Veterans say violence is carried out by a
minority
From The Times (UK), 21 February
Toppled Chief Justice 'living in fear'
Harare - Anthony Gubbay, who three weeks ago was bullied out of his job as Zimbabwe's Supreme Court Chief Justice, is living in fear for his safety, according to his friends. The British-born judge, who emigrated to what was then Rhodesia in the 1950s, is said to have been shaken by the Government's warning that it could not guarantee his safety if he refused to step down. Justice Gubbay, 68, agreed to take early retirement after being presented with documents accusing him of handing down judgments that were biased against black people.
Adrian de Bourbon, the chairman of Zimbabwe's Bar Council, said yesterday that the intimidation was part of a wave of anarchy directed against the judiciary in an attempt to bring the Supreme Court under the control of the ruling Zanu (PF) party. Senior judges, lawyers, and other legal practitioners regarded as hostile to the Government's illegal seizure of millions of acres of white-owned land were being systematically bullied and intimidated. "The Government has suffered a series of defeats in the courts over the past few months, including the November decision to declare the fast-track land reform programme unconstitutional," Mr de Bourbon said. "The judiciary has been accused of pursuing an anti-government agenda, and the Government has decided . . . to neutralise it."
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition MDC, said yesterday: "The Government is acting in a panic. It is . . . acting like it is under siege and hitting out at everyone it perceives to be an enemy." Brian Latham, the editor of Zimbabwe's Farmer magazine, said: "He (President Mugabe) is putting pressure on the judiciary, the farmers and the media and undermining the last pillars of democracy. He's running out of money, running out of time and clutching at straws."
From The Times (UK), 21 February
British military team to stay in Zimbabwe
Harare - A British military team led by a brigadier will remain in Zimbabwe to train elements of the armed forces, despite growing diplomatic tension between London and Harare. Brigadier Vere Hayes leads an 11-man team that includes a colonel, six lieutenant-colonels and a staff sergeant. The most recent member of the team to join is Wing Commander Simon Turner, who arrived in the capital last month for a two-year posting. The High Commission in Harare dismissed as ridiculous reports that the Wing Commander would be advising on counter-insurgency training.
Opposition politicians issued a warning yesterday that any move to withdraw the British military training team (Bmatt) could spell disaster. David Coltart, the Shadow Minister of Justice for the MDC and a human rights lawyer, said: "If Bmatt is withdrawn, once again we might see the North Koreans or the Chinese coming here." The British Government would be reluctant to withdraw the team because, as one Foreign Office source said: "It's better we have them there, working with the Zimbabwean defence forces." The seniority of the British team means that London is able to gain a valuable insight into developments in the Zimbabwean military. "Bmatt has played an important role in developing professionalism in the Army here, which will be crucial in the near future," Mr Coltart said.
The future of the Bmatt team is being reviewed in the light of the expulsion of Joseph Winter, the BBC journalist, and the intimidation of himself and his family at their home in Harare by Zimbabwean security officials. The British military training programme, which began in 1980, focuses on regional peacekeeping and works with all the countries of SADC. The British team is aware that its presence is a stabilising force. Last year, when President Mugabe began his controversial land reform programme aimed at evicting white farmers, Brigadier Hayes indicated that a withdrawal of Bmatt would be seen as an act of abandonment. Bmatt would also be in a position to help if London decided to evacuate British passport-holders.
Chiyangwa has case: court
The High Court yesterday ruled that Harare businessman, Phillip Chiyangwa, the MP for Chinhoyi, had a case to answer and should defend himself in a case in which Silas Matamisa, the MDC candidate for Chinhoyi is petitioning the court to nullify the election result and disqualify him. Justice Paddington Garwe's ruling followed an application last week by Advocate Adam Kara, Chiyangwa's lawyer, to dismiss the petition because Matamisa's allegations of vote-buying and intimidation should be dismissed.
Garwe said: "Election petitions are generally in the form of court applications and it's clear these petitions are heard by the High Court. There can be no question of absolution from instance. The trial must be concluded before the court makes a ruling. There is no rule for such an application. The application for absolution at this stage must be dismissed." After the ruling, Chiyangwa, in cross-examination, denied any wrongdoing in the run-up to the election. Chiyangwa said: "When the votes were being counted there was a lot of noise outside the counting hall. We agreed with Matamisa to address our supporters to be non-violent. By then it was clear from the counted votes that I had won fairly." He denied he addressed his supporters in Chinhoyi Stadium and ordered them to attack Matamisa after the vote counting. Matamisa earlier told the court that his house was stoned after a directive from the MP.
Chiyangwa further denied he was involved in vote buying by establishing a loan scheme for potential voters in Chinhoyi. Instead, he said, he agreed with Zanu PF to fund projects in the 12 constituencies of Mashonaland West province. The $200 000 loan scheme was established in 1999 and is administered by the Zanu PF provincial office in Mashonaland West, he said. "Some candidates during our primary elections objected to this but I told them that the fund had nothing to do with elections but to help people in all the constituencies. I set up a similar fund for Harare and Matabeleland provinces," he said.
Chiyangwa said after the complaints, his election agents stopped distributing the loan application forms before 18 March last year, the date for Zanu PF's primary elections. Chiyangwa said: "The scheme is meant for Zanu PF members only. That loan is still there. Those who run the fund have not told me the status of the fund yet." Advocate Pearson Nherere, for Matamisa, asked why being a registered voter was stipulated as a condition for accessing loan forms. He said this might have forced people to join Zanu PF in order to qualify for the scheme. At one point Justice Garwe had to remind Chiyangwa to give his evidence in English as he was mixing Shona and English. Chinyangwa had indicated that he was comfortable to speak in English when he took oath at the beginning of the case. Garwe said: "Remember to speak in English because we have no interpreter." The hearing continues today.
From The Star (SA), 20 February
Zimbabwe wants to outlaw farmers' union
Harare - The white-dominated CFU became the latest casualty of the crackdown on critics of the Zimbabwean government on Tuesday when all negotiations and dialogue with it were banned - with a further threat added to withdraw the organisation's official registration. The government claims that the CFU, which represents the country's 4 000 large-scale commercial farmers, has been enlisting foreign support to destabilise President Robert Mugabe's leadership, and the government now views the CFU as a political party. Announcing the decision on Tuesday, the chair of the land acquisition committee and the minister of local government and Public works, Ignatius Chombo, said the government would now talk only to individual white farmers interested in giving up their land for redistribution.
