A night of barbaric terror in
Marondera.
By cathy buckle.
One afternoon this week I sat
in a civilized Marondera restaurant and listened to an elderly couple relate the
events of a night of barbaric terror. A mob of 40 youngsters stormed a farm
house and left a trail of utter destruction.
As is more and more often
the case, these cowardly thugs claimed to be war veterans and they came at
night. Shortly after 7pm there was frantic barking at the back of the house and
desperate knocking on the front door. One brave farm worker had raced to warn
his employers that a rabble were approaching. The farmers' wife heard the roar
of a mob at the gate and barely had time to lock the back door. The rabble broke
the garden gates and swarmed towards the house, roaring, shouting and bellowing.
The elderly woman and her husband had nowhere to run to, no way of getting out
of their own home because in moments the house was surrounded. Windows were
rattled, gutters banged and a steady and incessant thumping began on the back
door. The noise was overwhelming. 'It was just a great roar,' the farmers' wife
told me and they had to shout as they called for help, from neighbours via the
radio and from the police on the telephone. The situation was deteriorating by
the second but the police did not come. The couple heard the back door being
broken down and they retreated down the passageway, closing and locking an
interleading door behind them. The noise escalated, someone was on the roof,
smashing a hole into the asbestos and windows were shattering all over the
house. Then the thugs started on the interleading door, banging and hammering
and the couple were forced to leave the farm radio and retreat to their bedroom.
They heard the second door being broken down and could only communicate with
their cellphone. Still the police did not come. The bedroom windows were smashed
and a burning truncheon came through as the mob attempted to set the curtains on
fire. For three hours this went on: smashing, banging, shouting and destruction.
For three hours 40 men rampaged through the farmhouse.
When at last help
came at 10 pm, there were no sirens, arrests or handcuffs, instead the situation
was 'defused' by political intervention. The elderly couple came out of their
bedroom, in deep shock, frightened and thankful to be alive. They saw the ruin
that had been their home. A plug had been put into a sink and the taps turned
on. The lounge, pantry and dining room were completely flooded, carpets and
furniture stood in 5 cms of water. The contents of the fridge and deep freeze -
meat, milk, fruit, vegetables and bread - were gone. Plates and glasses were
smashed and there was broken glass everywhere. Cutlery had been taken from the
drawers, tools from the garage and someone had attempted to drain the petrol
from the farmers' car.
25 geese had been stolen from the garden and for
that three men were arrested the following morning. For the destruction
amounting to nearly half a million dollars worth of damage, no one was arrested.
For the empty fridge and deep freeze, the missing cutlery and tools - no one was
arrested. For the breaking and entering, smashed windows and doors, flooded
property and extreme intimidation - no one was arrested.
The words that
this couple used as they told of their horror, are ones that are being echoed by
farmers all over Zimbabwe. "It could have been worse," they said, "at least we
are alive." When I asked them what they were going to do, the couple were
united. "We haven't got a Plan B. That farm is 40 years of our life. We haven't
got anywhere to go."
This is what we are made to believe is the face of
land hunger in Zimbabwe. We are told that these 40 men are landless peasants. We
are told that these 40 men are the ones who will be responsible for growing our
food this season. We are told by the police that there is no violence on the
farms and that criminals are being arrested. It is not true. Day after day and
week after week there is unspeakable terror on farms around the country. Now we
are told that all farmers with Section 8 letters of Compulsory Acquisition have
90 days to get out of their homes and off their land so that the landless
peasants can get on with the business of growing the food for Zimbabwe's 13
million people. God help us.
cathy buckle........ 19 November 2001
Dear family and friends
Please note my new address, instigated for security
reasons, and I apologise for the annoyance factor. Over the last fortnight a
temporarily displaced Zimbabwean has put hours and hours into building up a web
site for my work and to further expose the crisis in Zimbabwe. The site can be
found at: http://africantears.netfirms.com
He would rather I did not use his name or give him credit but I am indebted for all his work, honoured to deal with someone
who has the same passion about Zimbabwe and human rights as I have and does this
for truth and justice and not money, thank you.
Last Sunday night, just before 7.30pm, a farmer was
ambushed and shot 20 metres from his farm home in Macheke. Alan Bradley, his
wife and their two young children were coming home from a day out. It was
dark, Anthea was driving, one child sat on Alan's lap in the front passenger
seat, the other lay dozing on the back seat. A barricade of branches had been
spread across the road. Anthea slowed and stopped, Alan got out of the car to
move the branches when they saw at least one armed man. Alan scrambled back into
the car and as he did so shots were fired through the drivers' window. The
window shattered and collapsed over Anthea. Alan was shot in his upper arm, his
chest peppered with shrapnel, 4 broken ribs and his lung pierced. The two young
children witnessed the entire horror but were not physically hurt and Anthea
managed to drive her family to safety where they were met on the road by other
farmers and an ambulance dispatched from Marondera. All week Alan has been in a
critical condition but as of last night was breathing on his own and stable . Anthea is an incredibly brave woman and
has had enormous love, support and respect from our entire community. I pray
that she will be able to keep her strength as she comes to terms with
this horror and guides her husband and two young children through the weeks
ahead. I had been privileged to meet Alan earlier on that never to be forgotten
Sunday and we joked about who had more grey hairs - I hope I am still
winning!
Later this week a crisis unfolded at the old
age centre in my home town. Nurses at the Borradile Trust Frail Care Centre went
on strike. 'War Veterans' joined in and set up a barricade at the entrance gate.
On Thursday I went to Borradaile to see if I could help. The thought of men and
women in their 90's, unable to feed or wash themselves had apalled me. I was met
at the entrance gate to the Centre by about 50 men. They had tied placards onto
the boom and immediately I knew that this was not simply nurses striking for
money - it too had become a political platform. Some of the signs read: "Close
it, we can run it better." "Give us what belongs to us." "Close it down we'll
make a college." One placard which really exposed the truth said: "We are tired
of burning grass, hospital next". A man approached my car and I politely asked
to be let in, he refused, glared at me and told me to read the signs. I told him
I had read the signs but would still like to go in. After a short and agressive
lecture the man, wearing dirty overalls and a large floppy hat, let me in. I
drove past the nurses, 10 of them, sitting quietly under a tree in the shade.
They did not glare and shake their fists at me as the men at the gate had done,
in fact, they looked embarassed and would not meet my eyes. Later I learned that
the old age home in Marondera was just one of a number of similar "assisted
strikes". This week's Financial Gazette runs the piece under the headline: "war
veterans descend on old people's homes" and tells of "marauding bands of war
veterans" in old age homes in Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and
Marondera.
As I write this, farmers are being barricaded out
of their homes near me, one had his entire workforce evicted from their homes
last night and the police have yet to attend as they say they have no transport.
I am still wearing my yellow ribbon in support of all who are suffering,
for Simon and 19 others still remanded in custody in Bulawayo. For Alan and
Anthea Bradley and their two young children who saw their father being shot. For
farmers and the men and women who work for them who are being thrown out of
their own homes and for hundreds of elderly people who do not know why no one
came to feed them, change their soiled bedding or help them to wash. We have all
been stripped of our dignity these last 21 months but when this hell affects
young children and old men and women it can only be described as utterly
obscene. I must end on a cheerful note - Richard got back from camp to a very
anxious mother. He'd had a wonderful time, the highlights were rock paintings
and lots of animals. What animals did you see I asked - rabbits and frogs he
said! Until next week, cathy
"I can't tell you how settled we are at Bxxxxx, the bantams are in the
garden,
Megan has produced two scottie cross puppies, P. has put up the
spice racks
and shelves and its all so domestic. One could forget for a
moment that 65
per cent of us in the Chinhoyi area are not farming and that
the mayhem
continues. Another farmer shot but fortunately has survived, so
many people
in gaol and the Chinhoyi 24 still having to report to the police
station
every Friday and with no form of travel document. The rumours are
rife and
we all fear for our safety. How does one man get away with so
much.
Everytime I hear a car or truck I think this is it. We have had
a
threatening letter in the post from ex-labour who tell us that P.
faces
serious danger and he must pay them thousands of dollars or else, the
war
vets, police, you name it are going to deal with him. I tore it up
and
threw it in the bin. I lie in bed at night and think could P. be the
next
one shot.
I heard a terrible story first hand from a hunters wife, she
had
a lot of poaching on her farm and with the help of a neighbour
discovered
the poacher was somebody high up in the CIO. The police were
brought out
and the individual was arrested by a constable from her area. A
few weeks
later the hunter's wife and her son were alone on the farm The
electricity
had gone out. Fairly late in the night they hear a car, then
they heard
another. The hunter's wife wondered if she should turn the
generator on so
they could at least see what is going on. Her son said no
they would just
wait and see. They then heard shots and then the sound of
the vehicles
leaving. When the hunter's wife and her son eventually plucked
up the
courage to go out. Guess who they found dead in the driveway, none
other
than the police constable who arrested the poacher. When the police
were
called in they told the hunters'wife that it was a suicide. Things
like
this are happening every day and most people do not speak out because
of
intimidation. We have been told that those of us who speak out in
our
emails could be in the gravest danger
amd we must take great care. If
we don't get these stories out of what
happening to the people here how will
the rest of the world ever know. "
"I have just returned from a market...buying xmas
presents. There was this lovely old Matabele woman selling tableclothes. We sat
under a tree, on the ground, and she told me how terrible things are in her home
village. She said they have no food and the authorities and war veterans are
beating and killing her children. She said there is nothing they can do about
it. She told me how Zanu PF have been ousted from Matabelend in the election and
now they are exacting revenge on her people. "
"I am pleased to report that Alan is making good progress. He is awake,
and
able to talk. He is aware of what happened,and is very emotional
apparently.
There is still some concern about a clot in his lung. The kids
were taken in
to see him last night for the first time. Mom said that Ant is
coping very
well.
Thank you for all the messages. I am in the process
of forwarding them to
Ant now that she has moved the computer into town."
MSNBC
Zimbabwe's Mugabe says not afraid of
elections
HARARE, Dec. 1 — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said
on Saturday he was
not afraid of his main rival in an election due early next
year and would
convincingly win a poll that many expect to be the toughest of
his long
career.
Speaking at a tree-planting ceremony at a
rural school east of the
capital Harare, Mugabe again scoffed at threats of
international sanctions
against his government over controversial seizures of
white-owned farms,
saying the programme would continue ''with or without
sanctions.''
His ruling ZANU-PF party was gearing itself for a
presidential
election due to be held by April, he said in remarks broadcast
by Zimbabwe
state television.
''We are not afraid of elections at
all. Elections are our tradition
and we are going to win these elections
resoundingly,'' he said, repeating
his accusation that his main rival,
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, is a puppet of
former colonial power Britain.
Tsvangirai's MDC nearly defeated Mugabe
in parliamentary elections
last year despite a violent campaign the MDC
blamed on ZANU-PF, which left
at least 31 people dead. The opposition
candidate denies he is a puppet and
says Mugabe prefers name-calling to avoid
focusing on a severe national
crisis.
''The MDC can never win these
elections, never ever, never ever,''
Mugabe said. ''Let the British know
that.''
Mugabe, 77, has held power since the former British colony
of
Rhodesia gained independence from London in 1980. He said his land
seizures
would continue because they were meant to benefit Zimbabwe's
landless black
majority.
''Sanctions or no sanctions, we will take
back our land,'' he said.
Critics say Mugabe has largely ignored a
Nigerian-brokered agreement
that his government signed in September and which
was supposed to end
violent farm seizures in favour of a just and fair land
reform scheme partly
funded by Britain.
