Associated Press
U.S. Accuses
Zimbabwe of Harassment
Mon Sep 30, 4:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP)
- The State Department said Monday that President Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwean
government has engaged in "a continuing pattern of
harassment" of political
opponents leading up to local elections during
the
weekend.
Spokesman Richard Boucher cited reports of
violence and unlawful
intimidation of members of the opposition
party.
He said five opposition youth leaders were arrested last Thursday
and remain
in detention, although no charges have been filed.
"If the
reports of beating and torture of the youth leaders are true, that
would
constitute a serious human rights violation and another indication
of
continuing degradation of the rule of law in Zimbabwe," Boucher
said.
Washington Times
Forced transfers
of farms threatened
By Nicole Itano
THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa, while
pledging to avoid the violence and
lawlessness over land reform in
neighboring Zimbabwe, nevertheless is
threatening to forcibly transfer
white-owned farms to landless blacks.
The government
says land reform must move more quickly if it is to meet
its target of
redistributing 30 percent of the country's commercial
farmland - most of
which is owned by the country's white minority - to
blacks by
2015.
The land ministry, however, has reiterated
promises that reform will
take place within the law, unlike in Zimbabwe,
where vigilante groups and
government forces have seized nearly 3,000
white-owned farms without
compensation.
"If the
process of negotiations fails irrevocably, then we have the
option of
invoking the right of the state to expropriate land in the public
interest,"
Gilingwe Mayende, director-general for land affairs, has told the
South
African Business Report.
"Property rights are
protected by our constitution, but the
constitution says these property
rights must be balanced against the public
interest and the nation's
commitment to land reform."
In Zimbabwe, thousands
of white farmers have been driven from their
land, and millions of people
face starvation as a drop in commercial
agricultural production is compounded
by a severe drought.
As in Zimbabwe, the vast
majority of South Africa's most productive
farmland is
white-owned.
According to government estimates, 87
percent of commercial land is
owned by whites and 13 percent by blacks. The
country's largest farming
union disputes those figures, saying about 60
percent of the country's
farmland is commercial property owned by
whites.
An estimated 3.5 million black South
Africans were driven from their
homes during the 46 years of apartheid, or
racial separation.
Voluntary attempts to
redistribute land since the end of apartheid have
yielded poor
results.
Little of the 4 percent to 6 percent of
agricultural land placed on the
market each year has been purchased by
blacks. Also, fewer than half the
claims for restitution have been settled,
most of those in cash rather than
a transfer of
landownership.
The nation's largest farming union,
Agri South Africa, which represents
about 40,000 mainly white commercial
farmers and about 30,000 smaller-scale
black farmers, says the biggest
problem is the scarcity of blacks willing to
become commercial
farmers.
"The whole feeder process of finding and
training the right candidates
is going to take time," said Jack Raath,
chairman of Agri South Africa.
"If you just want to
transfer land and not have any development, that's
easy. But experience has
shown that you have to have the right beneficiaries
if you want to maintain
competitiveness and profitability."
But critics of
the South African program say the government must be
more proactive about
acquiring land. Without faster movement on land issues,
they warn, farm
invasions could begin.
"We think we need to revisit
the fundamentals of land reform in this
country, especially the
willing-seller, willing-buyer ideology," said Zakes
Hlatshweyo, chairman of
the National Land Committee, a South African land
lobby
group.
"After eight years of democratic rule and
social transformation, very
little has happened insofar as the transfer of
land is concerned," Mr.
Hlatshweyo said.
Mr.
Hlatshweyo's organization says that at the current pace of
purchasing land
for redistribution, it would take at least 215 years to meet
the government's
stated target of 30 percent black ownership.
Along
with other groups operating under the banner of the Landless
People's
Movement, the lobbyists have threatened to begin invading unused
public and
private land if reform continues to drag.
To date,
however, law-enforcement officials have dealt swiftly with
illegal attempts
to occupy land in South Africa.
Only once in the
country's post-apartheid history has the government
tried to force the sale
of farmland. In that case, a farmer refused a
government offer to purchase
his property after a special commission ruled
that the land had been taken
illegally from black owners during apartheid.
iafrica.com
Zim police tortured us
- MDC members
Posted Tue, 01 Oct 2002
Five young opposition
members who appeared in a Zimbabwe court on Monday
charged with public
violence say they were tortured by police while in
custody.
The most
severely tortured was a white 18-year-old member of the group,
Thomas Spicer,
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in
a
statement.
In applying for bail their lawyer, Romauldo Mavedzenge,
told the magistrate
that he wanted it placed on record that "assault or
physical abuse" had been
committed against his clients while in
jail.
The MDC statement said the group was arrested on Thursday evening
and
assaulted in police custody. Spicer received electric shocks and was
beaten
on the soles of his feet.
Spicer, whose fluency in the local
Shona language and popularity in the
country's townships has made him
something of an MDC mascot, was helped into
the dock by another member of the
group.
The MDC said the five had been denied access to their lawyer, and
were
charged with public violence under the country's notorious Public Order
and
Security Act (POSA).
"This is not an isolated incident," Newton
Spicer, his father told reporters
outside the court. "Tom represents
thousands of youths across the country
who've been abused in this
way."
The five were remanded out of custody until October 23 on Z$10 000
(US$181)
each.
Washington File
; 30 September 2002
State Department Briefing Transcript
- extract
(Rwanda, Iraq, Department, Georgia, European Union,
Zimbabwe, Morocco,
Cote d'Ivoire)
(6770)
.......................
QUESTION: On that point, any new ICC
deals, Article 98 agreements,
since? Are you still at 12, or have you managed
to get another one?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of any new ones today, but
there are always
numerous negotiations underway.
QUESTION: No, no,
I've got a couple. I've got two election questions.
You didn't seem to think
that Zimbabwe was going to have a very decent
local election. You said the
prospects for it being free and fair were
"dismal" on Friday. I'm wondering
if that is still -- were they
"dismal" elections? And yes, I'm going to ask
about Morocco.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, we've not yet seen definitive results
for the
weekend's election. But we note a number of incidents -- Sunday,
a
member of Parliament from the opposition was arrested for refusing
to
vacate his farm; he remains in detention. Last Thursday,
five
opposition youth leaders were arrested; they remain in
detention,
although no charges have been filed.
We think there is a
continuing pattern of harassment by Zimbabwe
authorities against political
opposition and its leadership. These
incidents increased in frequency leading
up to the elections on the
28th and 29th of September. They appear to be
further attempts at
violence and unlawful intimidation of members of the
opposition party.
If the reports of the beating and torture of the youth
leaders are
true, that would constitute a serious human rights violation,
and
another indication of the continuing degradation of the rule of law
in
Zimbabwe.
