Mark S. Ellis International Herald
Tribune
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2005
LONDON
Zimbabweans have been gallant in their struggle to try to
topple Robert
Mugabe and rescue their country from despair. But Mugabe's
state machine is
simply too powerful and corrupt to be defeated by weakened
and demoralized
citizens. The escalating humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe
requires an
immediate and forceful international response.
Mugabe must be held
accountable for the crimes he has committed. A UN
Security Council referral
to the International Criminal Court to investigate
Mugabe and his regime,
similar to the referral over Sudan's Darfur
situation, is the most
appropriate and effective response.
The International Criminal
Court, or ICC, was established on July 1,
2002, as the first permanent
international court to investigate and try
individuals for the most heinous
violations of international humanitarian
law. A referral to the ICC to
immediately investigate Zimbabwe would fall
squarely within the powers of
the Security Council to decide what measures
should be taken to maintain or
restore international peace and security.
Exercising its wide
discretionary powers, the Security Council could
specifically name Mugabe as
an ongoing threat to the peace and security of
the region and authorize an
ICC investigation, even though Zimbabwe has
refused to accept the court's
jurisdiction.
Would an investigation for crimes against humanity
stop Mugabe? Nobody
knows. But we have to try, because the Zimbabwean
government's systematic
human rights abuses have reached staggering
proportions.
Under the guise of creating order in the cities,
Mugabe's government
has razed informal suburban townships that housed more
than a million
people. Without notice or judicial proceedings, tens of
thousands of homes,
classrooms, clinics and businesses have been bulldozed
or set on fire,
forcing their residents onto the streets. The government has
provided no
alternative housing, nor has it provided aid for the 700,000
people who are
now displaced.
Crimes against humanity include
acts committed as part of a widespread
and systematic attack directed
against any civilian population - including
the deprivation of housing and
forceful transfer of a population, calculated
to bring about the destruction
of a targeted political group, which is the
case in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's razing of the townships is the culmination of the ruling
ZANU-PF
Party's anti-democratic assault. In rural areas, ZANU-PF is able to
control
voting through village leaders using a widespread system of
patronage. But
the residents of the townships and cities, who have access to
the news media
and are able to mobilize, form the backbone of Zimbabwe's
opposition. Not
content with shutting down the opposition media and
targeting its leaders,
the government is now is literally dispersing
opposition
supporters.
There is overwhelming evidence that Mugabe's government
has committed
other crimes against humanity, including imprisonment, rape,
abduction and
torture.
Zimbabwe is a country in ruins; its
people are destitute. The
unemployment rate is more than 70 percent and the
annual inflation rate is
more than 500 percent. Since 1998, annual foreign
investment inflows have
dropped from $436 million to less than $5
million.
The rural population suffers from increasing starvation,
which is now
being exacerbated by the influx of people displaced from the
townships.
Nearly 40 per cent of Zimbabweans are malnourished, with 70
percent of the
population living below the poverty line of $1 a day. In the
span of only 15
years, the average life expectancy has declined from 60
years to 30 years.
To make the situation worse, many of those who
have been left on the
streets suffer from AIDS. The World Health
Organization reports that one in
four Zimbabweans has the AIDS virus. In a
recent demolition campaign, an
AIDS orphanage was bulldozed. The independent
news media have been shut
down; the judiciary has been compromised; social
services have collapsed and
elections are rigged.
Mugabe is a
demagogue whose egregious crimes have, to date, gone
unpunished - much to
the consternation of Zimbabweans. It is time for the
international community
to act, by using the "trigger mechanism" at the UN
Security Council to
initiate proceedings before the International Criminal
Court.
An indictment by the ICC would turn Mugabe into a pariah within the
context
of international law: An international arrest warrant would be
issued, and
all UN member states would be obliged to detain Mugabe if he
stepped outside
the borders of Zimbabwe.
A referral to the ICC would also send an
unmistakable message to the
beleaguered citizens of Zimbabwe that Mugabe
will ultimately be held
accountable for his crimes. There is no statute of
limitations for those,
like Mugabe, who commit atrocities against their own
citizens. It is time to
bring him to justice.
World Press
Ambrose
Musiyiwa
Leicester, Britain
December 26, 2005
Trevor Ncube, one of
Zimbabwean President Robert G. Mugabe's most vocal
critics, says Zimbabwe is
now effectively being ruled by the military and
the intelligence
agencies.
Ncube publishes South Africa's Mail & Guardian, and the
last remaining
independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, The Independent and the
Zimbabwe
Standard.
He says: "Mugabe has no intention to leave (the
presidency), and in
fulfillment of that he now relies more and more on the
military.
"In other words, we have a military dictatorship in
place."
In an interview with the Institute of War and Peace Reporting
(Dec. 13,
2005), Trevor Ncube said it is clear that Mugabe is not running
the country.
"Remember after Operation Murambatsvina. It was revealed
that it was the
Central Intelligence Organization that was behind it," he
said.
Operation Murambatsvina, which translates into English as
"Operation Drive
Out Rubbish," made between 700,000 and 2.3 million
Zimbabweans homeless
when, beginning in May 2005, armed police, soldiers and
Zanu-PF militias
moved into opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(M.D.C.) strongholds in
towns and cities and razed thousands of homes and
small-scale businesses to
the ground. The operation destroyed over 500,000
informal and small-scale
businesses and led to the arbitrary arrest of more
than 30,000 innocent
people. A number of women and children were also killed
in the process.