Critics accuse Mugabe's
militant ZANU-PF supporters -- led by
veterans of the independence war -- of
mounting a campaign of intimidation
against voters ahead of the presidential
elections.
Tsvangirai says Mugabe is trying to steal victory in the
elections by
changing electoral laws in his favour, including barring
millions of
Zimbabweans abroad from voting and demanding multiple proof of
residency for
urban voters.
The government -- which says there is
no room for local independent
monitors in the coming election -- has so far
refused demands from the
European Union to indicate whether international
observers will be allowed
to witness the vote.
The Times
Zimbabwe's new law to silence journalists
FROM JAN RAATH
IN HARARE
NEW laws announced by Zimbabwe yesterday would give the state
powers to
silence all independent newspapers and journalists.
The Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill will establish a
“media and
information commission” with extraordinary powers to regulate the
media, the
state-controlled daily The Herald said.
Editors and journalists here who
feared that independent newspapers were in
imminent danger of being closed
and foreign correspondents banned, said they
would fight the
legislation.
Local journalists and correspondents for overseas
publications would have to
hold “certificates of registration”, renewable
every year, issued by the
state-appointed commission.
Only Zimbabwean
nationals would be able to work as journalists. The
commission would have
powers to “discipline journalists for misconduct” and
could withdraw
licences, “impose conditions it deems fit”, and impose a fine
of Zimbabwe
$50,000 (£625). Journalists working for foreign media would have
to have
their accreditation approved by Jonathan Moyo, the Information
Minister. His
department last week accused five foreign correspondents,
including those of
The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The
Independent, of
“assisting terrorists”.
Publishers of newspapers would be forced to get
operating licences. Breaches
of the Bill could lead to the cancellation of a
licence. The Bill would make
it a crime to “conceal, falsify or fabricate
information, spread rumours or
cause alarm and despondency under the guise of
authentic reports”. The
charge of “causing alarm and despondency” — part of
40-year-old Rhodesian
emergency legislation that was abolished by the Supreme
Court two years ago
for being unconstitutional — reappears in the Bill.
Journalists may also be
charged for “deliberately spreading information which
discredits” anyone.
Nhlanhla Ngwenya, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Media
Monitoring Programme,
said: “It will lead to the extinction of the private
media.”
“This is the worst form of muzzling the press anywhere,” said
Basildon Peta,
President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. The Bill was
“criminal”, he
said. “Even a court under the Taleban would find a piece of
legislation like
this illegal.”
Not even the former white-minority
Rhodesian Government passed press laws as
draconian as these, said Trevor
Ncube, publisher of the respected Zimbabwe
Independent. “It’s like
McCarthyism,” he said. “This must be fought with all
the legal powers we have
to see it doesn’t see the light of day. We must
never acquiesce to this kind
of dictatorship.”
Yesterday about 300 of President Mugabe’s supporters
staged an aggressive
demonstration outside the British High Commission, and
also at the offices
of the independent Daily News.
The editors of The
Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The
Independent yesterday wrote
to the Zimbabwe High Commission condemning last
week’s attack on their
correspondents. The editors urged Mr Mugabe to “take
steps to reassure us
that our highly experienced and well-regarded
correspondents will be able to
carry out their work unimpeded and with their
journalistic rights
respected”.
The Age, Melbourne
Zimbabwe govt confirms tightening screws on foreign
media
HARARE, Dec 1 AFP|Published: Sunday December 2, 12:05
AM
The Zimbabwe government has confirmed tightening the screws on
international
news coverage with a proposed law allowing locals to work for
foreign media.
The government approved the law yesterday in the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Bill.
"Only Zimbabweans can be
allowed to work on a permanent basis," Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo
told AFP in an interview late yesterday.
He said however that the
government would make "a distinction between
accreditation and registration",
and that foreigners would continue to be
temporarily accredited by the
state.
Local journalists would be accredited on an annual basis by a
Media and
Information Commission, provided for under the bill.
Moyo
described the accreditation of foreign journalists as a "state
function" of
various ministries to prevent "admitting into Zimbabwe
dangerous
elements".
He said the government would not prescribe the strict
regulations proposed
for local journalists.
"We want an ethical and
professional code of conduct which is developed by
the media itself," he
said.
After the bill becomes law, all journalists based here will be
given a grace
period of three months in which to "regularise themselves" in
line with the
new provisions, he said.
"We cannot have a situation
where a foreign media house sets itself up
outside regulations," Moyo
added.
"Last year, before the parliamentary elections, over 700 media
houses set
themselves up, creating a complete jungle," he
said.
Despite a hectic schedule, parliament may debate the new
regulations before
Christmas.
"It is in the democratic interest of
everyone concerned that parliament
debates this as soon as possible," he
said.
Moyo said the bill aims to give members of the public access to
information
from public bodies, including the media itself, "and that the
public
understands which information is not accessible to it and for what
reasons".
"Many of the provisions in this bill are similar to the Public
Access to
Information Act in South Africa, and others are similar to
Britain's Freedom
of Information Act and the Americans," he
said.
Relations between President Robert Mugabe's government and the
independent
local and the foreign media have been severely strained of
late.
In recent months, authorities have arrested local journalists and
expelled
foreign correspondents.
Last week the government accused some
foreign and local independent
journalists of helping "terrorism" in the
country.
Daily News - Leader Page
Everybody knows the terrorists in
Zimbabwe
12/1/01 9:34:20 AM (GMT +2)
THE government is
taking to laughable lengths this weird idea that there are
terrorists in
Zimbabwe.
Fighting terrorism is stuck in red at the bottom of the eight
o'clock ZBC-TV
news bulletin these days. CNN had a similar logo on terrorism
in its
bulletins at the height of the war in Afghanistan.
The idea
that an Alqaeda-like terrorist organisation, led by an Osama
bin
Laden-look-alike, is operating in Zimbabwe, would bel aughable, if it
were
not so tragic.
It is tragic because it shows that the people
running this country are now
driven by a certain determination to cling to
power and will go to
dangerously reckless lengths to remain in
office.
To lump journalists, both local and foreign, with fictitious
terrorists
operating in this country is the sort of political ploy resorted
to by a
political party no longer operating at a rational level.
The
MDC is a political party and like all such organisations, it probably
has a
number of hotheads among its members. Its recent leadership upheavals
suggest
it is as susceptible to violent internal dissension as Zanu PF or
Zanu, the
other parties in Parliament.
But on the basis of the record of its
two-year existence, it is difficult to
assign to it the description of a
terrorist organisation.
In Zimbabwe, most people speak of terrorism only
in the context of the
violence inflicted on them by the war veterans who are
as dyed-in-the-wool
Zanu PF supporters as the party's strutting cockerel
symbol.
During the 2000 election campaign, more than 35 people were
killed and of
the culprits arrested or convicted in connection with the
murders so far,
none is an MDC, Zanu, United Parties or the Zimbabwe Union of
Democrats
member.
The only party in Zimbabwe which has boasted of its
ability to employ
violence to achieve its goals is Zanu PF. "We have many
degrees in violence"
is a statement expected from the leader of a terrorist
organisation such as
Alqaeda, Hizbollah, Moro liberation front of the
Phillipines, or the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) - and Zanu PF.
And to
describe the alleged killers of Cain Nkala, buried among much
hypocritical
claptrap at Heroes Acre, as terrorists is absurd.
In his support of the
wild land reform programme launched with the violent
invasion of the farms in
February 2000, Nkala himself might have qualified
as a terrorist His death
might have been the result of a falling out among
terrorists.
Who
knows?
But our primary concern is with the government's obsession with
trying to
portray the local independent and the foreign journalist as a sort
of
mujibha or chimbwido of its fictitious terrorists.
There is no
mystery of the government's hostility towards the independent
and the foreign
journalists. They are not in the mould of the men and women
at Zimpapers or
ZBC, whose brief is to make the government and Zanu PF look
perpetually good,
even if they have the blood of their murder victims
dripping from their
fingers.
Certainly, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa doesn't sound
as if he is
sold on the fiction of terrorism in Zimbabwe. He is much more
down-to-earth:
he warns Mugabe of civil conflict in this country if the
forthcoming
presidential election is not conducted in an absolutely free and
fair
atmosphere.
He also warns against the persecution of the
independent Press, which
Mugabe's functionaries have tried to muzzle into
silence.
This anti-democratic campaign by the government, including the
attempt to
deny millions of people their right to vote in the election, could
indeed
lead to the civil conflict that Mbeki warns of.
To avert it, he
and other world leaders may have to do more than just
issuing
statements
Telegraph
Mugabe removes last vestiges of fairness to ensure
victory
(Filed: 01/12/2001)
DAVID BLAIR, who was named Young
Journalist of the Year for his despatches
on Zimbabwe yesterday, reports on
President Mugabe's campaign to stay in
power
For President Robert
Mugabe, politics is the art of the impossible.
His apparent life's
mission, pursued with obsessive ruthlessness, is to
render it impossible for
anyone to hold power over Zimbabwe but himself -
and he may now be close to
succeeding.
With a climactic presidential election due by April 1, Mr
Mugabe is moving
with consummate guile to eliminate every last possibility of
defeat.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is being left to chance.
Morgan
Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change and
his declared challenger, is confronted with a stark question.
How can he
fight the most crucial election in Zimbabwean history when thugs
break up his
rallies, officials prevent MDC voters from registering and mobs
raze his
party's headquarters?
Shamelessly partisan policemen have arrested its
campaigners and a brutal
terror campaign, waged the length and breadth of
Zimbabwe, has left
opposition supporters traumatised by fear.
Over the
past four weeks, Mr Tsvangirai's party, already battle-scarred by
repression,
has come under furious attack. On Nov 5, Cain Nkala, an obscure
member of the
notorious War Veterans' Association, was murdered in Bulawayo.
His death
was immediately blamed on the MDC and used as an excuse for a
crackdown of
unprecedented ferocity.
Mr Mugabe referred to opposition leaders as
"terrorists" more than 20 times
in a single speech, adding: "Their days are
numbered."
At first, the response was traditional. The shock troops of
the ruling
Zanu-PF party raided the MDC's headquarters in Bulawayo and set it
ablaze,
before rampaging through the city's townships and hunting down
Mr
Tsvangirai's supporters for severe beatings.
This was straight out
of the manual of Zanu-PF electioneering. What followed
was more serious.
Senior MDC figures were arrested everywhere and thrown
behind bars on the
flimsiest of charges. In the region of Matabeleland, the
MDC has been shut
down.
All but a handful of its key figures are either in jail or in
hiding and the
party has been forced underground in a former
stronghold.
Mr Mugabe is now pushing a series of laws through parliament
which serve
only one purpose: guaranteeing the outcome of the election. All
Zimbabweans
who live abroad are being denied the right to vote, except those
in the
diplomatic corps or the army, who are assumed to back Mr
Mugabe.
Everyone else is facing entirely new requirements for voter
registration,
carefully constructed to bear most heavily on MDC
supporters.
In the cities - Mr Tsvangirai's heartland - people will have
to produce a
plethora of documents before they will be entered on the roll:
proof of
address in the form of title deeds, rental agreements or utility
bills will
have to be shown.
When you live in a shack in a heaving
township, this is quite a challenge.
Hundreds of thousands of Mr Tsvangirai's
voters will be disenfranchised.
In the countryside, village chiefs will
have to vouch for everyone who
registers. Each headman is paid a grant by the
government and almost all
support Zanu-PF. None will vouch for anyone he
suspects of backing the MDC.
Any chief foolish enough to do so would be
severely dealt with. Other laws
are designed to give Mr Mugabe a free hand to
run the election with one
outcome in mind.
Independent observers will
be banned by an amendment to the Electoral Act.
