Government refuses to hand over graft report

Zim Online

Wednesday 25 October 2006

      HARARE - The government has refused to hand over a report by the
National Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) to a special parliamentary
committee on trade and industry, raising fears that alleged widespread
corruption at state steel-maker ZISCOSTEEL could be swept under the carpet.

      It emerged yesterday that Industry and International Trade Minister
Obert Mpofu had promised to hand over the report to the committee last week
but did not do so after he failed to meet the committee "due to pressing
commitments".

      Chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs,
Industry and International Trade, Enock Porusingazi on Monday told ZimOnline
that his committee had not been given the report.

      "The NECI report was not submitted to us," said Porusingazi.

      Mpofu was not immediately available to shed light on why he had not
given the NECI report to the parliamentary committee as earlier promised.

      Porusingazi however said that his committee would still compile a
report on ZISCOSTEEL to be tabled in Parliament even if it did not receive
the NECI document, said to contain details of how senior politicians of
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party and the government looted the
steelmaker.

      Porusingazi, a legislator of the ruling party, said his committee was
pursuing another avenue to get the NECI report but would not be drawn to say
exactly what other measures the parliamentarians would take to pressure
Mpofu to hand over the report.

      The committee could invoke parliamentary power to force the release of
the NECI document, a however unlikely route given that senior ZANU PF
politicians named in the report are likely to order the party's
parliamentarians to block moves to force the Executive to produce the
report.

      Mpofu last month told the parliamentary committee that there was a
NECI document detailing high level corruption at ZISCOSTEEL by top
government officials and Members of Parliament, which he said was to blame
for the parlous state of the steel plant that is the largest in southern
Africa outside South Africa.

      The Industry and Trade Minister also told the committee that he had
asked Anti-Corruption Minister Paul Mangwana not to immediately make the
NECI report public or order the arrest of those implicated in the report
partly in fear such moves could tarnish the image of the country.

      But Mpofu made a sensational U-turn a week later saying he had never
told the parliamentary committee that government officials were looting
ZISCOSTEEL, saying all he had meant was that companies owned by state
officials were buying products from the steelmaker for resale at a profit
when the parastatal was making a loss.

      Meanwhile, Mangwana also claimed that he was unable to act on the NECI
report because he could no longer find the document that was in his
possession.

      Parliament began probing ZISCOSTEEL after a controversial deal between
the steelmaker and Indian firm Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL) that
would have seen the GSHL inject US$400 million into the Zimbabwean firm in
return for a 20-year management contract.

      Under the Rehabilitation, Operate and Transfer deal - which now hangs
in the balance - hard-cash from GSHL would be used to rehabilitate the
ZISCOSTEEL plant components especially blast furnaces, coke oven batteries,
LD furnace and rolling mills. - ZimOnline

Chiefs' Council president threatens to evict opposition supporters

Zim Online

Tuesday 24 October 2006

      MASVINGO - The leader of Zimbabwe's traditional chiefs, Fortune
Charumbira, at the weekend threatened villagers with forcible eviction from
their homes as punishment for not backing President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU PF party in next weekend's rural council elections.
      Charumbira, president of the pro-ZANU PF Chiefs' Council and a former
junior member of Mugabe's Cabinet, made the threat at a function organised
by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation in rural Masvingo
province to mark World Food Day.

      He told the villagers that those evicted from his area for backing the
opposition would have nowhere to go as other chiefs across the country had
also adopted the same policy of banning supporters of the opposition United
People's Party and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties from their
areas.

      Charumbira, who spoke in the vernacular Shona language, said: "I have
some names of UPP (United People's Party) and MDC supporters whom I have
already earmarked for eviction. The position is that only ZANU PF supporters
will be allowed to reside in my area. I want my (village) headmen to take
note of this position.

      "If you are an opposition supporter this is the time to mend your ways
before we come for you and ask you to pack your bags. I don't know where you
will go because other chiefs will take a similar stance."

      ZANU PF chairman for Masvingo Samuel Mumbengegwi also took advantage
of the UN-organised event to urge villagers to vote for his party in
upcoming elections.

      However, provincial governor Willard Chiwewe attempted to reassure the
villagers that despite Charumbira's threats they were free to back whichever
political party of their choice without reprisal from the government.

      "I just want to make reference to the speech by the Chief .. this is a
democratic country and we are all free to live peacefully despite our
political differences," Chiwewe told the villagers.

      It was not possible to get an immediate comment from local
representatives of the UN in Harare on Charumbira's threats to villagers.

      Traditional leaders have largely ceremonial powers but wield immense
influence over their subjects in rural areas.

      The opposition and pro-democracy groups blame chiefs and headmen for
abandoning their traditionally neutral role in the community to side with
Mugabe and his ZANU PF party. - ZimOnline

Why thousands are leaving home for a life of fea

The Times, UK October 24, 2006

r
From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg

Despite the risks they face, which include attacks and
deportation, many say life as an illegal in South Africa is better than in
their native Zimbabwe

FOR Alta Phakathi, a 35-year-old Zimbabwean woman, the 25-minute
journey to work in Johannesburg in a minibus taxi is a terrifying daily
ordeal.

Like thousands of her compatriots Alta, a maid in an affluent
northern suburb, lives in fear of a police checkpoint that could uncover her
illegal status and mean deportation back to Zimbabwe, from where she fled
more than three years ago.

