Daily
Telegraph
Extract from :
Yesterday in Parliament
(Filed:
08/04/2003)
Reports by Michael Kallenbach, Parliamentary
Correspondent
Honorary knighthood for Mugabe 'should be
axed'
Robert Mugabe should be stripped of his honorary
knighthood, bestowed in
1994, because of deteriorating human rights in
Zimbabwe, the Government was
urged yesterday.
But a minister told the
House of Lords that the Government had other
priorities and could not deal
with the request at the present time.
Lord Watson (Lib Dem) told peers
during Question Time: "Many people in this
country will be deeply shocked and
indeed offended that Mr Mugabe bears an
honorary knighthood in this
country."
He went on to talk about the continuing and rapidly worsening
human rights
situation and abuse in Zimbabwe and the arrest of the opposition
leader.
He asked Lady Amos, a junior Foreign Office minister: "Will you
not consider
as a matter of some real urgency, albeit it is symbolic, that
this honour
now be removed? It is an honour which has been
dishonoured."
She told him: "We may well re-visit this question in the
future, but I think
that there are other priorities right now."
Lady
Amos said withdrawal of the honorary rank of Knight Commander of the
Bath was
"not our immediate priority".
Lord Howell (C) asked: "Why isn't that a
priority now? It should be."
Lady Amos replied: "This question of the
honour is something which is
symbolic. It cannot be a priority right now, in
terms of the day-to-day
issues which are confronting the people of
Zimbabwe."
Lord Hughes (Lab) intervened and said: "Are we really expected
to believe
that President Mugabe, who has described himself as being a
Hitler, is going
to be moved by the threat of the removal of an honorary
knighthood? And are
the people who are starving and facing grave tortures in
Zimbabwe likely to
be moved by the plea to remove this honour? Aren't they
more likely to say,
'Is that the best you can do'?"
Last week, during
a debate in Westminster Hall, Peter Luff, the Tory MP for
Mid Worcestershire,
called for a full day's debate in the Commons on what he
called "the winter
of discontent in Zimbabwe".
He added: "Today, Zimbabwe bears an uncanny
resemblance to Nazi Germany
during the 1930s. President Mugabe is going
through the opposition with a
fine-tooth comb. There is a programme of
imprisonment, torture and sexual
assault on opposition
activists."
Daily
News
Mobilise for mass action, MDC
urged
4/8/2003 10:47:16 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporters
MDC leaders have been called
upon to mobilise people for mass action
in order to force President Mugabe's
government to address the deepening
political and economic crisis in the
country.
"We should go for mass action as
life is now unbearable," Vanessa
Manuel, a resident of Mutare, said in a snap
survey by The Daily News to
sound out people on the party's proposed second
mass action.
"It's time we stood up as a
nation and fought for our rights and all
the things which ought to be
plentiful but are no longer available."
Tongogara Ndirwo, a University of Zimbabwe student, said: "Passiveness
is
over. It's time for collective action. We're ready to march on to the
streets
and fight to the end when the call for the mass action
comes."
Takura Zhangazha, a political
activist, said the MDC had no choice but
to resort to mass action because
nothing had changed and none of their
demands were attended to by the
government.
"It would be a mistake for the
MDC to call off mass stayaways unless
they have identified other avenues to
achieve their objective of changing
the government," Zhangazha said. "They
have to continue to build public
momentum and anticipation so that when it
comes to decisive action the
people are
ready."
Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a
lecturer at the UZ, said there were
two possible reasons why the MDC did not
have a clear position on mass
action.
"It's either that when the party called for a mass stayaway last
month, there
was no clear programme to follow it up or that different views
have emerged
between the leadership and the MDC membership,"
Dzinotyiwei
said.
He said reports that
the MDC had shelved its plans for mass action
could not have emerged from its
members because they were raring to go on
another mass stayaway if it was
called for by the party.
Tendai Mapuranga,
a Harare businessman, said it was very clear that
the MDC leadership was
dithering on the issue of mass action because they
feared that they may be
arrested.
But Steven Mutenya, a Mutare
resident, said the planned mass action
was likely to lead to injuries, even
deaths, and the destruction
of
property.
Mutenya said: "We should
be talking of bringing warring parties to the
negotiating table. The danger
with mass action is that thugs would exploit
the situation and take the
opportunity to destroy, rob and even
kill."
Lazarus Ndlovu, an Emakhandeni
resident in Bulawayo, said the stayaway
was an effective way of sending a
message to the government.
Mabel Phiri
said although she supported the stayaway she did not want
it to be
violent.
"The last stayaway sent a bold
message to Zanu PF. Look at how the
police are panicking," she
said.