Voter education programmes by
civic organisations have also been declared
illegal.
The new media law
announced yesterday will give the government, acting
through a "media
information commission", the right to bar journalists from
working and
perhaps close down newspapers.
Foreign correspondents already find it
impossible to visit Zimbabwe and
these rules may sound the death knell for
local independent newspapers,
already besieged on all sides.
Mr
Mugabe's strategy is nothing if not sophisticated. The time-honoured
methods
of violence and intimidation form the first prong. One-sided laws
and
regulations provide the second. Together, they tilt the electoral
playing
field so markedly as to make it almost vertical.
Zanu-PF managed to steal
a narrow victory in last June's parliamentary
election when hundreds of
foreign observers and journalists were present
and, despite some
gerrymandering of the constituency boundaries, the
electoral machinery was
relatively fair.
But for the presidential election, every last vestige of
fairness has
already been systematically removed
Daily News
Mbeki calls for more pressure on Mugabe
12/1/01 6:48:15
AM (GMT +2)
By Sandra Nyaira Political Editor
South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who has apparently abandoned his "quiet
diplomacy" in
dealing with President Mugabe's government, yesterday urged
countries in the
region to put more pressure on Mugabe to ensure a free and
fair Presidential
election next year.
Mbeki, who this week warned of civil conflict in
Zimbabwe if the poll was
not free and fair and without Press freedom, said
regional countries and the
Commonwealth should act urgently to encourage a
free and fair vote.
"All of us must act urgently to persuade the
government and the population
of Zimbabwe to move in a certain direction," he
told a Press conference in
Pretoria.
"The matter is critical that
elections should be free and fair and the
outcome generally acceptable to the
people of Zimbabwe."
Mbeki said committees set up by the Commonwealth and
the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc) should work on ensuring
democratic conditions
in Zimbabwe's Presidential poll.
The Zanu PF
government has not implemented most of the measures agreed on at
the end of
the Sadc Heads of State summit held in Harare in September in
their quest to
bring legality, order, fairness and transparency to the land
reform
programme.
The Sadc leaders recommended the setting-up of committees made
up of Zanu
PF, the MDC and other stakeholders to deal with the crisis
afflicting
Zimbabwe and to ensure it does not a contagious effect on
neighbouring
countries in terms of hampering investment, tourism and related
issues.
The government has not responded as to why it has not formed the
committees
to deal with economic, political and social problems affecting the
country.
Mbeki this week joined the international and local community in
attacking
the government for clamping down on the Press and the judiciary and
for
sanctioning farm invasions which have led to lawlessness, violence and
loss
of life.
Pressed on the issue of possible sanctions against
Harare from the
Commonwealth and Sadc, Mbeki said: "Sure, they have not
produced the results
that we wanted, quite rightly so.
"We haven't
discussed the issue. Our approach is that everybody must act to
provide
results that are required. I am saying South Africa is a member of
the
Commonwealth and Sadc and will continue to act in that context." This
was in
reference to the sanctions issue.
Mbeki said a joint committee comprising
Zanu PF and MDC representatives
should be formed to ensure satisfaction with
the election results.
"Our view is that if elections in Zimbabwe are not
seen as legitimate,
you'll probably end up with a situation worse than now,"
Mbeki said.
Mbeki said two decades of wrong economic policies in
Zimbabwe, now facing
critical food shortages, skyrocketing inflation and
unemployment, have
exacerbated the crisis in the country.
Zimbabwean Unrest Gives S. Africa Pause (from LA
Times)
Government: President Mbeki worries that the neighboring
nation risks more turmoil amid doubts that it could hold free and fair
elections.
By ANN M. SIMMONS, TIMES STAFF WRITER
PRETORIA, South Africa -- President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday
expressed doubts that free and fair elections can be held in Zimbabwe, South
Africa's northern neighbor, and he voiced concern that a flawed presidential
vote could plunge that violence-torn country into greater turmoil.
"If
you had elections in Zimbabwe which were not seen by the people as legitimate,
and where [a] government forms which people didn't see as legitimate, you would
then end up probably with a situation worse than it is now," Mbeki told members
of South Africa's Foreign Correspondents Assn.
Political violence has
rocked Zimbabwe in recent months, with a wave of attacks against supporters of
the country's political opposition, intimidation and harassment of journalists,
and the introduction of laws that political observers believe are designed to
disenfranchise opposition supporters and ensure victory for the ruling party in
next year's presidential election.Zimbabwe's Stability Crucial to S.
Africa
Analysts say South Africa's credibility as a regional leader--and
the success of an Mbeki-led initiative aimed at breathing life into the
continent's economy--is closely linked to his government's role in helping to
foster democracy and long-term stability in Zimbabwe.
But the government
of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appears to be pulling further away from
democracy.
Mugabe's government is reluctant to allow independent
monitoring of the election, due by April, and is adamant about continuing its
controversial land redistribution program, which has fueled tensions and led to
the deaths of 10 white farmers in the last two years. Plans are also underway to
amend the country's electoral laws to prohibit millions of Zimbabweans living
abroad from casting ballots.
"Clearly in a situation in which people get
disenfranchised, in which people get beaten up so that they don't take an honest
decision or act according to their political convictions, obviously there can't
be free elections if there are circumstances like that," Mbeki
said.
Mugabe has accused former colonial ruler Britain and white farmers
of sponsoring the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to commit acts of
terrorism, and last week a government spokesman singled out several foreign
correspondents and local independent journalists as terrorists.
In what
it calls a bid to curb terrorism, the government has thrown its weight behind a
so-called Public Order and Security Bill. Punishment includes the death penalty
for acts of "insurgency, banditry, sabotage and terrorism," as well as the
threat of jail and fines for anyone who "undermines the authority of the
president" or "engenders hostility" toward the president. The bill requires
parliamentary approval.
Mugabe Increases Security Measures
As an
extra security measure, workmen Thursday placed concrete posts around Mugabe's
offices in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.
Mbeki acknowledged that
despite engagement by the regional community, the situation in Zimbabwe isn't
improving and efforts by the United Nations and the Southern African Development
Community to resolve the political upheaval have failed.
"They have not
produced the results that we wanted," Mbeki said.
The political turmoil
in Zimbabwe has been coupled with economic distress: The country's annual
inflation nears 98%; three-quarters of the population lives at or below the
poverty line; and agricultural shortfalls have left many hungry.
"The
country, potentially a breadbasket of southern Africa, has become a basket
case," said a recent editorial in South Africa's weekly Sunday Independent
newspaper.
The food shortage has been intensified by the disruption of
work on white-owned commercial farms, hundreds of which have been invaded by
pro-government militants and veterans of the country's independence war.
Mugabe's government has targeted about 5,000 such farms for redistribution to
largely landless blacks.
Officials at Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers'
Union estimated that overall farm production could decline by 27% this year.
Tobacco production has dropped by more than 20%, agriculture industry sources
said.
Mbeki indicated that Britain should play a lead role in resolving
Zimbabwe's land crisis.
"We never colonized Zimbabwe," Mbeki said. "We
never made a commitment about land in Zimbabwe."
MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE
MEDIA UPDATE # 2001/47
19 NOVEMBER - 25
NOVEMBER 2001
CONTENTS
1. Summary
2. Journalists as
"terrorists"
3. The EU meeting with President Mugabe and the
Electoral
Process
4. Follow up on the Nkala murder case
5.
Tsvangirai trial and the Public Order and Security Bill
6. MEMOIRS 2000:
Lest we forget!
7. Comments from our subscribers
1.
SUMMARY
The government, quoted in the Herald, labelled six
journalists
and a human rights activist as "terrorist" supporters -
making
the practice of journalism just that bit more difficult and
dangerous.
o ZBC followed up the murder of Cain Nkala and
Limukani
Luphahla under the caption "Fighting Terrorism" -
imitating CNN's coverage of the September 11 attack on
the US -- and
added another casualty, Sithembiso Nyathi,
who it alleged was killed by
MDC supporters who threw a
grenade at a bar in Nkayi. Yet the death of
Nyathi was not
given any prominence on ZBC when it occurred.
It was left to the private press to expose the escalation of
violence
perpetrated by ZANU PF supporters and war
veterans in response to
inflammatory statements from
senior party officials.
o The
week also saw Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition party MDC,
winning a case in Supreme Court
on grounds that charges against him under
the Law and
Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) were unconstitutional.
Immediately after the ruling, government announced that
LOMA would be
replaced with the Public Order Security
Bill (POSB) before the end of the
year. This created the
impression that the ZANU PF government was not
happy
with the ruling and were retrieving a bill they had set
aside
two years ago just to quash the opposition.
1. MEDIA
ISSUES: JOURNALISTS AS "TERRORISTS"
The phenomenon of "shooting the
messenger" has become habit
from both the government and its supporters in
the public media.
On 23 November, in an article headlined Diplomatic furore
looms,
The Herald quoted an unnamed government spokesman attacking
"gross
and obscene misrepresentation of facts" by six named
correspondents for
foreign newspapers and a human rights activist:
"It is now an open secret
that these reporters are not only
distorting the facts but are assisting
terrorists who stand
accused in our courts of law of abduction, torture and
murder
by covering up and misrepresenting the brutal deeds of
the
terrorists".
The spokesman went on to compare the government's
stance with
that of the US in its "war against terrorism". "We too will
not
make any difference between terrorists and their friends
or
supporters. For these reporters to continue aiding and
inflaming is
morally wrong because journalists are ethically
bound to tell a complete,
balanced, fair and accurate story.
That is what is lacking on all these
reports and this is
unacceptable."
Once again the government has
confirmed its deep hostility to the
free flow of information through the
media. It is a very short step
from labelling someone a terrorist to
licensing your supporters to
commit violence against them. MMPZ has appealed
in vain for the
past two years for a clear government statement that
news-
gathering is a legitimate activity, protected by the laws
of
Zimbabwe, and instructing the police to ensure that journalists can
go
about their work without hindrance. We are still waiting.
2. EU
MEETING WITH MUGABE & THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
While coverage centred on
the delegation's closed-door
deliberations with President Mugabe, The Sunday
Mail's (25/11)
emotive and propagandist report badly exposed how
journalistic
standards have been eroded at the publishing house. In its
article,
President humbles EU team, the paper gleefully and
exclusively
dwelt on how Mugabe had reportedly given the three-member
EU
team a dressing down. They then "left the country yesterday with
tails
between their legs". The paper did not objectively inform its
readers of the
outcome of the meeting.
The paper quoted unnamed government sources privy
to the
meeting as saying that the EU team earned Mugabe's ire after
it
"tried to smuggle" the issue of election monitors for the up-
coming
presidential poll into discussions that were supposed to
"centre on
Zimbabwe's involvement in the Democratic
Republic of Congo". The paper did
not balance the story with
comments from any of the EU delegates despite its
reporter having
attended a press conference called by the team at the
Harare
International Airport where the EU ministerial team still
looked
"shell-shocked".
The Daily News' (24/11) story, Only free and
fair elections will
count, EU tells Mugabe, was more balanced and soberly
written. It
did not dwell on Mugabe's alleged ordering off of the EU team
but
also reported on the substance and outcome of the discussions.
The
paper quoted Chris Patten of the EU: "All I can say is we did
not have a
meeting of the minds with President Mugabe."
The Herald (24/11) also
included the EU team's feelings on the
matter. However, it found itself
falling into the same propagandist
mode as The Sunday Mail by gloating over
the EU's supposed
humiliation at the expense of providing the public with a
sober and
professional analysis of the issues at stake and the
possible
ramifications of such a showdown between the two.
