25 October 2011 Last updated at 12:53 GMT

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa is in a bitterly divided coalition government

Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has rejected calls by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to enshrine gay rights in a new constitution.

Mr Chinamasa told the BBC that gay rights could not be "smuggled" into the constitution because most Zimbabweans opposed it.

Earlier, Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC that gay rights were a "human right" that should be respected.

Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Chinamasa are from rival parties in a fractious coalition.

Their parties - the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu-PF respectively - are drafting a new constitution, which will be put to a referendum ahead of elections next year.

'Tsvangirai propaganda'

Homosexual is currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as in most African countries where many people view gay rights as un-Christian and un-African.

Last year, Mr Tsvangirai said "the ancestors would turn in their graves" if gay rights became enshrined in a new constitution.

       “We all know what people said about gay rights - it's a total no; an almost 100% no”             Patrick Chinamasa Justice minister

But Mr Tsvangirai signalled a shift in policy in an interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme.

"It's a very controversial subject in my part of the world. My attitude is that I hope the constitution will come out with freedom of sexual orientation, for as long as it does not interfere with anybody," Mr Tsvangirai said.

"To me, it's a human right."

In his reaction, Mr Chinamasa said Zimbabweans had firmly rejected gay rights when they were consulted on a new constitution during the government's outreach programme.

"We all know what people said about gay rights - it's a total no; an almost 100% no," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Mr Chinamasa said Mr Tsvangirai made the comments for "propaganda" purposes, contradicting the position he had adopted in the cabinet.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in gay rights U-turn

"We can't smuggle [into the constitution] the views of a prime minister who wants to please a certain audience basically, I suppose, to mobilise resources for his party."

"I know personally he doesn't believe it. He has said so many times in the cabinet," Mr Chinamasa told Network Africa.

The election due next year will be the first since the MDC and Zanu-PF - led by President Robert Mugabe - formed a unity government after polls in 2008.

Those elections were marred by widespread violence and rigging, with Mr Tsvangirai boycotting a run-off vote.

The coalition - formed under pressure from regional leaders - has stabilised the country, but tension has been rising ahead of next year's vote.

The two parties are yet to agree on political and security reforms to guarantee a free and fair poll.

 

 

 

MP released from custody

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Amos Chibaya, the MP for Mkoba and the MDC Youth Assembly Midlands South
provincial treasurer, Livingstone Chiminya who were arrested on Sunday on
false charges of public violence have been granted bail.
25.10.1102:17pm
by MDC Information & Publicity Department

They were granted a US$50 bail each today when they appeared at the Gweru
Magistrates’ Court. The two arrested at the Gweru Central Police Station on
Sunday after they had gone to make a report of the damage made to Chibaya’s
vehicle. The vehicle was stormed by Zanu PF youths at Guinea Fowl business
centre just outside Gweru Town.They were remanded out of custody to 8
November.

Meanwhile, Clarkson Makwara, a councillor in Mazowe South, Mashonaland
Central was arrested in Bindura yesterday, Monday by three police officers
in plain clothes.

They accused him of chanting slogans that were derogatory to Zanu PF’s
Robert Mugabe at an MDC Youth Assembly meeting at Glendale Hall last Sunday.
He is currently detained at Bindura Central Police Station.

Ex-judge to lead Zimbabwe match fix probe

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/

25 October 2011-AP

The Zimbabwe Football Association has appointed a former supreme court judge
and international cricket match referee to lead an independent investigation
into a lingering match-fixing scandal.

ZIFA on Monday named Ahmed Ebrahim as head of a disciplinary committee which
will conduct hearings and determine punishments for players and officials
accused of throwing games on Zimbabwe national team tours to Asia between
2007 and 2009.

Some players admitted their guilt as far back as 2010 in a ZIFA report -
which was sent to world body FIFA - but cases have still not been concluded.

ZIFA President Cuthbert Dube said the committee would operate "in terms of
FIFA and ZIFA statures."

"This (committee) is independent in the correct sense of independence. We
would like them to execute their duty as freely as possible," Dube said.

Ebrahim has worked for the International Cricket Council as a match referee
and in 2004 handed a five-year ban to Kenyan cricketer Maurice Odumbe for
links with known bookmakers.

On Monday he promised to bring Zimbabwe's football fixing shame to an end.

"I want to assure everyone that this committee will not shun its
responsibility in bringing all those who transgressed to book," Ebrahim
said.

