http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Oct 21, 2009,
19:32 GMT
Harare - Southern African leaders will hold talks with
Zimbabwe's estranged
leaders in Harare on October 29 to try to break the
deadlock in the
country's eight-month-old unity government, two official
sources in Harare
said Wednesday.
The meeting has been convened as
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
embarks on a new diplomatic
offensive in Southern Africa to try to drum up
support for his party's
position.
On Wednesday, he met South African President Jacob Zuma in Cape
Town after
meeting Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza in Mozambique on
Tuesday.
A statement issued by Zuma's office said he had 'expressed
concern at the
situation in Zimbabwe' and said, 'Zimbabwe should not be
allowed to slide
back into instability.'
Last week, Tsvangirai
announced his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was
'disengaging' from
the coalition government he formed with President Robert
Mugabe in February
until Mugabe's Zanu-PF allowed the full implementation of
the country's
power-sharing deal.
The Southern African Development Community, the
regional political and
trading bloc, is the architect and guarantor of the
Global Political
Agreement (GPA), which committed the longtime rivals to
share power.
The leaders of the SADC troika on politics, defence and
security
co-operation - South Africa, Angola and Mozambique - will meet with
Zimbabwe's leaders on October 29 to try to iron out their differences, both
Tsvangirai's office and an official in the foreign ministry confirmed to the
German Press Agency dpa.
The MDC accuses Zanu-PF of being a
'dishonest and unreliable' partner in
government, while making clear it is
not pulling out of the government per
se.
On Tuesday, Zanu-PF
ministers and MDC ministers held separate cabinet
meetings.
The
trigger for the MDC boycott was the state's re-arrest last week of MDC
deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett pending his trial on
charges of plotting to overthrow Mugabe in an discredited 2006 plot.
Tsvangirai accused the state of 'persecuting' Bennett, who has since been
re-released on bail.
The MDC also accuses Zanu-PF of refusing to
share key positions of power and
of harassing its MPs. Seven MDC MPs have
been charged and convicted of
various crimes since the government was
inaugurated.
http://www.apanews.net/
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe)
The secretary general of a splinter faction of
Zimbabwe's Movement for
Democratic Change said Wednesday that leaders of the
three main political
parties are due to meet by the end of the week in
crisis talks to resolve
problems threatening the country's fragile
power-sharing
government.
Welshman Ncube, who is the second-in-command in the smaller
MDC faction led
by Arthur Mutambara, said leaders of the two MDC formations
and President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF had agreed to address the causes of
the current
impasse in which the MDC wing headed by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
decided to boycott cabinet meetings.
Tsvangirai's MDC
announced last Friday that it was suspending cooperation
with ZANU PF over
what it said was lack of seriousness by Mugabe's party to
implementing
commitments it made in a power-sharing agreement signed last
year.
Tsvangirai left the country on Monday at the start of a
diplomatic offensive
to garner support of southern African leaders in his
bid to pressure Mugabe
to honour terms of the agreement which led to the
formation of a unity
government in February.
"I hope that in the next
two to three days there will be a solution," Ncube
told business executives
in the capital Harare on Wednesday.
The MDC boycott has sparked the
country's biggest political crisis since the
formation of a new
administration.
JN/nm/APA 2009-10-21
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
21 October 2009
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met South
African President Jacob Zuma in
Cape Town on Wednesday to apprise him on the
situation in the country.
Tsvangirai's spokesman James Maridadi told SW
Radio Africa that the two
leaders met for a private one-to-one meeting which
lasted for an hour. This
was Tsvangirai's second meeting with a regional
leader following his talks
on Tuesday with Mozambican President Armando
Guebuza.
"The Prime Minister was updating President Zuma on what has
transpired in
the country and obviously this included the decision to
disengage from ZANU
PF," Maridadi said.
Zuma reportedly told journalists
that Zimbabwe must not be allowed to return
to instability, as that country
prepares to host the FIFA World Cup next
year.
"Zimbabwe should not be
allowed to slide back into instability," Zuma said
after his meeting with
Tsvangirai. The MDC leader embarked on his latest
diplomatic offensive on
Monday aiming to put pressure on SADC leaders to
review the unity government
since its formation eight months ago.
Robert Mugabe has since last year
failed to fully implement the power
sharing deal he signed with Tsvangirai
and leader of the other MDC
formation, Arthur Mutambara.
The unity
government remains shaky as a result of outstanding non-compliance
issues
that continue to impede the transitional government. During his visit
to
Chimoio on Tuesday, Tsvangirai signalled his commitment to the unity
government to Guebuza. He noted though that they would only 're-engage' if
the power-sharing agreement is implemented in its
entirety.
Tsvangirai told journalists that in just about eight months
nothing has been
done by ZANU PF to implement what was agreed upon in the
power sharing
agreement. Guebuza reportedly promised to send representatives
of the SADC
Troika to assess the situation in the country and meet with MDC
and ZANU PF
officials, including Mugabe, next week. Guebuza chairs the
SADC's organ on
Politics, Security and Defence.
Other issues that
continue to hamper the progress of the government include:
the sharing of
posts of provincial governors, diplomats, senior public
servants; the
disputed appointments of attorney-general Johannes Tomana and
Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono, and the arrests of MDC MPs.
During the next two
days, Tsvangirai is expected to meet key SADC figures
like Angolan President
Eduardo Dos Santos and President Joseph Kabila of the
Democratic Republic of
the Congo. Kabila currently holds the regional bloc's
rotating
Presidency.
Political commentator Solomon Chikohwero blamed SADC for
creating the crisis
rocking the country because they've failed to monitor or
review the GPA as
stipulated during their extraordinary summit in
January.
'On 26th January 2009 a SADC summit directed that the issue of
provincial
governors, the Reserve Bank governor and the Attorney-General be
resolved by
the parties forthwith. Its eight months and the same SADC bloc
is opting to
ignore the fact that Mugabe is blatantly refusing to implement
what was
agreed,' Chikohwero said.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday,
21 October 2009 16:41
HARARE - The Zimbabwean government is refusing to
sanction foreign
trips by ministers from Prime Ministers Morgan Tsvangirai's
party as tension
escalates between the main parties in the troubled
coalition government
(Pictured: Zimbabwean Warlord Robert Mugabe - "I have
been denied permission
to travel for a lecture in South Africa," Mr Moyo
said while on his way to
the airport in defiance of the directive.)
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last week severed
contacts with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF following mounting
differences over the implementation of their power sharing
agreement.
The party boycotted a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and Mr
Tsvangirai
said he will not convene council of ministers meetings - which
are
responsible for formulating government policy - until the dispute is
resolved.
But MDC ministers still carry out their other official
duties and
attending parliament, which resumed sitting on Tuesday.
Mr Gorden Moyo, a Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office
said he
was denied permission to travel for a lecture on Zimbabwe's eight
month old
unity government at a South African university.
