| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
Harare - Opponents of Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe's regime were in
uproar on Sunday over new laws that allow authorities
to hold suspects
accused of economic crimes for up to four weeks without
bail.
New regulations decreed on Friday give police the power to detain
for a week
people suspected of economic crimes including corruption, money
laundering
and illegal dealing in foreign exchange and gold, even where there
is no
reasonable evidence of their guilt.
The Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act)
regulations also specifically disallow courts
from granting suspects bail for
seven days.
They can be detained for another 21 days if "prima evidence"
of criminal
involvement is produced.
The regulations 'undermine
the principles of the rule of law'
The constitution allows police to hold
suspects for only 48 hours. After the
period expires, they have to be brought
to court where they may ask for
bail.
Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa told reporters that "we do not want to
have a situation whereby our
investigating officers spend a lot of time in
courts."
MDC secretary
for legal affairs David Coltart said in a statement Sunday
that "this
Draconian legislation is reminiscent of legislation used by the
(white
minority government of former prime minister Ian) Smith regime and
the
apartheid regime in South Africa to deny people their liberty."
Lovemore
Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional Association which is
lobbying
for a new democratic constitution, said the regulations "undermine
the
principles of the rule of law.
"Police need to investigate first before
they arrest, not the other way
round."
Human rights lawyers said they
feared the decree would be used against
Mugabe's opponents. "They can pick up
anyone they don't like, keep them
inside for a month, and then claim they are
being investigated for
corruption," said one who asked not to be named. -
Sapa-DPA
Gulf Daily News
African farmers eye new markets
KIGALI: Finding ways to get African farmers better access to
lucrative SOKWANELE
Enough
is Enough PROMOTING
NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY We have a
fundamental right to freedom of
expression! Sokwanele reporter 12 February
2004 If Zimbabwe were a free country – which by any
standard it is not – the nation’s flags would surely be flying at half mast this
week. For last week the Chief Justice
effectively sentenced media freedom to death. In his ruling in the case brought
by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Zimbabwe Chief Justice
Chidyausiku (a close associate of Mugabe and former member of his cabinet)
upheld the constitutionality of certain key sections of the restrictive media
laws controlling local journalists and foreign correspondents. At a stroke he awarded Mugabe’s chief spin
doctor Jonathan Moyo (sometimes known as minister of propaganda and
misinformation) the power to decide quite arbitrarily who may practise as a
journalist in Zimbabwe and who may not.
Surely the dream of every dictator.
The Act which confers these awesome powers on the junior
minister (and his Media and Information Commission) is the infamous Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) – a misnomer if ever there
were one for an Act clearly designed to obstruct and impede the free flow of
information. AIPPA requires all
journalists to be registered with the Commission and prohibits them from
practising without accreditation, and it was these provisions which were being
challenged in the Supreme Court. The
challenge was brought on the basis that these provisions infringed on the
general right to freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution. But by
a tortuous and contrived process of legal reasoning the Chief Justice managed to
arrive at the conclusion that the freedom of expression guaranteed by section 20
of the Constitution did not apply to the press.
Hence journalists enjoy no such right and the state and its agents are
entitled to decide just who may work as a journalist and who may not. Hence reporting by license, and effectively
the end of media freedom in Zimbabwe. All but one of the Supreme Court Judges hearing the case
went along with the Chief Justice and his curious process of reasoning, but one
courageous Judge did not. In a powerful
dissenting judgment the country’s most experienced Supreme Court Justice, Wilson
Sandura, (and the only one who has so far escaped Mugabe’s purge of the
judiciary) ruled that the offending sections of AIPPA were indeed ultra vires
the constitution and therefore should be struck down. Expressly disagreeing with Chidyausiku on the
latter’s restrictive interpretation of section 20 of the constitution, Sandura
said: “It is pertinent to note that
there is no rational basis for distinguishing the practice of journalism from
the exercise of the right of freedom of expression because the two are
intertwined”. The effect of the majority judgment was as immediate as
it was profound. The country’s only
independent daily paper, the Daily News, which had bravely resumed publishing on
the strength of a number of successful cases brought in the lower courts, was
immediately taken off the streets, its journalists now subject to a mandatory
term of two years imprisonment for practising their profession without a license
from Jonathan Moyo. Likewise other
experienced writers who lack - and given their independence of thought, are most
unlikely ever to be given - the necessary accreditation. At a stroke Mugabe has
achieved through his junior minister and with the willing cooperation of his
hand-picked team of Supreme Court Judges, the power he long coveted, to shut
down the independent media and silence the voice of dissent in Zimbabwe. The
nation should indeed be in a state of mourning. Chidyausiku’s politically partisan ruling has already
been slammed by many who cherish the principle of press freedom. From within Zimbabwe Abel Mutsakani, the
managing editor of the Daily News and president of the independent journalists’
association which challenged this odious
system of reporting by license, said: “This is the final nail in the coffin of
the independent press. We are devastated
and heartbroken”.