"Every time I travel I am afraid. I just look at my feet. I
always pray to God: 'Please, please look after me'," she told The Times.
Alta has been lucky. She has been caught only once. With the help of a South
African boyfriend, she got away with paying a small bribe of some 300 rand
(about £20).

"We have split up, and now I am frightened all the time. I don't
like to go out too much because I know they are rounding people up," she
whispered, kneading her apron like a string of worry beads. She has good
reason to be nervous. Swamped by a recent surge in arrivals, the authorities
have stepped up deportations, which are running at more than 300 a day. They
have also closed all offices dealing with asylum applications as they tackle
a backlog expected to take more than a year to clear.

Official figures show that since the end of May the South
Africans deported almost 50,000 people, a 50 per cent increase on the year
before.

In Soweto township a burly old-style white South African
policeman boasted that he was now arresting 400 to 500 "illegals" - most
Zimbabwean - a week.

Despite the risks they face, which include attacks and even
murders, Alta and others say that life here is much better than in Robert
Mugabe's modern-Zimbabwe, where inflation is more than 1,200 per cent,
unemployment the norm, and last week the few remaining blood banks in the
hospitals broke down.

"I must get money to send back to my family. It is so, so tough
over there [Zimbabwe]. If I don't work, they will not eat," she said. Her
two children, aged 3 and 9, live with her mother outside Bulawayo, the
second city of Zimbabwe.

The same tales of hardship and need are recounted by an
estimated two million Zimbabweans now trying to scrape a living in South
Africa. Each week, as the crisis in Zimbabwe worsens, more and more arrive
across the border expecting to find work and opportunities in Africa's
wealthiest country.

Instead most end up on the streets facing hostility,
exploitation and police harassment. Some are hired on farms and then
"shopped" to the authorities when pay day nears. Others find a day's work
once or twice a month at rates way below the official minimum.

"If I go out and see the police I run back straight away, but
here at least you can get bread . . . In Zim it is now too difficult. I am
sad here but it is still better," said Beauty Jake, a pregnant 21-year-old
who arrived last month hoping to give her child a better life. "If I go back
they will ask why I left and see me as an enemy."

Increasingly, though, Zimbabweans are being forced back. Unless
they can find a bribe of £5 to £25 they are taken to an overcrowded
detention centre from where a train runs once a week to the border town of
Musina. "They arrive back weak, hungry and without food or accommodation,"
said Nick van der Vyver of the International Organisation of Migration,
which runs a reception centre there. It is estimated that about half slip
straight back into South Africa, often fording the crocodile-infested
Limpopo River at night.

Oliver Kubikwa, who runs the Zimbabwe Political Victims
Association, said: "The police have cracked down, they blame us for an
increase in crime . . . It is tough now, so tough here for Zimbabweans.
Without papers they cannot get jobs."

He said that the Government of President Mbeki was partly to
blame because of its softly, softly approach to Zimbabwe. "The Government
here does not accept there is a conflict or political crisis there so we
cannot be formally treated as refugees. Consequently, there is no
institution which takes care of Zimbabweans, no one that tries to take
people off the streets," he told The Times.
In the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, one of the few
organisations to run a care centre, visitors are greeted by Dickensian
scenes. Every available space is crammed with people, sitting astride
plastic bags full of possessions. Mattresses line the floors.

The half-light from rows of small cooking stoves illuminates the
faces of dozens of children, some born since their mothers arrived.
Teachers, sales assistants, company reps, mechanics and shop owners sleep
side by side. All tell the same tale.

Godfrey Charamba, 30, said: "The police are on our backs these
days . . . But here with just a few rand you can survive. People are
disappointed not to find the gold mine but, for all the hardships, it is
better than staying at home."

He was one of the few to have official papers, but said that
police tore them up and beat him. "If they deport me I will be back within
half a day, just watch."

Top army, police commanders plunder billions from Zim state coffers

      October 24, 2006

      By Savious Kwinika (CAJ)

      high levels of corruption among top commanders

      Zimbabwe Bureau
      CAJ News

      HARARE:
      HOME Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi and several top Zimbabwe Republic
Police and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commanders are being accused of
claiming millions of Zim Dollars on disability gratuities sustained during
the liberation struggle yet once again they remain clinging to their top
positions.

      On the contrary junior officers are forced to go on early retirement
if they are certified to be 30 percent disabled, CAJ News established.

      It is a requirement that anyone with a disability of over 30 percent
should resign as they are deemed to physically  and intellectually
incompetent to carry-out their duties.

      Information gathered by CAJ News show that the police, Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA), Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officers and
some government ministers have syphoned the taxpayers to the tune of
billions of dollars during the wrongly and fictitiously claimed gratuities
in the early 1990s, in a move which were issued out to the claimants by the
late war veterans leader, Adolf "Hitler" Hunzvi.

      According to some investigations by CAJ News crew, Mohadi, who seats
in the Zanu PF's supreme decision making body of the poliburo, has a
disability amounting to more than 80 percent, and surprisingly the home
affairs minister still holds on to his ministerial post and working without
experiencing any problems.

      The disabilities recorded during the Hunzvi vetting exercise is being
questioned today and the majority of Zimbabwean taxpayers are demanding
answers as a matter of urgency as to why a person with more than 80 percent
disability was still at work 26 years after the war of liberation.

      Worsening the already tarnished home affairs and police records is the
Zimbabwe's law enforcent agents' deputy commissioner, senior assistant
commissioner, Godwin Matanga, who is allegedly have the disability of 90
percent, but once again has clung to his commandentant post whilst on full
payroll.

