Stratagems
Things are moving fast and if you want to follow events you
must read the
small print. Last weekend a high powered team from South Africa
was in town
and they put together a short term programme of activities
designed to start
the process of securing a political agreement between the
MDC and Zanu PF.
The programme put together by Kgalema Motlanthe (ANC) and
Adebayo Adedeji
from West Africa is clearly part of the action plan laid down
by the
Commonwealth troika when they last met in London.
What has been
agreed is that two small teams (5 in each) from the MDC and
Zanu PF will meet
at a private location in the next 14 days to try and set
an agenda for the
discussions and then to thrash out an agreement on the way
forward. It will
not be easy. They will meet during this period under the
guidance of the two
key players detailed above who will act as
"facilitators". If the two teams
work out an agreement it then comes back to
the two parties for their
approval and only then will some sort of future
arrangements for getting us
out of this particular pot hole be put in place.
If they fail to reach
agreement or if any agreement is repudiated by one
side or the other, then
the Troika will become directly engaged.
We have appointed our team and
it is a very balanced and competent one led
by Welshman Ncube. I hope the
Zanu PF side does not have any illusions about
how difficult these
discussions are going to be or how painful the outcome
will be for them as a
Party. They should not take the MDC team lightly as we
have lots of
experience in dealing with the devious.
The direct involvement of South
Africa and Nigeria – the two African super
powers and the direct
participation of their respective Presidents means
that this process is going
to be put under very substantial pressure to come
up with a workable solution
to the present crisis in Zimbabwe.
The recent presidential elections have
been found "not free and fair" and
the outcome declared illegitimate by
people who matter in the world
community. The economy of Zimbabwe is in a
tailspin with all indicators
negative – GDP expected to fall 12 per cent,
exports to decline another 15
per cent, employment falling to less than 850
000 adults, the deficit in the
budget spinning out of control. The country is
on the edge of massive
starvation – we need 2 million tonnes of maize, 150
000 tonnes of wheat, 60
000 tonnes of soybean and 50 000 tonnes of crude
vegetable oil to avoid
starvation. A third of our total population will be on
welfare by the
year-end. Business confidence is negative and capital flight
endemic.
In addition to these issues Zanu PF has unleashed on the MDC and
its
structures a nation wide programme of violence and intimidation. People
are
being killed, sexual torture is being widely used in Zanu camps and
centres
and beatings are so commonplace that they are no longer being
reported. In
one instance that came to my attention this past week 4 young
MDC activists
simply campaigning for the MDC were abducted and held in a hole
in the
ground for 6 weeks with limited water and food. One of their number
died,
another was taken out and left to die in the bush but was rescued by
local
farmers and the other two dug their way out and escaped. One has
his
eyesight permanently damaged.
The ruling party and its activists
are using food as a weapon. Whole
districts are being denied food because
they are perceived as being MDC
areas. This includes some of the poorest
people in the country such as in
the Binga District near Kariba. Ordinary
people are being denied food if
they cannot prove membership of Zanu or are
identified by local Zanu leaders
as being MDC supporters. The President has
promised a purge of the entire
civil service and thousands of civil servants
anxiously await their fate.
The impact on the region will be no less
dramatic – South Africa has already
lost at least half its growth in GDP in
the past three years, seen direct
foreign investment plunge and capital
flight accelerate. Tourism arrivals in
the whole region are down by half and
the service infrastructure that is
essential to any future recovery now in
jeopardy.
In the wider sphere, the whole future of the much-vaunted New
Economic
Programme for African Development (NEPAD) is now under threat.
The
international community, tired of being led by the nose by corrupt
leaders,
whose abuse of their privileges plunder their national coffers
and
impoverish their people, is saying to the continents leadership
that
Zimbabwe is a test case. Handle this and we will see what we can do to
help
those States in Africa that can get their act together. For Mbeki
and
Obasanjo this is very important – too important to allow Robert
Gabriel
Mugabe to get in the way.
