Telegraph
Zimbabwe judge secretly grabs white-owned
farm
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed:
19/04/2003)
A senior Zimbabwean judge has secretly grabbed a prize
white-owned farm in
the heart of the nation's richest land.
The
discovery came as Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, congratulated
his
people on regaining their land from white farmers in a defiant speech
to
mark 23 years of independence yesterday.
Judge Paddington Garwe
seized Mount Lothian farm in the Enterprise area. It
was owned by C G Tracey,
one of the first white farmers to embrace
Zimbabwe's independence from
Britain in 1980.
Judge Garwe is Judge President of the High Court, the
second highest judge
in the country. He is presiding over the treason trial
of Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.
Mr Tracey arranged the key donor conference after independence.
He has been
chairman of several important agricultural groups, introduced
some of the
most innovative farming methods and was highly regarded by the
government in
the early days of independence. "Now he is just another white
man, and they
want him to go," said a former neighbour.
The seizure,
believed to have happened last month, is the latest in the
Enterprise farming
area, about 20 miles east of Harare. The area is occupied
by more members of
the ruling elite - a clutch of cabinet ministers, senior
members of the
Zimbabwe National Army and the hierarchy of the Central
Intelligence
Organisation - than any other of the former commercial
farming
districts.
Of the 66 white commercial farmers in the
Enterprise district before Mr
Mugabe ordered the land grab three years ago,
fewer than a dozen are left.
Mr Tracey, in his 80s, is said to be
"heartbroken and confused" about being
forced from his home and life's
work.
Former neighbours said "CG", as he is known, had refused to discuss
his
eviction, fearing reprisals. He left Zimbabwe on holiday
yesterday.
"He thinks that if he says nothing the judge will one day
allow him back
into his home," said a former neighbour now living in South
Africa.
"He is living in a dream world where he believes that order will
return to
his beloved Zimbabwe. CG is an old man and confused after the
turmoil. He is
not thinking straight."
The former neighbour said Mr
Tracey was forced off the farm by violent
ruling Zanu-PF party members posing
as "landless" peasants.
Judge Garwe declined to comment on the claims,
saying, through his
secretary, that he would respond to written questions
after Easter. He was
appointed Judge President two years ago after Mr
Mugabe's purge of
independent jurors who had, until then, ruled that the land
grab and
eviction of white farmers were illegal.
Letters to The
Times
April 19,
2003
Action on
Zimbabwe
From Mr Douglas M.
Forbes
Sir, Glenys Kinnock (letter, April 16) has her heart in the
right place. It's
a pity she is so inhibited by her multilateral
tendencies.
It would take so little to dislodge Mugabe and Zanu (PF) from
power. No bombs
and no maimed children would be required; only the judicious
application of
some good, old-fashioned neo-imperialism. Millions of
Zimbabweans would be
saved from misery and they would thank Britain for
it.
If
you ask me, it would be no sin to effect a regime change
in
Zimbabwe.
Yours
faithfully,
DOUGLAS M.
FORBES,
808 Whispering
Trail,
Greenfield, Indiana
46140.
April 16.
Independent (UK)
Strikes, starvation and state terrorism:
the tragedy of Zimbabwe grows
deeper
19 April 2003
The
war in Iraq, with its dramatic build-up and equally dramatic
denouement,
inevitably eclipsed many otherwise important news stories. Among
the most
deserving of notice was the sharply deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe. It
may even be - reprehensible though it seems - that Robert Mugabe
cynically
exploited the distraction to crack down even harder on his
enemies.
Speaking at a military parade to mark the 23rd anniversary of
Zimbabwean
independence yesterday, Mr Mugabe warned the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change not to challenge his rule, accusing its members of
being
bent on violence. Advertisements in state newspapers called on
Zimbabweans
to eschew "mass violence" by "terrorists and thugs". How many
more
beleaguered governments will cite "terrorism" to justify their own
abuses of
power?
Mr Mugabe's record on economic management, as on
human rights, is execrable.
In evidence that the levels of deprivation may
now be threatening the
stability of his regime, he was compelled yesterday to
mention two
unmentionables: the dire shortages of medicine and fuel. More
than half the
population in one of Africa's richest agricultural lands is
short of food.
