The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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Globe and Mail, Canada
Zimbabwe's innocent victims of sanctions

By STEPHANIE NOLEN

Saturday, April 23, 2005 Updated at 1:37 AM EST

Glendale, Zimbabwe - When you lay an arm over Tambusai Chigwida's shoulders,
you feel her bones like a wooden coat hanger through tissue paper. She is so
slight, perhaps 30 kilograms, that turned sideways she is no more than a
child's hand-span wide. But she beams and bustles with pride when it comes
time to show off her baby son. Ishanesu is three months old, and he weighs
1.5 kg (up from 900 grams a few days after his birth). Ms. Chigwida lifts
him out of the incubator and joggles him for a visitor, his indignant body
small even in her skeletal hand.
She delivered him three months early, not uncommon for women with AIDS. She
didn't know she was HIV-positive in January, when she arrived in labour at
Howard Hospital, and nurses here had no opportunity to treat her tiny son
with a drug that would have lowered his risk of infection.

"You have to know he's a fighter," said Paul Thistle, a Scarborough, Ont.,
doctor who runs this Salvation Army hospital 100 kilometres north of Harare.
In the wards here, where three-quarters of the beds, and many pallets on the
floor, are filled with gaunt, gasping, listless people with AIDS, few people
have energy left to fight.

In the national and international uproar early this month over Zimbabwe's
parliamentary election and the future of the country under the rule of
President Robert Mugabe, a key fact has been overlooked: AIDS is having a
more devastating impact on the country than even Mr. Mugabe's increasingly
despotic habits.

About 2,800 people die of AIDS in Zimbabwe every week. At least one in four
adult Zimbabweans has HIV, but there is no national treatment program to
speak of, such as those under way to provide life-saving anti-retroviral
drugs to people with AIDS in almost every country across sub-Saharan Africa.
Zimbabwe's economy is in collapse, the government has no foreign exchange to
buy drugs or expertise and the health system is in chaos, with an estimated
half of the adult work force having fled the country for paying work. At the
same time, key donors have isolated this country, out of frustration with
Mr. Mugabe; there is no funding coming in. Any international aid agencies
that might have stepped in to help are holding back or leaving as the
government threatens to implement a law that would give it direct oversight
of their budgets and projects.

Zimbabwe is receiving only $4 (U.S.) in donor support for each person
infected by AIDS, compared with a regional average of $74. Neighbouring
Zambia, for example, received $187 for every infected person last year;
Cameroon, with a third as many infected people as Zimbabwe, received $121,
and Mozambique, which has half as many as Zimbabwe, got $92 a person.

Of the key donors, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria approved a
$10-million grant to Zimbabwe in 2002. It has not released the money because
of concerns about governance, and it rejected a request for a grant of
$218-million last year.

The World Bank, which has a major AIDS-treatment plan, is financing no
projects here. Nor is the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Yet Zimbabwe has the fourth highest infection rate in the world. The three
countries higher on the list (Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland) are tiny nations
with populations of fewer than two million people; Zimbabwe's is 11.5
million.

"Donors are looking at our government, not looking at the people," said
Prisca Nhakutombwa, a volunteer AIDS counsellor in Harare who has been
living with HIV since 1986. "We are suffering for our government."

Ms. Nhakutombwa co-ordinates teams of people to give palliative care in the
slums around Harare, and wonders every week where they will get the latex
gloves and the cotton swabs to do it. She says it is these people,
incontinent in the last weeks of their life and wrapped in newspaper, who
pay the price for an international desire to isolate Mr. Mugabe.

At the same time, she can understand donor reluctance. "If donors give money
to the government, [the money] will disappear. We will never see it. If you
say you will use the money for ARVs [anti-retroviral drugs] and you use it
for T-shirts for a campaign, they're not going to give you the money next
time."

The horrible irony of the devastation that AIDS is wreaking in Zimbabwe is
that even with the political and economic crisis, and the exodus of
health-care workers for jobs in Britain and North America, the country is
still in a better position than any of its neighbours to do ARV treatment,
if it had the will and the money.