According to Zimbabwean
law, a minister may not travel out of the
country without cabinet authority.
"I have been denied permission to travel
for a lecture in South Africa," Mr
Moyo said while on his way to the airport
in defiance of the directive.
"This goes to show that they are trying to
prevent MDC ministers from
carrying out their duties.
"The disengagement does not mean we have
stopped being part of the
government, we only suspended contact with Zanu
PF."
On Tuesday, the state media also accused Mr Tsvangirai of
travelling
out of the country without cabinet approval. The Prime Minister
is on a
regional tour to drum up support for his party's protest against
what it
says is Mr Mugabe's reluctance to fully implement the power sharing
pact
brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
SADC and the African Union are the guarantors of the deal that was
touted as
the only way out of Zimbabwe's devastating economic and political
problems.
Meanwhile, the smaller faction of the MDC led by Deputy
Prime Minister
Professor Arthur Mutambara said it would not recognise a
government led by
Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF if Mr Tsvangirai's party decides to
pull out of the
unity government. The party which is the smallest in the
coalition attended
Tuesday's cabinet meeting.
Prof Mutambara has
also met Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai since the
crisis began unfolding on
Friday to try and bring them together but has
refused to take
sides.
"What we have right now is a dysfunctional marriage. We are very
upset
and very angry," the deputy prime minister said.
"Mugabe lost
to Morgan Tsvangirai in last year's elections. The only
election was in
March last year.
"How can he run this country alone? If this Global
Political Agreement
is to collapse I would say to Robert Mugabe, you are not
the President of
Zimbabwe. You are an illegitimate leader.
"If this
GPA is to collapse I would say to Morgan Tsvangirai please no
grandstanding." The MDC says if the AU and SADC fail to find a lasting
solution the United Nations must organise fresh elections. The Nation
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
21 0ctober
2009
The controversial trial of MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett is set
for
November 9, and the line up of state witness is full of police officers
and
state security agents. Bennett is facing charges of possession of
weapons
with the intention to commit insurgency, sabotage, terrorism, and
banditry.
Bennett's chief legal counsel Beatrice Mtetwa told SW Radio
Africa on
Wednesday that of the 13 key witnesses for the State, 11 are
either from the
President's office or from the police. The other two are
firearms dealer
Peter Michael Hitschmann and a person from
TelOne.
Mtetwa said: "He is somebody from TelOne security who will come
to court to
basically give evidence of a technical nature or as an expert
regarding the
allegations that these guys wanted to blow up some
communications
infrastructure. So he will be coming to give evidence as to
the effects of
destroying the infrastructure."
Hitschmann, who was
released from prison in July, is the State's key witness
although he made it
clear when he was released that he has no evidence
against Roy Bennett.
Mtetwa said: "So we don't know how the State is going
to deal with that. We
can only hope that nobody has sought to interfere with
him and to compel him
to say things that are not correct."
The firearms dealer was arrested for
allegedly plotting to assassinate
Robert Mugabe at his birthday celebration
in Manicaland in 2006 but was
acquitted. He however served a total of 40
months for possessing dangerous
firearms without a licence.
The
defence lawyer said it has been frustrating to handle Bennett's case
which
is highly politicised and that there is a lot of 'hide and seek' on
the
State's part, and no transparency in the way the Attorney General's
office
has handled the matter. The AG Johannes Tomana personally appeared in
a
Mutare court on Monday to prosecute in the case of the MDC Treasurer
General
designate. Tomana said he was taking over the case because he is
under
political pressure to have the matter prosecuted quickly.
The defence
team say they have finally been furnished with most of the
indictment papers
although Mtetwa said there are two statements that are
still missing. She
said the State is refusing to give them access to
Hitschmann's laptop so
that they can examine it. It is alleged that certain
emails incriminating
Bennett were downloaded from Hitschmann's laptop, but
the defence team have
not been allowed to examine it. The lawyer also said
they have still not
been given access to the so called weapons, that her
client is accused of
acquiring for the purpose of terrorism.
Meanwhile, Radio VOP said: "The
other witnesses lined up are Ronald
Muderedzwa, former Officer commanding
Manicaland province, Michael Joseph
Nyakatama, a central intelligence agent
(CIO), Sipho James Makore, a police
officer, Arnold Zorodzai Dliwayo, police
officer, Francis Cole a specialist
firearms police central investigations
department (CID) officer, and
Panganai Mugejo who works for the Defence
Ministry among others."
Mtetwa said despite the politicisation, she is not
worried about the State's
list saying police always give evidence in cases
they are investigating and
the court is supposed to take their evidence on
the basis that they are
interested parties.
She said: "All their
statements are also premised on Hitschmann testifying,
and on Hitschmann's
so called confession being before the court, which I am
absolutely certain
is not likely to be admissible at all - because he
disowned it at his own
trial, and he was believed at his own trial."
"And so it is difficult to
see how he can then come to court in Bennett's
case and say what he didn't
say in his own case without serious consequences
for him and without
committing perjury," Mtetwa explained.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=23932
October 21, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwe's controversial Attorney General,
Johannes Tomana, says he
has assumed the lead role in the prosecution of
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) treasurer general Roy Bennett because
the case poses a serious
security threat to Zimbabwe.
Bennett is the
Deputy Agriculture Minister designate. He has not been sworn
into office
since his nomination by the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC in
February
2009.
"I am motivated by the mandate that I have of protecting the
country from
any security threat and the threat that I am talking about is
external from
countries such as Britain, Australia or any other such
country," said Tomana
in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
"This
case is a very serious one and carries serious security issues. That
is why
it has attracted international attention. But I have a mandate to
protect
the country from any sort of security threat. I stand as mandated to
safeguard the interests of the country which are threatened by the case at
hand."
Tomana has in the past openly declared his allegiance to
President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. Some critics have expressed fear
that the AG's
political affiliation might influence the outcome of Bennett's
trial.
Tomana denied that he took over the case because his officers had
failed to
sustain the state's case in the High Court after the indictment of
Bennett.
State prosecutor, Michael Mugabe, in a bid to keep Bennett in
custody
inappropriately invoked section 121 of the Criminal Procedures and
Evidence
Act raising the ire of High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe.
Hungwe
lambasted Mugabe, telling him not to make a fool of himself by
invoking the
notorious Act without the facts to support his
arguments.
Bennett will face trial on a charge of possessing weapons for
purposes of
committing insurgency, sabotage, terrorism and banditry, which
carries a
death sentence and another of inciting others to commit
insurgency,
sabotage, terrorism and banditry, which carries a life in prison
sentence.
Tomana will personally prosecute when Bennett's trial starts on
November 9.
During a court session to set Bennett's trial date on Monday
in Mutare
Tomana took over the role of lead State counsel from Michael
Mugabe, a law
officer in his office who has all along been handling
Bennett's prosecution.