Obscured first by the cricket World Cup and then by the
war in Iraq, human
rights violations have escalated. A strike organised by
the opposition last
month prompted a wave of arrests and evictions, with
widespread and
well-founded allegations of torture and rape. Some 500
opposition officials
and activists were arrested. More than 250 were treated
for injuries they
had sustained from assaults and beatings. Church leaders
from Zimbabwe and
South Africa documented 80 cases of World Cup protesters
being detained and
tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
The opposition
is infinitely brave, but necessarily subdued. The MDC says
that last year
more than 1,000 of its activists were tortured and 58 killed.
Human rights
groups that have tried to document the repression have been
outlawed or
silenced under the Public Order and Security Act. The judiciary
is alone in
having managed to retain much of its integrity, but its
judgments are
increasingly undermined by corrupt officials and police.
If ever a
country's opposition needed dispassionate exposure of what is
happening and
unswerving moral support by those free to give it, it is that
of Zimbabwe.
This makes it all the more inexplicable that a Commonwealth
report on the
progress - or lack of it - in Zimbabwe since its Commonwealth
membership was
suspended last year was not given the widest possible
audience. The report
documents a whole catalogue of abuses, including
selective enforcement of the
law and continued chaotic, violent and unjust
implementation of land
reform.
This report - released, despite its "restricted" classification,
by the Tory
party, has now, regrettably, become a political football, which
will allow
Mr Mugabe to dismiss it as yet more proof that the "white"
Commonwealth
wants to "recolonise" his country. Unless South Africa and
Zimbabwe's other
neighbours cease their tacit solidarity with Harare,
however, Mr Mugabe will
be able to persist in his pretence that his country's
desperate crisis is
all about colonialism, when in reality it is all about
him.
The
Herald
'No to foreign rule'
By Lovemore
Chikova
Zimbabwe is now being regarded a threat to powerful Western
countries
because it has asserted its independence by redistributing land to
the
majority of its people, President Mugabe said yesterday.
The
President was addressing thousands of people who thronged the National
Sports
Stadium to celebrate the country's 23rd Independence anniversary.
He said
through the land reform programme, the country had now set a new
concrete
basis for its independence.
"We have foregrounded the question of
decolonisation, the central question
of the rights and conditions of the
neo-colonially occupied and oppressed.
"Our land, our dear Zimbabwe, will
never again fall into foreign hands.
Never, never, never."
President
Mugabe said the land had come to the people despite obstacles
presented at
every step of the way by powerful Western interests.
"The so-called
unipolar world would like us to accept deprivation and,
because we have
asserted the right of our sovereignty, we are regarded as a
great threat to
powerful nations of the western hemisphere."
He said what was now needed
was to make the land productive so that it fed
the nation and earned foreign
currency that was badly needed to revive the
economy.
"Clearly, there
is need for significant and purposeful financial and other
interventions if
we are to succeed in transforming our land reform into
meaningful and
productive agrarian revolution," said President Mugabe.
"This is why the
Government has begun making vital inputs in support of the
newly resettled
farmers."
President Mugabe said the Government had allocated an
additional $7,5
billion to procure all necessary inputs for the winter crop
this year.
A targeted 100 000 hectares would be put under winter wheat
with an expected
yield of 500 000 tonnes, a quantity enough to satisfy the
national
requirement, he said.
The Government put in place a 10-year
mechanisation programme estimated at
$26,3 billion to transform not just
agriculture, but the economy as a whole.
President Mugabe said the
country had made important strides in education,
manpower development, health
and child welfare, horticulture, forestry,
mining and infrastructural
development.
But he said the Aids pandemic was threatening to reverse the
enormous gains
made, especially in primary health care.
President
Mugabe said the recently launched National Economic Revival
Programme was a
grassroot revival programme calling the people to take
charge of the revival
of the economy.
"The programme acknowledges and remedies certain policy
deficiencies and
delays which have tended to handicap agriculture, and seeks
to buttress the
growth potential of this key sector through far-reaching
institutional
changes calculated to bring support to the new farmer," he
said.
Cde Mugabe said a number of agricultural schemes were being revived
while
new ones were being established to ensure food security.
He said
the focus in the manufacturing sector should be on reviving
distressed
companies.
It was gratifying, Cde Mugabe said, to note that the opening
up of new
markets in the Far and Middle East was beginning to take root and
bear
fruit.
"Apart from big projects related to platinum and gold
mining, we expect
significant investment from our long-standing allies,
including the People's
Republic of China, in the areas of steel making,
agricultural development,
manufacturing, road construction, communications
and electronic
development," said Cde Mugabe.
He said the Government
was pursuing a number of options to stabilise the
fuel supply
situation.
