by Patrick
Bond
If you want to know what's going on in Zimbabwe, you could
try
taking seriously the view commonly argued by the independent left in
this
region, namely that Mugabe talks radical -- especially nationalist and
anti-imperialist -- but acts reactionary, especially to the urban poor and
working people.
Fortunately, we have a fresh version of
this argument, made to
millions of viewers on Sky News Sunday Live with Adam
Boulton on March 18.
Boulton interviewed Moeletsi Mbeki, the
younger brother of South
Africa's president Thabo Mbeki. Exiled from
apartheid South Africa as a
member of the African National Congress, Mbeki
lived in Harare for many
years, and was once a Mugabe
supporter.
But explaining the current situation, he did not
mince words:
Mbeki: Mugabe is prepared to use force, any
amount of force,
he's prepared to kill the opposition, he's prepared to do
anything that he
considers necessary to stay in power, so that's why he's
still in power.
He's prepared to rig the elections which he does when they
are held, so
those are the reasons why Mugabe is still in power, and as you
saw the
beating of the leader of the opposition and his other leaders of the
opposition during the last few days.
Boulton: Whose job
is it to do something about it? Is it
simply a question of waiting for a
movement within Zimbabwe? Should it be
neighbouring countries like South
Africa that increase pressure?
Mbeki: Southern Africa is
the most industralised part of
Africa and therefore it has a very huge
labour force, working class labour
force, wage earners. What is the new
phenomenon we are seeing in southern
Africa is that this labour force they
are all joining trade unions, many of
them are members of trade unions. Now
these trade unions have become
politically active and have started forming
their own parties, so all the
governments in southern Africa are faced with
the threat to their power from
the trade union movement. MDC, the Movement
for Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai, for example, was the leader of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions. In Zambia we saw a trade union setting
up a political party which
out voted the then President, Kaunda. So we are
seeing in southern Africa
the trade unions being the main opposition to the
ruling parties and this is
really the situation whereby all the countries
have a vested interest, all
the ruling parties in our region, have a vested
interest in ensuring that
the opposition does not win in Zimbabwe because
they see this as a threat to
themselves as well.
Boulton: And that would apply to Thabo Mbeki as well, the
South African
President, that effectively he's worried you would say about
the MDC
possibly infecting or strengthening a trade union movement within
South
Africa?
Mbeki: Well absolutely, the biggest opposition in
reality in
South Africa to the government is actually the trade unions and
they have
threatened to form their own party, they have threatened to
encourage the
Communist party, which is an alliance with the ANC to stand on
its own and
compete against the NC in the election. So it's not just South
Africa of
course, Mozambique, Botswana all of these countries, Namibia, are
faced with
the same challenge.
Boulton: Now I've spoken
to President Mbeki about the
situation in Zimbabwe a number of times and his
argument always is first of
all that the whole question of land reform is
one which affects the whole
region and therefore he has sympathy with what
Robert Mugabe is trying to
do. . .
Mbeki: There's no
land reform in Zimbabwe, what there is, is a
confiscation of private
property owned by Zimbabwean citizens by a small
clique that surrounds
Mugabe. There is no land reform in Zimbabwe.
Boulton: So
given that the situation is deteriorating do you
think the time has come now
for heavier intervention by South Africa?
Mbeki: Well as I
explained to you, you are very unlikely to
get any meaningful intervention
by South Africa or other southern African
countries, because all of them the
trade union inspired political party led
by Morgan Tsvangirai is a threat
also to them.
Mbeki concludes that Tsvangirai -- who suffered
a fractured
skull in a police beating on March 11 (see it here:
slowthoughts.wordpress.com) -- is too optimistic about the beginning of
Mugabe's end: "I know his willingness to use violence, he has an endless
appetite for the use of violence and he sees this as a wonderful opportunity
for himself, for the use of violence."
And as for big
brother Thabo, Moeletsi is just as cynical: "You
know our own government is
faced with challenges from the trade unions, so
if you are faced with that
situation I think the priority for any politician
is his own power, his own
opportunity to stay in power rather than issues of
conscience. So I think
in terms of South Africa the issue of how to
frustrate the trade unions
taking power and challenging the power of the
ruling parties is more of a
priority than the beating of opposition
demonstrators and their
leader."
It may not warrant further elaboration, but Moeletsi
Mbeki has
reduced last week's arguments by Mr Stephen Gowans of Ottawa to
nonsense,
and in the process shamed the good name CounterPunch (and indeed
286 other
outlets between 22 and 26 March, according to a Google search of
"Milosevic"
"Mugabe" "Stephen Gowans" -- though Gowans has rewritten this
thesis for
several years now with Milo as his reference
hero).
To illustrate the selective analysis that fatally
flaws Gowans'
work, he cites only Zimbabwe's state-owned press (the Sunday
Mail and
Herald) and three western newspapers. This is as farcical as
trying to draw
truth by balancing two extremists with blatant political
agendas.
Hence Gowans' claims that the country's economic
crisis is due
to "sanctions [that] bar Zimbabwe from access to economic and
humanitarian
aid, while disrupting trade and investment."
What kind of "economic aid" to African countries get from the
imperialist
powers, one might ask? (Answer: not empowering to any ordinary
folk.) And
in reality there is plenty of humanitarian aid -- especially
food -- flowing
into Zimbabwe, allowing people to barely survive. Moreover,
aside from
trivial personal sanctions against ruling party elites traveling
to -- or
maintaining foreign bank accounts in -- the US or Europe, there are
only
minor financial sanctions against Zimbabwe in place today.
What are they? To be sure, the US Congress has prohibited the
Bretton Woods
Institutions from lending to Zimbabwe, but anyone wanting the
IMF and World
Bank back in Zimbabwe is no friend of the commoner. Other
bank sanctions
can be circumvented by cooperating institutions such as South
Africa's ABSA
and others which funnel vast amounts of remittances from
exiled Zimbabweans
back home. The Chinese government last year advanced a
$200 million loan.
Equatorial Guinea provides oil as thanks for foiling a
2004 coup
plot.
To Gowans' point that the MDC has a neoliberal streak,
tell us
something new. This was first witnessed in February 2000, when the
party's
then economic secretary promised to privatise all parastatals plus
the
educational system within five years. And the subsequent backlash
allowed
former Trotskyist student leader Tendai Biti -- now MDC general
secretary --
to successfully advocate a social democratic program
instead.
Because Tsvangirai's MDC is a large multi-class
front with
backing from the Bush and Blair regimes as well as from the urban
masses,
it's not to be trusted if it takes part in some form of unity
government --
perhaps as early as March 2008, in the event Mugabe loses his
grip on the
ruling party, a distinct possibility in coming
days.
But it's more likely, as Moeletsi Mbeki says, that
Tsvangirai's
people will suffer more of the state's thirst for violence that
killed 20
000 Zimbabweans in Matabeleland during the early and mid-1980s, a
point it
seems Mr Gowans does not want to reveal to his
readers.
In contrast, those whose instincts are left and who
are
genuinely concerned about Zimbabwe's future would do better to consult
websites like kubatana.net or Sokwanele.com or Pambazuka.org, and support
the April 3-4 general strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, or aid regular protests by Women of Zimbabwe Arise and the National
Constitutional Assembly, or talk up last week's occupation of City Hall
steps by the Combined Harare Residents Association, or witness the
progressive forces regularly assembling in the Zimbabwe Social
Forum.
As far as I can tell -- sitting across the Limpopo
River --
there is indeed a nascent left in Zimbabwe, it is beleaguered and
beaten,
and it doesn't need any distractions from lads in Ottawa who can't
tell the
difference between talk left and walk
right.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Bond coauthored Zimbabwe's Plunge: Exhausted
Nationalism,
Neoliberalism and the Search for Social Justice. He directs
the Centre for
Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban,
South Africa: www.ukzn.ac.zaccs and can be reached at bondp@ukzn.ac.za.
31/03/07
mrzine Monthly Review
Zim Standard
HARARE Magistrates' court yesterday
resembled a
funeral parlour as relatives and friends wailed in horror at the
sight of
their abducted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members, badly
tortured
while in police custody.
The nine MDC members, some on
life-support system, appeared at the
Rotten Row court yesterday after days
in police custody.
They were arrested last Tuesday and Wednesday at
their homes while
others were arrested at the party's headquarters in
Harare's central
business district.
