Reuters
Wed 20
Aug 2008, 15:52 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
will officially open
parliament on Tuesday despite opposition warnings that
such a move would
endanger crucial power-sharing talks.
Parliament
clerk Austin Zvoma told reporters the new parliament would
convene on
Monday.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change, said in a statement earlier that convening parliament
would break a
framework agreement governing power-sharing talks to try to
end Zimbabwe's
political crisis. "Any decision to convene parliament will be
a clear
repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication
beyond
reasonable doubt of ZANU-PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of
the
talks. In short convening parliament decapitates the dialogue," Biti
said.
In March elections, the ruling ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary
majority for
the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, but
Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC did not win an overall majority either.
The
balance of power rests in the hands of a breakaway opposition faction
led by
Arthur Mutambara.
He has moved closer to Mugabe in recent weeks and any
deal between them
could weaken Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's most powerful
opposition leader, and add
to political uncertainty.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2953#more-2953
August 20, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai and the
party's secretary general, Tendai Biti, are not singing
from the same hymn
book.
Tsvangirai says President Robert Mugabe can
go ahead and re-convene
Parliament, but he can not assemble a Cabinet team
before ongoing
power-sharing talks are concluded.
Meanwhile Biti says
no, Parliament cannot be constituted, as it is illegal
to do
so.
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma says the swearing-in of legislators
in the
bi-cameral Parliament is scheduled to take place on Monday or Tuesday
next
week "to enable new legislators to execute (the) mandate they were
given by
the people".
Members of Parliamentary and Senators have not
been sworn in since they were
elected on March 29, almost five months ago.
Initially they could not be
sworn in because there was no President as
announcement of the results of
the presidential election was delayed for
five weeks. When the results were
eventually announced, the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission said the winner,
Tsvangirai had not secured a large
enough majority to form the next
government. The result of that election was
reversed on June 27 when Mugabe
won the presidential election which
Tsvangirai boycotted, citing violence.
While Mugabe won by what he
described as a landslide majority he has,
nevertheless, not formed a new
government because of the controversial
nature of an election dismissed by
many as a sham. Members of Parliament
have, therefore not been sworn
in.
The Memorandum of Agreement, which was signed by the leaders of
Zanu-PF and
the two MDCs to launch the current negotiations says Parliament
should not
sit while the negotiations are still underway. The talks are
still
deadlocked over the division of power between Tsvangirai and
Mugabe.
SADC leaders said in their communiqué last weekend that Zimbabwe
should
convene its Parliament while the talks are proceeding.
In
terms of the MoU governing the conduct of the negotiations, neither side
is
supposed to "take any decisions or measures that have a bearing on the
agenda save by consensus (including) the convening of Parliament or the
formation of a new government."
Biti issued an unequivocal statement
in Harare on Wednesday where he sharply
contradicted Tsvangirai.
"Any
decision to convene Parliament will be a clear repudiation of the
Memorandum
of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of
Zanu-PF's
unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks," he said.
"In short,
convening Parliament decapitates the dialogue."
The MDC secretary
general's sentiments essentially contradicted the views
expressed by
Tsvangirai in a weekend interview with Johannesburg-based
Zimbabwean
journalist Basildon Peta of Zimonline.com on the same subject.
Asked what
would be the effect on the negotiations of reconvening Parliament
in view of
clauses in the MoU forbidding this, Tsvangirai replied: "It will
have no
effect. As far as we are concerned we don't see anything wrong with
that.
Let Parliament be reconvened."
With regard to the appointment of Cabinet,
Tsvangirai said: "Parliament is
the expression of the will of the people.
Cabinet is another thing.
Convening Parliament does not necessarily mean
that a Cabinet should be
appointed. If Parliament is being reconvened to
deal with this dispute, then
let it deal with the dispute. But that does not
mean Mugabe unilaterally
goes to form a government and have Cabinet
ministers. If that is the
intention, then it will be a breach of the
MOU."
Biti said the MDC remained firmly committed to the process of
dialogue "for
one reason and one reason alone - the suffering of Zimbabweans
has to come
to an end, and any opportunity of liberating them from the
current madness
has to be pursued to its logical conclusion.
"In this
regard, it is critical that wise counsel should prevail and these
talks
should be allowed to run their natural course," Biti said. "History
will
judge harshly those who were insincere, mendacious or negotiated with
other
agendas other than the genuine interests of the people of
Zimbabwe."
Human rights lawyers in Harare said in a statement the clause
in the MoU
interdicting the swearing-in of Parliament while talks are in
progress "is
merely a contract between political parties and it cannot
override the
constitution."
MDC spokesman Tapiwa Mashakada said there
was no contradiction between
Tsvangirai and Biti saying "they are saying the
same thing in a different
manner."
"We are not objecting to calling
Parliament, after all the Constitution
states that Cabinet is supposed to be
formed once the legislature is
sitting," said Mashakada.
"We are
objecting to the appointment of Cabinet, which will obviously be
against the
spirit and latter of the MoU."
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Aug 20, 2008, 15:10
GMT
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF on
Tuesday continued
to hold a gun to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's head, threatening to convene parliament unless he
signed up to
a deal to share power with Mugabe.
'The clerk of
parliament made the announcement and the parliament has to
meet. If the MDC
is serious and genuine about talks they must sign as soon
as possible so
that we find the way forward. We have given them a chance so
we will
proceed,' deputy information minister Bright Matonga said.
The MDC had
earlier warned Mugabe against convening parliament, saying to do
so would
sound the death knell for tripartite talks on a government of
national
unity.
In a statement MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said reports that
parliament would be convened next week were 'unwelcome' and
'disturbing.'
'The MDC has not consented to the convening of parliament,'
Biti said,
warning any move to swear in MPs would be 'a clear repudiation of
the
memorandum of understanding and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of
Zanu-PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks.
'In
short, convening parliament decapitates the dialogue,' Biti said.
The
memorandum of understanding is the agreement governing the stalled
power-sharing talks between Zanu-PF, Tsvangirai's MDC and a breakaway MDC
faction led by Arthur Mutambara.
In it, the three parties agree none
should convene parliament or form a
government during the talks, 'save by
consensus.'
Mugabe got the nod to convene parliament at a weekend summit
of leaders of
the 14-nation Southern African Development Community
(SADC).
On Tuesday, state radio quoted parliament clerk Austin Zvoma as
saying the
convening would take place either on August 25 or 26.
The
announcement follows the SADC's summit's failure to bridge the divide
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on how to share executive power, if, as
proposed, Tsvangirai becomes prime minister in a unity
government.
The MDC is pushing for Tsvangirai to have full control of
government because
he bested Mugabe in the last credible presidential
election in March.
Zanu-PF wants Mugabe and Tsvangirai to share power, on
the basis of Mugabe's
victory in a second round of voting in June that
Tsvangirai boycotted.
It was unclear what exactly the reopening of
parliament would mean for the
MDC.
Tsvangirai's MDC took 100 seats in
210-seat parliament to Zanu- PF's 99 in
March elections. An independent took
one seat. The balance of power lies
with Arthur Mutambara's faction, which
took 10 seats.
Although the two MDCs agreed after the election to work
together in
parliament Mutambara said recently he would consider working
with either
Mugabe or Tsvangirai.
Financial Times
By Tom
Burgis in Johannesburg
Published: August 20 2008 15:08 | Last updated:
August 20 2008 16:35
Fading hopes of a swift power-sharing deal to
resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe
were close to expiring on Wednesday after the
opposition said President
Robert Mugabe's plans to convene parliament would
"kill" negotiations.
Mr Mugabe will swear in members of parliament on
Monday, a parliamentary
clerk was quoted as telling reporters in Harare, the
capital. It has not met
since the president's Zanu-PF party suffered its
first defeat at March's
elections.
"If it is recalled, the talks
are killed," said Tendai Biti,
secretary-general of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change. The MDC
fears that recalling MPs is a prelude to Mr
Mugabe appointing a new
government.
Fractious negotiations between the
84-year-old Mr Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC leader who beat him in
the last credible presidential
poll, were suspended last week when the
former trade unionist refused to
sign up to a coalition in which he held
anything less than full executive
powers.
However, two people privy
to a summit of regional leaders in South Africa at
the weekend said Mr
Tsvangirai was coming under "massive pressure" to accept
a new post of prime
minister without explicit guarantees of his seniority to
Mr Mugabe, who
would extend his 28-year stay in state house.
The 15-member Southern
African Development Community, which includes
Zimbabwe, said in its summit
communiqué that parliament might have to be
convened as part of efforts to
find a solution. However, the original
agreement between the two parties and
the breakaway faction of the MDC
stated that MPs would only be recalled "by
consensus".
The combined wings of the MDC hold a majority in parliament.
Its main wing
had previously called for parliament to be convened. However,
several of its
MPs are in hiding or abroad following what the opposition
says is
state-sponsored intimidation that has left more than 100 of its
supporters
dead.
The first act of a reconvened parliament would be to
elect the powerful post
of speaker - a vote Zanu-PF would expect to win with
its de facto majority.
Mr Biti would not rule out a boycott of parliament
by MDC MPs. Asked if the
party was under pressure to sign up to the deal
brokered by Thabo Mbeki, the
South African president mediating the talks, he
said: "Life expectancy in
Zimbabwe is 34. That is pressure."
While
the stalemate prevails, civil society groups - often operating
covertly
because humanitarian organisations are banned from the country -
say disease
and hunger are ever more prevalent, with cholera a particular
fear as the
sanitation system collapses.