Zim Judges Say Government Should Buy Them Clothes

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, October 25, 2011 - High court judges who recently received a hiding
over shabby dressing and absenting themselves from work are now demanding
suits from the government to give a face lift to their dressing.

In a memo dated 7 October written to Chiweshe by Justice Chinembiri Bhunu,
who is the chairman of the judges' workers committee, the judges implored
their employer, the Judicial Services Commission to supply them with three
suits, five shirts or five blouses and three pairs of shoes per year.

Judge President George Chiweshe recently berated and accused judges of
violating their dress code which entails dressing conservatively by wearing
dark suits, white or lightly coloured shirts and dark shoes and wearing
creased jabots.

Chiweshe hit out at judges for breaching the legal profession’s etiquette,
which prescribes black, navy and charcoal grey suits as court colours.

The Judge president also accused judges of absenting themselves from duty
without seeking leave and of switching off their cell phones, resulting in
them being unreachable to attend to urgent chamber applications heard after
hours and during weekends.

But in response to Chiweshe’s rebuke, the judges held a meeting and demanded
to be supplied with suits to improve their shabby dressing.

Bhunu said the provision of clothing to the country’s 26 high court judges
will cost a total of US$27 560 per annum at an individual cost of US$1 060.

“At that meeting it was resolved that the norm and customary practice is
that whenever the employer prescribes a dress code or uniform, the employer
must provide or finance the acquisition of such clothing as part of the
tools of trade. Judges have it on good advice that senior parliamentary
officers are provided with appropriate clothing commensurate with their
positions to portray and maintain the dignity of parliament. The meeting
then resolved that JSC be implored through your good offices to provide
judges, who are the embodiment and personification of the superior courts,
with appropriate clothing as part and parcel of their tools of trade and
profession,” reads part of Bhunu’s memo entitled “dress code”.

In 2008, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono spoiled judges with
presents such as vehicles, plasma television sets, generators to beat power
outages and laptops.

Fertiliser industry stuck with 300 000t

http://www.herald.co.zw/

Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:00

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S fertiliser industry is reportedly stuck with 300 000 tonnes of
the commodity as farmers do not have money to buy.
Many farmers are preparing for the summer cropping season, but there has not
been any meaningful change in the uptake of fertiliser.
Fertiliser sales peak as the farming season draws near but this time this
has not been the situation on the ground.
Fertiliser industry representative, Mr Herbert Chakanyuka, said farmers were
failing to buy fertiliser because they did not have money.
"The Government through its various input schemes has become our sole
customer. Besides Government, there is no significant moving of stocks of
fertilisers," he said.
Mr Chakanyuka said the industry used to export excess fertiliser to Zambia
and Malawi.
"Malawi used to be the major buyer but that country's budget is donor funded
and this year they do not have funds to buy the fertilisers," he said.
He said the industry could only make profits if the fertiliser was sold in
huge volumes.
Mr Chakanyuka said fertiliser companies have credit schemes for trusted
farmers. However, these farmers need bank guarantees for them to benefit
from the scheme.
Depending with the soils, a local farmer requires between 300 to 350
kilogrammes (six to seven bags) of compound D fertilisers per hectare and
250kg to 300kgs (five to six bags) of ammonium nitrate, which cost US$416 at
most to grow maize.
A 50-kg bag of fertiliser costs between US$28 and US$32.
Regional prices of fertiliser range between US$850 to US$900 per tonne
although the fertiliser compounds are different from the local ones.
Windmill chief executive, Mr George Rundogo, said in a normal situation the
country required 560 000 tonnes of fertilisers per year. "We cannot talk of
shortages at the moment as we are stuck with the available stock. Last year,
we faced the same situation and we had to carry over the stocks to the
following year," he said.
Mr Rundogo said fertiliser prices in the region were difficult to compare,
as the fertiliser components were different. Most local farmers are failing
to buy fertilisers since the introduction of the use of multiple currencies
in the economy and now heavily depend on input schemes.
Some farmers have, however, blamed the Grain Marketing Board for failing to
pay them their money for the grain delivered on time. GMB takes long to pay
farmers as it receives money from Treasury, which only releases the funds
for grain already delivered.

Asylum seekers face detention

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Hundreds of Zimbabwean asylum seekers who have been left exposed to arrest
and detention following the expiry of their permits are being frustrated by
corrupt personnel at the Department of Home Affairs.
24.10.1104:19pm
by Chris Ncube

Disgruntled asylum seekers who spoke to The Zimbabwean, most of them on
condition of anonymity, said such officials were working in cahoots with
security guards and charge them up to R500 to extend the validity of their
Section 22 permits.