They were accused of
masterminding the spate of petrol bombings that
have occurred
countrywide.
MDC national executive member Ian Makone and activists
Shame Wakatama
were put on a life-support and whisked to a private hospital
for treatment.
The other seven were helped into ambulances as they
could not walk on
their own. These were Glen View MP Paul Madzore; Brighton
Makimba; Luke
Tamborinyoka a former journalist of the banned Daily News;
Stanley Mutembi;
Kudakwashe Matibiri; Zebediah Juada and Bertha
Chokururama.
MDC MP for Kambuzuma Willias Madzimure and Evelyn
Masaiti were among
those who openly wept on seeing their colleagues in such
a brutalised state.
Even a female police officer, who stood guard, was seen
shedding tears.
"I have been telling you all along that these
people need medical
attention," shouted Madzimure, as Makone struggled for
breath. "Makone is
dying. One of these days, you will be held
accountable."
Madzore's younger brother, Solomon, described in
graphic detail how
his brother and his wife, together with their
two-year-old child, were
abducted.
He said: "The police just
burst into our home. It was almost midnight
and this came as a shock. They
pushed and shoved them into a vehicle. And
that was the last I saw of him
until today. But police released the wife and
child after a plea from
detained males."
A Harare magistrate Faith Mushure had earlier
ordered that the MDC
activists be taken to hospital for treatment, but the
police refused.
They agreed after some of them collapsed outside
the courtroom due to
excessive pain.
They were later taken to
the Avenues Clinic where it was expected that
the magistrate would remand
them while they sought treatment.
All the arrested MDC activists
are being charged with contravening
section 23 of the Law Codification and
Reform Act.
The latest wave of police attacks on MDC members
follows the first one
three weeks ago when Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur
Mutambara, Lovemore Madhuku
and nearly 50 others were arrested in Highfield,
Harare.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER MARWIZI &
VALENTINE MAPONGA
PRO-DEMOCRACY groups vowed yesterday they would
put up a spirited
fight to stop Zanu PF from effecting an 18th amendment to
the Constitution
as plans by President Robert Mugabe to hang on to power
attracted widespread
outrage and condemnation.
In the streets
of Harare, ordinary people bearing the brunt of
never-ending economic
hardships expressed fears that another six years under
Mugabe could turn
Zimbabwe into a real "hell on earth".
They said they had no idea
how they would survive in the coming few
months if Mugabe was allowed to
hang on to power.
Some said they could only wait for the 2008 polls
to demonstrate their
disenchantment with the 83-year-old
leader.
Others, like the veteran nationalist and founding member of
Zanu PF,
Enos Nkala, said they would vigorously campaign against Mugabe in
next year's
presidential election, accusing him of destroying the
economy.
Nkala told journalists in Harare on Friday he would fight
"till I drop
dead" to ensure that Mugabe, whom he described as "savage and a
ghost of
violence" did not win next year's election.
The former
Finance and Defence Minister in an early Mugabe
administration said he
supported the newly formed Patriotic Union of
Matabeleland
(PUMA).
Another veteran of the struggle, Edgar Tekere, said
endorsing Mugabe
would be a disaster.
CONTINUED ON PAGE
2
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
They are engaging in their
madness of singing Mugabe, Mugabe! That's
no good for the country, and for
the party. It means we are going to
continue to sink," Tekere
said.
Mugabe has presided over a collapsing economy yet members of
the Zanu
PF central committee endorsed him as their candidate in the 2008
presidential election, set for March.
They also endorsed the
enlargement of both the National Assembly and
the Senate in what is certain
to increase government expenditure.
Analysts saw the enlargement of
the two houses as a ploy by Mugabe to
secure the support of Zanu PF Members
of Parliament who did not support the
so-called election harmonisation for
fear of losing their seats.
An amendment which allowed Parliament
to choose a President in the
event of the death or resignation of Mugabe
would cushion the veteran
leader, said an analyst yesterday.
But while Mugabe celebrated his endorsement as the party's
presidential
candidate, opposition political parties said they would fight
to stop the
18th Amendment to the Constitution.
Gabriel Chaibva, a spokesperson
for the Mutambara faction said: "We
will make sure that we prevent Zanu PF's
proposals of amendments to the
constitution. We have said as a party: no to
unfree and unfair elections
under the current political environment. There
is need for a new
constitution that must be all-encompassing."
Commenting on the proposed harmonised elections, Morgan Tsvangirai who
leads
the other MDC faction, yesterday demanded a "new people-driven
constitution
by Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans, and the consequent repeal of
all repressive
laws, such as POSA and AIPPA and indeed the reform of
existing
laws".
Tsvangirai, addressing a press conference, said under Mugabe
"Zimbabwe
is on an auto-cruise to self-destruction".
"It is in
this context that the MDC will fully participate in the
stayaway that has
been called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions on 3
and 4
April."
They are engaging in their madness of singing Mugabe,
Mugabe! That's
no good for the country, and for the party. It means we are
going to
continue to sink," Tekere said.
Mugabe has presided
over a collapsing economy yet members of the Zanu
PF central committee
endorsed him as their candidate in the 2008
presidential election, set for
March.
They also endorsed the enlargement of both the National
Assembly and
the Senate in what is certain to increase government
expenditure.
Analysts saw the enlargement of the two houses as a
ploy by Mugabe to
secure the support of Zanu PF Members of Parliament who
did not support the
so-called election harmonisation for fear of losing
their seats.
An amendment which allowed Parliament to choose a
President in the
event of the death or resignation of Mugabe would cushion
the veteran
leader, said an analyst yesterday.
But while Mugabe
celebrated his endorsement as the party's
presidential candidate, opposition
political parties said they would fight
to stop the 18th Amendment to the
Constitution.
Gabriel Chaibva, a spokesperson for the Mutambara
faction said: "We
will make sure that we prevent Zanu PF's proposals of
amendments to the
constitution. We have said as a party: no to unfree and
unfair elections
under the current political environment. There is need for
a new
constitution that must be all-encompassing."
Commenting
on the proposed harmonised elections, Morgan Tsvangirai who
leads the other
MDC faction, yesterday demanded a "new people-driven
constitution by
Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans, and the consequent repeal of
all repressive
laws, such as POSA and AIPPA and indeed the reform of
existing
laws".
Tsvangirai, addressing a press conference, said under Mugabe
"Zimbabwe
is on an auto-cruise to self-destruction".
"It is in
this context that the MDC will fully participate in the
stayaway that has
been called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions on 3
and 4
April."
National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Lovemore
Madhuku said
Mugabe would do anything to hang on to power.
Constitutional Assembly chairperson Lovemore Madhuku said Mugabe would
do
anything to hang on to power.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
THE Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference has criticised practising
Christians who do nothing while State agents, policemen and soldiers assault
and beat up peaceful, unarmed demonstrators and torture
detainees.
In their Pastoral Letter due to be read in churches
today, the nine
bishops say this is unacceptable, shows disrespect for human
life and falls
far below the dignity of both the perpetrator and the
victim.
"Oppression is a sin and cannot be compromised with," they
say. "It
must be overcome. God takes sides with the oppressed."
They suggest that young Zimbabweans see their leaders "habitually
engaging
in acts and words which are hateful, disrespectful, racist,
corrupt,
lawless, unjust, greedy, dishonest and violent..."
The bishops
warn: "More and more people are getting angry, even from
among those who had
seemed to be doing reasonably well under the
circumstances. The reasons for
the anger are many, among them, bad
governance and corruption."
A tiny minority of the people had become very rich overnight, while
the
majority are languishing in poverty, creating a huge gap between the
rich
and the poor, the bishops said.
"Our country is in deep crisis,"
they warn. "The consequences of such
overtly corrupt leadership, as we are
witnessing in Zimbabwe today will be
with us for many years, perhaps
decades, to come. Evil habits and attitudes
take much longer to rehabilitate
than to acquire. "
The bishops say despite the rhetoric of a
socialist revolution brought
about by the armed struggle, the colonial
structures and institutions of
pre-independent Zimbabwe
persist.
"None of the unjust and oppressive security laws of the
Rhodesian
State have been repealed," the bishops say. "In fact, they have
been
reinforced by even more repressive legislation, the Public Order and
Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, in
particular. It almost appears as though someone sat down with the
Declaration of Human Rights and deliberately scrubbed out each in
turn."