Cde Mugabe said there should be peace in the country if the
economy was to
be revived.
"Those who reject democracy and choose the
road of violence to achieve their
political goals are the evil enemies of
Zimbabwe and will not be allowed to
succeed," he said.
Cde Mugabe said
Zimbabwe would continue to work towards greater integration
of the region
through Sadc, Comesa and the African Union.
"We abhor imperialistic
machinations and iniquitous efforts by Britain and
its ally, the United
States, to recolonise us and we stand ready to resist
such attempts," he
said.
"Africa is for Africans and Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. Let us
believe in
our future, an African future shaped and driven by our ideals and
efforts."
JAG OPEN LETTER
FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw;
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter
Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open
Letter Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1: from Kerry Kay.
Re: the prayer sent out by me on Tuesday of this week,
it was from "The
Flowering of the Soul - a Book of Prayers by women over the
ages" - it
seems so appropriate for all those farm women who have lost their
homes to
this regime. To all of you have a Happy Easter and remember "He will
never
leave you, He will never forsake you" - Hebrews.
Kerry
Kay
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2: Ben Freeth
CONFRONTATION OR COLLABORATION
It appears to me that
there are only two reasons why people do not confront
evil men and evil
regimes:
1. They are doing very well financially out of the regime and it
is in
their business interests to keep the regime in place. (There are
not a few
very influential individuals in this position).
2. They are
terrified of what confronting the regime might mean.
The first factor is
based on greed and the second is on fear. Neither
greed nor fear are
particularly noble attributes.
The alternative to a confrontational
approach is:
1. to do nothing and look the other way and pretend that
it's got nothing
to do with you (out of greed or fear), or
2. have
dialogue with the evil men or the evil regime and pretend that they
are going
to be lenient if they are appeased.
The people that go the second route
have the most to answer for as far as
perpetuating the acts of the evil men
or the evil regime. This is because
they legitimise evil by talking to
it as though it is reasonable and
legitimate. Bad company corrupts good
character.
Nearly 3½ millenniums ago God gave 10 commandments on Mount
Sinai. Roman
Dutch law and all codes of decent human behaviour are
based on these. The
first four deal with the individual's relationship
with the Creator. The
fifth and seventh deal with relationships in the
family and the remaining
four commandments deal with the individual's legal
code in society for the
individual and the society's own good. These
are:
· "You shall not murder" : Apart from the 20,000 murders in
Matabeleland
how many have there been since then?
· "You shall not
covet your neighbour's house or anything that belongs to
your neighbour" :
The whole "land grab" exercise has surely been based on
jealousy and
covetousness.
· "You shall not steal" : Actually going out and physically
stealing
houses, irrigation systems, cattle, tractors and crops is
stealing.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by it.
·
"You shall not give false testimony" : Propaganda lies come into
this
category and they are expressly against the will of God.
If we do
not confront these issues and believe that we can save our skins
by looking
the other way or having dialogue with the perpetrators of these
evil acts, we
will have far worse to come. The history of man tells us so.
In the
Eastern Bloc it took up to three generations and millions of deaths
before
people woke up and realised that they had to confront evil if they
wanted to
end it. To not confront it is to collaborate with it. Are you
a
collaborator? It's not too late to
change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
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SABC
Mugabe outlines economic revival
plans
April 19, 2003,
18:15
Economic analysts are unsure what to make of yesterday's
independence speech
by Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe.
Mugabe devoted most of his speech talking about his government's
plans to
revive the country's ailing economy. The Zanu-PF government's new
economic
blueprint, referred to as the National Economic Revival Programme,
is not
new. It was unveiled
recently.
Yesterday, however, was the first time that embattled Mugabe
spoke about its
details public. Previously Mugabe has appeared unwilling to
even acknowledge
that there was an economic crisis in
Zimbabwe.
The numbers may have been smaller than in previous years, but
they still came
in their thousands to listen to the one man who has run
Zimbabwe for the past
23
years.
He announced a range of financial allocations for agrarian
reform, including
spending billions of rands for a mechanisation programme
to assists resettled
farmers with equipment. He said his government was
going to conduct an audit
of who has benefited from the land redistribution
programme. Mugabe also
unveiled a plan to begin a rural electrification
programme. However, Danny
Meyer, an economist, said Mugabe lost yet another
opportunity to redeem
himself.