Although
ZBC (23/11, 8pm) quoted representatives of the EU, who
had earlier met Mugabe
on the United Nations report that
implicated Zimbabwe in plundering DRC
resources, they were not
asked on what exactly they discussed with President
Mugabe.
In fact the public press seemed to have already adopted
an
entrenched, government official position on the EU team's visit
well
before its arrival.
It is not surprising that The Herald (23/11)
seemed to have
dismissed the EU's visit after it quoted unnamed
government
sources as saying the visit "was suspiciously made to
coincide
with the release of a damning report on Zimbabwe's
involvement in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo".
Said the government source:
"Although the EU's high level
team's declared mission is to discuss the DRC
issue, it is a
ploy by the EU to discuss Zimbabwe's internal issues such
as
land, monitors and election observers."
The story sharply differed
with EU team to meet Mugabe over
crisis, The Daily News (22/11). The paper
instead reported that
"officials from the EU confirmed that the
delegation.is
expected to meet President Mugabe and his ministers over
the
stalemate reached between Zimbabwe and the EU".
It also quoted -
in retrospect - Foreign Affairs Minister Stan
Mudenge as saying the
government was ready for the meeting
since Zimbabwe wanted to expose the EU's
interference in the
internal politics of the country by funding opposition
parties.
The public media's propagandist stance continued unabated in
its
coverage of other electoral-related issues.
The Herald (19/11)
story Inspection of voters' roll begins was not
only simplistic but a
misrepresentation of facts. In the article, the
paper caused confusion among
the public when it claimed that
potential voters did not only need national
identity cards to inspect
the voters' roll but proof of residence too. Home
Affairs Minister
John Nkomo later clarified this distortion in Parliament.
The Daily
News (24/11) duly covered this correction in the story,
Nkomo
dismisses Herald story.
Earlier, The Daily News (20/11) had led
with Millions stand to lose
vote, a follow-up to the erroneous Herald story.
The Daily News
story quoted civic organisations and the opposition MDC
accusing
the government of further trying to disenfranchise more
people
ahead of the election.
Perhaps more surprising was both the
public press and ZBC's
continued attacks on the purported efforts by the EU
to force
Zimbabwe to accept international monitors during the run-up to
the
election. This was despite the clarification by the EU
representative
to Zimbabwe, Francesca Mosca, that the European bloc wanted
to
send observers (not monitors).
An example was The Sunday Mail
(25/11) story, Poll system
backed and sub-headed, Foreign monitors not
necessary. Though
the story, based on an interview with Electoral
Supervisory
Commission (ESC) chairman Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, was aimed
at
spiting the EU, it ironically merely echoed what the EU had been
saying
all along. So it was quite surprising when the paper
reported: "Analysts said
the EU had no legitimate grounds to
demand to monitor elections in Zimbabwe
or any other
country outside the union itself."
The story, Improved
understanding of the ESC's role, a question
and answer interview with Gula
Ndebele carried in the same issue
of the paper, merely emphasised the
legitimacy of the ESC rather
than its usefulness.
When Gula-Ndebele
was asked whether the ESC had enough
resources both financially and
logistically, he replied: "There is
always room to increase resources,
especially money, because
this also leads to an increase in logistical
support.."
Neither did the paper feel obliged to question why
Gula-Ndebele
desired an Election Commission along the lines of "other
SADC
countries . because of the fact that it is responsible for both
the
registration and conduct of elections". It was therefore too
simplistic for
the paper to assert in its comment; Outsiders have
no role in elections
(25/11), that it was "encouraging" to see Gula-
Ndebele "declaring their
preparedness to monitor the
elections".
ZBC also continued to
deliberately misinform the public by peddling
ZANU PF's claims that the
European Union was insisting on
sending election monitors. President Mugabe
while addressing a
rally in Mt Darwin was quoted (23/11,8pm) as having
rejected the
EU request. Mugabe was quoted on ZTV saying "Keep out some
of
you were colonizers yesterday. I told them to keep out and
then I left", and
added that the EU wanted to meddle in the affairs
of the country to support
the opposition.
ZTV (23/11,8pm) used old footage of Justice Minister
Patrick
Chinamasa and foreign affairs Minister Stan Mudenge attacking
the
EU. The reporter, Justin Manyau falsely stated that,
"International
observers can only run an election when the government
of
that particular country has collapsed." The statement was not
true as
only international monitors can run an election in
such
circumstances.
However, the private press was more analytical.
For instance, in
Crack ZNA/ZRP unit for elections, The Standard (25/11)
looked at
government plans to create an elite force, which it argued
was
meant to be a crackdown on the opposition in the run-up to
the
election.
In the same vein, The Financial Gazette (22/11) reported
plans by
the MDC to file an urgent application challenging new
regulations
governing voter registration and inspection, which it believes
violate
the Electorate Act.
While both The Financial Gazette (25/11)
and The Daily News
(22/11) reported on police high-handedness in quashing a
National
Constitutional Assembly-organised demonstration
against
government's intention to introduce stringent electoral laws,
The
Herald (22/11) described it as a "flop". It did not tell its readers
that
by stopping the "flop" demonstration, police arrested 35 of
the
demonstrators.
3. FOLLOW UP ON NKALA MURDER CASE
The
state media continued to accuse the opposition of 'terrorist'
acts in its
coverage of the death of Cain Nkala, the Bulawayo war
veteran's leader. The
only MDC voice that was accorded space on
ZTV was swamped by the usual
propaganda that the opposition
indeed murdered ZANU PF supporters.
ZBC
(radio and ZTV, 19/11, 8pm) reported the court appearance of
ten MDC suspects
including MDC MP Fletcher Dulini Ncube. In the
same bulletin ZBC repeated the
report, which they had carried as
breaking news the previous night (ZTV,
18/11, 8pm), on the arrest
of the two Daily News journalists who were picked
up by the police
for allegedly taking part in the torture of Ndabezinhle Moyo
on the
18th.
Both radio and ZTV (19/11, 8pm) made an attempt to cover
up for
President Mugabe's inflammatory remarks made during the burial
of
Nkala. The state broadcaster reported that the President had
"urged
Zimbabweans to exercise restraint".
Zimpapers dailies (19/11) followed up
a ZTV report on the alleged
abduction and torture of Moyo by MDC supporters.
In the same
report, two Daily News journalists were said to have "witnessed"
the
torture at the burnt MDC offices. On the other hand, The Daily
News
(19/11) reported its journalists as having been arrested to
prevent them from
publishing an interview with Moyo who claimed
he knew the full details of the
kidnapping and subsequent murder of
Nkala.
In an effort, to show
evidence of torture, The Chronicle (20/11) had
a front-page photograph of
Moyo showing some of the injuries he
sustained during the alleged torture.
However, they were not visible.
The paper also reported that the MDC MP for
Bulilamangwe North
MP, Moses Mzila Ndlovu, was arrested in connection with
the
kidnapping and assault of Ndabazinhle Moyo.
In its follow up to
the story, ZBC (radio and ZTV, 20/11, 8pm)
falsely reported that the two
journalists were still in custody despite
a Daily News report earlier stating
that the police had released
them.
The Herald (20/11) in a front-page
article, Coltart evacuates family
to SA as terror probe widens, reported that
the family of David
Coltart of the MDC had left the country "as
investigations into
allegations of terrorism through the abduction and murder
of
Zanu-PF members by MDC activists and officials widens". The
impression
the report gave was that Coltart had something to hide
in relation to the
murder of Nkala. The reporter went on: "The MDC
has not mounted any
meaningful campaign to look for Mr.
Nabanyama in Zimbabwe and yet they have
urged the
daughter to go to Australia". The reference is to
Coltart's
election agent, who was abducted last year - allegedly by
Cain
Nkala.
An old picture of Coltart at an awards ceremony of British
South
African Police accompanied the article. The picture was also used
in
The Sunday Mail. Part of the caption read: "The government
has said the
Selous Scouts, who killed thousands of blacks in
the liberation struggle, are
back at it again following
revelations that the manner in which war veterans'
leader Cde
Cain Nkala was brutally killed was similar to methods used
by
Selous Scouts". This gave the impression that Coltart was a
Selous
Scout and therefore was linked to the murder of Nkala.
Notably, the
denial by Coltart's wife that she and the family had left
the country was
tucked on page 8 in the Chronicle and at the
bottom of page 4 in The
Herald.
In an attempt to give the impression that the MDC has
been
involved in a well-orchestrated campaign of 'terror' ZTV (20/11,
8pm)
carried a report by Reuben Barwe, who is said to have "been
following this
trail of terror". Barwe began his report with the
death of Nyathi who died of
a grenade blast through to the murder
of Luphahla up to that of Nkala. He
stated that in all deaths, similar
killing methods were used, giving the
impression that those in
police custody were involved in all three cases. The
report was
accompanied by footage of Luphahla's mutilated body and
the
exhumation of Nkala's body. As before, ZTV showed no concern for
the
feelings, dignity and sensitivity of the families of the deceased.
Nor was it
made clear how precisely the methods of killing were
trademarks of the Selous
Scouts.
To corroborate the report, Barwe interviewed the police
spokesman,
Wayne Bvudzijena who said, "Some of the people who are tied
to
the Nkala case are also related to the Luphahla case."
Bvudzijena said the
police were looking for three other suspects
who were still at large.
Matshobana Sibanda was named among
the three. When Nkala's body was
discovered (ZTV, 13/11,8pm),
one of the two suspects who were interviewed on
camera said the
strangling of Nkala was done by Matshobana "whom we left
that
other side (police custody)". This inconsistency was not
clarified.
ZTV (14/11,8pm) covered the demonstration outside
parliament
buildings by war veterans calling for the banning of the MDC
(ZTV,
20/11,8pm). Joseph Chinotimba was quoted saying, "We need
America,
we need Britain to condemn this"
For once, since the whole saga began,
ZBC audiences got an
opportunity to hear the opposition voice. MDC MP
Priscilla
Misihayirambwi was presented with an opportunity, in the
same
report to respond to war veterans. She said, "If we stand up and
we
say .we have got courts of law . we think that there is
something taking
place in those places. Why on earth are we
trying to go elsewhere and judge
people before they are
judged".
In its new programme, Behind the
Scenes, ZTV (24/11, 7.15pm)
was at pains trying to convince viewers of the
authenticity of their
Nkala murder story and spent considerable time
justifying why
Barwe had to be sent to Bulawayo to cover the story. But
should
credible news organizations have to do this?
The Herald (20/11)
and The Daily News (21/11) reported that the
state had dropped the murder
and kidnapping charges for six of the
suspects to a lesser one i.e
contravening the Law and Order
(Maintenance) Act by undergoing military
training, a crime
punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. Neither
paper
carried comment from the police on why the initial charges
were
dropped. Instead, the public press, which had already found all
those
who were arrested guilty of murder, continued with
accusations against the
MDC.
The Sunday Mail (25/11) carried five opinion pieces attacking
the
MDC. Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of Information
and
Publicity penned one of the articles, titled MDC "Clean up"
strategy
exposed. Moyo postulated what he dubbed as a "moronic
two-
pronged" strategy allegedly being pursued by the MDC in cahoots
with
the "opposition media" and "diplomatic missions of some
unfriendly
governments." The clean up campaign is allegedly
aimed at clearing the party
from the Nkala case by blaming ZANU
PF and war vets. The piece is a classic
case of baseless and
undisguised propaganda state media audiences are
bombarded
with on a daily basis.
As part of his unrelenting anti-MDC
campaign, the Sunday Mail
political editor, Munyaradzi Huni, continued to
malign the
opposition. In an article titled "Once a terrorist always
a
terrorist," Huni took a swipe at MDC, labelling it "a white
man's
party", a tired description that has been used by ZANU PF
since
their campaigns for parliamentary elections last year.