Tapera Mudzingwa, a businessman,
said although the stayaway was
detrimental to his business he supported
it.
"Business will obviously be affected,
but if it is the only way that
we can tell Zanu PF that we are tired of its
misrule, then it's fine with
me," he said.
Daily
News
Nyathi
arrested
4/8/2003 10:24:30 AM
(GMT +2)
From Chris Gande in
Bulawayo
Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC
spokesman, was arrested in
Bulawayo
yesterday.
He was picked up
soon after the party's vice-president, Gibson
Sibanda, had been freed on $1
million bail.
Sibanda, who had been in
custody for the past week, is facing charges
under the Public Order and
Security Act for allegedly organising last month'
s successful two-day
stayaway.
Nyathi was arrested outside the
Bulawayo Magistrates' Courts where he
had attended Sibanda's bail application
hearing together with Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC
leader.
As Sibanda's lawyers were
preparing to pay the bail deposit, the
police pounced on
Nyathi.
Later, they forced their way into
Nyathi's house which they searched
without a
warrant.
They also seized documents which
were mainly congratulatory messages
to the MDC for its victory in the recent
by-elections in Kuwadzana
and
Highfield.
Sibanda was ordered to
surrender his passport and to report to
Hillside Police Station twice a week,
on Monday and Friday.
Sibanda was arrested
last Tuesday in connection with the 18 and 19
March mass stayaway organised
by the MDC to protest against the
deteriorating economic and human rights
situation in the country.
Nicholas
Mathonsi, Nyathi's lawyer, said although the police had
recorded a warned and
cautioned statement from the MDC spokesman, they still
refused to release
him.
As police arrested Nyathi the
multitude of MDC supporters who had
thronged the court buildings could only
mumble their displeasure as heavily
armed policemen stood on
guard.
Mathonsi said police were charging
Nyathi for contravening POSA after
he, Sibanda and other MDC members met and
organised the mass stayaway.
Said
Mathonsi: "The police insisted on locking up Nyathi despite
having taken a
warned and cautioned statement from him. I don't know when he
will appear in
court."
Both Nyathi and Sibanda are being
charged for contravening Section 5
of the Public Order and Security
Act.
Daily
News
Facilities for refugees
expanded
4/8/2003 10:44:39 AM
(GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent in
Mutare
THE unprecedented influx of
refugees into Zimbabwe has forced the
United Nations to expand facilities at
Tongogara refugee camp, a UN official
has
said.
John Adu, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
representative to Zimbabwe said: "We have
to expand the camp because the
number of refugees coming to Zimbabwe has
increased."
Tongogara camp, 188
kilometres, south of Mutare, accommodates about 1
000
refugees.
But with the number increasing by
the day, the UNHCR said the
expansion of the camp became a
priority.
Since January this year,
Zimbabwe has experienced an unprecedented
increase in the number of asylum
seekers.
An average of 300 asylum seekers
arrives in the country every month up
from a monthly average of 50 last
year.
Since last week, more than 200 new
arrivals were resettled at the
camp.
Zimbabwe is home to 10 000 refugees.
Adu
said most of the asylum seekers were from war-torn countries such
as Rwanda,
Burundi and the DRC.
The majority of the
Rwandese are coming from Tanzania where they are
expelled by the Dar es
Salaam government.
The number of asylum
seekers from Burundi has increased amid
heightening tension between the
Tutsi-led government and Hutu rebels.
In
the DRC, thousands of people continue to flee the country despite a
peace
deal signed in South Africa recently.
Other refugees are from Congo-Brazzaville, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan
and
Liberia.
Daily
News
Poll agent's wife
gang-raped
4/8/2003 10:48:51 AM
(GMT +2)
By Precious
Shumba
AN MDC election agent's wife was
gang-raped by about a dozen suspected
Zanu PF youths in Kuwadzana last
Thursday.
The youths broke into the family
house in Kuwadzana 6, Harare,
claiming to be
policemen.
The victim made a report at
Kuwadzana 2 Police Station, record number
OB3646/03 but was advised to bring
back a medical report.
Assistant
Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman, refused
to comment
yesterday, saying this paper's reporters should not seek his
comment on any
issue, not even traffic accidents.
The
intruders allegedly blindfolded the agent's 23-year-old wife with
a napkin
and took turns to rape her before force-marching her husband to a
nearby hill
where they severely tortured him.
Nelson
Chamisa, the party's national youth chairman and the MP-elect
for the area,
called upon the police to take action immediately to rid the
community of
such people.
He said: "A report was made
to the police and we will assist
professional policemen to make arrests. It's
shocking that there are still
some youngsters who are so misguided. It's
totally unfair. These rapists are
known criminals. They have become a
security threat to Kuwadzana residents.