The Southern Africa Journalists’ Association
commented: “surely even those judges who
see their role as being to appease the regime of Robert Mugabe only, must at
times be restrained by their consciences in the long-term interests of their own
country in which their children live”.
And the General Council of the Bar of South Africa called
the judgment “a double blow to justice”.
Because the judgment was given by the Chief Justice it was, in the words
of this august body of South African advocates, “not only a blow to freedom of
expression, but also to the independence of the judiciary … (and therefore) to
be doubly deprecated”. One of the few remaining lights in Zimbabwe has been
extinguished and the darkness which every dictator covets for his evil deeds, is
now almost complete. Ends
American and European markets topped the agenda yesterday as
leaders and
senior officials from 20 African countries met in
Rwanda.
Members of the New Partnership for Africa Development, or
Nepad,
worked to hammer out a common position on how to convince the United
States
and European countries to reduce or eliminate the massive
agricultural
subsidies they give their farmers, Claver Gatete, a senior Nepad
official,
said.
The African leaders and officials "are trying to
see how African
countries, African products can access markets in developed
countries ...
where they are providing subsidies of almost $1 billion per day
for
agricultural products," Gatete said.
Western countries spend
about $300bn a year supporting their farmers,
subsidies that African
countries argue undercut the competitive advantage of
one of the continent's
main industries.
The subsidies have "really prohibited" African
farmers from selling
their produce in Western countries, Gatete
said.
The two-day summit began on Friday when 16 nations launched
a
self-policing system intended to combat negative perceptions of Africa
and
make the world's poorest continent more attractive to private
investors.
Angola became the 17th country to join the initiative
known as the
African Peer Review Mechanism, said Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Under the initiative, countries will open themselves up
to scrutiny by
independent agencies, such as the UN Economic Commission for
Africa, which
will consult with governments, the private sector to gauge
economic and
political conditions, focusing on corruption and the investment
environment.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Mirror
Harare municipality vows to intensify war against
vendors
Kristofah Mahove
The Harare municipal police are set to
intensify their war against illegal
vendors operating from within the city's
central business district..
While the city council says it will deal
ruthlessly with the illegal
vendors, the latter have vowed to continue going
about their business
despite the harassment by the municipal police, known as
the "blue bombers".
The City of Harare's public relations manager, Leslie
Gwindi, told the Daily
Mirror that the city would be firm with the vendors,
saying they would use
"any means necessary" to rid the city's central
business district of the
vendors, who have turned almost every street corner
into a market.
council had tried all it could to accommodate vendors at
designated points
but those unauthorised to vend continued to violate city
by-laws.
He said there were enough designated places to cater for all
licensed
vendors.
Gwindi highlighted that, the city had a duty to
manage the activities of the
vendors, ensuring that they operated in
accordance with council by-laws.
He also added that, the municipal
authority would soon swoop on street
families whose numbers keep on
swelling.
The vendors, however, accused the council of being insensitive
to their
plight, and vowed to fight to the bitter end.
Those who spoke
to the Daily Mirror said the council should realise that
they were only
trying to earn an honest living and faced real starvation if
the council
continued with their crackdown.
They said no amount of harassment or
arrests by the municipal police would
deter them.
