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'US
masterminded cholera outbreak'
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Published
by the Government of Zimbabwe
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Herald Reporter
THERE are growing
fears that there is more to the cholera outbreak than
meets the eye
following revelations by the US State Department that it has
been preparing
for the outbreak for quite sometime. The outbreak began last
August though
the US hinted at years of preparation.
In a briefing with the US State
Department on Thursday, attended by
Ambassador to Zimbabwe James D. McGee
and Director of the Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance Ky Luu in
Washington; United States Agency for
International Develop-ment
administrator Ms Henrietta Fore said the US had
long prepared for the
epidemic.
''The United States, working alongside the international community,
has been
preparing for a cholera outbreak for quite some time. Before the
disease was
widespread, Usaid began building contingencies into its ongoing
emergency
programmes, allowing us to quickly direct our assistance to
specific targets
for cholera outbreaks,'' Fore said, raising the fears that
her country may
have launched biological warfare on Zimbabwe.
US attempts
to use cholera as an excuse to mobilise military action against
Zimbabwe
have fuelled suspicions of biological warfare.
Despite assurances from the
Ministry of Health that fatalities were going
down, Ky predicted that the
outbreak would intensify over the festive
season.
McGee said he hoped the
intensification would force the UN to invoke the
responsibility to protect
proviso to facilitate invasion, the same
resolution that was suspiciously
made by the MDC-T national council that met
in Harare yesterday.
''We've
heard calls from Kenya, from Botswana, from Tanzania, from Zambia.
Malawi
recently stood up and said, you know, enough is enough; Zimbabwe has
to
clean up its act or President Mugabe has to go. This is what we're really
desperate to hear, and these are the types of things that we're very pleased
to hear," McGee said.
Observers questioned why the US was keen to use
cholera as cause for war on
Zimbabwe when it had not been similarly inclined
when the water-borne
disease hit other countries in the
region.
Responding to the US campaign, the Minister of Information and
Publicity,
Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, yesterday, described the epidemic as a
calculated
attack on Zimbabwe.
"The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is a
serious biological chemical war
force, a genocidal onslaught on the people
of Zimbabwe by the British," he
said.
"Cholera is a calculated racist
terrorist attack on Zimbabwe by the
unrepentant former colonial power which
has enlisted support from its
American and Western allies so that they
invade the country."
Since the outbreak began in August, the American and
British governments
have led calls for military action against Zimbabwe to
unseat the
Government, claiming it was failing to protect its people.
Cde
Ndlovu dismissed claims that the Government had abandoned the people
saying
the outbreak was a consequence of the illegal Western sanctions and
Government was doing all it could to contain the outbreak.
"Because of
sanctions we have not been able to import enough water
purification
chemicals and water restitution pipes," Cde Ndlovu said.
"Government through
the RBZ has provided the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority with foreign
currency to import chemicals. We thank the World
Health Organisation and all
health workers for the support in our fight
against cholera," Cde Ndlovu
said.
Cholera
disaster zone: Zimbabwe's deprivation accelerates spread of disease
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Cholera
fatalaties worldwide stand at around one per cent of those infected,
but as
Robert Mugabe continues to offer no support to his own people,
fatality
rates in parts of Zimbabwe have hit as high as 20 per cent.
By Peta
Thornycroft, Zimbabwe Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:43PM GMT 12 Dec
2008
At the Seke South clinic, a few miles outside Harare, a steady
stream of
desperate cholera victims arrive seeking treatment.
The
facility serves the dormitory suburb of Chitungwiza, where more than one
in
five of those who develop the disease die.
It is normally treatable and
the international average for cholera
fatalities is one per cent of those
infected, but Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe
offers virtually no help to its own
people, even as it blames British
"genocide" for the epidemic.
There
was only one foreign doctor on duty on the clinic, and a handful of
nurses,
none of them from Zimbabwe's health ministry. In a single day this
week four
patients died there.
Chitungwiza, a sprawling high-density area, provides
ideal conditions for
the disease to spread. Clusters of flies swarm over
years of uncollected
garbage, pools of water collected along rutted lanes
after a summer shower,
and the afternoon breeze wafting across the township
carries the stench of
the sewage works a mile away.
United Nations
statistics show that 21 per cent of those infected in
Chitungwiza die, as
opposed to two percent for the rest of Harare and Beit
Bridge, the border
town where South Africans send in fresh water, drugs and
medical
personnel.
Alpha Chinbiri 32, a middle-class housewife was sitting at the
broken fence
around the clinic and said her husband had woken up ill. "We
rushed him
here, but we have heard nothing since.
"I can't get inside
and I can't get any information about him. There is no
food in this clinic
and they will not let our food in, so I am very
worried." At least 20
relatives of other patients were at the fence. The
clinic has opened its
maternity section to cholera victims, and Unicef has
erected a tent giving
the township 300 available beds.
"There is no manpower here, that is the
problem," said a nurse.
As Cholera
Rages, Zimbabwe Hospital Staff Reject Hard-Currency Offer
http://www.voanews.com
By Sylvia Manika,
Joe De Capua & David Gollust
Washington
12 December
2008
Struggling along with international partners to containa
burgeoning cholera
epidemic, the Zimbabwean governmentlate this week offered
hard currency
wages to striking doctors, nurses and hospital staff who
promptly rejected
the proposal it as inadequate.
Meanwhile a major
new cholera outbreak was reported in Chegutu, Mashonaland
West province,
where sources said 60 people have died in the past four
days.
Correspondent Sylvia Manika of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported
from
Harare that the resident doctors and nurses spurned monthly rates of
US$200
and US$60, respectively.
The World Health Organization
meanwhile said the death toll from cholera in
Zimbabwe had reached 792 with
more than 17,000 cases reported across the
country.
Medecins Sans
Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, called the epidemic
"unprecedented"
in scale and warned it could continue for months- this
following
controversial comments by President Robert Mugabe who said the
epidemic had
been brought under control.
The U.S. government said it is more than
doubling emergency its emergency
medical aid to the country, adding US$6.2
million to the US$4.6 million
already provided.
UN
Security Council to seek solution for Zimbabwe
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Dec 12, 2008,
19:02 GMT
New York/Geneva - The UN Security Council planned to
meet Monday to try to
put an end to the plight of Zimbabwe under the regime
of President Robert
Mugabe, a British diplomat said Friday.
British
Ambassador John Sawers said the 15-nation council will meet to
discuss a
report on the situation by the Group of Elders, which include
former US
President Jimmy Carter, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and South
African
President Nelson Mandela.
'We want to try to find a common way forward
and a solution to this
absolutely desperate plight of the Zimbabwean people
and a way to put
together a government that reflects the genuine will of the
Zimbabwean
people ahead of the elections in March,' Sawers told
reporters.
The country is suffering from a cholera epidemic that has
killed around 800
people and infected thousands, while water supplies,
sanitation and state
health and education services have fallen as the
Zimbabwe's economy caves
under eight years of hyperinflation and
mismanagement.
Mugabe's forces have brutally beaten and intimidated
dissidents to maintain
a grip on his 28-year-rule. He won re-election this
year in a vote monitors
said was rigged and the United States and European
Union called a 'sham.'
Sawers said negotiations were taking place to work
out the solution for the
problems in Zimbabwe. No details about the levels
of government
participation in the council were provided, but the US State
Department said
Condoleezza Rice planned to attend.
Rice will urge
the Security Council to take 'meaningful action' against
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe. She is to head to New York Monday and
Tuesday for
discussions that will also focus on the tension between India
and Pakistan,
piracy on the Somali coast and other topics, spokesman Sean
McCormack
said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was visiting Geneva on
Friday,
rejected a statement made by Mugabe that an epidemic of cholera in
his
country had been wiped out. Ban also urged Mugabe to consider the
well-being
of his people and agree to a power sharing deal with the
opposition.
Ban said he held 'tense' discussions with Mugabe in Doha two
weeks ago on
the power sharing deal reached in September with Morgan
Tsvangirai, the
opposition leader, but could not get a 'positive
response.'
'He should look for the future of his country and his own
people who have
suffered too much for too long,' Ban told reporters in
Geneva, where he was
also to attend a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary
of the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights.
Ban said leaders should
stay in office only to ensure the good of their
people.
He said the
'alarming reports' he received meant that he could not agree
with Muagabe's
statements that the cholera epidemic was over.
UN statistics showed the
number of cholera related deaths in the country
continued to rise, and Ban
warned that border areas were at risk as well.
Speaking about his most
recent meeting with the 84-year-old president, Ban
said he spoke 'from the
bottom of my heart' with Mugabe and 'pressed as hard
as I could.'
The
major concession granted from those talks was that UN teams were allowed
access to the country to help assess and fight the cholera
outbreak.
Western leaders have called for Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe
for 28 years,
to step down.
Zimbabweans
Chase Prices Into Stratosphere With Z$500 Million Note
http://www.voanews.com
By Patience
Rusere
Washington
12 December 2008
In a
by-now-familiar sequence, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced new
bank
notes in high denominations of up to Z$500 million, setting off another
surge in prices for ordinary goods as consumers rushed to spend their money
before it depreciated further.