The
Financial Gazette (22/11) editorial noted that the murder of
Nkala was a
result of lack of rule of law and condemned ZANU
PF's use of Nkala's death to
instill fear.
The Zimbabwe Independent (23/11) added a new dimension to
the
murder of Nkala. In a front-page article, headlined "Government
media
conceal evidence on Nkala" the paper revealed that police
were holding a war
veteran identified only as Moyo, as a suspect in
connection with the
abduction and subsequent murder of Nkala.
Police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena and War Veterans
National secretary-general Endy Mhlanga confirmed
the arrest. As
pointed out by the paper, the information has never been
made
public by the public press. While the state press has been
peddling
the propaganda that the murder was allegedly committed
by the MDC, the
article confirmed the private press speculation
that some war veterans could
have been involved.
By not informing the public on the arrest of a war
veteran and
focusing on MDC suspects, the public press exposed its lack
of
independence in covering stories. Such behaviour by the public
press
grossly erodes their credibility and shortchanges readers
who have a right to
accurate information.
The private press took a lead in covering political
violence
incidents, while the public press was generally mum on these.
For
three consecutive days (21-23 November), The Daily News
carried
reports of violence triggered by the murder of Nkala last week.
The
reports also came immediately after a week laden with ZANU
PF
inflammatory remarks, clearly exposing the negative impact that
can be
caused by reckless political speeches.
In the reports, either the war
veterans or ZANU PF supporters or
both were implicated.
In its edition
(21/11), The Daily News reported that MDC chairman
for Hurungwe West, miles
from Bulawayo, Maxwell Bidi, was
beaten and interrogated by war veterans over
who had abducted
Nkala. Bidi was also threatened with death. The following
day, in
an article titled "Violence rocks Bindura" The Daily News
(23/11),
reported the outbreak of violence in that town following the
burial of
Nkala. According to the report, war veterans who allegedly
instigated the
violence had been given "instructions" to beat up
MDC supporters in
retaliation for Nkala's death.
4. TSVANGIRAI TRIAL AND THE
POSB
ZBC (radio and ZTV, 20/11, 8pm) reported that the Supreme
Court
had dismissed the state's case against MDC President
Morgan
Tsvangirai on the statements that he made last year. However,
ZTV
underplayed Morgan Tsvangirai's victory against the state and
only
reported the news item after the break. In an attempt to
underplay
the Supreme Court ruling the ZTV newscaster Obriel Mpofu
said:
"The state may proceed against Movement for Democratic
Change leader
Morgan Tsvangirai under a charge of inciting
public violence. The declaration
was made by the Supreme
Court after dropping charges of terrorism which were
levelled
against him."
The reporter stated that the Supreme Court
ruled that sections 51
and 58 of LOMA were in contravention of section 18 of
the
constitution of Zimbabwe without giving information on the content
of
the clauses.
All the dailies (21/11) reported that the sections under
which
Tsvangirai had been charged were declared unconstitutional by
the
full bench of the Supreme Court. The Herald used "Tsvangirai set
free"
as its headline. The Chronicle carried the same article with a
similar
headline.
As was the case on ZTV, Tsvangirai's victory was underplayed
by
an assertion in the second paragraph: "However, the State can
proceed
to draw up a common law charge against Mr
Tsvangirai for allegedly calling
for the violent removal of
President Mugabe." The article stated that
Tsvangirai had said he
had no comment on the outcome and went on to solicit
government
interpretation of the outcome. The Minister of Information
and
Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, tried to dampen the victory, saying
the
ruling was "yet another opportunity for the usual malcontents
and
cynics to be reminded that ours is a constitutional
democracy and that the
rule of law is alive and well in our
country. And justice does not depend on
one judgment."
The Daily News on the other hand quoted Tsvangirai saying
he and
his party were pleased by the court decision and that the
party
would "concentrate on our peaceful mission to win next
year's
presidential election."
As if to respond the Supreme Court
ruling, the state media (21/11)
reported that the government had approved the
Public Order and
Security Bill, ostensibly to replace LOMA.
ZBC (ZTV,
21/11, 8pm) tried to link the approval of the Bill by
Cabinet to alleged
terrorist activities by the MDC. It quoted Minister
Moyo as having said that
the government had come up with the Bill
". to protect the people of Zimbabwe
who should enjoy in
their country without fear of bandits and
terrorists".
The report was followed by a report on the court appearance
of
MDC MP, Moses Mzila Ndlovu for allegedly taking part in
kidnapping and
torturing a Bulawayo man Ndabezinhle Moyo, to
give the impression that the
MDC was a violent party.
Immediately after the report, Minister of Legal,
Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa who was allocated
6
minutes 40 seconds in which, among other things, he said: " This
is in
response to the prevailing situation in the country.I
think as government we
must be seen to be performing our
duty as the provider of security and
safety. We cannot abdicate
our responsibility."
Chinamasa was not
asked on why the same government did not
come up with the bill to control the
escalation of violence before
and after the parliamentary elections last
year.
Asked on the differences between the colonial LOMA and
POSB,
Minister Chinamasa merely exposed that the difference was just
in
the name. He said: "we have defined offences much more
carefully. We
are also bringing back as an offence
subversion of constitutional government.
In the light of what
is going on we feel we should bring back that crime
because
there are a lot of threats against the constitutional
government
of Zimbabwe."
These reports were complemented by a title on
the screen
headlined "Fighting terrorism"
The Herald (21/11) did not
only endorse the draconian bill but also
tried to justify its inception by
drawing parallels with stringent anti-
terrorism regulations introduced in
the US and Britain following the
11 September attacks. Notwithstanding the
completely different
circumstances, the paper presented the bill as normal
and
acceptable international trend without providing strong evidence
of
the presence of terrorism in Zimbabwe. The report never
analysed
implications of the Bill, neither did it sought independent
comment
on its necessity.
Among other provisions cited in the report;
"The Bill also makes it
an offence to undermine the authority of the
President by
making public statements or publishing in the print
and
electronic media statements that engender hostility towards
the
President."
It also stated "The Bill also makes public gatherings
to
conduct riots, disorder or intolerance illegal."
The next day, The
Herald (22/11) followed up its report, stating that
the government, against a
previous Supreme Court ruling, would
make it mandatory for citizens to always
carry identification
documents by amending the National Registration Act and
the
Criminal and Evidence Act, which the paper said would then
be
incorporated into the proposed POSB. The illusion of rampant
terrorism
was further reinforced. Endorsing the move the paper
gratuitously concluded,
"The move (to amend) is aimed at
dealing with increasing criminal and
terrorism activities." No
substantiation was provided to support the
claim.
Surprisingly, the private press remained silent on
these
developments, and enabled the public press unchallenged leeway
to
endorse these developments.
5. MEMOIRS 2000: Lest we
forget
Last year we asked our subscribers to help us look back on
the
Zimbabwean media with a short paragraph or two about what they
thought
were the main stories in the year 2000. The response
was
pleasing.
Starting this week to the end of tshe year we will
publish some of
the responses we received.
Please note, the opinions
expressed do not necessarily reflect the
views of MMPZ.
In the meantime,
we kindly ask you to help us look back on the
year 2001. Tell us what you
think were the main stories in the year
2001.
Send your responses to {
HYPERLINK
"mailto:monitors@mweb.co.zw" }monitors@mweb.co.zw or
{
HYPERLINK
"mailto:advocacy@media-monitors.icon.co.zw"
}advocacy@media-monitors.icon.co
.zw
Your
comments and opinions mean a lot to us.
THE PROPAGANDA WAS
DISGRACEFUL!
I am a friend of Zimbabwe in the UK who has only visited
your
country 3 times but has read your press extensivelyover the
last
year.
The story which affected me most was the reporting of
the
appalling injuries inflicted on Karoi residents, and in particular,
the
illustrations of the buttocks of two people who had been
beaten.
Those pictures are indelibly fixed in my memory and
thesuffering
of the victims inconceivable.
The most biased news
coverage was the showing, night after night,
of racist incidents of the past
in an attempt to make the people rise
up against the white farmers. No
excuse can be made for the
incidents but their use as propaganda was a
disgrace.
The story that amused me most was the saga of the Court
Papers
served on the President in Harlem. The denial that the papers
had
been served was like a pantomime! Oh yes he did... Oh no he
didn't!
The world at large viewed the event with disbelief and learnt
from it
thenature of the problem facing the people of Zimbabwe
today, that you have
as a leader a dictator who is unable to
distinguish between fact and fiction
and who is determined at all
costs to hang on to his trappings of
power.
My best wishes to you and your country for 2001 and
beyond.
Barbara Harrison
KEEP THE DAILY NEWS ON ITS
TOES
I guess we'll look back on these "dark times" in the future
with
horror, and amazement that we let it happen. Certainly
future
generations will ask: "how could they ever have been so
mad?"
If any student wants to write a doctoral thesis on "How to subvert
a
country for criminal purposes" they will find a perfect example
here.
Keep the Daily News on its toes. The Zanu PF media are
beyond
redemption. After we are liberated I think every employee should
be
barred from ever holding another job in the media in this country.
A
small punishment for treason!
Keep up the good work.
Charles
Frizell
6. FROM OUR SUBSCRIBERS
REPRINT ATTACK ON
MAGWAZA
From EW,
Greetings, I hope you can take notice of that
brilliant attack on The
Herald's political editor as "a disgrace to his
profession", especially
his comparison of the MDC and the Nazis and his
coverage of the
Nkala murder, by Richard Carver, formerly of Article 19
and
Amnesty International, which appeared in the Daily News at
the
beginning of this week. This should be reprinted in every media
outlet
in Zimbabwe and the author is safe from arrest by Moyo's
policemen because he
lives in Britain.
Your coverage of the Nkala incident in this issue is
also
commendable.
INVITATION TO A WOMEN'S FORUM
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
invites you, or a senior representative of your organisation, to a Women's
Forum.
The aim of the forum is to share our policies with you, so that
you can make an informed choice during the forthcoming presidential elections.
In addition, as a leader of an organisation with a constituency, we feel it is
important for you to be familiar with the policies of various parties so that
you can help your constituents to make informed choices.
It is also an
opportunity for you to ask the MDC leadership questions on issues that you feel
may require clarity concerning women.
The forum, which will be very
brief, shall take place in the conference room at Adelaide's Acre on Wednesday,
05 December, 2001 from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Lunch will be provided.
Please
note that this is not a political rally. Should you have any queries, please do
not hesitate to contact me. Kindly confirm your attendance before the date of
the forum. Should you wish to bring a friend who is involved in women's
activities, feel free to do so.
Thank you
Yours
sincerely
Matilda Moyo (Miss)
Women's Coordinator
759
016
758 676
Daily News - Feature
History will not ignore whites who fought with
us
12/1/01 6:45:36 AM (GMT +2)
PLEASE, somebody wake me up
and tell me that what I see going on in this
country is just a bad dream. If
what is going on is not a nightmare from
which I will soon wake up, then God
help us, for we are as good as sunk.
The ship of state is headed for the
rocks, while the gnarled old captain,
his mates and crew are busy fighting
frightened passengers who are
entreating them to steer the ship away from
looming disaster.
The other day I met a Zanu PF friend of mine, one of
the few left who is not
frightened to be seen talking to me. After greetings
and the usual inquiries
about the health of each other's family, he started
to berate me for writing
negative things about the government and supporting
the MDC.
I politely informed him that I am not a member of any political
party, but a
concerned citizen worried about where our rotten and
directionless
government is taking us. I firmly told him that at this time I
see nothing
positive to say about Zanu PF and the way they are running the
country.