As I noted, the Government of Zimbabwe, we think, did not
take the
necessary steps to ensure conditions for a fair and
credible
democratic election, and failed to ensure that all parties
and
candidates were able to participate; to condemn and
punish
election-related violence; and to follow transparent and
equitable
registration procedures for all candidates. So that's the way
it
turned out.
Reuters
Britain pledges 7 mln pounds to end Africa
wars
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
UK: October 1, 2002
BLACKPOOL, England
- Britain pledged an extra seven million pounds
($11 million) yesterday to
support efforts to end years of armed conflict in
four African
countries.
International Development
Secretary Clare Short told the ruling Labour
Party's annual conference that
the money would fund "relief and
rehabilitation to help drive forward the
peace in Angola, (Democratic
Republic of) Congo, Sudan and
Rwanda".
The sum was in addition to 29 million
pounds Britain already committed
to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo
and Sudan, officials said.
Short said
Britain sent a team of six humanitarian specialists to
southern Africa to
help tackle a growing regional food
crisis.
It was also funding restoration of
a rail link into landlocked Malawi,
one of the six countries facing the most
severe food shortages, to allow the
shipment of an extra 10,000 tonnes of
food a month, she added.
British officials
said more than a quarter of Malawi's population will
need food aid by next
March and the improved rail link is essential to U.N.
World Food Programme
efforts to get supplies to those in need.
Short said Britain was funding feeding programmes for 1.3 million
people in
Zimbabwe, where she said farm seizures approved by President
Robert Mugabe
had brought ruin.
"There is serious
drought in southern Africa. And I am very fearful
that the disastrous
policies of the Mugabe regime have exacerbated the
drought and are likely to
turn a natural disaster into a terrible human
catastrophe," she
said.
The United Nations said this month
that more than 14 million people
face starvation in southern Africa where
drought, HIV-AIDS and politics are
blamed for the region's worst food crisis
in a decade.
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi,
Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho are among
the hardest
hit.
Natal Witness
SADC to reprimand
Mugabe
As Zim resorts to
torture
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Southern
African ministers meeting in Angola said on Monday they will
deliver a stern
message to Zimbabwe to resolve a crisis threatening investor
confidence in
the region.
Foreign and trade ministers from the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) are holding two days of talks before their
leaders arrive for a
summit tomorrow.
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe's land policies and his disputed
re-election in March are not on the
agenda, but ministers say they will
still raise concerns.
"We have to
resolve the governance issue. We cannot be punished for the
mistakes of one
country - Zimbabwe," Mauritian minister Anil Gayan said.
SADC has
criticised Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms, which has
shattered
investor confidence in the region.
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe five young
opposition members who appeared in a
Zimbabwe court yesterday charged with
public violence say they were tortured
by police while in custody.
The
most severely tortured was a white 18-year-old member of the group,
Thomas
Spicer, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said.
The MDC
said the group were arrested on Thursday and assaulted by police.
Spicer
received electric shocks and was beaten on the soles of his feet.
Spicer,
whose fluency in Shona and popularity in the townships have made
him
something of an MDC mascot, had to be helped into the dock by another
member
of the group.
The MDC said the five were denied access to their
lawyer.
"This is not an isolated incident," his father Newton Spicer told
reporters
outside the court. "Tom represents thousands of youths across the
country
who've been abused in this way."
The five were bailed for Z$10
000 (U.S.$181) each.
In South Africa the Democratic Alliance said it
wants National Assembly
Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala to contact her counterpart
in Harare to urge him to
take up the case of arrested MDC MP Roy Bennet with
Mugabe.
"Parliaments are the heart of any functioning democracy. We
cannot turn a
blind eye to harassment of members of parliament by intolerant
governments,"
DA MP Andries Botha said yesterday.
Bennet, his wife,
bodyguard, and a South African friend, were arrested at
the weekend for
supposedly contravening Zimbabwe's Land Acquisition Act.
Botha said the
charges are spurious.
"I am extremely concerned that this may be the
start of a campaign targeted
at opposition MPs in Zimbabwe.
"Mugabe
has already told David Coulthard MP that the only place he belongs
in
Zimbabwe is in jail."
Botha said he raised the issue in a letter to
Ginwala. Ginwala was not
immediately available for
comment.
CNN
Zimbabwe ruling party seals
victory
Tuesday, October 1, 2002 Posted: 0035
GMT
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- President Robert Mugabe's
ruling party won the
majority of seats in weekend council elections in
Zimbabwe, sealing its grip
on its traditional rural power base, state radio
reported on Monday.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC),
which won 12 of the seats announced by late on Monday, says 700 of
its
candidates were barred from registering or intimidated from running in
the
polls, in which 1,400 seats were up for grabs.
ZANU-PF's victory
was largely expected. "The ruling ZANU-PF party has taken
a commanding lead
in the just-ended local government elections, clinching 72
of the 86 wards
announced so far," the state radio said.
On Sunday, the MDC said it had
received reports from various parts of the
country showing ZANU-PF had
stepped up violence to prevent Zimbabweans from
voting freely.
It said
Roy Bennett, an opposition legislator, and eight others, including
his
bodyguard, had been detained.
But Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena said on Monday only three
people were arrested and that they were
likely to appear in court on Tuesday
charged with disrupting the election
process at a polling station.
He said Bennett would also face charges of
defying government orders to
vacate his farm.
In Washington, State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher repeated the U.S.
view that the
Zimbabwean government had not taken steps to ensure the
elections were free
and fair.
"We think there's a continuing pattern of harassment by
Zimbabwe authorities
against the political opposition and its leadership.
These incidents
increased in frequency leading up to the elections," he told
a daily
briefing.
"The government ... failed to ensure that all
parties and candidates were
able to participate, to condemn and punish
election-related violence, and to
follow transparent and equitable
registration procedures for all the
candidates. So that's the way it turned
out," he said.
The MDC, which accuses Mugabe of stealing victory in a
presidential election
in March, said Mugabe had resorted to political
violence in the council
elections because he knew he would lose any free and
fair poll.
The ruling party dismissed the charges of intimidation as
lies.
Zimbabwe has been in turmoil since pro-government militants began
invading
white-owned farms in early 2000 in support of the government's drive
to
redistribute the farms among landless blacks.
Mugabe, in power
since independence from Britain in 1980, says the
controversial land reform
programme is aimed at correcting colonial
injustice, which left 70 percent of
the country's best land in the hands of
whites who form less than one percent
of Zimbabwe's population.
The opposition says the land policies have
contributed to a severe food
shortage which is affecting nearly seven million
people, or half the
population. The government insists the shortages are
solely the result of
drought.
SABC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
US says Zimbabwe elections were not free and
fair
October 01, 2002,
05:30
The United States yesterday decried weekend local elections in
Zimbabwe,
saying government harassment of opposition supporters and
candidates had
destroyed the credibility of the
vote.
