Urgent Africa summit to rescue Zimbabwe Deal

Yahoo News

by Fanuel Jongwe Fanuel Jongwe - Tue Oct 28, 7:59 am ET

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the main opposition
faced mounting pressure on Tuesday to end their feud over forming a unity
government, ahead of a new emergency African summit to tackle the crisis.

After 13 hours of talks with a regional security body on Monday, Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai remained deadlocked over who should
control the powerful home affairs ministry, which oversees the police.

They agreed only to call for an urgent summit of the 15-member Southern
African Development Community (SADC), which is certain to pile pressure on
the rivals to stick to the unity accord signed six weeks ago.

SADC's executive secretary Tomaz Salomao told reporters during the night
that the summit could be held either in Harare or a neighbouring capital,
though it was unclear exactly when the leaders would gather.

The regional bloc has tried for seven years to press Mugabe into a
compromise with Tsvangirai, but its members are deeply divided over
Zimbabwe.

Some leaders are strong allies of Mugabe, who is still respected as a
liberation hero, while others blame him for leading the country into
economic ruin, causing waves of migrants to cross its borders to seek work.

The power-sharing deal brokered by former South African president Thabo
Mebki had been hailed as a success for so-called "quiet diplomacy," which
avoided publicly condemning Mugabe for alleged human rights abuses or
economic woes.

But analysts say the failure of Mugabe and Tsvangirai to agree even on
cabinet posts bodes ill for a unity government, even if the SADC summit
pressures them into a deal.

"We don't expect much from SADC if SADC does not flex its muscle and put
pressure on them to reach a compromise," said Lovemore Madhuku, of the
National Constitutional Assembly pressure group.

"Both groups are changing goal-posts and one wonders why they signed the
agreement," he told AFP. "We are not very hopeful."

The summit Monday was held by SADC's security organ -- its second meeting in
two weeks which failed to achieve any visible headway in reaching a
compromise.

After the latest talks with South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and
other key regional leaders, Salomao said that control of home affairs was
the only sticking point.

A communique issued after the summit urged the rivals "to genuinely commit
themselves in finding a lasting solution to the current deadlock.

"The people of Zimbabwe are faced with difficult challenges and suffering
that can only be addressed once the inclusive government is in place," it
said.

The power-sharing deal calls for 84-year-old Mugabe to remain as president
while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister.

But Mugabe has refused to cede control of home affairs, which Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it should hold to reassure its
supporters who suffered political violence during election campaigning this
year.

Tsvangirai, who won the first-round presidential race in March, pulled out
of a run-off in June and accused the ruling party of coordinating attacks
that left more than 100 of his supporters dead.

The current political battle has crushed the hopes of ordinary Zimbabweans
yearning for an end to the turmoil.

Zimbabwe's economy is in freefall with the world's highest inflation rate,
estimated at 231 million percent.

Once seen as an African success story, Zimbabwe is now one of its failures
with more than 80 percent of its population plunged into poverty and nearly
half its people in need of international food aid.

Zimbabwe Opposition Says Ruling Party Not 'Genuine' in Power-Sharing Deal

VOA

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
28 October 2008

The secretary general of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change says
President Robert Mugabe is not ready to enter into a "genuine" cooperative
government under the country's power-sharing agreement. For VOA, Peta
Thornycroft has this report from Zimbabwe.

At a news conference in Harare, the MDC's Tendai Biti said the power-sharing
agreement negotiated over several weeks had been altered by the time it was
presented to the world on September 15, and left some gray areas that needed
to be addressed.

Biti accused the Zimbabwe government of "emasculating basic freedoms" and
not being sincere in cooperating in a power-sharing deal. Despite these
concerns being discussed at a meeting of key regional leaders Monday in
Harare, the gathering failed to break a deadlock, threatening Zimbabwe's
power-sharing accord.

But the regional leaders agreed to call for a meeting of all 14 members of
the Southern African Development Community to address the issues. Officials
said the meeting could be held in the coming weeks in an attempt to persuade
Mr. Mugabe and the MDC to implement the accord, widely seen as vital to pull
Zimbabwe out of an economic meltdown.

The deal stalled over the allocation of Cabinet posts. The biggest sticking
point is the allocation of the interior ministry, which oversees the police
force.

Biti said the Movement for Democratic Change had signed the document on the
basis of trust and good. But he said ZANU-PF was not sincere in agreeing to
equitable power-sharing in a government of national unity.

Biti said ZANU-PF's lack of sincerity was evident when scores of civil
rights activists were arrested Monday. He also cites the continued detention
of women's rights leader Jenni Williams and two of her colleagues, and the
beating and arrest of students earlier this month.

Biti also points out that the accord refers to creation of a National
Security Council, of which prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai would
be a member. He says the document does not spell out who else would be
involved nor how this council would operate. He said it would need
legislation to bring the council into effect.

SADC representatives and former South African president Thabo Mbeki met for
13 hours Monday to try to unblock the deadlock. Mr. Mbeki has been involved
in negotiating a resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis since April 2007.

Negotiations for a new constitution before elections in March failed when
Mr. Mugabe decided to run elections without the agreed new constitution.

The Movement for Democratic Change narrowly beat ZANU-PF in the
parliamentary poll, and Mr. Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr. Mugabe in the
first round of the presidential election.

Tsvangirai granted wish for summit in bid to break Zimbabwe deadlock

Mark Tran and agencies
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday October 28 2008 09.19 GMT

Southern African leaders today agreed to hold a full-scale extraordinary
summit in an attempt to break the deadlock over Zimbabwe's power-sharing
agreement.

Officials of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC)
said the summit could be held within the next week in an attempt to persuade
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and opposition factions to
implement the accord.

The power-sharing deal was brokered by the former South African president,
Thabo Mbeki, last month amid much fanfare, but Mugabe has refused to give up
key cabinet positions, particularly control of the ministry in charge of the
police.

Tomas Salomao, the executive secretary of the SADC, told a news conference
in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, that control of the police was the main
sticking point. He said the planned summit would consider a recommendation
that the ministry be rotated, with the two main parties being in charge for
terms of six months or a year.

The opposition has resisted such an arrangement as it could further
complicate an already cumbersome power-sharing proposal. But Morgan
Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader, gained a small victory as the SADC
agreed to his request for a meeting. The opposition believes that only a
full SADC summit has the authority to put pressure on Mugabe to really share
power.

"The extraordinary summit of the SADC troika recommends the holding of a
full SADC summit to review the political situation as a matter of urgency,"
SADC said. "The extraordinary summit noted with concern disagreements in the
allocation of the [interior] ministry and urged parties concerned to reach
an agreement."

Several SADC leaders are increasingly impatient with Mugabe and may press
him hard behind closed doors at the summit.

This week's meeting was attended by Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara,
who leads a smaller MDC faction, and leaders from South Africa, Angola,
Mozambique and Swaziland - the last three make up SADC's troika, a special
committee on politics, defence and security. Mbeki attended as the mediator
who brokered the deal.

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said he "remains distressed" over the
human cost of the stalemate. "He is deeply concerned that the population of
Zimbabwe faces many challenges, including critical shortages of all food,
essential drugs, basic services, and clean water," a UN statement said.

Zimbabweans are struggling with the world's highest official inflation rate
of 231m%. The UN predicts half the population will need food aid by next
year and a doctors' group called on Sunday for urgent action to repair water
and sewage systems to avert a cholera epidemic in the coming seasonal rains.
It reported there were at least 120 preventable deaths across the country
this year from cholera.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe believes he's been chosen

MSNBC

He reportedly thinks only divine power, not critics, can unseat him
Associated Press
updated 4:11 a.m. ET June 29, 2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Robert Mugabe's mother told him when he was a
child that he had been chosen by God to be a great leader. No wonder he
thinks only divine power - not elections, not foreign critics, not a
crumbling economy or a much younger opposition leader - can unseat him.

In the mind of Zimbabwe's leader of nearly three decades, reality is summed
up by a massive banner hanging in the entrance to the presidential offices:
Mugabe is Right.

Mugabe defied the world Friday to hold a one-man presidential runoff on the
heels of a campaign of torture and violence in which dozens of opposition
supporters have been killed and thousands injured and driven from their
homes.

Mugabe fought to liberate a nation of oppressed Africans from a brutal and
racist white rule and then built it into a much-hailed economic and social
success. What would drive him to preside over its decline and ruin?
Lowest life expectancy
Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe fed itself and became a major exporter of food as
well as of tobacco and minerals. Literacy and longevity rates shot up.
Today, a third of the population is starving and the country has the lowest
life expectancy in the world - just 34 years for women.

Twenty-eight years after he freed the country from white rule, he depicts
himself as a liberator fighting to keep Zimbabwe from white imperialists. He
calls whites vermin and mongrels.

Heidi Holland, who recounts the anecdote about God's chosen one in her
recently published book "Dinner with Mugabe," says Zimbabwe's leader is an
"emotionally weak man" who's never come to terms with some of life's earlier
disappointments.

He has never forgiven the father who abandoned him when he was 10 to the
women in the family - a heathen grandmother and an over-pious mother
converted to Catholicism who proudly gave her son into the care of Jesuit
priests at nearby Kutama mission. There, Mugabe found a surrogate father in
Anglo-Irish headmaster the Rev. Jerome O'Hea.