Until Mr. Mugabe undertook a highly politicized land-reform campaign in 2000
in a bid to hold on to power, Zimbabwe was a beacon of development in the
region. Even today, the country's once-unrivalled network of local health
clinics is still functioning. In 2002, the government declared AIDS an
emergency and overrode the patent protection on ARVs so that the treatment
recommended by the World Health Organization is now made locally and is
available for about $350 a year.

The government has successfully rolled out, with the help of the Elizabeth
Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, a program to prevent pregnant women with
HIV from passing the virus to their babies. With drugs donated by the
pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, the program is in place at
865 sites across the country, from district hospitals to small clinics
staffed with only a nurse's aide.

Co-ordinator Agnes Mahomva said that because mother-to-child prevention is
relatively simple (Zimbabwe uses a single dose of the drug Nevirapine to the
mother and one to the newborn, which lowers the risk of transmission of HIV
at birth by at least a third), the government was committed to doing it even
with constraints such as chronic staff shortages.
"We wanted to go and do more training in [one region] next week, but even
all our trainers are gone," Dr. Mahomva said.

In large part because of those shortages, she estimated that last year her
program reached fewer than half of the HIV-positive pregnant women. Those
capacity problems continue to stand in the way of anything more than trial
efforts with ARVs, she said.

The mother-to-child program was possible only because of support from the
Glaser foundation and Unicef, she said. "People are extremely disappointed
that we're not getting support [for ARVs] from the Global Fund and the
others."

About 4,000 people are receiving ARVs through government clinics (compared
with 22,000 in Zambia, a much less-developed country) in a nation where
360,000 are so sick with AIDS that they need drugs today. A further 3,000 to
4,000 people can afford to pay private clinics for treatment in Zimbabwe,
although the supply of foreign-made drugs is unreliable (and ARVs need to be
taken every day to be effective).

Non-government organizations such as Médecins sans frontières (Doctors
Without Borders) and research trials are treating perhaps 1,500 more.

One small, local AIDS organization does the treatment illegally, relying on
drugs smuggled in from supporters in the United States. It has 500 people on
ARVs. "It's totally illegal," a staff member said. "But the government
doesn't shut us down because the cabinet ministers and their wives come here
for their drugs."

Staff of donor agencies, who are reluctant to speak on the record about the
freeze on Zimbabwe, say privately that while they recognize that poor people
living with AIDS are paying the price, they are forced to make hard
decisions about where best to spend a finite pool of resources, and they can
be more confident in other countries that assistance will be used
effectively in AIDS projects.

In addition, some cited fears that Mr. Mugabe would use ARVs the same way he
has food aid - as a blatant political tool, providing supplies to his
perceived political supporters and freezing out anyone thought to support
his opposition.

The President likes to boast about Zimbabwe's national AIDS levy, which is
unique in the region. Since 1999, every formally employed citizen has paid 3
per cent of her or his income into a kitty that is intended to fund AIDS
prevention and treatment.

"We wanted that levy so that we could help each other, because most people
who die of HIV die like dogs and are buried like dogs," Ms. Nhakutombwa
said.

Dr. Mahomva's mother-to-child program got $100,000 from the levy fund last
year, and she says that some community organizations also got funds to take
care of AIDS orphans, of whom there are an estimated 940,000 in the country.

But Ms. Nhakutombwa says her agency hasn't seen any of it, nor has any other
she knows. "That's more money for T-shirts," she said.

The government has not permitted a public audit of how much has been
collected or how it has been disbursed.
The miracle in Zimbabwe today is the handful of people like Ms. Nhakutombwa
who find means - desperate, surreptitious or entirely illegal - to try to
get the drugs out to patients as mounting inflation and isolation make it
ever more difficult.

"As a technical person, I could go out and bang my head, or I can say: 'What
is it that I can do?' There is still a lot we can do with the little we
have," Dr. Mahomva said.

Last July, Dr. Thistle, the Canadian who is one of two doctors at the rural
hospital serving 250,000, got a call saying his hospital had been tapped as
one of five sites in the country to do treatment. The hospital has 160
people on the drugs, and hopes for 200 by the end of the year - that's out
of a patient population of 5,000, all sick enough to start treatment
immediately.

Ms. Chigwida is one of them. A year ago, she was living in Harare with her
husband and their three daughters, but when she began to get sick, he sent
her away, and she came home here to her mother.