Soon after Independence, say the bishops, the power and
wealth of the
tiny white Rhodesian elite was appropriated by an equally
exclusive black
elite, some of whom have governed the country for the past
27 years through
political patronage.
Many Zimbabweans are
angry and their anger is now erupting into open
revolt in one township after
another.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
THE
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the largest labour
grouping in the
country, has called for a two-day stayaway this week, citing
the failure by
the government to act on their ultimatum.
On 27 January, the ZCTU
gave the government a four-week ultimatum
demanding, among other things,
that it "should take steps to address the
economic meltdown (and) should, as
a matter of urgency, address the concerns
of striking doctors without
victimizing them".
At a special general council meeting held in
Harare on Friday, the
ZCTU resolved that: "... all workers be mobilised
between now and March 31
2007 to stay away from work from 3 to 4 April
2007."
In addition, "national actions will be called for after
every three
months and they will be incremental".
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
TEACHERS are now demanding a salary increment of over 300% effective
at the
end of this month, according to letter written to the Public Service
Commission (PSC) by their association.
This comes less than two
months after the government awarded them a
300%pay hike.
In a
letter to the PSC, the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ)
secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe, said teachers were "living like
paupers" due to the current hyper-inflationary environment.
"With reference to the 2007 national budget as announced by Minister
Herbert
Murerwa in November 2006, we hasten to remind you that the second
quarter of
2007 is approaching," says the letter, dated 15 March 2007. "The
cost of
living has significantly gone up and our members are failing to make
ends
meet."
Inflation now tops 1 700%, but may reach 5 000% by
year-end.
Majongwe said teachers required a basic monthly salary of
$1 420 000,
and $420 000 and $540 000 in transport and housing allowances
respectively.
"The poverty datum line is well over $1 million and
this is what we
want to earn as teachers."
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO - Senior police officers last week invaded one of
the few
remaining white-owned farms in Matabeleland North, court documents
seen by
The Standard reveal.
According to an urgent High Court
application seeking the eviction of
the officers now occupying Portwe
Estates in Bubi District, 27 police
officers in a convoy of 16 vehicles on
Monday descended on the farm and
forcibly took the keys to all the
buildings, and erected tents in which they
are now staying.
The
owners of the property, which includes a safari company, J Joubert
and Son
(Pvt) Ltd were told the farm was now a "police state farm".
"On 26
March at about 13:30 hrs the police arrived with 16 vehicles
and 27
personnel," said Lovemore Muzeza, the farm manager in his founding
affidavit. "They were led by the second respondent (a senior assistant
commissioner Chivandire) although most of the officers were ranking from
Assistant Inspectors. Some arrived in their own vehicles and other vehicles
had only two or three policemen inside."
The Commissioner of
police, Augustine Chihuri is the first respondent
while the Minister of Home
Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, is the third.
Muzeza said the officers
immediately identified a place where "they
would hold their Christmas party"
and resolved to thatch some buildings "so
that we are seen to be doing
some-thing".
Joubert and Son, through their lawyers Web Low &
Barry, said the
invasion of the property by the police had brought
operations at the farm to
a standstill and affected safari operations, as
tourists were being
intimidated by the heavy police presence.
Police had unlawfully gained control of the property after they took
over
the keys and started forcing farm workers to work for them.
"I
appreciate that there may be lawful reasons for the presence of the
police
on the property to investigate offences but I see no reason for them
to be
there 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Muzeza said.
"It will
undoubtedly have an intimidating effect on tourists who come
there for peace
and quiet and fishing."
The farm owners also want the police
officers interdicted from
harassing company officials and employees at the
farm, and the keys they
confiscated returned. They also want 15 hunting
rifles seized by the police
during an earlier raid returned.
The farm was designated in terms of the Land Acquisition Act but the
final
determination on the constitutionality of the matter is still to be
made by
the Supreme Court.
The harassment of the farm owners dates back to
2001, when Pascal
Joubert was left for dead by war veterans who tried to
force him out.
Several raids by armed police have also been carried
out at the
property. Last year, the government said it would give white and
black
commercial farmers up to the end of the harvesting season to vacate
properties acquired under the land reform programme.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
MUTARE - As politically motivated killings and violence escalate
countrywide, civic organisations and church leaders have called for a
moratorium on violence and for the government to "respect" the lives of its
citizens.
The appeal comes as security forces intensify their
crackdown on
opposition supporters ahead of next year's presidential
election.
Speaking at a conference on good governance in Mutare
last week,
Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa (CPIA) executive director,
Leonard
Kapungu, implored the government to respect the rights and lives of
citizens.
The conference, with the theme "Zimbabwe: Towards a
political
framework that guarantees good governance", was organised by the
CPIA.
It discussed ways of coming up with an acceptable
people-driven
constitution.
"I want to appeal to the government
of Zimbabwe to respect the rights
and lives of the citizens of Zimbabwe,"
said Kapungu. "Our people are the
precious resource of our country, they are
the engine that makes our country
succeed or fail. They must be
protected."
Kapungu appealed to the people to "once more go to the
spirit of the
22 December 1987 when our leaders announced that never again
will a Zimbabwe
gun be turned against another Zimbabwean".
In
1987, Zanu PF represented by President Robert Mugabe, and PF Zapu
by Joshua
Nkomo, signed the Unity Accord, pledging to foster peace in the
country.
Bishop Trevor Manhanga of the Pentecostal Assemblies
of God also
condemned the recent shooting and killing of people by the
security forces.
"What happened in Highfield is wrong," he said.
"Demonstrations and
shooting people will not take us anywhere."
At least two people have been killed in politically motivated
violence.
Police last month gunned down Gift Tandare, a National
Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
activist, as they
pounced on unarmed civilians in an attempt to thwart a
prayer meeting of the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign.
Another activist, Itai Manyeruke, was shot
dead by the police in
Canaan, Highfield. He was buried in Buhera South two
weeks ago.
The police brutally assaulted MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, Lovemore
Madhuku of the NCA, Grace Kwinjeh and Sekai Holland
(both MDC) among others.
The government has accused Britain and the
United States of sponsoring
the opposition to effect "regime change" in
Zimbabwe.
It has also accused the MDC, which denies the charges, of
being behind
the current wave of bombings that have occurred across the
country.
The conference recommended the formation of an
implementation
committee comprising civil society, the Executive and the
Legislature to
spearhead the constitution-making process.
It
said the committee would use the rejected 2000 government-sponsored
draft
constitution, the NCA draft constitution as well as the Lancaster
House
Constitution and its amendments to come up with a draft constitution
that
would be forwarded to President Robert Mugabe.
"The conference felt
that in the process of crafting a new
constitution it will be prudent to
revisit the civil society proposals and
the draft document rejected at a
referendum in 2000," said the conference.
The MDC's national
organising secretary Elias Mudzuri, who denounced
violence, expressed
concern over low-level Zanu PF representation at the
conference.
"We would have appreciated a situation where
government officials were
represented by senior officials, like permanent
secretaries," he said.
Zanu PF was represented by its deputy
director of information, Stephen
Chidavanyika, who said his party was
prepared to work towards a new
constitution.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO - The City Council will take legal action against
the
government to stop its controversial take-over of water and sewer
infrastructure through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), says
outgoing town clerk Moffat Ndlovu.
Speaking in an interview on
his last day in office on Friday, Ndlovu
said the move was "criminal" and
would sound the death knell on all local
authorities where ZINWA was
preparing to move in.
Ndlovu's statement is the first indication
that the council is
prepared for a long drawn out fight with the government
after Vice-President
Joseph Msika declared recently that the take-over would
go ahead despite
protests from residents and the council.
The
town clerk said the take-over was "absolutely criminal" and if it
had come
before his departure ZINWA would not even have managed to "take a
pen"
belonging to the council.
"The council has vowed to take all legal
measures to ensure that we
keep what is ours," said Ndlovu. "It is
absolutely criminal to just come in
and take over our
investment."
The outspoken town clerk who is leaving the council
after serving it
for 24 years took a swipe at the Minister of Water
Resources and
Infrastructure Development, Munacho Mutezo (pictured), for
declaring that
even if people of Bulawayo "mention Gukurahundi" the
take-over would still
go ahead.
"What he used is not the right
language for a politician," he said.