      Further investigations by CAJ News reveal that several dozens of
ministers, some of them were war collaborators even claimed more millions of
dollars during the War Victims Compensation Funds, which were headed by the
late war veterans dictator, Adolf "Hitler" Hunzvi, who allegedly inflated
the figures to suit the top government ministers and army commanders.

      Investigations show that some top army officers and the top police
chiefs were the ones, who benefitted most whilst the junior personnel were
immediately forced to go on retirement for having just a mere 30 percent
disability.

      "Deputy Commissioner Matanga had a disability capacity of 90 % from
injuries incurred during the liberation struggle. He was highly compensated
for the injuries. He could have been retired as it is a requirement that a
person who is 30% disability must be retired," said one top law enforcement
agent, who requested anonymity.

      Turning to corruption charges against Matanga, impeccable sources said
almost half of junior officiers in Harare were unhappy with deputy
commissioner Matanga's corrupt tendencies and leadership qualities, whom
they claimed was incompetent.

      Commending on the same issue, another police's senior assistant
commissioner, who spoke to CAJ News on condition of anonymity accused deputy
commissioner Matanga of bullying his juniors, issuing of "wild" commands
including the recent order which saw ZCTU members seriously attacked.

      "If the government is so serious about stamping out corruption, then
the same government should start with these chief police, airforce and army
officers.

      "What baffles most is that almost all the junior police officers, who
sustained injuries during the war of liberation were forced to go on early
retirement but the army and police chiefs, who can no longer conduct the the
national duty fairly are still at work as well as enjoying all the
government benefits dispite having more than 90 percent disability.

      "When a person has more than 90 percent disability, he or she is
almost finished," said one close police source at Harare headquarters-CAJ
News.

Single currency on SADC agenda

Pretoria News

October 24, 2006 Edition 1

Abhik Kumar Chanda

Leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community met
yesterday to review ambitious plans to forge a free-trade zone and common
currency which have yielded few tangible results so far.

The "extraordinary summit" of the SADC drew eight heads of state and
government and was hastily convened by the bloc's chairman, Pakalitha
Mosisili, the prime minister of Lesotho.

Mosisili said there was an urgent "need to upscale and intensify regional
economic integration and political co-ordination.

"Our agenda is to review the findings of a task force ... set up to prepare
a roadmap for accelerating the establishment of a free trade area by 2008,
customs union by 2010, a common market by 2015 and economic union by 2018,"
he said.

The gathering was attended by the presidents of South Africa, Botswana,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Swaziland and Lesotho were
represented by their prime ministers and senior ministers headed the other
delegations.

Mosisili said the SADC needed to get its act together to catch up with the
rest of Africa. "(The) African Union is accelerating the processes for
regional economic integration. The regional economic communities are
building blocks for a fully integrated continent."

The SADC has set itself ambitious targets for the next 12 years, including
an agreement to scrap tariffs on 85% of all goods by 2008 but which is way
behind schedule.

Summit host South Africa said the meeting would be an opportunity to review
progress and work out how to overcome obstacles.

"The task is to unblock logjams that may create obstacles," said Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
"The leaders are concerned about the slow pace of progress compared with
other regions in the continent. We are confident that the heads of state
today will chart the way forward to ensure we meet the 2008 deadline."

The region - apart from South Africa and Botswana - is blighted by endemic
poverty. The Aids pandemic is another common scourge for all member states.

The SADC chairman alluded to squabbles over the proposed plans, urging
member nations in a roundabout way to be more flexible.

"As we march towards the customs union, we need to remind ourselves this is
a give-and-take affair.

"We have some measure of clarity on the challenges and problems but also the
long-term benefits of market integration," he said but added that the
"region is on course for the free trade market area by 2008".

The grouping hoped to benefit from South Africa's recent election to a
non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The grouping pledged to work with Pretoria "to make South Africa's term
beneficial and successful not only for South Africa and the region but
Africa and the world."

SADC Finance and Investment deal ignores lawlessness in Zimbabwe

      By Tererai Karimakwenda
      24 October 2006

      The Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of government
and state held an extraordinary summit just outside Johannesburg on Monday,
where Zimbabwe signed onto a regional finance deal. This deal has been
described as a first step towards a 'Common Market and Economic and Monetary
Union' envisioned for 2018. And with the ink barely dry, the SADC leaders
are being criticised for ignoring the Zimbabwe government's appalling human
rights record and its policies that are keeping away much needed foreign
investment in the region.

      Botswana and Swaziland also signed the deal, known as the Protocol on
Finance and Investment, which is meant to harmonise regional finance,
investment and economic policies. Back home in Zimbabwe the secretary
general of the Tsvangirai MDC, Tendai Biti, criticised the SADC leaders for
"conducting business as usual" and separating politics from business. He
said they are all to blame but South Africa must bear the brunt because it
was President Thabo Mbeki who engineered the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) which calls for international investment in the region
based on good governance, democracy and peer review. By ignoring the
Zimbabwe crisis Biti said SADC cannot prosper.

      Biti explained that the Finance Protocol will not make things better
for Zimbabweans. He said: "It will not reduce inflation which is over 1000%.
It will not get jobs for our 80% unemployed. And it will not increase our
productivity." He also believes Mbeki and SADC need to remember they agreed
to shepherd each other and as long as peer review is dead there will be no
progress. Biti added that Mbeki can no longer speak of peer review, given
his record of defending the Mugabe regime. "As long as bad, errant cases
like Zimbabwe exist," he said, "SADC will not be able to produce."