The central bank in rapid sequence
increased the daily limit in cash
withdrawals from banks to Z$500 million a
week and rolled out notes for
Z$200 million and Z$500 million.
As of
Friday the Z$500 million note was worth about 10 U.S. dollars.
The Z$100
million note issued on Dec. 4 was worth US$14 at the time but late
this week
had an equivalent value of less than 50 U.S. cents, AFP reported.
The
last official measure of inflation put it at 231 million percent in
July,
but some economists estimate the annual rate of increase in prices to
be
running in the hundreds of billions.
Harare correspondent Irwin Chifera
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe said a
doughnut that cost Z$25 million at
midday on Friday cost Z$100 million by
evening, while the exchange rate for
U.S. dollars surged to $50 million
Zimbabwe dollars to the greenback.
Zimbabwe threatens international news bureaux
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
12th
Dec 2008 23:08 GMT
By a
Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe government has threatened to close foreign
news bureaus for
Reuters, AP and AFP following the publication of stories
that quoted
President Robert Mugabe as saying cholera had now been contained
in the
country.
Writing in his column, the acerbic Nathaniel Manheru,
believed to be
Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, says there is no need to
have these
organisations, including the BBC, represented in Zimbabwe when
they did not
respect their reporters on the ground. He says Zimbabwe does
not need them.
Charamba was earlier incensed by reports that his boss had
said there no
longer was cholera in Zimbabwe. He said the remarks were
"distorted" and
"misrepresented" by the media.
In the column, Manheru
says the stories did not originate from Harare but
were written from
newsrooms in London, especially.
"It is also a loud way of telling those
in authority in Zimbabwe to please
declassify them as bona fide news
organisations, indeed a statement to say
we can cover Zimbabwe from our head
offices, without local staffers. The
message has gone home and is well
taken," says Manheru in his latest
offering in the Herald
newspaper.
Writing under the sub-heading Africa of Downs and Dims,
Manheru threatens
journalists working with international news organisations
from
state-controlled newsrooms as well.
Chebamba chinodyiwa
nemuseredzero, he says, which literally means those
being paid to get
information or stories out will be dealt with.
"There is huge, dirty
money involved, part of it flowing into public
newsrooms," he writes. "The
line between these journalistic misdeeds and
espionage grows thinner and
thinner by the day. I happen to know that the
authorities are about to place
a price on those concerned, and let no one
cry. Chebamba chinodyiwa
nemuseredzero."
Explaining the cholera story that saw Mugabe being
condemned internationally
for allegedly saying there was no cholera in
Zimbabwe anymore, Manheru says
local reporters' names were "expunged from
the stories, in deference to
strange names abroad, names of persons who have
never set foot here, but who
fiercely know and grieve that Zimbabwe was,
once upon a time a British
colony, a haven for uninterrupted white real
estate interests".
This column raises fear and alarm amongst Zimbabwean
journalists, some of
whom are still in the country and were mentioned by
name for working in
cahoots with international news organisations, including
the United States
government.
Reads part of the Manheru column on the
media:
"The bylines on virtually all the false stories, the voices on the
mendacious stories, are all from headquarters of the international news
networks. It is true for Reuters, AFP, AP, BBC, France 24 International, Al
Jazeera, the British Press, South African English Press etc,
etc.
"Where were local reporters for these organisations? To the man, to
the
woman, they were all there at Heroes Acre or before their television
screens, following in real time what the President was saying in his
address. It was not a matter of hearsay. They got the address in real time.
They were part of the event.'
But the amazing thing is their names
were expunged from the stories, in
deference to strange names abroad, names
of persons who have never set foot
here, but who fiercely know and grieve
that Zimbabwe was, once upon a time a
British colony, a haven for
uninterrupted white real estate interests.
These strange bosses - all
white, all angry, in some cases quite pink -
appear to see better and
clearer than their staffers who are in situ!
They wear binoculars which
draw closer dynamics of situations in which their
countries' interests
appear threatened.
And where this is the case, they do not hesitate to
overrun their bureaux
here, reducing local reporters to mere runners, mere
providers of raw copy
which they then rewrite to suit their nations'
agendas.
They have played little gods with copy on Zimbabwe, in the
process
rubbishing the letter and spirit of AIPPA. There has to be a robust
response. We do not need them, or to be here
Put simply, Zimbabwe
has no reason or need to accredit bureaux and/or
reporters for foreign news
organisations which are rendered passive or inert
in news processing.
Zimbabwe did not head-hunt for those organisations.
They chose the skills
they wanted and proceeded to engage them.
Zimbabwe assumes they acquired
skills they trust and believe in, which is
why they have retained them to
the day.
To overrun those skills and structures is quite clearly a political
decision
which has no place in the world of news.
It is a step taken
in the interest of delivering these networks to the
foreign offices of their
countries, to sharpen their governments' assault on
Zimbabwe.
It is
also a loud way of telling those in authority in Zimbabwe to please
declassify them as bona fide news organisations, indeed a statement to say
we can cover Zimbabwe from our head offices, without local staffers. The
message has gone home and is well taken.
The reach from
Pretoria
But a more sinister message has been coming through. Within our
industry, we
have watched as the State Department created a full-blown
structure in
Pretoria for compromising both local journalists and stringers
of foreign
news organisations based in Harare.
It is an elaborate
operation run by a lady American intelligence officer
from
Pretoria.
She is in a number of newsrooms, including those of Reuters and
AFP here.
She is in the so-called private Press, including inhabiting the
heart of a
well known editor.
One could add staffers of the defunct
Daily News who are fully functional,
unaccredited. Using Sydney Masamvu,
Sezani Weza and MDC's Luke Tambolinyoka,
this Anglo-American operation is
running a whole host of ghost sites and
ghost reporters who include the
likes of Frank Chikowore and Brian Hungwe,
buttressed by a phalanx of
cameramen.
And, of course, Luke runs errands for Roy Bennett."
Red
Cross launches cholera appeal
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8743
December 12, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
LONDON- The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to
help thousands of
people in Zimbabwe and across Southern Africa affected by
cholera and
chronic food shortages.
According to UN figures, cholera
has claimed almost 800 lives and affected
16,000 people in
Zimbabwe.
The British Red Cross said its programme would not be confined
to Zimbabwe.
In Angola, almost 10,000 people had been affected by the
disease and 229
people killed, Mozambique has registered more than 8,000
cases and 93 deaths
while South Africa has seen almost 400 cases and five
deaths, the
organisation said.
"The rainy season is coming and we
know from experience that rains are an
aggravating factor for cholera," said
Di Moody, British Red Cross programme
support officer for Southern
Africa.
"Continued efforts are needed to make sure the disease is not
allowed to run
out of control.
"This means providing immediate aid
for those currently affected and
widespread hygiene education to prevent new
cases from breaking out. People
in Zimbabwe and across the region are still
facing a very real risk and it
is vital that this risk is addressed as
quickly as possible."
The British Red Cross said fund raised would be
used to supply emergency
relief through community-based health, water,
sanitation and hygiene
projects, delivering aid and education to those most
in need across the
region.
The Red Cross has been on the ground in
Zimbabwe since the beginning of the
cholera epidemic, focusing largely on
public education.
Cholera is a treatable and curable disease, but people
need to know the
simple steps they can take to minimise or even eliminate
risk of the
disease.
The Red Cross said its volunteers had so far
reached more than 11,000 people
in seven provinces with health and hygiene
messages.
Funds had also been used to provide cholera kits and water
purification
equipment, which are being distributed to affected
communities.
To give to the British Red Cross Zimbabwe & Region
Appeal visit
www.redcross.org.uk/zimbabweregion
or call 0845 054 7200. Postal donations
can be sent to British Red Cross,
UKO, 44 Moorfields, London, EC2Y 9AL
ETDs
suspended over banditry claims
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8734
December 11, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - The government has suspended issuing emergency
travel documents
(ETDs) allegedly for fears disillusioned Zimbabweans might
be recruited in
neighbouring countries to be trained as bandits to topple
President Robert
Mugabe.
The Registrar General's department has also
suspended processing ordinary
passports on the same allegations,
authoritative sources working at the
government passport processing office
told The Zimbabwe Times.
"We have suspended issuing emergency travel
documents unless on serious
proven medical grounds," said the source. "The
officials say that this is
meant to prevent people getting the travel
documents to go and train as
bandits in neighbouring countries."
The
move comes amid growing calls for the removal of Mugabe from power in
the
face of a humanitarian crisis which has resulted in food shortages and a
cholera outbreak.
Cholera has killed over 800 Zimbabweans and spilled
over to neighbouring
countries like South Africa.
Botswana has led
regional calls for the removal of Mugabe, with Kenyan prime
minister, Raila
Odinga calling for a military invasion of the country.
Diplomatic
tensions between Zimbabwe and Botswana have deteriorated in
recent months.