Civic groups and the opposition M.D.C. argue that the
government's main
reason for Operation Murambatsvina was to punish the urban
poor for voting
for the opposition during the March 2005 parliamentary
elections.
Ncube identifies Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, Immigration
Director
Elasto Mugwadi and Army Commander Constantine Chiwengwa as part of
the core
group of people who are now running the country.
In December
2005, Ncube and two other critics and opponents of the Mugabe
regime, had
their passports confiscated amid revelations that the regime was
restricting
travel rights of its critics and opponents to stop them from
"badmouthing"
the government abroad.
Between 15 and 64 human rights activists and
critics of the regime have been
placed on a list of people who are banned
from traveling abroad and whose
passports are to be seized "with immediate
effect" if they try to either
leave or enter the country.
"This
operation, it's dictated by the 'securocrats,' who are the real people
running this country. They include Tobaiwa Mudede and Elasto Mugwadi - but
the people pulling the strings are military men.
"Mugabe's spokesman
George Charamba, 24 hours after the seizure of my
passport, was adamant
nothing like that could happen in Zimbabwe," Ncube
says. "Attorney General
Sobhuza Gula-Ndebele himself was also in the dark.
He said it could not
happen because there is no legislation in place to
allow the state to seize
people's passports."
Ncube points out that when civil structures fail to
deliver, the military
and intelligence agencies take over.
"That is
why Army Commander Constantine Chiwengwa is now being touted as a
possible
presidential successor," Ncube says.
Sunday Times, SA
Tuesday
December 27, 2005 11:54 - (SA)
By Mondli Makhanya
At some point it
just stopped being funny. The ranting and raving of one
Robert Gabriel
Mugabe, that is.
There was a time when the Zimbabwean leader's penchant
for outlandish
rhetoric could elicit a giggle and a bemused
headshake.
Ever the great orator, Mugabe would respond to criticism by
unleashing a
torrent of anti-colonial and anti-Western bile. He would tell
Tony Blair to
"keep his Britain and we will keep our Zimbabwe", and accuse
Western nations
of wanting to recolonise his country. He would rant about
how
self-sufficient Zimbabwe was and how it did not need a leg-up from
anybody.
But it stopped being funny as Mugabe intensified his destruction
of the very
country whose birth he had midwifed.
Over the past
half-decade or so he has given us the definitive ABC on how to
kill a
country.
Although the signs of decline were present then, the Zimbabwe of
six years
ago was a functional republic.
There were sporadic fuel
shortages, but with patience and at a monetary
premium you could fill up
your car.
The economy was teetering but the factories worked and the
bourse ticked
along. The currency was heading south but it was still nowhere
near the
Weimar republic denominations you see today.
And even though
Mugabe and Zanu-PF were showing clear disdain for human
rights and
democracy, Zimbabweans were optimistic that their country would
soon turn
the corner.
There was hope and expectation in the air. The vibe on the
streets of
Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Victoria Falls felt a little like
South Africa
in the late '80s.
All of that has been replaced by
misery and hopelessness.
In six years the world has witnessed a
phenomenon rarely seen in modern
history - the unravelling of a
society.
Those who know the Zimbabwean landscape will tell you the rot
started to set
in around 1997 when Mugabe, desperate for popular acclaim,
caved in to the
demands of rebellious war veterans and gave 50,000 of them
an unbudgeted-for
pay cheque of nearly US$3000 each.
Zimbabwe never
recovered from that audacious raid on the treasury and the
economy went into
sharp decline. By 2000, as the Zimbabwean economy was
about to be admitted
to the casualty ward, the people started grumbling
loudly. They rejected
Mugabe's constitutional reform proposals and made it
clear they would throw
their weight behind the newly formed opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in that year's parliamentary election.
It was the thought of
losing to this upstart party that unchained the
Godzilla.
Mugabe
first went for the white farmers - the very people who had feted his
party
and helped build its Harare headquarters. In an agricultural society
where
white farmers still hogged the most arable land, to many they
represented
the last vestige of colonial rule. They were an easy target.
War veterans
led the charge and before long the Zimbabwean countryside was a
lawless
mass.
Commercial farming, the backbone of the country's economy, was
destroyed.
Once the virus of lawlessness had set in, spreading it was
easy.
The veterans turned on Zanu-PF's political opponents. Beatings,
abductions,
rape and torture became normal political conduct.
Looking
back, it is not difficult to understand how Zimbabwe arrived at the
precipice it is on today. One thing was always going to lead to the next as
the country struggled to maintain its fabric.
Once the government had
decided to allow rule by violent mobs, it was only
logical that those
sectors of society most threatened by the lawlessness
would fight back using
the only instrument available to them - the law.
The farmers, media,
civil society organisations and the abused turned to the
courts for
relief.
Zimbabwe's judges, having built a culture of jurisprudence in the
post-independence era, almost without fail ruled in favour of order and
orderliness.
Then they were in the firing line. Judges were harassed,
forced into
retirement and the Bench was packed with Zanu-PF
sympathisers.
With the opposition crushed, the media and the judiciary
under siege, the
economy destroyed and poverty rampant, Zimbabwe will enter
2006 officially
in the category of basket case.
When United Nations
(UN) head of emergency relief Jan Egeland pointed out
the dire state of the
country's people after a visit to Zimbabwe the other
week, Mugabe responded
in typical style by dismissing the envoy as a
"Norwegian ... (who) couldn't
speak proper English" and accused him of being
a Blair pawn.