The United Nations has warned that half the
population faces starvation by
the start of next year after a disastrous
harvest.
Mr Tsvangirai has embarked on a tour of the region to curry
favour among
sympathisers such as Ian Khama, the Botswanan president who
refused to
attend the summit in protest at Mr Mugabe's presence.
The
ace in his hand is that donors who have pledged some $2bn in
reconstruction
aid will only release the funds if Mr Mugabe is sidelined.
Mr Mugabe
appears prepared to forgo assistance, however, even as the
shattered economy
deteriorates. Official figures this week showed inflation
has risen from
2.2m per cent in May, already the world's highest rate, to
11.2m in
June.
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/1636
Recent reports
suggesting that the regime in Harare intends to convene
Parliament are
unwelcome as it is disturbing. Article 9 of the Memorandum of
Understanding
(MoU) that the parties executed on the 21st of July 2008,
makes it clear
that no party, during the subsistence of the dialogue shall
take any
decision or measure that has a bearing on the dialogue, save by
consensus.
Such a decision or measure includes, but not restricted to, the
convening of
Parliament or formation of a new government. In the present
case, the MDC
has not consented to the convening of Parliament.
Any decision to convene
Parliament will be a clear repudiation of the
Memorandum of Understanding,
and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of
ZANU PF's unwillingness to
continue to be part of the talks. In short
convening Parliament decapitates
the dialogue.
We as a party still remain firmly committed to this
dialogue for one reason
and one reason alone- the suffering of Zimbabweans
has to come to an end,
and any opportunity of liberating them from the
current madness has to be
pursued to its logical conclusion. In this regard,
it is critical that wise
counsel should prevail and these talks should be
allowed to run their
natural course. History will judge harshly those who
were insincere,
mendacious or negotiated with other agendas other than the
genuine interests
of the people of Zimbabwe.
Hon Mr. Tendai L.
Biti
MDC Secretary General
via an MDC Press Release
The Telegraph
Five million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid but supplies in South
African warehouses risk being sent elsewhere because of a ban on aid agency
operations.
By Peta Thornycroft in Zengeza
Last Updated: 7:24PM
BST 20 Aug 2008
The ban was imposed by President Robert Mugabe's
regime after aid agencies
were accused of campaigning for the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change - allegations they strongly
deny.
Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding governing the
talks
between the political parties, it was supposed to be lifted, but with
the
talks deadlocked over power-sharing arrangements, the ruling Zanu-PF
party
has so far refused to do so.
"The government knows this is
nonsense, we work around the world and stay
out of politics," said the
director of a humanitarian agency who did not
want himself or his
organisation identified. Zimbabwe has had its worst
summer harvest in living
memory and five million people, almost half the
population, are expected to
need food before the next harvest in April.
"Reports are coming in of
seriously malnourished children," said the
official.
"We are
desperate to get working but until the World Food Programme signs an
agreement with the government we can't.
"Even some top Zanu-PF
politicians are encouraging us to break the ban as
there is pressure from
traditional leaders for food aid."
The country director of one of the
largest distribution agencies, who also
did not want to be identified, said:
"If the ban is lifted it will take us
another month to set up. Food in
warehouses in South Africa may be sent to
other countries or else it will
become stale."
The government has imported no maize, the staple food, for
more than a
month, and even within the government welfare department
officials do not
know if the ban will be lifted. "Honestly I don't know, and
we know the
situation is bad," said a senior staff member who asked not to
be named.
Some essentials are available on the black market, but most
Zimbabweans
cannot afford to buy them, with unemployment at at least 80 per
cent and
prices four times higher than in neighbouring South
Africa.
A teacher's monthly salary is less than the cost of a 10 kg bag
of maize
meal - which would last a small family about a week.
The
worst hit are the elderly caring for grandchildren orphaned by the
country's
Aids epidemic.
Loice Marowya, 68 and her husband Jonah 74, worked for the
post office for
40 years, but their pension is so ravaged by hyperinflation
that it is less
than the bus fare he would have to pay to go to collect
it.
They care for two grandchildren and Mrs Marowya said: "What is really
happening? I can't even buy a meal for my grandchildren. Every time I look
at them my heart bleeds and I cry.
"We don't even light a fire at
night because there is nothing to cook."
In Zengeza township, east of
Harare, Diana Chisesu Uta, 70, looks after four
grandchildren aged 10 to 17.
Her maize meal and sugar containers were empty,
and all she had to share
with them was a small piece of stale bread.
"These politicians are liars,
the last time they came here they promised us
food, and up to now, nothing
has come," she said. "We hope Britain and
America will send us food
tomorrow."
Hundreds of millions of pounds of international aid and
reconstruction
assistance is in the pipeline to help rebuild Zimbabwe if and
when a new
government is formed that tackles the country's myriad problems,
but with
talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC paralysed, the aid is on
hold.
Similarly, the deadlock means the economy continues to spiral
downwards,
hyperinflation rages on, and shop supplies are minimal to
non-existent.
The ruling regime confirmed it would convene parliament
next Tuesday, which
the MDC condemned as a "clear repudiation" of the
memorandum of
understanding - it specifically states that parliament should
only be called
if all the parties agree.
It was "an indication beyond
reasonable doubt of Zanu-PF's unwillingness to
continue to be part of the
talks," said the MDC secretary-general Tendai
Biti.
"Convening
Parliament decapitates the dialogue." But he added that the
opposition
remained "firmly committed to this dialogue for one reason and
one reason
alone - the suffering of Zimbabweans has to come to an end, and
any
opportunity of liberating them from the current madness has to be
pursued to
its logical conclusion."
In the meantime the people are becoming
increasingly malnourished in what
was once a regional
breadbasket.
Renson Gasela, a former MDC MP turned agriculture
commentator, said: "This
ban is appalling and disgraceful and is a violation
of the memorandum of
understanding. No country in the world should be
allowed to stop food from
people in need."
http://www.iwpr.net
Residents of remote village say measures taken by
authorities to feed poor
Zimbabweans are having negligible impact.
By
Yamikani Mwando in Plumtree (ZCR No. 160, 20-Aug-08)
Residents of a
Zimbabwean village close to the Botswana border say that a
government
programme to provide basic commodities for low prices has not
improved their
access to food.
The authorities say they have put measures in place in
response to a growing
food crisis in the country by providing low-cost
hampers. However, few in
the village of Tshitshi have seen evidence of
these, and some even accuse
war veterans aligned to the ruling ZANU-PF party
of blocking their
distribution to opposition supporters.
Galloping
inflation in Zimbabwe has caused prices of food staples to soar
throughout
the country, and rural communities are bearing the brunt of
worsening food
shortages.
The situation has been exacerbated since June, when the
government banned
aid agencies from distributing food in the country, and
access to food
remains particularly difficult for the majority in remote
parts of the
country.
In response to this, the central bank initiated
a programme - the Basic
Commodities Supply Side Intervention, BACOSSI - to
supply families with food
hampers at low prices, as part of what ZANU-PF
says are efforts to cushion
poor people from the ravages of profiteering
retailers.
Under the programme, the food hampers - containing, among
other things,
maize meal, cooking oil, bath soap and flour - are sold for 11
Zimbabwe
dollars, ZWD (formerly 110 billion ZWD before the removal of ten
zeroes from
the currency earlier this month), an amount not normally enough
to buy a
banana.
Yet in Tshitshi, which lies more than 150 kilometres
southwest of Bulawayo,
villagers say they have yet to benefit from the
initiative.
Some say they have seen no sign of the hampers, while others
accuse the war
veterans and traditional chiefs who support the authorities
of preventing
opposition party supporters from taking advantage of the
programme.
"We are yet to see the food packs," local man Thomson Moyo
told IWPR.
Tshitshi are very anxious about food provision, particularly
after a long,
dry spell left behind arid plains. The village shares a
frontier with
neighbouring country Botswana and those who can, like Moyo,
obtain supplies
from across the border.
Pointing across the
Ramakgobana River that divides the countries, he said at
least twice a month
he crosses the shallow waters, before walking for two
kilometres into
Botswana to buy food for his family.
"This is how we live. I sell goats,
cows and chickens in foreign currency to
people from the city and that
enables me to buy what I need in Botswana," he
said.
He is one of
many here who have given up hope of a better life.
Cut off from the rest
of the country, the villagers of Tshitshi have little
information as to what
is happening farther north. The Zimbabwe broadcasters'
signals do not reach
this remote land, where many people don't own radios or
television sets. The
only radio programmes the villages are able to pick up
are from
Botswana.
Many Zimbabweans have now fled to the neighbouring country,
where they take
up menial jobs and tolerate what they say are the xenophobic
attitudes of
locals.
"No one wants to stay here. The girls have
disappeared to Botswana, and
young men have left for South Africa," said
Moyo.
For Mike Dumezweni, a villager, the tough life in this rural
outback spurred
him into political activism.
But this has come at a
price. He said he has been hounded out of the
community by war veterans more
times than he can remember, yet he keeps
coming back.
Wearing a
T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Movement for Democratic
Change, MDC,
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Dumezweni told IWPR that he crosses
into
neighbouring Botswana whenever he feels under threat.
The last time he
fled was during the run-up to Zimbabwe's presidential,
parliamentary and
local elections held on March 29.