Mugabe and the government have responded by accusing Botswana
of training
militias to topple the 84-year-old leader.
Botswana denies the charges
but the Mugabe government has maintained the
allegations, prompting the
regional bloc, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to dispatch
its organ on security for a fact-finding
mission in the neighbouring
country.
"The emergency travel documents that are issued on medical
grounds are
mainly for special cases like medical operations while on a few
cases they
have to be supported by documents from the hospital," an official
at the
Registrar-General's ffice in Bulawayo said.
"The suspension in
the processing of the travel documents is based on belief
amongst government
officials that neighbouring countries like Botswana are
harbouring MDC
bandits," he said.
"It is said that to stop those countries recruiting
the alleged bandits, the
processing of travel documents has to be
suspended."
When contacted for comment, Home Affairs Minister, Kembo
Mohadi, however,
blamed Western sanctions for the suspension of processing
of travel
documents.
"There is no material to process the documents
because of the illegal
sanctions. I am busy right now," Mohadi said before
he switched off his
mobile phone.
Repeated efforts to obtain a
comment from Tobaiwa Mudede, the
Registrar-General were fruitless. The
Bulawayo Provincial Registrar, Willard
Sayenda, was also not available for
comment.
However, the Zimbabwe Times crew that visited the Register
General's office
in Bulawayo was also told of the suspension of the
processing of travel
documents.
"We are not sure when we will start
processing the travel documents," a
worker at the Registrar-General's office
said.
Last month, an office of the Registrar-General in Bulawayo was
forced to
suspend the production of plastic identity cards (IDs) citing lack
foreign
currency to purchase polythene material used in the production of
the
documents.
Plastic ID cards were introduced in November 2004 to
replace metal identity
cards which had become extremely expensive for the
broke government to
produce as a result of the foreign currency
shortages.
Victims of Zimbabwean diamond crackdown to be
dumped in mass grave
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
The
Times
December 13, 2008
Jan Raath in Mutare
Nearly 80 people apparently
murdered by the Zimbabwean Army in its campaign
to take control of a diamond
field near the eastern city of Mutare are to be
dumped in a mass
grave.
A telephone call on Thursday from the top government official in
the
district to the city's deputy mayor is the firmest evidence yet of
reported
massacres in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the past
month.
Admire Mukovera, deputy mayor in Mutare - where the city council
is
controlled by the opposition MDC - said yesterday that the district
administrator had called him to "ask for space for a mass grave for 78
people who were killed in Chiadzwa". Mr Mukovera added: "He never mentioned
who killed them [but] obviously it is the army and police because they are
the only people allowed to go there. "He told me [the bodies] were in the
mortuary but I don't know which one - there is nothing in the Mutare general
hospital's mortuary."
There have been widespread accounts of the
killings from survivors emerging
from the area, which has been sealed off
with military roadblocks and
troops. Those who live in the region say that
anyone attempting to enter
Chiadzwa is arrested and possibly tortured and
killed.
Survivors have spoken of machinegun attacks by helicopter as well
as police
and army troops shooting at and setting dogs on
civilians.
Police had tried repeatedly to drive off thousands of diggers and
panners
from the hot, arid landscape, but with little effect because so many
officers were easily bribed with diamonds. Since the army was deployed last
month, however, the area "is just about cleared", Mr Mukovera
said.
In his telephone call, the government official, named as Mr
Mashava, also
said allegedly that there are "another five people who died of
cholera that
they want to put in the mass grave", according to Mr
Mukovera.
Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC's district spokesman, said President
Mugabe's
regime was trying to hide its "murderous activities" by dumping its
victims
in mass graves. "The council must not give them ground until the
facts and
figures are made public and the circumstances of the murder of 78
people are
known," he said. Mr Mashava did not respond to attempts to
contact him.
The diamond mine was the property of London-based Africa
Consolidated
Resources until the Government seized it last year and drove
off the
workforce. Shortly afterwards a Zanu (PF) official went on state
television
to urge ordinary people to go there and harvest the
diamonds.
Tens of thousands descended on the area to dig for diamonds,
which are not
far below the surface. Late last year the Government decided
to reassert
control. In May reports emerged of appalling police brutality as
they
cleared people out.
Mr Mugabe's Government accused Britain, the
former colonial power, of
causing a genocidal cholera epidemic. "Cholera is
a calculated racist attack
on Zimbabwe by the former colonial power so that
they can invade the
country," a spokesman said.
Failed States, Cholera, and ‘Preventive Action’
December 12, 2008, 2:59 pm
By Andrew C.
Revkin
Celia Dugger’s stunning descriptions of the unfolding
cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe brought to mind issues raised at the “Center
for Preventive Action Symposium” at the Council on Foreign Relations in New
York Tuesday. There, specialists in the world’s most turbulent regions held
forth with a menu of ways the Obama administration might blunt, if not avert,
crises with preventive action.
One discussion centered on creating an international mechanism for
humanitarian intervention when a malfunctioning nation’s leadership fails to
address a building crisis like the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, or when it
consciously abuses its people by conducting or abetting mass killings. There was
no clear path to establishing such a protocol, although those at the meeting
appeared to agree that the United
Nations Security Council, in its current form at least, would never be the
vehicle given the veto power of states dead-set against anything resembling
outside interference in internal affairs.
But when the world
watches avoidable disasters unfolding in plain sight, what should be
done?
With global media and Web
connectedness, everyone — to some extent — bears witness to starvation or
genocide or the like. Awareness comes with responsibility.
Still, in the long history of nation states, and given human beings’
persistent tribal tendencies, when does an outside institution, however well
intentioned, have the right to intervene in another country? Who decides which
interventions are moral and “right,” and which are not justified? There is a
fundamental tension with us, still, between the rights of individuals (or
individual states) and of the larger community (or community of nations). This
was at the heart of my recent post on the enduring dream of global-scale
thinking and action, with extends from Darwin through Havel and on through
Bill and Melinda Gates’ view
that all lives have equal value.
How this plays out will certainly help determine how many bumps there are in
the road toward 9 billion people seeking a decent life. At the meeting, former
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright proposed an intermediate step through
which rich countries could help speed the progress of poorer ones, creating new
ways citizens can serve overseas to help foster freedom, economic development,
and improve lives.
She summarized that thought quite simply: “There is a vast gap between the
Marine Corps and the Peace Corps. We need to fill that gap….” Read her prepared
remarks.
Zimbabwe 'Government' now a serial human rights violator - ROHR Statement on human rights day
RESTORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ZIMBABWE
12 December 2008
Dignity and justice for
all of us," on the occasion of the
International Human rights day 10 December 2008
"It is our duty to ensure that these
rights are a living reality, that they are known, understood and enjoyed by
everyone, everywhere. It is often those who most need their human rights
protected, who also need to be informed that the Declaration exists and that it
exists for them"..
UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon (2007)
ROHR Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world
in commemorating the International Human Rights Day. It is the day when the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in Paris on the 10th of December in
1948. We salute those who struggle to defend, protect and promote the
fundamental freedoms that are the birthright of all mankind, regardless of race,
sex, religion, political affiliation and ethnicity. Today, as we honour and
commemorate that historic document, the values it enshrines and our ongoing
effort to restore a culture of human rights, Zimbabwe is sinking deeper in chaos and
experiencing increased human rights violations. In fact, the State has become a
serial human rights violator.
It is the State's duty and responsibility
to make provision for the right mechanisms and create platforms that promote and
protect the citizens from abuses of all kind that spring from failed
socio-economic and political systems such as Zimbabwe is experiencing today. It remains
incumbent for every Government to take personal the custody of the principles of
the bill of rights, introduce legislation and policies that act to compliment
and not to stand averse to the universal rights of every person in the world.
Part of this, entails that the authorities should act responsibly, being
conscious that violating any of the people's rights will trigger the domino
effect, whereby, a single violation of any of the protected rights will lead to
other affronts on rights, which consequently degenerates the nation into a human
rights disaster.
The inter elections period of 2008 left
Zimbabweans disenfranchised, robbed at gun point, of their fundamental right to
vote which is not only protected in the bill we are celebrating, but the
Zimbabwean constitution. This worsened the governance and legitimacy crisis that
has been in existence since the 2000 disputed elections. Human rights violations
are aggravated by the obvious show of apathy to people's lives and welfare,
misplaced priorities where state resources are channelled at the retention and
perpetuation of power by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF de-fancto Government,
whilst neglecting the ordinary people to grapple with the worst humanitarian
crisis ever to hit the Southern African country on their own.
Poverty and hunger is threatening millions
of lives in Zimbabwe and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates, more than 5, 1 million people will be in need of food aid in January.
Millions of people are fleeing from the country in pursuit of happiness and
means of survival in other countries. Even still, the State is violating
peoples' right to food by imposing red tapes to deny the hungry populace in
towns and rural areas access to food aid by international relief agencies and
Non-Governmental organisations.