"As the MP-elect, I will not rest until they are brought to
book."
The couple was accused of voting
for Chamisa in the parliamentary
by-election held on 28 and 29
March.
According to a medical report
compiled by Dr D Zhakata, at the Avenues
Clinic Casualty Unit, the woman was
gang-raped by five males.
Zhakata's report
reads: "She was slapped in the face and has a severe
headache, an itching
vulva and painful lower limbs. In a stable
condition."
On Sunday, the rape victim,
who is in hiding, said about 12 youths
broke into their house at about
1am.
She said: "My husband has always been
on the run from Zanu PF
supporters so he hid under the bed when the youths
knocked on the door.
"I responded to the
knock, asking who they were. They asked if I was
his wife and when I
confirmed that they broke down the door and entered.
They pulled my husband
from underneath the bed and started striking him in
the face before taking
him out of the house. Five of the youths remained
behind. They pulled me and
forcibly removed my clothes."
She said
they then proceeded to rape her as she screamed and was
struck. They
threatened her with death if she cried for help or reported the
matter to the
police.
She said her ordeal lasted about
two hours and she remembers hearing
the youths ordering her husband to watch
it.
She said they turned the house upside
down searching for MDC T-shirts
and membership cards which they did not
find.
They allegedly took away the
couple's identity documents, stole $10
000 in cash and 10 napkins belonging
to their eight-month-old daughter.
She
said: "After some time, the youths resumed raping me again. They
said nothing
would be done to them because they were the country's
police
force."
She said her husband
only returned home around 4am limping, his
clothes torn and his body soaked
in blood. The husband was taken to the
Avenues Clinic before being
transferred to a private home from which he is
being
treated.
He said: "I hid under the bed
when the youths banged on my door. They
said they wanted to show me that they
could do anything with impunity. I
didn't think they would rape my wife in my
presence. I was shocked. They
made me chant Zanu PF slogans while they raped
her."
Daily
News
MDC man battles for life
after arson attack
4/8/2003
10:49:46 AM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Bulawayo
NQOBILE Ndlovu,
a 25-year-old MDC supporter, is battling for life at
Gwanda Provincial
Hospital after sustaining extensive burns when the hut he
was sleeping in was
set ablaze by suspected Zanu PF supporters on Monday
last
week.
Earlier, the ruling party supporters
are reported to have threatened
him for openly celebrating the opposition
party's victory in the recent
Kuwadzana and Highfield
by-elections.
The arson attack took place
in the Mafuko communal lands, about 35km
west of Gwanda, on Monday
night.
Ndlovu was alone when the incident
took place.
Matabeleland South police
spokesman, Inspector Alfred Zvenyika, would
neither confirm nor deny the
incident.
"I am not aware of the incident
or arrests related to it. I will,
however, find out about it," he
said.
MDC spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi,
described the attack as "callous
thuggery being perpetrated on the masses by
a desperate Zanu PF regime".
Relatives who
declined to be identified for fear of victimisation said
Ndlovu, who was
drinking with friends at a local bottle store when the
results were
announced, was threatened by identified Zanu PF supporters
after celebrating
the MDC victory.
"He has not told us who
exactly threatened him, but there is a
notorious group of Zanu PF supporters
who were drinking at the same bottle
store the same
day.
"We heard that Nqobile ignored their
threats before retiring to his
home. He woke up at about midnight to find his
hut on fire."
Although hospital officials
declined to discuss Ndlovu's condition, a
nurse at the hospital confirmed
that he was in bad shape.
"The burns are
so bad that at the moment we can only administer
anti-burn creams and
ointments on him."
Meanwhile, in Bulawayo,
one woman was raped by a Zanu PF supporter who
claimed he wanted to revenge
his party's loss in the Kuwadzana and
Highfield
by-elections
Daily
News
MDC denies link to terror
gang
4/8/2003 10:50:35 AM (GMT
+2)
By Fanuel
Jongwe
TWENTY-THREE alleged rogue soldiers
and army deserters said to be part
of terror gangs which have been assaulting
residents and opposition party
supporters in Harare and Chitungwiza in the
past three weeks, were allegedly
arrested last week in a joint operation by
the army and the police.
Army uniform,
boots, belts and MDC T-shirts and banners were allegedly
recovered during
raids at the suspects' homes and
hide-outs.
One of them said he said was
persuaded by a member of the MDC,
identified as Sox, to join the party in
planned bombings of strategic
buildings in Harare during the mass
stayaway.