"When he
left the country he said nasty things about us," Mugabe thundered.
"I am
going to tell the (UN) secretary-general not to send us men and women
who
are not his own but are agents of the British. We don't trust men from
his
office any more."
And it just wasn't funny any more.
Sunday
Times
Zim Online
Wed 28
December 2005
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party says it will next year mobilise Zimbabweans to
take on President
Robert Mugabe's government on the streets in a bid to oust
it from power.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told ZimOnline in an
interview on Tuesday
that the party, which has splintered into two warring
factions after serious
disagreements over participation in last month's
senate election, had
resolved to use confrontation to end Mugabe's
uninterrupted 25-year rule.
"There will be mass arrests, injuries
and agony. But that is the price
we should be prepared to pay for our
freedom because next year we are going
to be as confrontational as we have
never been before," said Chamisa.
He added: "We have in the past
engaged in a lot of passive resistance.
We will now have a paradigm shift
and 2006 will see us using a different
delivery route - fighting fire with
fire. It is now clear that Mugabe's
misrule will not be liquidated through
elections."
Contacted for comment yesterday on the
MDC's threats, Zimbabwe's State
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is
also Mugabe's confidante, warned
that the government will crush the
opposition-led street protests.
"Let them try it and they will find
out the hard way that (all what
has happened to them before) has all been
child's play. This time we will
descend on them for sure," said
Mutasa.
Last month, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai hinted that his
party, which
has been weakened by a serious power struggle pitting him and
secretary
general Welshman Ncube, was now focusing on mobilising Zimbabweans
for
"democratic resistance" against Mugabe's government.
But
observers doubt whether the MDC, paralysed by bitter factionalism,
would be
able to mount a serious challenge to Mugabe's authority. The
Zimbabwean
leader however remains wary of the threat posed by the hugely
popular
Tsvangirai whom he fears might still be able to take advantage of
rising
public discontent because of worsening economic hardships to mobilise
Zimbabweans to revolt against his government.
Two weeks ago,
Mugabe told Zimbabweans living in Malaysia that his
government would descend
heavily on the MDC and its allies if they sought to
oust him through street
protests.
Chamisa, who also heads the opposition party's youth
wing, said the
MDC and its partners in the civic movement had already agreed
over the
strategies they will use during the protests.
"We are
going to use active resistance methods. Confrontational
politics will be at
the fore of our struggle. Our civic partners are aware
of this great
challenge lying ahead next year," he said.
Meanwhile, Chamisa on
Tuesday said Tsvangirai was still firmly in
charge of the opposition party
contrary to last weekend's announcement by a
faction opposed to his
leadership that he had been expelled from the party.
Chamisa said
the announcement by the pro-senate faction was part of a
well orchestrated
effort to sow confusion ahead of the party's congress next
February.
"Mr Tsvangirai is firmly in control of the party,
enjoying the support
of women and youth assemblies and all provincial and
district structures. So
for anybody to say that Mr Tsvangirai was expelled
from the MDC is utter
nonsense," said Chamisa.
Last Saturday,
Gift Chimanikire, who belongs to the Ncube faction,
announced that the MDC
leader had been expelled for violating the party's
constitution in yet
another demonstration of the chaos and confusion rocking
the opposition
party.
But yesterday, Chamisa scoffed at the ruling by the
faction's
disciplinary committee which he said was illegitimate and
unconstitutional.
"As a party we have decided not to give any
semblance of recognition
to the kindergarten games played by the Ncube
faction.
"These are a group of rebels who continue with their
attempts to cause
unnecessary confusion. Whatever they are doing is
unconstitutional and
should not be taken seriously," said
Chamisa.
The MDC, Zimbabweans' only hope to end Mugabe's 25-year
grip on power,
is embroiled in a serious power struggle pitting Tsvangirai
and a faction
led by Ncube. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wed 28 December 2005
HARARE - Although Marko
Chiunye, a 43-year old accountant in Harare
would have loved to dream big as
2006 approaches, the situation on the
ground makes it clear that making any
resolutions for next year would be a
practice in futility.
For
Chiunye, the New Year promises more of the same drudgery and
hopelessness
that characterised 2005.
Despite his "high earner" tag as an
accountant, Chiunye has over the
last 12 months struggled like any other
Zimbabwean to put food on the table
for his small family of
four.
Now with the new year on the horizon, he says his main
concern right
now is where to find school fees for his four children who are
enrolled at a
private school in Harare, the only schools still providing
some semblance of
normality in the education sector.
Chiunye's
sad situation is clear proof of how Zimbabwe's spectacular
economic decline
has flattened the ambitions of the country's well-to-do.
"The
company has withdrawn perks such as school fees because of the
poor business
climate. Not long ago, my New Year's resolutions included
buying a new car
for my wife. This year I couldn't even take the family for
a holiday or buy
new clothes for that matter.
He adds: "If people with decent jobs
like myself find ourselves in
such a trap, I just wonder how the poor in our
society are managing. I just
shudder to think of next year."
Having spent Christmas, a revered holiday here, without running water,
electricity and food, millions of suffering Zimbabweans say they have no
reason to look forward to 2006 as a year when things might change for the
better.
"I haven't seen or heard anything that suggests next
year will be
better. After all, (President Robert) Mugabe will still be
firmly in charge.
Things will only get worse.