Close to 1000 people have died of cholera,
an easily preventable and curable disease, simply because the political will and
resources are prioritised on other things apart from saving lives. Furthermore
the responsible authorities are keen on covering up the extent of casualties
thereby making international intervention for the disaster difficult. The health
care delivery system has crumbled due to severe shortage of drugs, equipment and
staff to provide health services to citizens of this country. The right to
education and health have almost been transformed to privileges only available
to the elite and because they have become either very unavailable or
expensive.
Despite the signing of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations on 15
September 2008, an agreement which candled the light of hope that the long
protracted culture of violence, lawlessness and political repression could
finally abate, Zanu PF still uses unorthodox and unconstitutional tactics of
silencing dissent and intimidating opposition and human rights activists. Ms
Jestina Mukoko, a former journalist and the director of Zimbabwe Peace Project
was abducted from her home on 3 December 2008. MDC has reported that 18 of its activists were abducted
and are still missing. This trend is reminiscent of the violence that preceded
the widely discredited June 27 presidential election runoff which left hundreds
killed, thousands with injuries and hundreds of thousands homeless, a clear sign
that human rights almost always will play second fiddle to political expediency
in Zimbabwe.
For the sakes of the millions of
Zimbabweans who still hope to embrace the change that will drastically reduce
human rights violations, who look forward to the day when freedom of speech,
expression, and association are not criminalised by illegal legislation, when it
will be okay with the government for one to hold a political opinion of choice
without fear of victimisation, when no one will be abducted by state agencies
for being a human rights activist or a member of the opposition, we call for a
paradigm shift in the thinking of politicians. The state should stop the
abductions that are currently underway and remove surveillance on all opposition
and human rights activists now.
Therefore as Zimbabwe joins other nations to celebrate the
signing of the bill of rights, hard work remains ahead of us for the dream that
propelled and compelled the heads of States that signed the document to finally
become reality. It will take more than just waiting for the calibre of the right
leaders to come and implement the charter, nor the mere setting up of systems to
that effect which can easily be manipulated for disastrous ends. It will take
more than just hopeful citizens that their rights will finally come into place.
Importantly it will take courage, conviction, the drive, and the urgency shared
by both stakeholders Governments and people to become joint custodians of its
precepts, both parties using means within their power to promote and protect
their rights.
Inserted by the Information
Department:
Restoration of Human Rights
Zimbabwe
P.O Box 8719,
Harare
Email:rohrzimbabwe@gmail.com
Website: www.rorhzimbabwe.org
Tel: +263 4 744593
Mobiles: +263 912 426638, +263 912
713410
Vigil
co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes
place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in
Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Fifa says Zim not safe for
supporters
From The Cape Argus (SA), 10 December
Clayton Barnes
Fifa has discouraged football
supporters from setting up base in Zimbabwe
during the 2010 World Cup if the
economic and cholera crises persist. Fifa
spokesperson Delia Fischer told
the Cape Argus Fifa was monitoring the
situation but doubted Zimbabwe would
form part of its 2010 plans. She said
Fifa and Match Hospitality, their
official hospitality partner, were working
with South Africa's neighbours to
see how supporters could be given a "truly
African experience", including
tours to Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique and
Botswana, but not Zimbabwe at this
stage. She said all 32 World Cup teams
would be based in South Africa "as we
are busy ensuring this country has the
infrastructure and is safe enough to
host the teams. However, we will be
monitoring the Zimbabwe situation," she
said. There have been reports that a
company contracted by Zimbabwe's
National Social Security Authority and the
Rainbow Tourism Group to develop
a hotel at Beit Bridge, had been forced to
suspend operations following the
cholera outbreak. When the Cape Argus tried
calling the Rainbow Tourism
Group in Zimbabwe on Monday, their telephones
just rang and their website
was down. Michael Tatalias, of the Southern
African Tourism Services
Association (Satsa), said it was unlikely that
supporters would consider
visiting Zimbabwe if the situation persists. He
said Zimbabwe was one of the
main reasons visitor numbers to the region had
dropped.
Cholera , World Soccer Cup & ANC
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 8:52 PM
Subject: Cholera , World Soccer Cup & ANC
SA runs the risk of losing the world cup because of cholera
in Zimbabwe.
The problem is that the ANC is very protective of Mugabe
regime where people are now dying like flies in Zimbabwe.
I am part of a
team in the UK who will travel to FIFA head quartes to present the videos of
cholera outbreaks in Zim and Musina. And we will make sure that we also show
them videos on how easy it is to get from Zim to SA illegally.
Also we
are emailing and faxing all soccer loving countries about the danger of
participating in the 2010 with this cholera outbreak.
We are doing this
beacuse we realize that it is SA that always blocks UN security council in
dealing swiftly with Mugabe.
Below is FIFA's contact info.Please contact
E-mail FIFA so that they can put pressure to
SA.
http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html
Also below is a list of
influential organisations that need to be told of our campaign.Feel free to copy
this short article and email as many institutes or contacts that will be
concerned.
info@nia.gov.za info@dpe.gov.za makhubelal@foreign.gov.za phashk@health.gov.za mavas@dwarf.gov.za portia.molefe@dpe.gov.za contactus@thedti.gov.za ntsalubaa@foreign.gov.za mqadin@health.gov.za response@saps.org.za communications@dha.gov.za leratoz@po.gov.za nkadimengd@bdfm.co.za www.sa2010.gov.za/contact voyager@flysaa.com williamstc@saps.gov.za rose@digiquest.co.za vanblerkn@sabc.co.za patrick@cosatu.org.za webdesk@southafricahouse.com southafrica@bigmedia.co.za themba.wakashe@dac.gov.za nandipha@cosatu.org.za Mantshele.Tau@dha.gov.za ancwl@anc.org.za joe@srsa.gov.za pbrink@nia.gov.za manase@srsa.gov.za sacg@southafrica-newyork.net enquiries@tourismgrading.co.za info@saembassy.org
Play
your part and pick any two emails and email register your
concern.
Extreme situations call for extreme measures.
Enough Is
Enough.
Sipho Sibanda Manchester ,
UK. |
A
letter from the diaspora
http://www.cathybuckle.com
12th December 2008
Dear
Friends.
Perhaps it is the tinted glasses that Mugabe is wearing these days
that
blind him to what is going on in the country he purports to rule. His
declaration that "Cholera has been arrested" - nice choice of words there! -
flies in the face of the facts. "If anything is certain in the chaos of
Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control" says
Save the Children Director. As the WHO announces the death toll from cholera
at nearly 800, Mr Mugabe blithely assures the crowd gathered for the funeral
of Elliot Manyika - another 'Hero' for Heroes Acre - that the cholera cause
doesn't exist anymore. What is more he claims, it is his government, his
doctors who have worked this miracle with the help of WHO. But it is not the
appalling suffering of the people that is of paramount concern to Mugabe;
what is really worrying him is the threat of military intervention. No
cholera, no cause for invasion goes his argument.
Zimbabweans would
not have been surprised by Mugabe's rhetoric at the
funeral for the late
unlamented Manyika. All week long his side kicks in
government have been
telling anyone who would listen that the situation was
under control. "We
have enough chemicals to purify the water. We have got
enough foreign
currency to buy pipes" announced Sikhanyiso Ndlovu on
Wednesday. If that is
true then why don't they just go ahead and do it we
wonder? Why was the
regime trying so hard to conceal the terrible truth of
the cholera outbreak
from the world. They know only too well that once the
pictures of children
playing in raw sewage and cholera victims with drips
attached in dirty
clinics and hospitals were beamed round the world, the
international
community would respond. It was not compassion for the
victims, not pity for
the dying children that the regime was concerned
about, it was the
world-wide call for military intervention that had the
Mugabe regime
rattled. With the usual breath-taking Zanu illogicality Ndlovu
went on to
claim, "After squeezing and strangling the country with sanctions
and
contaminating it with cholera and anthrax, the west is seeking to use
the
window of opportunity provided by the disaster to justify military
intervention." Ndlovu was simply laying the ground for his master. Even the
eventual declaration of cholera as a National Emergency had little to do
with stopping the people's suffering; above all it was a way of getting the
international community to fund the government's absolute failure to care
for their own people. Cholera does not respect political divisions, it does
not discriminate between Zanu and MDC supporters' it targets the poorest of
the poor, the malnourished, the already sick from Aids and above all the
children. Yet Mugabe says nothing of them; it is the attack on his own power
base that worries him when the call goes out for military intervention.
Watching him speak at Heroes Acre, seeing the banners proclaiming 'Brown's
Cholera' it was not hard to sense his terror at what it would mean for him
if the west carried out their threats. The very real prospect of his own
downfall is staring him in the face; compared to that not even the prospect
of hundreds of cholera deaths matters. He is fighting for survival and like
a cornered rat he becomes ever more vicious as the end comes
nearer.