Tomana was reported to have conceded that the
State had not accorded Bennett
sufficient time to prepare for his trial
hence the postponement of the trial
which was supposed to have started on
Monday.
He is said to have however argued that Bennett faces a serious
case which is
of national interest. He said the matter had to be dealt with
as a matter of
urgency because it had plunged the transitional coalition
government into a
crisis.
Tomana will be assisted by Florence
Ziyambi, the director of public
prosecutions and two law officers, Michael
Mugabe and Chris Mutangadura.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=23913
October 21, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwe's current political crisis deepened
Tuesday as the
mainstream MDC party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai held
a cabinet
meeting of its own as President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime
Minister
Arthur Mutambara jointly attended the regular Cabinet meeting at
Munhumutapa
Building.
MDC ministers met at the party's Harvest House
headquarters at 9 am in a
meeting chaired by acting MDC leader Thokozani
Khupe.
The MDC called off at the last minute, plans to hold its parallel
Cabinet
meeting in the second boardroom at Munhumutapa Building, just a few
metres
away from where the Mugabe and Mutambara were conferring.
The
Zimbabwe Times was informed that top advisors warned sternly against the
plan to hold a separate Cabinet meeting inside Munhumutapa Building - the
centre of government. Such action would likely have been viewed as
constituting treason or an attempt to overthrow constitutional order.
Constitutionally, Cabinet meetings can only be convened by the
President.
The parallel Cabinet meetings took place as Prime Minister
Tsvangirai
arrived in Mozambique on the first day of a 10-day diplomatic
consultation
process to appraise regional leaders on last week's decision by
his party to
boycott the unity government.
He was scheduled to hold
talks with the chairman of a troika of the
15-nation Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Mozambican
President, Armando Guebuza in
Chimoio in Manica Province. He is also due to
meet South African leader
Jacob Zuma, Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos
and current SADC chair,
President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
The
MDC's move to hold a parallel Cabinet meeting dangerously heightened
tension
in the troubled coalition, with Zanu-PF said to be toying with the
idea of
appointing an acting Finance Minister, sources said.
"They see the action
by the MDC to hold a parallel Cabinet meeting as deeply
provocative," one
source said.
The State-run Herald newspaper claimed that the Prime
Minister's
chief-of-staff Ian Makone had attempted to seek State funding for
the Prime
Minister's trip from the Chief Secretary to President and Cabinet,
Dr
Sibanda, who was reported to have demanded that the MDC submit sufficient
grounds for the release of the money, such as what benefit government as a
whole would derive from Tsvangirai's trip.
The Zimbabwe Times can
report that Sibanda is, in fact, currently out of
Zimbabwe. He travelled on
the same flight out of Harare as Zimbabwe Times
managing editor Geoffrey
Nyarota on Saturday. Sibanda, his wife, Doreen and
Senior Secretary to
Parliament Austin Zvoma transferred to a Zurich flight
at O Tambo
International Airport in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile Mugabe's spokesman
George Charamba told The Herald that Tsvangirai
remained Prime Minister of
Zimbabwe as he had not formalised his party's
disengagement from
government.
"Government is not run through media statements," Charamba
was quoted by the
newspaper as saying. "From that point of view nothing has
happened. Until
the communication is done formally, the President has no
reason or any
grounds to think or know otherwise.
"There has been no
indication in writing or through the Chief Secretary that
there will be no
attendance en-bloc from MDC-T side."
Tsvangirai announced last Friday
that he was disengaging from the government
because seven months after the
formation of the coalition sticking-points
remain over the issues of the
appointment of provincial governors, the
Reserve Bank governor and the
Attorney-General. In addition, the review of
ministerial positions and the
GPA remain outstanding. Moreover, there is a
lack of movement on the
democratisation of the media, the constitutional
process, the land audit and
rule of law issues, Tsvangirai said.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said
any purported Cabinet decision made by the
"Zanu (PF) caucus" in the absence
of all the three political parties was
"null and void." Chamisa said the
MDC, as the trustees of the people's
mandate, would continue to work towards
bringing real change to the people
of Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Times
was informed that the MDC Cabinet meeting had deliberated
on the issue of
inputs ahead of the agricultural season, media reforms and
the stalled
Constitution-making process, among others.
"The matter of the outstanding
issues is now before SADC and the African
Union as the guarantors of the GPA
to help resolve the crisis," Chamisa
said. "The people of Zimbabwe want real
change. They want to see meaningful
reforms that can kick-start the economy
and open a new patch of development,
freedom, hope and security."
(AFP) - 8 hours
ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The Zimbabwe government has agreed on how to use a
400
million dollar grant from International Monetary Fund (IMF), after
months of
feuding about its allocation, a minister said on
Wednesday.
"Last week cabinet did approve the distribution of this money,
which will be
used in the completion of public works programs," said
Industry Minister
Welshman Ncube.
"We agreed that 150 million dollars
(100 million euros) should go to
productive sectors such as mining and
manufacturing," he added.
In September, Finance Minister Tendai Biti
clashed with central bank boss
Gideon Gono over the use of the
money.
Biti wanted the funds, which were availed in August, to be put
into the
country's annual budget, which he is expected to present to
parliament in
November.
Gono had insisted that he wants the money be
used to boost the mining and
manufacturing industries, as well as public
entities.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on October 13,
before the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycott of government
business that now
threatens the eight-month-old unity
regime.
According to Ncube, part of the money would be used to complete
the
refurbishment of the Bulawayo airport and repair roads and state
hospitals.
Zimbabwe's public infrastructure has been battered by a near
decade of
political turmoil which crippled the economy and halted
investment.
The country has not received any financial assistance from
the IMF in over a
decade, due to its long outstanding debt with the
agency.
Yahoo News
Wed Oct
21, 7:33 am ET
HARARE (AFP) - Foreign businesses are holding back investment
in Zimbabwe
because of a split in the southern African country's
powersharing
government, the industry minister said
Wednesday.
Welshman Ncube told a meeting of local business executives
that over the
past eight months, several potential investors had made
enquiries regarding
state-owned businesses, but now they were
reluctant.
"For example, investors who were keen to invest in Zisco
(Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company) are now phoning asking if it is
worthwhile, given the
announcements which were made last week Friday," Ncube
said.
His remarks come after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) suspended official dealings with President
Robert
Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF).
Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of failing to fulfil the terms
of a pact that
led to the formation of a unity government comprising the
country's three
main political forces. That government has ceased to
function.
Ncube, who belongs to a splinter faction of the MDC that has
kept up its
ties with ZANU-PF, said the uncertainty was having an "an
adverse impact on
trade and manufacturing."
"We have to do all over
again the work we have done over the last eight
months," Ncube said. "We are
in a fragile country. We have the world's eyes
on us."
Ncube added
that the three political leaders had agreed to address the
causes of the
current impasse.