"We no longer
plan for big things because the money is simply not
enough," says Andrew
Mtewere, who makes a living selling mobile telephone
recharge cards on the
streets in the eastern border city of Mutare.
Zimbabwe, one of the
strongest economies in Africa at independence
from Britain 25 years ago, is
in its fifth year of a bitter economic
recession blamed on Mugabe's
mismanagement. Inflation is at over 500
percent, one of the highest such
rates in the world.
Food, fuel and basic medicines are all in
critical short supply
because there is no hard cash to pay foreign
suppliers. The World Bank says
Zimbabwe's economic decline over the past
five years is unprecedented for a
country not at war.
But
Mugabe denies ruining the country's economy blaming the crisis on
sabotage
by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and
Western
governments whom he says are punishing his government for seizing
land from
the minority whites for redistribution to landless blacks five
years
ago.
John Robertson, a respected economic consultant in Harare,
says the
standard of living for most Zimbabweans is set to fall again as the
economy
hobbles towards total collapse.
"The new year does not
bring much hope for changed fortunes. We are
likely to hit four digit
inflation early in the year. The way the economy is
being run means more
companies will close down or relocate to better managed
countries thereby
dealing another blow to the economy.
"The government did not
actively promote agriculture hence food
problems will worsen. Repressive
laws that are being drafted every day will
continue to scare away
investors.
"The biggest threat to our revival is the government's
refusal to
repent and govern properly. A shrinking economy and more
hardships are what
would be in store for Zimbabweans for 2006," said
Robertson.
But for Anita Dombo, a dressmaker in Harare, the
solution to the
country's problems lies in one bold move - kicking out those
responsible for
"our misery."
"It is no longer about making
empty New Year's resolutions.
Zimbabweans should just make one big
resolution - to kick out those whom we
trusted with power and instead abused
it to mismanage our affairs. There
should be no other resolution till we
fulfil the one to rid ourselves of
those responsible for our suffering," she
said. - ZimOnline
Gentlemen please find the following attachment answering the Movement
for
Democratic Change purportedly split. This you can publish. As you are
aware
by
now, the world is not well informed on why the Senate issue has
not been
well
accepted by the nation at large. It is unfortunate that the
Zimbabwean
public
media is highly influenced by the ruling party, Zanu
(PF), and the Central
Intelligence Agency. with the exception of the Zimbabwe
Independent and the
Standard. Understanding exactly what is happening on the
ground is therefore
extremely difficult. I hope the following attachment
might shed some light.
We have recently established the Movement for
Democratic Change in Toronto,
one
already exists in the Niagra
region.
If there are any questions please feel free to contact me on
519-208-0117
or
the MDC Toronto chairman Mr. Andrew Manyevere on
905-492-0490.
My best regards to you both.
Sincerely
Johannes
Mutyanda
MDC Toronto Secretary for Information and Publicity
MDC split, is
there anything new after all? Why Morgan, and the rest of the
country are
standing shoulder to shoulder.
By Johannes MutyandaThe existence of
Zimbabwe African National Union
(Patriotic Front) in the last twenty-five
years has been a shrewd act, until
now. The evidence that has come out of
the split within the Movement for
Democratic Change of Zimbabwe is nothing
new after all. The point is the
split failed but not completely, however.
The largely failed part of the
split is the sticking point right into the
eyeballs of Robert Gabriel
Mugabe, his entire Politburo, and the evil
intelligence. Taking track back
memory lane during the failed Esap I, and
perhaps more appropriately Esap
II. This serial program coined by the
Bretton Woods institutions was partly
responsible for the creation of the
current political challenges Mugabe
dares today.
The program enabled
expose the inability of Robert to feed the resource that
stimulates the
economic, instead he went on a binge race pocketing the
financial package
that came his way. The traits to deprive, and oppress have
been there Mugabe
is not a "dear leader". The Senate election has and is
still sending the
wrong and right signals about the wanton of power. That is
the challenge
that faces Zimbabweans, albeit in a small way, patience must
not necessarily
be nurtured, the country is bleeding out rapidly. That is
being done at
unprecedented levels. The creation of the bicameral parliament
is sucking in
US$4.8 million. That amount of money to buy duty-free
four-by-four the MPs
and Senators, for what in a starving impoverished
nation. The government
does not have that kind of money, but to buy out into
opposition MPs, Zanu
(PF) can get the money anyway anyhow. The reason why
Zanu (PF) is termed
Zanu yeropa (the slaughter, the murderer) is because it
does not care what
we are going through. We do not advocate violence of any
nature. Zimbabweans
we must move into voluntary suffrage to strike out a
cord of
well-orchestrated civil disobedience. What purpose does it serve to
elect an
unnecessary cost? If Mugabe must cushion himself with zombies the
cost is
warranted only for him. The significance of the Senate, especially
in view
of the MDC split, so lauded by the Zanu (PF)-run media, is a plot to
sustain
Robert even after he quits, quitting is tough for him at the moment.
Mugabe
will face the wrath equivalent to the NO-VOTE defeat. He is scared.
