugabe, the loser of the
election, was rewarded with remaining executive president in the coalition?

The tradition of the UN Security Council has been to punish a country if the
regional countries agree that the country in question is a threat to the
region’s peace and security.

Evidence has been shown that the unstable political and economic situation
in Zimbabwe poses a threat to the region. South Africa is now home to about
three million Zimbabwean asylum seekers.

Will the Chinamasa propaganda report on how Zimbabwe is complying with the
universal declaration of human rights hold sway and successfully mislead the
periodic review? Will the human rights organizations that have gone to
Geneva succeed in countering the Chinamasa report by giving the true picture
of what is happening in Zimbabwe today?

Will SADC accept that the situation in Zimbabwe now poses a threat to the
peace and security of region? If so, will SADC block, or assist in,
referring the Zimbabwean situation to the UN Security Council for action?

The MDC-T, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, has a major explanation to make. What
role did the MDC-T coalition partners in government play in the writing up
of this fraudulent and propagandistic human rights report on Zimbabwe that
Chinamasa will present to the UN periodic review?

If, as MDC-T deputy minister of justice, Obert Gutu, said last week, he had
no knowledge of this document, will the MDC-T officially inform the UN that
this document cannot be acceptable as the official human rights report of
the coalition government of Zimbabwe?

High Court order Mugabe to call by-elections

http://www.radiovop.com

Bulawayo, October 13, 2011-Bulawayo High Court Judge Nicholas Ndou on
Thursday ordered President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) to announce, within two weeks, dates for by elections in
three vacant constituencies in Matebeleland.

“I hereby order President Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe Electoral Commissions
(ZEC) to announce elections dates in Lupane East, Nkayi South and Bulilima
East in a period within 14 days,” said Judge Justice Nicholas Ndou in a
judgment read on his behalf by Judge Nicholas Mathonsi.

The three constituencies fell vacant after three Members of Parliament were
expelled from the House of Assembly in 2009 by the smaller faction of
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Deputy Welshman Ncube for
aligning themselves to the mainstream MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai. These were: Abdenico Bhebhe of Nkayi South, Njabuliso Mguni of
Lupane East and Norman Mpofu of Bulilima East.

The three made a High Court application last year seeking ZEC and Mugabe to
call for by-elections in their former constituencies as soon as possible.

The judge said dates for the by-elections in three constituencies must be
announced within a period of two weeks.

Speaking to Radio VOP outside the court after the judgment the three former
MP lawyer’s Matshobana Ncube of Phulu and Ncube Legal Practitioners said:“We
are very happy with the judgement, we now wait for the President and ZEC's
response in the next 14 days.”

Mguni who was present at the court was crying with joy and told journalists
that this was a victory for Zimbabwe and his new party MDC-T.

“I am very happy about this, final democracy will prevail this victory not
only for us but for all Zimbabweans,” said Muguni.

No by-elections have held since the unity government was installed in
February 2009 despite vacancies created by death and party infighting. There
are 18 vacant seats in Parliament at present.

Tsvangirai's MDC Demands New Electoral Commission Staff

http://www.voanews.com

12 October 2011

MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora noted that the current secretariat of the
reconstituted Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is the same staff that presided
over the 2008 elections which saw long reporting delays

Thomas Chiripasi & Jonga Kandemiiri | Harare & Washington

The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Zimbabwean Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday called for the staff of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission to be replaced before the next elections, saying a
clean sweep of the secretariat is indispensable to reassure voters on the
integrity of the elections system.

In a news conference following a meeting of the Tsvangirai MDC national
executive, party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said the MDC does not believe
that the current secretariat, carried over from a predecessor commission
though the panel's members were newly appointed, would perform its duties
professionally and impartially.

Mwonzora said the staff is aligned with ZANU-PF having been appointed under
previous governments headed by President Robert Mugabe.

Mwonzora said the MDC hopes South African President Jacob Zuma will take up
the question of the Electoral Commission among other issues on his next
visit to Harare in his capacity as mediator of differences within Zimbabwe's
unity government on behalf of the Southern African Development Community and
the African Union.

Mwonzora said the MDC executive also urged ZANU-PF, its governing partner,
to end political violence by its supporters, and urged an end to the
harassment of Anglicans who follow Harare Bishop Chad Gandiya rather than
the excommunicated former Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, who has retained
control of church assets.

Mwonzora dismissed reports that MDC Organizing Secretary Nelson Chamisa,
minister of information and communication technologies, and the former
Harare provincial chairman Morgan Femai, were asked to leave the meeting
during a discussion of statements that were attributed to them in US
diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks.