There is no way out of this economic
and political crisis if we do not find
a solution and soon. This is clearly
evidenced in the speed with which the
leaders of Africa are putting the
process in train. For us in the MDC the
issues are quite clear and the way
forward very simple – we want fresh
presidential elections as soon as
possible under international supervision
and on a reasonable playing field or
nothing.
We are not being unreasonable or irrational – this is the only
way forward
and no alternative will be acceptable. A government of national
unity – you
only had to watch Morgans face as he came out of the meeting with
the
presidents of Malawi and Mozambique the day Mugabe was sworn in to get
that
answer. We have consulted our structures and almost without exception
they
have said no deals – even if we have to suffer the
consequences.
US President Bill Clinton said in a speech to Georgetown
University in
December 1991 "The defence of freedom and the promotion of
democracy aren’t
merely a reflection of our deepest values, they are vital to
our national
interests. Global democracy means nations at peace with each
other, open to
one another’s ideas and to commerce. The stakes are high; its
part of a
worldwide march towards democracy whose outcome will shape the next
century.
If individual liberty, political pluralism and free enterprise take
root we
can look forward to a grand new era of reduced conflict,
mutual
understanding and economic growth." If that was true for the USA in
1991, it
’s certainly true for us in Zimbabwe in 2002 and we are not going to
accept
less.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 29th March 2002
Zim Standard
Zanu PF youths demand payment
By Chengetai
Zvauya
OVER 100 Zanu PF youths in the Chinamhora area of Goromonzi
constituency are
up in arms over the non payment of allowances amounting to
$6 000 each, The
Standard has established.
The youths, who are
camped at the Showgrounds Hall, are demanding payment
for their work on
behalf of Zanu PF presidential candidate, Robert Mugabe.
They accuse the
provincial leadership of neglecting them.
One of the youths, Patrick
Rwafa, told The Standard that they were still
awaiting payment, three weeks
after the election.
"We understand that money was released from the
headquarters, so we need to
be paid. We need a meeting with our MP so he can
explain what is happening.
Some of our leaders have already been
paid."
The Standard understands that since last December, when they
graduated from
the Border Gezi National Service Training Centre and were
deployed to the
various rural areas to terrorise civilians into voting for
Mugabe, the
youths have been receiving monthly allowances of $10 000
each.
Contacted for comment, Herbert Murerwa, the Goromonzi MP and also
the
minister of industry and international trade, refused to discuss the
matter.
"I do not know why you are asking me. If there is any problem in
my
constituency, the people know they can come to my office and discuss it
with
me rather than go to the press and discuss it with you."
The
youths are adamant that they will not disband until they are paid
their
dues.
"We are not going back to our homes before we are paid. They
promised us the
money but now the elections are over, they do not want to pay
us. We won't
accept this," said one youth.
Scores of unemployed youths
took part in Zanu PF terror campaigns which
resulted in Chinamhora becoming a
no-go area for opposition party members.
At the Showgrounds Hall where
they are camped, the youths are being
abundantly supplied with food rations
of mealie meal and beef by Zanu PF
Zim Standard
Zanu PF militia on the rampage
By our own
Staff
Notorious Shurugwi war veteran 'Gunpowder' Sakauwa, was arrested
last week
in Zvishavane after an orgy of violence which left an MDC district
executive
member and others seriously injured.
Two of the injured
were admitted at a local hospital, where a further
attempt was made to attack
them by Sakauwa's associates, who accused them of
causing his
arrest.
Sakauwa is on remand for the murder of an MDC activist in Gweru
last year.
Panganayi Dzve-tera, the MDC district information secretary,
said 100 Zanu
PF militiamen were bussed into the town on Sunday.
"They
beat up anyone they saw wearing an MDC T-shirt and assaulted the
district
organising secretary," he said, requesting that the victims not be
identified
for their safety.
Dzvetera said the same group had earlier abducted an
MDC member in Shurugwi
and tortured him severely, cutting his face with
broken bottles in the
process.
Hundreds of MDC supporters have fled
their homes in Mberengwa alleging that
armed police and soldiers had joined
war veterans and youth militia in
attacking MDC supporters.