However, MDC presidential
spokesman William Bango said "these are all
hired Zanu PF thugs. They have
nothing to do with the MDC. This is an
attempt by a cornered regime to
destroy the party in the townships.
"If
there are some people who have committed an offence, the normal
thing is to
charge them and make them appear in a court of law rather than
parade them on
television before those charges are brought against them.
That is what
happens in a normal democracy."
The
suspects included a female corporal, said to have been picked up
in
Chitungwiza, and a private, said to have performed guard duties at
the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's Pockets Hill
studios.
They were paraded during a media
conference yesterday at the army's 2
Brigade headquarters in Cranborne where
they are being detained.
Major Alphios
Makotore, the Zimbabwe National Army's deputy director
of public relations,
said the suspects targeted areas where the police and
army had been deployed
to monitor the situation during the two-day stayaway
on 18 and 19
March.
They allegedly beat up members of
the public under the pretext of
performing army
duties.
"Some of them moved in groups of
two or three people while others wore
civilian clothes and used Mazda 323
vehicles which are never used during
army operations," Makotore
said.
Hundreds of residents were beaten up
and severely injured by gangs of
youths in army uniform following the
stayaway called by the MDC to press the
government to address the
deteriorating economic and human rights situation.
Two weeks ago, one such
gang allegedly paired patrons at a Chitungwiza
night-club and forced them to
have unprotected sex.
The army exonerated
its members from the incidents.
"The army
has never been involved," Makotore said. "It's so plain that
we are there to
protect people. It's logical that you don't beat up people
when you want to
win them to your side." He said it was unfortunate the
police, army and the
CIO were implicated in the alleged beatings.
Daily
News
Mutare war vets threaten
prosecutor
4/8/2003 10:39:30 AM
(GMT +2)
A GROUP of war veterans last week
threatened to assault Levison
Chikafu, a senior prosecutor at the Mutare
Magistrates' Court, accusing him
of granting bail to 17 MDC supporters being
charged under the Public Order
and Security
Act.
Last week 17 MDC supporters,
including Giles Mutsekwa, the MP for
Mutare North and Patrick Chitaka, the
chairman for Mutare North, were
granted bail by magistrate Lloyd
Kuvheya.
The MDC activists were accused of
organising and inciting people to
participate in a mass action called by the
opposition party three weeks ago.
Chikafu
last week said a war veteran identified only as Makanyisa led
a group of
seven war veterans to his offices.
They
bulldozed into his office and demanded to know why he had granted
bail to the
MDC supporters.
Chikafu said the war
veterans said the 17 opposition members were
supposed to have been remanded
in custody.
Robert Gumbo, the provincial
chairman for the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans' Association could
not be reached for comment.
Chikafu said
he has since reported the case to Mutare Central Police
and a docket has been
opened. Edmund Maingire, the provincial police
spokesperson could not be
reached for comment as he was said to be out of
his
office.
Hosea Mujaya, the provincial
magistrate refused to comment on the
matter. He referred questions to David
Mangota, the Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, who could also not
be reached for
comment.
Daily
News
Mnangagwa's nephew says he
was set up
4/8/2003 10:46:05 AM
(GMT +2)
Court
Reporter
GRANGER Tongogara, one of the
three men who allegedly robbed Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament,
has claimed that he was set up by
Charles Janga and Richard Chawashira in the
matter.
Tongogara told prosecutor, Fungai
Nyahunzvi, during cross-examination,
that Janga and Chawashira implicated him
when he brought the stolen items to
his house and said they belonged to their
son-in-law.
Janga is a State
witness.
He said although he was related
to Mnangagwa, it did not occur to him
that he should report to the police
that Janga and Chawashira asked him to
keep the property they had
stolen.
"Your Worship, I omitted to ask
Charles why he was giving me stolen
bags for safe-keeping during
cross-examination last week," Tongogara
said.
Mnangagwa is Tongogara's
uncle.
He told regional magistrate,
Leonard Chitunhu, that the police wanted
to recover Parliamentary documents
and were not bothered about the stolen
bags he was
keeping.
"The police indicated to me that
I was lying and they barged into my
house saying I could not tell them where
the stolen property was stored,"
he
said.
Dyvon Takawira Masona, another
suspect, said Janga gave him $100 000
so that Tongogara would "fix" his
uncle, Mnangagwa.
"Charles was assisting
the police to implicate his friends and Jamare
was given money and promised
more money," Masona said.
The trial is due
to resume tomorrow when the suspects were expected to
bring their own
witnesses in court.
The three have been in
custody since their arrest in December last
year.