After vaguely promising to get together sometime to discuss the
issue at
great length, we parted company. I am thankful because I still have
a few
Zanu PF friends who are decent enough to agree to disagree. Most of
them
will either avoid you, call you names or bash you in the head if
you
disagree with their politics of hate.
The situation our country is
in today reminds me of my now late Aunt
Mandichera. One day I went to her
house and found her very sick. When I
asked her what the trouble was, she
said: Hapana pachanzi apa, Museyamwa
(There is no part which is not painful,
my whole body aches.) This is also
true of Zimbabwe. The whole body politic
is sick and like a rudderless ship
we are headed for disaster. Some call me a
prophet of doom and I totally
agree with them. Even a fool can tell you that
it is going to rain when he
looks up and sees thick cumulus clouds
forming.
The signs and symptoms of impending disaster are clear for all
to see. I
understand that our President is busy digging Hitler-style
bomb-proof
bunkers to protect him and his family at State House. What about
the rest of
us? Where are we going to hide?
What is going on is
unfortunately not a bad dream, as I would wish, but
reality. Our aged leaders
are so anxious and desperate to retain sweet power
until they die that they
will stop at nothing to win the Presidential
election next year. The whole
thing would be extremely funny if it was not
so awesome and
tragic.
Their wrath began with the defeat of their flawed constitutional
proposals
in a relatively free and fair referendum. This turned into manic
lunacy when
most whites, urban dwellers and all of Matabeleland and the
Midlands
provinces openly supported the fledgling MDC to the extent that it
almost
trounced the ruling party during polls which were heavily weighted
against
it. We all know of the indiscriminate terror
unleashed on the
populace in revenge.
I doubt that there are any significant numbers of
Zimbabweans gullible
enough to believe that our polarisation and strife is
the result of the land
issue. All Zimbabweans believe in land
reform.
However, they refuse to look at the land question from a purely
racial
standpoint and would rather have dealt with it as a question of
justice
between human beings who are equal Zimbabweans.
To try and
bring the political power struggle in Zimbabwe today to a racial
common
denominator is hypocrisy of the first order. I was thoroughly
disgusted by
the hateful so-called analysis published in The Herald of
Tuesday 27 November
2001. This piece of garbage, written by a so-called
"features writer", who
was not man enough to put his name to it, has the
vitriol, outright lies and
racial hatred which can only have come from the
devil's own gutter.
I
took special exception to his reference to Eddie Cross as a racist. He
said:
"On the Zimbabwe scene, there is no evidence that Cross and his group
have
ever shown sympathy towards the welfare of the black majority."
I have
known Cross since the Sixties when we were young men. He is a
Christian
brother with whom I have more in common than the unChristian Zanu
PF thugs
who have plunged this country into poverty and disrepute.
After marriage
we continued our friendship and struggled against the racist
Rhodesian Front
regime with other young black and white Christian families.
In the Seventies
we started inter-racial groups called the Graduate
Christian Fellowship and
Christians in Action, through which we tried to
promote racial understanding
as well as opposing the Ian Smith regime. Some
of those involved were
respected Christian leaders like Phineas Dube, David
Dawanye and Richmond
Chiundiza.
When I discussed The Herald article with Mrs Christine Dawange
she said:
"Anyone calling Eddie Cross a racist does not know him. Our
families have
been friends for years and today our children are inseparable
brothers and
sisters. They do not look upon each other as being white or
black."
Either the writer was still too young in the Seventies or he is
just
ignorant of the politics of those days. Eddie Cross is a true son of
the
soil whose stature equals that of white non-racial stalwarts like the
hero,
Guy Clutton-Brock, Sir Garfield Todd, Bishop Donal Lamont,
Hardwicke
Holderness, Pat Bashford, Diana Mitchell, Eileen Haddon (publisher
of the
Central African Examiner), Leo Baron, Terence Ranger and John
Reed.
The writer went on to say that the Zimbabwe crisis "is a battle
between
domination and fairness, a battle between the colonial injustices and
the
reversal of those injustices, a battle between preserving the old
privileges
and the obliteration of protected privileges.
"It is a battle
between superiority and equality, a battle between morality
and immorality
and a battle between rich and poor. On one end stands Eddie
Cross, not Morgan
Tsvangirai, and on the other is President Mugabe."
This is shear
claptrap. Eddie Cross is one of the poorest white men I know
and Robert
Mugabe is one of the richest blacks in Africa. Did you see the
custom-made
limousine he has just ordered? What about his mansion and
overseas assets we
hear so much about?
The notion that the present battle is between white
privilege and black
poverty is a sick joke. The real battle is between Zanu
PF privilege and
Zimbabwe's poverty. It is a power struggle between the
immorality,
corruption and violence of Zanu PF, and the morality of the MDC
position.
To try and paint all whites as "racist Rhodesians" is
hate-mongering of the
most despicable kind. It will not work. The whites I
have mentioned and many
more contributed much to the struggle for justice in
this country. Many of
them were personal friends of James Chikerema and the
hero George Nyandoro.
It is only the amafikizolos (the Johnny come lately)
who are ignorant of
their sterling contribution. History will not forget
those whites who fought
with us.
He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.
Daily News
Ditched Zanu PF supporters cause massive land degradation in
Shamva
12/1/01 7:21:45 AM (GMT +2)
From Obert Matahwa in
Shamva
AN ecological disaster is looming in Shamva after about 80
invaders, most of
them Zanu PF members, turned to gold panning for a living,
claiming they had
no inputs to work on the land.
The settlers
descended on Tafuna Hills, which were prospected by the
Independence Gold
Zimbabwe (Private) Limited last March, and found to have
gold-producing
sulphides.
They claimed they were abandoned by the government after it
had settled them
on highly fertile land.
A Shamva commercial farmer,
who asked not to be named, said the invaders
were now engaged in massive
panning on the banks of the Mazowe River.
The farmer said: "The police
were alerted of a possible environmental
disaster if the government did not
move in to stop gold panning. They still
have not responded."
Zanu PF,
which supported the farm invaders with food supplies and transport
last year,
has cut off the aid, preferring to channel its finances to the
Presidential
election campaign.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Zanu PF secretary for
administration, told the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday that
Mashonaland Central was
the stronghold of Zanu PF and the party leadership
did not have to dole out
incentives to maintain its support base
there.
Some resettled farmers stay in makeshift pole-and-mud
huts.
Uncontrolled cutting of trees has left the area severely
deforested.
Meanwhile, sources in the Ministry of Mines and Energy said
the government
created the $500 million Gold Mining and Minerals Development
Trust Fund to
assist illegal gold panners with money and other support
schemes.
A source said: "The government was deliberately being vague when
it said the
fund would target mining activities with a potential to
contribute to
economic growth and employment creation.
"In fact, they
wanted to formalise illegal gold panning and support panners
to graduate into
small-scale miners."
Daily News
Black US congressmen now support anti-Mugabe
sanctions
12/1/01 7:18:29 AM (GMT +2)
Political
Editor
INTERNATIONAL financial and travel sanctions against President
Mugabe, his
senior officials in Zanu PF and their families, came a step
closer yesterday
after black Congressmen dropped their opposition to the
controversial
Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill.
The Bill
was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives
international
relations committee in Washington on Wednesday.
The black Congressmen
have been against the Bill, but it now means the Bill
will sail through the
House of Representatives unopposed before it adjourns
for the Christmas
holiday.
It is now expected that the Bill will be passed by the full
House next week.
Children of senior government officials and Zanu PF
members studying abroad
could be affected by the sanctions.
Daily News
Demonstrating Zanu PF youths besiege Daily News
12/1/01
7:21:12 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
ABOUT 200 Zanu PF
supporters yesterday marched through the city centre in
protest against the
demonstration by white students at Rhodes University in
South Africa last
week.
The white students demonstrated against the Zimbabwean government's
land
redistribution policy. The Zanu PF demonstrators said whites had no
moral
ground to talk about land.
The march was led by Winston Dzawo, a
former deputy mayor of Harare who was
once charged with fraud. Some of the
placards read: "Abuja, here we wait",
"Students support land reform
programme", "White Rhodes University students
are crazy", "Zimbabwean land
for Zimbabweans", "Blackness is Land"' and
"Students say we want
land".
Harare Polytechnic students said the demonstration had been
hijacked by Zanu
PF after Saviour Kasukuwere, the MP for Mount Darwin South,
allegedly
promised to bankroll the march to the tune of $50 000. But after
the
demonstration, they said Kasukuwere paid the demonstrators $18
000.
The protesters first gathered at the British High Commission
bringing
business to a standstill.
They later proceeded to The Daily
News offices where they sang, denouncing
the paper. A window was shattered
when a Zanu PF youth let go a steel ball
from a catapult at photographer
Tsvangirai Mukwazhi.
The march turned violent along Second Street when
the demonstrators, some of
whom were drinking beer, assaulted members of the
public .
Without restraint from the police, the demonstrators tore
several copies of
The Daily News and The Independent leaving Tenson
Tirivanhu, the vendor,
with nothing. A drunken youth relieved himself in
front of the police in
Africa Unity Square. As an officer moved in to deal
with him Dzawo and other
Zanu PF officials intervened.
On Tuesday, the
riot police foiled a demonstration by the National
Constitutional Assembly
against the proposed amendments to the Electoral
Act. Lovemore Madhuku, the
NCA chairman, and several activists were severely
beaten and detained at
Harare Central police station.
Zimbabwe's president tightens grip Opposition party, white farmers bear
brunt of crackdown - San Francisco Chronicle: 22 November 2001
Mugabe
cabinet affected by HIV - The Irish Times: Friday, November 23, 2001
Zimbabwe facing sanctions - The Scotsman: Saturday, 1 December
2001
Zimbabwe proposes tough laws to crack down on the opposition - The
Toronto Star: Nov. 22, 02:00 EDT
Zimbabwe's president tightens grip
Opposition party, white farmers bear brunt of crackdown
San Francisco
Chronicle: Thursday, November 22, 2001
Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times
Johannesburg -- Tension is boiling over in Zimbabwe after a recent wave of
attacks against the government's political opponents and the introduction of
stringent laws apparently designed to entrench the power of President Robert
Mugabe's party ahead of next year's election.
The attacks targeting the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, come
during a period of great instability. Past weeks have seen fresh violence
against white-owned commercial farms. Harassment of the media and members of the
judiciary is widespread. And a general breakdown of the rule of law is
terrifying average Zimbabweans, already beaten down by poverty.
More than 100 opposition supporters and 10 white farmers have been killed
within the last two years. State-sponsored killings and torture are on the rise,
according to local human rights groups.
MDC officials said Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-
Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, party are behind the oppressive actions, citing
their anger and frustration over not being able to suppress their toughest
political challenge since coming to power in 1980.
Just yesterday, Mugabe's administration said it will propose legislation
for the hanging of anyone found guilty of trying to overthrow the government.
Describing opposition parties' work as "terrorist activities," the government
said the new bill would also prohibit courts from granting bail to suspects in
allegedly politically motivated crimes, the Herald, a state-run newspaper,
reported.
"These are seriously desperate measures," said Gibson Sibanda, the
opposition party's vice president. "They are just trying everything. They are
not going to stop at anything."
The most recent attack on opposition targets came Friday with the
destruction of the MDC headquarters in Bulawayo, the nation's second-largest
city.
The building was stoned and hit with gasoline bombs by pro-government
militants who were protesting the killing of Cain Nkala, a ruling party ally who
has helped lead violent occupations of 1,700 white-owned farms. MDC supporters
avenged the destruction by burning a college owned by a former ruling party
legislator and Mugabe crony.
The government says the MDC was behind Nkala's abduction and strangulation,
a claim the party denies.