IOL
Four-legged victims of Zimbabwe
violence
April 18 2003 at
08:56PM
By Zelda Venter
Batty may
just be a mutt and as blind as a bat, but this little dog has
first-hand
knowledge of the atrocities taking place in Zimbabwe: his eyes
were gouged
out by militants invading white-owned farms.
While the eight-month-old
pup's tale may be tragic, he is one of the lucky
ones who were rescued by Wet
Nose Animal Rescue Centre and brought to
Pretoria this week.
In spite
of a gruelling 17-hour journey from Harare, Wet Nose staff and
volunteers
were greeted by 72 wagging tails and 18 tired cats.
As they were taken
from their crates each animal was greeted with a biscuit.
"It was a sight
to see. The dogs could be heard long before the truck was in
sight," Tracy
Forte of Wet Nose said.
The 90 animals rescued from the farms were caged
up for 22 hours as they had
to be loaded hours before the journey
started.
On Friday the animals were waiting anxiously to be re-united
with family.
Many had another gruelling trip ahead as they had to be flown to
owners as
far away as Cape Town.
But some are not so lucky. About 45
of the dogs and two cats are sitting in
their cages waiting for a loving
home.
Among them is Batty who has not given up on life and people.
Although he has
no sight, he wags his tail when he smells a human near his
cage.
He has formed a bond with Fiona Manuals, who went to Harare to
fetch the
animals.
Among the Zimbabwean dogs desperately looking for
homes, are Labradors,
ridgebacks, Staffies, boerboels and German
shepherds.
To give these dogs homes call Manuals at 082 431
1333.
Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing this letter in the evening of the 18th
April 2003. Today is the 23rd anniversary of Zimbabwe's Independence. This
morning I sat watching President Mugabe speaking at Independence celebrations in
Harare. The stadium was decorated with impeccably printed banners which read:
"Zimbabwe will never be a colony
again."
"We have 11 million hectares of reclaimed land in
the bag."
"We are now on solid ground."
"Zimbabwe @ 23 : our land is finally in our
hands."
President Mugabe stood at the podium, unsmiling.
His wife sat behind him, she wore dark glasses throughout and seldom was there a
flicker of any emotion whatsoever on her face. Mugabe spoke briefly and
only from a prepared script. There was nothing surprising in his speech and no
indication that he has the slightest idea or concern for the massive suffering
of 11.6 million Zimbabweans. He ended his speech with the sentence: "Never,
never, never again will Zimbabwe become a colony."
This evening Short Wave Radio Africa replayed
President Mugabe's speech made at Independence in 1980. I sat with goose bumps
listening to his words of 23 years ago. He called for tolerance and patience;
said the time for retribution was over and that the wrongs of the past must
stand forgotten. In 1980 President Mugabe said that racism and oppression were
iniquities that must never again happen in Zimbabwe. The two speeches, made by the same person, 23 years apart have left me
with only one question: My God, what has happened.
Someone wrote to me from Australia this week and
commented that lately my letters are only factual and seldom have any emotional
content. The reason for this is that l, and hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans
are just weeping inside. This week of Independence has been particularly sad for
me as I battle to banish the memories of events that
occurred during the week before Independence in 2000. The gruesome murder
of David Stevens, the abduction and torture of 5 Macheke farmers, the evacuation
of hundreds of farmers from their homes, the gang rape of 2 young women in
Harare, the brutal murder of Martin Olds and the beating of hundreds of farm
workers and opposition supporters. I can hardly believe that I have met most of
these people, written about their hell, described their shattered lives
and struggled to understand how they have survived the pain of it all. It
is all beyond belief and sometimes I think I cannot bear another day of doing
this, of telling of the ongoing hell in Zimbabwe. It's also been a sad week for
Zimbabwe as we heard about the death in Iraq of a young Zimbabwean who was
serving in the Irish Guards. 20 year old Christopher Muzvuru from Gweru was
killed by sniper fire in Basra . He died helping to set Iraq free of a dictator
and just as he never saw Iraq's freedom, neither will he see his own
country once it is under a new and democratic government.
Again I will end on a cold and factual note. This
week President Mugabe's government gave us a 23rd birthday present. The price of
petrol went up by 320%. Happy birthday Zimbabwe ! Until next week, Love cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle, 18th April 2003. http://africantears.netfirms.com
"African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from www.exclusivebooks.com and www.kalahari.net
CFU REPORT THURSDAY 17TH APRIL
SOUTH AFRICAN
MAIZE MARKETING 2003/04 - 17th April 2003
The South African maize market has
collapsed since it peaked in December.