"The government of Zimbabwe did not take the necessary steps to
ensure
conditions for a fair and credible, democratic election," Richard
Boucher, a
state department spokesperson, said. "It failed to ensure that
all parties
and candidates were able to participate to condemn and
punish
election-related violence and to follow transparent and
equitable
registration procedures for all the candidates. That's the way it
turned
out."
Boucher, who had said the prospects for the elections being
free, fair and
credible were "dismal", noted that harassment of the
opposition had increased
ahead of weekend voting. He cited reports of an
opposition member of
parliament being arrested Sunday and the arrests
Thursday of five opposition
youth leaders, who were allegedly beaten and
tortured. "They appear to be
further attempts at violence and unlawful
intimidation of members of the
opposition
party."
Zimbabwe's state radio has reported that President Robert
Mugabe's ruling
party had won the majority of seats in the local polls.
Since just under half
the seats were uncontested in the two-day weekend
poll, the result is
unlikely to come as a surprise. The opposition Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC) said 699 of its candidates had been barred from
registering or
intimidated into not standing, effectively handing victory to
Mugabe's ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) in
half of all
wards.
The opposition filed a last minute bid to have the elections
postponed on the
basis of intimidation. The application was however thrown
out by a High Court
judge. - Sapa-AFP
Vanguard
(Nigeria)
US supports Africa's new
partnership for
development
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday 1st October, 2002
By Brimah
Kamara, with agency reports
The United
States fully supports the African initiative called the New
Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD) and is hopeful that it will
make a difference in
people's lives, US Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs has said.
Speaking at a press briefing at the foreign press
center in New York,
Assistant Secretary Walter Kansteiner said: "There are a
lot of similarities
between NEPAD and president Bush's Millennium Challenge
Account initiative."
The Millennium Challenge Account, highlighted by
President Bush at the
Monterrey conference, will increase US direct
assistance 50% over a
three-year period.
Every year $5,000
million in new money will go to developing nations
that are governed wisely
and fairly, that are strongly committed to
investing in health and education,
and that follow economic policies that
encourage and spur
growth.
NEPAD was launched by the
Organization of African Unity, now the
African Union, at its summit in Lusaka
in 2001. The plan is a partnership
between African leaders and their people
and between states within Africa
based on a commitment to good governance,
zero tolerance for corruption,
democracy, sound management of the economy,
and conflict prevention. In
addition, NEPAD calls for a new partnership
between Africa and the
international community, especially the industrialized
countries.
Kansteiner pointed out that the
philosophies behind the Millennium
Challenge Account and NEPAD are similar. "
Good governance, delivery system
to the people-primary health care and
education and economic freedoms and
liberties," he said. "So there is a lot
of crossover and a lot of
commonality in the Millennium Challenge Account,
and that is why we take
NEPAD seriously and we are hopeful that it does more
than just talk, but
that there is implementation," the assistant secretary
said.
The General Assembly held a daylong
high-level meeting on NEPAD
September 17 and in a resolution the body
expressed support for the
initiative and its goals of economic development,
peace and stability, good
governance, democracy, and respect for human
rights. The assembly hailed the
plan because it is led, and managed by the
African Union.
"We welcome the commitment
of African countries to take effective and
concrete measures....through the
establishment of various institutions and
mechanisms and the development of
strategies for the implementation of the
new partnership for Africa's
development. This commitment reflects the
recognition that the primary
responsibility for the implementation of the
partnership rests with the
African governments and peoples," the
resolution
said.
Kansteiner pointed out
that a main difference between NEPAD and
previous plans for Africa is that
"the core of NEPAD's theology is a notion
that good governance is not only
expected, but good governance is going to
be required of African
governments".
"The implementation
component of that is the neighbors-other African
states-are going to expect
their colleagues to have good governance and
practice good governance," he
said.
The assistant secretary said that
Secretary of State Collin Powell
briefly mentioned Zimbabwe in his speech to
the session on Africa as "a
warning" of what can happen. "We specifically
brought up Zimbabwe as....an
example of what happens when you don't pay
attention to good governance,
when you don't pay attention to the issues
NEPAD is surrounding itself with.
You end up with a failed country like
Zimbabwe," he said.
Kansteiner said
US-South African relations are "excellent" and were
not affected by former
South African President Nelson Mandela's criticisms
of the US position on
Iraq.
He suggested that in light of
President Bush's General Assembly speech
emphasizing US willingness to work
with the Security Council and the
UN...which won the support of the
international community for the US
position, Mandela's position may have
changed.
President Bush met with Central
African leaders and the presidents of
South Africa, and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Powell also held
bilateral meetings with President
Paul Biya of Cameroon and President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria while
attending the General Assembly session.
The assistant secretary said that the United States looks forward to
working
with the African Countries on a wide range of issues from helping
Gabon
establish national parks and protecting unique ecosystems throughout
Africa
to fighting HIV/AIDS.
ITV
Howard calls for Zimbabwe
action
10.20AM BST, 25 Sep 2002
Australian Prime Minister
John Howard has said that Zimbabwe should be fully
suspended from the
Commonwealth.
As the situation currently stands, Robert Mugabe's regime
is suspended from
the councils of the Commonwealth and full suspension would
be the next step.
Mr Howard, South African president Thabo Mbeki and
Nigeria's Olusegun
Obasanjo were asked by other Commonwealth leaders at their
summit in
Australia earlier this year to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe
and
recommend any further action.
But the three leaders - or "Troika",
as they are known - failed to agree on
the way forward.
Mr Howard
said: "I was arguing with the Troika we should move immediately to
fully
suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth because of the failure of
Zimbabwe to
show any sensitivity at all to Commonwealth opinion."
"I'm concerned, if
we just remain mute and indifferent, that democratic
governance, which is a
central Commonwealth value, will just go by the
board."
"I don't
believe that in a situation like this you should just have the
lowest common
denominator as a position."
"I think there is widespread resentment
around the Commonwealth about how
Zimbabwe has behaved," he said.
With
the Troika failing to agree on action, Australia may choose to go it
alone
and impose sanctions against Zimbabwe, following the lead of the
European
Union and United States.
Mr Howard also disclosed that he had spoken to
Prime Minister, Tony Blair
about the issue and added: "We have to be
absolutely consistent and
steadfast in defending the democratic
principle."
Daily News
Lawyer files urgent application for cops to present
Bennet
10/1/02 8:12:33 AM (GMT
+2)
From Our Correspondent in
Mutare
AN urgent application for the
police to produce detained MDC MP Roy
Bennet was yesterday filed in the High
Court by his lawyer, Arnold Tsunga.
Bennet, the MP for Chimanimani was arrested on Sunday in
unclear
circumstances.
Since his arrest,
Bennet's whereabouts and his condition were still
unknown by
yesterday.