Home Affairs grants an asylum seeker a Section 22 permit while it processes
their application for refugee status. The document’s validity is extended
every six month.

However, the permits of some Zimbabwean asylum seekers recently expired but
they could not manage to extend their validity owing to congestion at the
two Home Affairs refugee reception centres in Pretoria.

The closure of the sole reception centre in Johannesburg recently and the
demand for the Section 22 permit ahead of the resumptions of the
deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans sparked the congestion, leading to
Home Affairs struggling to cope.

An asylum seeker said he had been approached by a security guard who offered
to help him extend his expired permit.

“He said he would assist if I paid R500. That is a ridiculous amount of
money considering that I am not working,” he said.

During an investigation at the Marabastad Refugee Reception Centre by this
reporter, a Home Affairs ‘agent,’ believing this reporter was an asylum
seeker, pledged to help if parted with a similar amount of cash if this
reporter’s permit had expired.

Home Affairs have not responded to questions sent to them by The Zimbabwean.

Some Zimbabwean asylum seekers fear the possibility of arrest and possible
deportation.

“I am now an illegal immigrant, which paves way for my arrest,” said Buhle
Ndlovu of Johannesburg.

Human Rights Watch pledged with the South African government not to deport
these.

“South Africa may not deport registered asylum seekers or newly arrived
Zimbabweans arrested in South Africa,” said Gerry Simpson, Senior Researcher
and Advocate, Refugees Program.

Deportation of Zimbabweans tearing families apart

http://www.irinnews.org/

 

 

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN

Undocumented migrants apprehended by South African troops at the Zimbabwe border

HARARE, 25 October 2011 (IRIN) - Doreen Sibanda, 27, was among the first undocumented Zimbabwean nationals to be deported in early October 2011 after South Africa apparently lifted its more than two year moratorium on expulsions imposed following widespread xenophobic violence in 2008.

“I was on my way to the shops to buy porridge for my four-year-old son when I was stopped by the police [in the inner city Johannesburg suburb of Berea] who asked for my passport and residence permit. I lied to them that I had forgotten them at home but they never gave me a chance,” Sibanda told IRIN.

“They took me to a police station where they locked me up. I begged to be accompanied to go and collect my son but none of the police officers took me seriously. The only thing they told me was that they were deporting me because I was living in South Africa illegally,” she said.

Sibanda, who earns a living as a hair braider, failed to take advantage of a window of opportunity presented by the South African government to regularize her status in the country, because she feared it was a ploy to identify undocumented foreign nationals and expel them.

The South African Home Affairs department introduced the moratorium, through the Zimbabwe Documentation Process (ZDP) in April 2009, to allow undocumented Zimbabweans living in the country a chance to formalize their stay by applying for, and being issued with, residence and work permits.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1-1.5 million Zimbabwean migrants are living in South Africa, but only 275,000 had applied to be regularized through ZDP by the 31 December 2010 deadline, and the department has so far only issued permits to just over half of them.

South Africa’s director-general of home affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, had told parliament that deportations would not resume until the ZDP was completed.

Police appear to be acting on an internal directive sent by Apleni on 27 September 2011 (IRIN has a copy), instructing the police service, as well as the defence force and home affairs offices to start deporting undocumented Zimbabwean nationals.

Braam Hanekom of People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), a Cape Town-based refugee rights NGO, told IRIN his organization had lodged a complaint with the parliamentary portfolio committee for Home Affairs, because of the “underhand method” used for the resumption of Zimbabwean deportations.

In a statement PASSOP said: “We cannot believe that the same week that the director-general briefed the [portfolio] committee on the Zimbabwean Documentation Project, he failed to mention that he was about to sign a directive that ordered the resumption of deportations of Zimbabweans. This directive essentially ended a moratorium on deportations of Zimbabweans and authorized the first sizable deportations of Zimbabweans in over two years.”

Apleni said at a Cape Town press conference on 12 October that about 55,000 undocumented foreign nationals were deported in 2010 and “the top five groups of nationalities were from Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.”

Hannekom said with Zimbabweans now eligible for deportations, this number was “likely to increase three-fold.”

Read more

Deportations of Zimbabwean migrants set to resume

Catch-22 for unaccompanied child refugees

Horn migrants beaten, deported, imprisoned

After Sibanda spent two days at a Johannesburg police station, where she said visitors were forbidden, she was transferred to the Lindela Detention Centre in Krugersdorp and joined hundreds of other Zimbabwean nationals awaiting deportation.