The first critical influence was the
long December dry spell breaking and
the South African maize crop once again
heading for a bumper harvest,
between 9 million and 10 million tonnes. The
second critical influence in
the crashing of the market and having a longer
term effect is the
strengthening of the rand against the United States
dollar. The rand
strengthen by 40% against the dollar last year, and since
January this year
has strengthened a further 10% against the dollar.
Economists explain that
international investors are being attracted to South
African interest rates
of around 13% compared to 1.5% in the United States.
Today the rand reached
7.5 to the dollar.
The price of maize has
plummeted from a peak of nearly R2000 per tonne to
R800 per tonne in just 3
months since December 2002.
The only relief that could take the maize
market out of the doldrums are
export markets, and right now South African
maize traders are struggling to
find a market anywhere in the region, Kenya
and Zimbabwe seemed the likely
maize trading areas, but since the
announcement of Zimbabwe's official maize
harvest estimate of 1.25 million
tonnes compared to forecasted 800,000
tonnes, Zimbabwe may well be
self-sufficient. Even with aggressive marketing
South African port facilities
would still put a cap on export potential.
So with an estimated 1.8
million tonne surplus of maize in South Africa
(1.45 million tonne white and
0.34 million tonnes yellow), the maize prices
in the region of between R800
and R900 per tonnes is not likely to lift in
the next 6 months, it may even
drop further.
Vanessa Mckay COPA/ZCPA/ZGPA
Disclaimer
Unless
specifically stated that this message is a Commercial Farmers'
Union
communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded to you by the
sender in
an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein are
private.
Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any
organisation not
directly affiliated to the Union. The CFU does not accept
any legal
responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender
and
transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or
to
external addressees.
letter to Zim Gateway
The truth that cuts to the bone: Mugabe
worse than Smith
When I was a young boy during the 1980s, I used
to attend these Independence
Day celebrations with my grandmother. The names
Robert Mugabe and Ian Smith
to me did not mean anything because life was the
same, but most probably
because of my age.
I had never suffered under
Smith and I had not yet suffered under Mugabe.
But now I have come to know
from my own experience that there is this thing
called suffering because of
what Mugabe has done to this once beautiful
country.
What my
grandmother used to tell me about Smith are the only things I know
about him
since I really never knew him, being only a toddler when he was
pushed out of
power. My grandmother talked of the bad things he used to do.
However,
the things she told me about Smith make him look like he was a very
good man
compared to Mugabe.
I mean Mugabe is far worse than Smith. This man has
cheated us out of our
independence. Being only a little child during the
early 80s, I used to like
Independence Day most probably because of the sadza
and cooked beef they
used to serve. I have come to realise that it is not
sadza and beef served
at these functions that give substance to independence
- there is no
existence of it in anyway. Rather, it is freedom and prosperity
for the
people which should be celebrated.
However, there is no
freedom but poverty all over the country.
Is that independence?
If
Smith's jails were full of the Mugabes, Sitholes, Takawiras, Kangais,
Nkomos
and many other comrades fighting for the liberation of Zimbabwe,
today Mugabe
has unleashed terror on the comrades who are fighting for our
new
independence from his violent and oppressive rule in what can only
be
described as a sad case of history repeating itself.
Just as Smith
vowed that there would never be black majority rule, "not in
thousand years",
so Mugabe now also vows that Tsvangirai (meaning the
majority in the country
opposed to Mugabe's tyranny) will never rule
Zimbabwe. Shame on
him.
Can't he learn from Smith's experience since he is his mentor? I
mean you
should remember how he fell from power.
Is this what other
comrades fought for? I do not think any of those people
who died fighting to
liberate this country are happy to see you make life
even more miserable than
Smith ever did to our parents. If they had known
that your desire was only to
replace a bad white ruler with a black one who
is actually worse than the
white one, they would never have chosen you to
lead them.
Actually,
you have everything in common with Smith except that your venom is
worse. In
Shona we say: "Muroyi royera kure" (Practise your witchcraft far).
Now what
kind of a witch are you who unleashes witchcraft on his own
people?
Mugabe is a weapon of mass destruction on his own which George W
Bush and
Tony Blair should do something to neutralise it.
Now I hear
the government is preparing to celebrate independence. I cannot
see anyone
among us, the suffering masses, celebrating this year. We can not
be happy
when there is no food, no fuel, no rule of law, universities are
closed,
students and opposition MPs are languishing in jails, innocent
people are
being arrested and tortured daily and MDC activists murdered.