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Zim/China trade on upsurge

Fin24

      24/10/2006 20:34

      Harare - Trade between Zimbabwe and its eastern ally China surged to
$280m last year and will be greater still this year, the state-controlled
Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
      Total trade volume for bilateral trade for the first eight months of
2006 reached $210m, according to a report carried by the Herald.

      President Robert Mugabe has urged Zimbabwean businessmen to look to
China and Malaysia for trade opportunities instead of relying on traditional
Western markets that are shunning Zimbabwe.

      The Zimbabwean authorities here have gone to great lengths to
encourage Sino-Zimbabwe trade, setting up Harare-Beijing flights on the
ailing national carrier and urging tourism professionals to learn Chinese.

      There are now more than 35 Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe,
according to the Herald.

      Chinese companies have shown an interest in helping Zimbabwe resurrect
its troubled power sector, reportedly in return for mining rights.

      Controversy

      Earlier this year, Beijing and Harare were reported to have signed
preferential loan agreements totalling 200 million yuan: foreign currency
that is desperately-needed by the struggling southern African nation.

      But the increased presence of Chinese businessmen in Zimbabwe's towns
and cities has stirred controversy.

      There are complaints the newcomers are flooding the local market with
flimsy substandard clothes, shoes and tableware that quickly fall to pieces.

      The weekly Standard newspaper claimed on Sunday that the ruling party
politburo's (ZANU-PF)top decision-making body had recently blasted the cheap
products, known locally as zhing-zhongs.

      Concern was raised over the substandard goods that have been coming
from China, an unnamed ZANU-PF politburo member was quoted as saying.

      We noted that although the Chinese are our friends, they are making
the people hate the government, the newspaper quoted the official as saying.

Canada can help end Mugabe's terror, says Gabriel Shumba

Zimbabwejournalists.com

      By a Correspondent

      MONTREAL - The Government of Canada has a key role to play in helping
end the human rights catastrophe unfolding in Zimbabwe, says Gabriel Shumba,
a leading human rights lawyer now based in South Africa.

      Shumba and Marilyn Tudor of the South Africa-based Zimbabwe Exiles
Forum (ZEF) are currently in Canada for a three-week public speaking tour
sponsored by Rights & Democracy.

      Shumba, the executive director of ZEF, says Canada is uniquely
positioned to take the lead in seeing to it that international bodies like
the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the African Union intervened in
Zimbabwe to bring President Robert Mugabe's government to account for its
mass violations of human rights and democratic freedoms.

      He said the Government of Canada should also study the feasibility of
using Canadian laws to prosecute those responsible for human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe, notably Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

      Shumba, a victim of torture in Zimbabwe, said Canada should ask the
United Nations Security Council to fully consider employing the principle of
Responsibility to Protect, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly last
year.

      Canada was instrumental in drafting the principles behind the
Responsibility to Protect, which obliges the international community to
intervene in a country where the government is unable or unwilling to
protect the rights of its citizens. Such measures could include
international travel restrictions and targeted economic sanctions.

      Last week in the House of Lords, Lord Blaker, in a moving debate on
the crisis in Zimbabwe said Britain could also employ the same principle to
protect the millions of Zimbabweans bearing the brunt of bad governance that
has led to untold suffering.

      Shumba said the Commonwealth should also continue to address Zimbabwe's
situation, despite the country's formal withdrawal from the organization in
December of 2003.

      Given that the Commonwealth regroups many countries with important
ties to Zimbabwe, such as South Africa and the United Kingdom, it is an
important multilateral forum where Canadian engagement and leadership on the
issue of human rights in Zimbabwe is necessary.

      He said Canada is remembered and respected throughout the southern
African region for the key role it played in bringing apartheid to an end in
South Africa, and is looked up to as an honest broker not tainted by a
history of colonization.

      "Canada is therefore well-positioned to work with and strengthen
regional institutions like the African Union and the African Commission for
Human and Peoples' Rights.  Building strong regional institutions with a
commitment to human rights, democracy and good governance will facilitate
the long-term ability of Africans to address situations such as Zimbabwe,"
said Shumba.

      Shumba believes Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act
(2000) as well as Section 7(3.7) of Canada's Criminal Code, which makes
s.269.1 (Torture) of the Code subject to universal jurisdiction, could be
used to indict representatives of Mugabe's regime.

      On June 21, 2006, Canada's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and
International Trade adopted a motion calling on Canada's Minister of Justice
to assess the feasibility of bringing these laws to bear against the
government of Zimbabwe. The motion asks the Minister of Justice to report
back to the committee on Nov. 15, 2006.

Crisis delegation in Tanzania to pressure Mugabe

      October 24, 2006

      By Savious Kwinika (CAJ)

      Putting pressure on Mugabe

      Nowell Marufu

      CAJ News Reporter

      JOHANNESBURG:

      CRISIS in Zimbabwe Coalition is taking out to the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to drum up regional support in order to expose
the worsening socio-economic and political meltdown in the country as an
estimated five million Zimbabwean citizens are now living in abroad,
escaping from the increasingly worsening poverty.

      Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, who were recently in Bostwana, Zambia
and Malawi drumming the regional support, are presently in Tanzania under
the Organising Civil Society initiative as part of  the coalition's regional
civil society advocacy programme.