Tsunga said: "The police have
frustrated all my efforts to represent
Bennet. They have blatantly refused to
make him available and I do not know
whether he is dead or alive. I have
filed an urgent application in the High
Court for them to produce
him."
Bennet's wife, Heather, arrested
together with her husband but later
released, said an officer at Chimanimani
police station, whom she identified
only as Dhliwayo, informed her Bennet was
transferred to Middle Sabi
police
station.
But Zacharia Mutize,
the deputy provincial police spokesman, said he
was unaware of the MP's
whereabouts and referred all questions to his
senior, Edmund Maingire, the
provincial police spokesman.
Maingire was
not available yesterday.
Bennet was
arrested about 5km from his farm in Chimanimani together
with his wife and
two other people, Mike Makaza and Stewart Girvin,
a
Briton.
Heather said she heard loud
screams from the area where Makaza was
being
detained.
Bennet has in the past resisted
several eviction attempts by
government officials to move him off his
Charleswood estate.
Daily News
Kunonga asks court to bar
parishioners
10/1/02 8:14:03 AM
(GMT +2)
Court Reporter Lloyd
Mudiwa
ANGLICAN Bishop Nolbert Kunonga
wants the leadership and choir of the
Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints in
Harare banned from attending services
and visiting church buildings in the
Harare diocese.
He said they had allegedly
disrupted church services by joining other
parishioners in accusing him of
abusing his position by preaching pro-Zanu
PF
sermons.
Kunonga has filed an application
in the civil magistrates' courts in
Harare for a temporary order barring the
leadership and choir members from
disrupting services and from visiting his
home in Chisipite.
The leadership includes
two wardens; Ambrose Chikukwa and Newton
Nyamupingidza, and 12 councillors:
Llewlyn Nhamo, Albert Nhamoyebonde,
Chenai Chitakunye, Sekai Chibaya, Pauline
Makoni, Winnie Murape, Merjory
Chombe, Graham Gilmour, Stanley Tsingo, George
Mapuwire, Walter Gwete and
Solomon
Rondozai.
The choir members are: Thompson
Mapuranga, Emmanuel Makanza, Florence
Gambiza, Bernard Kafesu and Canford
Danga.
Kunonga wants them prevented from
visiting his offices at Paget-Pax
house, the Cathedral and its parking bay
and holding meetings, apart from
church
services.
He wants Nhamo, a councillor,
ordered to surrender the keys to a
number of church
buildings.
Kunonga is seeking an order
directing the Standard Chartered Bank
Zimbabwe Limited to freeze the account
opened by the church's wardens
and
councillors.
In his founding
affidavit, Kunonga says he is applying for the orders
against
the
19 church members because of a number of
events.
He said he was supposed to have
certified Chikukwa and Nyamupingidza's
election as wardens within 14 days
after the voting on 18 August, but had
resumed duties before 25 August when
they were to be admitted into office.
"The
wardens have taken it upon themselves to subvert the
authority
delegated
by myself," he
said.
"They are acting contrary to their
duties to the detriment of the
church in that they met with the 12
councillors on 22 August where the
council resolved to 'fight
Kunonga'."
He said they opened a bank
account with Standard Chartered Bank in the
Cathedral's name when there was
an account already operational.
Councillors and choir members were not diligently performing their
duties, he
said.
The choir, Kunonga said, refused to
provide music during the service
on 9 June
resulting in him banning it from participating in the
church's
activities.
The wardens and
councillors later issued an "illegal directive" to the
parish to disrupt
proceedings during services, he said.
Kunonga said: "They led the congregation on 23 June into
singing
uncontrollably, resulting in Father Manyau failing to conduct the
service."
Three other reverends - Leonard
Muzhingi, Wilfred Zhuwankinyu and
Linos Makore - whose services had been
disturbed had also written to him, he
said, adding that their conduct was
unacceptable and likely to cause a
breach of the
peace.
He said: "Nhamo, one of the
councillors, changed the locks to the Dean
's office and is keeping the keys.
He also without authority received
several keys to the Cathedral and
associated buildings from Manyau who had
since been
dismissed."
Daily News
Magistrate doubles bail for MDC
leaders
10/1/02 8:18:47 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
IN an unusual court development,
a Harare magistrate yesterday doubled
the amount of bail for Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC president, to $3
million.
Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube, the
party's secretary-general, and Renson
Gasela, the MP for Gweru Rural and the
party's shadow minister of
agriculture, are facing charges of high treason
for allegedly plotting to
kill President
Mugabe.
With the consent of the State and
the MDC's lawyer Innocent Chagonda
of Atherstone and Cook, Harare provincial
magistrate Joyce Negonde ordered
Tsvangirai to pay another $1,5 million, and
Ncube and Gasela another $500
000 each.
Lawrence Phiri of the Attorney General's office said the increased
bail was
as a result of the three having been given a trial date, 11
November. The
three are alleged to have hired a Canadian consultancy
company, Dickens and
Madison, headed by Ari Ben-Menashe, to assassinate
President
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai was allegedly secretly
filmed as he discussed the plot
with
Ben-Menashe.
Phiri told the court
the State would give Chagonda a copy of the
transcript of the
tape.
He said: "We are also making an
undertaking to make available the
original of the tape. Mr Chagonda will have
to go and view the original at
the CID. We have also given an undertaking to
give copies of all the
witnesses'
statements."
Daily News
NGOs meet to discuss registration
implications
10/1/02 8:21:55 AM
(GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
Representatives of
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) met in Harare
last week to discuss the
implications of proposed legislation regarded as a
ploy by government to
undermine their activities.
The meeting
was convened by the National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations
(Nango).
Last month, the government
published a notice urging all private
voluntary organisations to register
with the Ministry of Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare in terms of
Section 9 of the Private Voluntary
Organisations Act (Chapter 12:04) or face
prosecution.
Speaking at the meeting,
Brian Kagoro, a human rights lawyer and the
national co -ordinator of the
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said:
"Once you
have registered it gives the government the capacity to
interfere. Those
organisations that are seen as rebels will be
de-registered. We have seen the
attempt to de-register the ZCTU and not to
register NGOs that are deemed to
be anti-government.
"This is meant to
encourage you to register so that you can be
under
scrutiny."
The notice issued by
the Ministry of Public Service said it is a
criminal offence "to operate
without being so registered".
"Many such
bodies as are not registered urgently will have to stop
their operations
until they have regularised their registration in terms of
Section 9," the
notice said. "Failure to adhere to the law will result in
arrests being
made."
Kagoro said the government sought
to use the cover of the law to keep
non-government organisations under
control, supervision and surveillance.
Lydia Nyatsanza-Zigomo, a member of Nango legal committee, lamented
the
"increasingly hostile legal environment" under which
non-governmental
organisations were
operating.