Most local authorities would
crumble if "the authorities do not see
sense and reverse the take overs"
because they rely on revenue generated
through the provision of water and
sewer.
Bulawayo expects to generate 70% of its revenue this year
from the
sector and if ZINWA is allowed to take over service delivery,
Bulawayo will
grind to a halt.
Ndlovu had no kind words for the
Minister of Local Government, Public
Works and Urban Development, Ignatious
Chombo either.
Chombo has been blamed for the demise of local
governance in Harare,
Mutare and Chitungwiza. Observers say the only reason
he has not descended
on Bulawayo is because the city is one of the best run
in the country, but
the ZINWA take-over was seen as a last-ditch effort by
the government to
take over the running of the city.
Chombo
forced out popularly elected mayors in the three cities who all
belonged to
the Movement for Democratic Change and imposed politicians with
Zanu PF
links to run Harare and Mutare.
Running local authorities through
"directives" had contributed to the
demise of local governance in the
country, Ndlovu said.
During his tenure Bulawayo courted Chombo's
ire when on several
occasions it challenged his directives, such as on the
reversal of tariff
hikes and the controversial Operation
Garikai.
"I think consultation died down with the departure of
former deputy
minister, Fortune Charumbira," he said. "Consultation is very
important
because councils have to understand government policies and have a
buy into
its programmes."
Asked to compare the ministers of
local government that he served,
Ndlovu said: "(The late) Enos Chikowore
didn't interfere much, (Joseph)
Msika was a good old man, John Nkomo would
consult and as junior as I was,
he would ring me and ask for
advice."
Zim Standard
By Jacqueline
Mbayiwa
THE mere sight of a semi-paralysed man would lead you to
conclude that
disability is inability. But when you see the Mercedes Benz
this man drives
you are bound to wonder: is this triumph over
disability?
Engelbert Makanjera (43) is the Southern Africa
Development Community
(SADC) regional rehabilitation officer. He had polio
when he was
six-and-half years old and has been in a wheelchair
since.
He was fortunate enough to have the support of his parents
who
provided him with a decent education up to tertiary level.
"I am proud to be disabled because I accepted my condition. My parents
were
very supportive and they provided me with the means of mobility. I
however
cushioned myself with hard work and in Grade Six I became the
chairman of
the Debating Club at my school; this boosted my confidence and
that is when
I realised that I was a leader," he said.
Makanjera is also the
vice-president of the Jairos Jiri Association,
secretary general of the
Zimbabwe Paralympic Committee, and a life member of
St Giles Association,
among others.
He is married and blessed with four children, "I am
happily married to
a woman with a disability too, I uplift the disabled in
my society in Ruwa
and today am building a basketball court for them, and I
help them with
moral support and counselling. They look up to me because I
give them a
shoulder to lean on," Makanjera said.
However, not
all the disabled people in Zimbabwe are as fortunate; on
street corners they
are always asking for alms because most of them are not
literate enough to
be employed.
The National Association of Societies for the Care of
the Handicapped
(NASCOH), the official umbrella body of 53 organisations of
and for people
living with disabilities in Zimbabwe is calling for the
government to
address disability issues and fund the organisations for
disabled people.
NASCOH executive director, Farai Mukuta said: "The
government has
promulgated the Disability Act of 1992 and has put in place
the Ministry of
Social Welfare to cater for the financial and material needs
of people with
disabilities.
"There is still a need for the
government to go a step further by
implementing a quota system whereby
employable people with disabilities
(PWD) are absorbed into gainful
employment. This will in turn empower them
economically to be able to
sustain their livelihood and ultimately command a
good sense of
responsibility from society."
There has been a call for civic
society to demystify misconceptions
about the disabled and accept them as
equals because they are as intelligent
and literate as anybody
else.
Tsarai Mungoni became visually impaired as a result of
trachoma at the
age of five years. He says it became a very difficult,
stressful and
disturbing condition with which he came to terms through
counselling.
He holds a Bachelor in Social Works (Honours) and a
Masters in
Business Administration from the University of
Zimbabwe,
"I also hold a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law (Conciliation
and
Arbitration), a Masters in Business Administration with a merit; I
passed
the degree with distinction and am married with two children. I am a
disability activist and I sometimes donate my personal resources towards
assisting the disabled people in Zimbabwe," Mungoni said.
Despite the degrees and qualifications, Mungoni says he still faces
discrimination from the private sector on accessing employment, "When you
are called for an interview, as soon as they discover you are disabled, the
interview is cancelled. The private sector has closed its doors on us. They
are still retrogressive, and they think the disabled are not competent
enough to be employed.
Zim Standard
By Tapiwa
Zivira
THE Minister of the Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare,
Nicholas Goche, has admitted paying paltry wages to his workers at
Ceres
Farm near Shamva.
Goche, whose ministry is responsible
for workers' welfare, said he
paid his workers $10 000 a month, but would
adjust this to $32 000 at the
end of last month (March).
Goche
had been asked to respond to complaints by his workers that he
was
underpaying them.
He admitted: "Actually I was paying my workers
more than the gazetted
$8 000. I was giving them $10 000 and this month
(March) they are to get the
new salaries backdated to last
January."
Goche said his workers were better off as other employers
were paying
less.
One of Goche's workers who spoke to The
Standard at the heavily
guarded farm complained the workers could not
sustain their families on
present wages. " I cannot even buy a 2kg packet of
sugar and I have a family
to sustain. If I leave this farm I have nowhere to
go as my family is from
Mozambique," he said.
With inflation
pegged at over 1 700% and the consumer basket for a
family of six at more
than $800 000, Goche's workers belong to a large
agricultural workforce on
what many labour analysts characterise as
"scandalous wages".
Many of the workers are now employed by new farmers who took over
properties
confiscated by the government from white commercial farmers.
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY MUTIMBA
MASVINGO - A teacher who wished President
Robert Mugabe dead and
another who likened his rule to that of Nazi
dictator, Adolf Hitler, have
filed a constitutional challenge in the Supreme
Court against a section of
the Criminal Codification Act that makes it an
offence to insult the head of
the State.
Selestine Jengeta
(36), and Letwin Matereke (34), both employed by the
Ministry of Education,
Sport and Culture at Victoria and Mucheke high
schools respectively, were
last week remanded to 21 June pending the
finalisation of their
constitutional challenge. They briefly appeared before
a Masvingo
magistrate.
Their defence lawyer, Wellington Muzenda of Mwonzora
and Associates,
is challenging a section of the Criminal Law Codification
and Reform Act.
Muzenda is arguing that the section infringes on
the right of freedom
of expression, thereby contravening section 20 of the
Constitution of
Zimbabwe.
In his papers, Muzenda argues that
the Act contravenes several
sections of the Zimbabwean Constitution and has
petitioned the Supreme
Court, sitting as a constitutional court, to
determine whether or not the
Criminal Codification and Reform Act chapter
9:23 contravenes section 89 of
the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
He
submitted, in addition, that section 33(2) (A) (ii) of the same act
contravenes section 20 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe in that it derogates
the right to freedom of expression.
Muzenda wants the court to
rule whether or not derogation is
reasonably justified in a democratic
society.
The two teachers were arrested on the same day, but in
separate
incidents, last December for insulting or undermining the authority
of the
president after making public statements regarding the head of
State.
Charges against Jengeta arose on 17 December last year while
he was
drinking beer in a police pub at Phoneix police camp. The State
alleges that
Jengeta, who was watching television, wished Mugabe dead when
he appeared on
ZTV's Newshour, saying his rule was responsible for the
suffering of the
people.
"Dai munhu uyu afa, zvinhu zvaiita
nani hurumende yachinja kana
kukatonga mumwe munhu," (If this person died
things would be better in this
country; the government would change for the
better if someone else began to
rule) Jengeta allegedly said pointing at
Mugabe's image on the screen.
He was immediately arrested by a
police officer who was watching
television with him.
Charges
against Matereke arose on the same day when she was travelling
in a commuter
bus along Masvingo-Mutare road. Matereke allegedly joined a
debate in the
kombi when passengers were discussing the incidence of
diamonds being
smuggled from Marange to South Africa.
She allegedly said: "Regai
vanhu vaende nawo ikoko nekuti munyika muno
tiri kutongwa naHitler (let the
people smuggle the diamonds to other
counties as we are being ruled by
Hitler in this country)," she allegedly
said.