To this day Mugabe models himself on a British gentleman - dark lounge
suits, silk ties and handkerchiefs, a fondness for tea and cricket.

Holland said Mugabe was likely humiliated in the past week when Queen
Elizabeth II stripped him of the honorary knighthood bestowed in 1994 when
he was an anti-colonial hero.

Love, hate relationship with Britain
Yet it is Britain that Mugabe has chosen to demonize, accusing the former
colonizer of wanting his southern African nation back.

"When you hear Mugabe vilifying Britain, expressing hatred of Britain,
underlying that is a love of Britain," said Holland, a Zimbabwean journalist
living in South Africa who won a rare interview with Mugabe in November,
meeting with him for 2 1/2 hours.

She did not think he was crazy, but "lives in the world in a mad kind of
way. But I think it's deliberate, I think he's in denial, I think he can't
face what he's done in Zimbabwe because that isn't what he intended to do.
He did genuinely, I think, want be the savior of his people, the liberator
of an oppressed nation. What has happened is a source of deep pain to him, I
think."

Mugabe still is bitter, Holland says, that the white Rhodesian regime
refused to allow him out of jail, where he was a political prisoner for 11
years, to attend the funeral of his only son with his first wife, Ghanaian
fellow teacher Sally Hayfron.

Even as a child, Mugabe could not bear to be criticized, she said. He was a
loner with his head constantly stuck in a book and an astute scholar who
earned six degrees while he was in jail.

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Mugabe would have been fine if he'd remained a teacher, perhaps advanced to
headmaster, Holland said, but "the problem is he has an army and police
force to act out his anger."

And at 84, Mugabe has the strength, stamina and health of a 60-year-old,
with no sign that age is slowing him down or softening his sharp brain.

Chenjerai Hove, a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who fled Mugabe's
regime, says whenever Mugabe is challenged "he becomes a wounded lion and
goes on the attack."

Those who have failed to see that pattern chose "to look the other way while
the man was busy showing his dictatorial tendencies," says Hove, a writer in
resident at Brown University.

Cruel past began in the seventies
Back in 1976, when Mugabe fled Rhodesia to take control of the war for black
rule from Mozambique, "a lot of people were arrested and tortured for him to
be accepted as a leader, so his cruel past started at that time, and he has
always worked like that," Hove said.

When Mugabe's leadership was challenged after independence in 1980 by
disgruntled military leaders of rival liberation leader Joshua Nkomo's
movement, Mugabe sent his North Korean-trained elite Fifth Brigade on a
rampage against Nkomo's minority Ndebele tribe. Some 20,000 people, most
innocent civilians, were killed. Thousands starved to death as Mugabe
withheld international drought relief from Ndebele civilians.

The international community looked the other way, still pleased that Mugabe
had urged reconciliation with the whites who had oppressed his people,
allowing former Rhodesian ruler Ian Smith to draw a government parliamentary
pension and whites to continue living privileged lifestyles with domestic
workers in mansions replete with pools and tennis courts.

But then the white farmers started voting against him, infuriating Mugabe.
He again turned brutal after voters rejected a 1999 referendum that would
have strengthened his presidential powers and allowed his government to
seize white-owned farms without compensation for redistribution to black
farmers.

Redistribution brought collapse, oppression
Few could argue with the logic of redistribution when some 5,000 white
commercial farmers owned two-thirds of the best arable land in a country of
millions of blacks. But Mugabe sent self-styled "war veterans" to violently
take over farms that were then given to his Cabinet ministers, military
leaders and other elite. Hundreds of thousands of black farm laborers lost
their jobs, fertile lands turned fallow and nearly a third of the population
fled the economic collapse and political oppression.

In 2005, Mugabe sent bulldozers to shantytowns and street markets where
residents had voted overwhelmingly for the opposition.

This year, Mugabe unleashed his military and ruling party hooligans on his
people after Zimbabweans rejected him in the first round of presidential
elections in March, giving the most votes to opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. Dozens of opposition supporters have been killed and thousands
have been injured.

As the violence intensified, fearing more blood on his hands, Tsvangirai
withdraw from the runoff election held Friday.

Mugabe has shrugged off the growing chorus of criticism, which this week
belatedly was joined by African leaders condemning him for pursuing his
violent re-election.

Holland fears the violence won't end now.

"This is a man who does not forgive ... I think it's about revenge ... He
now knows that his own people don't want him."

MDC contradicts SADC on deadlock

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6515

October 28, 2008

By Raymond Maingire

HARARE - The mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai has vehemently denied
claims that the current dispute between the party and Zanu-PF has narrowed
to only a single ministry.

The MDC says the parties are in fact yet to agree on all the 31 ministries
proposed in the new power sharing arrangement.

This, it says, is among six outstanding issues still to be concluded before
the new government can successfully be constituted.

"There is an attempt to ignore or overlook these fundamental principles and
hence the claim in some circles that only the portfolio of the Ministry of
Home Affairs is outstanding," MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told
reporters at a media briefing in Harare Tuesday afternoon.

"Nothing can be further from the truth. The entire gamut of ministries is
still open."

The denial by the MDC was made hours after SADC executive secretary Mr Tomaz
Salomao told a media briefing in Harare the dispute was now centred on who
will control the Home Affairs ministry.

"The only outstanding issue is the one relating to home affairs (ministry)
only," Salomao said soon after an extra-ordinary SADC troika summit had
failed to resolve the dispute. A communiqué issued after 13 hours of talks
also suggested the main issue was around the allocation of the ministry of
Home Affairs.

The deadlock has prompted the convening of a full SADC summit to try and
unravel the crippling political crisis.

The MDC says it favours a system in which all the ministries are arranged in
pairs on the basis of their importance and relative equality.

According to the MDC, the party that gets the Defence ministry should
relinquish that of Home Affairs. Similarly, the party that lands the Finance
ministry should allow the other to get the National Security ministry.

On October 10, President Robert Mugabe unilaterally gazetted a full list of
ministries in which he cherry-picked all the contested portfolios while
leaving less important ones to his rivals.

The MDC is also calling for the revisiting of the unilateral appointment of
provincial governors by Mugabe on August 24.  The Zimbabwean leader
appointed 10 loyalists to positions of provincial governors including in
areas where his party lost heavily to the MDC.

The MDC says the party that won a particular province in the March 29
elections must be entitled to have a governor for that particular province.

Such an arrangement would allow the party to have five provincial governors
while Zanu-PF would have four, with the Arthur Mutambara-led formation of
the MDC taking one in Matebeleland South.

But Zanu PF is adamant the appointments are irreversible.

Says the MDC: "The third outstanding issue is the question of the
composition, functions and constitution of the National Security Council.
This is a critical issue in view of the dangerous and partisan role that has
been displayed by the intelligence services in this country.

"The GPA (Global Political Agreement) says the Prime Minister is a member of
the National Security Council and nobody knows the creature that is the
National Security Council, the composition of the National Security Council.

"To us this is a fundamental body when you consider the shenanigans, the
covert and overt operations that this country has been subjected to or
victimized as a result of the operations of state security agents.

"There has to be a law that deals with the constitution of the National
Security Council, its powers, its mandate and terms of reference and to us
this is not an issue that you can leave to chance."

The MDC has also cited the appointment of permanent secretaries and
ambassadors as some of the issues that needed to be clarified before it
could fully commit itself to the new power- sharing arrangement.

Biti says Zanu-PF is failing to accept the meaning of the power-sharing
arrangement and  failing to reciprocate the goodwill shown by the MDC. He
cited the continued arrest and detention of students and political activists
as well as the continued denial of a passport to party leader Tsvangirai.

"Strategically at the core of our differences is the clear lack of sincerity
on the part of Zanu-PF," said Biti.

"Zanu-PF must understand the fact that we are an equal partner. Zanu-PF must
understand that we have exercised utmost sincerity towards resolving the
crisis in Zimbabwe . We wish that Zanu-PF could be liberated from the
paradigm paralysis that is arresting it.

"It may very well be possible that in the near future, you resolve these
issues that are outstanding but resolving these technical issues that are
outstanding without resolving the issue of paradigm paralysis on the part of
Zanu-PF, you are going nowhere.

"So you have to deal with the fundamental issues and the sincerity deficit
on the part of Zanu- PF in order for us to move forward. The lesson of the
last six weeks is that there is a deficit of goodwill on the part of the
people we are dealing with."

The MDC cites the alleged, clandestine alteration of the power-sharing deal
on the eve of its official signing on September 15 as some of the signs that
Zanu-PF cannot be trusted.

"Everything that is happening and all the issues that are outstanding are
mere symptoms that Zanu-PF is not ready to enter into a cooperative
government with the MDC," Biti said.

He said his party will not go headlong into the new government without
knowing the contents of Constitutional Amendment Number 19 which will
legalise issues reached in the deal.

The MDC fears another ambush by Zanu-PF.

The MDC came under wide criticism last month for signing a deal without
understanding the details associated with it.

Zimbabwe Opposition Says Ruling Party Not 'Genuine' in Power-Sharing Deal

VOA

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
28 October 2008

The secretary general of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change says
President Robert Mugabe is not ready to enter into a "genuine" cooperative
government under the country's power-sharing agreement. For VOA, Peta
Thornycroft has this report from Zimbabwe.