"It's a tough life living under these
conditions. The war veterans decide
everything. The only time I saw BACOSSI
food packs, the war veterans made
sure that known MDC supporters did not
access them," said Dumezweni.
"The police fear these men and do not
protect us."
Dumezweni is one of many young men here who have resorted to
wheeling and
dealing for a living. He buys foreign currency at very cheap
rates from
those villagers who receive remittances from their children who
have crossed
to Botswana and South Africa.
He then cycles more than
70 km into the south-western town of Plumtree,
where he sells the foreign
exchange at much higher rates.
From these earnings, he is one of a few
young men in this poor rural area
who can afford to buy products like
alcohol, considered a luxury even by
those Zimbabweans in regular
employment.
Amid the palpable hunger and poverty that haunts the village,
a few young
men who have managed to make money in South Africa and Botswana
have even
built large houses.
Moyo said that these families are
unwilling to help their needy neighbours.
"They have all they need," he
told IWPR. "But the poverty we are living in
has taken away the spirit of
sharing - these people are unwilling to part
with their foreign basic
commodities.
"But we are thankful that those [friends and family] who
have left for
neighbouring countries are feeding us."
Yamikani Mwando
is the pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe
http://www.iwpr.net
ZANU-PF officials reportedly compounding chronic food
shortages by seizing
grain delivered to state depot.
By Obert Gumpo
in Gwanda (ZCR No. 160, 20-Aug-08)
Dumezweni Nare does not remember any
time in the past six months when he had
a decent meal.
"It is by the
grace of the Lord that we are able to speak to you," said
Nare, as he
scavenged for wild fruit with a group of visibly hungry
villagers in the dry
windswept veld a few kilometres outside Gwanda, the
provincial capital of
Matabeleland South province.
Matabeleland South receives less than 450
millimetres of rainfall per year.
At best, it produces just enough food for
its people to survive. The
southern provinces, while good for livestock
rearing, are not suitable for
agriculture.
A tour of the area by IWPR
revealed that Nare was not alone in his
predicament.
At dawn each
day, the villagers of this dry and dusty region comb the
hinterlands in
search of any wildlife or edible wild fruits, in a desperate
attempt to put
food on the table.
The giant baobab trees that dot the terrain have
become about the only
source of sustenance. The villagers go first for the
fruit, the seeds of
which are coated in a white powder which separates from
the pips when
pounded in a mortar.
Mixed with fresh milk, the powder
produces a kind of cream of tartar. People
here have this for dinner,
although most mix the powder with water instead.
But as the baobab fruit
is finished quickly, villagers then go for the
roots, which are pounded into
a porridge-like paste - known in local
languages as amagontsi or umtopi -
which serves as their main meal.
As Zimbabwe's economic and political
crisis continues, rural areas of the
country have been worst hit by severe
food shortages and escalating prices.
According to recent statistics from
the United Nations World Food Programme,
about 5.1 million Zimbabweans will
be queuing up for food handouts by
October this year.
Nare, a peasant
farmer from the Silonga community, said that children have
been unable to
attend classes in most areas due to hunger.
According to Nare, villagers
have not received any grain from the
state-owned Grain Marketing Board, GMB,
for the past five months.
"But there are some people who have access to
the GMB who come [and try to]
sell us maize at exorbitant prices," he
said.
"We are now surviving on umtopi. Alternatively, we engage in barter
trade. A
big goat can get you two 20 kilogrammes of maize."
However,
20 kg doesn't last long and the villagers' livestock is quickly
being
depleted.
In Gwanda town, hungry residents who have not been given an
opportunity to
buy maize from the GMB are also resorting to eating porridge
prepared from
baobab fruits or ground roots.
They say that officials
from the ruling ZANU-PF quickly snap up the little
grain that is delivered
to the GMB's main depot from South Africa and
channel it into the thriving
black market.
"I have been coming here daily for a week and a half and
they keep telling
us that wagons bringing maize from South Africa are coming
today," said
Samuel Nare, the only miller in the Manama area of Gwanda
South.
"When a few do arrive, the grain is given to the same people, who
seem to be
enjoying preferential treatment.
"The situation back at
home is dire and our people are surviving on fruit
and roots like wild
animals."
Just outside the GMB depot, vendors could be seen selling a 20
kg bag of
maize meal for 40 Zimbabwe dollars, ZWD. This is out of the reach
of most
residents, very few of whom earn more than 20 ZWD a month. Most
locals are
employed at surrounding small-scale gold mines, which are
currently in limbo
because of the country's ongoing economic
crisis.
The situation in town is no better than in the remote
countryside.
"Starvation is no longer confined to rural areas and it
could be even worse
here in town," said resident Nephat Ndlovu.
"Some
households are now going for days without a full meal because they
have no
access to the foreign currency [needed] to buy maize from the black
market."
In rural parts, councillors are allowed to collect grain
from the GMB, which
is then sold to villagers in their respective
wards.
But according to reports, ZANU-PF former councillors who lost
their seats
are still allowed to take advantage of this arrangement,
collecting grain
from the GMB and selling it on.
"Last week, a former
ZANU-PF councillor from Enyandeni collected 200 bags
from the GMB and gave
ten bags to each [ZANU-PF] official in the area for
their own consumption,"
said Petros Mukwena, the provincial secretary for
the Arthur Mutambara-led
faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, MDC.
"When
the new councillor went to collect maize for the ward, only 150 bags,
which
are hardly enough for the community, remained.
"I have since written to
the governor, Angeline Masuku, to protest against
this corruption, which has
become endemic, but I have not received a
satisfactory
answer."
Renson Gasela, the secretary for agriculture in the Mutambara
MDC faction,
said, "There is no food. It is a fact that the rural
population, especially
in southern Zimbabwe, is in dire straits. Some of us
with rural
constituencies are afraid to visit some villages as people have
not eaten
for days."
In some parts of the south he has visited
recently, villagers were surviving
on wild fruit called matohwe and chakata,
he said.
"People are eating anything wild that does not kill," said
Gasela, who is a
former head of the GMB.
According to Gasela, there
is no good reason for the ongoing food shortages.
"There can never be an
explanation as to why there is no food when the
country has the experience
of mobilising and moving food into areas with
acute shortages. Someone is
not doing his or her job for political reasons,"
he said.
Leader of
the main MDC faction Morgan Tsvangirai said the situation in rural
areas
throughout the country was a cause of great concern for him and his
party.
While Tsvangirai has been in negotiations with Mugabe to reach a
power-sharing deal, there is little sign that the men are close to an
agreement.
The MDC leader appealed to the mediator in the talks,
South African
president Thabo Mbeki, to persuade Mugabe to allow
humanitarian agencies to
resume their work, as millions of Zimbabweans face
starvation. The agencies
were banned from distributing food in June this
year.
"Zimbabwe has become one of the worst man-made humanitarian
disasters of a
new and hopeful century. An estimated half-a-million
Zimbabweans have
already died of starvation, malnutrition and preventable
diseases," said
Tsvangirai.
"Because of the failed policies of
ZANU-PF, more than five million now face
starvation and famine. We cannot
allow this to happen."
Obert Gumpo is the pseudonym of an IWPR reporter
in Zimbabwe.
Last Modified: 20 Aug 2008
Zimbabwean guest blogger, 'Helen' finds unconventional payment for school fees is becoming normal.
"How will you be paying your son's fees?" the school Bursar asked when I
arrived at her office this week.
I knew she wasn't referring to the
normal ways people pay bills such as with cash, cheques or by bank transfer, so
I asked her what the options were to pay for the next three month school term
for my son.
I could feel my eyes widening and mouth beginning to drop
open as the Bursar gave me the bizarre choices:
Everywhere you go you see people doing sums - on scraps of paper, the backs of till slips or even with sticks in the sand.
I was visiting a pensioner this week and she was thrilled that she'd finally
been able to get her kettle repaired. The cord had developed a fault and a local
electrician had dug around in a box of bits and pieces and found a second hand
cable that fitted.
He charged her a packet of rice and 500grams of
macaroni in exchange for fixing the kettle!
Among the humour and the
absurdities of bartering and trading, we are still engulfed in the confusion of
the removal of ten zeroes from the currency a fortnight ago.
Everywhere
you go you see people doing sums - on scraps of paper, the backs of till slips
or even with sticks in the sand. We have to add ten zeroes to quoted prices to
work out how much things cost, or take ten zeroes off to work out how much money
we are handing over.
To make matters worse both the old and new currency
notes are operating side by side. I had a little wad of 50bn dollar notes in my
purse but just couldn't make sense of the fact that they are now actually only
worth 5 dollars each.
Like an imbecile I handed them over the counter to
the lady in the Post Office this week and smiled stupidly as I asked her to give
me as many stamps as the handful of notes could buy.
I laughed and shook
my head as she smiled, apologised and handed over just eight local
stamps.
"How can this go on?" she asked me, "How much longer?"
I
didn't answer because I don't know, I don't think anyone
does.
Economist John Robertson has monitored the inflation and the black market currency rates for years with the eyes of an eye.
Having experienced parallel market exchange rate changes that have maintained a fairly steady rate of change of 13% a day for more than three months now, we might consider it safe to project forward the effects that a continuing decline at that same daily rate would have on the value of our dollars.
I have attempted to do this extrapolation through to the end of the year in the attached table, in which I have compared the exchange rates actually paid by foreign currency buyers day by day all the way through 2007 and through 2008 up to today's figure. I've illustrated that the 13% per day average can be modestly above or below the actual rates paid, but the figure has remained consistent over the period.