Daily
News
Leader Page
Muchinguri
is a cut above the rest
4/8/2003
10:22:02 AM (GMT +2)
Once in a very long
while, someone in the now thoroughly discredited
government of President
Mugabe acts in a manner that, refreshingly, puts a
human face to the fearsome
monster that Zanu PF has transformed into since
it was rejected by the people
in the year 2000.
The bold move last
weekend by Oppah Muchinguri, the Manicaland
provincial governor, to deal
decisively with the horrendous humanitarian
tragedy at Charleswood Estate in
Chimanimani by effectively reversing the
unlawful and barbaric action taken
against the farm's employees, constitutes
one such rare
action.
To put the governor's action in
perspective, it is necessary to recap
briefly events that provoked her
understandably angry reaction. About 1 000
farm workers were evicted from the
estate last week, allegedly by a large
posse of the police, soldiers, C CIO
agents and Zanu PF activists. The farm
belongs to Roy Bennet, the MDC MP for
Chimanimani.
The evicted workers, together
with their families, were then dumped at
an open space. And then, as if their
plight was not bad enough, their
tormentors also denied them humanitarian
assistance from Zimrights. As far
as is known, Charleswood Estate has not
been designated for resettlement
purposes and the harassed farm workers had
done nothing to deserve that
cruel treatment. The only logical explanation
for the group's grossly
inhuman action against the workers would seem to be
that they worked for an
MP from the opposition
party.
Judging by the relentless campaign
of violence that its activists,
vigorously supported by agents from all the
State security organs, are
directing against the MDC, it would appear that,
as far as Zanu PF is
concerned, there is an unwritten law to the effect that
there is no place in
Zimbabwe for anybody who belongs to or supports any
political organisation
other than Zanu
PF.
But then of course every Zimbabwean
who knows anything about the law
knows that no such law exists and that Zanu
PF does not have a monopoly over
political activity. And Muchinguri certainly
knows it too.
Which is why, being the
sensible person that she so very often has
shown herself to be, she saw it as
a her responsibility, to come to the
rescue of the workers. Most of Mugabe's
governors - notably the likes of
Josaya Hungwe and Obert Mpofu who know that
their meal ticket comes from
doing a ruthless hatchet job on the MDC - would
have conveniently looked the
other way in the face of this moral
crisis.
Not Muchinguri. Not surprisingly,
therefore, several of her other
actions and pronouncements in the past have
clearly marked her out as not
only possessing a good conscience but also
being a cut above the rest of
Mugabe's governors. Her advice to war veterans
should equally be embraced by
the rest of Zanu PF
supporters.
During an address at a
political rally in Buhera almost two years ago,
she warned war veterans to
desist from their violent ways and pointedly
warned that whatever they did,
they should always remember that they, and
not Zanu PF, would ultimately pay
for their sins.
In her latest move to
protect the rights of Charleswood farm workers,
Muchinguri has shown that,
unlike other high-ranking officials in Mugabe's
government, she knows that
she is not paid from the taxpayers' money to look
after the welfare of only
those Zimbabweans who support Zanu PF but that of
every
citizen.
The only criticism her detractors
could have is that she is rather
inconsistent. Her arbitrary - and illegal -
resettlement of 66 villagers on
Brian James' Grange Farm in Mutasa, which was
not designated, was probably
the most outstanding example of that
inconsistency.
Nevertheless, it is
encouraging to hear that she has promised to deal
with the individuals who
masterminded the Charleswood Estate eviction. She
has said that "heads will
roll". Roll they must - and publicly!
Daily
News
Leader Page
Sex
brutality now a vital tool of political
repression
4/8/2003 10:23:08 AM
(GMT +2)
By Tawanda
waMagaisa
Man's brutality towards another
is at its worst during times of
social
unrest.
In recent weeks tales of
torture have been shocking and disgusting.
The political crisis has produced
conditions that nurture cruelty and the
repercussions will be felt for years
to come.
At one point last year, I
indicated that what we are doing in Zimbabwe
is tantamount to sowing the
seeds of hatred that will one day consume our
very children. Today, I wish to
elaborate on the subject of our cruelty and
show how low we have sunk. Sex
and human genitalia have become tools in the
political struggle in
Zimbabwe.
It is notable that the most
sensitive parts of our bodies and the most
private of human activities have
become important players in a political
game in which they have no control. I
am talking here of the abuse of male
and female genitalia and sex in the
political struggle in Zimbabwe today.
Some may object to the focus on these
sensitive issues in a family
newspaper, but I have thought long and hard
about it and believe that it is
not only useful, but necessary in the current
political climate to talk
about these things, in order to show how inhuman
and insensitive we have
become.
We
cannot stand by and seal our mouths when these things are being
done each
day. I do not for a moment think that this article is out of order
in a
respectable national newspaper - we have to expose these obscenities.