At a news conference in Harare, the MDC's Tendai Biti said the power-sharing
agreement negotiated over several weeks had been altered by the time it was
presented to the world on September 15, and left some gray areas that needed
to be addressed.

Biti accused the Zimbabwe government of "emasculating basic freedoms" and
not being sincere in cooperating in a power-sharing deal. Despite these
concerns being discussed at a meeting of key regional leaders Monday in
Harare, the gathering failed to break a deadlock, threatening Zimbabwe's
power-sharing accord.

But the regional leaders agreed to call for a meeting of all 14 members of
the Southern African Development Community to address the issues. Officials
said the meeting could be held in the coming weeks in an attempt to persuade
Mr. Mugabe and the MDC to implement the accord, widely seen as vital to pull
Zimbabwe out of an economic meltdown.

The deal stalled over the allocation of Cabinet posts. The biggest sticking
point is the allocation of the interior ministry, which oversees the police
force.

Biti said the Movement for Democratic Change had signed the document on the
basis of trust and good. But he said ZANU-PF was not sincere in agreeing to
equitable power-sharing in a government of national unity.

Biti said ZANU-PF's lack of sincerity was evident when scores of civil
rights activists were arrested Monday. He also cites the continued detention
of women's rights leader Jenni Williams and two of her colleagues, and the
beating and arrest of students earlier this month.

Biti also points out that the accord refers to creation of a National
Security Council, of which prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai would
be a member. He says the document does not spell out who else would be
involved nor how this council would operate. He said it would need
legislation to bring the council into effect.

SADC representatives and former South African president Thabo Mbeki met for
13 hours Monday to try to unblock the deadlock. Mr. Mbeki has been involved
in negotiating a resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis since April 2007.

Negotiations for a new constitution before elections in March failed when
Mr. Mugabe decided to run elections without the agreed new constitution.

The Movement for Democratic Change narrowly beat ZANU-PF in the
parliamentary poll, and Mr. Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr. Mugabe in the
first round of the presidential election.

Tsvangirai wants a passport

iafrica.com

Article By:
Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:34
Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Tuesday demanded that the government
give its leader Morgan Tsvangirai a passport to attend an upcoming summit
aimed at saving a troubled power-sharing deal.

Southern African nations are set to hold an emergency summit on Zimbabwe in
the coming weeks, after key regional leaders failed to broker a compromise
to save the plan for a unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

The chief negotiator for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
Tendai Biti, told reporters that if the summit is held outside Zimbabwe, the
opposition leader will not attend unless he receives a passport.

Tsvangirai has not had a passport for months and must seek an emergency
travel document (ETD) each time he leaves the country.

"We will not travel on an ETD. We want a passport," Biti said.

"The passport issue is the crudest form of lack of sincerity" by Mugabe's
long-ruling Zanu-PF, he added.

Tsvangirai refused to attend a summit in Swaziland last week in protest at
long delays in receiving his travel papers.

Biti said it was "regrettable" that South African President Kgalema
Motlanthe and other key regional leaders had failed to broker an agreement
during the summit in Harare on Monday.

"In our view, an urgent summit towards the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis
is paramount," Biti said. "At the core of our differences, in our view, is
the lack of sincerity and good faith on the part of Zanu-PF."

Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing agreement on 15 September, but
the deal threatens to collapse over disputes about who will control the home
affairs ministry, which oversees the police.

The date and location has not yet been set for the summit of all 15 leaders
of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).

AFP

Zim opposition bemoans 'curtailed freedoms'

IOL

     October 28 2008 at 07:29PM

By ANGUS SHAW

Harare - A top aide to Zimbabwe's opposition leader accused President
Robert Mugabe's party of not acting in good faith and curbing political
freedoms.

After the latest round of talks on Monday and early Tuesday failed to
break a political deadlock, Tendai Biti said an urgent summit of regional
leaders was "paramount" to resolving Zimbabwe's power-sharing impasse.

A deal signed September 15 has stalled over the allocation of Cabinet
posts. On Monday, key regional leaders agreed after talks in Harare to call
for a meeting of all 15 members of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC).

Biti, the secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change,
told reporters on Tuesday that it was "regrettable" that Monday's meeting
did not "narrow the gaps." He accused the government of "emasculating basic
freedoms."

Students and female protesters have been arrested and assaulted while
calling for talks to be concluded. Clauses in the deal commit authorities to
allow political meetings and free movement.

"At the core of our differences, in our view, is the clear lack of
sincerity and good faith on the part of" Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, Biti said.
"We hope and appeal for the summit to be held as a matter of utmost urgency.
Zimbabweans are suffering and dying."

An agreement in Zimbabwe would allow politicians to turn their
attention to the nation's economic meltdown, which has led to chronic
shortages of food, gasoline and most basic goods; daily outages of power and
water; and the collapse of health and education services.

Zimbabweans are struggling with the world's highest official inflation
rate, 231-million percent. The UN predicts half the population will need
food aid by next year.

The meeting that ended in the early hours of Tuesday was attended by
Mugabe, main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, smaller opposition faction
leader Arthur Mutambara and leaders from South Africa, Angola, Mozambique
and Swaziland - the last three make up SADC's troika, a special committee on
politics, defense and security. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki
attended as the mediator who brokered the deal.

Tomaz Salomao, executive secretary of the regional bloc, said at a
news conference early on Tuesday that control of the ministry in charge of
police - accused of widespread attacks on the opposition - was the main
sticking point. Salomao said the planned special summit would consider a
recommendation that the ministry be rotated, with the two main
parties -Mugabe's and Tsvangirai's - holding it for six months or a year.

The opposition has resisted such an arrangement, which could further
complicate an already cumbersome power-sharing proposal.

Biti said Tsvangirai's party proposed taking the police, finance,
information, justice and agriculture ministries - all claimed by Mugabe in a
unilateral announcement on October 11. The opposition proposes Mugabe's
party take defence, intelligence, foreign affairs and land.

"To us, that would be equitable. There cannot be responsibility
without authority. They want us coming in as a junior partner. Under no
stretch of madness can the MDC be expected to accept that," Biti said.

No date or venue has been set for the new regional summit. Biti said
Tsvangirai was unlikely to travel to a summit outside Zimbabwe unless
authorities issue him a passport. - Sapa-AP

Protester beaten to death inside ZANU PF office

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
28 October 2008

A protester from Monday's demonstration is alleged to have been beaten to
death at ZANU PF's offices in Fourth Street, Harare. Newsreel has been told
that Osborne Kachuru from Mbare was abducted immediately after the demo by
unidentified men, and bundled into a twin cab truck belonging to ZANU PF. A
few minutes later 3 other people were abducted by youths using a Nissan
single cab truck, believed to be owned by Zanu PF political commissar Eliot
Manyika. Manyika was allegedly driving the car and instructing the youths to
beat up some of the protesters.
Speaking to Newsreel on Tuesday Edgar Chikuvire, the Information Director
for the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR), said their lawyers
traveled to Parirenyatwa Hospital in an effort to positively identify
Kachuru's body. The lawyers were turned away by hospital authorities who
told them they needed to bring at least one relative for the identification
exercise. Kachuru's friends insist their colleague was killed inside the
ZANU PF office after being brutally assaulted.
Newsreel spoke to several of his friends who say they saw his body being
removed from the ZANU PF office and transferred to the mortuary at
Parirenyatwa. Of concern is the role a prominent ZANU PF official such as
Manyika plays in such acts of violence. He is said to have hired the youths
from the Machipisa high density suburb of Harare and witnesses saw him
driving the single cab truck with the militant youths crammed in the back.
Manyika is well known for leading violent attacks against the opposition,
particularly in his home town of Bindura. He is also known for his
involvement in Zanu PF's youth militia.
More than 200 ROHR activists participated in a series of demonstrations on
Monday that brought business to a standstill in Harare. Around 300 women
from the Women's Coalition also took to the streets, demanding a unity
government be formed urgently. Over 200 students held another protest
decrying the strike by lecturers and the continued closure of some of their
colleges. Police violently put down all the protests using tear gas and
baton sticks.
ROHR say 23 of their members were hospitalized 7 arrested, while 4 are still
missing. Moses Mutasa from Hatfield, Tinei Tinarwo from Glen Norah, a Mr
Ncube from Dzivarasekwa and Adam Muchiriri from Hatfield are all still
unaccounted for. The Women' Coalition meanwhile reported that 47 of their
members were arrested and a further 11 had to seek treatment for injuries
sustained from police beatings.
On Tuesday ROHR staged another demonstration in Masvingo but fortunately
reported no major incidents. They distributed fliers in the city centre as
part of their 'Demand for Democracy and Justice Campaign'.
These protests happened on the sidelines of the SADC summit and there is no
doubt that the leaders would have been informed of the brutality that was
taking place, while they were sitting talking and having tea with the
architect of the repression.

Wedza villagers reduced to eating dogs and cow dung to survive

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
28 October 2008

Villagers in most parts of Wedza district in Mashonaland East province have
been reduced to eating their own dogs and cow dung, after going for weeks
without any proper food.

As Zimbabwe descends into the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of
the country, most rural villagers are now surviving on nothing more than
wild fruits.

Kerry Kay, the MDC secretary for Welfare, told Newsreel on Tuesday she was
horrified beyond belief when she received reports of villagers eating their
dogs to survive.