The
Senate is an issue that sent a victorious NO-VOTE success during the
February 2000 referendum. Mugabe lost because the accord of civic
organizations and the ZCTU leadership was concrete, it is still so but
Robert's team has found among the MDC donkeys that are eager to eat the
dangled carrot. Robert never gave up on the senate establishment. Because we
defeated him in the NO-VOTE referendum, his determination to see the senate
being set-up effected on the escalation of violence through the years up to
the March 2005 elections. When elections we rigged and announced, the
violence seized. The deal had gone through. The back introduction of the
Senate was an easy passage. We cannot enter into any referendum ever! Robert
introduced the backdoor entry of recreating the Senate, this time not
through Zimbabwe but his two-thirds majority MPs. The Senate debate was
executed, and elections held in November 2005. Where did you stand? We are
ruled by the influence of a minority. The pro-Senate faction fell
hook-and-sinker into Zanu (PF)'s political gallery arena. But that is now
the pro-senate problem. Our concern is addressing the issue that the MDC has
never been split or divided. The MDC had let normal business into the wrong
hands, but God forbids. Evil cannot triumph over Good. The pro-Senate
faction will remain in the cold, the people have shut the door, not Morgan.
It is the suffering masses that struggle to work, farm, service, and is
taxed by the nefarious regime that shut Mugabe's vices out of the MDC. Vanhu
varamba. Morgan is a messenger, an honorable one, given the mandate to
protect the principles of the MDC from the onset, February 1999, and
reaffirmed in September 1999.
We remember the labor movement
leadership hammering consistently about the
workers' living wage. Cornered
and battered by a borrowed Esap II package,
Mugabe with no way to run
slapped his hand on the table and told ZCTU to
challenge him as a political
movement. Plain and simple, "if you think you
can fix it, then change my
government". Stubborn huh. That signaled the
first time that the
guerilla-leader stopped addressing the May-Day workers'
rallies. The ZCTU
took over addressing May-Day rallies at Rufaro Stadium,
and thus began the
fix. The workers and all concerned are still within that
fight expect the
pro-Senate few. The pro-Senate failed Mugabe, they will in
due course pay
their dues. The labor movement and all civic organizations
were driven to
the same accord - workers' living wage and suffrage - a bond
was formed and
forged. The outcome was one consultation after another within
the daring
workers' unions. All activities were done underground because the
bloody
hound was sensing the sting in the air. The battle to change the
political
structure started then, than now. The ideas to split the unions
started
then, than now. Within the ruling party's corridors of power, the
ZCTU-NGOs
alliance was a dead hit. Changing the structures of government
from a
unicameral to a bicameral one was a way out, but only if Zimbabweans
would
allow it. Contrary to this the labor-civic marriage worked hard on a
change
of the Zimbabwean Constitution only and only if Zanu (PF) would not
be the
dominant force to executive the constitutional account. That still
remains
so today and has culminated in what most of the world see as the
MDC-split.
As the momentum gathered force within the urban areas, and even
within some
rural areas, certainty gave the labor-civic union a unique
marriage. That
marriage confirmed its endorsement of custody of principles
through
entrusting the ZCTU leadership with Movement for Democratic Change
because
it had the structure and support base against the milking and
butcherman,
Robert Mugabe. The values to entrust this leadership for and on
behalf of
Zimbabweans set up principles to which a safeguard was needed.
Fortunately
that safeguard is still there, thanks for once to Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The pro-Senate participants carried out the blatant
slaughter of one of the
principles. When the MDC was set up, challenges of
never entertaining Zanu
(PF) leadership were endorsed. One of these was to
preclude Zanu (PF) in the
formation of the Zimbabwean Constitution. Zanu
(PF) never wanted to change
the Constitution, it still has not because it
renamed/paraphrased the
colonial legislation to suit its bill, that is, to
oppress the hands that it
feeds from. The MDC adheres to principles, set
principles, agreed
principles, the principles that make Mugabe quiver. If
you uphold these
principles, and never look at the super corrupt handovers
that Mugabe
dangles in front of you, then uri munhu. Tsvangirai stood,
initially by the
principles that were set, not only by the labor movement,
but also by the
larger body, the civic organizations, and then used the
Movement's
Constitution to stick his senses out, that is what a leader does.
The
constitution was never violated, here is why. First, the Senate issue is
a
national issue. Second the sole announcement on national issues is by the
president, and not anyone else. Movement was making a decision to veto and
to protect the entrustment of principles by the electorate of MDC. Morgan
amply executed that avenue. If Morgan has never appeared a leader, it is
these events that maketh him so, a trusted leader, in spite of a wholesale
national council. But who was the really winner/loser in all this. It would
have been a crushing defeat for Zimbabwe had Tsvangirai let go the principle
on Constitutional change under Zanu (PF). The other six brothers lost the
ball, the Congress will dictate who was right or wrong. We hope they will
scrap through. The Senate is one issue the Movement will never dance with
the devil about. The split, therefore Zimbabweans, is a litmus test that God
Himself makes out of His wisdom to show us who really is for or against us.
And this split is not the first one. Zanu yeropa has used divide-and-rule
several times but particularly when Edgar Tekere left (was fired as
secretary-general of Zanu (PF) Central Committee) to form Zimbabwe Unity
Movement, it split United Parties to shreds, and who gained, Mugabe, we
lost. We cannot let Robert win again. If you look at this tactic it is a
really old one, used unfortunately, on brothers who see the opportunity of
not missing the very corrupt gravy good train. We are fortunate, as a result
of this "split", two fold, first to know dedicated leaders, and second,
bargain hunters.
As an electorate, Zimbabweans, we are learning fast
to see beyond the closed
curtains. Our political awareness must not been
taken for granted by anyone.