Daily News -
feature
Never too late to reclaim
people's power and supremacy
10/1/02 7:58:23 AM (GMT +2)
IN his
maiden address to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
summit in Addis
Ababa in 1986, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda attacked
the continental
body for turning a blind eye to the events in his country
that eventually led
to widespread bloodshed.
The OAU, which
even allowed Idi Amin to chair it at the height of
Uganda's internal strife,
argued that it was bound by the principle of
non-interference in the internal
affairs of its members and could
never
intervene.
Madagascar went
through a rough patch from December to last month when
Didier Ratsiraka stole
the presidential election and refused to give
way.
The OAU sent several missions to
Antananarivo, only to come up with a
verdict that left the country confused.
At its inaugural meeting in Durban,
the African Union (AU), which replaced
the OAU, refused to recognise the new
administration in
Madagascar.
Africans fighting for
democracy know the shortcomings of the OAU, or
the AU as it now calls itself,
and will never bank on the continent for a
resolution of their internal
politics. That explains the confusion at last
week's Commonwealth summit in
Abuja.
As hopes for a peaceful resolution
to the Zimbabwe crisis fade, it is
becoming clear to civil society that
solutions to the impasse can only be
worked out at home. There is a limit as
to what outsiders can do to resolve
the crisis. Out of fear, history and
insecurity, our neighbours can never be
relied upon for help as shown by
their failure to push the government to see
sense and resolve the
crisis.
Nigeria and South Africa, for
unexplained reasons, seem to be
interested in merely managing the crisis
rather than its resolution. They
have watched, in silence, the government
come up with a cocktail of
strategies designed to weaken the population and
render it totally
defenceless.
Seven
months after the election, government officials, Cabinet
ministers, war
veterans and other desperadoes are still roaming around the
former
white-owned commercial farms trying to extort and scavenge whatever
little
remains and fighting for farmhouses.
Open
political meetings remain banned and attempts to squeeze
opposition urban
councils are in full swing. Civil society, regarded as the
source of
sovereignty internationally, has been emasculated to a point where
it appears
to be in a state of paralysis.
Large-scale
repression of opponents, the control of the public media,
especially radio
and television, and a systematic attempt to break up the
people's spirit,
divide families and retribution have destroyed open
channels for mounting
effective resistance and the formulation of open and
sustained
criticism.
The government is fighting hard
to show a form of legitimacy by
ignoring the reality on the ground in the
hope that time will force people
to resign to their fate and let life roll
on.
Commerce and industry are unable to
forecast, or even plan or dream
about the way forward. There are fears of
random takeovers, commercial
farm-style, which has had a chilling effect on
major manufacturers, forcing
them to scale down and dispose of valuables
because of the fear of the
unknown.
Pension funds, insurance companies and commercial banks are under
pressure to
release billions of dollars for unclear agriculture projects,
causing anxiety
and panic among depositors and the entire financial
sector.
Although the push has turned
Zimbabwe into an unfavourable zone for
tourism and investment, it is never
too late for the people to claim
their
sovereignty.
What options exist
for Zimbabweans to extricate themselves from the
choking levels of tyranny
and reclaim their power and sovereignty?
Churches must begin to preach the message of justice and peace
taking
advantage of the growing religious appetite in our society. They must
take
the Word of God for what it is: the preservation of the sanctity of
life,
the search for eternal happiness, morality and righteousness, the
importance
of the family, tolerance and equity on
earth.
Churches can launch a defiance
campaign to uphold the virtues of their
folk and demand a climate conducive
for pastoral work.
Reports of pastors
being denied access to suspected MDC supporters by
government agents indicate
a lack of respect for the vocation of priesthood,
an unsettling phenomenon
given the spiritual hunger of the people in times
of
stress.
Burial societies, neighbourhood
watch committees, artists, workers,
women, social clubs, lawyers, farmers,
students and cultural assemblages
need to discuss the political climate
regularly.
Trade unions must realise that
their base is shrinking because of
retrenchments. The few workers still on
the job are in trouble. They can't
make ends meet because of runaway
inflation, price rises and the
unavailability of goods and services on the
open market.
Unions must provide the
leadership and maintain contact with those who
lose their jobs. Farm workers
are one such group crying out for support.
Those still at work have new
employers whose style of repression includes
intimidation and an outright
denial of wages. The so-called new farmers are
so poor that they could easily
use politics to turn the farm workers into
near
slaves.
The use of rape as a weapon
against women must be taken up and
challenged. Women's groups can lead the
campaign, identifying the culprits
and making the nation aware of the dangers
posed to innocent people by the
government through
lawlessness.
Students, battling to make
ends meet with their meagre allowances,
must work out a way of confronting
the government and contribute to the
fight for a better Zimbabwe. The space
may be limited, but a lot can still
be done to give hope to the neglected
majority.
A strong freedom from hunger
campaign must be launched in the rural
areas, demanding accountability and
fairness in food distribution among
government
agencies.
The campaign must involve
everybody, across political party lines, to
flash out corrupt officials,
ensure transparency and stand up to the
government's suggested economic
models which have failed to turn around the
negativity and shapeless
character of Zanu PF. Attempts to redefine national
values, through all sorts
of political games, must never be allowed to have
an impact on behaviour and
tastes.
A new struggle, drawing from the
lessons of the past three years, must
start urgently to force essential
reforms. Through a tactical retreat to
rediscover and build key competencies
for an all-out struggle, civil society
must organise a national convention to
decide the future. A similar exercise
in 1999 gave birth to the
MDC.
Unlike conflicts in other African
countries, Zimbabwe's case is well
understood by the outside world. A
determined internal effort to harness all
forms of activism and resistance
must complement the international goodwill
and solidarity with downcast
Zimbabwe.
News24
SADC to get stern
with Zim
Sep 30 2002 08:57:05:860PM
SADC foreign and
trade ministers meeting in Angola have said they will
deliver a stern message
to Zimbabwe to resolve a political crisis
threatening investor confidence in
the region.
Luanda - Southern African ministers meeting in Angola said on
Monday they
would deliver a stern message to Zimbabwe to resolve a political
crisis
threatening investor confidence in the region.
Foreign and
trade ministers from the 14-member Southern African Development
Community
(SADC) are holding two days of closed-door talks before their
leaders arrive
for an annual summit on Wednesday.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
land policies and his controversial
re-election in March are not on the
summit's official agenda, but some
ministers said they would still raise
concerns over events in Zimbabwe.
"Clearly we have to resolve the
governance issues in the region. We cannot
be punished for the mistakes of
one country - Zimbabwe," Mauritian Foreign
Minister Anil Gayan told
reporters.
"We shall be asking that they shape up," Gayan
added.