To make the mathematics work, I have left the ten zeros in place for comparisons, but an additional column shows the revalued dollar figures as well. It will be recalled that at the end of last year, a US dollar was going for Z$5 million on the parallel market. If we don't move off the track we are on now, the cost of a US dollar will be Z$30 million REVALUED , so the lost zeros will be all back in place along with a few more...
I do not want to call this a forecast, mainly because the numbers become too impossible to be accepted as figures we could live with, so perhaps the table should be accepted as evidence that we are going well beyond workable limits.
I think most of us would claim that we have been in impossible territory for some time, but now that the restricted cash limits and low supplies of cash are keeping many companies' turnover below the amounts needed to even pay salaries, we seem to be entering much more threatening circumstances.
See the attackment below to see the full report.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the trauma experiences of their members at the hand of the ZANU-PF government today.
Bulawayo -- Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the trauma experiences of their members today. The event was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa with attendance by press, diplomats, civic society leaders and members of WOZA. The report is entitled “Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe”.
In 2007 research was carried out to determine the nature and extent of violations perpetrated on WOZA members by state actors. It used a questionnaire administered verbally to more than 2,000 WOZA members. The major results were detailed in a report released in March 2008 entitled ‘The Effects of Fighting Repression with Love’. They showed a high level of arrests, assaults, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, primarily by members of various sections of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
One section of the questionnaire sought to document traumatic experiences of WOZA women in order to understand the basis of possible psychological and emotional disorders arising from their civic activism – ‘counting the cost of their courage’. The report launched today outlines these findings.
The research
The
research explored two broad categories of trauma:
The data relating to trauma was based on the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]. It was altered slightly from previous uses in Zimbabwe in order to include an historical element, so that there might be a long-range understanding of the women’s experience of trauma throughout their adult lives. Interviewees were asked to indicate trauma events in two forms: those they have experienced themselves, and those they witnessed being experienced by others. They were asked to record these events for three periods: pre-Independence, 1980-1999, and for each year since 1999.
Conclusions
The
findings of the report indicate that Zimbabwe is a “complex emergency”:
significant violence, severe economic decline, and the destruction of social
capital, which means resembles a war. As is the case in most complex
emergencies, women and their families are generally the most common victims, and
Zimbabwe is no exception. Many women of all ages have been brutalized, raped,
tortured, and even killed for their political activities and of those of their
male family members. As children are normally in the presence of their mothers,
they been equally victimised. Most often such victims demonstrate psychological
effects of their experience and witnessing of traumatic events.
Additional findings indicate that:
WOZA
Recommendations
What is clear is that the Zanu PF government seems
to be oblivious to the destructive impact of widespread use of violence as a
political tool of control and repression. Although it has appeared to have
achieved its immediate goal of stifling dissent for some years, it has surely
had seriously adverse long-term effects on both the victims and the
perpetrators.
It is also clear that any government has a responsibility to care for the welfare of its people. At what point will a Zimbabwean government confront the legacy of trauma and look to begin a healing process? This must be an important consideration in determining what form of authority emerges from the current SADC mediation process.
In order to deal with the problem of the prevalence of OVT as a common feature of our society, we recommend the following:
The type of evil that has become an integral part of government behaviour in Zimbabwe must be eradicated and the mindset of power hunger and disrespect for other human beings overcome. It can only happen through the actions of a government with a strong will to correct wrongs and ensure that the rights of all Zimbabweans be respected. We therefore believe that the most appropriate government to replace the current illegitimate incumbent would be a non-political transitional authority whose members have as a priority transitional process of healing, transforming and rebuilding. Such an authority will have the capacity and neutrality necessary to dismantle the structures of violence and oppression.
Nonetheless, whatever format the new political dispensation in Zimbabwe takes, it will need to embark on an official programme of acknowledgement of injustices. Economic recovery and democratic reform, whilst imperative, can only go so far in restoring the dignity of people. We believe that for dignity to be fully restored a new administration needs to assist individual survivors to rebuild their broken lives whilst ensuring that ‘liveable peace’ is achieved. It is the only way Zimbabweans can bury the ghosts of their past and move forward into a more secure future.
As well as outlining the findings on the research done on WOZA members, the launch also outlined some statistics of post-election violence since the 29 March harmonised elections, giving a brief overview of the horror that many Zimbabweans have been faced with in the last few months. These statistics added further poignancy to the call for a lasting peaceful solution in Zimbabwe and the urgent need for a national programme of healing.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
13:14
The WOZA report released this week deals with the period before
the
March 29 2008 harmonised election. We now wish to share some information
as
regards the post-election period to further emphasize the need for an end
to
violence and the transformation of Zimbabwe from a violent society into a
progressive and peaceful country. We also wish to highlight that this
violence has been perpetrated during Thabo Mbeki and SADC's
watch.
. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reported 16,400 cases of
political
violence since January 2008, and has confirmed that this is the
highest peak
since 2006.
. There are 167 documented deaths
(with scores of people still
missing, presumed dead). Of these deaths 17 are
women, generally killed
because the perpetrators were unable to locate the
primary victim and so
murdered the women at home, or abducted and murdered
them, dumping the
bodies in remote places.
. Over 4,900 victims
have accessed medical treatment since 29 March
2008. 24%, or 1,176 of these
victims have been women and girls. Many more
casualties have been unable to
reach any form of medical care.
. More shockingly, 15% of these
women are over the age of 60 years.
One 75-year-old sustained bilateral
fractures of the arms and legs, and the
oldest woman is 87 years, with a
fracture of her arm.
. 15% of injuries were severe to life
threatening, and 20% required
hospital admission. Many of the elderly are
responsible for orphans, and
were assaulted because of their children's
involvement in opposition
politics.
. The children in their
care in many cases witnessed the violence. A
number of the injured women
witnessed the abduction, or the murder of their
husbands.
.
Most of the injured women reported loss of property, from looting to
burning
of homesteads, and destruction of livestock. The average delay from
time of
injury to access to medical care was 24 days, and several of the
severely
injured women developed renal failure secondary to their injuries.
This time
delay has been a combination of security considerations, lack of
funding for
transport, and the fact that there was no 'safe and
approachable' health
services nearby.
. The majority of the displaced rural women and
their children have
been unable to return to their homes due to continued
security threats, and
remain as vulnerable refugees in their own countries,
separated from their
husbands, homes and income generating
projects.
Individual case histories that can only give a small
insight into the
horror that women in Zimbabwe have suffered in the past
four months are
available. Grandmothers, mothers and children have suffered
and witnessed
true horror, and live with the knowledge that it is still not
safe to return
home, that they face repeat surgery and life long medical and
psychological
consequences. They have also lost everything they possessed
and have worked
for in a country that has very little left to offer in terms
of social
welfare and support.
NARRATIVES OF SURVIVORS:
POST- MARCH 2008 ELECTION VIOLENCE
Case 1: Age 67
"I was
at home and saw people gathered by my house. I tried to run
away with y
baby grandchild, Charity on my back with my husband and a
toddler. Each ay
I tried to run there were people and I was trapped, then
caught. They aid
'Kill these MDC people'. They used a pole to hit me and
hit Charity, then I
fell down and they thought I was dead. They left me
lying there. When I saw
them breaking and burning houses I ran away.
Everything that I owned was
burnt down."
This lady sustained a fracture of her humerus, and
severe soft tissue
injuries of her buttocks. The infant on her back
sustained bruising.
Case 2: Age 27
"My husband was a
polling agent for MDC in Village 1 on the 29 March
elections. After the
election result was announced it was alleged by ZANU PF
youths that 64
people from our village had voted for MDC. Earlier on during
the campaign,
ZANU PF supporters had received ploughs and scotch carts by
the ZANU PF
candidates. We were labelled MDC and were not given farming
implements. A
meeting was convened in Village 2 where we were forced to
surrender our MDC
T-shirts. My husband had to surrender his MDC card. We
then thought that the
situation was under control. On Sunday, the 4th of
May, my husband was
warned that Saviour Kasukuwere has sent truckloads of
ZANU PF youths to sort
out MDC supporters. He then decided to flee to Harare
early in the morning
on the 5th. We assumed that our lives were not in
danger since we were
women. At about 5pm on the 5th, about 100 ZANU PF
youths came to my house.
We were taken with about 100 other villagers to a
gum tree plantation at
Chaona Primary School. Amongst us were about 3
teachers who worked at the
school. ZANU PF youths told us that they were
punishing us for accepting
salt from an MDC candidate who was vying for the
M P post. They also
questioned me why my husband was the MDC polling agent.
About 10 men took
turns to beat me on my buttocks using wooden axe handles.
Some of them were
stepping over my head so that we could not see them. I was
hit about 100
times on the buttocks, 50 times on my back and 50 strokes
under the feet.
Joseph Madzurambende, my uncle, died due to the beatings. 2
teachers,
Mutombo and Tapiwa Meda also died due to the assault. The people
who were
beating us were wearing ZANU PF shirts with photos of Saviour
Kasukuwere and Joyce Majuru. All in all there were about 500 youths
and
masked ZNA soldiers who were shouting 'shit Tsvangirai'. The T-shirts
were
also inscribed PARAQUAT. We were taken to hospital where I was
admitted.
Some of the events I cannot remember since I lost consciousness.
Up to now
my husband does not know what happened to me. I cannot sit because
my
buttocks are so scarred. I was also assaulted under the feet and I
cannot
walk. I am in great pain."