Matereke was
arrested by a soldier based at 4:1 Brigade who later
force-marched her to
Masvingo Central police station when they arrived in
the city.
Cases of people facing charges of this nature have been on the
increase in
Masvingo, but have also occurred in other parts of the country.
Two
weeks ago two Chivi men were acquitted after the court found
insufficient
evidence that they had insulted Mugabe after singing a song
that implied the
President was sterile.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
THE New Ziana trainee journalist, arrested for asking "the
wrong
questions", was ordered to leave the news organisation on
Monday.
Tapiwa Chininga was told to stop reporting for duty at the
State-owned
New Ziana newsroom until the "dust that he had created after his
arrest had
settled".
Chininga (23), was arrested two weeks ago
after he asked Constable
Simbarashe Nengwene, manning Kuwadzana police base,
why the police were
being "brutal" to opposition members.
He
also asked him why they did not feel guilty after killing and
torturing
members of the opposition.
Chininga was arrested, charged and
released on $5 000 bail the
following Monday.
Chininga
confirmed he was ordered to leave after the publication of
his arrest in The
Standard.
He said tension mounted with his bosses who wanted to
keep the image
of the State-owned institution "clean".
But the
editor of New Ziana, Rangarirai Shoko, dismissed the reporter's
claims,
saying the dismissal resulted from a theft case in the New Ziana
newsroom.
In an unsigned comment faxed to The Standard dated 26
March Shoko
wrote:
"Two student interns, Tapiwa Chininga and
McDonald Rainosi, were today
(26 March) asked to leave after being
implicated in a theft case. Constable
Ndabamuromo at Central Police Station
in Harare is handling the matter.
Police have charged Chininga with a second
offence, which is still under
their investigation."
Shoko would
not elaborate on the theft case. Enquiries by The
Standard, however,
indicated that a mobile phone was reported stolen in the
New Ziana newsroom
in February. The owner of the cellphone is said to have
suspected three
people: Chininga, another trainee journalist, Rainos, and a
named senior
reporter. Police launched investigations but failed to nail the
culprit.
Sources said the case had already been forgotten,
until last week when
it emerged that Chininga had walked into a police
station and asked "wrong
questions" of the police.
Zim Standard
By Bertha Shoko
THE
National Aids Council (NAC) has been accused of wasting taxpayer's
money on
administrative purposes and "useless workshops", and not on helping
workers
living with HIV/Aids.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
president, Lovemore Matombo,
told a breakfast meeting in Harare last week
that, as a result of this
extravagance, hundreds of workers who paid the
Aids Levy and were living
with the disease were going without the necessary
treatment.
Their money was being squandered while the workers
living with
HIV/Aids would not access the drugs to treat opportunistic
infections and
Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
The government
introduced the Aids Levy, now known as the National
Aids Trust Funds (NATF)
in 1999.
The fund was set up to ensure that every worker played a
part in
mitigating the effects of the HIV/Aids pandemic. But since it was
introduced, the Aids Levy has been dogged by controversy with activists
attacking the NAC for failing to reach "grassroots" people in need of the
funds.
The NAC has been attacked in the past forspending money
on expensive
vehicles, endless workshops and expensive officefurniture,
among other
things, while ignoring the needs of people living with HIV and
Aids (PLWAs)
There are presently about 1.8 million PLWAs, with only
65 000
accessing ARVs in the state-run programmes, compared with the 600
000-plus
PLWAS in need of the life-prolonging drugs.
So where
are the NATF funds going? The breakfast meeting was organised
by the
Zimbabwe Aids Prevention and Support Organisation (ZAPSO) to discuss
the
challenges poised by HIV and Aids on the productive sectors of the
economy,
Matombo told guests that his organisation was
disturbed by the lack of
commitment by the government and the NAC to make
treatment available to
PLWAs.He said failure by the government and the NAC
to provide treatment to
hundreds of people, most of them workers
contributing towards the Aids Levy,
deducted from their salaries is a "huge
betrayal".
"The ZCTU has it on good record that most of the Aids
Levy funds are
not tricklingdown to those people who really need they
because they are
being wasted on administration, the salaries and allowances
of people
employed to see to it that these funds are administered. So what
is the
purpose really? We have made this demand to government that they must
work
out a plan to ensure that every worker who requires treatment does
receive
it. Unfortunately, they have failed to do this on the deadline that
we
agreed and that is one of the reasonswe are going ahead with the stayaway
next week (this week) on the thirdand fourth of April."
The
director of the NAC, Tapuwa Magure told Standardhealth that his
organisation
continued "to do the best it can" to mitigate the effects of
the Aids
pandemic with what he said were "limited resources".
According to
the NAC, the Aids Levy has yielded roughly $1.7 million
since it wascreated
in 1999. Zimbabwe was the first country in southern
Africa to institute a
levy for HIV/Aids funding.
The ZAPSO meeting brought together a
number of stakeholders working
towards the creation of HIV/Aids workplace
policies. ZAPSO is an Aids
service organisation created to assist the formal
and informal sectors of
the economy to establish and strengthen HIV/Aids
prevention, mitigation,
treatment, care and support programmes and policies
in the workplace.
The guest of honour was the governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,
Dr Gideon Gono who said the central bank would
continue to give support to
HIV/Aids programmes in the country.Also present
at the breakfast meeting was
the Swedish ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten
Rylander, who said his government
would continue to help mobilise resources
for HIV and Aids.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu and Pindai
Dube
BULAWAYO - Airline passengers were
left stranded last week after
operations at the Victoria Falls International
Airport reportedly ground to
a halt following the suspension of critical
staff at struggling Air
Zimbabwe.
The beleaguered airliner
suspended about 30 critical workers on
allegations of smuggling foreign
currency, mishandling passengers and
pillaging resources at the resort
town's airport, sources said.
The affected workers under the
airline's subsidiary company, the
National Handling Services (NHS), were
suspended on 20 March by management
and were in ticketing, cargo, handling
check-in and load controlling
departments.
Sources indicated
the suspensions followed the unearthing by the
police of a smuggling
syndicate two weeks ago.
The syndicate allegedly received about
US$16 312 and R2 000, involving
illegal foreign currency dealers operating
in cahoots with airline staff.
Matabeleland North police
spokesperson Augustine Zimbili could not be
reached immediately for comment
to confirm the alleged unmasking of the
syndicate.
But Air
Zimbabwe public relations manager, David Mwenga confirmed the
suspension of
critical staff last Tuesday. He also confirmed workers at the
Harare
International Airport were quickly dispatched to Victoria Falls to
fill in
for the suspended workers.
"Workers were suspended on allegations
of theft," said Mwenga. "We
sent a team of check-in staff from Harare to run
the airport while
investigations are continuing."
He said one
worker implicated in illegal foreign currency dealings and
theft had been
dismissed.
Mwenga said their internal investigations were over and
this week
management decided to recall the staff to work for a few days
while awaiting
the results of the police investigations.
Management, he said, never directly accused any member of the staff,
including the station manager Francis Mayeni, of any wrongdoing, but
"because the initial allegations of theft could have involved any staff,
therefore he was asked to go home along with other staff."
Zim Standard
By
jennifer dube
THE Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) has
failed to beat the
March target set for the beginning of construction work
on Buffalo Range
Airport - the much-awaited gateway to the coveted Great
Limpopo
Transfrontier Park (GLTP).
CAAZ initially anticipated
starting construction at the site last
month and had a target 18 months for
the completion of the job.
Air Zimbabwe had mulled plans of
introducing a flight into Chiredzi
pending progress on the
airport.
The upgrading project involves the construction of a
runway and a
terminal at the Chiredzi based airport which is crucial for the
successful
implementation of the GLTP, infamous for it's inaccessibility and
bad
transport network.
Stakeholders in the tourism industry
have in the past expressed
concern over the poor transport network and
recommended that CAAZ expedites
the upgrading of the airport and government
improves the road network to
attract investors.
In a desperate
bid to save the authority's face, CAAZ acting general
manager, Jerry Ndlovu
partially blamed an unidentified design consultant for
delaying
progress.
Commissioned by the authority to do design work on the
projects, the
consultant allegedly chickened out of the deal before take-off
stage.
"The firm couldn't even do the first design. They just told
us they
couldn't continue without even starting. I think they felt the
project was
just too big for them," said Ndlovu.