The decision has not gone down well with economic analysts, who had hoped that Mugabe's government would tone down its rhetoric on the land issue ahead of a crucial meeting between the Zimbabwean leader and the heads of the IMF and the World Bank this week. Mugabe's stance on the land issue has been a major sticking point between his government and the donor community, which has frozen aid to Zimbabwe. The donors have urged dialogue between the government and key stakeholders in coming up with an acceptable framework for land reform. Analysts said Mugabe's meetings with IMF managing director Horst Kohler and World Bank president James Wolfensohn in Dar es Salaam later this week were an opportunity to plead Zimbabwe's case for aid. But his government's latest stance against the CFU had dented any hopes that the heads of the two institutions would listen to his pleas for help.
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Simba Makoni was in Washington last week to plead with the IMF and World Bank to help Zimbabwe with emergency financial aid. Makoni told a press conference on his return to Harare that the two institutions had made it clear they would not entertain any request for aid from Zimbabwe until the land issue had been resolved to the satisfaction of all key stakeholders. Chombo said the government was in fact considering banning the CFU. He confirmed that the CFU had this week appealed to the government for dialogue but ruled out any negotiations with the organisations. The CFU has, however, firmly denied such accusations, saying it had tried all within its abilities to engage in meaningful dialogue with the government but had hit a brick wall because the government was using the land issue only for politicking purposes.
From The Daily News, 20 February
Court delays opening of new Harare International Airport
Karikoga Kaseke, the acting chief executive officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), has been implicated in the corrupt award of a $55 million dollar tender for the new Harare International Airport. The High Court yesterday temporarily stopped the Government Tender Board (GTB) and CAAZ from implementing processes, which would enable the transfer of the airport from the contractors to the government. The processes are necessary for the new airport to be used.
Justice Michael Gillespie, who heard the case, said his order would remain effective until the court reviewed the adjudication and the awarding of the tender to a consortium of companies seeking to finish work at the airport. Gillespie ruled in favour of Deutsche Aero Consult GmbH (DACO), a subsidiary of Frankfurt Airports. DACO lost to a consortium of companies comprising Omega Alpha International, an information technology company from South Africa, Xybase (Jox), a Malaysian company, and Jaffron (Pvt) Ltd owned by Harare businessman Tobias Musariri. The consortium's bid was $54 285 000, double that of DACO. The consortium submitted its bid after the deadline.
Azlan Morad, DACO's associate director, said: "I contend the GTB has awarded the tender to the consortium in a grossly irregular and unfair manner, and that such irregularity renders the award null and void." Kaseke allegedly added the consortium's bid into the technical committee's report and gave it to Godfrey Manhambara, the then chief executive of CAAZ, for onward presentation to a Colonel Mutemachani, the vice-chairman of CAAZ. Omega Alpha was introduced to CAAZ by Mutemachani. The GTB invited bids from seven companies including DACO and Alpha Omega. Kaseke became acting chief executive of CAAZ when the High Court nullified Manhambara's appointment as chief executive. He proceeded to evaluate the bids with a Mr Matarure, the acting director of human resources. The procurement committee was unhappy with the alleged manipulation of the evaluation by Kaseke and advised him to hire a consultant. Kaseke chose L Van Run, a suspected friend, to evaluate the bids. The committee challenged this but Kaseke ignored its recommendation.
From The Guardian (UK), 21 February
Mugabe's birthday bash
Harare/Johannesburg - Robert Mugabe has never been one to shy away from adulation, so he is going for two parties to mark his 77th birthday today. There will be the small one in Harare before he flies off in a futile bid to persuade international bankers to give him more money. Then there will be a big bash at Victoria Falls at the weekend, loans or no loans.
With one eye on a looming presidential election, all sorts of people have made the invitation list to Victoria Falls who might otherwise have been ignored. Aside from the usual cronies and government officials, young men and women from the youth groups loyal to the ruling party suddenly find themselves in favour; they do not usually get much attention from the president, but every vote is going to count in this election, which may be just months away. Also, young men are not only good at getting Mr Mugabe's supporters out; they will prove useful in ensuring that opposition supporters stay away from the ballot boxes.
The celebrations at Victoria Falls are being organised by the 21st February Movement, a group named after Mr Mugabe's date of birth, and one which might be more at home in North Korea in the light of its attempts to build a personality cult around him. The party will be paid for by Zimbabwean taxpayers, very few of whom think it is money well spent, despite the movement's attempts to whip up enthusiasm. Some view the celebrations as a particularly perverse taunt given the state of Zimbabwe's finances and the misery engulfing the country. The guest list is a who's who of Africa's historic liberation movements and ruling parties. Tony Blair has not been invited.
There are those among Zimbabwe's neighbours who think it might not be a bad thing if this were Mr Mugabe's last birthday as president. He is doing them no favours by driving Zimbabwe's economy into the ground; but that won't be their public position. Still, the celebrations are likely to be a relief for Mr Mugabe who flies to Tanzania today to hear the heads of the World Bank and the IMF tell him he has no hope of getting any more money to rescue his collapsing economy.
From Pan African News Agency, 20 February
Manica Residents Welcome Zimbabwean Farmers
Chimoio, Mozambique - Participants at a meeting of community, religious and traditional leaders in the central Mozambican city of Chimoio have welcomed the plan to grant land to about 100 Zimbabwean farmers, saying that this would enhance the socio-economic development of Manica province. The governor of Manica, Soares Nhaca, called the meeting to learn the community's view on the matter, the Mozambican news agency reported.
However, the former rebel movement Renamo, Mozambique's main opposition party, is calling for great care in dealing with such issues because it fears this could spark land conflicts if the Zimbabweans will be given the best plots of land to the detriment of Mozambicans. But local people believe the predictions that in parallel with the increase in agricultural production, particularly of grain, the move will also create about 1,300 jobs for local people.
The white Zimbabwean farmers have decided to move to Mozambique following plans by the government in Harare to seize their land for distribution to the landless black majority. For its part, ORAM, a Mozambican NGO dedicated to advising peasants on land issues, says that all aspects have been considered to prevent such conflicts. ORAM published recently a report containing the results of a study on the impact of granting land to Zimbabwean farmers in Manica. A Mozambican government source said that each of the Zimbabwean farmers will be granted about 450 hectares for a period of 50 years. Some of them are already provisionally operating in the districts of Sussundenga and Manica.