What have
you done to the superb education system you found in place when
you took over
power? And what have you done to the media and the health
system? Are you
proud of having turned the police and the army into enemies
of the people so
that, instead of protecting the people as they are employed
to do, they are
now protecting you against the people's anger? Shame on you!
Owen Chari -
Harare
COSATU: Zanu(PF) party is a clear example
of a liberation movement gone
astray
JOHANNESBURG --
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu(PF) party was a clear example of a
liberation movement
gone astray, and it was worth asking whether the
country's independence
needed to be celebrated, the Congress of SA Trade
Unions said
yesterday.
"We are absolutely disgusted at the level at which human
rights are abused
in that country," Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi
said a day before
Zimbabwe celebrates its independence.
Vavi said the
beating, torture and dehumanisation of President Robert
Mugabe's political
opponents was an embarrassment to what Zimbabweans fought
for.
He
asked how the African Union (AU) planned to morally deal with the
situation
in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile a South African government proposal that succeeded
in blocking an
examination of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe by the
United Nations
Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has been criticised at home
and abroad.
Zimbabwe escaped international scrutiny on Wednesday after 28
mainly African
and Asian countries in the 53-member UNHRC supported a South
African "no
action" motion on a European Union resolution calling for debate
on the
issue.
The draft resolution had expressed deep concern over
continuing abuse by the
Zimbabwean government, including assaults, torture,
cases of rape, arbitrary
arrests and attempts to clamp down on the country's
judiciary.
Yesterday, the Democratic Alliance said it was "deeply
disturbed and
shocked" to learn South Africa had led such a
proposal.
"Why... would the South African government propose that the
UNHRC not take a
firmer stand on Zimbabwe? It boggles the mind," veteran DA
MP and party
foreign affairs spokesman Colin Eglin said.
"The
breakdown in law and order, the botched land reform programme and
the
disregard shown for human rights in Zimbabwe will not only have
a
destructive impact on that country, it will also drag down the
entire
Southern African region.
A task force of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) is
expected in the country soon to look into
issues in the country, including
claims of human rights abuses against the
opposition.
But Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge reiterated to
reporters that
the visit by the task force was "not an inquisition... it is
an act of
solidarity".
However, he said neither would the task force
be coming for "a white-washing
exercise" but would be allowed to determine
its own agenda and meet with a
wide section of Zimbabweans, including the
opposition.
Meanwhile, European Parliament MP Michael Gahler, who was
head of the
European Parliament's observer delegation to the 2000
parliamentary
elections in Zimbabwe said the South African government had
turned its back
on Zimbabwe's people, who were suffering under a "despotic
leader".
"The more the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, the more the
Mugabe regime
apparently can count on the unconditional support from the 'old
boys
network' existing between the ANC and Zanu(PF)," he said. --
Sapa
letter to Zim Gateway
I declare my
23 year marriage to Zanu PF to be over
My problem started 23
years ago when I got married to Zanu PF. At the time
of marriage, I was very
young and confused and Zanu PF was very charming and
came to me with a
thousand promises. I fell for the promises such as that he
would provide for
me and that he had allegedly delivered me from the evil
clutches of a
colonial enemy.
I was faithful to my husband, but I was repaid with
negligence and he also
took me for granted. The sweet promises turned out to
be empty, the
negligence matured into violence.
When I tried to
complain, l was accused of being unfaithful. When I tried to
seek help from
neighbours, he went mad and said I was a sellout. Life has
become unbearable;
our marriage has irretrievably broken down and there are
no prospects for
reconciliation.
My husband knows that all love is lost between us, but he
keeps reminding me
that it was him who had saved me from the colonial enemy
and, therefore, I
had to show some gratitude.
Some friends advised me
that I should stand up to him and declare openly
that the marriage is over
and that I must be free to choose someone who
really cares and who delivers
what he promises. Others are saying perhaps I
should stay for the sake of my
children and that I should be patient with
him and talk to him nicely for him
to see reason.
I don't believe that my husband, who has become such a
beast, is capable of
changing. What must I do?
No he is forcing me to
celebrate our 23rd anniversary in this hell of a
marriage.
But there
is nothing for me to celebrate, my children are running away to
stay with
foreigners, I can't take the pain any more.