SADC has previously criticised Mugabe's seizure of white-owned
farms for
redistribution to landless blacks and the election which has
shattered
investor confidence in the region. But it has opposed
sanctions.
"Ministers will use the closed door session to tell the
Zimbabwe delegation
that it is time to end the political and economic crisis
in their country,
which is having a huge influence on investment and business
in the region,"
another minister, who asked not to be named,
said.
"Mugabe will not be publicly reprimanded by SADC. But there are
those in the
region who feel that the land crisis should not have been a long
and
drawn-out process and they will make this clearly known to the
Zimbabweans,"
the minister added.
Food crisis
South African
President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
dashed Western
hopes for tougher action against Mugabe last week when they
blocked a bid by
Australian Prime Minister John Howard to formally suspend
Zimbabwe from the
Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth, which groups 54 mostly former British
colonies, had
already partially suspended Zimbabwe in protest against the
alleged rigging
of Mugabe's re-election.
Commonwealth observers and a
group of SADC parliamentarians said the vote
was flawed, but observers from
South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria said the
poll was legitimate.
Mbeki
and Obasanjo insisted on waiting until the end of the one-year
suspension
already imposed before assessing Mugabe's response and deciding
whether to
extend measures.
The ministers will also focus on the region's food
crisis due to drought,
HIV/Aids and politics. 14 million in Zambia, Malawi,
Mozambique, Swaziland,
Lesotho and Zimbabwe are affected.
They would
look at ways to speed up the delivery of millions of tons of
international
food aid, and debate genetically modified food aid rejected by
some
countries, officials said.
SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania,
Seychelles, Swaziland,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, South
Africa.
01 October 2002 07:57
Tom
Spicer - arrested, tortured
Dear Everybody,
As some of
you know Tom was arrested again on Thursday while having a drink
with some
friends in Mabvuku. 5 were arrested - once again no specific
charges were
given by the police. They spent that night in Braeside police
station. The
next day their lawyer (Romauldo Mavedzenge of Atherston and
Cook) spent the
entire day trying to see them. Braeside said they were at
Central, Central
said they'd been taken back to Mabvuku - the usual
run-around. We eventually
saw the other 4 (Cosmos and Barbabas Ndira, Reuben
Tichareva and Tendai
Maluzi) at 8.30 pm. They had been beaten by the police.
No-one knew where Tom
was.
On Saturday we discovered that he had spent the night in Mbare cells
(the
ones recently reserved for former judges). We were allowed access to him
at
around 10 am on Saturday morning. We discovered that he had been in
Central
all day Friday and had been severely tortured for a period of about 4
hours
in the afternoon. He was initially beaten with all of the other guys
for
about an hour with batons, boots, fists etc.. The 4 were returned to
the
cells and Tom was taken off for special treatment. He was taken to a room
in
Central and subjected to a series of about 30 - 40 electric shocks
while
blinfolded, with his hands hand-cuffed behind his back. He was beaten
on the
soles of his feet, kicked and beaten all over the body. He has
severe
lacerations on his tongue and mouth where he bit himself while
convulsing
during the shocks. He can not eat and has difficulty drinking. His
wrists
and arms are swollen from the handcuffs which restrained his arms
behind his
back while our state agents did their patriotic duty. The soles of
his feet
are so painful he has great difficulty walking. He can't use his
hands. When
we first saw him he was having difficulty focussing, though this
improved
towards the end of the day. He is sore all over his body from the
kickings
and beatings.
During the course of the above - conducted in a
room apparently specially
set aside for such activities in Central Police
Station, he was interrogated
about the recent murder in Mbare (which took
place while we were away on
holiday with Tom) and various cases of arson.
Needless to say he had nothing
to say about any of these. He was also ordered
to chant Zanu PF slogans.
This he also refused to do. He says he lost
ciousness several times.
At midday we arranged for a government doctor to
come to Central. He was not
allowed to examine or to see Tom. We sought
permission from every department
in the police station, none of whom would
allow access to medical treatment.
Last night another (unauthorised) doctor
accompanied me to the cells during
feeding time. He managed to see him and
has written a report to the effect
that his injuries are consistent with
Tom's description of what happened to
him.
This morning however there
was a new shift on duty and I was not permitted
to see any of the group. My
fear is that they have been subjected to further
beatings. You might think
"they wouldn't dare" but they don't seem to care.
Police brutality has
become usiness as usual. Some of the officers who Tom
identified
as having been involved in the torture ambled into the room while
the five
were making their warned and cautioned statements. We were of
course unable
to establish their names. Yesterday a senior officer in Law
and Order
verbally threatened the Ndira brothers with a beating in the
presence of the
lawyer.
From 6 o'clock this morning Newton has been with the lawyers
continuing the
search, started yesterday, to find the clerk of the court to
have the duty
high court judge (Justice Paradza) hear an urgent application
to have all
five medically treated immediately. Their 15 hour search for the
Clerk of
the Court has proved fruitless. They have now given up. The duty
clerk has
gone to church, has no contact telephone and will be unavailable
until the
end of the day. There is no mechanism to facilitate an urgent
application
in Zimbabwe.
If we ever get before a judge, even if the
application fails, at least the
injuries and the conduct of the police will
be on public record. Tom and his
co-accused are due to appear in court
tomorrow, charged finally late
yesterday afternoon under POSA with "Public
Violence". This is apparently in
connection with an incident that happened in
Mabvuku 10 days ago when the
citizenry of that fine suburb chased away an
allegedly drunk policeman who
had harrassed people and had then fired his
police pistol 8 times in the
air. The crowd of about 300 people - Ambuyas and
children mostly - ran the
constable out of the area. Tom and the others are
accused of inciting this
action.
The 4 other friends have not been as
severely tortured as Tom but were
nevertheless beaten. Physically Tom is a
mess but his spirit remains
unbroken.
Many thanks to all of you who
have phoned and helped. Please circulate this
to anyone you feel should know
about the conduct of the police. Remember
this is not just about Tom and
friends - there are so many similar cases we
hardly take notice any more.
Can't we resurrect the notion that the police
are not allowed to behave like
this. This is just my child's story. There
are thousands more.
Edwina
Spicer (Toms mother).
30th September 2002
Postscript: The 5 were given
bail today of Z$10 000 each. They are in
hospital receiving
treatment.
Mail and Guardian
Young MDC man
'caned, shocked and beaten' in
Zimbabwe
Harare
01 October 2002
10:56
TORTURE VICTIMS FINALLY RELEASED, TAKEN TO DOCTOR
Five young
Zimbabwean opposition activists who were allegedly assaulted and
tortured in
police custody at the weekend, were granted bail and released
on
Monday.