A US envoy reported that Chamisa disparaging comments about Mr. Tsvangirai.
Chamisa for years was the spokesman for the Tsvangirai MDC formation.

Mwonzora said Chamisa was not ejected from the meeting during the Wikileaks
debate and dismissed reports party members named in the US cables were being
purged.

Sources said Obert Gutu, MDC information secretary for Harare province (and
deputy justice minister), was suspended over his attributed comments in
leaked cables.

Mwonzora said Gutu's suspension from the party was reversed by the National
Committee based on the position taken last year by the National Council that
the party should not allow itself to be divided by Wikileaks disclosures.

Also, Nketa legislator Seiso Moyo was recently named and sworn in as deputy
minister of agriculture, a post to which MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett was
initially appointed in 2009 but never sworn in due to opposition by
President Mugabe.

Bennett was also quoted in leaked cables questioning Mr. Tsvangirai’s
leadership.

But Mwonzora said the decision to name Moyo to the post reflected the desire
to see that Zimbabweans benefited from an MDC appointee in the ministry.

Wikileaks are also being discussed by Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF.

Party spokesman, Rugare Gumbo confirmed the party is opening an
investigation into revelations that senior party officials confided in US
envoys.

He said President Mugabe told a meeting of the party central committee last
week that ZANU-PF must examine the origins and authenticity of the cables
citing discussions with envoys involving top officials including vice
presidents John Nkomo and Joice Mujuru.

Also quoted in leaked US cables were party strategist Jonathan Moyo, Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Indigenization and Youth Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere and ZANU-PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo. Gono was quoted saying
President Mugabe had prostate cancer which had spread, and he might not live
beyond 2013.

The probe comes as ZANU-PF prepares for its national people’s conference to
be held in Bulawayo in December to get ready for elections expected during
2012.

Party spokesman Gumbo told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that the ZANU-PF
leadership won’t let the Wikileaks issue divide the party.

Political analyst Charles Mutasa said ZANU-PF must tread carefully as the
Wikileaks scandal could fuel tensions between factions within the party.

MDC-T official beaten by soldiers for wearing Obama t-shirt

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
13 October 2011

A 32-year-old popular MDC-T official in Rusape, Manicaland province, is now
recovering at home after he was badly beaten by soldiers for wearing a
Barack Obama t-shirt.

Teddy Chipere, the MDC-T provincial secretary for Mines and Natural
Resources, was at his carpentry workshop in Vhengere on Thursday when a
soldier drove up in an army truck with the intention of buying furniture.

‘He enquired about the prices and I told him. He then noticed the Obama
t-shirt and asked why I was wearing it instead of Robert Mugabe’s.

‘I respectfully and in an honest manner told him I do not support Mugabe or
ZANU PF and I was under no obligation to wear a t-shirt bearing his face.
The soldier angrily shot off a few expletives, jumped into his truck and
drove off and I thought that was the end of the story,’ Chipere said.

But less than 15 minutes later, at around 11am, the army truck returned with
a group of 12 armed soldiers from the Rusape based 3.2 infantry battalion.

This battalion is under the command of Brigadier-General Douglas
Nyikayaramba, who famously declared a few months ago that Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai would not rule Zimbabwe.

Without asking questions the soldiers, in full view of Chipere’s colleagues,
bundled him into their truck and drove off.

‘I was taken to a farm called TikiTiki just outside Rusape. There at a
secluded place, I was pinned to the ground and lectured about the dangers of
supporting the MDC-T. Meanwhile, other soldiers were tearing off branches
from nearby trees.’

Whilst pinned down, face to the ground, the soldiers severely beat him,
leaving his buttocks with deep bruises. They also kicked and punched him
repeatedly over a period of 30 minutes.

During the beating, one of the soldiers grabbed his buttocks while
brandishing a long tree branch and threatened to sodomize him while others
subjected him to a mock execution.
Chipere said one soldier, whom he identified as Zimunya, pleaded with his
colleagues not to ‘hurt him’ because there were witnesses to his abduction.

‘If it wasn’t for that, these soldiers were out to hurt me badly. It was
also at this point that they drove me back to Rusape and left me at my
workshop,’ Chipere said, adding that the brutal attack was politically
motivated and brought on by the Obama t-shirt. But he says the beating will
not deter him.

‘We knew the dangers of supporting the MDC the day we joined the party. It
is a challenge but it is my belief the impunity will one day come to an end.’