'This is a tragedy.its horrible and unbelievable. This is a failure of
governance that can only be blamed on ZANU PF. This humanitarian crisis has
left the country facing the prospect of a famine on an unprecedented scale,'
Kay said.

Kay said reports from all districts in the country are horrifying.
'You have mothers battling to feed their children and end up preparing cow
dung as supplement for their kids. These innocent victims of a failed state
are a desperate lot, they have no food, and their malnourished children are
dying,' Kay added.

She described her latest trips into the rural areas as unbelievably
depressing, as almost all children had protruding stomachs, sunken eyes and
deformed heads, all symptoms of malnutrition.

The MDC said in a statement on Tuesday that Zimbabweans are suffering and
dying. Harare East MP and party secretary-general Tendai Biti said the State
had dismally failed to provide the most basic requirements and that people
have been reduced to a primitive way of life that is not even known in many
situations of war.

At Harare's central prison, at least five prisoners are dying on a daily
basis because of malnutrition. Kay said a friend working in the prisons
service disclosed that prisoners were getting food rations just once a day,
and the amount of food was not even enough to feed a six month old baby.

Mugabe allies use bank to siphon value, economists claim

Financial Times

By William Wallis

Published: October 28 2008 02:00 | Last updated: October 28 2008 02:00

Foreign assets at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are now so insignificant that
one analyst describes them as equivalent to a "rounding error on the balance
sheet".

Yet fortunes are being made even as the economy reaches an exponential stage
of implosion.

Economists in Harare describe the process as the final stage in a
redistribution programme that has robbed the poor to benefit the rich. The
effect of hyperinflationary monetary policies pursued by Gideon Gono, the
reserve bank governor, has been to suck residual value from the economy and
channel it to securocrats, politicians and businessmen within President
Robert Mugabe's circle, they say.

Access to patronage has become increasingly centralised at the bank, which
has a hand in a lengthening list of trading activities from car sales to the
distribution of fuel, seed maize, fertilizers and tractors, and controls
access to foreign currency at a heavily discounted official rate.

"Monetary policy has become central to every business story. Those who have
benefited from the crisis will want it to continue," says an analyst
connected to the bank.

The process of wealth redistribution began with the expropriation of
white-owned farms. It continued when the reserve bank seized control of
pensions and corporate savings by raising statutory reserve requirements.
Parallel exchange rate mechanisms have meanwhile offered instant riches to
what one economist calls a "pickers' pot" of apparatchiks with access to
hard currency at the discounted rate.

Conversely, price and exchange controls, as well as other restrictive laws
governing business, are so difficult to comply with that the majority of
Zimbabweans have to break the law to survive. "This means the authorities
can haul you in whenever they decide to," says one Harare-based restaurant
owner.

To circumvent strict rules on sending capital overseas, well-connected
businessmen and officials buy up shares in Harare of Old Mutual, the
insurance and investment management company, and sell them in London and
Johannesburg, where they are co-listed. This process is also controlled by
the bank.

Should Mr Mugabe lose control of the bank, as well as of the finance and
other economic ministries, he would struggle to hold his support base. For
this reason he and his principal allies have much to fear from the strings
that foreign donors would attach to an economic rescue package.

"It would require decisions that are incompatible with the patronage
system," says a senior economist at an international financial institution.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe brings suffering to the Lowveld

http://www.hararetribune.com

Tuesday, 28 October 2008 01:03

When the supermarkets do get some maize meal in they only accept cash money
for it, with the Reserve Bank restrictions on withdrawal amounts most the
populace go hungry.

I as a business owner in Chiredzi have been unable to purchase food for my
hungry staff for the last 2 weeks. I am now on a new system of payment and
will soon be able to purchase this maize meal for them when it is available.

Hundreds of people in and around Chiredzi are surviving purely on stolen
sugar cane, there are wads of chewed sugar cane every where, on the bush
paths you see many people carrying large stacks of can and eating it at the
same time, everybody is chewing sugar cane here,

There are many reports of starvation coming out of the communal areas; the
worst to suffer are firstly children and then the women.

Banks in trouble

Local businesses and I am sure that this goes for the whole of Zimbabwe, are
refusing to accept cheques as payment and are now demanding fuel or forex
instead. This is firstly because of the withdrawal limit of $1o,ooo and
$20,000 set by the Reserve bank on businesses and private accounts
respectively.

How do companies pay their staff or buy food for them when only allowed to
withdraw such a little?

Secondly if businesses are paid by cheque, by the time that it has
registered in the account usually 3 to 5 days, they have more than lost
their profit because of the hyper inflation.
This will mean a lot less business for the banks.

If Zimbabweans had a real free and fair election now I doubt that Mugabe and
his ZANU PF party would get more than 10% of the votes, most in his party
have relatives who are in dire straights and starving in the communal areas.

Fury at Zimbabwe unity document 'forgery'

http://www.businessday.co.za

28 October 2008

Dumisani Muleya

AS ZIMBABWEAN politicians and Southern African Development Community (SADC)
leaders met in Harare yesterday to discuss the faltering power-sharing deal
in that country, it emerged that changes had been made to the document
recording the original deal.

The meeting, called amid rising political tension, signals how deep in
trouble the agreement is, which was signed last month in Harare with pomp
and fanfare.

Key issues to be discussed include changes - allegedly made by Mugabe's
negotiators - soon after its initial endorsement on September 11.

Opposition party leaders and diplomats have described the final agreement
signed on September 15 as a "forgery" after it was discovered the document
was an altered version of the original.

The issue has brought into question circumstances surrounding the agreement
which has caused anger and infighting in Zanu (PF) and the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).

The September 15 document signed at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare by
President Robert Mugabe, prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai, and
deputy prime minister-designate Arthur Mutambara in the presence of the
facilitator, former president Thabo Mbeki, contains telling omissions.

The main MDC faction's chief negotiator Tendai Biti recently wrote to Mbeki
about the unauthorised changes and was assured that the problem would be
solved.

It is not known who made the alterations or why, but the agreement was
tampered with after it was given to Zanu (PF) to allow the government to do
official binding and inserting in folders.

In the September 11 document signed by all leaders, section 20.1.7 states
that "the parties agree that with respect to occupants of senior government
positions such as permanent secretaries and ambassadors, the leadership of
government, comprising the president, deputy presidents, prime minister and
the deputy prime ministers will consult and agree on such prior to their
appointment".

This whole paragraph is missing in the September 15 agreement. In place of
that paragraph in the final agreement, there is now section 20.1.7 that
deals with "Senate".

Even the senate paragraph was changed. In the September 11 agreement, the
paragraph on the senate, section 20.1.9 read: "The president shall, in his
discretion, appoint five persons to the existing positions of presidential
senatorial appointments.

"There shall be created an additional six appointed senatorial posts, which
shall be filled by persons appointed by the president, four of whom will be
nominated by MDC-T and two by MDC-M."

This was changed in the final agreement, which now reads: "The president
shall, in his discretion, appoint five persons to the existing positions of
presidential senatorial appointments.

"There shall be created an additional nine appointed senatorial posts, which
shall be filled by persons appointed by the president of whom three will be
nominated by Zanu PF, three by MDC-T and three by MDC-M".

MDC leaders and diplomats said while the changes do not fundamentally alter
the balance of power enshrined in the agreement, they do raise questions of
"chicanery" during the protracted talks. A top SADC diplomat said: "Although
these issues appear immaterial, the question is not the alterations per se,
but the motive behind it. Who did it and why?"

Also under discussion at yesterday's meeting was the distribution of
ministries between Mugabe's Zanu (PF) and the two factions of the MDC led by
Tsvangirai and Mutambara. The appointment of diplomats and top public
servants, and amendment of the constitution to incorporate the agreement
were also on the agenda.

The meeting was attended by President Kgalema Motlanthe as the SADC
chairman, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Mozambican President
Armando Guebuza who chaired the meeting, Angolan acting Foreign Minister
Joao Bernardo De Miranda and Swazi Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini
representing King Mswati.

Meanwhile, about 50 people were arrested yesterday as they tried to march
towards the hotel where the talks were under way, activists said.

About 100 students and activists from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an
umbrella body of rights organisations, marched from central Harare towards
the Rainbow Towers hotel, the group's spokesman, Thabani Moyo, said.

But police blocked the protesters' march about 300m from the hotel, Moyo
said late yesterday.

"The police fired teargas cannisters and chased away students," Moyo said,
adding that about 50 people were arrested and taken to Harare's central
police station. With Sapa-AFP

Riot police descend on women protesters

Police ruthlessly crush protest by youth activists

Amnesty International Press release

WOZA women denied bail, as peaceful protestors released in Harare

28 October 2008

The leaders of the activist organisation Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA),
Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were denied bail on Monday following
their arrest on 16 October 2008. They are being held at Mlondolozi Prison in
the city of Bulawayo, where conditions are said to fall well below
international standards.

The decision came as at least 40 women were arbitrarily arrested during a
peaceful protest in Harare. The women, many of whom were in their 60s, were
released from police custody at about 9pm last night by the Zimbabwe Police.

Those arrested in Harare were members of the Women's Coalition, an
organization working for the equality of women. They were peacefully praying
and protesting outside the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare as President
Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara met with leaders from
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to discuss the country's
power-sharing deal. The protestors argue that the deal has been too slow in
achieving any progress.