"I was always thin, but last year it got worse," she said softly. "I knew I
was sick." Her large eyes began to leak slow tears. "But I didn't expect
this."

After Dr. Thistle's quiet urging, she had an HIV test a few weeks after the
baby was born; she also has tuberculosis, which gives her constant chest
pain, and three more children, whom she has left with her mother.

Three weeks ago, Dr. Thistle enrolled Ms. Chigwida in his small treatment
project. She is so thin and short of breath, it is hard to imagine her, in
the cold medical calculus that is necessary here, as a good risk for the
precious drugs.

Dr. Thistle, though, watches her and her tiny son, the fighter. And he has
high hopes for both of them.
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Mail and Guardian

      Two days of blackouts plague Zimbabwe

      Michael Hartnack | Harare, Zimbabwe

      23 April 2005 06:00

            Failures in generators at power stations and a fault in a line
connecting Zimbabwe with a power grid in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) were responsible for two days of nationwide electrical blackouts,
officials told state radio on Friday.

            The power cuts caused elevators in high-rise buildings to stop
working, traffic lights to go out, cafés and restaurants to close and
cinemas to send patrons away.

            A spokesperson for the state electrical authority told state
radio that the blackouts were caused by generator failures at the Hwange
coal-fired power station, west of Harare, and at the Kariba hydro-electric
power scheme on the Zambezi River. He said there was also a fault in the
connection to the grid in the DRC.

            Many areas of the capital were without power for 12 hours on
Friday, bringing work to a standstill in offices that depend on computer
equipment.

            The electric authority spokesperson said further "load shedding"
must be expected, as the country is going into its coldest season.

            "The region has run out of power to export to countries such as
Zimbabwe," the spokesperson told state radio.

            President Robert Mugabe 10 years ago vetoed Western companies'
competing plans for the massive upgrading of Hwange power station in favour
of his own scheme to give the project to a Malaysian consortium. The scheme
was never followed through. -- Sapa-AP

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Govt's Poor Credit Rating Hampers Food Imports

Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)

April 22, 2005
Posted to the web April 22, 2005

Augustine Mukaro/Shakeman Mugari

ZIMBABWE'S efforts to import food from South Africa to avert a looming
famine are in jeopardy with revelations this week that government is unable
to secure lines of credit from foreign banks.

Zimbabwe has been unable to import commodities such as fuel and has been
forced to conduct business over the counter because of poor credit rating. A
number of prospective banks are hesitant to commit their money because of
Zimbabwe's long history of defaulting on loan repayments.

Sources say suppliers in South Africa are demanding cash upfront before they
deliver the maize to Zimbabwe. The country has so far imported 100 000
tonnes of maize from South Africa but has since failed to procure more
because of foreign currency shortages and lack of credit lines.

An Egyptian-based bank, the African Export-Import Bank, is understood to
have provided a loan but is dragging its heels on providing more lines of
credit. An official at the bank's Harare office refused to comment,
referring all questions to their headquarters in Cairo.

The Zimbabwe Independent could not get a comment from Egypt because it was a
national holiday yesterday.

Contacted for a comment, Grain Marketing Board acting chief executive Samuel
Muvuti turned abusive, accusing the paper of serving "its master's
interests".

"Aiwa ka shamwari (No my friend), we know what your paper stands for. We
know the type of reports you will write. You have never written anything
factual about this country. You are always demonising the president and the
country as if you are not Zimbabwean yourself," Muvuti fumed. "Tinozviziva
zvamunomirira (We know what you stand for). It's pointless for me to tell
you anything because you are going to twist it to suit your editor's needs,
your handler's needs and your paper's needs. I don't want to talk to your
paper."

Meanwhile, barely a fortnight after Zimbabwe's sixth parliamentary election,
government has allowed non-governmental organisations to resume humanitarian
assistance.

Organisations such as Care International, World Vision, Christian Care and
other implementing partners are reportedly engaged in preparatory meetings
to resume general food distribution.

There were 13 implementing partners working on humanitarian assistance until
last year when government stopped the programmes claiming the country was
poised for a bumper harvest of 2,4 million tonnes. The claim has however
been proven wrong by a parliamentary select committee.

Care International two weeks ago convened meetings in Masvingo's Gutu
district where it announced plans to start general food distribution in the
area. Village heads, councillors and Care International officials based at
Mpandawana growth point attended the meeting.