Last year Chipere was hauled before the courts in Rusape on charges of
undermining and insulting Mugabe. The state alleged that Chipere likened
Mugabe to a dead person during an address to party supporters at Shiriimwe
Business Centre in Nyamaropa, Nyanga. The state case collapsed after they
failed to prove the accusations against him.

The MDC Today

Police arrest MDC councillor

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Pindai Dube
Thursday, 13 October 2011 08:53

BULAWAYO - Police here yesterday arrested and dragged to court, MDC Umguza
district chairman, Mxolisi Ndlovu who is also councillor for Ward 4 in the
area on allegations of defrauding the council of $25, but state prosecutors
threw out the case saying there was no evidence.

Ndlovu was arrested after chief executive officer of Umguza Rural District
Council, Colleen Moyo last week made a report at Bulawayo Central Police
Station alleging that he had defrauded the council of the money he collected
as travelling allowance on September 29 without attending a council meeting.

Speaking to the Daily News after his release yesterday, Ndlovu said Moyo
wanted to use police and the courts to settle personal scores with him.

“Moyo wanted to drag the police and the courts to settle personal scores
with me but he failed. He made a false report to police and I was arrested
and dragged to court this morning over $25, just imagine.

“But I am happy the case was dismissed by senior prosecutors at Bulawayo
Tredgold Magistrates’ Court as it has no evidence because I didn’t steal the
money,” said Ndlovu.

Ndlovu who was taken to court by Constable Muntali from Bulawayo Central
Police Station added that Moyo only wanted to fix him because last month he
moved a motion in a council meeting to discuss a tender which was awarded to
an obscure road construction company to construct Litshe Road in Umguza
district.

“This problem started when I demanded that the councillors should discuss
and probe how this strange company was awarded a road construction tender
ahead of other well established companies in the country who know their job
very well,” said Ndlovu.

No comment could be obtained from Moyo yesterday as he was said to be locked
up in meetings.

Umguza constituency located outside Bulawayo is under Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu.

Madzore bail hearing fails to take place Wednesday

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
13 October, 2011

The bail application for Solomon Madzore, the MDC-T Youth Assembly
chairperson, failed to kick off as scheduled on Wednesday at the High Court,
after State Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba claimed he could not make
presentations because he was “overwhelmed”.

The development came as the party revealed that some of the youth activists
who were attacked by the Chipangano gang last Friday had gone into hiding,
fearing for their lives. The youths were attacked after they demonstrated
outside the court last Friday, protesting Madzore’s arrest. Some of them had
been hospitalized.

Madzore was arrested last week and is facing trumped-up charges of murdering
police officer Petros Mutedza in Glen View back in May. Police arrested only
MDC-T supporters, claiming party activists killed the cop at a local pub,
despite evidence many were not even at that location on the day.

Without a prosecutor Madzore’s hearing was postponed to Friday by Justice
Hlekani Mwayera and he was remanded in custody at Chikurubi Maximum Security
Prison. A group of 7 MDC-T supporters are also still in jail facing charges
in the Glen View case.

Meanwhile the MDC-T youth league spokesperson, Clifford Hlatywayo, confirmed
that some of the youth activists who were released from the hospital did not
want to go home because they feared further attacks by the Chipangano gang,
who have support from the police.

A total of ten activists were treated and discharged from a private clinic
this week but three, who could barely speak, are still hospitalised.

South Africa deports 500 Zimbabweans in two days

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

13/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

SOUTH Africa resumed deportations to Zimbabwe with a fear-provoking show of
resolve this week.

More than 500 illegal immigrants had been delivered to the border at
Beitbridge by 6PM on Thursday, a day after Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour
lifted a two-year moratorium on removals.

The sheer scale of the numbers have surprised Zimbabwean authorities and
spread fear among the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who failed
to apply for legal status by a December 31, 2010, deadline.

A senior immigration official at Beitbridge said: “It’s shock and awe. We
have been told the numbers will rise. It’s reverse migration on a massive
scale.”

South African authorities believe there are more than 1,5 million
Zimbabweans living in Africa’s biggest economy, but just 275,762 people
submitted work permit applications which were decided by July 31 this year.

The deportees are being processed by immigration authorities at Beitbridge
before being passed on to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
at the border town which is providing temporary shelter, food, medication
and transport.

A steady migration of Zimbabweans into South Africa took place over the last
decade as Zimbabwe's economy tanked.

Many use illegal entry points on the border, risking flooded and
crocodile-infested rivers to seek a new life in the region's economic
powerhouse.