They were charged with "disorderly conduct in a public place" and released
after paying a fine. They were initially denied access to a lawyer.

They only were able to speak with a lawyer for a couple of minutes as they
were getting their lunch. Their colleagues were able to bring in food,
sanitary pads and painkillers for the women.

At least 30 people were also injured when the police used tear gas and
batons to disperse protestors. The majority of those injured were women from
the Women's Coalition. Their injuries were consistent with being beaten with
batons, falls during flight, teargas inhalation and other injuries.

One activist was admitted at a private clinic for observation after inhaling
teargas and experiencing respiratory distress. Four others were admitted for
severe injuries and suspected fractures.

Protestors from other organizations including student, youth and other human
rights groups, were also beaten by the police with batons, exposed to tear
gas and some had to receive medical treatment for their injuries.

Amnesty International has condemned the continued arbitrary arrest,
detention and use of excessive force against peaceful protestors by police.
The organization has also called on the Southern African Development
Community leaders to speak out against human rights violations and demand an
end to the suppression of the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of
expression and association.

Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were arbitrarily arrested after
participating in a peaceful protest outside Mhlahlandlela Government Complex
in Bulawayo, in which they were demanding access to food aid in Zimbabwe.
Police used excessive force to break up the peaceful protest by about 200
WOZA activists. Magodonga Mahlangu was beaten by police during her arrest
and is reported to be in pain. They are lodging appeals with the high court.

Amnesty International considers Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu to be
prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional
release. Their arrest is part of the government of Zimbabwe's clampdown on
human rights defenders who are campaigning to highlight the suffering of the
people of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean bishop wins Swedish human rights prize

From Business Day (SA), 28 October

Stockholm - An Anglican bishop from Zimbabwe was today named winner of a
Swedish human rights prize for "having given voice to the fight against
oppression." Bishop Sebastian Bakare was also cited for his work to promote
"freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation." He
was due to accept the 2008 Per Anger prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on
November 10, said Johan Perwe of the government agency Living History Forum.
Bakare, installed as bishop of Harare earlier this year, was also due to be
keynote speaker at a human rights conference in Lulea, northern Sweden. The
agency said Bakare was an "important voice" who has "received threats as a
result of his open and clear criticism of the government, his condemnation
of local police brutality and his defence of human rights" in Zimbabwe. The
prize, worth 150,000 kronor, was created in 2004 in honour of Swedish
diplomat Per Anger and honours "people and organizations that risk their own
safety to defend the rights of the individual against oppression and
inhumanity." Anger was a close associate of Raoul Wallenberg, credited with
saving thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. The Living History
Forum has been commissioned with promoting issues relating to tolerance,
democracy and human rights. Last year, Colombian human rights group,
Organizacion Femenina Popular (OFP), received the Per Anger Prize.

The terrible price of freedom

http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/

Three teenage girls are robbed, beaten and raped

This weekend, In the Johannesburg offices of SAWIMA, a South African NGO
dedicated to helping distressed migrants, I met three girls from Zimbabwe's
second city, Bulawayo. They were still dressed in muddy rags, and sobbed as
they told officials what had happened to them during their bid to escape
from the Mugabe regime.

Two of them, aged 12 and 13, were too upset to speak to me. But the
15-year-old described graphically how their bid to find a new life in the
Republic had gone terribly wrong.

She told me that the three of them had managed to collect half the money
demanded by agents in Bulawayo, in return for safe passage over the border,
and on to Johannesburg. Her brother, who lives in South Africa, promised to
pay the balance once the girls were delivered to him.

The girls were collected by a gang of several men who specialise in this
trade in humanity. Their fee, an average for the trip I understand, was
1,500 South African Rand.

"When we got over the border," said the girl, "they rang my brother on his
mobile phone, and he confirmed that he would make the full payment as soon
as we arrived. But then the men began to demand we have sex with them. When
we tried to resist they beat us, and threatened to abandon us in the bush.

"It was in the night, we had no money, we were so frightened... They all
raped us, over and over again...now I think they may have given me HIV."

A SAWIMA official told me that the girls had been taken to a Johannesburg
address and kept as sex slaves for several days, before being finally
abandoned on the organisation's doorstep early one morning. The girls are
now underoing medical examination, and attempts are being made to find the
15-year-old's brother.

The official said that almost half of all women who escape illegally from
Zimbabwe endure similar experiences, and she believes that many more are
killed after being raped, their bodies left in the bush.

"These human traffickers are beasts," she told me. "People know this, but
they are so desperate they will even risk their lives to come here."

Back here in Harare the talks on power sharing begin yet again. And while
the politicians talk, the rapes, the beatings and the murders continue.

Posted on Tuesday, 28 October 2008 at 08:48

Smokes, sex and the arms deal

http://www.mg.co.za/

SAM SOLE | DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - Oct 28 2008 06:00

A net of local and international investigations is drawing in on one of the
most controversial and influential players in the South African arms deal -- 
Zimbabwean tycoon John Bredenkamp

In March 2006 a heavily armed Scorpions team launched raids on a set of
cigarette importing and manufacturing businesses in Linbro Park, Sandton.

In October 2006 members of the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
swooped on the Berkshire premises of Aviation Consultancy Services (ACS).

Though he may not be the immediate target, one man appears in the background
of both these probes: John Arnold Bredenkamp.

Bredenkamp (68) is a man who made his fortune trading in tobacco and arms
with pariah states, beginning with Ian Smith's Rhodesia and ending with
Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe -- with Saddam Hussain's Iraq thrown in along the
way (see "Barely legal").

But ACS, which has a long-standing relationship with British defence company
BAE-Systems, also played a key role in lobbying for BAE to secure the sale
of fighters and jet trainers in South Africa's ill-fated arms deal.

Last year the Mail & Guardian revealed that ACS's sister company, Kayswell
Services, registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI),
received about £37-million from BAE for its role in the South African deal
(now worth R691-million).

Now both the SFO and the Scorpions are looking more closely at what ACS
might have done to earn this staggering "commission" -- notably whether the
company facilitated the onward payment of bribes to South African
decision-makers.

But it is the investigation of Bredenkamp's tobacco interests that might
lead to the unravelling of an empire that has tentacles in virtually the
entire Southern African region.

Dangerous Liaisons 1: JB and the suspects
Cigarette smuggling is the contraband business to be in. The returns are as
good as those from drugs and the risks and penalties are relatively low.

Investigators say there is a "golden highway" of cigarette and tobacco
smuggling into South Africa from Zimbabwe and other Southern African states
with lax border controls and weak policing.

Bredenkamp's position on or off that highway is still under investigation.
Bredenkamp trades in tobacco via Breco International, which has headquarters
in Harare and manufactures the Mega brand. But he also operates through
Masters International Tobacco Manufacturing in Johannesburg.

The M&G has established that in September this year a yellow-jacketed
national enforcement unit from the South African Revenue Service (Sars)
launched an inspection at the Johannesburg premises of Masters International
Tobacco Manufacturing, confiscating about 4 500 master cases of cigarettes,
comprising 45-million cigarettes.

It was by far the biggest seizure to take place in terms of a nationwide
Sars project to crack down on the illicit trade in tobacco products that
started this year, which has seen more than 7 500 master cases seized.

Sars, bound by secrecy regarding tax matters, won't say exactly why the
cigarettes were seized.

Around the time of the raid, Bredenkamp also put Masters's local company
into liquidation.

What is clear is that Bredenkamp has had business relationships with
individuals who have been alleged to be part of a contraband network that is
the subject of parallel Sars and Scorpions investigations.

The M&G understands that the Masters raid flowed from information obtained
during an earlier round of Sars inspections in June this year targeting
another company with Zimbabwean connections, Mavambo Coaches.

Mavambo, the business of which is passenger transport between South Africa
and Zimbabwe, is a subsidiary of Pioneer Corporation Africa, a logistics
company listed on the Harare stock exchange.

Mavambo was also a target of the armed Scorpions raid in March 2006. In that
case the Scorpions obtained warrants of arrest for Zimbwean citizens Yakub
Mahomed and Simon Rudland, the latter described as the "de facto managing
director" for Mavambo as well as for South African Ebrahim Adamjee.

According to the affidavit used to obtain search warrants, Mahomed ran two
related cigarette manufacturing companies, Gold Leaf and Sahawi, which were
used to supply cigarettes on which no VAT or excise duty had been paid.

Adamjee allegedly "controlled the cash generated from the illegal cigarette
sales" and some of the cash was laundered through Mavambo and other accounts
controlled by Rudland, who was also allegedly involved in smuggling Sahawi
cigarettes.

All those involved deny any wrongdoing.

The investigation has stalled because of a challenge to the Scorpions search
and seizure process that is still awaiting a hearing in the Supreme Court of
Appeal. The case was formally withdrawn because all the seized documents are
under seal at the Johannesburg High Court pending the outcome of the appeal
process.

Mohamed told the M&G last week that the case was dead and that the Scorpions
had "got the wrong end of the stick".

But this June's Sars raids at Mavambo, where computers and documents were
removed, suggest that the investigation is not over.

However, there is also little to suggest any relationship between Mahomed
and Bredenkamp -- except the intimacy of a US$4-million loan.