Reports from Mashonaland East's Mutoko and Mudzi districts indicate that
World Vision has been convening similar meetings.

Under the general food distribution, local structures working together with
implementing partners in hunger-stricken areas compile lists of households
to ensure that all people have access to food. Beneficiaries over the years
have been getting beans, cooking oil, wheat and Uni-mix porridge.

Care International country director Philip Christensen could not be reached
for comment as he was said to be out of the country.

Implementing partners umbrella body, World Food Programme spokesperson
Makena Walker would neither confirm or deny the new development.

"Implementing partners can carry out other projects outside the WFP
funding," Walker said. "Food distribution has always been carried out in two
ways: general food distribution, which was stopped last year and the
targeted feeding, which has been ongoing."

Walker however would not comment on whether there was need for full-scale
general food distribution, referring all questions to the government.

An estimated 700 000 tonnes of maize will have to be imported before the
next harvest to avert mass starvation in both rural and urban areas.
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Foreign Currency Shortage Persists

The Herald (Harare)

April 22, 2005
Posted to the web April 22, 2005

Golden Sibanda
Harare

CAPTAINS of industry meet in Harare today for a conference to discuss ways
of improving the availability and generation of foreign currency in the
country.

Organised by Human Resources (Private) Limited, the conference comes at a
time when the foreign currency crisis has showed little signs of abating and
there is urgent need to find a lasting solution before the situation gets
out of hand.

Presentations will include practical advice on how to get foreign currency,
say the organisers.

"Our speakers have already identified '10 ways of acquiring foreign
currency' of which the most economically constructive is the development of
exports.

"However, opportunities also exist in barter trade, contract manufacturing,
international joint venture, encouragement of foreign investment and local
joint ventures between importers and exporters," said the company.

The availability of foreign currency has been a sore point for local
companies over the past few years as inflows continue to lag behind demand.

In many instances daily demand for foreign currency on the auction floor has
reached up to US$111 million, a far cry from the average US$11 million on
offer.

Several prominent figures in the local business community are expected to
present papers on critical issues regarding foreign currency sourcing at
today's conference.

These will include Export Processing Zones Authority's Mr Partridge Sibanda;
economist consultants Mr Eric Bloch and Mr John Robertson; as well and
economists from the Reserve Bank.

The country's biggest business organisations - the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce (ZNCC) and Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) - will
also be represented at high level at the conference.

Discussions will centre on how to develop export markets, barter trade,
contract manufacturing, international joint ventures, franchising,
maximising success at auction floors, obtaining foreign investment and
accessing offshore lines of credit among others.

One of the topics expected to spark intense debate and interest among
delegates was the foreign currency auction system on which a specially
prepared and computerised analysis has been carried out by financial
consultant Mr Peter Cawood.
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Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 4:21 PM
Subject: Not even smoke

Dear Family and Friends,

Things have deteriorating noticeably in Zimbabwe in the three weeks since
the ruling party declared they had won the elections. Prices have shot up,
basic foodstuffs are becoming harder and harder to find and the fuel
supply is sporadic. Water from taps has become a luxury and the state
owned television this week gave us a long story to explain that as winter
approaches electricity cuts are going to be regular occurrences.

This week the MDC finally gave up their prolonged diplomatic game and
openly declared that the South Africans were not honest brokers in
mediating in the Zimbabwean crisis. They said that it was now apparent
that the South African stance of "Quiet Diplomacy" was in a reality just a
"package of lies and pretence."  The statement of this sad fact and an end
to the nonsensical diplomatic pretence, comes as a relief to Zimbabweans.
We had watched with shock and disgust the line taken by the SABC TV news
presenter reporting from Zimbabwe during the election period and few
people believed they had remained impartial.

Zimbabweans feel so utterly betrayed by our African neighbours and at
least now the talk has become straightforward and to the point. By all
accounts there are probably less than 20 or 30 000 white people left in
Zimbabwe and it is matter of continental shame that our regional
neighbours cannot and will not see the suffering of 11 million ordinary
people but choose to keep on and on hiding behind the now 25 year old
"colonialist" scapegoat.