We can’t pay for transport to work: Airzim workers

http://www.herald.co.zw

Thursday, 13 October 2011 00:00

Herald Reporter
AIR Zimbabwe workers have asked management to grant them permission not to
report for duty because they do not have transport money since they have not
been paid since July.
The workers met the national airline's acting chief executive officer Mr
Innocent Mavhunga yesterday and told him that if they are not paid today,
they would not report for work tomorrow.
Mr Mavhunga confirmed the development but said management was working flat
out to pay the workers.

"All they simply said is that it's now three months since they were last
paid and that they don't have money for transport, food and rentals which is
a reality.
"They said they won't be able to come to work because they don't have the
money," he said.
Airzim board chairman Mr Jonathan Kadzura last night said the board and
management were running around looking for money.

"We want to make sure that the national airline remains afloat and I am
hopeful that we will get the money needed to pay them," Mr Kadzura said.
Some of the workers said they found it difficult to continue reporting for
work when they have not been paid for a long time.
"We told him (Mr Mavhunga) that we can't continue coming to work because we
don't have transport money, but he told us that he didn't have the powers to
authorise that.

"We are having problems where we stay because we have not paid rentals for
almost four months now and some of us are being evicted while our children
are being sent away from school," he said.
Another worker said: "We have had so many promises but they are yet to
materialise. All we are asking for is that management and Government be
considerate and do something for us."

The national airline is currently making losses with revenue inflows said to
be around US$3,5 million while outflows were above US$5 million per month.
Airzim management says for the national airline to make a profit, there was
need for it to retrench about 400 employees from a staff complement of more
than 1 200.

Corruption rocks multi-million Ethanol project in Chisumbanje

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
13 October 2011

The Chisumbanje ethanol plant, which cost $600 million to construct, is
reportedly embroiled in serious corruption allegations following revelations
that government only controls 10 percent of the shares in the project.

The controversy surrounding the money spinning project, approved by
government on the understanding it will have a controlling stake of 51
percent, has sucked in Joseph Made, the Agriculture, Mechanisation and
Irrigation Development Minister, according to the state media.

The ZBC news website reported that Made, and two officials from his
ministry, have been summoned by a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Agriculture to explain this anomaly.

During a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee meeting recently, at which Made
gave oral evidence, it was discovered the Ethanol project did not comply
with the country’s indigenization laws. The same committee, according to the
ZBC, heard information gathered by a national taskforce indicating that
government recommended against the project between ARDA and two firms,
Macdon Investments and Ratings Investments, which the state media said is
owned by business magnate, Billy Rautenbach.

A source alleged that Macdom Investments and Rating Investments Ltd are
foreign registered companies but 90% of their shareholding is owned by
Rautenbach. Arda, the local investment partner which represents the
government, controls the remaining 10 percent.

‘This is a major scandal which has been known and talked about in the
corridors of power. There is no public information on who is representing
government in the Macdom and Rating Investments board. The fact that Made
told Parliament he was also unaware of who controls what at the project
tells us something is not right at this plant,’ our source said.

‘This is a multi-million dollar project and people thought that by taking
short cuts and trying to hide information they would become very rich. What
these people forgot was that this project displaced over 300 000 people, the
same people who are demanding answers to this whole set up,’ the source
added.

The project, when fully operationally, is supposed to provide 70 percent of
Zimbabwe’s fuel needs and will also supply electricity to Mutare and several
parts of Manicaland.

Housing list soars to 1,2 million

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Own correspondent
Thursday, 13 October 2011 10:07

HARARE - The country’s housing waiting list has soared to more than 1,2
million due to continued shortages of affordable housing, Finance minister
Tendai Biti said.

Speaking in Bulawayo, during the official launch of the US$40 million
Insurance and Pensions Housing Fund, minister Biti said the government was
not financially stable to provide accommodation and required private-public
partnership.

“Recent authoritative statistics indicate that the demand for housing is
overwhelming, with a national housing waiting list of about 1,2 million
people throughout the country’s major urban centres,” Biti said.

He said lack of modern infrastructure, particularly affordable housing,
remained a major challenge to the country’s socio-economic development.

“There is a widening gap between the demand and supply resulting in the huge
waiting list. Major constraints for housing development include;
unavailability of affordable land, cost of servicing land, high cost of
building materials and absence of mortgage facilities,” the minister said.

He said population growth and urbanisation had worsened the plight of
Zimbabwean workers significantly over the past decade.

“To address this situation, it is important that collaboration between
government and private sector be promoted, given that the government has
limited resources,” he said.

“The major justification of this group is the need to ensure that the
policyholders benefit from their contributions and are afforded an
opportunity to own a house before retirement,” Biti said.