By Michael Wines The New York
Times
MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2005
JOHANNESBURG Leaders
of Zimbabwe's sole democratic opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic
Change, have decided to expel its president,
deepening an already yawning
internal split that has brought the party to
the brink of
insignificance.
It seemed unclear, however, whether the expulsion would
stick or whether it
would settle the struggle for control of the
six-year-old movement, which
has been torn by factional battles after a
string of election defeats.
The president, Morgan Tsvangirai, was removed
Saturday by the disciplinary
committee of the Movement for Democratic
Change, which is largely controlled
by Tsvangirai's critics within the
party. Tsvangirai's spokesman, William
Bango, told press agencies that the
expulsion was illegal and would be
ignored.
An analyst of Zimbabwe
politics for decades, Iden Wetherell, said in a
telephone interview that the
two sides appeared to be jockeying for
advantage in advance of a February
party congress.
After nearly toppling President Robert Mugabe from power
in elections early
this decade, the movement suffered punishing losses in
elections this year
for Zimbabwe's Parliament - in part, many outside
election monitors said,
because of voter fraud.
The movement's
leaders publicly fell out several months ago over whether to
field a slate
for November elections to the nation's newly reconstituted
Senate.
Tsvangirai had contended that the Senate elections were hopelessly
rigged
and should be boycotted, while the party's other senior leaders
insisted
that to sit out the elections would undermine the party's
commitment to
democratic change.
Privately, some senior members of the party say that
they believe the
movement has been penetrated at high levels by Mugabe's
omnipresent secret
police and that the party is riven in part because of the
government's
success in sowing discord.
The party's debate about
whether to take part in an election that might be
rigged has descended into
a blood bath in recent months.
Tsvangirai's critics have questioned what
they call his increasingly
undemocratic behavior, including what they say is
his tolerance for attacks
by youth gangs on some party members.
For
his part, Tsvangirai has contended in recent days that a faction led by
his
party's second in command, Welshman Ncube, the secretary general, was
plotting with Mugabe's supporters to assassinate Tsvangirai.
If
Tsvangirai appeared on the defensive, Wetherell - an editor of the weekly
Zimbabwe Independent, one of the nation's few surviving newspapers not under
state control - said that he appeared to be successfully purging his critics
within the movement in advance of February's party
congress.
Tsvangirai had earlier been suspended from the party, but that
suspension
was overturned by one of the government's courts, which ruled
that only
members of the impending party congress could take such an
action.
As the only national figure of the political opposition,
Tsvangirai enjoys
broad support among Zimbabwe's urban poor and peasants,
who have reaped few
benefits from Mugabe's rule.
"What we're seeing
here is Tsvangirai establishing his control of the
party," Wetherell said,
"and he's quite determined to reorganize the party
in such a way that when
they meet next February, he'll have a full
endorsement."
Fellow Zimbabweans
Compliments of the Season wherever You are
located!
The Movement for Democratic Change National Council set up 6
Congress
Preparatory Committees. These in alphabetical order and their
chairpersons
are:
Communication Committee: Chaired by:
Nelson Chamisa
Constitutional Review:
Tendai Biti
Institutional Review:
Eddie Cross
International Relations:
Paulina
Mpariwa
Logistics and
Fundraising: Thokozani Khupe
Policy and
Ideology Review: Sekai Holland
The
Congress Preparatory Policy and Ideology Committee Chairperson
coordinates
all the party portfolio Secretaries to carry out their portfolio
reviews and
programmes for the March 2006 Congress. Our committee is
responsible for
producing the Congress Policy and Ideology review diocument.
The ongoing
traumatic events in our party force us to spearhead an inclusive
review
process as we work our way to the March 2006 party Congress. We
invite those
Zimbabweans in the diaspora who wish to do so, to send us your
views on our
policy and ideology, in the light of your own experiences as
MDC members
and/or supporters in the last 6 years of the party's life.
The
constitutional requirement is that Congress be held two months after the
last
Provincial Congress is held. This process is halfway completed. The
last
province holds its Congress in mid January in the New Year. Only then
can the
National Council determine the exact date of the coming Congress.
Those
who did not receive the emails of the December 2003 National
Conference
policy and ideology documentation please email us back so that we
email you
these. You will require these documents to be specific about the
reviews you
make. Please suggest future programmes for those in the country
you are
based in which you feel promote MDC there. Include these, based on
the policy
and ideology suggestions you make.
We hope you respond in your
diversity.
Best Regards for 2006.
Sekai Holland
MDC Policy and
Ideology Chairperson
Zim Daily
Tuesday,
December 27 2005 @ 12:02 AM GMT
Contributed by:
correspondent
The death of an 18-year-old man just before
midnight on Sunday
took the national holiday road toll to eight - seven less
than last year.
His death was the last of eight road deaths nationwide by
Monday, the final
day of the national holiday period.
Two
paramedics, whose ambulance crashed into a tree on the way
to an accident on
the Marondera Highway, have also been counted among the
deaths recorded on
Christmas eve. Six of the eight people killed on all
roads until then were
not wearing seat-belts. In the end, Harare- with a
record low annual road
toll of 333 for 2005 - recorded the third-worst
holiday toll in Zimbabwe
this Christmas . There were three deaths in the
city and two in outlying
areas.
At five, Harare's holiday toll is five down from the
10 recorded
last year. Harare police spokesman Loveless Rupere told zimdaily
the figures
showed drivers could change their behaviour to keep the road
toll down. He
urged motorists to be vigilant when driving back from
holidays."While we've
had a successful year overall, it's important for each
of us to remain
attentive," Rupere said.