Since arriving back in Zimbabwe she has been in regular contact with her roommate in Johannesburg who is looking after her son, but since her deportation the toddler has fallen sick.

“I am worried about my son’s health and have no choice but to go back. Besides, I don’t see how I can earn a living here,” said Sibanda, who is raising the money selling second-hand shoes with her sister at a market in Chitungwiza, about 30km south of the capital Harare.

In recent years South Africa has redeployed troops along the Zimbabwe border to try and stem the flow of undocumented migrants, but Sibanda said she would return the same way she did two years ago - by bribing immigration officials.

Zimbabwe’s decade long economic malaise and political violence has acted as a spur for migrants to seek employment in neighbouring states, as well as Europe and the USA, but South Africa remains the destination of choice for most, because of its large economy and easy access.

IOM assistance

Vincent Houver, the IOM chief of mission in Zimbabwe, told the media recently at an event marking UN Day that IOM was providing deportees with transport, psychosocial and medical support assistance.

“From October 7 to yesterday (19 October 2011), the IOM has assisted 530 Zimbabwean deportees but the figure of people who have been deported is obviously much higher than that,” Houver said.

Dickson Mukamba, 30, from Chitungwiza, who worked as a car washer in the Johannesburg inner city suburb of Hillbrow, told IRIN he was deported despite applying for a residence permit through the ZDP.

The police did not give me a chance to prove that I was waiting for my permit. I was busy washing cars when they raided us and they would not allow me to go and get my passport

“The police did not give me a chance to prove that I was waiting for my permit. I was busy washing cars when they raided us and they would not allow me to go and get my passport and the papers showing that I had applied for the permit, even though we were just a few metres away from where I lived,” Mukamba told IRIN.

He alleged one of the police officers assaulted him after he had insisted on fetching his documents and was also denied a chance to appeal against his deportation after arriving at Lindela.

“I left my passport, clothes and money behind and it will be difficult for me to go back, unless one of my friends manages to send me my travel document,” Mukamba said, adding that during his return to Zimbabwe, other deportees had told of how they had left behind medication, or had been unable to inform their families of their predicament.

However, he said some of the deportees “have themselves to blame because they did not bother to apply for the permits, probably because they are criminals or just did not trust the Home Affairs department.”

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

 

How rich was retired General Solomon Mujuru?

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
25 October 2011

The late General Solomon Mujuru was well known for his diverse business
ventures, which included mining, agriculture, transport, tourism and
investment in the construction industry.

This probably puts him as one of Zimbabwe’s richest individuals but it is a
secret the former army commander seems to have taken to his grave. He died
in a mysterious farm house fire in August that is still under investigation.

There is no doubt Mujuru and his wife Vice President Joice Mujuru used their
position in ZANU PF and government to build up a substantial business
empire.

They became one of the richest families in Zimbabwe, with a portfolio of
business enterprises and 16 commercial farms. The retired general once
declared he didn’t fight the liberation war to end up a poor man.

Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us Mujuru was a multi
millionaire and a smooth operator who ran his business empire from behind
the scenes.

‘He was very wealthy but lived an ordinary life. He never showed off or
lived an extravagant lifestyle. He was a simple businessman who used his
position in ZANU PF to acquire his wealth silently because no one dared
challenge his business deals,’ Muchemwa said.

The only person to ever challenge the late General’s business dealings is
the powerful Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who years ago blocked
Mujuru’s bid to take over the huge Zimasco chrome smelting operation. From
that time the two became fierce political and business rivals, with some
suggesting they never really liked each other.

Mujuru was also a director of the River Ranch mine, which is alleged to be a
money laundering set up for illegal ‘blood diamonds’ from the DR Congo.
Mujuru was also accused of using his daughter Nyasha Del Campo to sell
Congolese gold on his behalf.

The interesting question now is who will inherit Mujuru’s huge fortune. Most
probably his four daughters with his wife Joice, but a rift is brewing among
his children born out of wedlock, over how to share his vast estate. Mujuru
is believed to have left a will with his lawyers, detailing how the wealth
should be shared among his children.

15 children have reportedly knocked on the doors of the Mujuru family home
claiming to have been fathered by the late General.

Joice must be less than pleased.