"I hope that in the next two to three days there will be
a solution," he
said.
On Monday Tsvangirai left on a regional tour to
seek southern African help
to end the stalemate, while his ministers
boycotted a meeting with Mugabe.
After years of economic freefall,
Zimbabwe is seeking to restore strained
ties with its erstwhile trading
partners and to rebuild infrastructure and
social services which have been
in a state of disrepair.
But donors said they want to see more reforms
before increasing aid.
http://af.reuters.com
Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:10pm
GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's factory
output doubled in the first six months
of 2009, partly due to policy changes
by the country's unity government,
including the use of multiple foreign
currencies, an industry group said on
Wednesday.
President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to share
power in
February, following last year's disputed elections and have tried
to fix an
economy ravaged by years of hyperinflation and political
uncertainty.
A survey carried out by the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI)
showed that factory capacity utilisation had risen from
below 10 percent
before the unity government was formed, to about 32.3
percent now.
"Consequently, signifying this improvement ... overall
output grew by 110
percent in the first six months of the year. At the
beginning of the year
there was a positive policy change that saw the
government introduce the use
of multiple currencies," CZI chief economist
Lorraine Chikanya said at the
launch of the report in Harare.
"This
policy framework ushered in a breath of life into what was becoming a
dying
sector."
The CZI said the unity government had restored confidence, with
$1.5 billion
being invested in the manufacturing sector, mainly for plant
rehabilitation
and expansion.
BACK TO WORK
Zimbabwe's average
working week, which had come down to two days as firms
laid off staff amid
hyperinflation, raw material shortages and price
controls, is now at five
days.
At its peak, the manufacturing sector contributed 22 percent to
Zimbabwe's
gross domestic product, 37 percent of export earnings and
accounted for 40
percent of employment.
The renewed business
confidence, however, is at risk now after Tsvangirai
and his MDC party
decided to boycott the unity government until Mugabe fully
implements a
power-sharing agreement.
Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube,
from a splinter MDC faction,
told industrialists that efforts were underway
to resolve the standoff,
which had unsettled investors.
Ncube said
Zimbabwe's cabinet had, before the MDC boycott, approved a
long-awaited
bilateral investment protection agreement with South Africa.
He, however,
did not say if the approved draft excluded land from
investments to be
protected.
South African farmers have urged their government not to sign
any pact that
did not include a clause to protect land and related property
rights.
"I'm in contact with (South African Trade and Industry) Minister
Rob Davies
who has received the documentation. By the end of this month, we
have
planned that we should sign it by then. We are now waiting a response
from
the south Africans," he said.
Ncube added the government had
agreed to use a $500 million IMF loan given
to Zimbabwe to repay debt, for
infrastructural development and local
industries.
"Part of the money
will be used to pay off IMF arrears so that we can have
access to another
IMF loan. We agreed that $150 million of this money should
go towards
productive sectors such as mining and manufacturing," Ncube said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
21
October 2009
Scores of farm and factory workers, hired through a
government sponsored
industrial development group, have this week descended
on Harare to protest
seven month's worth of non-payment.
The group,
representing an estimated 1000 workers employed by the government's
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), arrived in the city on Sunday to
confront IDC management. The Corporation has not paid full salaries to its
staff, from several farms, and the BonneZim packaging factory for almost a
year. It has instead been forcing workers to keep working under false
promises, but no payments have been made to the roughly 900 farm workers and
300 factory employees. The representative group of up to 80 workers arrived
in trucks and vans in Harare, pledging to carry on with the demonstration
until the IDC agrees to pay full salaries, backdated for seven months. The
group has been sleeping in the vans since Sunday, waiting desperately for
some positive move from IDC management.
SW Radio Africa's Harare
correspondent Simon Muchemwa explained that the IDC
has only conceded to pay
out a small amount to its desperate workers, but he
added the figure only
works out to a mere US$20 per month per employee.
"US$20 is not enough
money for even one person and most of these workers are
supporting whole
families," Muchemwa reported. "They've said they will carry
on with this
demonstration until their full salaries are paid."
Muchemwa continued
that the situation is indicative of the desperation
facing most government
employees across the country, as parastatals such as
the IDC can no longer
pay their staff. Muchemwa added that the knock-on
effects are dire in the
areas surrounding Harare, with many children not
attending school, a rise in
prostitution and increasing desperation.
The IDC has taken over a number
of farms and factories in recent years as
part of the land 'reform'
programme, including the BonneZim agro-packaging
factory in Chegutu in 2005.
In 2006, BonneZim and the IDC took over Kondozi
Estate in a move that
bolstered the ZANU PF grip on Zimbabwean horticulture.
The Estate had been
left almost completely ruined by land marauders in 2004,
after the farm,
owned by a black horticulturalist Edwin Moyo, was seized for
'resettlement.'
Other similar farms were also 'ceded' to the IDC in
the past few years, but
Muchemwa explained that the government's refusal to
allow 'white blood' back
onto the properties, means there has been a major
loss of management skills.
"The IDC is completely broke and there have
been offers by former commercial
farmers and investors to help bring the IDC
farms into profit," Muchemwa
said. "But the government refuses to allow
white blood back into the
commercial sector."
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, October 21, 2009 - Security details manning President Robert
Mugabe's offices at Munhumutapa Building on Tuesday detained two journalists
for allegedly attempting to cover Tuesday's cabinet
meeting.
Overzealous security details manning the reception at
Munhumutapa
Building where President Robert Mugabe's offices are located
detained Haru
Mutasa, a correspondent for Al Jazeera and her cameraman
Austin Gundani for
enquiring on the possibility of getting a photo
opportunity of Tuesday's
cabinet meeting.
The two
journalists were first detained at a small police post located
at
Munhumutapa Building at around 09:00 am before being transferred to
Harare
Central Police Station.
Witnesses who saw the incident told
this reporter that the security
detail who detained the two journalists
verbally harassed them and accused
them of trying to show to the world the
gaps created in the cabinet meeting
room because of the boycott by Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai and ministers from his
party.
"They (security details) accused the journalists
of being agents of
regime change and of attempting to show the empty seats
in cabinet to the
whole world and make an impression that Tsvangirai is the
boss in the
coalition government," said the witnesses.
The two journalists were only released at around 11:50 am after the
intervention of President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson and the permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity George
Charamba. Charamba reportedly intervened after officials from Al Jazeera
telephoned Charamba to enquire on the detention.
Al
Jazeera's bureau in Harare is manned by veteran producer Cyrus
Nhara,
correspondent Haru Mutasa and cameraman Austin Gundani.
Al-Jazeera, which is headquartered in Doha become the first
international TV
news channel in more than three years to be allowed to set
up a permanent
base in Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe's previous
government chased
away almost all western television and radio broadcasters.