We
cannot run away from indecency but must expose
it.
Perhaps one does not begin to
appreciate the relevance of genitals on
the political landscape until they
experience pain. Every so often we hear
horrendous tales of men and women
being tortured by others. Is it surprising
that when the agents of torture
harass people, they often focus on the
genitals? We often hear stories of how
electric wires are connected to the
testicles for the purposes of inflicting
the most excruciating pain
possible. Sometimes we hear stories of how
torturers insert wires into the
urethra of the penis. Now, any man reading
this will probably be wincing
with pain because even the thought alone is
extremely painful.
It is so hard to
imagine without feeling the utmost pain because these
are extremely sensitive
parts of our anatomy. Now consider experiencing the
pain in reality. I cannot
even begin to imagine that any man in his right
senses would do this to a
fellow man. It is evidence of the depths to which
some of us have sunk, to
have the temerity to inflict such pain on
another
man.
The focus on male
genitalia would be an incomplete picture of the
reality of our cruelty.
Indeed, female genitalia have also been victimised
by agents of oppression.
Stories abound of how men and women use AK 47
rifles to pierce into and
perform sexual acts on the vagina. That is gross,
shameful and inhuman, but
it is happening in our midst. The intention of the
torturers is to humiliate,
conquer and dehumanise. Undoubtedly, the
psychological wounds of this
political crisis will be hard to overcome.
Sex is one of the most private and respected of human activities. So
when we
see how sex has been abused as a tool in this political struggle, it
just
indicates the brutality and inhumanity of the perpetrators of these
ghastly
acts. We are told of how women and young girls are gang-raped by
vicious and
cruel men in pursuit of political goals.
Only recently we were told how men and women were forced to perform
sex in
public at a local nightclub. It was worse that they were allegedly
forced to
have sex without protection in these days of the HIV /Aids
pandemic. Forcing
people to have sex is bad enough, but forcing them to do
so without
protection is tantamount to imposing a death sentence on
them.
How different is that torturer from
a man who wilfully inflicts fatal
injuries on another? Sex is supposed to be
enjoyed in private, but when
people are forced to do it in public, it should
bring shame to our political
leaders and those that purport to be enforcing
the laws of this country.
Consider the chain reaction of possible HIV
infections when those men and
women were forced to have unprotected sex. It
is too gruesome to imagine.
Sometimes
children and husbands are forced to watch as their mothers
and wives are
sexually abused by the agents of cruelty.
Is this the price men and women have to pay for holding divergent
political
views? And for how long shall we let this go on while we wait and
watch?
Employing sex for political machinations is inexcusable and
simply
exemplifies how low we have
sunk.
The shortage of sanitary pads is
also an illustration of how genitalia
have become victims of the political
and economic crisis. Women have had to
come out in the open and show how they
have suffered as a result of the
shortage and expense of cotton wool and
tampons, which are totally
essential
items.
That we now have to
buy these products at high cost on the black
market is a measure of how our
economy and values have fallen. Today, when
the lucky ones go abroad, they
return with bags of sanitary products for
their families. Torture, rape,
punishment and shortages have made our
genitals the silent victims of the
political malaise in Zimbabwe. And some
old men and women in charge of the
country still think that all is well.
They consider themselves proud leaders
of a sovereign nation called
Zimbabwe. What a shame! People are engaging in
the most cruel and despicable
acts against their own
countrymen.
Often we do not realise the
significance of these things until someone
actually inflicts pain on us. I
feel for those among us who have had to
endure cruelty of this
nature.
We are all human beings, and
whether we support Zanu PF, MDC, NAGG or
whatever party, we still need
sanitary pads, we still feel the pain in our
testicles, we still wince when
we read about someone inserting a wire into
the urethra, we still cry when
someone inserts an AK 47 through another's
vagina and we all feel appalled
and violated when someone forces us into
having unprotected and dangerous
sex. Surely a line should be
drawn
somewhere?
The remaining vestiges
of humanity must germinate, grow, flower and
produce something good among us.
Maybe then these silent, suffering victims
of our national crisis will be at
peace.
Daily
News
Feature
African
leaders ought to learn from the ordinary
man
4/8/2003 10:21:15 AM (GMT
+2)
By Cathy
Buckle
Zimbabwe was deeply shocked by the
tragic death in police custody of
MDC MP Learnmore Jongwe in October 2002.
There were then, and are still now,
so many horrors and questions associated
with the MP's death.
We have not forgotten
that Jongwe did not receive medical treatment
when he became violently ill in
the early hours of the morning in his prison
cell. Or that his family were
not told personally of his death but learnt of
the tragedy on a radio news
bulletin.