After Nkala's body was found in a shallow grave outside Bulawayo last week,
police arrested 16 opposition activists and an MDC member of parliament on
charges of murder. Two reporters for the country's only independent daily
newspaper were released Tuesday after their weekend arrests on charges of
involvement in an alleged plot to implicate the government in Nkala's killing.
At Nkala's funeral Sunday, Mugabe called the MDC a terrorist organization
and vowed to crush it.
"The MDC and their supporters should know their days are numbered," Mugabe
told the hundreds of mourners. "The time is now up for the MDC terrorists as the
world has been awakened by the death of Nkala."
MDC officials said the president's words resounded with desperation.
"It appears that Robert Mugabe and the party are completely irrational and
are willing to use any means possible to stay in power," said David Coltart, the
MDC's shadow justice minister and a member of parliament.
MDC officials said the destruction of their headquarters would only
strengthen their resolve.
"They can do these things, but certainly that cannot break the spirit of
the people," said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as he toured the bombed-out
building Monday. "If at all, they will reinforce the spirit of the people."
The MDC nearly beat the ruling party in parliamentary polls last year,
despite a violent campaign by pro-government supporters in which 31 people were
killed.
In recent weeks, Mugabe has exercised his powers of decree with the intent,
local commentators say, of ensuring his victory in the presidential race, due by
April.
Independent election monitors, both foreign and local, have been banned.
Nongovernmental organizations are not allowed to disseminate voter education.
Charities may not distribute food relief.
The country's Land Acquisition Act was also amended, fueling a controversy
over the seizure of white-owned commercial farms. The government has targeted
about 5,000 of these farms -- about 95 percent of all farms owned by whites --
for redistribution to largely landless blacks.
The amended land law removes the right of farmers to appeal a land
acquisition order and makes interfering with black resettlement a criminal
offense.
Bulawayo is at the heart of Matabeleland, home to the Ndebele ethnic group
that makes up about 20 percent of Zimbabwe's population. The region has long
been an opposition stronghold, with Ndebeles complaining of second-class
treatment and claiming that development in their homeland has been intentionally
stifled.
In the 1980s, thousands of Ndebeles were slaughtered by a special
government brigade after the people of Matabeleland took sides with the ZANU-
PF, which was an opposition party at the time.
"There's certainly no love lost here for Robert Mugabe," said Coltart, who
spoke from a secure location outside of Bulawayo. "The people are quite aware of
what he was responsible for in the 1980s. And they hold him responsible for the
economic collapse of this region."
MDC supporters in Bulawayo have suffered numerous attacks and intimidation.
Several provincial officials and supporters have recently been arrested.
Tsvangirai, who is likely to challenge Mugabe for the presidency, recently
survived an attack on his motorcade by ruling party militants.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court threw out charges of terrorism and sabotage
against Tsvangirai. The charges were leveled last year after he told a rally
that Mugabe should quit or face violent removal.
Mugabe cabinet affected by HIV
The Irish Times: Friday, November 23,
2001
ZIMBABWE: Six ministers in in Zimbabwe's 22-member cabinet are receiving
treatment for HIV, a weekly newspaper reported yesterday. In a front-page
report, the Financial Gazette said six of President Robert Mugabe's ministers
are receiving free anti-retroviral treatment from a local AIDS organisation.
A regime of anti-retroviral drugs is prescribed for people living with the
HIV virus.
Mr Frank Guni, the director of Zimbabwe National Network for People Living
with HIV/AIDS, confirmed that the six ministers were among 500 people receiving
treatment, but would not divulge their names.
Last year, Mr Mugabe said at least three of his cabinet ministers and
several traditional leaders have died from AIDS-related illnesses in recent
years.
An estimated 2,000 Zimbabweans die from AIDS-related illnesses each week,
and one in four adults are thought to be HIV positive.
In a separate development, the paper reported that Mr Guni had gone into
hiding after receiving bomb threats for disbursing free AIDS drugs he secured
overseas.
The callers accused Mr Guni of campaigning for the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) when he distributed drugs to HIV
support groups in central Zimbabwe at the weekend.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the Zimbabwean government would jail or fine
people who move about without identity cards under a proposed law.
In a statement published in the official Herald newspaper yesterday, the
government said it had approved amendments to the National Registration Act and
the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to make it mandatory for people to carry
either a national ID card, a passport or a driver's licence.
- (AFP, Reuters)
Zimbabwe facing sanctions
The Scotsman: Saturday, 1 December 2001
A 20-MEMBER delegation from
the European Union arrived in Zimbabwe last night to consider sanctions against
the country in the face of mounting human rights abuses.
Hours earlier, the government proposed a law that would allow it to jail or
fine people who moved about without identity cards - the latest in a string of
draconian moves by the embattled president, Robert Mugabe.
- Reuters
Zimbabwe proposes tough laws to crack down on the opposition
Death
penalty may be imposed for sedition, `terrorist activity'
The Toronto Star:
Nov. 22, 02:00 EDT
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — In its latest crackdown
against the opposition, the Zimbabwean government will propose legislation for
the hanging of those found guilty of trying to overthrow the government, media
reports said yesterday.
Describing opposition work as "terrorist activities," the government said
the new bill would also prohibit courts from granting bail to suspects in
allegedly politically motivated crimes, The Herald, a state-run newspaper
reported.
The report of the new legislation followed a ruling Tuesday by the Supreme
Court that dismissed subversion charges by the government against opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The court ruled that a colonial-era law invoked to prosecute Tsvangirai on
allegations he incited an overthrow of the government violated his
constitutional rights to a fair trial.
Tsvangirai welcomed the decision but said he doubted future cases would be
granted a fair hearing because President Robert Mugabe has recently stacked the
Supreme Court with ruling party loyalists.
"I am pleased if our courts can maintain this integrity but I fear in any
future constitutional case we will find it difficult,'' he said.
Tsvangirai faced a five-year jail term if found guilty and conviction would
have barred him from running against Mugabe in presidential elections scheduled
for next year.
Mugabe faces a tight race against Tsvangirai, whose Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) is running on a platform of accountable government and has
widespread support in the cities.
Copies of the proposed legislation against sedition have not yet been made
public, but opposition officials said it appeared to be part of a government
plan to intimidate critics before elections.
The legislation would also prohibit courts from granting bail to suspects
in allegedly politically motivated crimes ranging from murder to car theft, the
report said.
Rural Zimbabwe has spiralled into chaos since March, 2000, when ruling
party militants began violently occupying white-owned farms, demanding they be
handed over to landless blacks.
Opposition officials accuse Mugabe of using land seizures without
compensation to the farmers as a pre-election ploy to garner support and scare
off opponents.
Also yesterday, opposition officials announced the death of MDC activist
Kufa Rukara, 55.
Rukara died Tuesday of injuries suffered in September after he was
allegedly beaten by ruling party militants in the Gokwe district, some 300
kilometres west of Harare.
There has been no comment by police on his death.
Mugabe's government has executed 66 people since coming to power in 1980,
but has granted amnesty to 2,000 security force members and ruling ZANU-PF party
members accused of killing suspected opponents.
In a recent wave of
unrest following the death of a leading ruling party militant, opposition
members were arrested.
Militants who torched an opposition office and beat up whites in the
western city of Bulawayo were not apprehended.
The Amani Trust, a Zimbabwean human rights group, said ruling party
militants were responsible for most of the some 100 political related killings
in the last year. There have been no arrests.
Daily News
SA to rename towns
12/1/01 7:20:39 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff Reporter
Inter-Press Service reports that the South
African government plans to
rename some of the country's towns and cities
after the local elections this
month in line with the new political
dispensation.
Most of the well-known cities such as Cape Town, Durban and
Johannesburg
have elected to keep their names for business
reasons.
Cape Town residents, for example, said that the name was too
well-known on
the global tourist map to change it now.
But the
political capital, Pretoria, will be renamed Tshwane. Most cities
and towns
have opted to take on African names to move away from their
English and
Afrikaner colonial heritage.
Bloemfontein becomes Manguang and Bethlehem
will change to Dihlabeng.
Paulpietersburg becomes uPhongolo and the renowned
spa town of Warmbaths
will be known as Bela Bela.
Nelspruit, the town
bordering Mozambique, becomes Mbombela.
East London has gone back to its
old name of Buffalo City.
The name changes are likely to take some time
to be phased in, given the
enormity of the task. Official documentation, maps
and stationery must all
be changed.
- Newspaper offices stoned -
NYTimes
- New law to silence press -
Times
- Cost of govt's famine put at US$80m -
ZimInd
- Bar bill bilker blames Bob -
News24
- Fuel queues reappear -
ZimInd
- Breaking the mirror -
ZWNEWS
From The New York Times, 1
December
Zimbabwe press vows to fight
Mugabe
Harare - Hundreds of ruling party militants
marched through Zimbabwe's capital on Friday to support proposed legislation
that would further restrict the media, stoning the offices of two independent
weeklies and attacking vendors selling independent newspapers. Militants loyal
to president Robert Mugabe's party chased vendors from their stalls and tore up
bundles of The Independent and the Daily News. Police escorted the marchers, did
not try to stop the mayhem and made no arrests. One photographer was injured.
Independent journalists vowed to fight the proposed
legislation, which would establish a restrictive license system for journalists
and authorize fines and imprisonment for violations of government-imposed
standards. Under the legislation, only Zimbabwean citizens would be able to
obtain a license to work, and special permission would be required for a
Zimbabwean to work for a foreign news organization, Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo said. "This must be fought with all the legal powers we have to
prevent it seeing the light of day," said Trevor Ncube, publisher of The
Zimbabwe Independent and Sunday Standard, the country's two main independent
weeklies. "We must never acquiesce to this dictatorship," he said.
The proposed legislation marks the Mugabe
government's latest effort to control independent and foreign media, which have
covered its crackdown on the political opposition and state-sanctioned
occupations of white-owned farms. Journalists have been beaten and arrested, and
some foreign reporters have been deported. Last week, a presidential spokesman
accused some journalists from foreign media of being terrorists after they
reported on political violence by ruling party militants. That charge prompted
diplomatic protests from Britain and the United States. In an interview with the state-controlled Herald newspaper, Moyo
said Mugabe's Cabinet approved the legislation this week and that it would be
enacted before presidential elections expected early next year. Parliament is
dominated by the ruling party and is likely to pass the bill. Mugabe, 77, has
ruled since independence in 1980 and is seeking a further six-year term in
office. But Zimbabwe's economy has fallen apart since the farm occupations began
last year and his popularity has plummeted, placing him in danger of losing the
race. The details of the media bill have not been released. Moyo said the
legislation would impose sentences of up to two years in prison and fines of up
to US$1,800 for defying "professional and ethical standards" that will be
imposed by a government media commission. He said it would make it an offence to
"cause alarm and despondency" or spread information that discredits a person
based on race, political conviction or a number of other categories. The
commission would have the power to revoke licenses, he said.
Also Friday, The Daily News reported that
two men arrested in a high-profile killing retracted statements that implicated
members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, saying they
signed them after being tortured by police. Khethani Sibanda and Remember Moyo,
two drivers for the opposition party, had signed confessions implicating
opposition party officials in the Nov. 5 death of Cain Nkala, a leader of the
ruling party militants in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city. The
newspaper reported that the two repudiated the confessions in testimony this
week, telling a judge that neither they nor any party official were involved in
Nkala's killing.