Tom Spicer (18) an official in the youth wing of the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, had to be supported by two
colleagues holding his elbows
when he emerged from the cells of the Harare
Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Also on Monday, lawyers and relatives of
MDC MP Roy Bennett (44) said he and
his bodyguard had disappeared after being
arrested on Sunday at Chimanimani
in south-east Zimbabwe.
They were
removed early on Monday from the police station in the tourist
village of
Chimanimani. Police refused to state where he was.
"Roy and Mike Magaza
(his bodyguard) are still missing," said a relative who
asked not to be
named.
"Police are playing hide-the-prisoner again. They could be in any
police
station within a radius of
100km from here."
Lawyers had
travelled to several police stations and magistrates' courts in
the district
during the day, "but they are getting nowhere," said
the
relative.
Bennett was arrested at a roadblock for allegedly
failing to leave his farm,
Charleswood, after receiving an eviction order
under President Robert
Mugabe's campaign to seize white-owned land.
He
had the eviction order set aside by the high court on the grounds that
the
farm's official status as an "export processing zone" -- where he grows
and
processes crops for export -? legally exempts it from confiscation.
Both
Bennett and Spicer have been subjected to harassment over the past two
years
because of their support of the MDC.
Spicer's arrest on Thursday last
week -- on allegations of public
violence -- was the 11th time police have
arrested him in two years.
Nine of the cases have been brought to court
and all of them have been
dismissed by magistrates.
The youth's lawyer
and his parents, Newton and Edwina Spicer, international
television
documentary producers, said he had been tortured on Friday by
eight men who
caned the soles of his feet, subjected him to electric shocks
and beat and
kicked him all over his body -- concentrating on his kidneys.
The other
four, Barnabas Ndira, Cosmas Ndira, Tendai Mlauzi and Reuben
Tichareva, also
MDC activists, were subjected to the same treatment, except
for the electric
shocks.
Newton Spicer said police had tried to attach the electrodes of
the
generator to Tom's testicles, but, although his wrists were
handcuffed
behind his back, he had managed to fight his assailants
off.
They eventually shocked him by clipping the electrodes to his ear
instead,
said Newton Spicer. All five were taken for medical examinations
immediately
after they each paid bail of ZD10 000
(about R1
100).
Lawyer Romualdo Mavedzende told magistrate Elizabeth Negonde that
"there are
reports of assault and physical abuse against my
clients."
However, he said he would not deal with the issue in the
magistrate's court
as it was already part of an application to the high
court.
Senior assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, the police
spokesman, issued
a statement saying that Tom Spicer had appeared but "the
allegations that he
was tortured were not raised in court".
When told
that they had been brought up, he said: "We will await directives
and
certainly investigate this matter."
In 1997, the supreme court ordered
police to investigate the torture of
local journalists Mark Chavunduka and
Ray Choto. No action has been taken.
-
Sapa-AFP
Livestock - The Political Tool
"Send me the
cameras and let them film me whilst I cut my calves'
throats! What can I do?
I have got 499 quality cows and heifers busy
calving and the politicians are
forcing me off my farm! Now we have Foot
and Mouth disease (FMD) in the area
so the cattle sale has been
cancelled and our only way out is to slaughter
our breeding herd - if
the abattoirs have the market! Already 125 have
dropped calves."
These were the words of one of the country's foremost
cattlemen,
desperate to save his herd, which has taken 37 years to build up
to the
present exceptional genetic quality. He has been severely beaten
and
threatened. His father has been severely threatened and beaten, as
well
as his mother and many members of his most loyal staff. Like many
he
fully understands both the economic implications, extent
and
repercussions of what the loss of the commercial beef herd means
to
Zimbabwe.
Although only 20% of the national beef herd the
commercial herd supplies
90% of the beef exports (for which CSC is
strategically equipped and
economically reliant upon) and 60% of beef for
local consumption.
With the present political strategy it is impossible
to see how the
veterinarians will ever be able to convince EU or other
foreign buyers
that there is effective FMD control in Zimbabwe. As the
barometer of FMD
control, the disease control rules of the Save Conservancy
have been
blatantly flouted, and disregarded. With the destruction of
the
extensive perimeter fence and illegal movement of the communal
cattle,
which are regularly mixing and drinking with Buffalo, FMD has now
broken
out in communal areas on either side of the conservancy.
With
the political land campaign, the new farmers are, also transporting
cattle
and livestock from these dangerous areas, all over the country.
It has
been reported that nearly 40,000 head of cattle from the Beit
Bridge Communal
Lands have been unleashed onto the commercial farms
during the last month.
The dry Beit Bridge area is well known for its
large cattle population, as
this is the only type of farming this harsh
environment
allows.
However, with the political land campaign the politicians have
long been
coveting the developed cattle and wildlife ranches in the
commercial
sector. It is hard country with very little underground water. A
lot of
the water found is low yielding and totally unhygienic and unpalatable
-
almost like seawater! With the low unreliable rainfall it is
also
essential that the grazing be only used at a rate of one livestock
unit
per 15ha.
Because of the communal areas' location being so close
to three
international borders and the Kruger National Park, the
Veterinary
Department classifies them as a Red (vaccinated) FMD zone. At
the
beginning of the political land campaign the commercial farms in
the
North, which were then in the Green Zone (surveillance), ranches
were
somewhat protected by the veterinary zone as far as the invasion
of
communal cattle was concerned.
There has also been an FMD outbreak
festering in the communal lands for
months so ranchers fought the illegal
movements with court orders and
any means at their disposal. This obviously
annoyed many of the more
fanatical politicians and civil servants who have
finally forced these
infective cattle onto the ranches to destroy the limited
grazing and
water resources.
The inevitable has happened, and FMD has
finally broken out in the
ranches' remaining cattle.
With the pending
drought and past experience they had opposed the use of
FMD vaccine, which is
said merely to mask the infection, but limits
their cattle's movement to
grazing (in the event of the drought) out of
their new zone (Red). They also
realised the other implication of the
vaccinations was that the Red Zone
communal cattle would be "allowed" to
swamp their farms - which is exactly
what has happened now.
Will the "new farmers'" cattle face the same
punitive and political
restrictions as those of the commercial farmer? Can
they not be moved
onto foreign owned land, which is protected by
international bilateral
agreements? Who is protecting our herds and our
Zimbabwean citizens?
Where should these productive herds be moved to
now?
In fact why should commercial cattle be moved off their owner's
farms
when they are so blatantly being used as a political tool? The herd
has
already shrunk by over 60% nationally.
Thus remove the cattle -
remove the farmer.
IOL
'Sham election' victory for
Mugabe
October 01 2002 at
02:17AM
By Basildon Peta
Early returns Monday night showed
that President Robert Mugabe's ruling
Zanu-PF party was winning most seats in
the weekend local government
elections marred by violence and intimidation of
the opposition, officials
said.