In August this year Mahomed and Sahawi issued summons against Bredenkamp in
the Harare High Court, claiming that Mahomed entered into an oral agreement
with Bredenkamp to make a US currency-denominated loan to be repaid when
Bredenkamp had sold his interests in the Mukondo mine in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.

According to the summons, from January 2001 to November 2002 Bredenkamp was
advanced a total of US$4,27-million.

He repaid US$400 000, leaving a shortfall of US$3,87-million, plus interest
at 6% a annum.

Mahomed said this week his lawyers were negotiating with Bredenkamp about
the repayment of the loan. He described the advance as "an investment" and
Bredenkamp as a competitor: "The man has never done me a single favour."

However, Mahomed conceded they had once considered a joint venture, for
which he had put up a deposit on the purchase of some cigarette machinery.

Last week also saw the arrest in London of Tribert Rujigiro Ayabatwa, whose
Mastermind cigarette group also ran a short-lived joint venture with Mohamed
called African American Tobacco.

In the Scorpions affidavit it was claimed that Mahomed's Sahawi operation
also sold cigarettes sourced from Mastermind, without any VAT invoices.

Ayabatwa, a Rwandan, set up a Mastermind cigarette factory in East London in
the 1990s but, since 2005, has been wanted in connection with another
Scorpions case allegedly involving R55-million in excise tax and VAT fraud.

He was held two weeks ago on an Interpol warrant and released on bail
pending an extradition hearing.

Better than drugs
"It's quicker, easier money than drugs," says one investigator of the
criminal allure of cigarette smuggling.

The worldwide effort to tax cigarettes heavily to reduce consumption and
raise revenue means the major cost of selling cigarettes is in the VAT and
excise duties payable. For example, in 2005 in South Africa a pack of 20
cigarettes cost about R1 to manufacture, but was liable to about R6 in tax.

Avoiding tax by the illegal sale of cigarettes means you can undercut the
legal operators and still make huge profits. The allure of avoiding tax has
been such that for decades the major international brands also made use of
back channels to distribute some of their products, but in the past 10 years
intense international scrutiny has forced them to clean up their act. This
has allowed a gap to open up for smaller, more unscrupulous players.

South Africa has been no exception and official estimates suggest 15% of the
local market may be illegal. There are several ways of achieving this.
Cigarettes may be smuggled into the country and sold for cash without paying
excise duties and VAT.

More sophisticated players produce cigarette packs marked with counterfeit
or stolen tax die-stamps, which indicate that duties have already been
levied.

Still others manufacture or import cigarettes and declare to the South
African Revenue Service that they have been re-exported, claiming the taxes
back from Sars, when in reality the export certificates have been faked and
the cigarettes are sold locally for cash.

Dangerous Liaisons 2: JB and the secret

The website of John Bredenkamp's Breco Group is keen to suggest its hands-on
approach: "A small management team enables fast decisions to be taken," it
boasts.

The only member of the team actually profiled is Bredenkamp.

However, in one section there is a contrastingly coy tone about the role of
the "Group Chairman".

Under the heading "Representative for aircraft manufacturers", the website
notes: "In respect of defence procurement, John Bredenkamp is a passive
investor in a company which acts as a . consultant for established European
and North American aircraft manufacturers in Southern Africa with valid
Government approved export licences. John Bredenkamp is not involved in any
day-to-day activities of the company."

The unnamed company, Aviation Consultancy Services (ACS), represents the
dark heart of the Breco empire and despite the reassurances about government
approval, Bredenkamp clearly wants it understood that he doesn't know
exactly what goes on there.

Since the raid on ACS and Breco offices in 2006 by the UK Serious Fraud
Office (SFO), this hands-off approach to the arms dealing side of his
business has been emphasised. The raid was part of a broad SFO investigation
into possible bribery by defence giant BAE-Systems in various parts of the
world, including South Africa.

For example, his spokesperson told Africa Confidential, "Mr Bredenkamp was
not personally involved with the BAE-Systems deal in South Africa.He knows
nobody who was on the BAE-Systems side of the deal in South Africa. And
likewise Mr Bredenkamp doesn't know anyone on the South African government
side of the deal."

The importance of Bredenkamp's stance of non-involvement has in-creased as
evidence has emerged that he benefited personally from the deal.

In January 2007 the M&G revealed the SFO had obtained information indicating
that BAE paid £37-million to an ACS-linked company, Kayswell Services, in
commissions on the South African deal -- alongside generous payments to
local BAE agent Richard Charter (see Dangerous liaisons 3: JB and Mrs
Charter) and to Fana Hlongwane, former adviser to the late defence minister,
Joe Modise.

And earlier this year Africa Confidential revealed that internal company
documentation showed that of £26-million paid by BAE to Kayswell between
June 2003 and September 2005 about £10-million had been transferred for the
benefit of Bredenkamp.

Now the M&G has had insight into the same documentation, which sets out in
more detail who exactly makes up ACS and how they benefited.

The three signatories on the Kayswell bank account are listed as Bredenkamp,
Jules Pelissier and Graham Andrews. Pelissier, a former Rhodesian special
branch policeman, is effectively the chief executive of ACS. Andrews is
Bredenkamp's former accountant, now resident in the UK.

The beneficial owners of Kayswell are listed as Bredenkamp, Pelissier,
Walter Hailwax, Richard Passaportis and Trevor Wilmans. Hailwax, who runs
the Namibian branch of ACS, sat on the board of Windhoeker Maschinenfabrik,
a military vehicle manufacturer owned by the Namibian Defence Force.

Passaportis is based in Zimbabwe.

Wilmans, a former member of South African military intelligence, runs the
South African operation of ACS and, according to former associates of
Bredenkamp, also has good contacts in Botswana, where he is friendly with
President Ian Khama.

The documents obtained by the M&G reflect payments of £2,5-million to
Hailwax, £1,5-million to Passaportis, £812 016 to Wilmans and £513 067 to
Pelissier -- as well as significant transfers to two entities, the Willow
Trust and the Sebel Trust, that may be linked to one or more of the owners.

It is likely that transfers from BAE continued after 2005 -- when the
records obtained by the M&G come to an end -- as such commissions are
generally linked to contractual disbursements received from the buyer, in
this case, South Africa.

Given these payments, the question being probed -- by both the SFO and the
Scorpions -- is what ACS did to earn its money in South Africa, given that
Charter was the "official" registered agent for BAE.

Bredenkamp claims not to have been involved in the South African deal, but
one former associate told the M&G Bredenkamp had personally met former
defence minister Joe Modise on at least one occasion in South Africa during
the lobbying process.

Modise is dead and the M&G was not able to verify this claim.

Bredenkamp failed to answer questions from the M&G about this allegation, as
well as about what contact other members of ACS might have had with South
African decision-makers.

Bredenkamp was also asked about whether it was correct, as alleged by one of
his former associates, that he was on good social terms with Richard Evans,
the former chair and chief executive of BAE. Evans has been listed as a
suspect in the SFO investigation.

Through his lawyer Bredenkamp said he had not been given enough time to
respond to questions.

The documents obtained by the M&G also disclose payment of US$5-million to
ACS by Italian company Augusta as commission on the sale of helicopters to
South Africa.

Meanwhile, the SFO investigation appears to be gaining momentum.

Last week an agent linked to lobbying for BAE in Czechoslovakia and Austria,
Count Alfons Mensedorff-Pouilly, was arrested and questioned by the SFO
before being released.

Another man was also questioned. It is understood to be Julian Scopes, a
former head of government liaison for the BAE and now the company's
operations chief in India.

Dangerous Liaisons 3: JB and Mrs Charter

One of the most remarkable alliances to emerge from the arms deal has been
the romantic attachment between John Bredenkamp (68) and Janet Charter (48).

Janet Charter is the widow and heir of Richard Charter, the acknowledged
South African agent for BAE-Systems, while Bredenkamp has never admitted to
any role in the South African arms deal, despite a long association with
BAE -- and despite allegations he was a beneficiary of commissions on the
deal.

It is not clear whether the relationship is emotional or based on a more
hard-nosed assessment of common interests. These might include the
possibility that, given the ongoing criminal investigations, BAE may be
reluctant to fully honour any further commission payments and might seek to
shift responsibility for any improprieties in the deal on to its agents.

Bredenkamp failed to answer questions about how or when he became involved
with Janet Charter. He cited lack of time to respond.

He has previously stated that he met Richard Charter only three times before
Charter's death in 2004, but failed to answer questions from the M&G about
how the two men coordinated or divided up the representation of BAE in South
Africa between Charter's Osprey Aviation and Bredenkamp's Aviation
Consultancy Services.

Janet Charter, who now lives in London, has previously failed to return
calls.

The alliance may also be related to concerns over safety.

According to sources close to the family, Charter has expressed concerns
over both her own safety and that of Bredenkampand on occasion has
questioned whether there might have been something untoward in the
accidental death of her husband.

Richard Charter was drowned in a canoeing accident near his luxury farm on
the Orange River on Sunday January 25 2004.

The M&G has established that Charter was due to attend a consultation with
his lawyer on the following Monday relating to a possible request by the
Scorpions to answer questions under oath in connection with his role in the
arms deal.

According to someone familiar with the investigation, he had indicated he
was willing to be cooperative, though he did not believe he was personally
guilty of doing anything wrong.