Mugabe's problem is that no matter how hard he tries he can no
longer
conceal from the world the depth of the suffering his regime has
wrought on
the Zimbabwean people. Not a day has passed this week without the
world's
media covering some aspect of the Zimbabwean tragedy. The plight of
the
missing MDC activists and Jestina Mukoko in particular has featured in
mass
appeals to human rights activists around the world to raise their
voices in
protest at Mugabe's appalling human rights record. His regime may
ignore
court orders to the police to mount a search for the disappeared; the
ZTV
may ignore a court order to flight adverts showing Jestina as a Missing
Person but he cannot hide the tragedy from the world. Only last night on
British TV we saw Zimbabwean lawyers marching with their banners to protest
the political abductions. We saw the brave Woza women once again
demonstrating in Bulawayo and Harare where they managed to surprise the
police who arrived too late with their water canons. Water! Now where did
that come from we wondered and had the water been treated or was this yet
another diabolical plot to rid the country of these troublesome Woza women.
Imprisonment doesn't stop them from coming out on the streets, why not spray
them with cholera infected water? Is that possible even for Zanu PF, I
wonder? I keep thinking about Didymus Mutasa's words when the SADC Tribunal
found in favour of the 75 white farmers . "There is nothing special about
the 75 farmers" he said. But there is something special about them, not
because they are white but because they are human beings. It is that basic
humanity that seems to have been lost in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe where
people have become no more than pawns in his political power games and not
even children are exempted. What other explanation is there for the
government's decision today, Friday, to refuse visas to a group of French
water specialists if it is not that President Sarkozy has joined the chorus
of world leaders calling for Mugabe's ouster if necessary by military
means?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.
Zim government has lost charge
By James D. McGee
President George W. Bush recently denounced the illegitimate Mugabe
regime and once again called for a government that would end repression and
express the will of the Zimbabwean people. On March 29, the citizens of Zimbabwe
voted decisively to change their leaders. They demanded better government. Yet
their demands have been largely ignored by the losers of the election, which is
why the President called this regime illegitimate. However, the Mugabe regime
continues to forfeit its legitimacy on a daily basis by failing to meet the most
basic obligation of a government – to care for its people.
Governments are created to
protect and care for their citizens. The current regime has largely abdicated
this responsibility. Today the work of caring for the many suffering Zimbabweans
has fallen to the international community. I am proud of the leading role the
United States is playing in this regard, but we should not lose sight of the
fact that we are doing what the Government of Zimbabwe should do, but chooses
not to do.
In the past year the U.S.
has provided over US$218 million in humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe. We are
the leading food donor, providing US$211 million in food commodities to address
this food emergency. The United States provides nearly 70 percent of all
international food aid distributed in Zimbabwe through NGOs and the UN World
Food Program. We spent nearly US$30 million last year on HIV/AIDS programs, in
addition to paying for 33 percent of the Global Fund’s programs. We are
currently putting into place an additional US$600,000 in emergency aid to combat
the cholera epidemic currently devastating Zimbabwe.
What is the Mugabe regime
doing? It is buying hundreds cars so that every minister and governor can have
multiple vehicles. It is buying plasma televisions for judges. It is stifling
the private sector so that mines and factories are forced to close, laying off
workers, while harassing the nongovernmental organizations that try to provide
support to suffering Zimbabweans. The widespread hunger in Zimbabwe, the cholera
epidemic and the collapse of education and health care systems are not the
result of any targeted sanctions. These disastrous failures result from
decisions by a few Zimbabwean leaders to put personal interests ahead of the
public interest. Instead of spending scarce resources on water purification
chemicals that might stop the cholera epidemic, they are manipulating currency
to make a personal profit. Instead of ensuring that hospitals and clinics remain
open, staffed and supplied, they enjoy lives of luxury in gated compounds.
Instead of paying teachers a living wage so that the next generation can learn,
they fly around the world on shopping sprees. In the meantime, their people
suffer and die.
The United States is
committed to continuing to support the people of Zimbabwe with food, medical
supplies, water and sanitation improvements, and whatever else is needed to save
lives and reduce suffering. I only wish the illegitimate leaders of this country
would find the same compassion and commitment for their own people. I challenge
the leaders of this country to set aside their personal greed and commit to
spending even a quarter of what the U.S. and other donors will spend
this year to meet the humanitarian needs of Zimbabwe’s citizens.
The amount of aid the U.S.
gives Zimbabwe is openly available. The Mugabe regime should open its books and
tell the world how much it is spending on the people of Zimbabwe, and how much
they are spending on luxury vehicles, the campaign of brutal violence against
their own people, and the desperate struggle to stay in power at all
costs.
The bottom line is that the
so-called leaders of this country need to stop feeding their insatiable greed
and take care of the poor and deserving Zimbabweans languishing because of this
corruption. Up to 5 million people will need food aid in the coming months. Over
15,500 have suffered from cholera, with 746 deaths, and the epidemic is just
starting. Untold thousands have suffered or died because they cannot access
medical care. We remain ready to help. However, right now the international
community isn’t just helping; we’re being forced to lead by the Mugabe regime’s
criminal negligence. It’s time for the Mugabe regime to take responsibility for
these problems it has created, and fix them.
Zimbabweans deserve better.
They have asked for better through their votes. How long must they suffer before
their Government responds?
James D. McGee is U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe # #
#
PAS Note: This article was originally published in The
Zimbabwe Independent
on Friday December 12, 2008.
Url: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com.
Also
note that less than a week after giving $600,000 to help the Zimbabwe government and
international donors get control of a deadly cholera epidemic that has killed
more than 800 people since August, the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) announced that it will contribute another $6.2 million to the
effort. See http://harare.usembassy.gov for further details.
A
view from inside Zimbabwe
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8190
By Tim Nafziger
12 Dec 2008
In recent
days and weeks Zimbabwe has wrestled its way back into the news
with reports
of over 600 dead of Cholera and as many as 60,000 cases feared
in coming
weeks. Inflation is so high that at restaurants you pay before the
meal
because the food will cost more when you finish. Unpaid soldiers are
looting
and rioting in the streets.
Last week I was part of a gathering to hear
from Arthur Mutambara, the
leader of the smaller faction of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC),
one of two opposition parties currently in
negotiation with the Zanu PF, the
governing party. On 15 September 2008, the
two parties signed a power
sharing agreement that, if ratified, will make
Robert Mugabe president,
Morgan Tsvangirai (leader of the larger MDC
faction) prime minister and
Mutambara deputy prime
minister.
Mutambara sees the power sharing agreement as the only path
forward for
Zimbabwe. In a country deeply traumatized by the violence before
the 27 June
election, a coalition government, Mutambara said, would offer
the stability
for a national healing process, a return to economic stability
and could
oversee the process for fair elections.
"We cannot wish
away Mugabe," Mutambara said. "He has the presidency in his
hands and the
power that goes with it." The economic crisis alone is not
enough to topple
Mugabe and the country is far too traumatized for an
uprising, violent or
otherwise. It very painful to imagine an election, let
alone a free and fair
one. In any election held now, traumatized voters
would re-elect
Mugabe.
With a negotiated settlement the only solution, the only question
becomes:
when? Mutambara was clearly impatient with the slow pace at which
the
negotiation process is moving. "The choice is whether to end the
suffering
[of Zimbabweans] sooner or later," he said. "Politics are the art
of the
possible"
Mutambara brings a wide range of experience with
him. He started as a
student leader against Mugabe in the late 80's. He went
on to receive his
PhD in Rocket Science and taught as a professor of
business strategy at
Northwestern University. In 2003, he took a position as
CEO of the Africa
Technology and Business Institute based in
Johhannesburg.
In February 2006, Mutambara was elected president of a
breakaway faction of
the MDC that favored participation in the March 2005
parliamentary election.
One of the other differences highlighted by
Mutambara at the time was their
perspectives on land reform.
The
focus of the recent discussion I and others had with him was not only on
the
future of Zimbabwe, but also on an examination of what has gone wrong in
the
last few months.
Africans outside of Zimbabwe were horrified by the awful
campaign leading up
to the 27 June election. It did inestimable economic
damage to regional
groups. The heads of state in Mozambique, Botswana,
Angola, Namibia,
Tanzania and Madagascar spoke out strongly for change after
the sham
election. All but two have gone back to being quiet.
What
has silenced them? Part of the problem, Mutambara said, has been
"brazen and
naive" grandstanding by the British and American governments.
Their actions
have played to Mugabe's image of himself as an
anti-imperialist. Heads of
state in the region are well aware of the history
of US and British
intervention and have grown hesitant to speak out to
strongly in favor of an
opposition that appears too chummy with the US
embassy. Without African
Union on board, he said, there will be no one with
the moral authority to
bring Zimbabwe to the UN.
"The lack of strategic thinking by America
undermines our struggle. [Western
countries] should speak to the Africans
and let them take a frontal role,"
Mutambara said. "Mugabe is only talking
to us now because after the June 27
election, African leaders in the region
spoke out. So we must make sure we
don't lose [the support of] Africa again"
American statements don't count
for much because of history and location.
Given the choice between the US
and Britain, African leaders think "Better
the devil you know."