It is expected that eventually between 150 and 185 Zimbabwean farmers would be granted land in the districts of Macossa, Barue, Manica and Sussundenga, with possible extensions to the district of Gorongosa, in neighbouring Sofala province. A similar project developed with South African farmers in the northern province of Niassa is in deep crisis due to lack of funds.
Britain has called for a Commonwealth fact-finding mission to investigate what it describes as the worsening situation in Zimbabwe.
The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said he'd watched with growing concern the pressure that the Zimbabwean government was putting on judges and journalists.
He was speaking after a telephone conversation with the Commonwealth's secretary general, Don McKinnon.
They agreed that a fact-finding team should report to a meeting of Commonwealth ministers in a month's time -- if President Robert Mugabe allows it into Zimbabwe.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator said on Wednesday that the rule of law looked in extreme danger in Zimbabwe and urged the administration of President Robert Mugabe to defend judges from threats.
Param Cumaraswamy, a lawyer from Malaysia, made what was billed as his ``urgent appeal'' in a letter to the Zimbabwean government, a summary of which was released by the U.N. Information Service in Geneva.
The letter said ``harassment, intimidation, attacks and threats against an independent judiciary and its judges will in fact be seen as a direct assault on the rule of law,'' according to the release.
``The rule of law, which is so pivotal for democracy and sustainable development in any country, now has deteriorated further and appears to be very much in jeopardy in Zimbabwe,'' Cumaraswamy declared.
The tone of the letter was seen as tough and diplomats said it reflected mounting concern among officials of the world body, as well as in the office of U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, at the situation in Zimbabwe.
Cumaraswamy is Special Rapporteur, or investigator, for the U.N. Human Rights Commission -- which opens a six-week annual session in Geneva next month -- on the independence of judges and lawyers.
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party has called on two Supreme Court judges, Nicholas McNally and Ahmed Ebrahim, to resign. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay has taken early retirement after pressure from party activists.
The government has been angered by High Court rulings against some of its measures.
Political analysts in Harare say the pressure on judges and a linked campaign against the press and the political opposition, which won almost half the 120 contested seats in the country's June parliamentary elections, could be part of a plan to bring forward a presidential poll currently set for 2002.
Cumaraswamy's letter, the U.N. release said, was sent after he had received information that Mike Moyo, a member of the Liberation War Veterans Association that backs Mugabe, said squads from his group would invade the houses of judges refusing to resign.
According to this report, the release added, Moyo had also declared that the squads would harm the judges and their families.
Cumaraswamy a week ago issued a statement expressing concern at threats to the judiciary, and was clearly moved to write formally because his strictures were brushed aside.
At the weekend Mugabe -- who is 77 on Wednesday -- also dismissed complaints from Britain over the expulsion of a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), saying he would accept no criticism from foreigners.
The Malaysian lawyer's letter said that under U.N. agreements all member governments were obliged to protect and defend judges from intimidation, threats and attacks ``from any quarter or for any reason.''
In a clear reference to the Zimbabwean president and some of his ministers, he said it was ``extremely disturbing'' that members of the country's executive were heard actively encouraging such threats.
Associated Press - Reported in the Houston Chronicle -
Feb. 21, 2001, 9:16AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- President Robert Mugabe lashed out at international journalists and foreign governments, threatening to ban them from future elections to keep their "dirty, interfering hands" out of Zimbabwe's affairs.
Monday night's warning follows a weekend crackdown on foreign journalists, in which two newsmen were ordered deported.
The opposition charged Tuesday that Mugabe's comments were increasing restrictions on foreign journalists, are efforts to thwart foreign scrutiny and might be part of a plan for Mugabe to call early presidential elections this year.
Mugabe's six-year term expires next March. Under the constitution, Mugabe, 76, can only call an early election if he resigns, leaving his deputy to act as caretaker during the campaign. Mugabe might prefer to face voters before the country's situation further deteriorates, analysts said.
Instability in the country and Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian rule has crippled the economy, scared away foreign investors and drawn scathing criticism from the international community.
International observers monitoring parliamentary elections in June said pre-election violence, mainly committed by ruling militants of Mugabe's party, had tainted the result.
Mugabe told foreign diplomats Monday evening that there was "a massive degree of external interference" in the June ballot, and his government would not tolerate the "prevailing practice of observing elections for purposes of interfering with them."
"Zimbabwe ... will never in the future brook the phenomenon of dirty, interfering hands in its domestic affairs," he said, according to state media.
Mugabe's party won a narrow majority of 62 of the 120 elected seats in the June elections, the biggest challenge to his hold on power since he led the nation to independence from colonial rule in 1980.
In the previous Parliament, Mugabe's party controlled all but three seats.
The government said Saturday it was deporting British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Joseph Winter and Mercedes Sayagues, a reporter for the South African Mail and Guardian newspaper, alleging irregularities were found in their work permits. It has also said it would announce new rules on Friday governing foreign reporters.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the government was panicking ahead of presidential elections.
"It is clear it is acting like it is under siege and therefore hitting out at everyone it perceives to be an enemy," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told the BBC.
Restrictions on foreign journalists continued Tuesday with several newly arrived reporters receiving accreditation for only five days, instead of the usual four week passes.
The journalists were told to reapply after five days, when new media regulations will be in force.
Officials have indicated those regulations will require foreign journalists to apply for visas through embassies in their home countries. The embassies would seek approval from the Ministry of Information attached to Mugabe's office.
Foreign journalists already in Zimbabwe would be expected to leave and reapply.
Last month, a powerful explosion wrecked the printing presses of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News. The paper continued publishing without interruption. No one has been arrested in the bombing.
Andrew Meldrum in Harare and
Chris McGreal
Tuesday February 20, 2001
The Guardian
The United States says
it is looking for new ways to punish Robert Mugabe following government threats
to the lives of Zimbabwe's leading judges and the expulsion of two foreign
journalists, including a BBC correspondent.
Washington said it was consulting key allies, including Britain, to coordinate measures to get the government to halt its increasingly violent campaign against opponents and what appear to be the first steps toward barring the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from running for president on trumped up charges of inciting revolution.
The US has already cut a large proportion of its aid since Mr Mugabe encouraged supporters to occupy white-owned farms and ignored his supreme court's ruling that the land invasions were illegal.
Britain joined in the international condemnation of the expulsion orders issued against a BBC reporter, Joseph Winter, and Mercedes Sayagues, a reporter for the Guardian's sister paper in South Africa, the Mail and Guardian. Zimbabwe's high commissioner, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, was called to the Foreign Office to hear a minister, Brian Wilson, protest at the expulsions, the harassment of judges, and the recent bombing that wrecked the presses of Harare's Daily News.