It is very hard to be optimistic about anything at the moment but there is
a joke doing the rounds which is particularly appropriate as we hurtle
backwards into the dark ages. Using a stick, an old shoelace and a bent
paper clip a hungry man crafts a crude fishing rod and goes down to try
his luck at the river. Against all the odds he manages to catch a small
fish and he hurries home to his wife with the first meat they've seen for
weeks. He asks his wife to grill the fish immediately but she says she
can't because they are having an extended power cut. Then he suggests that
she uses the paraffin stove instead and poaches the fish but she can't do
that either because there is no paraffin in the country for the stove. The
man goes off to collect firewood and says now they can fry the fish but
that is also impossible because there is neither margarine nor cooking oil
in the country. In despair, the hungry man suggests they simply boil the
fish but that too is impossible as there is no water in the taps. Resigned
to just smoking the fish on an open fire, the hungry man bends to light
the sticks but cannot even do that as the country even ran out of matches
this week. In disgust he gets up, grabs the fish and takes it back to the
river. The fish slides into the water and turns back to wave a fin at the
hungry man and says: "Well, you voted for them."

Until next week, with love, cathy. Copyright cathy buckle 23 April 2005
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New Zealand Herald

      Paul Lewis: Zimbabwe trip doesn't stand up

      24.04.05

      Can anyone think of a good reason for the Black Caps to go to Zimbabwe
on tour this year? The only possible answer is to help the growth of
Zimbabwe cricket but that seems hopelessly altruistic when lined up
alongside the propaganda value to Robert Mugabe's wretched regime.

      In our issue this week, former New Zealand cricket internationals give
their views on the to-go-or-not-to-go issue and most of them mention the
sportsman's dilemma of career vs morality. Some venture into sport-used
as-a-political-football territory but the plain fact is that sport and
politics have been inextricably linked since Julius Caesar offered errant
senators a guest spot at the Colosseum, starring alongside the lions. Don't
miss the start ...

      The International Cricket Council have instituted contracts and
penalties that mean New Zealand Cricket could get a bill for $2.7m if they
pull out of the tour for reasons other than political grounds and/or the
safety and security of players.

      NZC CEO Martin Snedden has already said the tour will not be cancelled
on political grounds by NZC. He reasons that it's up to the Government to
decide on the politics. Fair enough. Helen Clark says she wouldn't be seen
dead in Zimbabwe - but will not call the tour off as it is a decision for
the sport. Sports Minister Trevor Mallard says the government will not
underwrite the $2.7m fine if NZC call the tour off. Hmmm. Is anyone
detecting a pattern here?

      This buck is being passed faster than one of Brett Lee's bouncers.
It's all up to everyone else. And the biggest passer of the buck may be the
ICC, whose mandate is the growth of world cricket rather than a small matter
of human rights.

      If anyone needs to see why we shouldn't go to Zimbabwe to play
cricket, they do not need to research back over the past years of Mugabe's
rule where he has rigged elections, driven the economy into the ground,
produced poverty, masked it with rhetoric and pushed internal opposition
underground by mental and physical threat.

      All they need to do is read the account of the two Sunday Telegraph
journalists who were recently jailed in Zimbabwe after they were caught
having a nosy at the elections on a tourist visa. Now this is a familiar
trick by Fleet Street. You go into an oppressive regime on a tourist visa
but you are really there to report.

      You may recall the Fleet Street woman who dressed as a Muslim and rode
into Afghanistan on a donkey and was caught and jailed, leaving her little
daughter alone in London. She then wrote a book about her terrible
experiences (all of which were self-inflicted).

      God help us, and thank God for the British foreign service who seem
particularly adept at helping nationals who get into these self-aggrandising
scrapes.

      However, the two Sunday Telegraph journalists painted an extraordinary
picture of Zimbabwe. At the election, they found Zanu PF (Mugabe's party)
out in force, beating drums and telling voters that the way they cast their
votes would be discovered. In jail, arrested for 'interfering with the
election', they were processed by an alarming man known to them as one of
the veterans of Zimbabwe's war of independence (30,000 lives lost). There
were frightening tales of mistreatment and interrogations.

      The account is marked by a common theme - a lack of regard for human
rights and liberty that we take for granted.

      So what is a cricket tour of Zimbabwe to this? Mugabe is also the
patron of Zimbabwe cricket. However much the cricketers on such a tour may
protest and declare their non-support of the regime, their presence serves
to boost it.