The Housing Fund will be administered by Old Mutual and beneficiaries will
access resources from participating building societies at an annual interest
of 11 percent repaid over 10 years.

Beneficiaries of the fund will be contributing members of insurance
companies and pension funds in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the minister said the country was not yet in a position to
re-introduce the use of the Zimbabwean dollar currency.

Biti said that it was imperative first to have a social contract and boost
the country’s exports before re-introducing the Zimbabwe currency.

“If we are to bring the Zimbabwean dollar today when the social contract is
not there, people would reject it.
People would ignore it and within six months we would be removing zeros,” he
said.

“We don’t have enough exports and people still do not have confidence in the
local currency,” Biti said.

He said the lack of a monetary union remained the biggest challenge to
southern Africa and Africa as a whole.

“It’s high time we move to a free trade area and have one customary union
and monitory union in the region,” Biti said.

“The problem is that there are some certain powerful countries that are
resisting the introduction of the regional currency,” he said.

Minister Biti said his ministry would be engaging certain countries in the
region so that they could find a way to integrate.

Power outages threaten Zimbabwe agriculture

http://www.businesslive.co.za

13 October, 2011 16:44
Patrick Musira

Incessant electricity load-shedding is threatening the future of Zimbabwe's
newly resettled farmers, beneficiaries of the government's land reform
programme, with the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union saying the
unscheduled and lengthy power cuts are pushing some of their members out of
business, besides making local farm produce uncompetitive on the market.

The mostly black ZCFU say they also fear another petrol bomb attack on their
members as the power utility has threatened to disconnect those with arrears
on their electricity bills.

A source at the farmers' offices told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE that the
planned tariff hike by the electricity utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) would have "an adverse effect on our farming operations as
farmers have to turn to diesel or even petrol standby generators to run
their operations due to the constant unannounced load-shedding".

"We're now fighting on several fronts - unscheduled power cuts, increasingly
frequent blackouts, as well as increased tariffs. All this in addition to
the low prices for our commodities on the market due to the flood of
imported produce, mostly from SA, is a challenge," the source moaned.

But the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC),
a division of ZESA, has moved in to allay fears of a looming disaster with
commercial manager Richard Katsande telling I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE
"nothing has so far been finalised with regards to disconnections".

"We're still in discussions with the farmers and other stakeholders on the
issue of clearing arrears," said Katsande after the recent 17th ZCFU
congress.

Katsande, speaking on behalf of his managing director, said: "We will chalk
out our future course of action and inform farmers thereafter. We're also
discussing debt payment plans especially with the tobacco farmers' stop
order scheme."

He also took time to describe the challenges ZESA was facing and measures
they are taking to address these challenges.

"ZETDC has already put a winter wheat power supply scheme into action," he
said.

Mugabe's violent henchman handed community service

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Mugabe's violent henchman handed community service after illegally earning
£150,000 in the UK as a carer

    Philip Machemedze broke the jaw of one victim with pliers in Zimbabwe
    Judge tells him to work for church for half a day a week and he will
avoid jail
    Tory MP said it's a disgrace he can hide behind Human Rights Act to
remain in Britain

By Rob Cooper

Last updated at 3:16 PM on 13th October 2011

One of Robert Mugabe's former henchman avoided jail today despite
fraudulently earning £150,000 in Britain working as a carer.

Phillip Machemedze, 47, worked in the drug and alcohol recovery unit at The
Priory for five years without a visa.

The defendant also worked for seven years as a support worker for the
Milestones Trust, a charity aiding people with learning disabilities.

After the sentencing a Tory MP said it was a 'disgrace' that people who had
committed crimes abroad to hide behind the Human Rights Act and stay in
Britain.

Machemedze, previously employed by the Zimbabwean dictator, successfully
applied for asylum to the UK last year - allowing him and his wife to
permanently stay in the country.

He was allowed to stay in Britain even though an immigration hearing was
told he broke one victim's jaw with pliers and shocked another person with
electric cables while working for Mugabe.

Machemedze - who is now unemployed and looking to claim benefits - admitted
two charges of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception.

But he was told he would keep his liberty if he volunteered for just half a
day a week at his local Pentecostal church.

Judge Julian Lambert, deferred his sentence for six months, and said: 'I
require you to work hard with your church to make better the lives of the
poor and needy.

'You should bring letters to show the good work you have done. I expect you
to devote half a day each week to serving the community through your church.

'If I see you have done good work when you return and I have your promise
that you will continue that good work I shall give you your liberty.'