Neither have we forgotten that
the police invaded the home of mourners
and that later riot police fired
tear-gas at the many thousands of people
who lined the streets of Kuwadzana
to pay their last respects to Jongwe.
The
people of Kuwadzana did not run away from the police and their
tear-gas in
October 2002 but instead were united in both their grief and
their immutable
resolve.
Last week the people of Kuwadzana
again stood together and showed
extreme courage in voting for another man of
their choice to represent them
in
Parliament.
Newly-elected MDC MP, Nelson
Chamisa, told The Daily News: "I view my
victory as a tribute to my friend,
Learnmore, who died under
mysterious
circumstances."
One ecstatic
opposition supporter in Kuwadzana said on the day of the
by-election results:
"We are so happy.
We know the army will
come and beat us tonight but we don't
care."
This courage is the new face of
Zimbabwe in 2003 and it is being seen
with increasing regularity all over our
ravaged country.
The people of Highfield
also stood firm in voting for the person they
wanted to represent them in
Parliament.
They took the plates of sadza
that were handed out to them, they
hungrily bought the usually unavailable
bags of roller-meal being used to
bribe them and they braved the taunts and
intimidation at the polling
booths.
They did not vote with their stomachs, but with their heads and they
were
courageous in their stance.
In other
countries it may be regarded as the most basic of human
rights to vote for
the person and party of your choice; in Zimbabwe it takes
enormous courage to
do so.
The ordinary men and women of
Kuwadzana and Highfield have been
applauded and saluted for their bravery and
determination.
It does not matter one iota
that the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC)-TV chose to devote their top
story on the night of the by-election
results to a soccer
game.
ZBC again showed themselves to be
childish and unprincipled amateurs
in representing the news and views of
Zimbabweans.
The mayhem in Zimbabwe is
separating the men from the boys and the ZBC
again showed us that they are
still in shorts.
The bravery of ordinary
Zimbabweans in Highfield and Kuwadzana did not
only put the ZBC to shame but
also the very important people who call
themselves our friends and
neighbours.
In the last fortnight hundreds
of people have been arrested without
charge, tortured in police custody,
beaten in their own homes by armed men
in military uniforms and suffered the
foulest of abuses.
On Sabc-TV last week,
horrific video footage was shown of black and
white men and women who had
been beaten shortly after the
nationwide
stayaways.
Zimbabwean
diplomats in Harare trying to watch the recent Harare
by-elections were
shocked at what they saw.
One Western
diplomat described the event as a "farce".
An African diplomat said: "I would not like to see us have elections
like
this at home."
Even after these reports
and the graphic television footage of bruised
and bloodied Zimbabweans, South
African President Thabo Mbeki still chooses
to say
nothing.
Namibia's President Sam Nujoma
stays silent. Zambian President Levy
Mwanawasa is quiet and Mozambican
President Joaquim Chissano has no words
to
utter.
Malawi's President Bakili
Muluzi also chooses to say nothing.
Muluzi
has at last announced that he will not change his country's
constitution and
will step down from the presidency.
Perhaps now that he has done this, President Muluzi will find the
courage to
say something about the appalling human rights abuses and
oppression in
Zimbabwe. Perhaps he will now show us if he is a man amongst
men or, like
many other African presidents, just a little boy scared of
upsetting the Old
Boys' Club?
We pray that Muluzi and all
the other African leaders will emulate the
admirable bravery being shown by
ordinary Zimbabwean men and women.
Cathy
Buckle is a Zimbabwean housewife who lives in
Marondera.
MDC Weekly Brief
Key Developments:
MDC Vice-President Gibson Sibanda detained for 8 days then released on bail
MDC Spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi arrested and, at the time of writing, remains in police custody
Cosatu condemns Mugabe's reign of terror in Zimbabwe
Click here to read the complete document MDC Weekly Brief
Reuters
By Alistair
Thomson
JOHANNESBURG, April 8 (Reuters) - For Colin
Kwanele, filling cars at a fuel station in one of Johannesburg's wealthy
northern suburbs, war in Iraq seems a long way off.
Unlike many of his customers the 21-year-old
Zimbabwean economic immigrant is unable to watch the battle unfold on satellite
television at home. But that does not stop it affecting him.
"Last week unleaded was at 4.22 rand a litre. Now
it's at 4.26," he said, the crisis having pushed up global oil prices.
With U.S.-led forces in Baghdad and the world's
development gurus already looking to a future beyond Saddam Hussein, Africa and
its poorest and most downtrodden inhabitants have all but fallen from view.