Rev Sokwanele Dewa -
Gweru
letter to Zim Gateway
Mugabe must
dismiss Chiwenga
The Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defense
Forces, Robert Mugabe should
dismiss the Commander of the Zimbabwe National
Army Constantine Chiwenga for
dragging the army into disrepute through his
wife Joycelyn.
Joycelyn Chiwenga reduced the president, Zvinavashe,
Zimbabweans and the
whole army into shame when she assaulted Philemon
Bulawayo and Gugu Moyo at
a Glen View police Station recently. The army
commander's wife is not a
soldier or police officer qualified to give
instructions to security
personnel as she wished. Only Constantine is the
commander of the army not
all the Chiwengas including their donkeys or their
so called small houses.
The officer in charge of Glen View police station
must either be transferred
or dismissed for failing to arrest Mrs. Chiwenga.
It is so sad to note that
army commander's bedroom partner can easily get
away with acts of
hooliganism and thuggery in a country we claim to have rule
of law.
Jocelyn behaved like a Shebeen Queen not a general's wife who
deserved great
respect at all levels. She was a disgrace to the head of
state, Zanu PF,
army commanders and all peace loving Zimbabweans.
I
have great respect for Constantine Chiwenga for his profession and
cherished
approach to national issues but what Jocelyn did reduced him
to
nothing.
Kurauone Chihwayi
Let this be a lesson for all weak
men who allow themselves to be suduced by
"gold diggers". This ex-bar girl is
such an example as is the ex-secretary
who seduced her old fool of a boss.
.Ed.
Letter to Zim Gateway
Wishful
thinking to believe Mbeki would naturally support good over
evil
I don't agree with a friend who suggested that Edmund
Burke, the renowned
Irish writer and politician, meant the likes of Thabo
Mbeki when he said:
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good
men to do
nothing."
I don't believe Mbeki can be said to be either a
good or evil man. He is in
a grey area, ready to develop either way.
Something in President Mugabe
seems to intrigue Mbeki. What is it? I hope it
is not his style of
governance.
Mbeki isn't such a bad chap (so we try
to believe). He's maintained
reasonable economic stability and growth in
South Africa.
His governance has been conventional and unambitious. It's
only his foreign
policy on Zimbabwe that is suspect. He's carved himself a
niche as an
avante-garde African leader through his Nepad project, African
Renaissance
and relative democracy. A free press flourishes unhindered.
Opposition
parties are not just tolerated, they are
respected.
Mbongeni Ngema's single Amandiya, a song deemed racist and
xenophobic by the
Asian community, was banned by his administration. He seems
a good, honest
politician.
So why is he quiet on Mugabe who does not
just have henchmen who sing
xenophobic songs, but also denies the starving
masses food (because they
don't like him), and trains militia to terrorise
the opposition? Above all,
Mugabe has created and encouraged a semi-anarchic
state in Zimbabwe.
No one is immune to the reach of his power from the
rural poor to the urban
sophisticated. So why does Mbeki condone all this?
Did Mugabe promise him a
farm? No.
The bottom line is that Mugabe has
got some firm hold on Mbeki and our only
hope is that it's not something
personal. Noone believes all the African
solidarity nonsense. The other
junior Sadc presidents are willing to isolate
Mugabe if Mbeki leads the way.
I really hate him now he is insensitive to
our feelings and
suffering.
This man is just another African loser caught in the wrong
system. He seems
to envy Mugabe's extra- constitutional liberties. He hates
Nelson Mandela
for setting such a difficult precedence for him to
match.
Mbeki to me is a Mugabe in the 80s. Remember Steve Tshwete's
claims about
Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale!
The bottom line is
that Mbeki sees his own political instincts being
actually exercised by
Mugabe. He, on the other hand, doesn't have enough
power or room to do the
same.
Will James, an African American scholar once said: "Genius...means
little
more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual
way."
Maybe Mbeki in his own eccentric way sees a genius in Mugabe. God
forbid for
South African's sake.
Vinncent Mushonga -
Budiriro
The point made here is very good. There is no evidence from any
actions of
the Mbeki regime that they value human rights above the personal
needs of
the ANC elite and the liberation "debt" they believe they owe to
Mugabe. It
is absolutely vital that the new Zimbabwe develop communication
links
through Mozambique to become less susseptable to the internal upheval
that
is sure to come as the ANC use all the same Mugabe tactics to cling to
power
when the liberation euphoria dies and the people demand results.
.Ed.