Machemedze, who lives in Bristol with his wife Febbie, was a bodyguard to a
senior minister as part of Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence
Organisation.

Richard Posner, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, said Machemedze had
flown into London Gatwick from Zimbabwe in July 2000 and was given a
six-month visa but prohibited from working.

At the end of the period he stayed in Britain working illegally as a carer
at an adolescent unit within The Priory, a drug and alcohol recovery
hospital, in Stapleton, Bristol, from June 2005 to May 2010.

He also admitted being a support worker for Milestones Trust, a charity
aiding people with learning disabilities and mental health needs, from May
2003 to May 2010.

Bristol Crown Court sat in chambers to discuss his case, as it featured
issues that were beyond the jurisdiction of the country and because of
concerns for the safety of individuals abroad.

But when it reconvened in public, the court heard Machemedze had illegally
secured jobs by getting through several checks, including an enhanced
criminal record bureau check.

To obtain employment the Zimbabwean had also been able to provide the Home
Office letter, a National insurance number as well as birth and marriage
certificates.

Mr Posner said in April 2005 the HR manager at the Milestones Trust received
a tip-off that Machemedze was working illegally.

He told the court: 'At a subsequent meeting the defendant provided a letter
from the Home Office confirming he was allowed to work in the UK.

'That letter was deemed satisfactory and he was allowed to continue to work.

'This case is primarily the use of that Home Office letter in order to
create a deception that the defendant was legally allowed to work here.'

Mr Posner said when Machemedze successfully obtained work with The Priory,
he claimed he had worked in UK care since 1999 - but did not arrive until
the following year.

The court was told that in the seven-year period he had worked Machemedze
took home a net income of around £151,000, before he applied for asylum.

An immigration judge decided Machemedze could face torture if he was
returned home in May 2010.

He ruled that the African and his wife - who was also granted asylum - could
stay in Britain indefinitely and earn a living.

Jane Chamberlain, defending, said her client now had indefinite leave to
remain in the country and was allowed to work but was now unemployed and
seeking benefits.

Speaking after the hearing, Conservative MP Chris Skidmore labelled the case
a 'disgrace'.

Mr Skidmore, who represents Kingswood, Bristol, said: 'It's a disgrace that
our system allows these people who have committed crimes elsewhere to remain
in this country.

'It's ludicrous that people can hide behind the Human Rights Act in order to
prevent themselves from being sent back to their own country to face
justice.'

UK tycoon confirms Mugabe ouster plot

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Tonderai Kwenda, Deputy News Editor
Thursday, 13 October 2011 08:37

HARARE - Political flip-flopper Jonathan Moyo and British tycoon Sir Richard
Branson yesterday confirmed meeting and corresponding with each other about
a plan to oust President Robert Mugabe from power as the plot thickens.

According to WikiLeaks cables, the Virgin Group boss was approached by Moyo
to bankroll an initiative to force Mugabe to relinquish power in 2007.

WikiLeaks has also revealed that Moyo, whom the US government regarded as
their “useful messenger” in Zimbabwe, connived with the Americans on many
occasions to oust Mugabe.

Besides the startling WikiLeaks cables, Moyo has also previously been
accused by Mugabe of plotting a coup against him during the poorly
organised, so-called Tsholotsho Declaration in 2004.

The Daily News is reliably informed that the Branson deal involved the
dangling of a $10 million carrot — which Moyo disputes — to Mugabe to
sweeten the pain of his stepping down.

However, this did not materialise after emissaries sent by Moyo to Mugabe
either refused or failed to take the message to the octogenarian.

Branson, through his spokesperson, confirmed that Moyo approached him with
the Mugabe plot.

On his part Moyo, while confirming meeting the British billionaire, is
claiming rather incredulously that the two met by chance at OR Tambo
International Airport in Johannesburg — and within seconds, started
discussing detailed plans about pushing Mugabe out of power.

Moyo, who has in the past publicly said all information about him and others
on WikiLeaks is true, yesterday flip-flopped, typically, and said that this
particular cable was fabricated, in comments published on NewZimbabwe.com.

Moyo also sought to besmirch Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono’s name in the
published comments — which sought to re-but stories on him that have
recently been carried in the Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News
on Sunday.

He claimed that after meeting Branson, he approached Gono whom he said was
very close to Mugabe — so that the governor would be the point man in
dispatching messages to the Zanu PF leader.

However, according to sources close to the British tycoon, who spoke to the
Daily News from London yesterday, the deal failed to materialise because
Gono did not take the message to Mugabe for yet unknown reasons.