Zim Standard
Councils should refuse to be bullied
In a space
of under four weeks, the newly-elected Harare City Council,
overwhelmingly
dominated by the MDC, has received no less than three
arbitrary and
high-handed directives from the minister of local goverment,
Ignatius
Chombo.
Only last week, Chombo issued his first edict, nullifying the
new council's
decision to reverse all promotions and recruitments effected by
the
Chanakira Commission within the last six months. The decision by the
Mudzuri
council was to enable it to conduct an audit on how the people were
employed
in the first place, and whether the positions they had filled could
not be
done away with. It was also in line with a government directive for
the
council to slash its salary bill, and would have seen the retrenchement
of 1
235 people.
Then on Tuesday, Chombo followed up with two further
directives. The first
one was to bar the mayor from attending meetings of the
Cabinet Action
Committees unless he was specifically invited, and in the
second the
minister invoked his powers in terms of section 313(1) of the
Urban Councils
Act chapter 29:15, that all council resolutions involving
personnel and
financial matters be brought to him for scrutiny and approval
before they
can be implemented.
In the first directive, ordering the
council to reverse its resolution to
terminate the contracts, Chombo stated
that the new Mudzuri council was
taking the action in order to victimise
ZanuPF supporters and war veterans.
This, of course, was refuted by the mayor
who explained that the council's
decision was only meant to slash its salary
bill in line with central
government's directive. In any case, he pointed out
that the MDC was a
labour-based party and the whole exercise was not targeted
at individuals
because they were not known in person.
In the second
directive, asking the mayor not to attend committee meetings,
no reason was
given, but the motive is clear, childish as it is. The
paranoid minister
fears that Mayor Mudzuri might extract from those meetings
certain government
information, which he would then pass on to the MDC. So
in effect no mayor
who came into office on an MDC ticket can expect to be
invited to such
meetings. What Chombo wants is a conspiratorial, motley
little group of
ZanuPF apologists with whom he can plan how best to boost
his rejected
party's fortunes in urban areas.
The third directive is likewise aimed at
ensuring the tenure of ZanuPF
supporters who were employed by council in
dubious circumstances, and
simultaneously to thwart the appointment of
officers deemed to be MDC
supporters. As pointed out by a council official,
the new directive makes
the minister a human resources director and a city
treasurer at the same
time. Such an unsatiable desire for power is absolutely
shameful.
It being a foregone conclusion that the MDC will sweep most of
the urban
councils, having already successfully wrestled from ZanuPF a number
of key
cities, it is no secret that other administrations will suffer the
same
harassment as Harare by Chombo. Our strong advice to them is that they
must
resist his bully boy tactics and meet him head-on. If it means lengthy
court
battles and defying directives, so be it. He cannot be left to direct
urban
authorities, elected legitimately by millions of people, as if he
was
running a Zanu PF chicken farm.
Zim Standard
Workers seize defunct mine's equipment
By John
Chimunhu
ZVISHAVANE-About 300 workers at Procter Metals 'C' mine in
Mberengwa have
seized the company's assets in response to incitements by
President Mugabe
during his election campaign.
Associated Mine
Workers Union (AMU) area advisor, Custom Machanja, who is
aligned to Zanu PF,
confirmed the takeover and said it was in line with
Mugabe's
call.
"The workers have taken over the stamp mill which they use to
process gold
ore they obtain through panning. They have formed a co-operative
and want to
form a joint venture with management which failed to pay them
retrenchment
packages," Machanja said.
During a campaign rally here on
February 15, Mugabe claimed that gold miners
in the region were deliberately
closing down in order to to bring down his
beleaguered government through a
worker revolt. The President promised to
fix such companies by expropriating
their assets.
The position was restated as official policy this week by
AMWU's Machanja
who admitted that the government wanted to take advantage of
problems in the
gold sectors to drive out "foreigners", meaning non-black
entrepreneurs.
This is seen as an extension of the government's racist
economic policy
which was first seen in the form of farm and company
invasions.
Meanwhile, the army recently chased off hundreds of illegal
gold panners
operating in rivers on the occupied farms. The miners expressed
outrage at
the development as Zanu PF had promised them protection if Mugabe
won the
elections.
