http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Lawyers to examine PM's
comments on sanctions after WikiLeaks reveals talks
with US
diplomats
* David Smith in Johannesburg
* guardian.co.uk,
Monday 27 December 2010 16.46 GMT
Zimbabwe is to investigate bringing
treason charges against Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and other
individuals over confidential talks with US
diplomats revealed by
WikiLeaks.
Johannes Tomana, the attorney general, said he would appoint a
commission of
five lawyers to examine whether recent disclosures in leaked
American
embassy cables amount to a breach of the constitution. High treason
in
Zimbabwe can result in the death penalty. Tomana told the state-owned
Herald
newspaper: "With immediate effect, I am going to instruct a team of
practising lawyers to look into the issues that arise from the
WikiLeaks.
"The WikiLeaks appear to show a treasonous collusion between
local
Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world, particularly the
United
States."
State media reports have said hardline supporters of
the president, Robert
Mugabe, want an official inquiry into Tsvangirai's
discussion of
international sanctions with the US ambassador in
Harare.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party said last week the government should draft
a law that
makes it a treasonable offence to call for sanctions. A US
embassy cable
dated 24 December 2009 suggests Tsvangirai privately insisted
sanctions
"must be kept in place". The Movement for Democratic Change leader
"acknowledged that his public statements calling for easing of sanctions
versus his private conversations saying they must be kept in place have
caused problems," the memo states.
It says: "If necessary, he said,
he and [deputy prime minister Arthur]
Mutambara can quietly meet with
western leadership to develop a plan on the
issue of sanctions. He said that
he and Mutambara have decided to take this
issue out of the hands of the
negotiators and handle it personally."
Defenders of Tsvangirai might note
that, in the same cable, he asked for
some "flexibility" in sanctions. It
says: "Zanu-PF has implemented a
strategy of reciprocity in the
negotiations, using western sanctions as a
cudgel against MDC. He
[Tsvangirai] would like to see some quiet moves,
provided there are
acceptable benchmarks, to 'give' some modest reward for
modest
progress."
Tsvangirai's aides say he is not guilty and describe the
controversy as
personal attacks on the prime minister. Beatrice Mtetwa, a
leading human
rights lawyer, said it would be very difficult to mount a
legal case on the
basis of WikiLeaks.
"If there is a commission to
look into WikiLeaks, it will have to
investigate everything WikiLeaks has
discussed, including officials from
Zanu-PF," she said. "It cannot be
selective. When it comes to witnesses, are
they going to call back the
former US ambassadors? The cables are based on
opinion, not fact. There are
a host of legal problems."
Asked if she could rule out treason charges
against Tsvangirai, Mtetwa
replied: "From a legal perspective it would be
folly. But I'm not going to
say it's unlikely because the attorney general
has been known to chase
rainbows against us. He was put in the position for
that particular reason."
Last week, the US treasury department imposed
restrictive measures on the
attorney general, saying his actions undermined
the country's democratic
institutions. Tomana condemned the move as an
attack on his office and the
constitution of Zimbabwe.
Even the term
"sanctions" is hotly disputed in Zimbabwe. Opponents of Mugabe
argue that
they are no such thing, but rather targeted "restrictive
measures", such as
asset freezes and travel bans, imposed by the EU and US
on around 200 people
and 40 firms linked to Zanu-PF.
Mugabe's wife, Grace, has filed a $15m
(£9.5m) lawsuit against a newspaper
that reproduced a WikiLeaks report
saying she had been involved in underhand
sales of diamonds from the
controversial Marange mines.
The MDC has called for the government to
investigate charges against
Mugabe's wife and other senior officials
implicated in the US cables.
The WikiLeaks reports have added to tensions
within Zimbabwe's inclusive
government, with Zanu-PF charging that the US
cables vindicate its claim
that the MDC is working with the west to oust
Mugabe.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
27/12/2010 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
HUMAN Rights Lawyers have insisted that the proposed
WikiLeaks Commission
should be impartial also target Zanu PF officials named
in the secret US
documents made public by the whistle-blower
website.
"If there is a commission to look into WikiLeaks, it will have
to
investigate everything WikiLeaks has discussed, including officials from
Zanu-PF. It cannot be selective," human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa told
a British newspaper.
Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, announced
last week that a commission
would be appointed to investigate the alleged
"treasonous collusion" between
former opposition leaders and Western
governments.
"With immediate effect, I am going to instruct a team of
practising lawyers
to look into the issues that arise from the
WikiLeaks.
“The (leaks) appear to show a treasonous collusion between
local Zimbabweans
and the aggressive international world, particularly the
United States,"
Tomana told the state-owned Herald newspaper.
The
development followed calls by Zanu PF officials for Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai to quit public office and face prosecution for possible
treason
in the wake of allegations he privately urged the West to maintain
sanctions
against the country.
Communications from the US embassy in Harare
released by WikiLeaks suggested
Tsvangirai had privately urged the US and
the European Union to keep
sanctions in place while publicly calling for
their removal.
Another senior MDC official and cabinet minister, Elton
Mangoma, was also
alleged to have asked the West to contribute to a trust
fund that would be
used to buy-off senior security service chiefs who are
seen as fiercely
local to President Robert Mugabe.
But Mtetwa warned
that a successful prosection of Tsvangirai for treason
would be legally
problematic.
"From a legal perspective it would be folly. When it comes
to witnesses, are
they going to call back the former US ambassadors? The
cables are based on
opinion, not fact. There are a host of legal
problems.
“But I'm not going to say it's unlikely because the attorney
general has
been known to chase rainbows against us. He was put in the
position for that
particular reason," she said.
Tomana was himself
slapped with US sanctions this month for allegedly
undermining democracy and
the rule of law in the country by “presiding over
the selective prosecution
of President Mugabe’s political opponents”.
http://www.sabcnews.com/
December 27 2010 ,
10:15:00
Thulasizwe Simelane; Zimbabwe
Residents of one
village in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland East province are excited
about the gold
rush that has hit the area. Panning and prospecting for gold
is happening on
a large scale in Makaha village, with some residents even
digging trenches
in their backyard, in search of the yellow metal.
The village is believed
to have large untapped gold deposits, with potential
for major mining
development. Zimbabwe has seen little geological surveying
work in the last
few years, with the result that only forty of the over 60
minerals believed
to be available, have been tapped into.
In Makaha village, a thriving
informal gold mining sector has created a buzz
among villagers. From
prospecting on the banks of local streams to digging
trenches in their
backyards, villagers have struck it rich. Not
surprisingly, local gold
panners flee at the mere sight of any stranger
approaching the local streams
of fortune.
Many villagers are said to fear that prospectors from outside
will overrun
the village, as it happened in the Chiadzwa diamond fields,
leading to a
possible crackdown by authorities. At the same time, government
is
encouraging the panners to sell to state agencies.
Zimbabwe mines
Minister, Obert Mpofu, says it is incumbent on government to
assist people
who are trying to earn a living in a legal way. But, for as
little as 30
dollars a gram, anyone can buy gold in the area.
Informal panning is just
as common in other areas where gold has been
discovered, but not mined
commercially. A state exploration company is only
being set up now to assess
the nation's mineral wealth.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
26 December, 2010
05:20:00 KHANYILE MLOTSHWA |
A new political party, Mthwakazi
Liberation Front (MLF), will be launched on
Tuesday at Bulawayo’s cradle of
politics, Stanley Hall in Makokoba.
The party has fired a salvo
dismissing other parties in the region as not
representative of the
Matabeleland region.
In an interview with NewsDay, the spokesperson of
the new party, David
Magagula, said the launch would be attended by the
party’s membership which
he claimed runs into “millions” and other political
players.
“Our membership runs into millions. Some are in both factions of
the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zapu and Zanu PF.
They are
members of those parties but we know that deep in their hearts, and
according to what they tell us about those parties, they are our members. We
also represent a wide range of people from Matabeleland.
“We have
invited some political organisations, churches, media houses and
anybody
interested. It is the launch of a political party and all political
organisations we have invited have promised to attend but we will see if
they will keep their promises,” Magagula said.
Magagula said MLF was
formed on June 6 2006 in South Africa by Zimbabweans
from Matabeleland who
are based in that country.
The party has been active in South Africa and
has actively used the
Internet, especially Facebook, to mobilise Zimbabweans
“The major objective
is to liberate the people of Umthwakazi. It is because
of the
marginalisation of the people of Matabeleland who are seen as part of
Zimbabwe yet they are not, even in treatment,” he said.