Case 3: Age 72
"A group of over
700 ZANU PF youth arrived at my house and accused me
of harbouring
supporters of the MDC who are my nephews. They struck and
broke my windows
using stones; they destroyed the goat pen and also the
chicken run. They
also killed some chickens. I was asleep with my grand
children; I had one
of my grandchildren on my back. I was asked to get out
and I did. They put
the baby down. I was then assaulted all over the body
using sticks. I was
struck on the head and collapsed with blood oozing from
my head. They then
moved onto the next village, which is an MDC
councillor, Mukuruanopa Maenza
Ward 9 and razed the homestead to the ground.
We then fled to Harare the
very next morning with my grandson whom they were
looking for."
Case 4: Age 35
"I was at home together with my family when about 10
ZANU PF youths
wearing masks came and threw a stone at my roof before
breaking into my
home. They took my children outside and started assaulting
them using
batons and rubbers with wire. I then came out wanting them to
let go my
children, which they did. They started assaulting me with claps,
rubbers
with wire and baton sticks and took me to flowing sewerage outside
my yard
where they told me to get into the sewerage. They started beating
me all
over my body while in there and asked for my Form 3 son and threw him
in
sewerage as well, and told me have intercourse with him and I declined.
They then assaulted me taking me back to my home. One who was not in a mask
slapped me and they left."
Case 5: Age 30
"On the 23rd
of June 2008 at around 6 pm I dropped off from a bus at
Katiyo shopping
centre. I was confronted by a group of Zanu PF youths who
quizzed me why I
was coming from Harare. They accused me of wanting to
remove the President
from power. They started beating me using hands. One of
them suggested that
instead of beating me they would rather have sex with
me. One of them with a
mask over his face started raping me while others
were holding me to the
ground. The second man also raped me once. One of the
youths refused and an
argument ensued after which I went home. They did not
use condoms during the
ordeal. I reported the matter to the police but they
said they could not
help me unless I brought the names of the men who raped
me. Since it was in
the dark I could not identify anyone of them. After the
incident I went to a
clinic where I was given some tablets. Up to now I
don't know my HIV status.
The commander of the youths was only known as
Katabamoto."
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, August 20 2008 - The Zimbabwe
Youth Games got off to a shaky
start on Tuesday, after five athletes fainted
due to hunger and heat
exhaustion prompting the organisers to call off the
opening track and field
championships at Ascot Stadium, in
Gweru.
The organisers, the Sports and Recreation
Commission, failed to
provide the athletes drawn from the country's 10
provinces with adequate
food and mineral water to avoid dehydration. The
organisers said the
athletes games would resume on Wednesday
afternoon.
Confusion has reigned supreme with the vice
president Joice Mujuru
boycotting the official opening of the Games in Gweru
on Monday evening, due
to poor organisation.
However, Zanu
PF heavyweight and Chirumanzu-Zibangwe Member of
Parliament elect, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, attended the opening ceremony, which
was later addressed by the
Governor of the Midlands Cephas Msipa, who read
Mujuru's
speech.
Sources said Mnangagwa's presence at the Games was one
of the major
reasons for Mujuru's no show at the last minute. Mnangagwa is
expected to
officially close the Youth Games on 25 August.
Midlands Governor Msipa has apologised for the Youth Games shamble and
promised to "rectify the problems tomorrow". The Zimbabwe Youth Games failed
to raise the staggering target of US128 000, needed to host the
games.
The sixth edition of the national Youth Games was set to
end on 24
August, in the Midlands capital. The annual sporting event, brings
together
the country's best sporting youths.
Athletes will
compete in soccer, netball, handball, boxing,
volleyball, athletics and
tennis.
The Zimbabwe National Youth Games is a national event
meant to
stimulate participation, growth and development of sport among the
youth run
by the Sports and Recreation Commission.
Harare Metropolitan Province is currently the defending champion.
By Violet Gonda
20 August
2008
It is feared that Zimbabwe will dissolve into complete anarchy if
things don't
change very soon. The Zimbabwe dollar continues to fall in
value, food
remains scarce and the workforce is feeling the brunt of the
economic
crisis. Now doctors at Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals have
embarked on
industrial action demanding better working conditions and better
salaries.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said hospitals have turned
into 'death
halls' rather than treatment centres due to acute shortages of
drugs and
equipment. The Coalition reported that last month, doctors earned
Z$600
re-valued (less than US$10), and are penned to receive Z$4 600 (less
than
US$50). The salaries that doctors are earning have become so useless
that
they are now demanding to be paid in United States
dollars.
Teachers have also said they are unhappy with the paltry salary
increase
given to them by the state. Takavafira Zhou from the Progressive
Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe said: "The 448% on basic salary and 900%
transport
allowance and 290% housing allowance given this month in essence
is a high
sounding nothing. The increases amount to a net salary of only
$1.1 trillion
(re-valued) or $11 trillion (old value) on average. It falls
far short of
PTUZ demands of US$800 equivalent."
"Sad faces were the
order of the day today as teachers learnt that the govt
is continuing to
pretend to pay teachers when in reality they are starving
them." Zhou said
teachers have resolved to demonstrate their anger and
poverty when schools
open.
Economists say Zimbabwe is sliding well beyond workable limits.
John
Robertson said: "I think most of us would claim that we have been in
impossible territory for some time, but now that the restricted cash limits
and low supplies of cash are keeping many companies' turnover below the
amounts needed to even pay salaries, we seem to be entering much more
threatening circumstances."
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
SW Radio
Africa (London)
19 August 2008
Posted to the web 20 August
2008
Tichaona Sibanda
MDC-MP elect for Marondera Central in
Mashonaland East province, Ian Kay, is
a free man after a magistrate threw
out state charges levelled against him
for allegedly inciting violence in
his constituency.
Kay was arrested at the height of the state sponsored
violence against the
MDC in May and spent two weeks locked up in police
cells in Mutoko.
He was subsequently granted bail but has been on
remand ever since. The MP
elect was reporting twice weekly to the police and
was asked to surrender
his passport.
Kay told Newsreel his case had
dragged on for months because charges against
him could not stand up in
court as there were all fabricated. The state was
unable to provide a single
item of evidence that Kay had done anything, or
said anything, to incite
violence. Almost all the post election violence has
been created by members
of Zanu-PF, including the security forces.
'The magistrate finally
dismissed the case because the evidence was not
credible. We knew all along
that this case was not going anywhere so now
I'll be applying to get my
passport back,' Kay said.
Kay, a fluent Shona speaker, was in 2002
brutally attacked and forced off
his farm in Marondera. He now plans to sue
the police for grossly violating
his human rights.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
19 August 2008
Posted to the web 20 August 2008
Violet
Gonda
The economic crisis in Zimbabwe is worsening, with no solution
in sight.
People are struggling to eke out a living as the rate for the
Zimbabwean
dollar continues to collapse. UK based money transfer companies
were on
Tuesday trading the Zimbabwe dollar at $780 to the British pound on
the
parallel market, when just four days before the rate was Z$210 to
£1.
Even the Central Statistical Office has had to admit to the
seriousness of
the crisis. In the Herald on Tuesday they said the official
inflation figure
in June was more than 11 million percent, up from May's 2.2
million percent.
It is completely unknown what the true figure is as
it has become impossible
to gauge. Leading Zimbabwean bank Kingdom, said
inflation now exceeds 20
million percent, while economist John Robertson
told AFP news agency the
June figure could be as high as 40 million percent.
"The actual figure for
July could be as high as 300 million percent, while
for August it could be
600 million percent," he added.
With the
economy in freefall, more than four million people face starvation
as the
government deliberately blocks aid agencies from distributing much
needed
food.
Once again Zimbabwe meets its tragic target for the highest
inflation in the
world and the world's fastest shrinking economy, for a
country not at war.
By Alex Bell
20
August 2008
The Southern African Development Community has been slammed
by activists,
trade unionists and other human rights organisations for
ignoring the global
demands to have the ban on humanitarian food aid in
Zimbabwe lifted.
Zimbabwean Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche banned field
work by NGOs during
the campaign for the June 27 run off election and
accused the organisations
of providing campaign support for the MDC during
the first round of
elections in March - which the MDC won. The ban has
remained in place since
then and has left millions of desperate Zimbabweans,
heavily reliant on food
aid to survive, facing starvation.
In a final
communiqué from SADC following the weekend's summit in South
Africa, no
mention was made about the call by the United Nations, NGO forums
and the
MDC for the aid workers to resume their efforts in Zimbabwe. The
communiqué
urged the country's political parties to sign outstanding
agreements that
will lead to a power-sharing deal "to restore political
stability", but
completely ignored the desperate humanitarian crisis.
At a press briefing
after the summit, President Thabo Mbeki said SADC
facilitation had been
initiated over humanitarian concerns, but suggested
several times that
addressing these would have to take a back seat to
concluding a deal. He
said a unity government in Zimbabwe is needed to
"address these challenges".
Ironically, Mbeki's appointment as mediator in
the crisis came after the
global outrage sparked by the brutal assault on
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangerai
last year. However since Mbeki's appointment,
the brutality against MDC
members and supporters has gained momentum and the
humanitarian crisis has
worsened.
Elinor Sisulu, chairperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition,
said the
summit showed the SADC's "undemocratic governments were not geared
to
handle" the crises in Zimbabwe. She added that Zimbabwe was an
"exaggerated
symptom of the illnesses of regional governments" in general
and SADC's
handling of the crisis sets a "bad precedent for the continent".