What does good pressure look like? Mutambar holds
out South Africa's
decision over two weeks ago to withhold aid from Zimbabwe
as a positive
example. The South African government said they would withhold
aid until a
legitimate representative government was in place. In their view
Mugabe is
not the legitimate president until the 15 September agreement is
ratified
and he is sworn in.
I was very impressed by both Mutambara's
conviction, passion and his warmth.
During the question time he responded
very graciously and effectively to
strongly skeptical questions from the
audience.
Mutambara as very clear where the responsibility for change in
Zimbabwe
lies. "Gone are the days of passing the buck [to the West]. We are
the
creators of our own situation. We must take responsibility for our own
problems." Mutambara said "Gone are the days of slavery, colonialism and
neo-colonialism." These forces are still at work, he acknowledged, but they
are not the dominant factors. "We are the agents of our own change" he
added.
With the incoming administration of Barack Obama in the United
States,
Mutambara doesn't expect a change in US foreign policy, but hopes
for more
nuance and tact in the way it is carried out.
What can we
do? Mutambara acknowledged that the pressure China put on
Zimbabwe after
international outcry in the lead up to the Olympics was
effective. In late
April China recalled a ship full of weapons bound for
Zimbabwe after workers
out a South African port refused to unload it. Mugabe
can't go against China
or South Africa, Mutambara said. "We are completely
dependent on them
economically."
The World Cup in 2010 in South Africa could be a lever for
pressuring South
Africa to help stabilize Zimbabwe. So we need to emphasize
that it is in the
long term and broader interests of South African
corporations to have a
stable Zimbabwe.
As for the role Mutambara
plays, he sees himself as an independent voice in
a highly polarized
environment. Because he is the leader of a smaller third
party, he has less
at stake then the larger faction of the MDC and the
Zanu-PF. The situation
in Zimbabwe right now is very binary and polarized:
Are you with the saint
or the devil? More nuance is needed in political
discussion. A multi-party
system is needed.
Mutambara also talked about the critical role of civil
society in Zimbabwe.
The MDC was built on the labor movement. Because of
their strong engagement,
the 27 June repression targeted church leaders,
women's group leaders, labor
leaders and lawyers. "We must make sure we
maintain civil society as
independent from political parties."
When
asked what message he would send to the churches, he focused on the
importance of building self-sustaining community projects in
Zimbabwe.
As the evening drew to a close, someone asked Mutambara "What
would be your
message to churches?" Sending food is too easy, he said,
development needs
to enable communities to feed themselves. He also cited
micro-lending
programs that focus on loans to women. Mutambara said,
"Imagination and
creativity are very important as you seek to assist
Zimbabwe"
----------
(c) Tim Nafziger works for Christian
Peacemaker Teams. This interview is
adapted from his blog at Young
Anabaptist Radicals with grateful thanks:
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/.
It also appears in The Mennonite:
http://www.themennonite.org/
Hot Seat (AUDIO): Interview with Prime Minister designate
Morgan Tsvangirai
Hot
Seat: Interview with Prime Minister designate Mr Morgan
Tsvangirai
Broadcast 12 December
2008
On the programme, Hot Seat, Violet Gonda's guest is MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai. The Prime Minister designate says Robert Mugabe has lost
his mind and that calling him a ‘prostitute’ was indecent and ‘un-African’. Mr
Tsvangirai also gives his position on the power sharing deal, military
intervention, abductions and his current whereabouts.
(click on links below or copy and paste to web browser to
listen to audio file)
OR for MAC
users:
http://swradioafrica.streamuk.com/swradioafrica_archive/hotseat121208.wma
TRANSCRIPT WILL BE SENT AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE.
Is Mbeki being black mailed ?
As we are about to enter a new year
2009
Zimbabwe is looking more and more like an episode of Ground Hog Day
where
the same stories keep happening time and time again.
Back in
March 2000 before the last general election this is what was
happening on
the ground.
(Zimbabwe is on the brink of a total economic collapse and
facing a serious
national crisis. The facts are simple. Twenty years ago
Zimbabwe was a self
sufficient country that could support itself and was a
food exporting
nation. After twenty years of one party rule, mismanagement,
incompetence,
and corruption, by the Government, Zimbabwe is dependent upon
foreign aid,
imports food, and is no longer able to sustain the import of
its basic
energy or raw material requirements. Businesses are faced with the
prospect
of closure. The President is actively encouraging the rule of
anarchy in his
bid to remain in power.) Published March 2000.
Nine
years down the line what has changed nothing!
We would all like Mugabe to
retire and go but who really is to blame?
In my view it is
MBEKI.
This man has been the chief negotiator appointment by SADAC for
over ten
years and what has he done nothing, how can he look himself in the
mirror
every day and not feel sick. Why has he been allowed to carry on with
negotiation when he is clearly on ZANU side? I always thought a negotiator
should be neutral.
The more I think about it, Mugabe regime most have
something on him, why
would a man like Mbeki keep siding with Mugabe in the
face of the
destruction he is bringing on Zimbabwe, if these negotiations
had been going
on for a couple of years we could think that the slow action
he is taking
will bear fruits one day, but it has been over ten
years.
So if Mugabe is bribing him to stall the negotiation talks, it
would have to
be vast sums for someone to be prepared to let millions die
for their own
gain but I personally think it is fare more serious than
that.
The only possible explanation for Mbeki lack of courage and his non
extant
approach to these negotiations, the fact that he keeps defending
Mugabe in
the face of atrocities committed by his regime is that Mugabe must
have
something on him and must be black mailing him. It is the only possible
solution why an educated man like Mbeki keeps siding with Mugabe and backing
him up.
Any normal intelligent human being would see what terrible
consequences
Mugabe has brought on his own country, it is so blatant that
ZANU is
stealing from Zimbabwe that this regime is lining its pockets whilst
million
starve or die.
Mugabe latest denial of the Cholera outbreak
cracks me up, has he gone mad
is he not aware what his happening in Zim is
he blind.
This is the moment for other African leaders to stand up and ask
him to
account for his actions. People are being kidnapped. Tortured and
killed and
still Mbeki defends him and from behind the scenes stops
sanctions and
action from happening.
What Mugabe must have on Mbeki
must be so terrible and chocking that even in
the face of all this death he
does not dare to stand up to this corrupt
regime and condemns it.
Is
Mbeki Gay? Does he like young boys? Has Mugabe got video or compromising
pictures of him? Zanu must have something on him, it is the only logical
explanation for why Mbeki does not take a firm stand against Mugabe over the
last ten years and has helped in the collapse of Zimbabwe.
So Mr.
Mbeki if you are being black mailed why not come clean about your
secrets
surely it is better that letting millions of people suffer because
you are
ashamed of your actions, why have you not resigned from being the
chief
negotiator and let some one with balls take over the process.
You have
already been sacked as a failing president your standing in the
world is so
low that the only humble course for you is to explain why you
have been
siding with Mugabe for the last 10 years apologies and go.
You have blood
on your hands.
As for South Africa just get rid of Robert Mugabe the
world will be a better
place.
R
Political poison sickening Zimbabwe
http://www.businessday.co.za
12
December 2008
Tiseke
Kasambala
AS THE cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe spreads across regional
borders,
southern African governments have come together to discuss a
regional
strategy to stem the outbreak. But the cholera outbreak and other
emergency
conditions are symptoms of the broader political crisis in
Zimbabwe. There
will be no end to the suffering unless regional leaders
acknowledge this
fact.
The world has watched this
collapse as it has evolved. A recent Human Rights
Watch mission to Zimbabwe
documented the abusive policies, corruption and
repressive governance that
have led directly to the economic collapse,
humanitarian crisis and growing
public desperation. Poor governance,
state-sponsored violence , intimidation
and corruption have not only
prevented Zimbabwe's citizens from exercising
their civil and political
rights but have also denied them their right to
satisfy their most basic
social and economic needs - for food, health and
clean water.
The lack of safe drinking water, which caused the
cholera outbreak, is the
direct result of the government's economic
mismanagement and poor
governance. Many Zimbabweans have not had access to
water that meets even
basic sanitary requirements for almost a year now
because of the poor
maintenance of delivery systems.
As for access to
food, the state-sanctioned post-election violence not only
destroyed many
granaries, but also led to much forced displacement, leaving
much of the
population dependent on food assistance. Official interference
in the
operations of humanitarian agencies that distribute food aid worsened
the
crisis.
Southern African leaders need to recognise that the food
and health crises
in Zimbabwe cannot be separated from the political crisis.
People are not
only losing their political rights, they are dying of disease
and hunger as
a direct result of the situation. Sadly, the indications are
that regional
leaders continue to tiptoe around the problem.
With
Robert Mugabe refusing to cede any meaningful executive power to the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the power-sharing agreement signed on
September 15 is no longer viable. The world hoped that the agreement would
lead to the end of his government's abusive practices, the formation of a
credible government of national unity and a gradual recovery in the
country's
economic and social conditions.