The MLF
spokesperson dismissed Zapu, MDC-M, MDC-T and Zanu PF as one and the
same
thing that only had representation in the region.
“I don’t think there
are many political parties in Matabeleland because what
you are talking
about parties like Zapu, Zanu PF and the MDCs they are
Zimbabwean parties
found in Matabeleland. Zapu and the MDCs are nothing but
extensions of Zanu
PF. MLF is the only political party for and by the people
of Matabeleland,”
he said.
Magagula said his party was yet to decide if it would contest in
the next
elections.
“I cannot say for now. If we will be contesting
in the next elections will
be decided in a pre-launch meeting tomorrow
(Monday),” he said.
The spokesperson said the leadership of the party was
already there and
would be unveiled at the launch. - NewsDay
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
27/12/2010 00:00:00
by Lunga
Sibanda
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has launched a blitz
against
suspected tax dodgers in the tourism sector amid reports the country
is
losing millions of dollars through under-invoicing and non-remittance
value
added tax (VAT).
The tax authority seized computers and related
documents from several
operators last week while a team visited the tourism
haven of Vitoria Falls
to look into the operations of tour and adventure
operators.
The Ministry of Tourism’s permanent secretary said the blitz
was aimed at
ensuring that tour operators and the authorities were working
on Dr
Sylvester Maunganidze, his
ministry had sanctioned the blitz on the
sector “on the same wave length”.
“The operators said they are not
cheating, that they are playing ball and
that they are not evading the two
percent tourism levy.
“As a ministry we want proper recordings so that
proper tax is paid to the
Government,” he said.
Zimra officers insist
that some operators were not remitting VAT on services
booked by Zimbabwean
agents while some companies were not redeeming tax from
commissions to
agents.
“We unearthed a trend in which the operators were not redeeming
(some forms
of) VAT and that is criminal and (the practice) attracts a
penalty and
interest.
“Some operators have gone for close to three
years without paying VAT which
is puzzling because it is refundable,” said a
Zimra officer who did not want
to be named.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
27/12/2010 00:00:00
by
Staff Reporter
INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister, Welshman Ncube, has
dismissed President
Robert Mugabe’s recent threats to seize US and European
companies operating
in Zimbabwe if sanctions imposed against the country
were not removed.
Ncube, who is also the Secretary General of the MDC
party, said Mugabe’s
threats were not government policy.
“First of
all, that is not government policy and that is also not the policy
of the
inclusive government and that is not a way for the support to the
revival
and growth of the economy,” Ncube told the NewsDay on Monday.
“We have to
normalise relations with the Western countries for better trade
and revival
of the economy.”
Mugabe made the threat during a national conference of
his Zanu PF party
which was held in the eastern border city of Mutare a
fortnight ago.
“We need to read the riot act to the British and others
and say ‘unless you
remove the sanctions, we will go 100 percent’,” Mugabe
said referring to the
government’s policy requiring all foreign-owned firms
to localise at least
51 percent of their shareholdings.
Ncube said
revenge would reverse ongoing efforts to revive the country’s
economy adding
there were better ways to have the sanctions removed.
“Two wrongs cannot
make a right, we cannot correct a wrong by doing another
wrong, that is
certainly not modern policy,” Ncube said.
He added that the inclusive
government was keen to engage the United States
and the European Union (EU)
to ensure the sanctions were removed.
The sanctions were imposed in the
last decade after Western countries
accused Mugabe of electoral fraud and
human rights abuses.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader however argues he is
being punished for his
land reform which he insists have benefitted the
country’s previously
disadvantaged majority.
He blames the sanctions
for the country's near-economic collapse over the
past decade.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/
Published:
12/27/10, 12:38 PM
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Alert customs authorities at
Ben Gurion Airport have foiled an attempt to
smuggle $140,000 worth of
non-certified diamonds from the rich Marange field
in Zimbabwe.
One
of the suspected smugglers, David Vardi, is a trader on the Israeli
Diamond
Exchange, whose president Avi Paz said that he will be expelled if
the
charges are proven. Police said Vardi has confessed to having obtained
the
diamonds from intermediaries in Lebanon.