"A free press and independent judiciary are essential parts of any democratic society," Mr Wilson said." Expelling journalists cannot prevent the world from seeing what is happening in Zimbabwe or anywhere else."
President Mugabe's reaction to such protests came in an address to foreign diplomats assembled at State House in Harare: "We are still the subject of malicious propaganda by external forces opposed to the land reform programme," he told them. "This is affecting our image abroad."
Mr Winter flew to Johannesburg yesterday after a raid on his home late Sunday night by men presumed to be government supporters forced him and his family to seek shelter at the British high commission.
He and Ms Sayagues had won a high court order letting them stay until the end of the week to settle their affairs, but the BBC correspondent said he had decided to leave quickly, fearing for his wife and two-year-old daughter: "There is just too much pressure and harassment, and it's not fair for them to go through it."
The information minister, Jonathan Moyo, who ordered the reporters out, refused to accept the extension and said he did not recognise the court's authority.
He has hinted that all foreign journalists will have to leave before long. But confusingly, a senior BBC TV reporter and camera team from Johannesburg were allowed into Zimbabwe yesterday and given accreditation "until new regulations come into force".
The information minister faces problems of his own: the Ford Foundation filed a lawsuit in Nairobi yesterday accusing him of embezzling $80,000 (then worth £51,600) when he worked for the charity for four years up to 1997.
Mr Moyo, who described the charges as "scurrilous accusations", says he in turn is suing the Ford Foundation, accusing it of "misrepresenting a research project" in which he participated.
In a further move to intimidate or drive out white Zimbabweans, the government says it will tighten laws barring dual citizenship. About 20,000 people in Zimbabwe are believed to hold British passports. Many also hold Zimbabwean citizenship without revealing their British status to the Harare administration.
The current law technically bars dual citizenship, but the supreme court has ruled this impractical because no provision was made for renunciation of citizenship.
The new laws are also going to strip anyone who remains out of the country for five years of their Zimbabwean nationality. "There are concerns that those with dual citizenship are behind efforts to discredit the government," an official said.
If you have been watching, as I have, the situation in the Congo, you will have had a sensation that what you are watching has been somehow stage-managed. I do not know how they did it or even who the "they" were, but I have no doubt that the whole exercise was conceived and managed in a very skillful way and by people with real control on the ground in Kinshasa. It was almost surgical in its execution and the results are still being played out.
The why of this play was quite clear, In Act 1, Kabila has simply become a liability to the real power brokers in the region – whoever they are, and the decision had to be taken that he should be removed. I found it fascinating that the first to know publicly were the Belgium and the Ugandan governments. The charade that followed with denials in Kinshasa and Harare were designed to give the players on the ground the time they needed to ensure that there were no surprises. The fact that the Congolese army was not significantly involved and that the Angolan and Zimbabwe armies provided security for Kabila’s funeral gave the clearest signs of just who was and is in charge.
Act 2 was equally fascinating and suggested that there was more to this three act play than just another African farce. It suggested big power participation and perhaps complicity. Young Kabila is swiftly sworn in as "President", he has no visible source of power except his name and little real control of anything. Yet no sooner is he sworn in than he packs his bags and heads for the USA and Europe on an extended trip. He shows no signs of nervousness that he might be testing the security of his new position by leaving his country in chaos and in mourning over the assassination of his father. On arrival he is given every facility, meets everyone of substance and his handlers show every sign that they have done this before.
Act 3 has just started and we have yet to see the conclusion but it is clear that the writers have a very clear script and that so far, the main actor, young Kabila, is showing that he has a natural talent for this kind of theatre. Just as well, it was the greatest risk that the writer and producer of the play took when the play was planned. The first part of Act 3 was the meeting in Lusaka where the people who probably killed his father sat down with the son to work out what to do next. Such things take big power magic to happen and I have no doubt that they were involved from the start. The question is why?
In the case of the Congo, it is now clear that the price of Kabul’s continued reign was simply becoming to high and it was decided that he had to go. The strategic interests involved were those of the entire Great Lakes region of Africa with 10 countries stability at stake. Most importantly though, it was the threat to the stability of Angola, rather than the Congo that was probably uppermost in the writers mind. Why Angola? Because it now supplies up to 8 per cent of US oil imports and is rapidly becoming the Kuwait of Africa. The fact that the Angolans are the main player both in Congo Brazzaville and in Congo Kinshasa came to the fore in Acts 1 and 2 and I was astounded to find out how well entrenched they were in both capitals.
What is the lesson for Zimbabwe? Well it is clear that the message has got through to at least one person. If you are forced off the road in Harare by a siren-toting cavalcade, as I was the other day and have to watch Mugabe go by in his large Mercedes, you will have seen that he has doubled up on his security. If you apply these lessons in big power manipulation of events in Africa, then you must be aware of the fact that Mugabe has now gone too far. Just list his recent misdemeanors: -
Now you can do some of these things and be forgiven, but there are some things that are unforgivable and the actions recently against the Daily News, the Supreme Court and the Journalists fall into the category of no-go issues. The question is now, what will "they" do about it. We will have to wait and see but I am now quite sure that Mugabe has put himself and his cronies beyond the pale as they say in the classics.
The attempt by the government to prosecute a number of MDC activists and MP’s on one charge or another under the "Law and Order Maintenance Act" is yet another sign of desperation. This Act has been declared unconstitutional on at least one occasion and has been condemned by jurists and politicians alike as a relic of the Smith era of repressive legal action. The government is also refusing to bring to court hundreds of its supporters for crimes ranging from murder to rape. The charges raised against Morgan are under the L & O M Act and bear no relation to the context of his speech or its real intent. So we must interpret these actions as being pure intimidation and an attempt to silence the opposition.
One interpretation given to this whole scenario is that Mugabe is actually trying to get the country to rise up against him. This would then justify a military crack down on the pretext of maintaining order and this in turn would open the door to a state of emergency, the banning of the MDC and the arrest and detention of its leadership. They would then postpone the presidential election and carry on as usual. If they were careful, regional heads of State might buy into this, those that would not, do not matter. For the country this would be a disaster and would retard progress towards longer term and more soundly based solutions to the current logjam. It is clear we must try to avoid this eventuality and to do so we need help.