Telegraph
Mugabe regime denies soldier a grave at
home
By Jane Flanagan in Johannesburg and Thair Shaikh
(Filed:
20/04/2003)
A Zimbabwean soldier killed in Iraq who had signed up to
serve in the
British Army has been denounced as a "traitor" by Robert
Mugabe's regime.
The country's state-controlled media has called for the
body of "mercenary"
Piper Christopher Muzvuru, of the 1st Battalion, Irish
Guards, to be buried
in Britain and not returned to Zimbabwe.
Piper
Muzvuru, 21, who said shortly before his death that his dearest
ambition was
to play the bagpipes before the Queen, was killed by a sniper
in
Basra.
Last night his brother, Munqondfi, said from the family's home in
Gweru,
near Bulawayo: "We don't know what is going to happen about bringing
his
body back. My mother is very distressed."
Family and friends of
Piper Muzvuru in Britain - of whom more than 40 were
at Brize Norton,
Oxfordshire, last week when his body was returned - have
refused to speak out
because they are scared of the Mugabe regime.
Piper Muzvuru enlisted into
the British Army in February 2001. He joined the
Irish Guards in October 2001
and soon completed a course at the Piping
School in Edinburgh. He was the
first black piper in the regiment's 103-year
history.
Up to 200
Zimbabweans are serving in the British Army. Citizens of
Commonwealth
countries are entitled to apply to join Britain's Armed Forces.
On the
day of his death Piper Muzvuru was interviewed by a reporter from an
American
news agency. "I always wanted to learn the bagpipes," he told
Martin Walker
of UPI.
At dawn on April 6, as his regiment prepared to launch an attack
on Basra,
Piper Muzvuru played two Irish tunes on his chanter, a small pipe
usually
kept for practice. He was killed by sniper fire later that afternoon.
The
next day his colleague L/Cpl Ian Malone, 28, from Dublin, was also
killed.
Last week, the Daily Mirror in Zimbabwe, which is owned by a
former member
of Mr Mugabe's cabinet, said that Piper Muzvuru's body must "be
buried in
Britain - the country that he chose to die for".
The paper's
owner and editor-in-chief, Dr Ibbo Mandaza, a former cabinet
minister under
Mr Mugabe, said: "Throughout history Africans have fought on
behalf of
Britain in return for cash and I regret that that tradition
continues
today."
The pro-government Daily Herald published a cartoon of Piper
Muzvuru headed
"Buffalo Soldier", a reference to the nickname of an American
post-Civil War
cavalry regiment made up of black men used to fight Native
American Indians.
sundayherald.com
Nominees for Burns award
announced
By Jenifer Johnston
The nominees for the Robert
Burns Humanitarian Award, which will be given
next month as part of the
Ayrshire Burns Festival, have been announced.
The shortlisted nominees are
Simon P?nek, founder of the Czech-based People
In Need Foundation, Gareth
Pierce, one of the UK's best-known civil rights
lawyers, Independent
journalist Robert Fisk, Yitzhak Frankenthal, a Middle
Eastern peace activist,
and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean
opposition party Movement For
Democratic Change.
American political commentator and recent Oscar winner
Michael Moore
narrowly missed a nomination for the award.
The judging
panel, chaired by broadcaster Kirsty Wark, also includes Magnus
Linklater,
former chair of the Scottish Arts Council, Sunday Herald
journalist Ian Bell
and ethics Dr Sheila McLean.
The winner, who will collect their award on
May 9 at a gala concert at
Culzean Castle, will collect 1759 guineas, a sum
which signifies the year of
the bard's birth, and a specially commissioned
work by local artist Marion
Kane.
Morgan Tsvangirai has told
organisers that he may not be able to attend
should he win because of Robert
Mugabe's regime in place in Zimbabwe.
He said: 'It all depends on whether
the Mugabe regime relaxes my travel
restrictions imposed after I was charged
with treason in March last year.
The treason trial is still in progress. May
I thank you for the nomination
which is a great honour to me personally and
the people of Zimbabwe.'
Pete Irvine of Unique Events, organisers of the
festival, said the prize
gave the festival an important international
focus.
'It's important because it demonstrates that we are truly an
international
festival -- this is not just an event for Ayrshire or even the
UK,' he said.
'This is the only truly international award that we have in
Scotland. The
winner will be accepting an award that shows they are above
criticism of
personal aspiration.'
James Robertson of the World Burns
Federation, who is also on the judging
panel said: 'We are hoping that this
year even more people will come and
enjoy Burns, whether for the first time
or as a regular part of their
summer.'