Gono yesterday refused to comment on whether he approached Mugabe or not and
insisted that he would not say anything on WikiLeaks.

A Branson spokesperson confirmed Moyo’s approach yesterday saying: “In 2007,
Dr Jonathan Moyo approached Richard Branson to discuss ways to broker a
peaceful reconciliation in Zimbabwe, to help end the deteriorating political
and economic situation and suggested the formation of a coalition
government. After meeting, no further action was taken.”

But Moyo was adamant that he never discussed Mugabe’s ouster with the
British tycoon.

“The comments by the unnamed spokesperson for Richard Branson issued to
British newspapers on Tuesday that I approached him on this initiative is
completely false, and I have no doubt Branson can’t confirm that because he
knows better.

“What happened is that sometime in April 2007, while in a passport control
queue at Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, turned round
and directly behind me was Richard Branson. I instantly recognised him, and
I said ‘hello, you are Richard, right?’, and he said ‘yes, who are you?’ I
told him I was ‘Jonathan Moyo’, and he said ‘from where?’ I replied ‘from
Zimbabwe’ to which he asked me, ‘what do you do?’ and I replied ‘I’m a
Member of Parliament.”

The US embassy cable stated that Branson agreed in principle to bankroll
Moyo’s plan which was to involve several African leaders. Branson was due to
hold a secret meeting with Nelson Mandela and other African statesmen in
Johannesburg in July 2007 to discuss the move although the plan died a
natural death.

The cable, classified by the US ambassador Eric Bost to South Africa, stated
that: “UK businessman Richard Branson is bankrolling an African ‘Elders’
initiative to convince Zimbabwean President Mugabe to step down. The ‘Elders’
plan to meet secretly in Johannesburg July 17-18 with Branson to discuss
their initiative.”

The envisaged meeting was to involve a host of grey-haired former African
and international leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Sam Nujoma (Namibia),
Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Jerry Rawlings (Ghana), Joaquim Chissano
(Mozambique), Daniel arap Moi (Kenya), Ketumile Masire (Botswana) and ex-UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan.

Moyo suggested a four-point strategy to deal with Mugabe’s fears if he was
forced out of power. The strategy involved leaders travelling to Zimbabwe to
personally meet with Mugabe, who were to urge him to support the making of a
new constitution for Zimbabwe which would provide Mugabe with “watertight”
immunity from prosecution and allow for a truth and reconciliation process
to take place.

Moyo also suggested that Zimbabwe would slip into dangerous chaos if Mugabe
did not step down.

In further confirming his meeting with Branson, Moyo said: “I believe we
spoke for about 90 minutes at the airport.

“After that, he said in addition to giving him my considered alternative, he
wanted me to give him a contact person in Zimbabwe who was well-placed and
influential to advise them on the right things to do, and address the
sensibilities and sensitivities of the Zimbabweans. Again, I said I would
think about that.

“Two days after I got to Harare, he sent me an email saying he had been
pleased to meet me, he had been jolted by my comments on his panel and
grateful that I had been candid about what I saw as its shortcomings. He
explained that he had shared details of his conversations with me with
Annan, and Annan was keen to receive my considered suggestions as the lead
person on the initiative.

“So after receiving his email, I contacted Gideon Gono [Reserve Bank
Governor and Mugabe confidante], whom I was in regular touch with at that
time. I told him of my conversations with Branson, and his email he had just
sent me on his proposed panel with a request to be put in touch with
somebody senior who was involved.

“Gono was very excited to hear about both issues and told me that in fact he
had read a lot of books by this guy and that I could give Branson his
contacts, and that Branson was free to talk to him to pursue these matters.”

“I am aware that Gono continued his conversations with Annan and even went
to meet him in Switzerland, I understand with government approval, to work
on a new initiative after the Elders thing fell flat. This initiative, I
understand, was supposed to support agriculture and economic revival through
Annan’s Foundation as an entry point to help the political process.”

In the same interview with NewZimbabwe.com Moyo added: “Sure, many of us
might want to sit today enjoying some semblance of stability and forget
where we have come from.

The situation in our country from March 2007-September 2008 was a classical
dire straits, and any Zimbabwean who calls himself a national leader who was
not seized with that situation or moved by it to find a solution that did
not compromise our national interest and sovereignty is either a liar or
deadwood.

“I for one make no apology for being involved with other compatriots to
meaningfully find a solution that honestly addressed our circumstances
without compromising our sovereignty and national interest. No apology for
that,” Moyo was quoted as saying.

Black magic sperm?

Police investigating a spate of 'ritualistic' kidnappings and sex attacks on male hitchhikers have arrested three women.