I see that the farmers are going to have another go at trying to work with government in an attempt to lift the pressure on their community. This will focus the attention of the world on their plight and I thought you might like to be reminded of the basic facts. Natural region 1 is the best agricultural land down to region 5, which is basically wildlife and ranching.
Land Use Classification by Sector and Natural Region in 1997/8 (estimates).
|
Land Class/ Natural region |
Comm. Area (1000) ha |
Resettle. Area (1000)ha |
SSCF (Black) (1000)ha |
LSCF (Black) (1000)ha |
LSCF (White) (1000)ha |
Parast./ State (1000)ha |
|
NR I |
1 405 |
30 |
10 |
2 |
178 |
6 |
|
NR II |
1 275 |
589 |
240 |
475 |
3 247 |
6 |
|
NR III |
2 810 |
1 240 |
530 |
198 |
2 122 |
96 |
|
NR IV |
7 337 |
809 |
500 |
248 |
2 142 |
36 |
|
NR V |
4 778 |
622 |
101 |
67 |
2 181 |
156 |
|
TOTAL |
16 340 |
3 290 |
1 380 |
990 |
9 870 |
300 |
|
Share Total |
50.79% |
10.23% |
4.29% |
3.07% |
30.69% |
0.93% |
|
No of Farms Population |
800 000 4,2 mill |
60 000 250 000 |
10 500 150 000 |
2 000 300 000 |
4 000 1,7 mill |
30 60 000 |
|
Ave Size |
16.34 ha |
55.00 ha |
162 ha |
493 ha |
2194 ha |
10000 ha |
Eddie Cross
19th February 2001.
Please note that this note is personal and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Ms Sayagues's last report from Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, before she got her marching orders was a case in point. She described how only the Zimbabwe army corps of engineers and three army special forces units could have had access to Chinese-made TM-46 landmines used to destroy the printing presses of the independent, anti-Mugabe Daily News last month. "The bombing shows a qualitative jump in army involvement [in government oppression], coupled with an arrogant disregard for self-incrimination - a signature bombing," Sayagues wrote. "Hours before the bombing, the minister of information, Jonathan Moyo, and the war veteran leader Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi vowed to silence the Daily News."
Not only is Sayagues courageous, she is colourful. Take a recent report on her joy at finding a litre of petrol in fuel-starved, economically crippled Zimbabwe: "Filling up the tank is better than having sex. You can have sex any time but you never know when you will fill your tank again or how many hours it will take in the queue." Her reporting of the AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe, where the WHO estimates 2,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every week, has been graphic and compassionate. No-one has revealed more about the torture chambers established by Mr Mugabe's security forces, including the monstrous women persecutors who specialise in squeezing testicles between beer bottle tops. No-one else has identified the 35,000 charges of arson, assault, malicious injury to property, public violence, extortion, intimidation, culpable homicide, stock theft, poaching, abduction and kidnapping laid against Mr Mugabe's militiamen in the past year - potential crimes all pardoned by the president before coming to trial. "Mugabe embodies the culture of impunity: zero accountability. Impunity undermines the rule of law. It corrupts the culture, because you can get away with - literally - murder," Sayagues wrote.
Sayagues, when she first arrived in Zimbabwe in 1992, was perhaps the least likely critic of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Born in Uruguay, she had been imprisoned there for opposition to military rule between 1972 and 1984. In exile, after release from prison, she bore a daughter after a passionate affair with a Palestinian nationalist activist. But she anticipated that Mr Mugabe's radical rhetoric would match her own idealism. Once she realised it was a sham, she exposed it with all the zeal she had shown in opposing Uruguay's right-wing military dictatorship. "In Latin America I lived under military regimes. I've seen the signs in Zimbabwe," she said last weekend, after her valid work permit was revoked by Mr Moyo. "The illegal arrests and torture of journalists. The intimidation of the judiciary. The rise of extra-legal militia and the terror they inflict across the country. Gross disregard of the rule of law. Gross corruption. "It pains me to see this. When I first came to this country I would say proudly: "Zimbabwe proves that an African country can work"... Now it appears the Zimbabwe government does not want any foreign journalists to record how it turns into a full-fledged dictatorship."
The expulsion orders against Sayagues and Winter follows the forced resignation of the Manchester-born chief justice, Anthony Gubbay, after threats against him and his family from self-styled pro-Mugabe "war veterans", the main force in last year's invasion and seizure of white-owned farms. At the beginning of this month two top Mugabe government ministers told Mr Gubbay that his personal safety could no longer be ensured. Shortly after that, it was announced that the 69-year-old judge would from March begin a permanent leave of absence from the bench. Married with two children, Mr Gubbay will return to live in Britain some 44 years after he settled in what is now Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Liberators' Platform (ZLP) was formed last year in protest at the anarchy that accompanied the farm invasions which were supposedly led by former freedom fighters.
The ZLP questions the credentials of the
war veterans, many of whom are far too young to have been in the struggle.
They believe the veteran leader, Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, and his
supporters, a group of not more than 1,500 ex-combatants, do not speak for the
majority of former fighters.
Independence war
The ZLP also dismisses those veterans as cowards for attacking unarmed
civilians during peacetime.
"There was a song that we used to sing in the war, that a people's soldier
should by no means go out and beat civilians," recalls Bernard Manyadza, who was
one of the top commanders of Mr Mugabe's Zanla army during the independence war.
The ZLP's opposition to Mr Mugabe and his right to speak for the veterans has
its roots in the war of independence.
At the time fighters from the Zanu and Zapu liberation movements initiated
the formation of a joint Zipa army.
Armed struggle
They believed the politicians were tired of the war, so they wanted to
re-start the armed struggle themselves; and they wanted national unity at all
costs, so as to avoid the kind of civil war that followed Angola's independence.
Mr Mhanda and his comrades from Zanu were convinced that their lack of
political leadership was contributing to the tensions in the united army.
President Machel asked them to draw up a list of 10 names of potential
leaders. At the top of their list was Robert Mugabe, who was then under house
arrest in Mozambique because Mr Machel was hostile to his anti-unity sentiments.
Reluctantly Mr Machel agreed to release Mr Mugabe, and that is how he came to
lead Zanu and later Zimbabwe.
Fighters detained
The fighters soon grew disillusioned with Mr Mugabe, but by then it was too
late because he'd secured the backing of Mr Machel.
Mr Manyadza and Wilfrid Mhanda, a senior officer under Mr Mugabe and now the
ZLP spokesman, were among the 50 top commanders arrested. Later hundreds more
junior soldiers were arrested.