      The delegation comprises Elinor Sisulu, Nicholas Mukaronda, Jestina
Mkoko and Itai Zimunya ,all from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition,and will
be working with the Tanzanian civil society to establish the Tanzanian Civil
Society Forum in Zimbabwe.

      "Our main reason for being there is to provide the Tanzania civil
society with adequate and accurate information about the crisis in Zimbabwe.

      "We want to tell a true story about the sufferings in Zimbabwe
contrary to the moribund propaganda that is being syphoned by the state
sponsored media like The Herald,The Chronicle and the Zimbabwe Television
(ZTV)," said Nixon (Mao) Nyikadzino, the Media Person for the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition.

      The establishment of the Tanzanian Civil Society Forum in Zimbabwe is
being coordinated by the Legal and Human Rights Centre.

      "The proposed Tanzanian Civil Society Forum in Zimbabwe would be
convened for for weeks with the Legal and Human Rights centre in Tanzania
faciltating the organisation of the said Forum," added Nyikadzino.

      The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition would be working closely with the
Legal and Human Rights Centre in convening the forum.

      The Zimbabwe Coalition would in the process prepare information packs
to disseminate to the Tanzanian society.

      A workshop is slotted for the 23rd and 24th of October in Dar es
Salaam-and the forum will involve a number of Civil Society Organisations,
government officials, the media and faith based organisations.

      More than fifty participants are expected to attend the forum.

      This initiative comes against the background of increased abuses by
the government of Zimbabwe against members of the opposition, the civic
society and ordinary civilians.

      The government security agents a few weeks ago unleashed their brutal
tactics used to quell voices of dissent on demonstrating members of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), and many ZCTU members are still
battling to recover from the savage beatings that they got from the police
and state security agents.

      A lot of pressure groups are operating in the diaspora as a way of
putting pressure on the aging leader of Zimbabwe,Robert Mugabe, to step
down; and this Tannzanian initiative will likely force the Tanzanian ruling
hierachy to stop legitimising and supporting the unpopular Mugabe regime-CAJ
News.

Human rights group & the Malawi Information minister

See article describing Minister Patricia Kaliati reaction to CHRR boss criticism

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Press Statement

In Response to Government Statement on the Stand of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation on the Political and Human Rights Situation In Zimbabwe.

It is with great reluctance that the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) is compelled to issue this statement. Although we are advocacy oriented, at CHRR we have always laboured to deal with issues in the context of ideals and principles rather than personality or partisanship. In particular, CHRR has always avoided the enticement of being drawn into personalised public debates with individual public officials, and even more so individual Cabinet Ministers. However, in the light of the grossly misdirected and personalized attack on the Executive Director, Mr. Undule Mwakasungura, by the Information and Tourism minister, Mrs. Patricia Kaliati, CHRR feels constrained to issue this statement. Our main reason is to avert the possibility of any likely public uncertainty on CHRR’s integrity and avoid any unnecessary as well as unwelcome angry public exchanges with the Minister (and, therefore, government) through the media.

CHRR observes that the Honourable Minister’s comments, as reported in the Nation, Monday, 23rd October 2005, were in reference to remarks made during a press briefing ten days ago by the Executive Director, Mr. Undule Mwakasungura and a delegation from Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition based in Harare, Johannesburg and Windhoek. He referred to media reports of a lament by a section of civil society about having been conned by government into breaking ranks with other rights NGOs that criticised the controversial invitation by the Malawi government extended to the Zimbabwean President, Mr. Robert Mugabe in May this year. During the visit, Mugabe was further honoured by having the newly constructed highway from Midima to Mulanje named after him.

These NGOs, according to the Nation, 13th October 2006, were regretting having broken ranks in agreement to unfulfilled promises by the Head of State to facilitate a face- to-face meeting between them and President Mugabe. In this meeting, they were to express their concerns about the deteriorating political, economic and human rights situation in Zimbabwe directly to Mugabe rather than hold public protest as well as other actions. CHRR together with a the Centre for Youth and Children’s Affairs (CEYCA), the Civil Liberties Committee (CILIC) and the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), as well as the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), took a principled stand and actually continued, through special press statements, to condemn in the strongest terms possible what was happening and continues to happen to civil and political rights of the Zimbabwean people.

Honourable Mrs Kaliati was quoted as not only having questioned CHRR’s intentions in raising the issue of Mugabe’s visit which she said “ended a long time ago”, but also inferred suggestively that Mr. Mwakasungura was implicated in the removal of the plaque on the pillar commemorating the official opening of the highway. The Minister was further quoted as insinuating that Mr. Mwakasungura was involved in this lawless act and, consequently, that the police should investigate him as a prime suspect.

If indeed true, the open threat by government against Mr. Mwakasungura – and by extension, any other individuals or organizations that dare to question government policies and actions, is most regrettable and a cause for grave concern. It is most unfortunate that matters that ought to be discussed as issues are apparently being personalized, seemingly with a view to intimidate particular law-abiding citizens and human rights defenders for holding divergent views to those of the national leadership.