"It seems these
people want us all to be robbers. This harassment is
uncalled for and should
stop now before things get out of hand," said one
vendor, who spoke as he
fled from the "blue bombers" at the Speke Avenue
terminus this
week.
The "blue bombers", who were recruited by council recently, have
been
fighting running battles with the vendors in the past weeks. Some of
the
clashes have been quite serious, with a number of vendors and some of
the
police officers sustaining injuries.
Some ordinary residents
castigated the municipal police for harassing the
vendors, saying they should
leave them to fend for their families.
They said the harsh economic
conditions currently prevailing in the country
have forced most people, who
have found themselves out of employment for a
number of reasons, to venture
into street-side vending.
The Combined Harare Residents Association
(CHRA) chairperson, Mike Davis
said although he recognised the need to make
the city clean and facilitate
the free movement of transport, there was no
need for the council to be
heavy-handed.
He questioned the wisdom of
using the "blue bombers" when there are more
humane ways of dealing with the
vendors.
He said there was need for council to educate residents on the
importance of
keeping the city clean, adding that this could be done through
the
distribution of education materials to the residents.
Gwindi,
however, could neither deny nor confirm that the municipal police
were indeed
graduates from the national youth services training centres.
The Telegraph
ICC will have to accept anti-Mugabe
sentiment
By Donald Trelford
(Filed:
16/02/2004)
The England and Wales Cricket Board have agreed
not to announce a
decision on November's planned tour of Zimbabwe until after
a meeting with
the International Cricket Council in New Zealand on March
10.
Their chairman, David Morgan, has been invited to explain and
defend a
powerful ECB report recommending that the visit be cancelled,
chiefly on
moral and political grounds.
The report - extolled
last month in the British media and by all
political parties in a public
relations triumph for Des Wilson, head of the
ECB's marketing committee - has
been attacked by ICC members and the
overseas media for "breathtaking
arrogance" and "high-handedness and
divisiveness".
What was so
cheering about the report was that it made such a contrast
with the feeble
and muddle-headed approach of our cricket authorities in the
past, who had
fumbled the ball so badly over issues such as the 1968
D'Oliveira affair in
South Africa and the cancellation of England's visit to
Zimbabwe in the last
World Cup.
In the David Gower campaign of 1991, in which I played a
minor walk-on
part along with Harold Pinter, Tim Rice and other "rebels", we
argued that
Lord's had moral as well as legal obligations to cricket and a
duty to stand
up for the traditional values of the game where they were
threatened - as we
thought they were when Gower and wicketkeeper Jack Russell
were omitted from
a tour party to India simply because their style did not
fit the identikit
pattern favoured by the dour England
management.
The ECB report makes an unanswerable case for
cancelling the Zimbabwe
tour. It does not adopt a "holier-than-thou" attitude
or argue that we
should take our bat home rather than play in undemocratic
countries.
It carefully balances the pros and cons of this
particular case,
including the ECB's obligations to the game's world
governing body, and
concludes that Robert Mugabe's regime is so far beyond
the pale in terms of
torture, oppression and denial of the rule of law - a
view shared by the
Commonwealth, incidentally, to which nearly all
cricket-playing countries
belong - that for England to go there would be seen
as condoning or
endorsing evil.
It would also undermine the
policy of the British Government, as a
letter to the ECB from the Foreign
Secretary makes clear. Conservative and
Liberal Democrat spokesmen have
called for the tour's cancellation in even
stronger terms.
This
is an argument that should carry weight at the ICC summit, for
their rules
acknowledge that member countries are sometimes obliged to act
according to
their governments' wishes.
Why, one might ask, are India and
Pakistan now playing each other
again? Because their governments allow
it.
For the ICC to suggest that politics and cricket can be kept
apart is
naive and hypocritical. In this case the Foreign Office have fallen
short of
giving instructions to the ECB to cancel the tour, because they have
no
power to do so.
But they have gone about as far as it is
possible to go in a democracy
to make their disapproval clear. If that is not
force majeure in the full
legal sense, then the ICC's rules need
amending.
There have been threats that September's ICC tournament
might be taken
away from England in favour of another host country. But why
would the ICC
damage their own tournament and jeopardise their commercial
arrangements
when one of their central tenets is that contracts are
sacred?