Public Service, labour and social welfare minister
July Moyo addressed a
campaign rally here on 15 February and said government
welcomed the panners'
initiative as it was generating jobs.
The Times
Anti-Mugabe demonstrators held
From Jan Raath in
Harare
FIFTY-FOUR pro-democracy protesters were in custody
yesterday after being
arrested on Saturday when police crushed an attempt to
hold demonstrations
across Zimbabwe against President Mugabe’s rule.
Five
of the 29 members of the National Constitutional Assembly, an alliance
of
church, labour and civic groups, who were arrested in Harare
after
authorities banned their demonstration for a new democratic
constitution,
had been assaulted by police, Alec Muchadehama, their lawyer,
said.
A further 34 were in custody in Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare after
police
forcibly dispersed marches there. All were arrested under the Public
Order
and Security Act, which police have used to arrest hundreds of people
at
will and to stifle public protest.
It was the second time since the
flawed presidential elections last month
that authorities have forcibly
stopped civic bodies from organising
nationwide protests against the vote in
which Mr Mugabe was declared winner.
Observers say that the wave of
violent retribution and the clampdown on the
opposition that has come after
the election appears, for now, to have broken
the ability of Mr Mugabe’s
opponents to rouse significant public resistance
to his continued rule. Most
of the world declared the elections illegitimate
because of violent
intimidation and vote-rigging by the ruling Zanu (PF)
party.
An effort
by Nigeria and South Africa to bring Zanu (PF) and the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change to negotiate a resolution to the country’s
political
crisis was bogged down yesterday as the Government continued to
stall on
meeting the opposition.
ABC news Australia
PM plays down prospect of further sanctions
against Zimbabwe
The Prime Minister John Howard has played down the
prospect of further
action by Commonwealth leaders against
Zimbabwe.
Mr Howard is going to England for the Queen Mother's funeral,
but will also
meet some Commonwealth leaders.
The Federal Opposition
says Australia has backed away from targeted
sanctions.
However, Mr
Howard says he can only do what the Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting
agreed on.
"Well the only authority we had from the Commonwealth
conference was to take
the sort of steps that we did take," he
said.
"Beyond that we don't have any authority."
Daily News
Public Service Commission vetting potential
recruits
4/8/02 8:24:46 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
THE
Public Service Commission (PSC), says it has started vetting
potential
recruits to check on their qualifications, experience, integrity
and
suitability, but others say the Commission is politicising the
exercise.
At his inauguration ceremony on 17 March, President Mugabe
criticised some
civil servants whom he said should leave government jobs, for
stalling
development projects and for their involvement in opposition
politics.
In the run-up to the recent presidential election a number of
civil
servants, particularly teachers and health personnel, were forced to
flee
from their workplaces after being accused of supporting the Movement
for
Democratic Change by war veterans and Zanu PF youths.
Ray
Ndhlukula, the PSC secretary, said: “Indeed, it is common practice
among
organisations in the private and public sector, including government,
to vet
candidates whom they wish to employ.
“The Public Service would
probably be the only employer who engages people
without checking on their
bona fides.”
But Raymond Majongwe, the Progressive Teachers’ Union
secretary-general,
dismissed the exercise as a government ploy to weed out
aspiring teachers
suspected of being anti-Zanu PF.
Majongwe said the
potential recruits were being vetted by members of the
police and the Central
Intelligence Organisation.
He said the teachers were being asked their
political affiliation.
“The vetting exercise started this year. In
Manicaland, those coming from
Harare were asked to clear themselves first
before they were awarded places.
If one is known to be from the opposition he
or she will be denied a place.”
Peter Mabhandi, the Zimbabwe Teachers’
Association chief executive officer,
said the exercise was unfortunate
because it was delaying the engagement of
new teachers in
schools.
Ndhlukula said the vetting was not in any way discriminatory to
aspiring
members of the public service.
“The Public Service Commission
would, consequently, like to assure the
public that vetting is not in anyway
discriminatory, but is meant to
safeguard the interests of the public by
ensuring that people of integrity
are employed as servants of the people,”
Ndhlukula said.