While the state
holiday toll was lower than last year's, Rupere
said the result should not
be taken for granted. "The tragedy is that even
these deaths could have been
avoided," he said. "I urge all motorists to
take proper precautions. Make
sure you are well rested before driving, make
regular stops if travelling
long distances, and don't speed or drink and
drive. "These are small
measures to take to ensure your own safety and that
of your loved
ones."
Portsmouth Today
A BISHOP has
spoken of the misery and suffering he has seen under President
Robert
Mugabe's 'bankrupt' regime in Zimbabwe.
But the Rt Rev Crispian Hollis said
he had also seen for himself that even
those living in abject poverty could
survive thanks to their religious
faith.
The Roman Catholic bishop of
Portsmouth has recently returned from
celebrating mass in a township on the
outskirts of Zimbabwe's capital
Harare.
In his sermon, preached at the
Christmas Eve mass at St John's Cathedral, he
told worshippers that hope can
prevail in even the darkest corners of the
planet.
Obviously affected by
what he witnessed in Africa, Bishop Hollis said: 'The
people there have
suffered greatly.
'As a result of a vicious - and some say vindictive -
government programme,
the virtually homeless have been made absolutely so as
their flimsy shacks
and shelters have been bulldozed away.'
He
highlighted the 'drastic' collapse of medical services in the
country.
'Twenty-five per cent of the population are infected with the HIV
Aids virus
and there is a crying need for education.
'This hasn't all
happened through natural causes, though the people describe
it as their
tsunami. It has happened because a bankrupt regime seems intent
on
destroying a once prosperous and virtually self-sufficient country and
all
for the sake of political ideology, and, of course, it's always the poor
who
suffer most.'
But he said the mass he celebrated in the township gave some
hope for the
future. 'There was dance, music and song. It was a real
celebration of a
people who have nothing to give to God but
themselves.'
chris.owen@thenews.co.uk
27
December 2005
People's Daily
The deaths of cattle due to drought have affected
crop production in
Zimbabwe this season, official media The New Ziana
reported on Monday.
The agency said that most farmers in
resettlement and communal areas
reduced areas their put under crops as
drought killed their cattle last
season.
The worst affected
homesteads lost between five and 15 cattle each as
the critical shortage
grazing and water deepened, it said, adding the
shortage of draught power
coupled with the rising cost of essential inputs
such as seed and
fertilizers worsened the situation.
"We are going to fail to plant
most of fields this season because most
of us do not have the cattle to
plough the land," said a villager. "I lost
five cattle to drought and those
that remain are still too weak to plough."
In November, the
Zimbabwe Rural Food Security and Vulnerability
Assessment said the shortage
of draught power was one of the top three
critical challenges that were
essential for rural communities to improve
their livelihoods. The other two
were sufficient rainfall and reasonable
cost of basic
commodities.
Source: Xinhua
The Chronicle
Harare
Bureau
PRICES of fertiliser have shot up significantly with some
retailers selling
a 50kg bag of ammonium nitrate for between $1 million and
$1,3 million
instead of the gazetted price of $252 000.
A survey
yesterday revealed that in some shops in Harare and surrounding
areas,
Compound D was being sold for at least $650 000 against an official
price of
$424 000.
There were virtually no stocks of AN in most shops, while Compound
D was
available in large quantities.
At Mbare Msika, black market traders
were selling a bag of AN for about $1,3
million.
One of the traders
interviewed said business was brisk although he was aware
that what they
were doing was illegal.
"Yes, we are aware that we must be selling a bag of
AN for at least $252 000
but considering the severe shortage of fertiliser
we have no choice but to
maximise our profits," he said.
Farmers
interviewed appealed to the Government to deal with the black market
traders.
Mr Timothy Muzavazi of Seke communal lands said the fertiliser
should be
sold at reasonable prices and the shortage of AN should be
urgently
addressed as this would impact negatively on the farmer's
yields.
"We believe there is still time to address the situation because what
is
needed now is Compound D which is readily available although at
prohibitive
prices and the topdressing (AN) will be applied to the crops
later," he
said.
Mrs Jennet Nyakudya of Domboshava said there was no
justification for shops
and black market traders to raise prices of
fertiliser to such levels.
"Even if they factor in transport costs there is
no justification for them
to increase the price of fertiliser up to $1,3
million a bag.
"While the Government is talking about consolidating gains of
the land
reform some are busy sabotaging the very same process meant to
ensure food
security in the country," she said.
An official at Windmill
confirmed that the company had only Compound D in
stock and did not know
when AN would be available.
Zimbabwe is facing a shortage of AN as the major
producer, Sable Chemicals,
is operating below capacity due to shortage of
foreign currency.
Zimbabwe Fertliser Company (ZFC) public relations manager
Ms Monica Mutuma
recently said the company was facing challenges in meeting
the demand for AN
although Compound D was readily available for this
season.
She said the shortage of fertiliser could only be alleviated in the
event of
Sable Chemicals operating at full capacity.
Cricinfo staff
December
27, 2005
A new administration to take over from the Peter Chingoka-led
Zimbabwe
Cricket board and managing director Ozias Bvute looks now certain
in the
next week, but not without incorporating some government-handpicked
individuals.
Aenias Chigwedere, Zimbabwe's minister of sports,
met officials from new
proposed provincial associations who had petitioned
him and President Robert
Mugabe to "take action" after their application for
affiliation with ZC on
Friday was blocked by another quorum
failure.