The second suspect was
identified as Gilad HaLachmi, who told officials he
works as a water
consultant in Zimbabwe and was asked by Vardi to carry the
diamonds. They
were arrested after a customs official stopped HaLachmi, who
was attempting
to pass through the “nothing to declare” lane at the airport.
The rough
diamonds were found in his clothing pockets.
The valuable stones do not
have the official Kimberly Process certification
and are therefore banned by
international treaties. The Kimberley Process is
the governing body that
certifies diamond exporters, in order to keep the
industry clear of illegal
practices,
The rich Marange diamond field has been the center of
controversy and crime,
and virtually none of its diamonds are certified. The
recent WikiLeaks
cables divulge part of the complex operations between the
government in
Zimbabwe and the mine.
The Zimbabwe army has been
accused of forced labor and widespread smuggling
at Marange. The government
forced out a British company that had claimed the
field and began
large-scale mining operations. After nationalization, a gang
of independent
prospectors moved in, resulting in the army’s gunning down
illegal miners
from helicopters. Thousands of homicides have been reported
there.
The Kimberley Process has charged the Zimbabwe government with
abusing human
rights, and stopped certifying the Marange diamonds. Despite
this, the
government has continued to process and sell them to buyers in
China and
India, who sell them, usually to Lebanese but also to Russians,
law-breaking
Israelis and Belgians, according to Foreign Policy.com.
http://www.israelidiamond.co.il
27.12.10, 10:16
/
African Consolidated Resources, a British diamond mining company, has
accused Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu of misrepresenting the status
of its mining operations in Zimbabwe and has reiterated that there was no
irregularity in the acquisition of its mining claims, The Zimbabwean
reports.
"The board of ACR wishes to confirm categorically that none
of [the mining
licenses] were acquired fraudulently," ACR CEO Andrew
Cranswick said last
week.
Cranswick also stated that ACR had received
no notification from Mpofu that
the minister was cancelling its license to
mine rough diamonds.
In September of this year, Zimbabwe's Ministry of
Mines withdrew its appeal
against a September 9 court ruling that upheld the
claim by the African
Consolidated Resources (ACR) mining company to the
country's Marange diamond
fields, the company announced.
The decision
was handed down by Zimbabwe's High Court on September 7, 2010,
based on the
judge's finding that ACR's original claim had been made
"fraudulently and
with intent to mislead."
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
26 December, 2010 09:44:00 AFP
Ivory Coast
strongman Laurent Gbagbo warned West African leaders Sunday that
any attempt
to oust him by force could ruin the regional economy and trigger
a bloody
war.
On Tuesday, three West African presidents will visit Abidjan in a
bid to
convince the defiant 65-year-old leader to step down, a last-ditch
plea that
comes backed by a threat of regional military
intervention.
Gbagbo said he took the threat "seriously" but would never
back down, and
his lieutenants warned that any intervention could put the
millions of West
African migrants living in Ivory Coast in
danger.
"If there is internal disorder, a civil war, there will be
dangers, because
we will not let our law, our constitution, be trampled on.
People should get
that idea out of their heads," Gbagbo told the French
daily Le Figaro.
"We're not afraid. We are the ones who are attacked. We
have the law on our
side. How far are those attacking us prepared to go?" he
demanded.
Both Gbagbo and his long-time rival Alassane Ouattara claim to
have won last
month's presidential election, but only the latter has been
recognised as
the president by UN vote monitors and world
powers.
Several international leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon,
have warned Gbagbo's stubbornness could plunge Ivory Coast back
into civil
war.
But Gbagbo's supporters turned the warning around,
claiming instead that the
threat of military action by the West African bloc
ECOWAS poses a greater
risk of mass civilian casualties and a regional
conflagration.
Gbagbo said the West African move was the result of a
Western plot directed
by France and the United States, whose ambassadors he
accuses of undermining
Ivorian electoral procedures in order to propel
Ouattara into power.
"When you go through what I've been through, you
tell yourself: 'Perhaps
Mugabe wasn't completely wrong after all'," he said,
referring to Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe, who clung to power after
losing elections.
The strongman's spokesman Ahouda Don Mello had earlier
made what some saw as
a tacit threat against West Africans living in Ivory
Coast.
"All these countries have citizens in Ivory Coast and they know if
they
attack Ivory Coast from the exterior it would become an interior civil
war,"
Don Mello warned, when asked about the ECOWAS threat.