Rising oil prices would hurt Africa's fuel-buying
economies, foreign aid is likely to be diverted to the Middle East and the world
is turning a blind eye to abuses by opportunistic leaders.
"The Iraqi war is basically going to relegate
African affairs in terms of the global stage," said Phumzile Langeni of
Johannesburg brokerage Mazwai Securities.
"You just need to look at the amount of money
that America is going to be paying for the war. George Bush asked for $74.7
billion and I would say whatever aid that has been earmarked for Africa is
likely to be put on the back burner," she said.
Just weeks ago Angola, Guinea and Cameroon basked
as the richest nations courted their U.N. Security Council votes for or against
war on Iraq. That attention vanished when the United States and Britain gave up
on U.N. backing for war, undermining the body which channels much foreign aid to
Africa's poor.
"We are concerned that resources that should have
been used for development are going to war," Mozambique's President Joaquim
Chissano told Reuters.
"War will mean higher fuel prices for some on the
continent. It also means uncertainty within financial markets and that is not
good for investment," he said. "We will struggle to show that Africa must remain
a major priority, as indeed it should."
Britain's minister with responsibility for
Africa, Valerie Amos, promised that the need to rebuild post-war Iraq would not
eclipse African development.
"Will that reconstruction be expensive? Yes. Will
it affect the UK's commitment to Africa? No," she told reporters in South Africa
during a visit to the region.
Yet, perhaps mindful of the exodus of aid and
relief workers from Africa to stricken Afghanistan after U.S.-led operations
there in 2001, many Africans are not convinced.
OIL PRICE THREATENS ECONOMIC TURMOIL
The war-induced fluctuations of world oil prices
threaten to unsettle the economies of the poorest continent.
A lengthy war and soaring oil prices could boost
the handful of net oil exporters in sub-Saharan Africa, encouraging Western
firms to crank up capacity away from the volatile Middle East.
"For your importing countries, unfortunately the
converse applies, unless their currency strengthens as we have seen with the
South African currency," Mazwai's Langeni said.
But the region's biggest exporter, Nigeria, has
seen ethnic violence slash its 2.2 million barrel-per-day (bpd) output by
800,000 bpd, and any war premium on exports may be short-lived.
"The economic effect hasn't happened the way they
thought it would. The oil price hasn't gone through the roof," said Richard
Cornwall of South Africa's Institute of Security Studies.
"In fact in the long run with the increase in oil
output that would be accessible from Iraq under different circumstances, you
could expect the oil price to decline."
In any event, uncertainty over oil prices and
international security is likely to feed instability in Africa's economies.
Security worries have already cast a shadow over
Kenya's $300 million-plus tourist industry, a key foreign exchange earner for
sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest economy. Since the war began, at least two
cruise liners have cancelled stops at Mombasa, the port resort targeted in a
bombing late last year.
Assistant Tourism Minister Beth Mugo said
occupancy at Kenya's coastal hotels was down to 50 percent from 70 percent at
the same time last year, and that reaching a target of two million foreign
tourists this year would be a struggle.
WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY...
Compounding its economic effects, war in Iraq is
also giving leaders elsewhere a smokescreen for abuse.
March saw violent uprisings in the Central
African Republic, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria and
Zimbabwe. All were rooted in local conflicts, but analysts say in some cases the
timing smacks of opportunism.
"While the cat's away and people's attention is
elsewhere, people are going to be up to some mischief," said Cornwall.
Any prolonged war against Iraq in the face of
international opposition may stir memories of the Cold War, when Washington
favoured sympathetic leaders above democracy and human rights.
The result -- dictators like Zaire's Mobutu Sese
Seko and debilitating foreign-bankrolled civil wars as in Angola -- left a
scarred Africa wrestling with a legacy of violence.
In a chilling reminder of those days, Rwanda and
Uganda, both accused of letting their troops loot the Democratic Republic of
Congo during the former Zaire's 4-1/2 year war, jumped to Washington's side to
voice support for the Iraq war.
Back in Colin Kwanele's native Zimbabwe,
President Robert Mugabe has launched a crackdown on the opposition after one of
the biggest protests against his 23-year rule last month.
Torture allegations against Mugabe's police and
supporters drew a terse rebuke from the U.S. State Department, but the criticism
was all but lost in the media frenzy over Iraq.
Topping up another car, Kwanele said he was not
sure whether Africa had yet been forgotten in the rush to depose Saddam. "Maybe
Bush will come for Zimbabwe next," he said wryly. (Additional reporting by David
Mageria in Nairobi, Manoah Esipisu in Maputo and Joseph Oesi and Mmatshwane
Antoinette Mokgohloa in Johannesburg)