Other western networks such as BBC and CNN were recently allowed
access to
cover events Zimbabwe after the formation of the shaky
transitional
coalition government formed early this year by Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.voanews.com
By Scott
Bobb
Harare
20 October 2009
Teachers across
Zimbabwe struck for three weeks last month over demands for
higher pay,
closing schools and causing parents to worry that their children
might lose
a second school year to Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The country's
unity
government is coming under increasing pressure as it struggles to
raise
funds for education and other basics in the face of depleted revenues
caused
by the country's economic crisis.
Teachers, like most civil servants in
Zimbabwe, have been earning about $100
a month. The power sharing government
offered this salary to all civil
servants after its inauguration in
March.
Raymond Majongwe is president of the Progressive Teachers Union,
one of two
main unions for teachers. He says teachers want $500 a month, but
that he
decided to end the strike because it was hurting the
children.
"The best way for teachers is to engage, go back to the schools
and teach
and allow their leadership to engage government," he said. "Then
more
positive results are going to come."
Zimbabwe's education system
has been in decline for a decade due to falling
government revenues and an
exodus of teachers. Analysts blame the crisis on
the policies of President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. But the party
blames it on sanctions imposed
by western countries.
Education Minister David Coltart is a member of the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), brought into the government
as part of the power
sharing agreement between Mr. Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Coltart is sympathetic to teachers and other civil
servants.
"The problem that we face, however, as a government, is that
our economy is
in state of near-collapse," he explained. "Our treasury
coffers are almost
bare."
The United Nations recently donated $70
million for school materials, but
donor countries hesitate to subsidize
salaries for fear the funds will be
diverted by the government.
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions groups 350,000 workers. Its president,
Lovemore Matombo, says most Zimbabwean workers are in similar
straits.
"The workers now know that the economy has started to stabilize
and that
there should be an increase of salaries," he said. "Should they
fail to do
that, there is very much this feeling among workers that we
should take
action."
He says if some worker demands are not met,
there could be a strike before
the end of the year placing more pressure on
the unity government as it
struggles to revive the economy.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=23925
October 21, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - There is currently no rule of law, or respect for
property and
human rights Zimbabwe, despite the formation of the inclusive
government
last February, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's
Office, Gorden
Moyo, has said.
Addressing students at the Great
Zimbabwe University over the weekend Moyo
said that the country was battling
to return to the rule of law, respect for
human rights and democratisation
of institutions since no change had taken
place in these areas, even after
the formation of the inclusive government.
"We have several challenges as
the inclusive government because there is no
rule of law as we speak now",
said Moyo. "If you look at what is happening
on the farms and the selective
application of the law it means there is much
which needs to be
done.
"What is happening on the farms is a sorry state," Moyo said. "On
some of
the farms I have visited I found out that there are war lords. Some
have
their own armed people and I think this has to be corrected.
"We
need to democratize everything in the country so that Zimbabweans live
in
harmony. But seven months after the formation of the inclusive government
nothing has changed."
Moyo said that the country's land question
would remain unresolved if there
was no proper land audit to determine who
owns what land and where.
"The purpose of the audit is not to reverse the
land reform programme but to
do away with the issue of multiple farm
ownership. The government policy is
one man one farm and that has to be
respected."
"We have heard of people with several farms who are now
registering them in
their sons' or daughters' names and that has to
stop."
Turning to the economy of the country Moyo said that although some
strides
had been made in taming inflation there was still more to be done in
terms
of paying civil servants decent salaries.
He said when the
mainstream MDC entered into government the national coffers
were empty. He
said he, therefore, supported Finance Minister Tendai Biti's
stance in
declaring Zimbabwe a Heavily Indebted Poor Country or HIPC.
"The country
has no money and cannot afford to repay all its debts hence we
support the
HIPC project", said Moyo. "Once we do that our debts will be
cancelled and
we will be able to start afresh.
"We are talking about HIPC because the
country has no money at the moment."
We cannot afford to borrow money to
clear that debt."
Moyo however said that the situation in terms of proper
remuneration of
civil servants would improve but that would take
time.
"We cannot borrow money to clear a debt which was accrued by the
Zanu-PF
government when we cannot pay civil servants better
salaries.
"We would rather borrow money to pay civil servants than borrow
money to
clear an unexplained debt".
Moyo made these comments at a
time when Zanu-PF and the mainstream MDC have
been disagreeing on whether to
declare Zimbabwe an HIPC country or not.
Zanu-PF maintains that declaring
Zimbabwe an HIPC country would lead in
President Robert Mugabe being probed
for ruining the country's economy while
the mainstream MDC feels that the
move would ensure improvement in Zimbabwe's
economic recovery.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
October
21, 2009
Jan Raath in Budiriro
The great banks of fly-infested
refuse lining the streets rot undisturbed in
the heat. The dense, sweetish
stink of faeces is not as strong as it was,
but it will be, as soon as the
rains come in the next few weeks.
Nothing appears to have changed in this
squalid, overcrowded township on
Harare's southern outskirts that six months
ago was the epicentre of one of
the worst cholera epidemics in Africa that
killed 4,300 of the 100,000 that
were infected.
Four months after the
epidemic ended, it has broken out again. Unicef
confirmed yesterday that
five people had died in a remote northern district
in a fresh outbreak of
cholera. The Zimbabwean Health Ministry said that 117
cases had been
confirmed across the east, centre and north of the country in
the past
month.
Cholera was never endemic in Zimbabwe until last August, when it
became
entrenched in rivers of raw sewage that seeped into shallow wells
township
residents were forced to rely on. Water supplies dried up and
sewage
disposal systems clogged through chronic neglect by President
Mugabe's
Government.
Aid agencies have been warning for months that
another outbreak was
inevitable with the onset of the summer rains that will
provide the ideal
medium for the spread of the waterborne bacteria. "The
fundamentals of the
last epidemic are still there. Water is only
sporadically available, and
sewerage reticulation and refuse collection are
only partially working," the
Unicef spokeswoman Tsitsi Singizi
said.
Aid agency officials forecast privately that the number of
infections will
drop to about 60,000. "It's not the catastrophe that it was
last year but it's
still a big epidemic of an easily preventable disease
that should never have
been allowed to happen," said an aid agency doctor
who asked not to be
named.
The decline is expected as a result of a
big operation to provide massive
quantities of water purification tablets,
boreholes, huge communal water
tanks and narrow-necked water containers (to
limit the spread of the
bacteria) to make drinking water safe. Medical
agencies say they have
ensured that supplies of the simple medication to
treat cholera have been
distributed down to every remote clinic, with
back-up supplies. Volunteers
in rural and urban communities have been
undergoing crash courses in cholera
awareness.
"The measures will
mean not only that the number of infections will drop but
also the
fatalities," said the doctor. When last year's epidemic started,
the Health
Ministry was moribund, with no drugs, most equipment broken down
and the
staff on strike.