Sisulu said
it is "mind boggling" that SADC as well as Zimbabwe's political
leaders are
acting "as if Zimbabweans don't exist" and emphasised that the
ban on
humanitarian food aid was putting the entire nation at serious
risk.
Tuesday's death of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has prompted
new fears
that SADC's pressure on Robert Mugabe will dwindle, given that
Mwanawasa was
the region's strongest critic of Mugabe's regime. Mwanawasa
passed away in a
French hospital after he underwent emergency surgery on
Monday. The
President had been hospitalised since June after he suffered a
stroke at the
start of the African Union summit in Egypt.
Sisulu said
Mwanawasa's passing should not change the attitude of some
regional leaders,
and said that other countries have also been outspoken.
She said Botswana,
whose harsh criticism of Mugabe led to its President Ian
Khama boycotting
the SADC summit, "is not going to change its position on
Mugabe" and
Zambia's new leader will likely take over where Mwanawasa left
off, by not
recognising Mugabe as Zimbabwe's president.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
IOL
August
20 2008 at 10:42AM
By Allister Sparks
While everyone
is anxious to see the Zimbabwe negotiations succeed in
bringing relief to
the long-suffering people of that country, it is
nonetheless galling that
the process should be taking place at all. For it
is sending a terrible
message to tyrants everywhere.
It is telling them that when you
face defeat in an election, the thing
to do is to launch mayhem in your
country, beating and butchering and
bludgeoning your own people until
horrified peacekeepers come hurrying to
the scene to stop the carnage and
you can then negotiate an ongoing role for
yourself in the power
structure.
It is a form of blackmail. The moral
equivalent of the hostage-taker
who threatens to go on shooting his hostages
unless his demands are met.
The sane world always faces a dilemma
in such situations. To yield to
the hostage-taker's demands is to encourage
its replication, and so there is
a growing reluctance to do so and the
painful decision may be taken to leave
hostages to their fate. But when
whole communities are involved it is a
quantitatively different
matter.
Still, I believe the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) and
the African Union (AU) could be doing better in the case of
hostage-taker
Robert Mugabe.
As this column has noted
repeatedly for more than a year, those two
bodies are committed by their own
charters not to recognise any regime that
takes power by unconstitutional
means.
So they should have warned Mugabe in advance that if he
rigged 2008's
election again, as he did in 2002 and 2005, they would not
recognise his
government. It would be an illegitimate regime and Zimbabwe
would be
suspended from both bodies and isolated.
That, I
believe, would have stopped him. Mugabe may thumb his nose at
Britain and
the United States, but he would not dare do so to the rest of
Africa.
Indeed, SADC should be acting in that way right now.
Instead of trying
to negotiate a power-sharing deal, they should be telling
Mugabe bluntly and
collectively that he lost the March 29 election, that he
extended the
run-off illegally, that his campaign of violence and
intimidation was
unacceptable, and that he cannot therefore be recognised as
head of the
Zimbabwe government.
They should tell him he must
step down, and that if he does not the
SADC will withdraw all support from
him and his government. He will be
isolated in his own
continent.
Sadly, President Thabo Mbeki, as the SADC's appointed
negotiator, has
not had the strength of character to do that.
He is in awe of Mugabe's reputation as a liberation icon, and perhaps
in
fear of being denounced as a tool of the West, which is Mugabe's
stock-in-trade response to his African critics.
And so the
timidity has become pervasive. Nobody is prepared to stand
up to the old
tyrant, except poor Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia who died in a
Paris hospital
after suffering a stroke at a previous SADC summit, but
managed before his
death to send a message of admonition to the leaders in
Sandton, and
Botswana's gutsy new president, Ian Khama, who boycotted the
meeting in
protest against Mugabe's presence there as Zimbabwe's unelected
president.
Even some of our media and professorial analysts
seem stricken by
obtuseness. The other day I heard an SABC commentator say,
as the SADC
leaders headed for Sandton, that "the ball is now in (Morgan)
Tsvangirai's
court".
How preposterous! Here is a man who has
been robbed of an election
victory, had his organisation smashed and his
supporters beaten, tortured
and killed, being told the onus is on him to
make concessions so that peace
can be restored.
The point is
that Mugabe's insistence that he be the head of the
so-called
"power-sharing" government, with the power to appoint - and thus
also to
dismiss - members of that government, including Tsvangirai as prime
minister, is so obviously unacceptable to Tsvangirai that I cannot
understand why it was not instantly dismissed as a negotiating
position.
Tsvangirai is not a fool. He and everybody else in
Southern Africa
knows how Mugabe swallowed up Joshua Nkomo and his Zapu
party without trace
in what purported to be a power-sharing deal in the
1980s.
It's as plain as a pikestaff that this is what Mugabe is
trying to do
with Tsvangirai now - and that Tsvangirai would be crazy to
fall for it. Yet
we keep getting reports saying there is only one obstacle
remaining in the
negotiations - even though that obstacle is the size of
Everest.
The problem with the SADC is that too many of its leaders
have too
much in common with Mugabe. They are imbued with the notion that
their
parties of liberation have an historic right to rule indefinitely;
that as
"vanguard parties" only they have the wisdom and ideological insight
to
chart the course of the unending "national democratic
revolution".
They form a kind of freemasonry that closes ranks with
fellow members
of that self-righteous but shrinking club.
One
can imagine, for example, that Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has
been
president of Angola for 29 years, feels somewhat reluctant to tell
Mugabe
that after 28 years it is past time for him to go.
The AU, too, has
some less-than enthusiastic champions of free and
fair elections. There is
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for 27 years,
who habitually locks up
his opposition at election time and appears now to
be preparing to hand over
to his son Gamal. And Muammar Gadaffi who has held
power in Libya for 39
years and counting.
What needs to happen is for the SADC leaders to
cast off their craven
obsession with the egotistical needs of one stubborn
old man and focus
instead on the increasingly desperate needs of the
Zimbabwean people.
Zimbabwe's economy is disintegrating. The
currency is devaluing at the
rate of 1 000 percent a week. Inflation is
reckoned to be in the vicinity of
50-million percent. Which means the money
is worthless.
It can't buy anything, and in any case there is
nothing in the shops
to buy. The maize crop in 2008 is one-third of what is
needed to feed the
nation with its most basic staple. The people face
starvation.
A human catastrophe looms. Africa does not have the
resources to save
the 10-million people still left in Zimbabwe. Only donor
countries can do
that and they have pledged $4-billion about two
years.
But the donor countries won't give the aid if Mugabe remains
head of
the government. Anyway, how can any country justify asking its
taxpayers to
bail out a tyrant and subsidise an illegitimate
regime?
No, the onus is on the SADC leaders to do the right
thing.
They must tell Mugabe to go, now, so that the people of
Zimbabwe can
start living again.
* Sparks is a veteran
journalist and political commentator.
This article was
originally published on page 11 of Cape Times on
August 20, 2008
http://www.newstatesman.com
Stephen Chan
Published 20 August
2008
Negotiations between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai rumble
on, but the
devil lies in the detail. Stephen Chan examines their likely
outcome
Variations on South Africa's plan for a Zimbabwean government of
national
unity were on the table last September. They were agreed, in
outline, by
negotiators from both the government ZANU-PF and opposition MDC
parties - in
the unlikely setting of a houseboat moored on Lake Kariba
between Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
As with earlier South African efforts, the
plan came unstuck when it was put
to Mugabe's State House in Harare. There
followed a pattern which had become
chronic. Mugabe dug his feet in, not
only for himself, but for the sake of
the powerful coterie who dominated
ZANU-PF and the security forces. Mbeki,
notwithstanding the work of his
mediators, failed to put the boot in and
demand acceptance.
The MDC,
meanwhile, had its own equivocations - never sure as to whether to
accept a
compromise or hope that it might secure outright victory in the
elections
set for March 2008.
The South African plan acquired its current detailing
in the wake of the
Kenya crisis of late 2007, and the subsequent unity
brokered against the
odds by Kofi Annan. The principle of a president with
reduced powers and an
executive prime minister derives from this Kenyan
example.
When the results of the first electoral round went against
Mugabe in March,
he was inclined to accept defeat. But his hard men and
generals demanded
that he stay and fight. It was at this point that Mbeki
again failed to
apply pressure when it mattered. Over a protracted period,
the true results
of that first round - in which more than 50% of the vote
went to the MDC's
Tsvangirai, were expertly whittled down by the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission, to support the need for a runoff. But that runoff was
so
blatantly prejudiced against Tsvangirai's MDC that even Mugabe's most
loyal
neighbours could not accept the result. The South Africans, led by
Mbeki,
have been pressing hard ever since.
There was almost a
breakthrough at the SADC (Southern African Development
Community) summit in
Johannesburg last weekend. The pressure was on Mugabe.
The Botswanan
president had refused to attend and the Zambian foreign
minister had
delivered a stinging note of rebuke to the Zimbabwean
president.
But
neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai were able to make the final push. It is
widely
speculated that the issue of core disagreement is the relative shares
of
power that the two men will wield as president and prime minister. Yet
the
differences are finer than that.
Tsvangirai is prepared to concede power
over the military to Mugabe, if
Mugabe is prepared to concede power over the
cabinet to Tsvangirai. Power
over the police then come to Tsvangirai. The
key sticking point is who
controls the intelligence services. That will
likely remain a portfolio
controlled by ZANU-PF, but if the minister
responsible sits in the cabinet,
how much final veto will Tsvangirai as
prime minister have over him? This is
of key importance.