The two were kept in cells in terrible conditions for the first six months -
packed in the dark, with no toilet. For the last two-and-a-half years of the war
they were held in a detention camp.
'Wrong side of struggle?'
Mr Mhanda recalls the words of a Holocaust survivor to describe their ordeal:
"He who has not experienced it cannot believe it; he who has experienced it
cannot understand it."
"Probably we could have forgiven without forgetting, but the events of the
last year forced us to regroup," says Mr Mhanda. "He did it to us but he has no
right to do it to the country."
"Twenty years after independence, the history of the war hasn't really been
told," adds Mr Manyadza. "Are certain people afraid that their names will be
found on the wrong side of the struggle?"
On the second day of development meetings with African leaders in Mali, leaders from the financial institutions faced the wrath of protesters claiming that the loans are doing more harm than good.
Although the views of protesters are extreme, leading aid organisations maintain the view that economic conditions imposed on developing countries by the IMF and World Bank can undermine the African domestic economy.
The debate is gaining in importance because decreasing aid and foreign investment is leaving African countries more reliant on IMF and World Bank hand outs.
Open ears
Despite the negative publicity, the World Bank and the IMF stressed ahead of the trip that they were changing their approach, and going to listen rather than to dictate to African nations.
"We are listening more. We are leaving the space to Africans to lead their own efforts, and it has become truly a partnership that is beginning to develop," added Mr Callisto.
The IMF and the World Bank have embarked on a formal process to include greater participation of civil society in policy making, countering criticism that the institutions are too close to the government and too remote from ordinary people.
"We will of course, offer some advice here and there, but the focal point will be on the heads of the state discussing amongst themselves and with us what the problems are and how they can be solved," said the IMF's director for Africa.
Perils of liberalisation
But although leading aid organisations such as Christian Aid welcome the changes, they also argue that the IMF and World Bank's basic framework policy of liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation remains unchanged.
"These policies can work, but in many cases they don't, " Mark Curtis, head of policy at Christian Aid, told BBC News Online.
"It's a kind of suicide," said Mr Curtis, explaining that developing countries should have the freedom to go against the policies of liberalisation if they need to.
Christian Aid says there are many cases where fledgling African industries are drowned by cheap imports because of enforced liberalisation.
Excess exports of poultry from the US or the EU are dumped onto Africa at subsidised prices, undermining local livelihoods and destroying local domestic industries.
With a liberalised economy, Africa is not allowed to protect itself from these sorts of cheap imports.
And Mozambique was forced to cut export tariffs on cashew nuts, a policy which put thousands of local people out of work.
The government lobbied the World Bank, and the bank eventually changed its policy to allow the tariff and protect the local industry.
World Bank president James Wolfensohn and IMF managing director Horst Koehler are in sub-Saharan Africa until 25 February, in a demonstration of support for the region.
COMMERCIAL FARMERS’ UNION
PRESS RELEASE – Tuesday 20th February 2001
CFU President, Tim Henwood
"Contrary to recent media reports, I confirm that the current CFU leadership has not resigned, nor have any staff members been dismissed. The way forward on the deadlocked land issue and the issue of CFU leadership were debated frankly and at length at an extraordinary CFU Council meeting on Tuesday 13th February. The Council resolved to convene a Special Congress on the 21st March for the membership to decide these strategic issues in a transparent and democratic manner. Accordingly, the current CFU leadership will remain in office pending the outcome of elections at the conclusion of the Special Congress on the 21st March 2001.
In the interim, our commitment to engage in constructive dialogue with Government and our commitment to finding a solution to the deadlocked land issue is genuine. The tangible proposals that need to accompany such a commitment have not been finalised as there is the need to seek the clear mandate of the farming members, but we are fully appreciative of the urgency of the matter.
To avoid any misunderstanding about the source of funding for the Commercial Farmers’ Union, I confirm that the CFU is funded entirely from membership license fees and the Commodity Associations are funded through levies raised upon sale of produce. We receive no external funding or sponsorship for the operations of the CFU. Our audited accounts are submitted annually to the Commissioner of Taxes and the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement for inspection as required by law. I have also affirmed in a public statement that the CFU is a politically neutral organisation, committed to working with the Government of the day."
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 20 February
Britain will pull military trainers out of Zimbabwe
Johannesburg/Harare - Britain is preparing to withdraw its military training team from Zimbabwe in protest at the latest repressive moves by President Robert Mugabe. The decision to remove the team, which is expected to be formally announced in the next few weeks, comes as Zimbabwe prepares to expel foreign correspondents. Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to Britain, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, was summoned to the Foreign Office yesterday to explain his government's latest act of repression.
The plan to remove the 10-strong training team of British staff officers, who use Harare as a base to train officers from the armies of Zimbabwe and other southern African nations, is believed to have been discussed at a meeting that was chaired by Brian Wilson, the junior Foreign Office minister. The move against foreign journalists, coming after similar pressure on the country's judiciary, domestic press and political opposition, is seen as preparation by Mr Mugabe for a possible early presidential election. Although his term of office does not end until April 2002, a vigorous campaign is being mounted against all perceived opponents of the government. Judges, independent newspapers and opposition leaders have been targeted and the net is closing around foreign correspondents.
The government is likely to announce on Friday new rules for accrediting foreign journalists. All those currently in Zimbabwe are expected to be asked to leave within 24 hours, following Joseph Winter, the BBC correspondent, who left yesterday following a night raid on his home by men thought to be from Mr Mugabe's CIO. Together with his wife and baby daughter, Mr Winter left Zimbabwe at 6.40am and flew to Johannesburg. Their home is still occupied by police and immigration officials and the family were unable to return to pack their belongings. In theory, foreign correspondents will have the option of applying for re-admission. In practice, the new regulations will be so restrictive as to prevent any from being accredited. Prof Jonathan Moyo, the information minister, has said that international news organisations will have to prove that no Zimbabwean can represent them before a foreigner will be admitted. Local journalists may also find that the rules make it impossible for them to do their jobs.
Britain, which has proved unable to influence events in its former colony in its relentless decline over the last year, is hoping that the withdrawal of the Army training team will send a diplomatic signal to Harare. But Mr Mugabe's recent history of disregarding international protests suggests that this will have little effect. Diplomats argue that threats to withdraw British government aid to Zimbabwe will hit the country's poor and, for similar reasons, there is no serious backing for wider economic sanctions. Last year Britain imposed a blanket ban on all military exports to Zimbabwe in protest at the first repressive acts of Mr Mugabe's government.