The ECB are right to discuss the Zimbabwe problem with the
rest of the
world cricket community, but the ICC should be in no doubt that
England have
decided not to go.
For their part the ICC should be
safeguarding the real interests of
cricket and asking themselves how these
would be served by punishing the ECB
and thereby sending out an international
message of support for Mugabe. We
can still hope the old tyrant solves the
problem by dying or losing power
before November.
Neil Back's
battered visage is evidence of the brave service he has
given his country
over the years by putting his head and body on the line.
Those
qualities were never more needed than in the Rugby World Cup,
when he played
a crucial role in neutralising the immensely powerful French
and Australian
back rows.
He deserved better treatment than to have his England
career
terminated so abruptly by Sir Clive Woodward. The reason given for
the
decision - lack of "form" - is so unconvincing that one has to wonder
if
there was something more personal behind it. As someone who campaigned
for
Neil when successive England coaches said he was too small I am naturally
on
his side, but nevertheless I think it was time for him to go.
Richard Hill is a worthy successor on the open side and, at 35, Back
should
have bowed out with Martin Johnson. Then he would be remembered for
his
blazing performances on the field rather than petty squabbling off
it.
Viscount Mountgarret, who died last week, must be the only
Irish peer
to have been president of Yorkshire County Cricket
Club.
He was known for his eccentric interventions at annual
meetings of the
MCC. Once, in a debate on whether sons should have priority
on the members'
waiting list, he seized the microphone and announced
enigmatically: "All I
can say is this: It's a wise father who knows his own
son."
Scoop, NZ
Work permits for Zimbabwe nationals extended
Monday, 16 February 2004, 4:46 pm
Press Release: New Zealand
Government
Work permits for Zimbabwe nationals extended
A
work permit policy for Zimbabwean nationals, which was introduced in
February
2003, will be extended due to the continued instability within
Zimbabwe,
Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel announced today.
The special open
work permits, valid for 12 months, were granted to
Zimbabweans already in New
Zealand on 20 February 2003.
"As the situation in Zimbabwe has not
stabilised, Zimbabwe nationals in
New Zealand under temporary entry
provisions may not be able to return home.
Therefore, the government has
extended the special open work permit policy
for another 12 months for
Zimbabweans who qualified under the 2003 policy."
Eligible Zimbabweans
will need to apply for a new permit at the nearest
New Zealand Immigration
Service branch before the expiry of their current
permit.
Lianne
Dalziel said approximately 2600 Zimbabweans in New Zealand on
temporary
permits could be affected by today's announcement.
Zimbabwe nationals
would continue to be eligible for temporary entry or
residence under standard
policies. Further options for residence are
currently under
development.
Copyright (c) Scoop Media
The Herald
'Billions externalised'
By Sifelani Tsiko and Freeman
Razemba
BUSINESSMAN and Zanu-PF Central Committee member James Makamba
allegedly
externalised billions of dollars in both local and various
international
currencies while it emerged yesterday that he had not handed
himself to the
police but was arrested in the Avenues.
Figures
released by the police yesterday showed Makamba, who took his
bail
application to the High Court yesterday, allegedly externalised US$716
000,
ZW$1 120 114 207, £63 650 and R1,8 million.
Telecel, the countrys
third largest mobile phone company where he is
director, is alleged to have
externalised £1 050, R2 078 416 and ZW$1 475
649 102.
Police said
Makamba was being charged both in his personal capacity and as
the director
of Telecel.
Makamba was arrested last week after returning, reportedly,
from a business
trip in South Africa.
Police had launched a manhunt
for the businessman whom they said evaded them
even at the Harare
International Airport.
"An appeal had to be made in the media leading to
his eventual arrest in the
Avenues and not at a police station. It is
important and pertinent to note
that Makamba did not hand himself to the
police as speculated in some
sections of the media," police chief spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena said.
Charges preferred
against Makamba were only a tip of the iceberg, he said,
adding the
businessman allegedly exported maize to South Africa whose
proceeds were
banked in a Telecel foreign currency account in Luxembourg at
least four
times.