CHRR wishes to declare again that the position it has maintained is not new; the same stand has previously been expressed on similar forums elsewhere in the SADC region as well as in Zimbabwe. As regards Zimbabwe, we have criticized the actions, and lack of action, by the government of President Mugabe as far back as the campaign waged in 2000 against white Zimbabwean farmers, which saw farms belonging to the latter expropriated and their labourers chased, many of them Malawian citizens or Zimbabweans of Malawi origin. We have criticised in equal terms the destruction, through Operation Murambatsvina, in which thousands poor urban dwellers lost their homes and property.
We continue to see the aftermaths of that cruel campaign as hundreds of Malawians have been forcibly removed and repatriated to Malawi. CHRR previously expressed concern about Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders’ reluctance to prevail upon President Mugabe, as one of their colleagues, to end the state of siege and terror unleashed upon citizens and the anguish and embarrassment that his actions have enveloped the rest of the SADC region as well as the African continent at large.

Contrary to the Minister’s assertion, the Zimbabwe subject is very much current and it is time that our leaders stopped burying their heads in the sand. This has breaded comfort and encouragement to the authorities in Zimbabwe, as did the state visit and the honours accorded him by the Malawi government. It might be worthwhile for government consider the attack on the commemorative plaque on the Midima road to represent expressions of disapproval by ordinary Malawians to government’s policies and actions rather than imply criminal act by any rights organizations and individual advocates.

As to the question why CHRR should be concerned about the political, economic and social disorder going on in Zimbabwe, we should like to recall that the SADC governments in their many declarations as well as the commitment to which they pledged themselves to protect and promote good governance and human rights in the African Charter and Human and People’s Rights Charter (to which Malawi is a signatory) obliges not only the state agents but ordinary citizens, too, to uphold and protect the principles enshrined in those legal instruments. Any infringement of human rights by any one anywhere, more particularly on the African continent, should be the concern of every democracy loving African. This commitment is enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the Malawi Constitution.

The Malawi Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and the right to individual opinion and conscience. It is in responsible exercise of these rights and freedoms that CHRR at times voices opinions that prick certain individuals as well as institutions and sometimes-political leaders in government or in opposition..

With regard to the accusation of CHRR as being unpatriotic, we believe that the record of the many projects and programmes in which the organization has collaborated with various government departments have benefited the Malawians who can sufficiently attest. CHRR has endeavoured to instil in the ordinary Malawian communities an awareness of rights and freedoms and, equally, their duties and responsibilities to the state and government as citizens.

We at CHRR are fully aware of the discomfort often caused while carrying out its functions and responsibilities as a watchdog on adherence to democratic government and respect for the rule of law. This organization on its own or in concert with other NGOs has felt compelled to hold those in positions of leadership to transparency and accountability for their own utterances and actions. Could this really be taken as being unpatriotic? We believe not!

Suffice to say that we at CHRR welcomes the suggestion of having an investigation into the attacks on the signpost on the Robert Mugabe Highway as long as this is not done with a view to confirm preconceived but unproven suspicions against any individuals or organizations. That, in our view, would be tantamount to unwarranted personalization of issues and an unacceptable abuse of state instruments and powers to intimidate citizens and a threat to people’s safety and security. This will be a threat to the work of Human Rights Defenders .

In conclusion, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation will continue, as always, to express its opinions frankly and, if need be, loudly, whenever the principles of democratic rights and the rule of law are infringed, whether within Malawi or elsewhere. We shall also be ready to work with government as we have done before in such areas as our expertise may be fruitfully utilized to the benefit of both our country’s leadership and citizenry. We shall also continue to fulfil our responsibilities and duties as embers of the wider community at large, in fulfilment of our perceived mandate and responsibilities under the relevant conventions and protocols under the SADC, the AU’s Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the United Nations Charter, with particular reference to the Universal Declaration on the Bill of Rights.

In doing so, CHRR will not be driven by lack of patriotism but, rather, by the desire to see our country and the government live up to principles to which the Malawian people have committed themselves in the context of their own national laws and also to those which our government has committed itself through the international instruments to which Malawi is a state party.

24th October, 2006

Management
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), P.O.BOX 2340, Lilongwe, Malawi,
Email: chrr@sdnp.org.mw,

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Zambia exports maize to food deficient Zim

IOL

          October 24 2006 at 03:33PM

      Lusaka - Zambia has exported 100 ton of corn to its food-starved
neighbour Zimbabwe, worth more than 92-billion kwacha (about R190-million),
the agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

      Ben Kapita told state-run radio that the sale was aimed at helping
Zimbabwe, once southern Africa's breadbasket but now critically short of
food including maize, the national staple.

      "About 100 metric tonnes of maize has been sold to Zimbabwe. Sixteen
billion kwacha has been paid while the remaining amount will be paid soon,"
Kapita said.

      Zimbabwe has had a consistent food deficit since its controversial
land reforms of 2000 which led to a slide in agricultural output. It
currently imports both wheat and maize.

      Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government introduced price
controls four years ago to fight a burgeoning black market in staples such
as cornmeal, cooking oil and bread in the wake of an economic meltdown. -
Sapa-AFP

Women of Zimbabwe Arise win third court case in a month

      By Violet Gonda
      24 October 2006

      It was victory again for the pressure group Women Of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) when a Harare magistrate set free 101 members in Harare, on Monday.
This is the third victory in court for WOZA this month. The group's
Coordinator Jenni Williams said victory was even more sweet as this is the
first time that the women have been tried under the notorious Criminal
(Codification and Reform) Act, and won. The other two cases had been tried
under the equally draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

      "So we feel very vindicated that no matter what unjust law they bring
our freedoms under the constitution are still freedoms," said Williams.

      The latest case was thrown out after state witnesses failed to support
the charges against the women in their evidence. The women had been arrested
in September at Town House during demonstrations against poor service
delivery in Harare.