The military
may array all its top generals behind Mugabe, but 70% of the
rank and file
voted for Tsvangirai in the first round. There are games of
leverage that
can be played within the military. The CIO (Central
Intelligence
Organisation) is the lynchpin of all that can happen
politically in
Zimbabwe. There are divisions within it but, by and large, it
has always
supported ZANU-PF. It is a slick and professional machine. It
rigs the
elections - and whoever controls it controls the brains behind
coercion in
Zimbabwe.
The final point of difference is the longevity of a coalition
government.
The MDC wants 2 years and fresh elections. ZANU-PF wants 5. It
wants to
rebuild itself and give the MDC enough rope to hang itself in
power. Watch
for a compromise of 3.
Mugabe knows that there is a
final deadline awaiting him, and that is the
likely ascension to power in
Pretoria of Jacob Zuma next year. Mugabe won't
wait until then. Even his
hardest men know that now is the time to make a
tactical retreat in order to
regroup and cling to as much power as possible.
It may finally come down to
a formulation that says: "the president, in
council with the prime minister"
will control both the military and the
intelligence services. ZANU-PF will
want the formulation to say that: "the
president in council with the prime
ministerial leadership of government",
and will hope to bargain for control
of the deputy prime ministerships -
though it may settle for one of the two
posts. Mugabe will likely have
extracted all he can by September and will
present the compromise to the
meeting of the ZANU-PF Central Committee
scheduled for that month.
It is Tsvangirai who will have to convince a
greater number of sceptics
within the MDC that he has gotten all that he
can. But he will. And the
resulting unholy alliance will lead Zimbabwe into
an uncertain, though at
least less violent future.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za
Paul Trewhela
20 August 2008
Paul Trewhela
on the crushing of the ANC's Prague Spring
A major event in the
history of South Africa took place forty years ago, on
the morning of 21st
August 1968 - the crushing of the Prague Spring in
Czechoslovakia by Russian
tanks. This totalitarian crime, the destruction of
the freedom of one nation
by the masters of another, was supported and
endorsed in public statements
by the South African Communist Party and the
African National
Congress.
As joint participants in the government of the South Africa
since the ending
of apartheid, despite their official dogma of national
liberation, neither
party nor the Government of South Africa has made public
apology for this
affront to the peoples of the Czech Republic and the Slovak
Republic. Some
nations, apparently, deserve liberation more than
others.
The crushing of the Prague Spring is a matter of acute relevance
for the
people of Georgia now, as with Tibet , for whom it is their own
present
story. That great bully - the "Great Russian Derzhimorda", as Lenin
described him in his deathbed writings, in reference to Stalin - is
constantly applauded by the dominant majoritarian party of government in
South Africa and its Communist brains trust as if it were the apostle of
freedom, and in particular of national freedom. They forget Marx's wise
remark, that the nation that enslaves another enslaves itself.
This
is the real, open secret of the support of the Mbeki government for the
dictatorship of the Mugabe junta in Zimbabwe. The heritage of the Soviet
crushing of the Prague Spring, endorsed and supported at the time by Thabo
Mbeki and his leading ministers, has governed their silence to this day on
the genocidal massacre - the Gukurahundi - by the Mugabe regime in
Matabeleland 25 years ago, an affront to any notion of an African
Renaissance.
From the support of the SACP and the ANC for the Russian
invasion of
Czechoslovakia, a clear thread of political consistency led
these parties
ten years later to establish their own Gulags for political
dissenters in
the ANC, in particular at Quatro punishment camp in northern
Angola. Its
principal inmates were young South Africans of the generation of
the 1976
Soweto school students' uprising, who had imbibed the libertarian
spirit of
1968 prior to the crushing of the Prague
Spring.
Idealistic, brave, and filled with a passion to put an end to
apartheid,
these young people had sought a real and not a slave's education
in South
Africa and were no different from the young people of
Czechoslovakia in
their desire for a real and not a sham democracy in their
own organisation,
the African National Congress.
The first of the
demands of the '76 generation in their peaceful mutiny at
Viana camp outside
Luanda in February 1984 was for a democratic conference
of the ANC. (Every
member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC up
to that time was an
appointee. The members of the '76 generation had no
elected representation
in the NEC, even though they supplied two of the ANC
army's three
detachments). Their second demand was for the suspension and
investigation
of the ANC's Security Department, partly because of its brutal
KGB-type
behaviour, partly because they believed - rightly - that it was
infiltrated
right up to the top by the South African regime. Their third
demand was to
be sent to South Africa to fight, rather than be consumed in
an Angolan
civil war.
This extraordinary mutiny, in which the mutineers' demand was
to be sent to
the front rather than withdrawn from battle, was the ANC's
Prague Spring.
Its crushing was as the crushing of Czechoslovakia by Russian
tanks.
This generation from the mutiny in the ANC in 1984, the generation
of '76,
continues to remain politically mute in South Africa, a generation
without a
voice, inhibited by its memory of the capacity for violence of the
ANC's
Stalinist heritage. When it hears of the crushing of the Prague Spring
in
August 1968, it thinks in the spirit of John Donne's Meditation of
1624:
No man is an island entire of itself...
... never send to know
for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
August 21st 2008 is a day
for the most profound meditation in South Africa,
the anniversary of the
occasion when its governing party directly endorsed
dictatorship.
Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls
for thee.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
20th
Aug 2008 14:06 GMT
By Chenjerai
Chitsaru
It could be said that the ship's bows have been splintered
by the heavy
storm, its stem and stern water-logged, its sails torn to
shreds and its
exhausted crew all but drowned. These men include Joshua
Mqabuko Nkomo,
Herbert Chitepo, Ndabaningi Sithole, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo,
Stanlake
Samkange, Enoch Dumbutshena, Josiah Magama Tongogara, James
Chikerema,
George Nyandoro and even Michael Mawema. The fact that they have
all passed
on, possibly to the more level political playing field up there,
should not
deter us.
There must surely be among the living people
with qualities almost similar
to those of the men mentioned here. Moreover,
these men worked with Robert
Mugabe, whose leadership of the country for
nearly 30 years now has brought
us to where we are today. There is little
need to go into details as to the
exact location of our predicament, except
to say it is worse than between a
rock and a hard place.
To many
Zimbabweans, this treatise may possess all the appearances of a
hopeless,
futile attempt to bad-mouth Mugabe for, perhaps, the edification
of his many
critics. It could also be labelled as one more attempt to
suggest that
Mugabe and Zanu PF no longer have any legitimate or meaningful
role to play
in the future of this country, that they had their chance and
blew it, like
the man who not only laughed a gift horse in the mouth, but
kicked it into
the teeth into the bargain.
It is time for someone else to take charge of
the ship of state, someone
able to calmly and soberly navigate the
unpredictable political sea in which
it must sail to safety and
prosperity.
In the recognised qualities of the men mentioned above, we
can identify
others among us whose personalities must be the direct
antithesis of Mugabe
and most of the Zanu PF leadership, men and women who
are not driven into
politics for the sake of achieving personal glory or
enrichment.
Chitepo was one of the most intelligent, charismatic and
educated people of
his time. Even then, the zeal with which he led the early
stages of the
struggle demonstrated his willingness to go into the trenches
if this could
accomplish the cherished goal of the people.
He died in
a foreign country in a bomb blast, presumably engineered by the
enemies of
the struggle, or enemies of his role in that same struggle. The
jury is
still out on the true identify of the real enemy.
Tongogra too had the
quality to separate the struggle from its racist
element, to aim only for
the achievement of a country run by people -
whatever their colour, creed or
religion - with the identical goal of
providing each citizen with the
freedom to advance themselves in any field
of human endeavour.
Like
Chitepo, he too died a violent death, in a road accident on the eve of
independence. A blanket of suspicion still hangs over the cause of the
accident, although nobody has been identified as the prime
suspect.
Samkange and Dumbutshena were distinguished men in their fields,
the former
always remembered as an eminent educationist and the founder of
Nyatsime
College, the latter as the first black chief justice of the
country.
These men were of a temperament and disposition that suggested
calm,
tranquil and sober assessment of any situation, unaffected by emotion
or
bombast. Yet, in Samkange's case, he never once featured in the
government
of Robert Mugabe. Most of us can only speculate on why this was
so, apart
from his not having carried a gun on the side of The Good Guys, as
some
people once described them before things fell
apart.
Dumbutshena, who didn't carry a gun either, became chief justice,
but left
the job in undisguised acrimony his gripe that of a justice system
that
seemed to taint everything in political hues.
It is impossible
to imagine how much these men would have contributed to the
development of
this country. They needn't have been at the very top,
although it is
tempting to compare their capacity for tolerance and
insistence on consensus
with the man who has held that office since 1980...
Some of the men
mentioned were arch-rivals for leadership with Mugabe.
Nkomo, for instance,
struggled against the one-party system until he
recognised Mugabe's
resistance was so total many more lives would have been
lost if he had not
agreed to the unity accord, flawed as it was and still
is.
One point
that needs to be clarified is that, even after these men vanished
from the
scene; it was never automatic that only one man deserved the
leadership
role. Certainly, there were and are still others who could have
steered the
ship to safety and prosperity. But the curse of all liberation
movements is
that succession is often bathed in flood. Only Sam Nujoma in
Namibia allowed
a smooth transition, but only after he had served three
terms as
president.