“The PSC has an obligation to ensure that the right
people are employed to
safeguard national interests, property, assets
finances and public policy.”
For the past five years, the PSC has failed
to implement a performance
related bonus scheme introduced under a
performance appraisal scheme.
Daily News
ESC says presidential election poorly
organised
4/8/02 8:24:09 AM (GMT +2)
By Lloyd
Mudiwa
THE Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) on Friday criticised
the manner
in which last month’s presidential election was conducted, citing
lack of
proper organisation.
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, the ESC’s chairman,
said unlike in South Africa where
an electoral commission conducts elections,
the ESC in Zimbabwe did not
conduct elections, but merely supervised them. He
was addressing the Law
Society of Zimbabwe.
Gula-Ndebele said the
problem lay in the country’s inherited Constitution.
Zimbabwe’s
Constitution is the only one in southern Africa which provided
for a
supervisory commission instead of an electoral commission.
The
Constitution was silent on how the ESC should supervise the
elections,
Gula-Ndebele said, adding that the ESC was not responsible for
setting up
electoral laws and regulations.
“We do not make any laws,”
he said. “As a former officer in the army and a
leader, I will accept the
blame if the elections have not gone well, but in
reality we do not do
anything.”
Gula-Ndebele said he participated in the ESC because he hoped
to make a
difference, but would not say whether he had managed to do
so.
His comments attracted laughter from the lawyers and members of the
public
who attended the meeting on the impact of new legislation and
amendments on
the election.
Gula-Ndebele admitted the ESC hardly
conducted any voter education. Unlike
South Africa where voter education was
the responsibility of the Electoral
Commission, in Zimbabwe no one was
specifically tasked with that role,
Ndebele said.
“There was total
confusion during the presidential election, as a lot of
people did not know
that their vote was secret because they did not know
what happens in polling
stations,” he said.
He denied excluding non-governmental and civic
organisations from conducting
voter education.
The ESC only required
the organisations to submit educational material for
approval, ensuring that
it met the required standards, and channelling
foreign funding through the
commission to ensure the money was used solely
for that purpose, Ndebele
said.
Sternford Moyo, the president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, and
advocates
Pearson Nherere and Adrian de Bourbon, also blasted the conduct of
the
polls, saying President Mugabe and Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister
of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs passed new
legislation and
amendments to benefit Mugabe, who was one of the candidates.
They
criticised the judiciary for failing to take a stance against
the
executive.
“There was total confusion,” Nherere said. “That was
the intention and it
was achieved. The President behaved more as a candidate
in using his power
to overrule the courts and the courts, in their wisdom,
left matters
unresolved until after the polls.”
He said the amendments
were made at the eleventh hour to ensure that there
was no chance for
interested parties to seek justice by challenging the
changes in
court.
De Bourbon said rules for the poll were only set on 8 March - the
eve of the
election - when they should have been finalised at least 90 days
before the
vote.
He said: “The election came as surprise to Chinamasa
and the
Registrar-General because they were so hopelessly unprepared for it
to the
extent that to date you cannot obtain a copy of the common
roll.
Business Day
Zimbabwean talks begin
today
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESPITE
raising the political rhetoric at the weekend, Zimbabwe's main
political
parties will today begin in earnest talks brokered by SA and
Nigeria to end
the country's political crisis.
The talks, mediated by Kgalema Motlanthe,
the African National Congress'
secretary-general and President Thabo Mbeki's
envoy, and Nigerian's Adebayo
Adedeji, are expected to focus on the agenda
and the modalities of the talks
that are expected to lead to some form of
co-operative government and the
reconstruction of Zimbabwe.
Today's
talks, the first direct contact between the ruling Zanu (PF) and
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), follow last
Thursday's
consultations with the facilitators. In spite of agreeing to the
mediation,
which has staved off at least for now Zimbabwe's international
isolation,
the two arch rivals are still clinging onto their hardline
positions.