MISA-Zimbabwe: Human rights should be taken seriously

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

MISA-Zimbabwe Communiqué
25 October 2011
Africa should take protection of human rights seriously

Gambian Attorney General and Minister of Justice Edward Gomes has implored
African governments to take the promotion and protection of human and people’s
rights on the continent seriously.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 50th Session of the African
Commission on Human and People’s Rights [the African Commission] in The
Gambian capital, Banjul, on 24 October 2011, Gomez emphasised that
violations of human rights are closely linked to situations of war.

He said there should therefore be increased efforts towards reconciliation,
peace ,tolerance and democracy.

“Any system of government which not only denies but makes the protection of
human rights impossible, is clearly inviting a situation in which the use of
violence is inevitable,” said Gomez citing the political upheavals that in
Tunisia, Egypt and Syria.

He also acknowledged the important role that the legal fraternity and human
rights defenders play in the fight for the protection and promotion of human
rights, saying:
“There is need for a courageous, vigilant and outspoken legal fraternity and
defenders in many parts of the continent, that is to say, people who are not
afraid to speak out against human rights abuses in order to protect the weak
and the vulnerable.”

Gomez officially opened the 50th Session of the African Commission, which
ends on 7 November 2011 at the Sheraton Resort and Spa, in Banjul.

End

For any questions, queries or comments, please contact:

Nyasha Nyakunu
Senior Programmes Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe

MISA-Zimbabwe: Journalists trial deferred

http://www.swradioafrica.com

MISA-Zimbabwe Media Alert
25 October 2011
Journalists’ trial deferred

The trial of The Standard journalists, editor Nevanji Madanhire, reporter
Patience Nyangove and Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) group human resources
manager Loud Ramakgapola — representing the company on 24 October 2011 —
failed to take off again.

as the trial was about to commence, the defence argued the State was wrongly
prosecuting Ramakgapola, who was being cited as representing “The Standard”,
in both the charge sheet and the State outline.

The defence argued that “The Standard” was the newspaper’s name and
Ramakgapola, a company representative, could not represent a newspaper’s
name which was not a company.

However, the State insisted the charge sheet and State outline were both
correct since a letter which authorised Ramakgapola to represent the company
was referring to The Standard as a company. There were further contentions
as regards the date to which the case was supposed to be remanded with both
the defence and the State seeking each party’s compromise.

The State proposed the matter be postponed to any date in November or
December, but the defence opposed saying both months had busy schedules and
suggested any date next year.

“The fabric of society is not going to crumble because somebody is alleged
to have used the word ‘notorious’,” the lawyer said.

He was addressing the court after the State objected to remanding the matter
to next year insisting that it wanted the matter to be dealt with urgently.

Provincial magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini intervened and remanded the matter
to 27 October 2011.

background

Madanhire, Nyangove and Ramakgapola are being charged with criminal
defamation as defined under Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act and section 31, which criminalises the publishing or
communication of false statements prejudicial to the State.

The sections also deal with statements “undermining public confidence in a
law enforcement agency, the Prison Service or the Defence Forces of
 Zimbabwe”, as contained under section 31(a) (iii) of the same law.

The three were arrested following the publication of a story carried in the
weekly Standard issue of June 26 – July 2, titled: “MDC-T fears for missing
Timba”.

End

For any questions, queries or comments, please contact:

Nyasha Nyakunu
Senior Programmes Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe

CHOGM and Zimbabwe

http://www.chogmprotest.org/post/231

 

 

October 6, 2011

Fremantle action to free the Zimbabwe political prisoners

When we march on CHOGM on Friday 28 October 2011 let us not forget Munyaradzi Gwisai, Ms Tafadzwa Choto and 4 others who are on trial in Zimbabwe.

They where arrested early this year along with 39 others for showing a video of the Arab Spring protests. They were all severely tortured and one of them David Mpatsi has since died from illness due to his solitary confinement.

Gwisai, Choto and 4 others were initially charged with treason which has the death penalty but they are now on trial for conspiracy to commit public violence which has a sentence of up to 10 years.

Munyaradzi Gwisai is married to a Western Australian woman and has family and friends in WA.

This political showtrial is symptomatic of what is occurring in Zimbabwe where there is supposed to be a Unity Government between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangarai’s MDC. But Mugabe loyalists still control the military, the police, the judiciary, the secret service and a brutal youth militia. Mugabe has lost all legitimacy amongst the Zimbabwean people and can only use terror to remain in power.

When South Africa and the other Southern African states brokered the unity deal in Zimbabwe in 2009 they promised to stop the political violence, uphold human rights and ensure a fair and free election in Zimbabwe. This has not occurred.