Britain's training team remains in Zimbabwe largely because it is a helpful regional base from which to offer staff officer training not just to the forces of Zimbabwe, but to Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and other nations in the region. The plan to withdraw the team will end a tradition of British military expertise being used in Zimbabwe that stretches back to the country's independence in 1980. The Telegraph has learned that a high-level Ministry of Defence mission recently made a secret visit to Zimbabwe to assess military options should the unrest deepen. It went under the command of a brigadier from the MoD's lead operational headquarters and was not publicised to avoid creating any sense of panic. It came to the conclusion that the only military option available to Britain was an evacuation of the 20,000 British passport holders using British troops to secure safe corridors to South Africa. But even this was rejected because it would play into the hands of the Mugabe regime by simply emptying Zimbabwe of the bulk of its white population.
Fearing for His Family, British Journalist Leaves Zimbabwe
Harare - A BBC reporter expelled from Zimbabwe flew out on Monday despite a court order extending his stay, saying he feared for his family. Joseph Winter said on his way out that, although the High Court had on Sunday ordered the government to extend his stay until Friday, he was taking his wife and daughter to Britain to save them from harassment by state agents. ``For my family's safety, I think it's just better for us to leave now. We have packed a few belongings and hope we can organise to sort out the rest when we get to London,'' he said by telephone. ``There is just too much pressure and harassment, and it's not fair for them to go through it,'' said Winter, who turns 30 on Friday.
High Court Judge Ishmael Chatikobo ordered the government to allow Winter, a British Broadcasting Corporation correspondent in Zimbabwe for the last four years, and Mercedes Sayagues, a correspondent for the South African Mail & Guardian newspaper, to stay until Friday to wind up their affairs. They had been ordered out on Saturday. The order, sought by the two journalists, was issued with the consent of the government's lawyers, but Winter said Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and a senior immigration officer had refused to sign it. The court also ordered the government not to harass the journalists before their departure. Sayagues said: ``I am lying low and preparing to leave before Friday, either on Wednesday or Thursday.''
Winter said a gang of security agents had tried to break into his flat early on Sunday, forcing him and his young family to take refuge in the British High Commission. He said the men had climbed a wall around his garden and begun banging on doors and shouting for him to open up as a car waited outside with its engine running. Winter phoned his lawyer, British officials and journalists in Harare. A Reuters reporter and other journalists arrived at the scene and saw half a dozen men in civilian clothes flee from Winter's garden, climb into a Mazda car and drive away. Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper quoted government sources as saying officers had gone to Winter's home at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) to serve his deportation order and escort him to the airport. The sources accused the British High Commission of impeding the security officers, and accused one of its officials of manhandling a police constable on guard at Winter's flat and forcibly removing some property, the newspaper said.
Winter said his neighbours had told him that three policemen had later broken into the flat, and were hanging around the complex on Sunday, and had been joined later by some heavily armed ones. Moyo told state television that Winter had been ordered out because he had fraudulently acquired an extension of his work permit, and that Sayagues's permit had expired. Winter dismissed the allegation as ``absolute rubbish.'' Mugabe's government has stepped up a campaign against dissent in recent weeks as the country sinks deeper into economic crisis. Political analysts say Mugabe has targeted the media, the judiciary and the opposition in a crackdown ahead of the 2002 presidential election. British Foreign Office minister Brian Wilson on Sunday condemned Zimbabwe's actions and called for respect of a free press and judiciary.
From The Guardian (UK), 20 February
US threat to punish Zimbabwe as Mugabe steps up repression
Harare - The United States says it is looking for new ways to punish Robert Mugabe following government threats to the lives of Zimbabwe's leading judges and the expulsion of two foreign journalists, including a BBC correspondent. Washington said it was consulting key allies, including Britain, to co-ordinate measures to get the government to halt its increasingly violent campaign against opponents and what appear to be the first steps toward barring the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from running for president on trumped up charges of inciting revolution.
The US has already cut a large proportion of its aid since Mr Mugabe encouraged supporters to occupy white-owned farms and ignored his supreme court's ruling that the land invasions were illegal. Britain joined in the international condemnation of the expulsion orders issued against a BBC reporter, Joseph Winter, and Mercedes Sayagues, a reporter for the Guardian's sister paper in South Africa, the Mail and Guardian. Zimbabwe's high commissioner, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, was called to the Foreign Office to hear a minister, Brian Wilson, protest at the expulsions, the harassment of judges, and the recent bombing that wrecked the presses of Harare's Daily News.
"A free press and independent judiciary are essential parts of any democratic society," Mr Wilson said." Expelling journalists cannot prevent the world from seeing what is happening in Zimbabwe or anywhere else." President Mugabe's reaction to such protests came in an address to foreign diplomats assembled at State House in Harare: "We are still the subject of malicious propaganda by external forces opposed to the land reform programme," he told them. "This is affecting our image abroad."
Mr Winter flew to Johannesburg yesterday after a raid on his home late Sunday night by men presumed to be government supporters forced him and his family to seek shelter at the British high commission. He and Ms Sayagues had won a high court order letting them stay until the end of the week to settle their affairs, but the BBC correspondent said he had decided to leave quickly, fearing for his wife and two-year-old daughter: "There is just too much pressure and harassment, and it's not fair for them to go through it." The information minister, Jonathan Moyo, who ordered the reporters out, refused to accept the extension and said he did not recognise the court's authority. He has hinted that all foreign journalists will have to leave before long. But confusingly, a senior BBC TV reporter and camera team from Johannesburg were allowed into Zimbabwe yesterday and given accreditation "until new regulations come into force".
The information minister faces problems of his own: the Ford Foundation filed a lawsuit in Nairobi yesterday accusing him of embezzling $80,000 (then worth £51,600) when he worked for the charity for four years up to 1997. Mr Moyo, who described the charges as "scurrilous accusations", says he in turn is suing the Ford Foundation, accusing it of "misrepresenting a research project" in which he participated. In a further move to intimidate or drive out white Zimbabweans, the government says it will tighten laws barring dual citizenship. About 20,000 people in Zimbabwe are believed to hold British passports. Many also hold Zimbabwean citizenship without revealing their British status to the Harare administration. The current law technically bars dual citizenship, but the supreme court has ruled this impractical because no provision was made for renunciation of citizenship. The new laws are also going to strip anyone who remains out of the country for five years of their Zimbabwean nationality. "There are concerns that those with dual citizenship are behind efforts to discredit the government," an official said.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 20 February
Mugabe ready to step aside 'for chosen successor'
With Zimbabwe's atmosphere of repression worsening by the day, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, predicted yesterday that President Robert Mugabe would retire within weeks and allow a handpicked successor to contest a presidential election as early as July. Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC and a declared candidate, told The Telegraph that the new wave of repression amounted to the opening of the election campaign. He said: "Everything is indicating an early election. I expect it to be in July or August. What we are seeing now is the government setting the pace for the final contest."