But, according
to Ndlovu, the consultant bowed out of the deal "a
couple of years back".
Sources said the contractor pulled out in 2005.
Ndlovu, however,
said the authority has since contracted another
designer and remarkable
progress has been made on the projects.
"We have since engaged
someone else and they have just completed
designs for the terminal building
and the runway, and these are being
reviewed by our technical team while the
quantity surveyors are working on
the project costs," Ndlovu
said.
He said the tender for construction will be floated once the
designs
were accepted.
"After acceptance, the designs will be
presented to Chiredzi and the
tourism industry. The tender will then be
floated," he said.
Ndlovu said the cost of upgrading the airport
would be arrived at once
the designs have been completed.
"CAAZ
received government funding for preparatory works. The authority
has already
started the programme of scouting for funding for this project.
The exact
amounts required will be available as soon as the designs have
been
completed," he said.
Last year, the authority estimated the cost at
US$8 million.
Ndlovu said CAAZ was committed to facilitating the
country's benefits
from the GLTP alongside its South African and Mozambican
neighbours.
"South Africa has since built the Kruger-Mpumalanga
airport while
Mozambique is developing the Limpopo National
Park.
"We hope to share passengers from the region into that place
(GLTP).
We also hope to facilitate direct transfer of passengers from
Kruger-Mpumalanga airport," he said.
Speaking at a meeting
between players in the tourism industry and the
Reserve Bank Governor,
Gideon Gono, CAAZ CEO, David Chawota said the
authority's efforts at
infrastructural development hung in the balance
pending adequate
funds.
"We are unable as an authority to access all sorts of funds.
Domestic
aviation has collapsed. Our local aviation has gone to neighbours,"
he said.
Chawota said the Victoria Falls airport needed a new
runway while
Harare airport's runway required rehabilitation.
Chawota added that progress on infrastructural development was being
hampered by inflation and the brain drain.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
INDUSTRY may wail endlessly about the unviable exchange rate
but the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is resolved not to review it, as
stated in
the recent monetary policy.
Addressing stakeholders
from the tourism industry recently, RBZ
governor, Gideon Gono, emphasised
that the central bank was not considering
reviewing the exchange rate sooner
or later.
"The exchange rate policy is a protest policy," he said.
"Over the
past three years, the central bank has been unfairly blamed for
industry
failures and we thus resolved that we all compete and sacrifice to
revive
our businesses.
"We realised that no amount of exchange
rate will change the economic
conditions obtaining in the country. We
decided business has to be
encouraged to do business while politicians
addressed the situation
politically. Everyone has to be
involved."
He said he was not moved by the protests aired by some
sections of the
economy.
"The exchange rate is not the only
instrument with which we can turn
around our fortunes. We will do nothing to
the two instruments - exchange
rate and interest rate - because they are
blunt instruments which have
failed to yield results in the
past.
"I am aware of the counter-protests being mounted by some
sections of
the economy. They are threatening to hold on to their produce in
protest at
the fixed exchange rate. They can keep their tobacco and I will
keep my
exchange rate," he mimicked President Robert Mugabe.
Gono was referring to the tobacco farmers who have boycotted the
tobacco
floors in a bid to press for an upward review of the exchange rate,
currently fixed at $250 against the greenback.
Gono said the
decision not to review the exchange rate was
necessitated by complaints
concerning hotel prices from visitors, including
International Monetary Fund
and Afreximbank representatives.
He said working together under his
proposed social contract was one of
the ways through which the country could
address its economic quandary.
"I am aware that some of you are
making fun of the whole idea and even
going to the extent of saying I have
run out of ideas. But the social
contract is only a platform from which we
can start.
"At this stage, we want to work together to heighten
awareness as we
gradually liberate our economy."
He said the
tourism industry in particular could best turn around its
fortunes through
learning from players in other countries and pledged to
facilitate an
exposure trip to Dubai.
He urged players to adopt realistic
packaging, competitive pricing
policies, maintain closer relations with the
media and to desist from
decampaigning the country.
"Yours is
an industry that has to be driven by constant communication
among
stakeholders, so we can stay updated about your needs. Engage in
intense
publicity activities and maintain close relations with the media so
they can
report from an informed position. Desist from decampaigning
yourselves for I
know some of you are involved in the distribution of
decampaigning
material," he said.
He urged tourism players, especially safari and
tour operators, to
register and also desist from price
distortions.
Gono gave the players four days to come up with a
comprehensive
package of their needs.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
THE government's policies are destroying the tourism industry
and will
impact negatively on the country come 2010 when the World Cup is
staged in
South Africa, says the head of the government's tourism
agency.
Karikoga Kaseke of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority told the
Masvingo
press club recently that government policies relating to Air
Zimbabwe would
compromise Zimbabwe's potential benefits from the World
Cup.
"Air Zimbabwe is killing tourism," said Kaseke, the former
head of the
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe. "The national airline's
service is
pathetic and if that situation continues, the country will not
benefit much
from the World Cup tournament in South Africa."
He
said Air Zimbabwe staff was the major problem because of the
maladministration by government appointees in key posts at the
airline.
Kaseke alleged the incompetent officials enjoyed
"over-protection"
from the government.
"The national airline is
becoming a liability. Its officials'
incompetence is affecting our tourism
and it will continue to disturb the
progress of the preparations for the
World Cup.
"There is need for policy consistency in the national
airline," he
said.
Kaseke said there were tourists who no
longer trusted Air Zimbabwe
because of its "shoddy service".
He
said although Masvingo city was chosen to co-host Zimbabwe's
campaign to
benefit from the World Cup, the city's preparations were not up
to scratch.
The Masvingo-Beitbridge road, he said, needed repair rather than
for the
repairs to start from Harare where the dualisation of the highway
was taking
shape slowly.
Mucheke stadium also needed extensive renovations, he
said.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE savage attacks on opposition and civic society members
three weeks ago
are a resurrection of the orgy of violence that has marred
Zimbabwe's
electoral landscape since independence. They confirm who in this
country has
" many degrees in violence".
Zanu PF has incorporated
intimidation, coercion and violence into its
arsenal whenever its hold on
power is threatened. In Nkomo: The Story of my
Life, Joshua Nkomo says of
the turbulent times he was in government: "I
feared, but I certainly did not
say, that the internal disruption was coming
from the same government that I
was telling my people to trust."
In early February 1982, he says first
Emmerson Mnangagwa and then the Prime
Minister (Robert Mugabe) announced on
radio and television that massive
stocks of weapons had been found at two
farms. "There was, they said, a plot
to overthrow the government with the
help of South Africa. The man
responsible was Joshua Nkomo . . .
"The
charges were ridiculous and soon became even more exaggerated."
One find
was said to include enough electronic equipment to jam the
communications of
the entire Zimbabwe security forces. Nkomo dismissed the
charges as "pure
invention". Hostile publicity was directed against him in
the
government-controlled media and the Prime Minister said: "The only way
to
deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head." Mugabe
told the nation that the Father of Zimbabwe had become the Father of
Dissidents.
That strategy has changed little. Mugabe still contrives
to use these ploys
in order to justify remaining in office. Today similar
accusations are
raised but the target is the MDC, which the government
charges with plotting
jointly with the UK and US to effect regime
change.
But during 2000, 31 people were killed and more than 500 were
seriously
injured in politically motivated violence blamed on the
government. During
2002 54 people died.
Edgar Tekere in his recently
published book, A Lifetime of Struggle, says of
the 30 May 1989 Dzivaresekwa
parliamentary by-election: "Our candidate was
Mutikore. This was a real
baptism of fire because (Herbert) Ushewokunze came
out with a group of armed
thugs, and threatened everyone . . ."
Patrick Kombayi, Tekere writes,
"was contesting against Simon Muzenda in the
Gweru constituency.
"As
he was driving through Gweru on a road leading to Harare, but still in
the
town centre, he was shot in broad daylight". His attackers were pardoned
by
Mugabe.
Following the brutal assault on leaders of the labour movement
while in
police custody last September, Mugabe brushed aside concerns of "a
profound
sense of dismay" from the UN Country Team, International Labour
Organisation
and the International Bar Association, suggesting the trade
unionists got
their just desserts.
The cases cited above scribe a
pattern of State repression but more
importantly highlights who, between the
State and the opposition, has a
history and capacity for
violence.