Despite a
decade of crisis, Ivory Coast remains a significant economy. It
exports more
than a third of the world's supply of cocoa, has a small but
promising oil
production sector and operates two major ports.
Millions of immigrants
from poorer West African countries have come looking
for jobs, and in
previous crises such as the riots of 2004 they have found
themselves
targeted for attack by mobs of Ivorian "patriot" youths.
Gbagbo has
brushed off sanctions on its members by the United States and the
European
Union, but the tough stance taken by its neighbours has touched a
raw nerve,
and undermined his claim to be fighting Western colonialism.
On Friday,
ECOWAS members said if Gbagbo does not go "the community will be
left with
no alternative but to take other measures, including the use of
legitimate
force, to achieve the goals of the Ivorian people."
This followed an
earlier vote by the finance ministers of the West African
Monetary Union
single-currency bloc to block the regime's access to Ivory
Coast's accounts
in the Central Banks of West African States.
The African Union has also
called on Gbagbo to go, leaving him almost
totally isolated, with only
Angola publicly backing its ally.
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees said Saturday that 14,000
Ivorians have fled to neighbouring
Liberia amid the post-election violence.
On Sunday, both camps accused
the other of forcing the refugees, who come
from a divided are in the west
of the country, to flee.
Gbagbo's forces remain firmly in charge in
Abidjan, where they have been
accused of carrying out scores of killings in
pro-Ouattara areas.
Ouattara's shadow government is under siege in an
Abidjan resort, protected
by 800 UN peacekeepers, but unable to move beyond
the grounds of the Golf
Hotel nor take charge of the levers of state
power.
France, meanwhile, struck another blow for Ouattara's camp,
seizing control
of Gbagbo's official plane at an airport on the Swiss border
on behalf of
what Paris calls the "legitimate authorities" of the Ivory
Coast.
http://www.radiovop.com/
27/12/2010
10:12:00
ABIDJAN, December 25, 2010-The Economic Community of West
African States
(ECOWAS) official website on Friday urged incumbent Ivory
Coast president
Laurent Gbagbo to step down, threatening the use of force if
he attempts to
maintain power.
Gbagbo has to refuse to cede power to
president-elect Alassance Ouattara who
won the November 28 runoff election
according to international observers.
Gbagbo's supporters have allegedly
been engaging in violence and
intimidation against opponents, which has
resulted in more that 170 deaths
hundreds of arrests and the use of torture,
ill treatment and forced
disappearances according to UN human rights
officials.
Gbagbo has faced multiple threats and sanctions levied by both the
regional
and international communities, including travel bans and freezes on
financial assets, in addition to personal pleas from neighboring heads of
state. Despite this, Gbagbo has refused to step down and rejecting the
possibility of a power sharing agreement modeled on those created after the
disputed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe.ECOWAS is also expected to send a
delegation of the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde to meet
with Gbagbo hoping to convince him to make a peaceful exit so as not to have
to depend on forced removal.
On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council
adopted a resolution condemning the
post-election violence. Also Thursday,
Ouattara's prime minister called on
the International Criminal Court (ICC)
to launch an investigation into
possible crimes being committed by Gbagbo's
supporters.
Earlier this month, the Council of the EU adopted a decision
instituting
sanctions against the Ivory Coast. There has been unrest in the
country
since elections were held at the beginning of this month. The UN
certified
Ouattrara's victory, despite a ruling by the Ivorian
Constitutional Council
in Gbagbo's favor. Both have taken oaths of
office.
Approximately $340 million in aid from the EU could also be
withheld if
Gbagbo does not concede victory to Ouattrara.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
26 December, 2010 05:30:00 VENERANDA LANGA
Embattled
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who faces a possible
revolt at his
party’s next congress, says the armed forces should act
professionally, be
non-partisan and serve the interests of all Zimbabweans
amid reports some
could have been deployed to rural areas ahead of pending
elections next
year.
Mutambara warned soldiers not to be used as spent forces by
politicians who
view them as cannon fodder.
The DPM was responding to
an inquiry by Chipinge East Member of Parliament
Mathias Mlambo on why the
government had deployed soldiers in different
parts of the country including
in his constituency.