According to several sources close to the family, Charter, normally an
extremely calm and controlled person, was agitated in the period before his
death.

He indicated he felt betrayed in some way by people in the ANC, and
especially by late defence minister Joe Modise's former adviser, Fana
Hlongwane.

Hlongwane has repeatedly failed to respond to attempts to pose questions to
him about his role in the arms deal.

Barely legal: John Bredenkamp
Bredenkamp was born in Kimberley in 1940 and educated in Zimbabwe at Prince
Edward School.

He joined Gallaher, the international tobacco concern, in Zimbabwe and was
transferred to Holland in 1968.

In 1976, he founded the Casalee Group of companies in Belgium. Casalee was
primarily a leaf tobacco company but was also engaged in barter deals.

It was Casalee that apparently served as a sanctions-busting vehicle during
the dying days of Rhodesia. Bredenkamp told a newspaper in 2000: "Yes, I was
requested by the government of the day to help source supplies and equipment
for the beleaguered country, and yes, I did so . But no, for many years, I
have not been involved in the arms business at all."

Bredenkamp also appears to have been involved in sanctions busting for South
Africa. Minutes of the Strategic Fuel Fund for March 13 1989 carry a note
stating: "John Bredenkamp, who has acted confidentially for SA govt. before,
offers oil [Casalee]."

Casalee was also linked as an agent for supplies of landmines to Iraq during
the Iran-Iraq war and other supplies to Iran.

It became the biggest non-US leaf tobacco company and was sold in 1993 to
Universal Leaf Tobacco for US$100-million.

In Zimbabwe Bredenkamp drew flak in some quarters for his closeness to the
Mugabe government. He piggy-backed on the Zimbabwean military support for
Laurent Kabila when Kabila seized power in the Democratic Republic of Congo
and was granted copper and cobalt mining rights at the Mukondo mine in
Eastern DRC.

At some stage this was in partnership with Zimbabwean fugitive Billy
Rautenbach, but the two fell out when Rautenbach elbowed Bredenkamp aside.

Bredenkamp was cited in a United Nations report on resource exploitation in
Congo, but later cleared, following extensive legal and political lobbying.

The UN report also accused him of being involved in the supply of spare
parts for Zimbabwean BAE Hawk jets early in 2002 in breach of European Union
sanctions.

In 2006 Bredenkamp was able to sell his stake in Mukondo to Israeli diamond
trader Dan Gertler for US$57-million.

He also has tourism interests in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.

In September 2006 Bredenkamp was acquitted in Zimbabwe on charges that he
used a South African passport on international journeys. Zimbabwean
citizenship law does not permit dual nationality.

He is said to be struggling to have his Zimbabwean passport renewed.

Bredenkamp responds
Questions were sent to John Bredenkamp's South African lawyer, Ian
Small-Smith, at 8.05am on Wednesday this week, giving him until 10am the
next day to respond.

Small-Smith sent the following reply: "I confirm that I act on behalf of Mr.
Bredenkamp. We acknowledge receipt of your questionnaire on 22 October 2008.
We believe it is irresponsible of you to expect us to respond thereto within
a day.

"I have read through the allegations and point out that there are various
factual inaccuracies and falsehoods in your document. Publishing it would be
slanderous.

"I have been instructed to point out that Mr Bredenkamp's rights remain
fully reserved should you proceed with the publication of this article."

Zimbabwe: Work on the generals

http://www.manilatimes.net

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

EDITORIAL

The prime-minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai won a sort of victory
on Tuesday October 28 when, after failing to break the deadlock between him
and President Robert Mugabe, regional officials called for a full summit
meeting of the 14-member Southern African Development Community or SADC. If
this body of neighboring states including Zimbabwe decides to sanction
Mugabe, he might be forced to go into a sincere power-sharing arrangement.
That is what Tsvangirai hopes would happen.

SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said the leaders from South
Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Swaziland attending the talks in Harare urged
the convening of a full summit "to further review the current political
situation in Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency." But when or where the summit
is to be held was not stated.

Tricked by Mugabe

It has become clear that Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, was tricked by
Zimbabwe's virtual dictator, Robert Mugabe. With the encouragement of the
international community, Tsvangirai entered into a so-called power-sharing
agreement with Mugabe.

Civil war was about to break out in Zimbabwe (known as Rhodesia until
1980 when it was a prosperous nation and next only to South Africa in
modernity and economic success.) Now, under Mugabe who has ruled Zimbawe for
28 years, this country suffers ridiculously incredible inflation. Some
estimates say prices have risen 300,000 percent since the better days before
Mugabe ruined his country). Joblessness, hunger and poverty in Zimbabwe are
among the world's highest rates.

Some say that hunger is what has so weakened the brow-beaten and
literally tortured citizens of Zimbabwe from rising against their cruel and
incompetent ruler. Mugabe controls the police and the military. These do his
bidding. They turn a blind eye on pro-Mugabe armies of thugs. These burned
homes, beat up not only political opposition figures and their followers but
also even apolitical starving citizens insistently crying for Mugabe to help
them. Thugs, soldiers and policemen have raped women they fancied,
especially if they belonged or were suspected to belong to political groups.

Mugabe's security forces have arrested and beaten up political
leaders, including Morgan Tsvangirai himself. He suffered a permanent damage
as a result of the beatings, as recently as in the weeks just before last
June's presidential election.

The campaign was, expectedly hazardous for the opposition parties, of
which Tsvangirai's is the most important one.

If the election had been fair and the counting honest, Tsvangirai and
his MDC, would have ended Mugabe's rule. But Mugabe steadfastly refused to
be defeated by cheating and simply refusing to accept the results. For three
months Zimbabwe's situation worsened everyday. Finally, Tsvangirai signed
the agreement in September that allows Mugabe to stay on as president, while
he becomes prime minister.

Mugabe reneges

The deal says cabinet ministries are to be divided evenly between
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's MDC and the other opposition
parties.

Which ministries go to which party was left unstated though. From day
one of the inter-party negotiations (monitored by SADC and pro-Mugabe former
South African President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the African Union) it was
clear to everybody that Mugabe was going to take all the key ministries,
leaving the opposition parties joining the unity government with
inconsequential portfolios.

Tsvangirai is willing to have Zimbabwe's military under Mugabe as long
as MDC got the police. He also wants the finance portfolio. This and other
economic ministries must go to the credible opposition half of the cabinet.
Otherwise no rich nation in the West would deal with Zimbabwe.

Mugabe and his generals do not want any kind of serious power-sharing.
They realize that if the opposition cabinet members make the economic
decisions, they would lose their power of patronage. They would no longer be
able to pamper their gangster-militias.

 If the police department goes to Tsvangirai the generals and the
soldiery could end up being investigated and prosecuted for their crimes.

Retribution publicly disavowed

Although Tsvangirai has publicly disavowed any wish to avenge the
humiliations and tortures he and his men have suffered, the generals and the
Mugabe security forces cannot trust the opposition leader. They have
demanded protection from Mugabe, who cannot refuse them. He continues to be
in power only because they have the guns to protect him.

That is why Mugabe insists on holding on to the key ministries come
hell or high water.

The way things are going now, Tsvangirai must do more than hope in the
pressure that the international and regional leaders can bring to bear on
Mugabe.

Experts on South African affairs are now saying that Tsvangirai should
not only work to get the international community to exert more heavy
pressure on Mugabe. He must now also begin to work on the generals.

He must get the SADC leaders to help him persuade the pro-Mugabe
generals-who are so afraid of being prosecuted for all their human rights
abuses, murders and rapes-that there will be no retribution. Tsvangirai
himself should begin to have talks with the most approachable of the
military and police brass.

He must get as many of the military and police generals to trust him.
That is the only way he can decouple them from Mugabe.

The generals he wins over will also most likely, if events lead to a
People Power uprising, refuse to fire on their fellow citizens.

House of Hunger Poetry Slam 01 November 2008

 PAMBERI TRUST PRESS RELEASE: 

THE 'FEEL-GOOD' POETRY SLAM

The Book Café, Harare, Zimbabwe

Sat 01 Nov 2008, 2-5pm
Harare's Book Café will be blazing hot on Saturday 01 November with the monthly 'House of Hunger Poetry Slam' from 2-5pm, giving poets a platform to express themselves freely and explicitly through the spoken word.

The theme for November is 'Giving each other a boost' – poetry that feels good and leaves the listener with renewed energy to embrace each day, despite the mad man-made challenges Zimbabweans are facing as a people. "Life is tough, times are terribly hard and we need to give each other a boost; to celebrate the love and strength we give to each other in our daily lives," said Mandla Ncube, project officer for Pamberi Trust which hosts the slam.

"Despite the immense challenges that we have faced and continue to face, we refuse to indulge in negativity or pessimism. We are an organization that believes in the arts as a vital tool for nation-building, and work constantly to empower artists to produce their best work."

The House of Hunger Poetry Slam is a Project by Pamberi Trust, an arts development organization in Harare that runs development programmes for music, poetry, theatre, information technology, gender and literature.

This month's Poetry Slam will focus on upcoming poets, talent that is raw and fresh which craves for space and a platform for public performance.  However there will still be great expectations of veteran poets like Ticha Muzavazi, 'Guerilla Poet', 'Murewa The Unknown' and Larry Kwirirayi, who is also the Slam Master.  These are some of the many poets who have participated in and supported the Poetry Slam for a long time, and helped to make the event productive and exciting.