      Although they had attempted to hold a peaceful a sit-in demanding the
removal of the illegal Sekesai Makwavarara led commission, the authorities
arrested the protesters and charged them with 'participating in a public
gathering with the intent to cause public disorder and a breach of peace."

      As usual some of the women were arrested with their babies.

      WOZA said in a statement; "We would like to thank Magistrate Bhila for
upholding the independence of the judiciary and send him our love. We have
also been vindicated about our right to speak out about the poor service
delivery, sewage flowing in the streets and high costs of water in Harare.
We will be visiting Town House again in the near future."

      The WOZA Coordinator said tribute should also go to Advocate Beatrice
Mtetwa for a scintillating cross examination of the state witness "because
literally they kept on trying to say things but they were stumbling upon
their own words and she really showed her worth as a human rights lawyer and
literally tore their evidence to pieces."

      The pressure group said the state's evidence was built on very shaky
truths from the start. 3 police officer testified in court that the accused
were arrested after being caught demonstrating against the Harare City
Council. They claimed the women were displaying placards written, "Too much
raw sewage flowing in our roads", "Water charges have become too high they
should be lowered" and "Rentals have become too high" and other WOZA
banners.

      They said the content on the placards could hardly be classified as
inflammatory as it was factual that raw sewerage flowed in some streets of
Harare and that water charges were even expensive for the police offices.

      But in any case the accused denied the charges, saying the placards
were never displayed as the women were arrested before the demonstration had
even taken place.

      Another police officer said that the women were very cooperative and
sat down and allowed themselves to be arrested. William added; "Thereby
confirming our non violent manner."

      Meanwhile in Bulawayo, 154 members are facing the same charges for
their participation in a demonstration against Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon
Gono's Operation Sunrise (the slashing of zeroes) in August and will face
trial on 7 November 2006.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Security Forces Contracted To Commit Human Rights Violations - Forum

Zimbabwejournalists.com

      By Sheila Ochi

      HARARE - The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum says it has evidence that
President Robert Mugabe's government has contracted soldiers, police
officers, state spies and private individuals to carry out human rights
violations on behalf of the ZANU PF party.

      According to a statement released at the weekend, the organization,
which comprises of 16 member organizations, said these state security agents
are still serving members, and the ruling party continues to protect them
from accountability.

      "The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum is concerned by the failure of
the Government of Zimbabwe to hold perpetrators of human rights violations
accountable. The organization is in possession of materials implicating
state officials in widespread and systematic human rights abuses such as
members of the ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police, ZNA (Zimbabwe National Army),
and the CIO (Central Intelligence Organization) but continue serving in
these institutions and abusing citizens without being held accountable.
Moreover, there is further information that implicates operating with the
acquiescence of the state," read the statement.

      The organization's allegations came as the Attorney General's Office
struggles to prosecute CIO operative, Joseph Mwale, who stands accused of
bombing to death two opposition officials in the run up to the
hotly-contested 2000 parliamentary elections.

      Despite several requests by the AG, police have failed to arrest
Mwale, fuelling fears that senior ruling party politicians are shielding him
from arrest.

      Recently Mugabe defended the torture of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Union (ZCTU) leaders by policemen and suspected soldiers following abortive
mass demonstrations. The labour leaders suffered heavy bruises and hand and
head fractures after being severely assaulted in police cells. The police
have denied this, and instead accuse the unionists of hurting themselves
while attempting to flee from a moving police truck. But doctors' reports
have supported the claims of unprovoked heavy torture.

      According to the human rights forum statement: "Research carried out
by from 2002 indicates that violence has been on the increase over the last
few years. Political violence and torture throughout the country continue to
be perpetrated around elections, mass stayaways, and other significant
public events. It must be recorded that to date, the bulk of the reports
indicate that the violence has however, been used by state agents or their
ancillaries, youth militia or members of the ruling party."

      State security minister, Didymus Mutasa yesterday refused to respond
to the allegations.

      The organization said it would use its International Liaison Office in
London to lobby the international community through the UN, the African
Union, SADC and other international bodies to increase pressure on Mugabe to
end human rights violations and the use of torture.

      The organization added in its statement: "The Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum maintains that the government needs to address past and present
human rights violations  and the question of impunity of its agents who
continue to act with impunity and the acquiescence of the state.  The Human
Rights Forum urges the Government of Zimbabwe to consider paying monetary
and non-monetary compensation and restitution for the past and present human
rights violations."

      Thousands of opposition supporters lost household property and some
had their houses burnt in political violence perpetrated by security agents
and ZANU PF supporters since 2000.

      Last year, the UN estimated that 3.1 million people were affected by
Operation Murambatsvina. The UN said 700 000 were affected directly and
another 2.4 indirectly when the government shut down en masse informal
businesses and tore to the ground thousands of homes deemed illegal under
the operation, which has now been condemned worldwide.

      Calls have also been growing for Mugabe to offer compensation to
families and survivors of the Gukurahundi massacres when an estimated 20 000
people perished as a North Korean trained army unit descended on the
Midlands and Matebeleland provinces in the 1980s.

Staging sex myths to save Zimbabwe's girls

BBC

            By Steve Vickers
            BBC News, Makoni, eastern Zimbabwe

      Zimbabwe's most prominent organisation fighting child sexual abuse is
confronting traditional healers to take action over the myth that having sex
with a virgin can cure Aids - one reason behind the rape of young girls.