Hype, exaggeration and demonisation of opponents are Zanu PF's
tried and
trusted methods. So are political violence and electoral
manipulation. Then
Sadc wants us to believe that free, fair and democratic
elections were held
in 2002. Nobody will buy that.
Zim Standard
Sunday opinion by Bill
Saidi
COMMONWEALTH Day was celebrated a few weeks before Britain
remembered
the 200th anniversary of the law abolishing the slave
trade.
As a Zimbabwean, I probably have no business mentioning the
Commonwealth because we are not members any more. This is thanks, in my
opinion, to some weird interpretation of sovereignty: one politician's
aberrations of self-importance cannot be challenged. Even by
friends?
Connecting the two - the Commonwealth and slavery - may
sound
far-fetched. But it seems perfectly logical. Until after the
floodgates of
independence were flung open by Ghana's freedom in 1957, the
grouping was
called The British Commonwealth.
All members are
English-speaking and have this connection with the
British, either as former
colonies, protectorates, territories or dominions.
Before they
eventually colonised them, the British took slaves from
most of the
countries which later belonged to the British Empire.
There are
apologists for both slavery and colonialism: for the former,
they argue that
since the Africans colluded in this heinous trade, they were
collaborators.
For the latter, the apologists insist if the
colonised had been
serious in their resistance, they could have kept the
marauders out of their
countries.
What? With just bows and
arrows?
They argue this flaw in the African character is
responsible for the
dictatorships which sprouted after 1957. Some even cite
Zimbabwe as the
worst example of this spinelessness.
In the old
song, Old Man River, the final lyrics are:
You get a little
drunk
And you lands in jail.
I gets weary and sick of
trying
I am tired of living but I'm scared of dying
But Ol'Man River he just keeps rolling along.
f you heard it sung
by two great African-Americans, Paul Robeson and
William Warflield, you will
know how deeply it can affect you, the way Louis
Armstrong affected us when
he sung Why was I Born Black And Blue in front of
Kwame Nkrumah. One line in
that song is My only sin is in my skin.
There is a barely subtle
hopelessness in Ol' Man River, which, some
might argue, is typical of the
fatalism with which many Africans are alleged
to approach life's
vicissitudes - an example being, again, the Zimbabweans'
lack of cojones in
dealing with Zanu PF dictatorship.
The song was written, not by a
former slave, but by two white people,
long after Booker T Washington had
written his bestseller, Up From Slavery,
in 1901. Soon after publication,
the book became "the most influential book
written by an African-American.
As one of a handful of classic American
autobiographies, its place in the
literary and historical canons is
assured".
Briefly,
Washington, a former slave, rose to become a great
educationist, founding
Tuskegee College, in the Deep South of the United
States.
Other
activists, notably Frederick Douglass and W B Du Bois, may have
been
critical of his slightly "Uncle Tom" approach to black emancipation,
but
like our own Charles Mzingeli, they could not deny Washington his
pivotal
role in raising awareness among his own people of their plight in a
world
being fashioned for them by foreigners.
There is not much evidence
that militant activists like Eldridge
Cleaver, Huey Newton, Stokely
Carmichael, Malcolm X or the Black Panthers
routinely quoted from Up From
Slavery in their speeches.
But even they must know his role was
crucial to the struggle.
During the commemoration of the end of
slavery, debate - almost
inevitably - gravitated to reparations. I was
reminded of an obscure village
tyrant in rural Southern Rhodesia, who once
harangued a native commissioner:
"Why didn't you leave us alone, in our
huts, in our nhembes? Now, you want
us to be like you. But you don't want us
to be exactly like you...just
enough to obey your orders. Well, I am
sorry.... give us everything, or
leave us alone!"
Which was
when the native commissioner realised they were in real
trouble. It was he,
someone said years later, who predicted that nothing
much would change -
except the colour of the skin of the bwana.
Which is where we are
today - more or less. The ordinary Africans'
response to the very idea of
reparations is: Please, please, please! Don't
give it to the
government.
There are, perhaps, a handful of African governments
which could be
entrusted with such funds. At a pinch, they might carry out
the mandate,
perhaps after hiving off a chunk for their own
use...
Other matters brought up during the commemoration relate,
inevitably,
to good governance. It was suggested, albeit obliquely, that
there were
Africans who believed they were de facto slaves in their own
countries
today.
What did come out, too, was that most Africans
were haunted by this
eerie notion that their race was cursed. Even after
winning emancipation
from slavery, colonialism, there was as yet still no
freedom from
...themselves!-- saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
Sunday view by
Pedzisayi
Ruhanya
IF there have been doubts about the
legitimacy of Zanu PF leader
Robert Mugabe as the President of the country,
the incidents of torture,
kidnapping, assaults and state-sanctioned
abductions that Zimbabwe is
experiencing would assist in coming to a
consensus over the issue.
President Mugabe's administration has
failed to bring about economic
prosperity in the country and this has led to
political demands for a regime
change in the country, premised on poor
economic management, rampant
corruption and an escalation in human rights
abuses in the country.
The response to the country's economic
meltdown has been an increase
in violence against political opponents
through abductions, extra-judicial
murders, assaults and kidnappings by
state security agents supported by Zanu
PF's youth militia groups and some
rogue elements of the war veterans.
When the State resorts to the
use of the repressive State apparatus
such as the police, the army and the
intelligence services, to suppress
lawful and legitimate civil disobedience
activities by a citizenry in search
of a political solution to the current
political and governance crisis in
the country, that manifests itself
through rigged electoral processes, human
rights violations, militarisation
of critical state institutions, banning
and bombing of newspapers,
infiltration of the judiciary through appointment
of surrogate judges and
the absence of the rule of law, then both the
government and leader of that
administration are illegitimate.
In my view, the use of
Rhodesian-type Selous Scouts methods to silence
civil and political dissent
in the country through abductions and torture of
civic and political
leaders, as well as stage-managing bombings in order to
justify repression
in the country, confirms the widely held view that Mugabe
is an illegitimate
leader.
Just like the Ian Smith and Apartheid regimes, Mugabe's
administration
could be lawful or legal but definitely not
legitimate.
Bar racial discrimination and segregation, Mugabe has
imitated
Rhodesian tactics of oppression both at law and political
levels.
Through the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence
(UDI), Smith
overthrew Rhodesia's Constitutional order and ruled by decree
where citizens'
civil and political liberties where at the mercy of the
regime's secret
police. Mugabe did that in several ways: he maintained the
state of
emergency until 1990 which he used to violate human rights in the
Midlands
and Matabeleland provinces in the 1980s, imposed the notorious and
imperial
executive presidency in 1987 and sealed his dictatorship through
the
infamous farm invasions and the violence attendant to it until
today.
The first and most basic level of legitimacy is that of
rules. It is
argued that power can be said to be legitimate in the first
instance if it
is acquired and exercised in accordance with established
rules. These rules
may be unwritten, as informal conventions, or they may be
formalised in
legal codes or judgments. In the case of Zimbabwe, during
elections times,
rules are broken down with impunity, judges are harassed,
lawyers are beaten
up while journalists are banned and newspapers
bombed.
Currently the government of Zimbabwe, through the police,
the military
and agents of the Central intelligence Organisation are
involved in rampant
human rights abuses that have seen the torture of
position leaders with
impunity. In one instance law officers from the
Attorney General's Office
conceded in court that it was common cause that
National Constitutional
Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku and other
opposition activists including
the President of the Movement for Democratic
Change Morgan Tsvangirai were
tortured while in police custody contrary to
the provisions of the law.
A government that is born out of such a
process cannot be called a
legitimate regime. These are the issues that
anyone who contends that Mugabe
and his government are legitimate needs to
appreciate.
In my view Mugabe has lost legitimacy both at home and
abroad hence
the decision by his last bastion of support, SADC, to confront
him and tell
him off.
Defiance campaign will not stop BY banning rallies
in opposition
strongholds, the police have yet again demonstrated their
partisan stance.
The arrest of opposition leaders who include Professor
Arthur Mutambara,
Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Job Sikhala, Grace
Kwinjeh, Sekai Holland,
Lovemore Madhuku and others is a clear attempt to
drive fear into the hearts
of all freedom fighters.
There is no
doubt we are now reliving the Ian Smith era. President
Robert Mugabe has
forgotten the objectives of the second Chimurenga. Beyond
toppling the white
colonial rulers and bringing back black majority rule,
the struggle was
about dismantling a system of governance that is
dictatorial, intolerant and
autocratic.