      So what do we do? Someone needs to take responsibility. The ICC must
wake up to the real world and take their $2.7m and stick it where you can't
fit a cricket ball. The Government - our Government - needs to tell the NZC
to call it off.

      But in this political game of buck-passing, none of those things are
likely to happen. It may end up back with Martin Snedden. He was a canny and
brave cricketer. He is also smart and no stranger to finding a solution to a
vexing problem.

      I just hope someone has the cojones to call this thing off. It doesn't
even make sense from a sporting point of view as Zimbabwe are pretty naff at
cricket right now.

      Even the argument that we shouldn't leave them in Mugabe's clutches
doesn't work. Isolation can have a powerful effect on countries. Just ask
South Africa.

      - HERALD ON SUNDAY
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News24

Zim: Media may see 'tolerance'
23/04/2005 18:22  - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwe's new information minister has indicated that the
government will take a more tolerant approach to domestic and foreign media
and consider protests at draconian controls imposed by his predecessor,
Professor Jonathan Moyo.

Tichaona Jokonya, appointed in a cabinet reshuffle last week, had told
editors "his ministry would work toward inculcating a culture of trust
between all media houses and the government," the state controlled daily,
The Herald, reported on Saturday.

The Herald said Jokonya, a former ambassador to Ethiopia under Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam, "agreed there was need to exercise tolerance in
applying the law".

Moyo, who was expelled from the cabinet and ruling party shortly before
winning a parliamentary seat as an independent, introduced the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which imposes a two year prison
term for practicing as a journalist or publishing a newspaper without a
government license. Three independent newspapers have been banned since its
2002 passage and over 40 journalists arrested, although none has been
convicted.

Less ruthless

Jokonya's new deputy, Bright Matonga, was quoted by the Herald as telling
editors: "The ministry would not be restricting the foreign media from
reporting on Zimbabwe."

Since 2002, six foreign correspondents have been expelled and many news
organizations refused permission to send representatives.

The Herald said that at a meeting with editors on Friday, "although there
was general consensus on some of the virtues of the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act, the minister agreed to consider some of the
concerns the media had on the application of the legislation, which
regulates media operations in Zimbabwe."

Present at the meeting were the editors of three surviving privately owned
weekly newspapers as well as the large state-owned media outlet, which
includes two daily papers and the national radio and television broadcasting
service.

A senior executive of one of the independent media houses, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said Jokonya's message had been that the government
would in future enforce the information act less ruthlessly and would be
more open to foreign reporters.

During May 31 voting for a new parliament, two British journalists were
detained near a polling station about 40km west of the capital and held
without bail for two weeks before being deported. Zimbabwe's only
independent daily newspaper, The Daily News, remains banned.

On Thursday, the editor and a reporter for the privately owned Sunday
Standard were charged with "publishing a false statement prejudicial to the
government".

The Herald said Jokonya urged them "not to vilify the land reform programme
.... and tell the true Zimbabwean story.

"What we demand from you is loyalty to the State, not to me or any other
person, but the State," Jokonya said.
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News24

'He shouted against Mugabe'
23/04/2005 13:30  - (SA)

Harare - A Zimbabwean was arrested for shouting "abusive words" against
President Robert Mugabe, the Herald newspaper reported on Saturday.

Thirty-two-year-old Clifford Ruhukwa was waiting at a bus stop in Harare's
satellite town of Chitungwiza on Monday, when he was allegedly heard
shouting words the newspaper said were "unprintable", referring to Mugabe.

Ruhukwa appeared in court on charges of denigrating the veteran leader, who
has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from British colonial rule in
1980.

A magistrate ordered that he be remanded in custody to May 10 when his trial
is due to start.

"Prosecutor Tymon Tabana told the court that while standing at a bus stop,
Ruhukwa was heard shouting unprintable abusive words against President
Mugabe," the Herald said.

He was immediately arrested and taken to Chitungwiza police station, the
newspaper said.

Zimbabwe's strict Public Order and Security Act makes it an offence to
insult the head of state.

There are regular reports of people being arrested for slandering Zimbabwe's
long-time president. Usually those found guilty receive light jail
sentences, fines or are ordered to do community service.
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