Mlambo asked him during a question and answer
session in Parliament as to
whether it was government policy to deploy
soldiers to harass villagers.
The MP alleged soldiers were camped at a
place called Green Valley in
Chipinge East harassing and beating them up
villagers on spurious grounds.
Mutambara responded saying soldiers should
not be used to serve the
interests of political parties, but of all
Zimbabweans.
“The government of Zimbabwe has a policy that believes in a
professional
armed force in the country,” said Mutambara. “Our soldiers are
supposed to
be non-partisan and defend the Zimbabwean national
interest.”
Mutambara said as a matter of policy the government did not
believe in
deploying soldiers or any of the armed forces to pursue partisan
aspirations.
“We want to make sure that in Zimbabwe our police force,
intelligence
officers and army are defending the Zimbabwean national
interest and do not
pursue partisan aspirations,” he said.
In an
interview with NewsDay, Mlambo said most villagers in Chipinge were
living
in constant fear after soldiers were deployed in 2009 at Dazey Hill
and were
allegedly harassing them.
An MDC-T activist, Garakadzai Mhlanga, told
NewsDay in a telephone interview
from Chipinge East that their area had
become a no-go area as gun-toting
soldiers were moving around and beating up
people.
He alleged two months ago a 36-year-old man, Solomon Mazvokwati,
was taken
by Zanu PF youths with the help of four soldiers and
assaulted.
Zanu PF has since refuted the allegations saying they were
mere fabrications
of regime change agenda stalwarts.
“They are moving
around the villages with guns,” said Mhlanga. “In the
evening they then go
back to their camp.”
Mlambo confirmed the assaults and said he suspected
that the terror campaign
was aimed at discouraging villagers from voting for
the MDC-T as the country
geared up for elections. He said a young man,
Thomas Sithole, had his
national identity card taken away from him by the
soldiers.
Another MDC-T activist in Chipinge, Misheck Mazanga, went into
hiding after
Zanu PF activists and soldiers threatened him with death for
contributing
immensely during constitution-making outreach
meetings.
“These soldiers came to Dazey Hill in 2009. All these cases
have been
reported to the local police but they just die a natural death,”
said
Mlambo.
He said he was disappointed when Minister of Defence
Emmerson Mnangagwa
defended the position in Parliament and said the
deployment of soldiers
around the country was normal and only increased
visibility of the defence
forces.
MPs recently quizzed Mnangagwa in
Parliament over allegations that army
majors and soldiers were being used to
further Zanu PF agendas in
preparation for the forthcoming
elections.
Mnangagwa, however, denied the allegations and said soldiers
like any
citizen in the country were allowed to be in any part of the
country and
that their deployment everywhere increased visibility of the
Zimbabwe
Defence Forces (ZDF).
He said this was desirable for any
organisation.
“The resounding and successful recruitment policy of the
ZDF focuses on
achieving regional balanced representation with the armed
forces. Through
this policy there is equitable distribution of serving
members throughout
the country’s districts,” said
Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa said it was their visibility throughout the country
that led to
unfounded allegations that their deployment was political.
-NewsDay
http://www.mg.co.za
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Dec 27 2010
18:09
Illegal Zimbabweans living in South Africa have four days
left to register
for legal documents, the Home Affairs department said on
Monday.
"The final bells for the registration of illegal Zimbabweans
living in South
Africa are tolling with only four days left before the
deadline of 31
December 2010 as set out by Cabinet," Home Affairs Minister
Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement.
She warned that
government would not extend the deadline.
"Accordingly, and even at this
late hour, we take this opportunity to make
the final appeal to those who
have not applied for their regularisation or
those with fraudulently
acquired South African documents to apply or submit
such documents now and
not wait for the deadline."
Dlamini-Zuma said senior managers in the
department, including the
director-general Mkuseli Apleni, deputy
directors-general and acting deputy
directors-general, would be deployed to
various centres across the country
to assist in the process.
To
register those who have not yet applied, Home Affairs offices across the
country will be open between 8am and 5pm in the days leading up to the
deadline
"The government is aware of the challenges faced by the
Zimbabwean
authorities in issuing valid travel documents to those seeking to
apply for
their regularisation in South Africa.
"In this context, the
South African government will accept receipts issued
by the Zimbabwean
authorities as proof of their applications for such travel
documents." --
Sapa