Detectives in Gweru, Zimbabwe, seized 33 used condoms from a suspect vehicle following reports of attacks on men seeking lifts in the town, as well as Harare and Mashonaland West.

Reports in Zimbabwe have described the alarming trend of male hitchhikers being offered lifts, but then being drugged and driven to secluded spots by female attackers.

The men are then forced into sex with the women, sometimes unprotected and at gunpoint, before the female rapists collect their semen and dump victims by the roadside.

According to the NewZimbabwe.com, three women have been arrested after police found 33 condoms in a vehicle in Lower Gweru last Sunday.

The three women, named as Rosemary Chakwizira, 24, Sophie Nhokwara, 26, and Netsai Nhokwara, 24, all from Mkoba 4, Gweru, were immediately arrested along with the male driver on suspicion of multiple counts of indecent assault.

The driver also faces culpable homicide charges after the fatal accident in which a pedestrian was run over and killed.

Zimbabwe news outlet Nehanda Radio reported that the local police station in Gweru was beseiged by an angry mob who wanted to see the arrested trio.

One local resident in Gweru outside the police station last week said the three women were known in the town and regularly attended nightclubs there.

Harry Mohammed Misi told Zimbabwe's Nehanda Radio: 'We are shocked with what is happening in our society where men are now being sexually-abused by women. It seems now that tables have turned.'

'But how can they make a living through such acts? On this case, let the law take its course.

'We used to drink with them at Uptown Nite Club and we didn’t know that they were behind such cases.'

Police are asking for victims to come forward to an identity parade to help identify their attackers.

Investigators also hope to match the semen to some of the victims through DNA testing.

In October last year, police chief Augustine Chihuri was forced to address the female sex attack crimewave, warning that rapists would be 'professionally dealt with accordingly without fear or favour'.

New Zealand arrive in Harare

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

13/10/2011 00:00:00
by Sports Reporter

THE New Zealand cricket team arrived in Harare on Wednesday for their tour
of Zimbabwe which gets underway with a Twenty20 match on Saturday.

The tour comprises two Twenty20 and two One-Day International matches at the
Harare Sports Club in the capital and a one-dayer and a one-off Test Match
at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
The Black Caps captain, Ross Taylor, is confident of the outcome of his team’s
mission.

“We are glad to be here in Zimbabwe. We are coming here to win and it’s
going to be a tough series, they [Zimbabwe] played very well against
Bangladesh and Pakistan but we are still expecting to win,” said Taylor.

He also acknowledged some of the home side’s main performers and the need
for his team to apply a lot of pressure on them if they are to be
victorious.

“The likes of Hamilton Masakadza, [Tatenda] Taibu and Brendan Taylor have a
lot of experience at international level. Brendan being captain - a new
captain just like me - will probably be under pressure in his home country
so that will be good for us.
"Our bowlers will have to put them under pressure and see how they respond,”
he said.

The New Zealand captain also spoke about the different weather conditions
between Zimbabwe and New Zealand and that he will rely on some members of
his team who were part of the 2010 New Zealand A squad that toured the
country in September.

He added: “We’ve just come from three days in Pretoria (South Africa). It is
nice to have acclimatised to the altitude. It has been a long winter for a
lot of players; it is a lot cooler back home in New Zealand so it’s nice to
get a bit of sun on our backs.

“It’s my first trip here but there are a lot of guys who have got experience
in the conditions. We are lucky that the New Zealand A team came last year
and a lot of the players who were in that side are here.”
The Schedule

15-Oct-11 1st T20 vs Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club
17-Oct-11 2nd T20 vs Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club
20-Oct-11 1st ODI vs Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club
22-Oct-11 2nd ODI vs Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club
25-Oct-11 3rd ODI vs Zimbabwe Queens Sports Club
28-29 Oct-11 Warm-up match vs Zimbabwe 'A' Bulawayo Athletic Club
1-5 Nov-11 Test Match vs Zimbabwe Queens Sports Club

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The Twenty20 Squads

Zimbabwe: Brendan Taylor (Captain); Charles Coventry; Chamunorwa Chibhabha;
Elton Chigumbura; Kyle Jarvis; Hamilton Masakadza; Keegan Meth; Christopher
Mpofu; Natsai M’shangwe; Forster Mutizwa; Raymond Price; Vusimuzi Sibanda;
Tatenda Taibu; Prosper Utseya; and Malcolm Waller.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor (capt), Graeme Aldridge, Doug Bracewell, James
Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay,
Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson,
Luke Woodcock

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