      In a rural area some 200km east of Harare, a play is being acted out.

      An HIV-positive man visits a traditional healer and is advised to have
sex with a virgin in order to be cured.

      The reasoning is that the blood produced by raping a virgin will
cleanse the virus from the infected person's blood.

      It is part of the Girl Child Network project and was staged at a
girl's empowerment village, where rape survivors are given safe
accommodation, counselling and training in life-skills.

      Traditional healers from all of the country's provinces recently
attended a meeting here, along with chiefs, a government minister and
religious leaders, where many of the girls stood up and gave accounts of the
abuse that they had suffered.

      'Traumatised'

      One was raped by her father when she was two years old.

      She is now eight, and an orphan, as her father died in prison after
the rape was reported by her mother, who has also died.

      A 14-year-old told how her uncle raped her and left her pregnant.

      She was thrown out of the house by her aunt and had an abortion after
six months. There were complications and she has been ill ever since.

      "I'm traumatised," she said, in floods of tears.

      All of the groups represented were moved by the vivid accounts and
condemned the abuse, but none admitted responsibility for encouraging sex
with virgins to cure HIV.

      'No medicine to cure Aids'

      National Traditional Healers Association secretary Alex Mashoko blamed
healers not registered with his organisation

      "We have heard about this for a long time and really, as an
organisation we want to crush the people that have been doing that through
the chiefs and through the government.

      "The government must give tough penalties on this. Those crooks don't
want to come and register.

      "Since I have been practising traditional healing I have never done a
thing like that. I have only read about it in the papers but I have never
seen someone doing things like that.

      "I don't accept things like that. It is not good.

      "We as an organisation don't tell people to sleep with girls so that
it can cure Aids because there is no medicine to cure Aids."

      Same fate

      Girl Child Network director Betty Makoni, felt that although no-one
took responsibility for the abuse of young girls, the meeting was a "quite a
step forward" in confronting the myth that virgins cure HIV.

      Explaining, she said: "Not everybody is doing it, as they were saying,
but it is happening."

      Recently South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke out against the
rape of girls as young as nine months old in his country.

      It is impossible to say whether the problem is increasing or not here,
but South Africa is clearly not the only affected country - many children in
Zimbabwe and the rest of southern Africa have suffered the same fate.

12 Student leaders arrested at Masvingo State University

      By Lance Guma
      24 October 2006

      Twelve members of the Masvingo State University student's
representative council were arrested Monday for allegedly holding an illegal
general meeting with students. Among those arrested was the Vice President
of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) Gideon Chitanga. According
to Washington Katema who coordinates ZINASU activities, the students were
arrested on the eve of SRC elections, which were supposed to have elected a
new leadership for the university. They are all being held at Masvingo
Central police station. Katema told Newsreel that no charges had so far been
placed on the students.

      Those arrested include Edison Zhou, Wiflom Mugwigi, George Makamure,
Nicholas Govo, Wilfred Manyeruke, Ogylive Makova, Chatambudza Charlton,
Liberty, Ndaba Ngweya, Hlathswayo Edison and one who could only be
identified as Shoko. The students say the arrests are a violation of their
right to freedom of association and assembly. They also queried how an
ordinary meeting of students could constitute a threat to national security
as alleged by the police. The students remained in custody as of Tuesday
evening. Its felt by many observers the government is trying to influence
the SRC elections by arresting key candidates and trying break their spirit.

      A statement issued by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition says, 'the
government should stop criminalizing students and detaining them in the same
prison as seasoned criminals. They have the right to air their views and
concerns and the government should address their grievances, not crush them.'

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Five die of malnutrition at Ingutsheni mental hospital in Bulawayo

      By Lance Guma
      24 October 2006

      A hospital is a place where you stay to get well. Dying of
malnutrition is not what you imagine in a hospital, but sadly this is now
the case in Zimbabwe. The latest story comes from Bulawayo where five
patients at Ingutsheni Psychiatric hospital died of malnutrition related
illnesses this year. The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr
Edwin Muguti confirmed the deaths but seemed very eager to stress the
difference between starvation and malnutrition. Experts say it's a thin
line.

      A report on the ZimbabweJournalists.com website says the five patients
at Ingutsheni, 'died of acute pellagra, a condition caused by a severe lack
of food or certain vitamins.' The article quoted a nurse who said four
patients had died at the Mzilikazi Ward after having lost weight over a
period of time. Most shockingly they are said to be on a diet of sadza and
boiled cabbage without any cooking oil, while their breakfast is made up of
plain tea that has no milk or bread.

      Lionel Saungweme our correspondent in Bulawayo visited the hospital
and says from what he saw standards have deteriorated dramatically. He says
the fact that most patients have mental problems makes it easier for
authorities to cover up the true extent of the crisis. He said a number of
relatives he spoke to had been told to bring food supplements for their
loved ones.

      The chaotic land reform has seen the take over of farms which
previously supplied government hospitals, army barracks and police camps
with food. Most of the farms now lie barren. Bulawayo Mayor Japhet Ndabeni
Ncube has on countless occasions pointed out the disturbing number of deaths
due to malnutrition in Bulawayo but government has politicised the whole
issue in order to detract from the problem. Malnutrition related deaths have
also been reported at Mpilo Hospital in the city and the latest reports from
Ingutsheni reflect the collapse of the whole health delivery system in the
country.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Young Zimbabweans to Ambush South African foreign Affairs minister at the UN public lecture in London