However, southern Africa -
SA in particular - has continued to hide behind
the failed efforts of its
mediator, Thabo Mbeki. Mugabe has been left in the
driver's seat to continue
with his abusive policies and practices, while
Mbeki chose a soft target,
casting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the more
intransigent party in the
mediation process, and placed all the pressure on
him to end the political
impasse.
Leaders of Southern African Development Community (SADC)
countries continue
to push Tsvangirai to sign an agreement that would leave
Mugabe in control
of repressive institutions of the state.
SADC
leaders need to move beyond the mindset of a quick backroom political
fix
that leaves Mugabe running critical institutions that have caused the
very
policies which have led to Zimbabwe's food and health crisis.
International
assistance in bringing an end to the current humanitarian
crisis may help
Zimbabweans in the short term, but there can be no long-term
solutions
unless repressive political institutions are dismantled and
abusive policies
and corrupt practices are halted.
SADC leaders should exert concerted
political pressure, insisting on a clear
political reform agenda that
includes dismantling security structures and
reforming the police and other
repressive institutions. An end to corruption
and human rights abuses are
absolute requirements for a settlement of the
crisis. SADC leaders must not
accept any deal short of that.
Until that happens, the humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe - and its harmful
and spreading effect on the rest of the
region - will continue.
*Kasambala is senior researcher on
Zimbabwe for Human Rights Watch.
Zimbabweans flee
epidemic
From The Washington Times, 11 December
Geoff Hill
South Africa is bracing for a mass
exodus of cholera victims from Zimbabwe
fleeing across the
crocodile-infested Limpopo River in search of a doctor
and enough food to
keep them alive. The journey is not easy. The Limpopo
River is moving faster
now, swollen with early summer rains near its
headwaters 1,200 miles away.
Would-be exiles take a bus to the Zimbabwe side
of the Beitbridge border
post, but most have no papers, so they wait for
nightfall to traverse the
river by foot miles upstream from the bridge.
During the day crocodiles can
be seen resting on the banks. Clarence
Musonza, 19, a trainee teacher who
graduated from high school in 2006 with
high marks in chemistry, math and
English, speaks with the desperation
common to those fleeing the regime of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Musonza made the crossing early
Tuesday morning. He said he lost two
relatives to cholera and fears that the
worse is still to come. "I left
Harare on Sunday and the bus had to stop
after a few hours because it ran
out of [gasoline]. There is no fuel at
garages, but the driver managed to
buy some on the black market," he
said.
Zimbabwe declared a national emergency over a cholera epidemic
and the
collapse of its health care system, and state media reported the
government
is seeking more international help to pay for food and drugs to
combat the
crisis, according to an Associated Press report from the capital,
Harare.
"Our central hospitals are literally not functioning," Minister of
Health
David Parirenyatwa said Wednesday at a meeting of government and
international aid officials, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.
South African officials estimate that at least a thousand people cross
illegally each night. Exile groups say the number could be double that, or
more. Like most of his fellow refugees, Mr. Musonza is impossibly thin, with
the veins on his arms standing out against the skin.
Distribution
of food around Harare and other cities in Zimbabwe has
collapsed, and a loaf
of bread - often imported from South Africa and
several days old - sells for
$6. Vendors no longer accept local currency.
The same loaf in South Africa
costs the equivalent of 75 cents. An estimated
3 million Zimbabweans already
live in South Africa, a population that
swelled in recent years as farming
in Zimbabwe collapsed, hyperinflation
made its currency worthless and now,
lack of simple necessities such as soap
threatens to unleash an epidemic of
medieval magnitude. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that at
least 14,000 people are ill with
cholera in Zimbabwe. But privately,
officials admit that the 750 reported
deaths may be a fraction of the real
number. Obtaining data from areas
beyond the main cities is
difficult.
In Musina, a town about 10 miles inside South Africa, a
temporary hospital
has been set up at the town fairgrounds to treat refugees
arriving with
cholera and dysentery. South African Health Minister Barbara
Hogan said she
is worried about the strain on local health facilities.
Similar fears buffet
other nations that border Zimbabwe, namely Botswana and
Mozambique, which
also receive large numbers of refugees. Matthew Cochrane,
regional spokesman
for the Red Cross in Johannesburg, told The Washington
Times that the
potential for a medical disaster in Zimbabwe was "on a scale
we have not
seen in southern Africa for some years." "The lack of running
water and
basic sanitation means that many people aren't able to take even
simple
steps to protect themselves against the illness," he said. "The rains
are
late this year, but are expected over the next fortnight, at which time
shallow wells and septic tanks will flood, with the high-density suburbs
particularly at risk of further serious outbreaks."
In Zimbabwean
cities such as Harare and Bulawayo, running water that just
five years ago
was pure enough to drink from the tap, now flows
intermittently and must be
boiled before use. Lack of funds and the world´s
highest inflation rate has
made it impossible for local authorities to
repair pumps or treat the water
with chlorine. Health workers say that
without water, residents have been
unable to use flush toilets and instead
relieve themselves in gullies,
parks, under bridges and on any piece of
unoccupied land that offers the
slightest privacy. It is feared that the
coming rains will dilute the human
waste into a deadly swill, rich in
bacteria, that will spread cholera and
dysentery across cities and towns.
Clinics have closed because there is no
medicine, and most of the private
pharmacies have empty shelves. Mr.
Cochrane said that while neighboring
states could easily treat such an
outbreak, in Zimbabwe people did not even
have soap. "In most countries,
cholera is not a serious problem and the
remedy centers on washing your
hands and drinking lots of clean water to
avoid dehydration," he said. "In
Zimbabwe, there is no clean water - often
no water of any kind in the taps -
and all basic commodities, including
soap, are scarce and usually sold in
foreign currency," he said.
In Washington, President Bush called on
African leaders to pressure Mr.
Mugabe, 84, into leaving office. "As my
administration has made clear, it is
time for Robert Mugabe to go," Mr. Bush
said. Mr. Bush said that, beyond
humanitarian assistance, U.S. aid to the
country would not resume until "a
legitimate government has been formed that
reflects the results of the March
elections." Mr. Mugabe's Zanu PF has ruled
the country since 1980. The party
lost elections in March to the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change,
but Mr. Mugabe refused to hand over power.
Talks aimed at a coalition
between the two parties have been deadlocked
since September. At the
Beitbridge Border Post, Mr. Musonza said he plans to
head to Musina and then
another 400 miles to Johannesburg. "At home people
are dying and we know it
is going to get worse," he said. "I wanted to bring
my mother, but my young
brother is sick so she stayed to look after him. My
uncle died last week and
also his daughter."
Time to eject Robert Mugabe
http://free.financialmail.co.za
12
December 2008
Editorial
Zimbabwe's
destroyer, Robert Mugabe, must go. Now. He long ago ceased being
part of any
solution to the crisis he has brought on his country - a crisis
that has now
spilled across the country's borders in the deadly form of a
cholera
epidemic. African clergymen have led a growing chorus of calls,
largely from
the West, for his forcible eviction. Yet SA, the regional
economic giant and
key to the solution, remains mute despite the negative
impact of a failed
state next door.
The rot that is Zimbabwe today took hold within two
years of the euphoria of
independence in 1980, when struggle hero and new
prime minister Mugabe
unleashed his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on
his aggrieved countrymen
in the south of the country. There was no attempt
to convene a lekgotla, let
alone negotiate. Instead, the iron fist of
Gukurahandi - the rain that
washes away the chaff - was used to crush
Matebele dissidence and any hint
of a challenge by Joshua Nkomo's Zapu to
rule by Zanu's Shona elite. An
estimated 20 000 people were butchered. Zanu
and Zapu had both fought for
freedom against white minority rule. But
democratic values and human rights
were effectively extinguished in Zimbabwe
between 1982 and 1985. SA should
beware the dangers of "Zanufication" of the
ruling ANC.
The fatal mistake - for which ordinary Zimbabweans as
well as neighbouring
countries are now paying a high price in starvation,
disease and refugees -
was that liberation supporters everywhere said
nothing about Mugabe's
excesses. In particular, the Organisation of African
Unity (OAU) - a rogues'
gallery of despots - turned a blind eye. Mugabe, a
shrewd player of the
race/imperialism card, continued to be fêted as a
champion of
anticolonialism. The newly formed regional grouping, the
Southern African
Development Co-ordination Conference, focused solely on
reducing the
sub-continent's dependence on apartheid SA: it showed no
disapproval of
incipient dictatorship in Zimbabwe - which was given
responsibility for the
region's food security! Zimbabwe was, after all,
naturally endowed to become
the breadbasket of southern Africa. Mugabe had
other priorities.
This week Harare declared a national emergency and
appealed for
international aid in food and medicine - having earlier blamed
Britain and
the US for the cholera outbreak. Cholera has so far claimed 600
lives
including that of seven South Africans and has hit other countries. SA
health officials in Musina have found cholera bacteria in the Limpopo
River.
Mugabe's exit is long overdue. When men of the cloth such as
Desmond Tutu
and Archbishop of York John Sentamu call for a head of state to
be removed
by force if necessary, then the situation must be dire
indeed.