From The Times (UK), 1
December
Zimbabwe's new law to silence
journalists
Harare - New laws announced by Zimbabwe
yesterday would give the state powers to silence all independent newspapers and
journalists. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill will
establish a "media and information commission" with extraordinary powers to
regulate the media, the state-controlled daily The Herald said. Editors and
journalists here who feared that independent newspapers were in imminent danger
of being closed and foreign correspondents banned, said they would fight the
legislation. Local journalists and correspondents for overseas publications
would have to hold "certificates of registration", renewable every year, issued
by the state-appointed commission. Only Zimbabwean
nationals would be able to work as journalists. The commission would have powers
to "discipline journalists for misconduct" and could withdraw licences, "impose
conditions it deems fit", and impose a fine of Z$50,000. Journalists working for
foreign media would have to have their accreditation approved by Jonathan Moyo,
the Information Minister. His department last week accused five foreign
correspondents, including those of The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian
and The Independent, of "assisting terrorists".
Publishers of newspapers would be forced to
get operating licences. Breaches of the Bill could lead to the cancellation of a
licence. The Bill would make it a crime to "conceal, falsify or fabricate
information, spread rumours or cause alarm and despondency under the guise of
authentic reports". The charge of "causing alarm and despondency" - part of
40-year-old Rhodesian emergency legislation that was abolished by the Supreme
Court two years ago for being unconstitutional - reappears in the Bill.
Journalists may also be charged for "deliberately spreading information which
discredits" anyone. Nhlanhla Ngwenya, spokesman for
the Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Programme, said: "It will lead to the extinction
of the private media." "This is the worst form of muzzling the press anywhere,"
said Basildon Peta, President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. The Bill was
"criminal", he said. "Even a court under the Taleban would find a piece of
legislation like this illegal." Not even the former white-minority Rhodesian
Government passed press laws as draconian as these, said Trevor Ncube, publisher
of the respected Zimbabwe Independent. "It’s like McCarthyism," he said. "This
must be fought with all the legal powers we have to see it doesn’t see the light
of day. We must never acquiesce to this kind of dictatorship."
Yesterday about 300 of President Mugabe’s
supporters staged an aggressive demonstration outside the British High
Commission, and also at the offices of the independent Daily News. The editors
of The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent yesterday
wrote to the Zimbabwe High Commission condemning last week’s attack on their
correspondents. The editors urged Mr Mugabe to "take steps to reassure us that
our highly experienced and well-regarded correspondents will be able to carry
out their work unimpeded and with their journalistic rights respected".
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30
November
UNDP seeks to raise US$80m for food
aid
Following Zimbabwe’s recent international plea for humanitarian
aid to ease looming food shortages, the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), says it hopes to raise an estimated US$80 million from donors. UNDP
resident representative, Victor Angelo, told the Zimbabwe Independent in
Bulawayo last week that following Zimbabwe’s recent appeal for food and non-food
assistance, the UN had met with the donor community twice and was formulating a
response under its humanitarian assistance programme. "The overall budget of the
UN humanitarian response programme that we are currently formulating is
approximately US$80 million. However, this is a very preliminary estimate," said
Angelo. "We still have to look more precisely at the hardships of people in
urban and peri-urban areas as well as needs related to farm workers. It is too
early to say what the response will be. But the World Food Programme is in the
last stages of approving a food assistance package."
A fortnight ago, Zimbabwe sent out an international SOS for
nearly Z$20 billion in emergency aid to avert a national disaster resulting from
a combination of food shortages, price controls and a biting foreign currency
shortage. Of the amount, government needs $11 billion to avert starvation and
the balance for infrastructural rehabilitation. While government has
persistently denied looming food shortages, empty shop shelves tell a different
story. The UNDP said it was not taking the appeal lightly and was working with
other UN agencies such as the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund, the
World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commission for
Refugees.
The UNDP is also going to rely on its extensive network of
partners in the donor community, NGOs and the private sector. "We consider it
(the appeal) to be very urgent and we will try to mobilise support for it.
Initial contacts make me believe that a number of donors see the humanitarian
situation as a challenge that needs to be responded to," Angelo said. Recently
government spokesman, Jonathan Moyo, told the official press that government
would be the sole distributor of food in a bid to bar the use of food as a
campaign tool, a move some NGOs said could hinder their humanitarian assistance
programmes. The UNDP was however optimistic that humanitarian assistance
provided by the UN system would be implemented in a transparent way with a clear
selection of beneficiaries.
From News24 (SA), 30
November
Mugabe's 'drinking pal'
nabbed
Harare – A bar patron is due to appear in court in the remote southeastern
town of Chiredzi after he told the waiter to ask President Robert Mugabe to
settle the bill. The unidentified man was presented with a bill for Z$370 and
when he could not pay, took off his trousers, put them on the waiter's tray, and
said the garment was worth the cost of the drinks. His offer was refused and in
desperation he referred the waiter to Mugabe. According to the state-controlled
daily, the Herald, police were called and charged him with "denigrating the
president".
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30
November
Parts of Zimbabwe go without
fuel
Zimbabweans faced the spectre of fuel shortages this week as
erratic supplies resurfaced countrywide. The country’s erratic fuel supplies
triggered by acute foreign currency shortages temporarily eased for the past
five months after the government signed a US$360 million fuel deal with Libya.
Government insisted there was enough fuel in stock to last the festive season.
But parts of the country, including Gweru, Chinhoyi, Matebeleland, KweKwe and
Victoria Falls, were said to be facing shortages. The government said fuel
disruptions in these areas had been caused by the NRZ strike earlier this
week.
Motorists are already panicking about the possibility of fuel
shortage ahead of the festive season. They said despite problems caused by the
National Railways of Zimbabwe workers’ strike, it was hard to understand why
areas where fuel was transported by road were experiencing supply problems. Oil
Industry Association of Zimbabwe vice-chairman, John Makova, yesterday said
reports indicated there were logistical difficulties on the supply chain.
"Logistical difficulties associated with fuel transportation mean that moving
fuel from supply point to inland distribution points can take up to seven days.
This period is extended if there are hold ups," said Makova, without explaining
the hold up. He called on stakeholders to "work together to ensure that
logistical challenges are resolved". Mines and Energy minister, Edward
Chindori-Chininga told parliament on Wednesday that oil companies were
deliberately refusing to collect fuel from depots. He did not shed light on why
they were suddenly reluctant. Chindori-Chininga blamed oil companies for not
collecting about 5,7 million litres of petrol and 8 million litres of diesel by
Wednesday.
Comment from ZWNEWS, 1
December
Breaking the
mirror
By Chenjerai
Hove
Let us imagine a situation whereby all independent journalists
and foreign correspondents happen to be on the same plane, flying to some place
for some purpose. Just imagine, all in one plane, flying over Zimbabwean skies.
All of them: Geoff Nyarota, Willam Bango, Bill Saidi, Trevor Ncube, Iden
Wetherell, Basidon Peta, Mark Chavhunduka, Ray Choto, Chido Makunike, Chenjerai
Hove, Francis Mhlongwa, David Masunda, Andrew Meldrum and many more. They are on
flight 2001, to some place. And it so happens that the plane crushes. I can tell
you there are going to be celebrations in town, with one recently announced
composer of music and manager of football teams going the whole way to script a
song and stage it for the cameras, the whole nation watching and wondering how
it is that a prominent politician can celebrate human death.
Or if your imagination is good, imagine all those gentlemen and
ladies, critical writers and journalists, being discovered to be staying in the
same block of flats, fifty floors. The Twin Towers of the United States will be
nothing compared to what some over-enthusiastic Zanu PF political jihadists
would do to us. The fact of the matter is that you do not have to be a rocket
scientist to know that critical journalists and writers are the most hated in
our country. Ask Nyarota and he will tell you that even if he is in our
beautiful country, he cannot stand in the open one Sunday afternoon to admire
the beauty of the setting sun. The Zimbabwean government has put on hold all
money for development projects in order to ensure that the biggest development
needed now becomes the elimination of the writers and opposition politicians,
plus a few innocent souls who have the inclination to be caught in the crossfire
of our politics.
I have always argued that the best that can happen to a country
is to have vigorous and intense criticism from those who are being ruled. Being
ruled does not mean that one is turned into a victim in one’s own country. The
country deserves to have its share of criticism in case it decays. The mirror
that shows your ugly heart and face does not deserve to be broken. It should be
respected for showing the viewer the reality of the place, of the visage, as the
French would say. Don't break the mirror, for goodness sake, go for some more
make-up or visit the plastic surgeon and have your face reconstructed.
Many years ago, I watched on TV as President Robert Mugabe
fumed about a Sunday Mail article which detailed stories about how Zimbabwean
students who had tested HIV positive in Cuba were being sent back. He threatened
to 'deal with the hand that held the pen.' Since I knew the journalist involved
- an editor actually - I could only co-miserate with him. I knew he had lost his
job; and he surely did. And my wild imagination saw the man being amputated. I
was only judging from the speech of the President in front of the Cuban foreign
minister who had actually lodged the complaint about the article. What perhaps
the President forgot is that once one is in public office, one has to stand
criticism of all sorts. And the best way of handling criticism is not to put in
place vicious laws which transform the country into some form of maximum
security prison. The best medicine is the gift of laughter, to laugh with your
critics, to share the stories, weird and juicy, about the vagaries of being in
office, the temptations and how to resist them. Political maturity requires that
the ruling party and the opposition drink Chibuku together, joking at how the
opposition lost narrowly and what mistakes they made, and also how the
opposition would boast that the ruling party was almost sent into
opposition.
This new version of 'terrorists' we now read about in the media
is amazing. I know the ruling party were heavily 'terrorised' when they realised
that they almost lost the 2000 parliamentary elections. But to put the
opposition and the truthful journalists in the same league as the Twin Towers
highjackers is to waste language. In fact, the ruling party has never been one
to be known for using language carefully. Instead of cautioning the two
Vice-Presidents about using public language carefully, the President gets angry
with the voters. Both VCs are so reckless with language that it is advisable to
tell them to keep their mouths shut. Recently one of them spoke of 'a
bloodbath', and the other one spoke of the electorate voting for 'baboons' if it
so happens that the ruling party fielded baboons as election candidates. In
fact, there is no worse abuse of language or greater insult to the electorate.
Me, voting for a baboon in a country with over twelve million clear-headed
citizens? That is recklessness at its worst.
It is common knowledge that
those who do not want people to comment about their type of dress, should never
walk in public. Worse still, if you hold public office. Critical writers and
journalists help to ventilate the national imagination. I would hate to live in
a country in which everybody agreed with everybody on every subject under the
sun. Just imagine, the conversation will always begin and end with: 'Yes, I
agree. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,' till kingdom come. But the gods gave us some
grey stuff between our ears, and as long as we are alive, we will use it
critically to examine our condition.
Chenjerai Hove is a renowned Zimbabwean writer.
| My heart goes out to the Chemvura family
|
|
12/1/01 6:31:06 AM (GMT
+2)
|
|
ALLOW me this
opportunity to express my sincere condolences to the Chemvura family on the loss
of their loved one Lameck Chemvura who was murdered by the Zimbabwe National
Army which, in my view, has lost focus.
History is rich with
stories similar to what is happening in our country. President Mugabe, I
suppose, is not oblivious to all this.
Maybe, history must always repeat
itself and when it does, those involved have but one choice, to let it happen as
it has happened in the past.
One thing for sure is, Mugabe will be
judged harshly by future generations.
Let it be known to him that the
people who voted him into office, those he now takes for granted, will rise
against him sooner or later. He will go down the same way as other dictators.
Our country is being ruined by a few individuals, let us as Zimbabweans
root out the evil from our midst.
For expressing yourself, you are
thrown out of a moving train by people who are
supposed to protect you.
Time has come for the power of good to prevail over evil.
We are
watching and taking good notes, Mr President.
Zimbabwean
South
Africa |