"We believe the charges so far preferred against Makamba are only
a tip of
the iceberg and as we continue with our investigations more charges
in
connection with externalisation or contraventions of the Exchange
Control
Act are going to be levelled against him," said Asst Comm
Bvudzijena.
He said police lawfully held Makamba in their custody and had
moved him from
one station to another, a normal practice during extensive
investigations.
The investigations included perusal of voluminous
documents lawfully
obtained through a warrant of search.
"A provincial
magistrate in terms of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act
issued a
warrant for his further detention at the expiry of 48 hours while
in police
custody," Asst Comm Bvudzijena said.
He called on members of the public
to appreciate the nature of the alleged
crimes that bordered on economic
sabotage that "threatened the societal
fabric," saying such crimes were
viewed seriously and exhaustive
investigations would be carried
out.
"Other directors (of Telecel) are also being charged in their
individual
capacities and they include Ms Jane Mutasa and Anthony Carter,
the
locally-based directors," he said.
It is understood that a warned
and cautioned statement was recorded from
Mutasa who is jointly charged with
one of her children.
"That warned and cautioned statement was recorded
last week and she is
expected to appear in court soon," said Asst Comm
Bvudzijena last night.
The businessman who appeared at the Harare
Magistrates Courts on Saturday
and was remanded in custody to February 27
this year, yesterday made a fresh
bail application at the High
Court.
His lawyers filed an urgent bail application at the High Court and
ruling on
the case is expected today.
The defence team, comprising
Messrs Godfrey Mamvura, Thakor Kewada and
Joseph Mafusire, all of Scanlen and
Holderness applied against his continued
detention before Justice Antonia
Guvava.
"The judge wants to see the other application which was made on
Friday,"
said Mamvura following a hearing of the case in
chambers.
"She wants to have that other file which was submitted to the
magistrates
court.
"She will make a decision tomorrow morning
(Monday). Its most likely going
to be before 10 oclock," he said.
In
their bail application, Makambas lawyers are arguing that there was no
way
the businessman could abscond or interfere with evidence and
investigations
as he had offered his property running into billions of
dollars as
security.
"There is no reasonable apprehension that he is likely to
abscond or
interfere with evidence or investigations," said Mr Mamvura. "He
has
property which he has offered as security
"There is no sane person
who can abscond and leave behind property running
in billions of
dollars."
They maintained that Makamba had handed himself to the police
without
mentioning the station he presented himself to.
On Saturday
Harare magistrate Jackie Mushonga ruled that Makamba be remanded
in custody
invoking the new Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures)
(Amendment of
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act) Regulations of 2004.
Under these
anti-graft regulations, a person charged for corruption, money
laundering,
laundering of proceeds of crime, externalisation of foreign
currency and
other crimes related to trade in grain, gold and other precious
stones can be
detained up to 21 days and no court can grant bail to such
persons from the
date an order or warrant for further detention is issued.
Mushonga
ordered that Makamba be remanded in custody to February 27 in
accordance with
Statutory Instrument 37 of 2004.
The State was represented by Chengetai
Gwatidzo of the Attorney Generals
Office.
Makamba is alleged to have
contravened, in his own capacity, section
C/5(1)(a) of the Exchange Control
Act Chapter 22:05 as read with section
4(1)(a)(1) of the Exchange Control
Regulations Statutory Instrument SI
109/96 where he faces 11
counts.
He also faces fraud: alternatively c/s5(1)(a) of the Exchange
Control Act
Chapter22:05 as read with section 11(1)(a) of the Exchange
Control
Regulations Statutory Instrument 109/96 involving four
counts.
It is alleged that on 45 occasions Telecel, where Makamba is
chairman, which
is not registered as a foreign currency dealer, received
foreign currency
from different people in contravention of the foreign
currency regulations.
In his individual capacity, it is alleged Makamba,
on 11 occasions
approached his company Telecel Zimbabwe and sold foreign
currency when both
himself and Telecel were not authorised foreign currency
dealers.
He is also accused of having operated a bank account with a
Johannesburg
bank and through facsimile and other means transferred money to
the United
States or other countries on at least four occasions in
contravention of the
Exchange Control Regulations.