How was Zimbabwe allowed to reach this point? While the West
was told there
had to be African solutions to African problems, any chance
of SA
intervention was stillborn after the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha
dismissed
Nelson Mandela as "the black president of a white country" -
Mandela had
criticised the death of Ogoni rights activist Ken Sarowiwa at
the hands of
the Nigerian regime. The OAU's successor, the African Union,
though
committed to democratic rights and good governance, as well as the
new
Southern African Development Community, has continued to be ambivalent
about
Zimbabwe in the face of clear-cut violations of everything it stands
for -
on paper at least. Excepting Botswana and Zambia, the rest are guilty
of
moral cowardice. SA policy towards Mugabe under Thabo Mbeki was
inexplicable - there could be no advantage to SA in propping up Mugabe, who
strung Mbeki along like a ninc ompoop, with no intention whatsoever of
reaching a deal with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, which won the March general
elections. Ultimately, the problem has to be fixed inside
Zimbabwe.
SA under Kgalema Motlanthe now has two options: do what
John Vorster did to
pressure Ian Smith by cutting off fuel and supplies; or
what Julius Nyerere
did by invading Uganda to overthrow the maniacal Idi
Amin.
If the first doesn't work, perhaps the second is called
for.
Canadian NGOs have essential medications available for Zimbabwe's cholera
epidemic
For Immediate Release - December 12th 2008
Ottawa -In
the coming days Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC),
along with
World Vision and the pharmaceutical company Bayer will be
airlifting a
shipment containing medications to treat 20,000 people in
Zimbabwe affected
by the cholera epidemic that has hit the country. Over 800
people have
already been killed and a further 16,000 infected by this deadly
bacteria.
An additional allotment of antibiotics, enough to treat and
save the lives
of 68,000 people, is also available to HPIC to send to
Zimbabwe. Although
CIDA has so far blithely rejected helping to address this
calamity they can,
with a small investment, save many lives by paying for
the costs to send
these supplies by air. The private sector, NGOs and
individuals have
already come together to put to together the medical
supplies and distribute
these life saving medications on the ground. Our
government should step up
to the plate and assist this Canadian initiative.
Time is of the essence.
To contact HPIC, make a donation, and support the
shipment of medications to
address Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic, please call
their Pointe Claire, Quebec
main office at 1-800-627-1787 or visit their
website at www.hpicanada.ca
-30-
For more
information:
Office of Dr. Keith Martin
(613) 996-2625
(250)
474-6505
The
Cholera Effect And Mugabe's Isolation
http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/
Alex Magaisa
12 December
2008
AFTER all the human effort, indeed, after all the summits and
champagne-negotiations, the demonstrations and obscene violence, could it
really be that regional leaders in Southern Africa have been jolted into a
change of tone by a little, albeit, lethal creature?
It seems
that this little parasite, the bacteria called Vibrio cholerae and
the
debilitating ailment that it causes has introduced the "Cholera Effect"
into
the seemingly intractable Zimbabwe problem.
As my friend Teri put it
recently, "we may have just gone one diarrhoea too
far". Surely, the region
can no longer pretend not to smell the odour coming
from the land between
Zambezi and the Limpopo.
The public health implications for the region
mean that self-interest will
require regional leaders to engage more
actively beyond the dilly-dallying
of recent times.
When Zimbabweans
screamed for help most regional leaders reacted as if they
were
hallucinations from outer space. They reacted like the polite
son-in-law who
upon finding himself alone with his mother-in-law in a
confined space senses
an unusual and unpleasant atmospheric change but
nevertheless pretends
nothing is amiss even though he knows very well that
only one person could
have caused it.
And that he himself had not caused it but out of
politeness, maintains a
dignified silence.
But the Rubicon has now
been crossed. Now that Vibrio cholerae has entered
the scene, with its
non-discriminatory effect, it has become imperative to
do something about
the grave situation in Zimbabwe.
The little creature is, of course, a
symptom of a greater problem; a
signification of the lacunae in the
structure of governance in Zimbabwe;
that Zimbabwe does not actually have an
operative government that is capable
and willing to provide social services
to its people.
Hospitals are closing, drugs are hard to come by, the
sanitary architecture
has broken down, schools are shutting down and food is
scarce. There is no
proper government that is able to provide the basic
services and resources
to the ordinary people.
Now, a couple of weeks
after SADC issued a porous communiqué on November 9
2008, the language seems
to be changing. In the last week, there have been
three key signals coming
from South Africa that seem to indicate a seismic
transformation in
approach.
For Mugabe and a Zanu PF regime that has been bleating about
sanctions as
the cause of all the problems in Zimbabwe, the first would have
come as a
very unpleasant surprise from South Africa's new
president.
First, South Africa decided to withhold from Zimbabwe a
financial package of
R300 million which it had promised in early November.
That announcement had
been celebrated in Harare, the government interpreting
it as an indication
of the seemingly perpetual entente cordiale between the
two governments
which was prominent during the reign of President Thabo
Mbeki.
That South Africa has now decided to withhold that support is
tantamount to
imposing a mild form of sanctions against the Zimbabwe
government. Friends
do not take away with one hand what they have offered
with another.
What President Kgalema Mothlante has done is to offer a
carrot with one hand
hoping perhaps for better behaviour on the part of the
recipient but taken
away with another, itself an apparent stick with which
to whip into line an
errant friend that continues to run amok leaving
ordinary people in the
lurch.
This has a great deal of significance,
it being a public admonishment of the
regime, behaviour which President
Robert Mugabe has traditionally associated
with the West, on whom he shifts
all responsibility for the country's ills.
The second was the loaded
statement last weekend by President Motlanthe to
the effect that Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and Mutambara must be sworn in to enable
them to start the
business of forming an inclusive government.
Never mind the legal
accuracy or otherwise of the statement, it carries
tremendous political
weight in so far as the new administration in SA views
the Zimbabwe
regime.
It says, quite simply, that SA does not, as yet, recognise
Mugabe's
legitimacy. It suggests that the hurried swearing in of Mugabe
after the
Pyrrhic victory in the June 27 one-horse race of a presidential
run-off was
a political non-event.
Also notable were the words of
South Africa's Health Minister, who said
recently when responding to
questions about the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe
that there was not yet a
recognised government in that country.
This appears to be reflective of
the thinking within the new South African
government, that Zimbabwe does not
have a legitimate government capable of
speaking on behalf of the
people.
If this interpretation is correct then, surely, it represents a
sea-change
in South Africa's approach toward Zimbabwe from the days of the
Mbeki
presidency.
This must come as a devastating blow to Mugabe. He
is very keen for his
legitimacy to be recognised and respected especially by
those he regards as
regional allies and he would have been hurt very deeply
by the new
pronouncements from Pretoria.
Third, is the more recent
statement by Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu
Skelemani who suggested in a
BBC interview that regional countries ought to
"squeeze" the Zimbabwe
government by closing their borders and completely
isolating it.
This
is an ominous sign from a senior diplomat in the region, speaking as he
does, for his government which for long has challenged the legitimacy of the
Zimbabwe government.
The weight of Skelemani's statements is more
apparent when viewed against
the background that they were made around the
same time that Botswana's
President Ian Khama had just attended key meetings
in South Africa.
There is an implication here that President Khama must
have got sufficient
confidence from South Africa to speak in such tough
tongues. Perhaps it's a
view that South Africa shares?
It shows that
privately Sadc is as exasperated as are Zimbabweans with the
'see-saw
politics' in Zimbabwe. It indicates that the region is frustrated
at the
failure of the politics of persuasion, signified by quiet diplomacy,
which
has so far failed to halt the unprecedented decline in Zimbabwe, a
decline
that now threatens the region's health and safety.
The question now is
whether and how Mugabe's regime will react to these
signals. There is every
chance that with its fragile skin, the regime will
feel insulted and
provoked, especially by the conduct of Botswana, a
neighbour that it
traditionally regards as a military non-entity.
Recently, when President
Khama called for new elections in Zimbabwe, Patrick
Chinamasa a senior Zanu
PF official, called it "an act of extreme
provocation".
Later
Botswana was accused of providing training bases for MDC militias,
allegedly
to destabilise Zimbabwe although no evidence has been given to
substantiate
the allegations.
Botswana has also offered to provide political asylum to
Morgan Tsvangirai
should he need it. For a neighbouring country to offer
sanctuary to the face
of Zimbabwe's struggle is a strong statement of
condemnation.
Mugabe is, quite plainly, in a tight spot. Sadc did not
give him the Carte
Blanche to form a government of his own choice. It has to
be an Inclusive
Government and it cannot be so without Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur
Mutambara.
There are also signs of change in regional
leaders approach. It has been
gradual, disappointing at first, but there are
signs that the days of
appeasement may be in the past.
With Mbeki no
longer a commanding force in the region, Mugabe must feel that
friends are
few and so far away now.
Then again, you can never underestimate the
reaction of a cornered cobra.
Alex Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School,
the University of Kent