Movement for Democratic Change
officials said ruling party militants had
killed one of the opposition
party's supporters in Hurungwe and another one
had been hit with an axe in
Bindura and was unlikely to survive.
MDC officials said their party had
won in only six of about 50 wards counted
at the time of going to
press.
Counting had not even started in other provinces last night, but
opposition
officials said they held no hope of faring any better because of
the
violence which forced them to field candidates in only 700 of the 1 400
plus
wards.
State media reports said Zanu-PF was headed for a
"landslide victory", but
MDC dismissed the whole election as a "big
joke".
"This was not an election. They used intimidation, torture and
blackmail
against our supporters," said MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi last
night.
Scores of MDC candidates in the rural district councils were
forced to
withdraw their candidatures on pains of having their villages burnt
down.
The MDC said its polling agents were beaten and chased away from
polling
stations in Masvingo and Mashonaland provinces.
"For anyone to
claim a victory in such a sham election is the height of
insanity," said
Nyathi.
Local elections marred by state-sponsored
violence
Amnesty, Tue 1 Oct 2002
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS
RELEASE
Zimbabwe : local elections marred by state-sponsored
violence
Take Action
Violence has
become a tool of the government of Robert Mugabe to
silence its opponents and
maintain its grip on power. South Africa, with its
enormous economic and
political importance in the region, is in a unique
position to influence
Robert Mugabe.
Amnesty International
strongly condemns state-sponsored violence ,
torture, arrests and
intimidation of opposition cadidates and supporters
during country-wide local
council elections held on 28 and 29
September.
"Once again, government
authorities have failed to ensure that
elections take place in a climate free
from harassment and intimidation. All
allegations of human rights violations,
including torture, against
opposition Movement for Democratic change (MDC)
officials and supporters
during the local elections must be effectively
investigated" Amnesty
International
said.
Several MDC supporters were
reportedly assaulted prior to and during
polling. For
example:
· Mike Magwaza, Roy Bennet and
Stewart Girvan were arrested on 29
September. Roy Bennet is the MDC MP for
Chimanimani and Mike Magwaza is his
bodyguard. Mike Magwaza and Stewart
Girvan, a South African friend of Roy
Bennet's, have reportedly been beaten
while in police custody. All three are
presently being held at Chipinge
police station, Manicaland province. They
were initially denied access to
their lawyer Arnold Tsunga.
On 30
September, Arnold Tsunga filed an application with the Chipinge
Magistrate's
Court asking the police to produce all three detainees. Mike
Magwaza, Roy
Bennet and Stewart Girvan have reportedly been charged under
the Electoral
Act for allegedly taking photographs within 100 metres of a
polling station.
Roy Bennet has also reportedly been charged under Section 8
of the Land
Acquisition Act for allegedly refusing to vacate his
farm.
· Tendai Maluzi, Cosmos and Barbabas
Ndira, Tom Spicer and Reuben
Tichareva were arrested on 27 September and
charged under the Public Order
and Security Act with public violence
allegedly in connection with an
incident that took place in the Harare suburb
of Mabvuku the week before.
All five were reportedly beaten and tortured
while in police custody. Tom
Spicer reportedly suffered electric shock
torture and was beaten on the
soles of his feet. All five are MDC youth
members. They were released on 30
September and have been remanded out of
custody until 23 October.
· In Gutu and
Bikita districts of Masvingo province, the homesteads of
several MDC
candidates and supporters were reportedly burned down during the
election
weekend. In Masvingo North, a polling agent was reportedly beaten.
Thus far,
no arrests have been made in connection with these
attacks.
Zimbabwe's Electoral
Supervisory Commission confirmed that the local
elections were marred by
violence. Few independent election observers were
able to monitor the
elections due to accreditation only being granted at the
last minute. It was
reported that irregularities, such as the late arrival
of ballot boxes,
occurred in several wards.
"The outcome of
the Commonwealth troika's meeting last week in Nigeria
is yet another
disappointment for victims of human rights violations in
Zimbabwe. The
leaders whom President Mugabe might listen to - other African
Heads of State
- should push for an end to further violations. This week's
SADC Summit must
not be another missed opportunity" the organization
said.
Background
The run-up to the local
elections was also marred by violence and
irregularities. Approximately 700
MDC candidates were prevented from
registering or contesting the elections
largely in response to threats,
intimidation and violence, but also as a
result of irregularities in the
nomination
procedures.
On 27 September, the day
before the elections were to start, an MDC
petition to the High Court to
nullify the election nomination process,
citing widespread intimidation and
assaults of their candidates and
irregularities in nomination procedures, was
dismissed.
Public
Document
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From Business Day (SA), 1 October
Rautenbach wins court bid for his assets
But authorities say battle not over yet
Professional Services Correspondent
Beleaguered Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach, wanted by SA authorities
for fraud and corruption involving R100m, won a high court order on Friday to
have his assets returned. Despite the court's judgment, it is still unclear
whether Rautenbach is entitled to get his property back from the Asset
Forfeiture Unit. According to the unit's head, Willie Hofmeyr, the unit would
appeal against the judgment. At present the assets were still under restraint,
he said. Lawyers for Rautenbach and the unit are due to do battle in court again
today on the matter. Hofmeyr said the assets were valued at R40m. The criminal
probe into Rautenbach's alleged customs fraud and theft charges was almost
complete. A warrant for Rautenbach's arrest was outstanding, and officials were
preparing to extradite him from Zimbabwe. Hofmeyr said it was believed that
Rautenbach was living in Harare.
In September 2000 Rautenbach's assets were seized in terms of the provisions
of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Among the assets were a Falcon 10
private jet, a Bell helicopter, a house and six flats in Sandton, a Cape wine
farm and a farm in KwaZulu-Natal. He was charged initially with fraud. However,
the charges were subsequently changed to contravening the Customs and Excise
Act. The charges relate to his Wheels of Africa company. Rautenbach lost
numerous attempts in the past to retrieve his assets from the authorities. His
lawyer, Nicoleen Fourie, said yesterday there were no charges on which the state
could extradite Rautenbach. "All grounds had been resolved by the judge's
findings," said Fourie. Rautenbach said he was "relieved that the justice system
was still in place in SA". He said the Asset Forfeiture Unit had embarked on a
"political assassination" of his character in the past three years. "They had
still not come up with anything on which to proceed against me." He did not
believe the unit would have a "leg to stand on" if it appealed against Friday's
judgment.
Wheels of Africa was liquidated in December 1999 after a string of raids on
the holding company by the directorate for serious economic offences. The
directorate had arrested five people in connection with the case. The head of
customs in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Dolf Harmse, was the first to be convicted as
a result of the probe. Harmse was convicted in the in March last year of
corruption for receiving two Hyundai vehicles from Rautenbach in exchange for a
"favour", which in effect saved Rautenbach R300 000.