The inauguration of the power-sharing Government between
Mr Mugabe and the
pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai allowed Western
humanitarian
assistance, then heavily restricted by Mr Mugabe, to begin.
Doctors and
nurses are at work and being paid, and hospitals and clinics
have drugs.
The prime cause of the recurrence of the epidemic are the
choked sewers and
broken-down water supply system,. Western governments have
made clear that
the huge aid funds needed to restore the country's ruined
infrastructure,
including water and sewerage services, will not come until
there are signs
of "irreversible change" in how the country was run. "If you
expect water
and sewer reticulation to be fixed, they are not," the European
ambassador
Xavier Marchal said. "We are still in a difficult political
environment. We
still have restrictive policies."
http://www.voanews.com
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
20
October 2009
As Zimbabwe's rainy season approaches, farmers in
Mashonaland East
province's Wedza district are worried that again this year
they won't be
able to locate or afford the seed, fertilizer and other inputs
needed to get
a maize crop in the ground.
VOA Studio 7 correspondent
Safari Njema reported from Wedza.
Aiming to relieve such shortages of
inputs, Christian Care is among the
non-governmental organizations working
with the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization and the European
Union to implement an agricultural
inputs support scheme.
Christian
Care said it is now providing farmers in the Midlands with
fertilizer and
seeds.
Experts said most farmers are struggling to obtain inputs because
the
government has cut back on programs to finance planting, instead urging
farmers to borrow from banks. But banks insist on land as collateral, though
all farmland has been nationalized.
Even farmers resettled under land
reform since 2000 have only so-called
offer letters granting them working
rights, but banks will neither accept
these nor livestock as
collateral.
Christian Care Director Forbes Matonga told VOA Studio 7
reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri that his is one of seven organizations reaching
out to small
farmers under the FAO program.
Hope ... Dr. Travis
Tollefson with an unidentified child and her father after she received new
nose
20/10/2009 00:00:00 | |
by | |
|
A VOLUNTEER surgical team from the United States has brought smiles back – literally – to 67 Zimbabwean kids with facial deformities.
Led by Dr Joseph Clawson, the founder and director of Operation of Hope, the team was making its fourth visit to Zimbabwe.
Since 2006, over 450 children have received free operations from the medical team. Although most of the operations are simple procedures in developed countries, Zimbabwe's struggling health service has been unable to help the children.
Based at St. Anne's Hospital in Harare, the doctors conducted operations to correct deformities like cleft-lip and palates.
All costs associated with the surgery were free -- no doctor, hospital, medication or surgical fees was charged. The surgery would typically cost between $35,000 and $85,000 in the US, a statement from Operation of Hope said.
Dr Clawson said: “We are very excited to return to Zimbabwe where we once again help those in need, offering hope and relief to the families of Zimbabwe needing this care.
Jennifer Trubenbach, Executive Director of Operation of Hope added: "We had a very successful mission due to the support of the staff and administration of St. Anne's Hospital, the Ministry of Health and local Zimbabweans that understand and support our work."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
21
October 2009
Former Finance Minister and Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn party
interim President Dr
Simba Makoni has criticised the MDC-T for 'disengaging'
from the coalition
government. In an in-depth interview on our Behind the
Headlines series
Makoni argued that, "the issues over which the MDC are
disengaging from ZANU
PF are issues of 'jobs for the boys and girls,' and
not policies that can
deliver real change for Zimbabweans."
Makoni
said it was always clear from the beginning that ZANU PF and Mugabe
were
never serious about engaging Tsvangirai's party and the MDC should not
have
accepted a flawed deal. He criticised Tsvangirai for telling the world
that
Mugabe was committed to the deal, despite mounting evidence MDC-T
supporters
and MP's were being persecuted and harassed all over the country.
He said
the MDC had so far not put forward policies aimed at changing people's
lives
but had focused mainly on, 'being allowed a bigger share of public
sector
jobs, motor cars, travel allowances and good living.'
Makoni spent over a
decade at the helm of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
serving the regional grouping as Executive Secretary from
1984 to 1993. He
told Newsreel, although the dynamics have changed since his
tenure he does
not expect the MDC-T will get any relief from SADC. He said
the SADC
position was that the power sharing government had the Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC), and this was meant to deal
with disputes.
Makoni said he does not see the regional body deviating too
much from that
stance.
Challenged on what he would have done if he and his party were
the ones in a
coalition with ZANU PF, and for over 8 months nothing agreed
to had been
implemented, Makoni castigated the MDC-T for not being wiser at
the
beginning. He argued, 'I would have worked for a better deal.' He said
the
agreement signed by the parties was 'unworkable' and 'unbalanced.' Asked
if
he was belittling the concerns raised by the MDC-T, Makoni denied doing
so,
adding, the issues merited resolution but should not have warranted them
boycotting.
NB: To listen to the full interview with Dr Simba Makoni
tune in to Behind
the Headlines on Thursday 22 October.
http://www.modernghana.com
By Rejoice Ngwenya, AfricanLiberty.org
Feature
Article | 2 hours ago
Feature Article : "The views expressed here
are those of the authors and do
not necessarily represent or reflect the
views of Modernghana.com."
There is something fundamentally flawed
with so-called 'democracies' that
perpetuate political, monarchical or
tribal dynasty. In Swaziland where The
Mswatis rule by decree, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] where the
Kabilas cheat at the ballot
box; the Bongos, the Kaddafis and the Mugabes
who enforce their will using
AK47s - we Africans have grown to tolerate
dynastical oppression. But in a
country where freedom, choice, multiplicity,
tolerance, tranquility and
respect for property rights are virtually a way
of life, it is impossible to
figure out why one political party, the
Botswana Democratic Party [BDP] can
exert such paralysing influence for over
half a century. It is either the
Tswanas are too naive or the Khamas are so
incredibly good!
Most
international institutions of 'good governance' - including our very
own
IMANI - tout Botswana as one of the 'best' democracies in the modern
world,
and for good reason. The Khama dynasty has long presided over peace,
stability and exponential economic growth in the former British protectorate
that has never tested political acrimony. With an overall population fewer
than two and half million and the world's largest known reserves of gem
diamonds in Jwaneng, this Southern African country has escaped Africa's
traditional resource curse of corruption and crude management that plunges
similar economies like Nigeria and the DRC into heart-rending strife. An
average 9% growth rate yielding a US$14,000 Gross Domestic Product per
capita and sophisticated infrastructure is any African's dream
destination.
And yet critics of reigning President Seretse Ian Khama
argue that good
governance goes beyond the usual indicators of 'democratic
fitness' like a
free economy, zero tolerance to corruption, respect of
property rights and
"A" grade credit ratings. The retired military man has
been accused of heavy
handedness when it comes to using the majority that
his BDP enjoys in
government. As late as last week, political opponents
pointed fingers at him
for misusing government funds and resources to
'reinforce Botswana
Democratic Party campaigns in constituencies where the
opposition is
considered to pose a threat'. The bedrock of Botswana's
democratic culture -
the 'kgotla' village consultative forum - has been one
of the entities that
Ian Khama is said to exploit in furthering autocratic
and populist
interests.