In Zimbabwe, anyone who challenged for the presidency of the
ruling party
knew, well beforehand, that the fight could turn bloody. Some
threw in the
towel even before the bell rang for the first bout. Others were
victims of
"friendly persuasion" not to even dare throw down the gauntlet
for the top
job.
Whether they like it or not, the men and women
surrounding Mugabe today must
share the blame for his political longevity.
Not many of them had the guts
to offer a meaningful challenge to him, even
when it was at his weakest, as
now.
Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa
did offer a challenge of sorts, but were
handicapped by the Zanu PF baggage
that came with it.
Most discerning voters know enough about that party to
recognise that the
former leaders could never be trusted to so dramatically
change course they
would sincerely embrace true pluralism as an alternative
to what passes for
democracy in Zanu PF. The lesson for us is to accept that
there were fatal
mistakes in our choice of leadership in every election
since 1985.
There is an element of weak logic among the reasons for this.
People didn't
want to be killed in the attempt. Zanu PF proved it could kill
anyone who
did challenge it for supremacy, which it did again after 29
March.
Who knows? If this fear of being killed persists, we could
find ourselves,
once again, saddled with the captaincy of a ship bound, like
the Titanic,
for a collision with its own political iceberg.
By Tichaona
Sibanda
20 August 2008
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has hit back at
suggestions that he is the
stumbling block to the current power-sharing
talks, instead blaming Zanu-PF
for their failure to cede some of the powers
held by Robert Mugabe.
"Let them demonstrate what powers they have ceded
to the prime minister or
to the other party. Identify those areas and you
will easily see who the
stumbling block is," Tsvangirai said in response to
questions by ZimOnline.
Commenting on reports he was not being sensible
to claim complete executive
powers when, he and his party did not win an
absolute majority, Tsvangirai
replied; 'We are talking about shared
executive power. Anyone who claims
that we are overplaying our hand doesn't
understand the mandate given to us
by the people on 29 March. The thing that
is fundamental is that the people
of Zimbabwe spoke. Fifty-seven percent of
the people who voted said they no
longer had any confidence in Mugabe. If
you then consider the events of June
which was not accepted by anyone, then
you can ask where Mugabe derives his
legitimacy. It's ZANU PF which is
therefore overplaying its hand. Mugabe can
only get legitimacy by saying
that he is the caretaker president until
another election is held. That's
why there is need for a transition. That's
why Mugabe cannot continue to
enjoy the same powers he had before.'
The MDC President pointed out there
was no such thing as collective
executive authority as favoured by Zanu-PF
and the other MDC faction.
He said somebody has to be responsible,
considering there would be two
centres of power, both seemingly doing the
same job. Tsvangirai believes job
descriptions for the President and Prime
Minister should be spelt out
clearly.
'Why are they afraid to do
that? That demarcation of responsibility is very
important for
accountability purposes, for authority purposes. You cannot
expect the MDC
to be tasked with turning around the mess in Zimbabwe without
being given
authority.'
Speaking to ZimOnline on the same subject of the
power-sharing talks, MDC-M
secretary-general Welshman Ncube said that in
their view the SADC
recommendation that seeks to give all parties equal
powers was fair.
'If you exclude the leader of one of the parties from
that completely, you
are rendering whomsoever you have excluded ceremonial.
That is why SADC
found that the demands which are on the table (from
Tsvangirai) are for a
power transfer. And they were unable to endorse those.
Which is why they
endorsed what is on the table, which is power
sharing.'
Ncube said what the Tsvangirai MDC wanted was a process of
power transfer on
the basis of the March elections, and not a power-sharing
government for the
next five years.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
"We are
smarter than the Australians. We are smarter than the Americans. We
went to
better schools than most of these leaders in America, in Britain and
in
Australia.
I am coming out of Oxford. None of your prime ministers can
challenge me
intellectually."
These were Arthur Mutambara's own words
when he recently had an interview
with Geraldine Doogue of Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. Like other
learned prominent professors before
him, Mutambara has started swimming
against the tide. If he becomes deputy
prime minister or whatever in the
next cabinet, what guarantee do we have
that our rocket scientist will
listen to the poor man on the street who has
no clue as to what Oxford is,
let alone where in this world it is located?
Is it this Oxford phenomenon or
sense of belonging that has brought Arthur
so close to Mbeki, another Oxford
product?
May I remind Arthur that
some of the finest professors who taught him during
his long academic
journey only read about Oxford in the books?
Mukonoweshuro, Madhuku,
Makumbe, Dzinotyiwei, Makhurane, (not to mention the
late Zvobgo and
Masipula) and many other academic luminaries we can remember
including the
most degreed but troubled president, Mugabe, never make
references to the
institutions they went to in order to be taken seriously.
Rather, people
should be left wondering which university you went to or what
level of
education you have after they have been mesmerised or convinced by
your
informed arguments or facts.
If this interview is anything to go by, then
it appears that Arthur is not
only politically naïve, but inherently
foolish, despite his celebrated
academic achievement. When a professor is
afforded an opportunity to speak
to the world through respected media, one
would expect a professor to
capitalise on that rare opportunity and sell his
good qualities to the
listeners or viewers, not the opposite.
Some
define education as acquisition, interpretation and application of
knowledge. You need all three, not one of them. Some of us haven't yet seen
or experienced constructive application of Arthur's expensive Oxford
education.
If he was an old man, I would probably think that age was
taking its toll.
With this kind of argument and reasoning that does not seem
to reflect
critical thinking; the professor can never have a chance with
people like
Biti, Chamisa and many others who have never been to
Oxford.
My advice to the talented robotics graduate is that it is not too
late to
swap politics with chalk and board. You will probably have a better
legacy
in the classroom.
Moses Chamboko writes from Australia
chabokom@gmail.com
By Alex
Bell
20 August 2008
South Africa's Constitutional Court has reserved
ruling on an application to
keep six camps for refugees of xenophobic
violence open - leaving the many
foreign nationals still taking shelter in
the camps in Gauteng a few more
days grace.
The camps were set up
earlier this year after at least 60 people were killed
and thousands more
displaced in a wave of xenophobic violence across the
country. But the
estimated four thousand refugees in Gauteng are now faced
with a choice of
returning to the communities they had fled or going back to
their own
countries, after local government officials declared the six camps
in the
province would be dismantled last Friday.
The decision to close the camps
prompted widespread fears that more violence
would erupt. Groups of locals
last week issued warnings and threatened that
the refugees were not welcome,
while many Zimbabwean refugees have said they
would rather sleep on the
streets than return to the communities or to their
own country.
Last
week, lawyers from The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South
Africa
and the Wits Law Clinic, filed an urgent application at the
Constitutional
Court to keep the temporary camps open. Friday's deadline for
the camps to
be dismantled saw authorities begin to take down the temporary
shelters and
residents start packing their meagre belongings while the legal
process was
underway. The court postponed making a ruling, but a week since
the legal
application was filed there has still been no decision and the
camps have
remained open.
Anna Moyo, a human rights lawyer from the Zimbabwe Exiles
Forum in South
Africa told Newsreel on Wednesday that many refugees have
left the camps in
the confusion over whether the shelters were remaining
open or not. She said
there has so far been no backlash of violence, but
added that there are
"still concerns of more violence when the remaining
foreign nationals are
reintegrated". Moyo said the there have been
guarantees from government
officials that the camps will remain open until
the court's ruling, expected
next week. But she said for the government to
fulfil its obligations to the
foreigners, it still needs to present a proper
reintegration plan to protect
their safety, as well as undertake an
education programme "at grassroots
level about the country's refugee
laws".
At the same time, Gauteng Premier Mbazima Shilowa emphasised on
Tuesday that
the camps are strictly temporary and "can't remain open". But
he added that
the provincial government is considering moving the remaining
refugees to
one site, which would remain open for no more than a
month.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Press Association. UK
5 hours
ago
Zimbabwe have confirmed they will take no part in next summer's World
Twenty20 in England.
Scotland will join the elite tournament instead,
after the International
Cricket Council and Zimbabwe Cricket on Wednesday
ratified a decision
initially agreed at the world governing body's annual
conference in Dubai
two months ago.
Contrary to reports that Zimbabwe
were beginning to waver on the offer to
withdraw they made back in June,
they and ICC president David Morgan,
vice-president Sharad Pawar and chief
executive Haroon Lorgat have agreed
the arrangement will stand.
The
ICC averted a potential crisis when it emerged from the annual
conference
that Zimbabwe were prepared to forego their place at the
Twenty20.
The British Government had already cancelled a bi-lateral
one-day
international series between England and Zimbabwe in this country,
scheduled
at the start of next summer, on account of the disgraced regime of
Robert
Mugabe which still prevails in the African country.
It was
therefore highly unlikely Britain would issue visas to Zimbabwe
players and
officials for the World Twenty20.
A consensus appeared beyond the ICC
member countries, with an Asian block
vote favouring Zimbabwe - and it was
therefore championed as a winning
compromise when ZC agreed unilaterally to
opt out.
After Wednesday's confirmation, Morgan reiterated: "We are
grateful to
Zimbabwe Cricket for confirming the decision taken by its
officials during
annual conference week.
"This allows the ICC the
opportunity to plan with certainty the ICC World
Twenty20 2009 - as well as
giving Scotland, the side set to step up in
Zimbabwe's place, plenty of
preparation time ahead of the tournament."