Asst Comm
Bvudzijena said according to the Companies Act the directors were
liable for
the companys illegal activities.
In a related incident Mashonaland West
farmer Cyril Muderede last week
appeared in court on allegations of fraud,
externalising funds and theft by
false pretences.
Police said Muderede
bought grain from local farmers which he sold to local
millers in the pretext
that he imported the crop.
He was as a result paid in foreign currency
and the money banked in his
South African account, the basis of his charge of
theft by false pretences.
He also faces charges of externalising funds
and contravening a section of
the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act although
details of the amounts involved
could not be ascertained
yesterday.
"We do not have the figure off hand but he was charged in
court last week,"
said Asst Comm Bvudzijena.
Muderede was last year
raided by Grain Marketing Board officials who found
him with large stocks of
maize.
The grain was seized by the GMB.
The arrests come in the
wake of revelations that the country could have lost
billions of dollars in
foreign currency that could have been externalised
through exports of crops
and precious minerals such as gold, among other
products.
While the
country suffered a critical foreign currency shortage, the South
African
Government reported a huge upsurge in imports from Zimbabwe, which
could have
earned the country over R2 billion last year.
A number of local companies
also managed to finance the acquisition of
financial institutions and
companies in the region and abroad using the
scarce foreign currency, which
could have been channelled into the
acquisition of fuel, medical drugs and
other vital imports. Other companies
however, managed to secure offshore
loans for their foreign investments.
The Herald
Move to establish pension schemes exposure
Herald
Reporter
THE Commissioner of Insurance and Registrar of Pension and Provident
Funds
is now working to determine the extent of exposure of individual
pension
schemes and a whole range of policies managed by the insurance and
the
pension industry following the collapse of some financial
institutions.
"Much public concern has been expressed as to the impact of
some of the
recent unfolding negative revelations in the financial sector, in
particular
exposures to ENG Capital Investments and other financial
institutions," said
the office of the commissioner.
In light of these
developments in the financial sector, the office of the
commissioner said it
was now taking steps to establish the possibility of
exposure of pension
schemes, life and all other policies managed by the
insurance and pensions
industry.
"It has so far been agreed that all the pension funds and
companies in the
insurance business submit their detailed investment
registers individually
so that we can assess the risks of exposure," the
office of the commissioner
said.
The Commissioner of Insurance and
Registrar of Pension and Provident Funds
said it had already started
instituting corrective measures that would among
other things ensure that
there was a strong and stable pensions and
insurance industry with a
responsible and accountable management.
The financial sector has been hit
by a serious liquidity problem following a
clampdown by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe which introduced a battery of
measures to bring sanity to the
sector.
The Herald
We didn't stop women from demonstrating: police
Herald
Reporter
POLICE yesterday said they did not stop any Valentine's Day
demonstrations
by Zimbabwean women but their application had not been granted
by a Bulawayo
High Court.
Police chief spokesperson Assistant
Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena denied
international Press reports that the
Police had dispersed demonstrations on
Saturday countrywide.
He said
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) went to Bulawayo High Court seeking
an order
to be allowed to demonstrate but it was turned down.
"The group of women
had made an application with the Bulawayo High Court and
it was turned down
but we never thwarted any demonstrations," he said.
He dismissed the
reports saying that they were only trying to be heard by
the international
community by taking advantages of such a day.
"They are only raising
issues so that they would be heard by the
international community. These are
the very same people who need publicity,"
said Asst Comm
Bvudzijena.
"Why would they demonstrate on Valentine's Day."
Women
of Zimbabwe Arise spokesperson Mrs Jenny Williams was quoted by the
AFP on
Saturday saying that they wanted to demonstrate so that Zimbabwe
returns to
love again.
She alleged that they had been given permission to hold the
demonstration.
"The demonstration is about Valentine's Day. We are saying
Zimbabwe is
crying and want to love again. We must defend our right to love,"
said
Williams who was quoted by AFP.
Last year WOZA switched its
similar demonstration to politics, which police
believe was the reason why
the High Court did not grant them permission to
demonstrate this year.