Moreover, Botswana's season of bliss has to
contend with a forty percent HIV
and AIDS rate, a phenomenal orphan
population of one hundred and twenty
thousand, and an economy largely
dependent on one resource with key sectors
driven by expatriates. It is
therefore understandable why Khama's critics
have a case against a 'dynasty'
that has driven a country on a dangerous
path of dependency. Rural poverty
and drunkenness have been for decades, the
Achilles Heel of BDP's seemingly
untarnished political high scores that
opposition parties have failed to
exploit in their bid to neutralise Khama's
monopoly, more so at a time when
this resource-rich country has been plunged
into the fray of global
recession.
Ian Khama has endeared himself with the free world by being
the only
president in the troubled Southern African Development Community
[SADC] who
openly condemns Robert Mugabe's violent and coercive rule. He has
been
quoted as pouring scorn on any form of coalition government - even the
Madagascar version - and for good reasons - as a cheap shot at rewarding
losers. The Kamas know better. Botswana played host to Zimbabwean refugees
as far back as 1973 at the height of Ian Smith-sponsored Rhodesian war. This
author was one of the early beneficiaries of Sir Seretse Khama's hospitality
in the late seventies, but thousands of my fellow citizens have since
paralysed Botswana's immigration system to escape of Mugabe's blood thirsty
dictatorship.
So what is the problem with Ian Khama's renewed
five-year tenure? Looked
every which way, there is evidence, more so in
Africa, that one-party
political dominance, even if it is a product of a
perfect democracy, is not
healthy for a nation. South Africans have only
known two political parties -
the Apartheid sponsored National Party and
Nelson Mandela's African National
Congress [ANC]. Generations of Zimbabweans
have come and gone under Ian
Smith's Rhodesian Front and Robert Mugabe's
painful rule, not to mention
Mozambicans who cannot perceive life without
Samora Machel's FRELIMO party.
In all the above cases, the systems have
produced complacency, poverty,
crime, homelessness, illiteracy and in
Zimbabwe's case, genocide.
One can argue a case of good fortune from Ian
Khama's 'red corner', but
employment generated mainly by public expenditure
is hardly a reason for
ululation. Mr Khama is a soldier-turned-politician
who sooner or later will
choke in his own popularity - and the signs are
visible. It may be a myth,
but pronouncements that beer drinking after
'certain hours' of the day is
not exactly a decree associated with citadels
of effective leadership is
sad. Legend also has it that when the sun sets on
the presidential
motorcade, he 'demands' to spend the night in the nearest
village with total
disregard of his host's security. In his own BDP, there
are divisions that
some critics insist were it that opposition parties are
themselves not
fractured, the 'doomgra' - a phonetic nickname of Khama's
party - would have
crumbled at last week's polls.
Put another way,
the case of Khama's political domination may not
necessarily be a gift to
the world democratic movement, but compared to
American friends in Egypt,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and of late, the
embattled Afghanistan - we
Sothern Africans have to give Botswana a standing
ovation. An election where
literarily all parties campaign under the same
roof without a single
[political] water glass being broken must be a
Guinness Book entry!
Zimbabweans may be 'smarter' than their Tswana
neighbours intellectually,
but they have a lot to learn. Mugabe's resentment
of 'Sir Seretse Khama's
young boy' is founded in jealousy and envy. Between
1980 and June 2008,
Mugabe's brand of 'constitutional democracy' has
accounted for over twenty
five thousand deaths and three million economic
refuges. If this had
happened in Botswana, there would be no country to
write about! Mr Mugabe,
for crying out loud, look across the border, watch
and learn on how REAL
elections are run.
Rejoice Ngwenya is a columnist with www.AcfricanLibery.org and director of
Coaltion for Liberal Market Solutions.
Click here to views the September 2009 GNU Watch - Zimbabwe (1st Anniversary of the GPA)
This document is not meant to be a comprehensive report on the state of the Interim Government (IG) of Zimbabwe. Rather it is aimed at giving an overview, month by month, of political developments under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The sections profiled in monthly outputs may vary depending on events and issues raised in that particular report. Where possible, the relevant article as stipulated in the GPA has been provided. As this documentation began in April, there may at times be references to activities or events that took place in previous months.
This month, the articles covered include the following:
Article II Commitment
Article VI Constitution
Article III Economic
Development
Article XXI Electoral Vacancies
Article XX Framework for a
National Government
Article IV Funding
Article VII, XVI Humanitarian
& Food Assistance
Article XXII Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee – JOMIC
Article V Land Question
Article XVII Legislative
Agenda Priorities
Article XI, XVIII National Security Council
Article XV
National Youth Training Programme
Article X Free Political Activity
Article IV Sanctions
Article VII, XII Reconciliation
Articles XII,
XIX Rights and Freedoms
Article XI Rule of Law
Article VI, VII, XIII
Civil Society Mechanisms
Abbreviations
9th July, 2009.
Hon: T Mhlangu
Dep Min of Youth
Firstly I would like to express my grave concern at Mr. Kasukuwere's statement that the Youth training camps will be reopened under the pretext that it is for "inculcating patriotism and life skills".
As you are aware the youth (militia) were used during last years March and June elections, together with other state agents to brutalise, kill, rape, maim, loot and pillage anyone known or construed to be in opposition to Zanu PF.
As the Secretary for Welfare for the MDC T I regrettably saw the results of many thousands of these brutal attacks on our members and want to draw your attention to the fact that the signs are all there for another round of violence to "persuade" the people to vote for the Kariba draft constitution. Hence my concern about the re opening of these training camps at this very time.
I respectfully request that you as Deputy Minister in the transitional government:
We, as custodians of Zimbabwe's future generation, cannot allow our youth to be subjected to the conditions that have prevailed in previous "youth training" camps. Teaching our youth methods of torture, killing, disposing of bodies, arson, kidnapping, rape and looting does not come into the definition of "life skills". In so doing we are building a generation of psychologically traumatized people, and the cycle of violence, with impunity, will continue.
It may be of interest that there are NGO's whose mandate is to assist in disbanding and training youth militia's to be reintegrated into society with genuine skills to economically empower them. I offer my assistance in this regard.
Very sincerely and with deep concern,
Kerry Lynn Kay,
Secretary for Welfare,
Movement for Democratic Change.
12th October, 2009.
Hon. Saviour Kasukuwere,
Minister of Youth.
Re: Youth Training Camps.
Please find attached hereto a letter written on the 9th July, 2009, to the deputy Minister raising my concerns about the reopening of the Youth Training Camps.