Sources told Cricinfo that Chigwedere is delaying approving
the new interim
leadership to run the affairs of ZC after the pro-board camp
faction had
complained to him that the committee, set up by the Sports and
Recreation
Committee, did not strike a balance. The new provinces want at
least one
representative on the new ZC leadership.
Chigwedere is
said to have made an undertaking to expedite the provinces'
affiliation, so
that the new administration comes into office in the next
few days. But
since the new provinces cannot be registered lawfully as
things stand, the
government is likely to stir up more controversy by
ignoring the ZC
consitution and dismissing some stakeholders who the
minister was told were
"standing in the way of change."
The move of form the smaller provinces
has been seen as a well-orchestrated
move by Chingoka and Bvute to gunner
support and consolidate their stay in
power.
But Cricinfo has
gathered that leaders of the pro-board camp have expressed
reservations
about the role of Themba Mliswa in the cricket leadership. They
are said to
have told Chigwedere and Mliswa himself that they would not want
him
included in the interim ZC leadership. "As much as we support the
disbandment of the ZC board and the setting up of this interim committee, we
do not wish to have Mliswa on that board, " explained one influential
chairman from one of the five new associations. "Mliswa will not be
acceptable to most people. As new associations, our objective is to spread
the game of cricket to all corners of the country. We are not fighting the
players, we are not fighting the old provinces, and we are not fighting the
stakeholders. We just want to see cricket grow. We want an amicable solution
to this crisis."
But it remains to be seen whether Mliswa will be
willing give up on a
position which he failed to get under Chingoka and
Bvute, and whether the
politicians will let go on an opportunity to control
cricket especially
after the Zanu-PF conference a few weeks back when the
party announced its
intention to muscle into Zimbabwe's major
sports.
© Cricinfo
BBC
Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 10:59 GMT
Richard Hamilton
BBC
News
A drought and the continued economic crisis in Zimbabwe
are starting
to hit the country's largest game reserve.
The
management of Hwange National Park say most of its watering holes
have now
dried up and grazing has become scarce. They say 40 three elephants
have
died, 53 buffaloes and a number of zebras, giraffe and antelope.
There have also been reports of an outbreak of a disease known as
blackleg
which experts say often occurs when there is a shortage of drinking
water.
As if that wasn't bad enough, in recent years the
illegal poaching of
elephants has been on the increase.
The
elephant population of the park has reached bursting point - it
has a
capacity for 14,000 elephants but currently has at least 27,000, and
official government statistics put the population even higher.
Fuel shortage
The authorities say the country's fuel shortages are
affecting the way
they run the park - for example they are struggling to
deliver spare parts
for the water pumps.
A spokesman for the
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, a
non-governmental organisation, said he
believed the Zimbabwe government was
hoping the elephants would starve to
death, thus providing a way of culling
them.
Zimbabwe's safari
and wildlife industry used to be one of the most
successful sectors of the
country's economy, employing tens of thousands of
people and providing a
huge source of revenue for the game parks, but
recently it has suffered a
staggering decline - a victim, it seems, of
Zimbabwe's general malaise and
misfortunes.
Severe food shortages together with a deepening
economic crisis have
left millions of Zimbabweans in a desperate situation -
now it seems their
plight is being shared by the animal population
too.
IOL
Tony
Carnie
December 27 2005 at 09:12AM
Life-giving rains
have brought temporary relief to the thirst-crazed
animals of Hwange
National Park in Zimbabwe after a fierce drought which
left the park
littered with shrunken, rotting corpses.
Pinetown conservationist
John Davison, who has just returned from the
park, said many dams and water
pans were full to the brim again after nearly
230 mm of rain fell in less
than a month.
Davison is part of the Save Hwange Trust which was
formed earlier this
year to avert a water-supply crisis in the cash-strapped
wildlife park.
Just over a month ago, he said, long lines of weak
and thirsty animals
were congregating around the few remaining drinking
holes because
diesel-driven water pumps had broken down or run out of
fuel.
At one of the watering holes in the south
of the park, mature elephant
bulls were monopolising the little remaining
water to such an extent that
safari operators had to drive them away to
allow other animals to drink.
Davison said smaller species,
including sable antelope, had waited for
days because the biggest elephants
were sucking up water as fast as it could
be pumped - leaving nothing for
the weaker elephants and smaller species.
He left Pinetown earlier
this month as part of a volunteer mission to
supply fuel and to transport
pump service teams within Hwange.
On arrival, though, he had
witnessed a "spectacular recovery".
"In the northern Robins Camp
and Sinamatella region, dams and pans are
brimming over with water deep
enough for the hippo to submerge.
"The recovery of the trees and
shrubs, as well as the sudden flowering
of bulbs and tuber plants and the
sprouting of ground cover and creepers is
nothing short of nature's
miracle."
However, the corpses of several elephants were still
visible next to
derelict bore hole engines and pumps which might have saved
them from
starvation had they been in working order.
Davison
warned, however, that while the rains had brought respite from
suffering,
the park's problems were not over.
"The Save Hwange Trust, park
management and many other concerned
organisations have been given a period
of relief in which to plan and put in
place remedial measures.
"The huge backlog of maintenance and repairs to the water supply
infrastructure before the next drought arrives is a daunting task which
needs resources and support," he said.
This article was
originally published on page 0 of The Mercury on
December 27, 2005