The police have gone a step further by torturing these
opposition
leaders. The release of those arrested without charges shows how
vindictive
and confused the police are. In a clear pattern that shows
calculated
defiance of the courts, the police re-arrested Mutambara, Kwinjeh
and
Holland while they were on their way to South Africa. Nelson Chamisa was
attacked savagely while on his way to Brussels for a meeting of MPs of the
African, Caribbean and Pacific nations and their European Union
counterparts.
The suffering of Zimbabweans has reached
unprecedented levels that
require a revolution. Zimbabweans are tired of
unfulfilled promises. They
want nothing short of total emancipation,
freedom, justice and liberty as a
new platform for launching economic
recovery and growth.
Mugabe's regime, conscious of the anger among
the masses, has
mobilised the security forces and given them orders to
descend heavily on
defenceless people. The people's message is clear. We all
agree there is a
crisis in this country. The crisis is a result of the
incompetence and
Mugabe's government, which has failed in all its
policies.
No amount of intimidation, tear gas, baton sticks,
bullets, hungry
police and army officers will stop us. The pain we endure
daily as a result
of Zanu PF embitters us more than the pain of tear gas and
bullets. We know
death is the ultimate price of freedom. There will be no
retreat or
surrender.
We the youth owe it to ourselves to
resist Zanu PF's repression. The
ruling party's legacy makes it impossible
for the young generation to
advance academically in order to empower
ourselves. What sort of Zimbabwe
will we have by the time we become parents
if Zanu PF is allowed to continue
its misrule unchallenged?
Our
demand for justice will not be halted by the arrests of Mutambara,
Madhuku
and Tsvangirai. Now is the time for the youth to walk the talk. The
defiance
campaign will not stop.
B Chiwola
Harare.
-------------
The final hour shall come for
ruling party thugs SOON after my
release from hospital after a brutal attack
by thugs in police uniforms at
Matapi police dungeons on 13 September 2006,
I wrote in The Standard
challenging President Thabo Mbeki and other African
leaders to unequivocally
condemn the brutal and satanic
regime.
Since no such condemnation has been forthcoming and
worse has
happened, I am compelled once again to issue the
challenge.
How much does it take the likes of Mbeki to be
stirred from
feats of comfort and do something about Zimbabwe? How many more
broken
teeth, crushed ribs and fractured bones? How many bereaved mothers,
wailing
orphans and grieving widows does he need to see before he can say
enough is
enough?
Human rights have been widely abused in
this country. The
government denies the abuses but Mbeki and other leaders
on the continent
have refused to acknowledge them. They have shut themselves
in a cocoon and
pretend that the sun is not shining. They cannot continue to
bury their
heads in the sand.
Today President Robert
Mugabe has dropped all pretence. He no
longer refutes that his uniformed
thugs are brutalising people in their
custody. He and his Minister of Home
Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, boast and
threaten right before the gaze of the
entire world. He does this because,
like in the case of Mussolini before the
invasion of Abyssinia, the world is
fond of looking the other
way.
Africans should be ashamed of waiting for Europe to
condemn
human rights abuses in their backyard.
If Europe
is guilty of a regime change agenda, Africa is guilty
of regime preservation
which is no less a crime than the former. Let me be
bold enough and ask:
What is better, to clamour for the change of a barbaric
regime or to clamour
for its preservation? Ask us the victims and we will
answer. In the eyes of
the suffering masses of Zimbabwe, Africa is
disgracing
itself.
It is not being a good neighbour to stand aside in
the name of
non-interference and watch while next door a fellow resident
slashes the
throats of his children and bludgeons his wife. This is what
Mbeki and the
rest of the African leaders are doing.
It
does not escape us that Mbeki is terrified if the MDC wins
then Cosatu will
be emboldened to form a party that will eventually
challenge for power. It
is naïve in the extreme for Mbeki to believe that
the ANC will rule forever
in South Africa.
The Bible says: "Be kind to a sojourner for
you were sojourners
also in Egypt." In our case it should be: "Be kind to
the opposition because
you were in opposition yourself in colonial
days."
I read biographies and autobiographies of Nelson
Mandela,
Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and
even Martin
Luther (not King). These people lived in the most trying of
times and met
perhaps the world's most oppressive and repressive
regimes.
To my knowledge, none of these was ever assaulted
while in
custody. For brutally assaulting Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore
Madhuku, Arthur
Mutambara and 50 others, the government has shown that is it
capable of
anything and this dastardly act needs the outright condemnation
of the whole
world.
If the government has the audacity to
assault the likes of
Tsvangirai, Madhuku, Mutambara, Tendai Biti, Wellington
Chibebe, Lovemore
Matombo - people whose assaults will raise eyebrows in the
international
community - what then is happening to the common man/woman at
Domboramwari
or at Overspill and other areas around
Harare?
Is there need for proof that there is no rule of law
in
Zimbabwe? You say Ian Smith was an oppressor and that Mugabe and company
are
liberators!
I do not know and neither do I care
whether Tony Blair and
George W Bush want to colonise Zimbabwe, because they
will not be able to do
so. What I know is that when they say in Zimbabwe
there is no rule of law
and no respect for human rights I say: "Hear! Hear!"
and challenge Mugabe
and his cronies to prove otherwise.
Finally I encourage all Christians to pray for Zimbabwe.
Rev
Nqobizitha Khumalo
Epworth
Harare.
--------------
Despotic Mugabe a
monster of Western creation WESTERN
governments, Britain and America in
particular, should stop their
unjustified criticism of South African
President Thabo Mbeki for the
political crisis that they created in
Zimbabwe. They created a monster and
now they are failing to remove it and
so they find scapegoats to blame.
Mbeki and the African
Union are now being accused by
Mugabe's critics in and outside Zimbabwe of
failing to take action against
the Zimbabwean dictator. Do they want Mbeki
to send an invasion force to
remove a President who was democratically
elected by his own people?
Mugabe is not in power in
Zimbabwe because he staged a
coup. He was helped into power in a
controversial election in 1980 and the
same governments that are now
describing him as a monster turned a blind eye
when Mugabe sent an army
unit, the 5 Brigade, to slaughter more than 20 000
people in Matabeleland
and the Midlands in the early 1980s.
Thousands of other
opposition supporters were abducted
from their homes by the soldiers and
government agents and were never seen
alive again. Where were these critics
and the United Nations during those
days when Mugabe slaughtered thousands
of defenceless opposition supporters?
There were no
protests that we are seeing today against
Mugabe. No sanctions were imposed
against the dictator despite his human
rights abuses and massacres in
Matabeleland and the Midlands. The only sin
committed by those people in
Matabeleland was supporting ZAPU, a party that
was then the only official
opposition against Mugabe.
In 1983 the late Joshua
Nkomo, then ZAPU leader, fled to
Britain after 5 Brigade tried to
assassinate him at his Phelandaba residence
in Bulawayo. Britain continued
to sell military hardware to Mugabe including
fighter jets despite the
massacres he had committed against the minority
Nguni speakers in the
country.
During those days of the Cold War you could
understand why
America and Britain turned a blind eye to the Matabeleland
massacres. It's
simple. ZAPU, was militarily and politically backed by the
Soviet while
Mugabe had Chinese backing.
Mugabe
found himself in the right country at the right
time, taking advantage of
South Africa's international isolation because of
its apartheid policies.
Mugabe became the West's blue-eyed boy and
development aid poured in like
manna from heaven until the dictator made his
worst mistake in 2000 by
attacking white commercial farmers and confiscating
their productive
farms.
The farmers made one serious blunder by openly
supporting
the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai. You don't do such a thing to Mugabe and expect to get
away with
it.
Mugabe must be asking himself why
there is an
international outcry for arresting and beating Tsvangirai and
killing one
MDC supporter recently when in the 1980s he massacred 20 000
opposition
supporters and there was no outcry.
Tsvangirai has failed twice to remove Mugabe through an
election. The events
of recent weeks have turned him into a hero. The mass
protests could be his
only ticket to State House, of course, with the help
of Western
countries.
My advice to the Americans and British is:
if you cannot
remove the monster you created, forever hold your peace and
let the man rule
until Jesus comes.
Themba
Nkosi
Cape Town
South
Africa.