Yesterday MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai reiterated his refusal
to join a Zanu
(PF)-led government of national unity. At a rally outside
Harare Tsvangirai
demanded fresh elections or else an interim arrangement to
prepare for this
or an independent audit of last month's election he lost to
President Robert
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai's remarks came a day after Mugabe
stressed his rejection of a new
poll.
For the first time Mugabe also
publicly attacked US President George Bush
for questioning his disputed
election victory.
Apart from increasing political polarisation, the talks
take place against
the background of the arrest, under the stringent Public
Order Maintenance
Act, of 64 protesters against the elections over the
weekend.
More protests are being planned this week increasing the sense
of urgency to
the talks.
From The
Sunday Independent (SA), 7 April
Mbeki was told Zim counting was
rigged
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has told President Thabo
Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo that Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai won the recent presidential election, but that hundreds of
thousands of votes were shifted to change the result after the votes had been
counted. Diplomatic sources told The Sunday Independent that Howard's
information, explained to Mbeki when they met in London last month, was widely
believed by Western governments, and that it was based on diplomatic reports
from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Those reports said that despite all the
underhand pre-election activity by President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF
party - including violent intimidation, last-minute changes to the election laws
and the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters when voters were chased from
voting stations - Tsvangirai won. Asked to comment on the report that Howard
gave Mbeki this information at their meeting, Mbeki's spokesperson, Bheki
Khumalo, said: "We don't want to be part of what we consider malicious
gossip."
This new information about the election result emerged as South
African and Nigerian mediators were trying to broker an agreement between the
two main Zimbabwean political parties amid rising tension in Zimbabwean towns.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is demanding new elections
under international supervision, while Mugabe said on state television on Friday
night the next election would be in six years' time. An unconfirmed report in
the Zimbabwe Financial Gazette said Zanu PF was planning to offer to cut
Mugabe's term from six years to three. Tensions are rising in the main towns,
and on Thursday night 350 women, including pregnant mothers and those with
babies, were arrested and are being held prisoner in Harare in what is believed
to be the biggest arrest of women in Zimbabwean history. Before the election,
South Africa asked Mugabe to step down in favour of a new Zanu PF candidate, but
Mugabe refused.
According to diplomatic sources, Zanu PF leaders took the
voting figures to a Zanu PF command centre, where the speaker of parliament,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who lost his seat at the last election to the MDC, but is
allowed to be speaker because he is an ex-MP, and the national security
minister, Nicholas Goche, presided over the changing of thousands of votes.
Mnangagwa, who is not only the speaker, but is also the administrative secretary
of Zanu PF, which is the equivalent of secretary-general of the party, is
considered Mugabe's choice to succeed him as president. Tsvangirai had a
substantial lead after the vote count, which was sent to the Harare headquarters
of the Election Supervisory Commission, the sources said. From there the figures
were supposed to be sent to the registrar-general of elections to announce the
result. The commission made its total vote count public, but did not break down
the support of individual candidates.
Evidence that the final official count had been substantially
tampered with is corroborated by the fact that the totals for individual
constituencies' numbers of votes made public by the commission differ wildly
from the final totals announced by the registrar-general, Tobaiwa Mudede. The
commission's total was 2 989 694, but the total announced the following day by
the registrar-general was 3 104 473,=13 an increase of 114 779. How the vote was
switched becomes clearer when individual polling regions are examined. In the
Midlands, considered a split region between the two parties, the commission
total was 342 772, but by the time the registrar-general announced the outcome
it had grown to 432 877, an addition of 90 105 voters that cannot be explained.
Altogether, at least 426 445 voters were added over 72 constituencies - more
than enough to reverse the will of the voters and put Mugabe in the lead,
instead of Tsvangirai. In another 48 constituencies, at least 185 951 votes
disappeared. Asked to explain the differences, a spokesperson for the
commission, Thomas Bvuma, said he could not shed light on the discrepancy
between the figures. Sam Motsuenyane, the head of the official South African
observer mission, was in a meeting on Friday afternoon finalising the official
report to Mbeki. In an interview on Friday night he said he was not in a
position to comment.