When the Southern African leaders come to CHOGM this month the Commonwealth and the Australian Government and people must call for action to protect the Zimbabwean people from Mugabe’s terror.

Mugabe may have taken Zimbabwe out of CHOGM but the majority of the Zimbabwean people did not leave the Commonwealth.

Let us stand up loud and clear for Munyaradzi Gwisai, all political prisoners and the people of Zimbabwe during CHOGM.

Paul Kaplan, Convenor
Zimbabwe Information Centre (Western Australian Branch)

 

Will Gaddafi’s family settle in Zimbabwe?

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 25/10/11

While the burial of Muammar Gaddafi at an unidentified desert location early
Tuesday 24/10/11 might bring closure after unease in the West over the
display of his decomposing body in Misratah, the real drama is arguably only
beginning.

Media reports suggested that that the former first family of Libya intends
moving to South Africa prompting concerns if the Gaddafis will eventually
settle in Zimbabwe.

Despite repeated demands by Libyan’s National Transitional Council that
Gaddafi’s family including his widow Safia, daughter Aisha and sons Muhammad
and Hannibal who fled to Algeria be extradited to Libya and stand trial, the
family plans to travel to South Africa.

Ironically, also expected to travel to South Africa are the former dictator’s
two sons - the ‘enigmatic and elusive’ Seif al-Islam and Saadi who are both
on the Interpol most wanted list. We remember Saif vowing on live television
to die fighting in Libya.

While Algeria has said it will not extradite Gaddafi’s family to “Libya or
any other country”, it is not clear what has caused it to change its
position. Some analysts believe the move to South Africa was influenced by
security concerns with Libya.

However, the real drama surrounds tracking down Gaddafi’s staggering estate
which is estimated at more than US$200 billion spread across at least 35
nations on four continents comprising hidden cash, gold reserves and
investments.

According to the Los Angeles Times (21/10/11), the money was secretly salted
away into banks accounts, real estate and corporate investments, about
US$30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western
governments previously had suspected.

The astonishing wealth of the late dictator and his family was laid bare in
March as Western countries began freezing his assets. The UK’s Daily Mail
reported on 02/03/11 that he U.S. alone froze US$30 billion (£18.5bn) of
their investments, while Canada froze US$2.4bn (£1.5bn), Austria, $1.7bn
(£1bn) and the UK, $1bn (£600m).

The assets which were believed to be just the tip of the iceberg include
properties in London’s West End theatre and shopping district worth US$455m
(£280m) as well as US$325m (£200m) in shares in Pearson, the owner of the
Financial Times and Penguin books.

In 2009, Gaddafi’s son, Saif reportedly bought a US$15 million (£10m) London
home boasting a swimming pool, eight bedrooms, a sauna and a Jacuzzi. The
assets also include a US$15million luxury mansion with an electricity
operated rubbish store in an affluent suburb of North London. When he was in
Vienna, Saif Gaddafi lived in a luxury villa and his pet tiger was allegedly
housed in the city’s zoo.

Gaddafi’s assets in Zimbabwe are believed to include, several commercial
farms, a Harare villa known as Gracelands, bought from Mugabe’s wife,
investments in Zanu-pf companies and at least a 14 percent stake in the
Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ Holdings).

Contrary to denialsby CBZ, international investigators reportedly concluded
that the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank (LAFB) through which Gaddafi bought shares
in CBZ was the former dictator’s personal tool (The Zimbabwean, 31/08/11).

It is also strongly-held that title deeds to Zimbabwe House which
accommodates the country’s embassy in London were surrendered as surety to
Gaddafi by Mugabe in 2002 after Zimbabwe failed to meet its US$90million
quarterly payment as part of a US$360 million oil deal with the Libyan State
Oil company Tamoil (SW Radio Africa, 27/09/11).

If it is rue that the Gaddafi family will be moving to South Africa, at
least not within striking distance of the NTC, that would inevitably put
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-pf party in panic mode amid fears that some of
Gaddafi’s investments were allegedly being siphoned according to court
reports.

For instance the former ZBC staff, Stanley Masendo was accused of defrauding
the Libyan government of US$4million from a company known as Crieff
investments which later changed its name to Aldawila Investments (Zimbabwe
Independent, 11/03/11). But that is not all. More drama will be on the NTC’s
response.

The last thing Harare’s coalition government wishes to entertain is the
prospect of hosting another VIP family after Mengistu’s. But Mugabe always
gets his way.

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com