Ncube issued a wide-open invitation to all poets and poetry-lovers of the capital and beyond.  "We call upon all poets to come out and join the freedom train, a train that moves freely and has no limits. We encourage young poets from schools, colleges and varsities to come and be part of the slam either as a participating poet, or part of the audience.

As part of Pamberi Trust's outreach program The House Of Hunger Poetry Slam is also proud to have assisted the Mlomo Wakho Poetry Slam in Bulawayo in October, which saw more than 80 Bulawayo poets come together for a memorable slam event.Ncube added, "We also encourage poets to come forward, drop into our offices and offer ideas that may contribute to the growth of poetry in all parts of Zimbabwe." 

Come down to The Book Café on Saturday 01 November 2-5pm and 'Feel Good' in the slam!

ENDS

Mandla Ncube

Pamberi Trust

House of Hunger Poetry Slam

Projects Officer

HOUSE OF HUNGER POETRY SLAM

(ZIMBABWE)

SATURDAY 01 NOVEMBER 2008

VENUE: THE BOOK CAFE

TIME: 2PM - 5PM

THE 'FEEL - GOOD' POETRY SLAM

FIFE AVENUE MALL, CNR FIFE AVE/6TH STREET, HARARE.

TEL 04-793182,04792551 OR 011 921 257.

www.zimbabwertarts.co.zw

A PROJECT BY PAMBERI TRUST SUPPORTED BY HIVOS

Panic in Harare

http://www.moneyweb.co.za

$105m goes walkabout in misty Zimbabwe platinum deal; Andrew Groves and
Phillipe Edmonds rush to the rescue, capes flapping.

Barry Sergeant
22 August 2008 03:32

On April 11, when London-listed resources stock Camec announced a platinum
mining deal in Zimbabwe that appeared to be the sweetest thing since finding
El Dorado in your backyard, few outsiders had insight into what was really
going on. Fast forward to this week, and the panic bottom has been hit as
north of $100m remains walkabouts.

Camec, skippered by Phillipe Edmonds, who once apparently played cricket for
England, and Andrew Groves, son of a Harare policeman, has spent the past
few years accumulating vulnerable mining assets in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, working hand-in-glove with Conrad Muller "Billy" Rautenbach, a
Zimbabwean who ranks as a fugitive from justice in South Africa.

Back in April, Camec described how it had acquired a choice duo of platinum
deposits on Zimbabwe's Grand Dyke. Camec bought 100% of dodgy-sounding
Lefever, a (no surprise) British Virgin Islands company, from Meryweather
Investments, a misnomer of note. Lefever owns 60% of Todal, a Zimbabwean
company, which has the rights to the Bougai and Kironde platinum
concessions, owned until then by Anglo Platinum, in which Anglo American
holds a near-80% stake. Everything points to the two concessions suffering
zero-payment confiscation from Anglo Platinum.

For Lefever, Camec agreed to pay Meryweather $ 5m cash, plus 215m new Camec
shares. Camec also agreed to loan $100m in cash to Lefever. This is to be
repaid by Zimbabwean state-owned mining company ZMDC, which owns the other
40% of Todal. This thinly disguised donation is nothing less than an
unsecured cash loan to the Zimbabwe government; for that, read "the
president Robert Mugabe regime".

Now the thing is this: back on April 11, the 215m Camec shares were worth a
princely GPB 118m, a King's ransom. Since then, all kinds of nasty things
have happened, not least the cooling of the world's economy, along with
carnage in commodity prices, and a severe hammering of listed resources
stocks. One of Camec's key claimed products, cobalt, has seen a halving in
dollar prices over the past six months. Today, the 215m Camec shares are
worth just GBP 62m; an amount of GPB 56m, equal to $105m, has gone
walkabouts.If this sounds like a rotten story, it only gets worse. Back in
April, the various virtuous parties to the transparently wonderful platinum
deal agreed that half the 215m Camec shares would be locked up for six
months, and the balance for a year. Camec's stock price is already down 53%
from its highs, and given the characterisation of those waiting impatiently
with their grubby paws on the 215m shares, there's no question that cash is
going to be preferred to Camec paper.

In October, more than 100m Camec shares are scheduled to hit markets like an
enraged monsoon ripped to the tits. In April 2009, ditto the action. Today,
August 21 2008, Camec announced that it is calling a general meeting "to
seek shareholder approval to purchase its own shares and thereafter to
commence a share repurchase programme". In a statement, Groves is quoted as
saying that "We believe that Camec's shares are currently significantly
undervalued. We intend to enter the market to repurchase shares and will
continue to do so until we believe that the shares are more appropriately
valued".

Zimbabwe's political opposition have vowed to reverse Camec's cool platinum
deal, but that is another story. For the meantime, Camec's trusty partners
in Harare are in panic mode, and so is Camec. If Camec was serious about
buying back shares - it has 2,6bn in issue - it would quietly start with the
215m in the hands of its ravenous Zimbabwean partners. Sometimes, just
sometimes, a plan does indeed come together.

Nothing could be worse

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Tuesday, 28 October 2008 13:30

This week we have seen the closure of Youngsfield, the second last of
the three remaining camps for the victims of xenophobia.

It seems this episode is now no longer the responsibility of the South
African government, after 3 months of their financial support. We cannot
complain about the effort the government has put in, but we need to get a
commitment from them that in the event of further attacks the government and
city with not hesitate to open halls and shelter immediately. We have to be
clear that the political situation in South Africa is intensifying and this
is likely to encourage the frustrations that ultimately led to the murder of
over 70 people, because they were easy targets.

It seems that the situation in Zimbabwe is intensifying and the trip
by Kgalema Motlanthe to Zimbabwe indicates that the South African government
is taking this situation seriously. We have now to plan carefully about how
and where to apply the much needed pressure. It is clear that the situation
in Zimbabwe needs to change, even if there was violence it would be better
for the rights of Zimbabweans. I say this not because I believe that
violence is the answer but currently the situation of peace amidst the worst
possible conditions, where survival is no longer possible, has resulted in
the South African authorities rejecting refuge to hundreds of thousands of
Zimbabweans.  Sadly the world would actually care more if there was blood on
the street. If there were conflict in Zimbabwe South Africa would not be
allowed to deport Zimbabweans, temporarily this was indeed the case.
However, following the signing of the 'deal' things have changed and now it
is less likely than ever for Zimbabweans to receive refugee status.  If
Zimbabweans are unable to work in South Africa, how are we supposed to feed
the Zimbabweans families that have remained, ultimately the current
situation is murderous and honestly could not get any worse. What we can
only hope for is finality, in the near future, of the outcome of this much
spoken about deal.
I must point out, to inform Zimbabweans of their rights, that even if
one is rejected refugee status they have the right to appeal. There are to
types of rejection for an asylum seeker, unfounded and manifestly unfounded.
If you are manifestly unfounded you have to make an application to the
standing committee within 7 days. If you are unfounded then you need to make
an application within 14 days to the refugee appeals board. These appeal
processes currently take around eight months before you can be finally
rejected, thus because of the failure of the Department of Home Affairs,
Zimbabweans actually benefit.
This week we have seen the closure of Youngsfield, the second last of
the three remaining camps for the victims of xenophobia. It seems this
episode is now no longer the responsibility of the South African government,
after 3 months of their financial support. We cannot complain about the
effort the government has put in, but we need to get a commitment from them
that in the event of further attacks the government and city with not
hesitate to open halls and shelter immediately. We have to be clear that the
political situation in South Africa is intensifying and this is likely to
encourage the frustrations that ultimately led to the murder of over 70
people, because they were easy targets.

It seems that the situation in Zimbabwe is intensifying and the trip
by Kgalema Motlanthe to Zimbabwe indicates that the South African government
is taking this situation seriously. We have now to plan carefully about how
and where to apply the much needed pressure. It is clear that the situation
in Zimbabwe needs to change, even if there was violence it would be better
for the rights of Zimbabweans. I say this not because I believe that
violence is the answer but currently the situation of peace amidst the worst
possible conditions, where survival is no longer possible, has resulted in
the South African authorities rejecting refuge to hundreds of thousands of
Zimbabweans.  Sadly the world would actually care more if there was blood on
the street. If there were conflict in Zimbabwe South Africa would not be
allowed to deport Zimbabweans, temporarily this was indeed the case.
However, following the signing of the 'deal' things have changed and now it
is less likely than ever for Zimbabweans to receive refugee status.  If
Zimbabweans are unable to work in South Africa, how are we supposed to feed
the Zimbabweans families that have remained, ultimately the current
situation is murderous and honestly could not get any worse. What we can
only hope for is finality, in the near future, of the outcome of this much
spoken about deal.
I must point out, to inform Zimbabweans of their rights, that even if
one is rejected refugee status they have the right to appeal. There are to
types of rejection for an asylum seeker, unfounded and manifestly unfounded.
If you are manifestly unfounded you have to make an application to the
standing committee within 7 days. If you are unfounded then you need to make
an application within 14 days to the refugee appeals board. These appeal
processes currently take around eight months before you can be finally
rejected, thus because of the failure of the Department of Home Affairs,
Zimbabweans actually benefit.

By Passop

Comment from a correspondent