The information coming from the people in the rural areas is that Zanu PF youth, with in some cases Army details, are threatening the people “if you thought beating on the buttocks was bad last year, it will be a bullet in the head this year”.
Minister, we cannot allow a repeat of the terrible and vicious campaign, with total impunity, of violence against the people of Zimbabwe to happen again. The perpetrators of last year’s violence have still not been brought to justice. How can we talk of reconciliation and integration, inclusive government, a Global Political agreement, when the victims of the state sponsored and perpetrated violence of last year have not been compensated for their immense material losses, not to mention the over 230 murdered and the approximately 200 still missing.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience,
Sincerely,
Kerry Lynn Kay,
Secretary for Welfare,
Movement for Democratic Change.
cc. Hon. Prime Minister M.R. Tsvangirai, President MDC.
cc. Hon. N. Chamisa MP
cc. Hon. T. Makone MP
cc. Hon. P. Ganyanya MP
Born and raised in Britain, Ben Freeth has become one of a
handful of farmers in Zimbabwe to resist, often against violent intimidation,
the seizure of his land. Now his fight is the subject of a film. How far would you go to keep your home? Most of us would consider legal
action. But would you be willing to take on a dictator in court and risk the
lives of your family? Ben Freeth has made that decision. The Briton along with his Zimbabwean
family has for the past few years been in a tug of war for land with President
Robert Mugabe, the country's strong and ruthless leader. The 40-year-old Freeth was born and brought up in Kent, and learned his
farming skills at Cirencester agricultural college. He moved to Zimbabwe in 1996
where he settled down with his Zimbabwean wife, Laura, on her family's Mount
Carmel farm, 70 miles south west of the capital, Harare. The fruit farm was once the biggest producer of mangoes in the country and
supplied Marks & Spencer but since 2005 has been under virtual siege from
militias intent on seizing the land. Now the family's refusal to abandon their home has been captured in an
undercover documentary, Mugabe and the White African, which premieres in Britain
on Wednesday night at the London Film Festival. The white African of the title
is Michael Campbell, Mr Freeth's Zimbabwean father-in-law, who owns the farm and
in 2008 took the government of Zimbabwe to an international court. Savage beating The case was simple: the family claimed they were being targeted for one
reason - their colour. Their aim was to set a legal precedent that whites had
the same right to legal protection as any other oppressed minority. The case was heard by the Southern African Development Community tribunal in
Namibia, and it is this unprecedented legal challenge that forms the narrative
spine of the British-made documentary. Mr Freeth says there were numerous stalling tactics by government lawyers who
tried to wear the family down with costly delays. Then days before the case was
due to be heard, Mr Freeth, Mr Campbell and his wife Angela were horrifically
beaten after refusing to call off the case. While Mr Campbell's injuries prevented him from travelling to Namibia, Mr
Freeth was in court to hear the judges rule that the government's move to
"nationalise" white farmland was illegal and racially discriminatory. (See
factbox, right for background.) It was a historic victory. And yet the film concludes on a chilling note. Not
only has Zimbabwe's government refused to accept the verdict of the southern
African body of which it is a member. But in September the Freeths' home and the
houses of their workers were burnt down. The family appears to have lost
everything. But Mr Freeth, whose moustachioed appearance and stoical good humour owes
something to a Victorian explorer, says the family will never give in to the
violence and intimidation which he believes can be traced back to Mr Mugabe.
"We were in a position where we were going to lose everything anyway. So you
realise there's nothing to lose, you have to fight for it." Mad stoicism? The family is living in temporary accommodation near the farm and visit their
workers most days to give moral support and clear away the fire damage. The plan
is to rebuild the workers' houses, restart his wife's laundry business before
reconstructing the family home. Watching the film, many will admire the family's determination. But some may
feel such stubbornness in the face of a regime associated with violent
retribution is mad, especially with three children aged four, seven and nine.
But Mr Freeth and his wife are committed Christians and believe they have
been put there for a reason by God. "If no-one is prepared to do anything then you're in effect ending the lives
of all the children and this country's future. The people will end up in camps
being beaten, brainwashed and taught to hate us (white people). We need to make
a difference. We can't just up sticks and run away. That's what a third of the
population has done and it is not going to help." He knows they risk being killed. "It's always a possibility under a dictator. Does that stop you?" Last year, Mr Mugabe was compared to Hitler, by a South African Anglican
bishop, and Mr Freeth refers to how appeasement allowed the Nazis to dominate
Europe. "If more people had stood up to Hitler perhaps he wouldn't have been able to
massacre six million Jews. You have to take some risks." The British directors of the film, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson, were also
taking a huge gamble. Camera smuggling Western journalists were banned from working in Zimbabwe and by shooting a
feature film there - the first for many years - they risked imprisonment. Much
of the film was shot covertly but as a self confessed "camera snob" Thompson
insisted on smuggling in a large format camera to ensure the film would make an
impact on the big screen. Thompson has worked in Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan but says nowhere was as
terrifying as Mugabe's Zimbabwe. "There's a culture of fear and no rule of law. You've got the isolation of
the rural areas with these armed militias out and about. It's so tough for the
family. One day Ben is in the supermarket queue standing beside someone, the
next night this person is out on the farm with a machete vowing to kill his
children." There will be awkward moments for western audiences not used to the
paternalistic relationship between white farmers and their black workforce. But
the film-makers argue the fate of the workers and white farmers are inextricably
linked. Thompson believes it is time for people to see white people in Africa
differently. "I think the story very clearly debunks the view that white people
shouldn't be in Africa. It's in the same vein as people in Britain who say
blacks shouldn't live here - we call them Nazis. The subject is a hot potato but
we make it clear that yes, you can be white and African." Having won in the courts, Mr Freeth hopes the film will ratchet up
international pressure on President Mugabe. In practice, the octogenarian leader
controls the police, army and judges and in the rural areas the violent attacks
have intensified. If Zimbabwe is ever to recover, Mr Freeth believes white farmers will be part
of its reconstruction. "We know it'll take huge amounts of money to get Zimbabwe back on its feet.
And without property rights there's no way that agriculture can get up and
running again." His latest idea for the film reveals chutzpah to go with the stubbornness -
he wants to arrange a screening in Harare. Like so much of what he sets out to
do, one wonders if he may eventually get his way. Mugabe and the White African will be shown at the London Film Festival on
Wednesday 21 October and Friday 23 October. For details, see internet links,
above right.
‘Mugabe and the White African’ is being screened at the London Film Festival
today and on the 23 October (Friday). Details here. Unfortunately
for Londoners, it looks as if tickets are sold out – but that’s good news for
the Campbell and Freeth families whose story is told through the film. The
trailor gives a sense of how much they have endured. Links to archived posts
about the two families available below Archived blogs on Mount Carmel Farm
Tonight is
going to be a tense night: an update on Mount Carmel Farm – 11 June 2009