Fuel shortages, power cuts and price rises have become the order of the day as Zimbabwe's economic collapse gathers pace. Mr Tsvangirai believes that the crisis has forced Mr Mugabe to decide on an early election. He said: "They cannot wait until next year because the situation will be untenable by then. The self-destructive path they have set the country on makes that inevitable. At the moment, people are adjusting to the circumstances, but by next year, there will be nothing left to adjust to."
Mr Mugabe is 77 tomorrow and his recent public profile has been unusually low. After a heavy fall in Malaysia in December that required six stitches to his head, Mr Mugabe went on leave for the whole of January and has made few public appearances since. Mr Tsvangirai doubts whether the president has the energy for an election campaign and another six-year term of office. He believes that his opponent in the coming contest will be Emmerson Mnangagwa, the speaker of parliament and a senior member of the ruling Zanu-PF party's politburo. Mr Tsvangirai said: "I'm certain that Mugabe will appoint Mnangagwa as his chosen successor and then campaign on behalf of him. But it makes no difference. Both are unelectable and it's the same government."
Mr Mnangagwa has served in Mr Mugabe's cabinet for 20 years and masterminded the brutal campaign against dissidents in Matabeleland during the 1980s that claimed at least 5,000 civilian lives. A tough, ruthless operator, he is a loyal follower of his master. This leads Mr Tsvangirai to expect a pre-election terror campaign of unparalleled ferocity. He said: "They will have to resort to massive repression. That is the only way they can hope to win. Their strategy will be very simple - 'beat the blacks and shoot the whites'. What you are seeing now is the preparation for that." Careless remarks during a rally last September have led him to face charges of "incitement to violence". If convicted, he could not run for the presidency and the opposition would be crippled.
From The Daily News, 19 February
Teacher tells of terror in petition hearing
Adiel Madondo, a teacher at Mhondongori Primary School in Zvishavane, says he was abducted and beaten up by about 40 Zanu PF supporters after he had refused to join them during last June's parliamentary election. He was testifying in Harare last Friday in the High Court in the hearing of a petition by Farai Muzagani of MDC who is challenging the June election results for Zvishavane constituency. He lost to Zanu PF's Pearson Mbalekwa.
A doctor's report produced before Justice Vernada Ziyambi showed Madondo sustained a broken hand. He said the group woke him up at around 10pm and ordered him to surrender MDC membership cards. "They used my friend Gwisai to knock at the door. I remember seeing Ronnie Ngwarira and Ronnie Mahlokuwa because they searched my house and ordered that I be beaten up," said Madondo. He said the gang dragged him out, saying they would take him to a Mahlokuwa, Ronnie's father and the Zanu PF district chairman for the area. "On our way there, one of the men proposed I be assaulted on the spot. I tried to protect myself, but it was useless as they were too many. They beat me on my buttocks and back, forcing me to admit that I was an MDC member and should join Zanu PF," he said. Madondo said he hid behind Mahlokuwa who then ordered his men to stop beating him.
At a Zanu PF meeting held at Mhondongori Primary School, Madondo said a man called Ruzive urged people to beat up members of the opposition. Madondo alleged Ruzive said Zanu PF had the resources to help anyone arrested for attacking opposition supporters. He said schools were effectively closed because of the violence by war veterans and Zanu PF supporters. Madondo said before the election, all teachers were rounded up by Zanu PF youths and warned against voting for MDC. "We were reminded of what happened to those who went against Zanu PF in 1985 and 1990, where a lot of people were murdered," said Madondo. The hearing continues this week.
From The Scotsman (UK), 20 February
Mugabe silences journalists
Mercedes Sayagues is - in Britain - the lesser known of two foreign correspondents ordered out of Zimbabwe this weekend. But to her international journalist colleagues it is abundantly clear why she has been singled out: reporting for the South African Mail and Guardian, she has written the truth about Zimbabwe with more reckless courage than any other foreign reporter. Robert Mugabe's action against the BBC correspondent Joseph Winter, by contrast, has more to do with the president's anger with the BBC as an institution.
Ms Sayagues's last report from Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, before she got her marching orders was a case in point. She described how only the Zimbabwe army corps of engineers and three army special forces units could have had access to Chinese-made TM-46 landmines used to destroy the printing presses of the independent, anti-Mugabe Daily News last month. "The bombing shows a qualitative jump in army involvement [in government oppression], coupled with an arrogant disregard for self-incrimination - a signature bombing," Sayagues wrote. "Hours before the bombing, the minister of information, Jonathan Moyo, and the war veteran leader Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi vowed to silence the Daily News."
Not only is Sayagues courageous, she is colourful. Take a recent report on her joy at finding a litre of petrol in fuel-starved, economically crippled Zimbabwe: "Filling up the tank is better than having sex. You can have sex any time but you never know when you will fill your tank again or how many hours it will take in the queue." Her reporting of the AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe, where the WHO estimates 2,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every week, has been graphic and compassionate. No-one has revealed more about the torture chambers established by Mr Mugabe's security forces, including the monstrous women persecutors who specialise in squeezing testicles between beer bottle tops. No-one else has identified the 35,000 charges of arson, assault, malicious injury to property, public violence, extortion, intimidation, culpable homicide, stock theft, poaching, abduction and kidnapping laid against Mr Mugabe's militiamen in the past year - potential crimes all pardoned by the president before coming to trial. "Mugabe embodies the culture of impunity: zero accountability. Impunity undermines the rule of law. It corrupts the culture, because you can get away with - literally - murder," Sayagues wrote.
Sayagues, when she first arrived in Zimbabwe in 1992, was perhaps the least likely critic of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Born in Uruguay, she had been imprisoned there for opposition to military rule between 1972 and 1984. In exile, after release from prison, she bore a daughter after a passionate affair with a Palestinian nationalist activist. But she anticipated that Mr Mugabe's radical rhetoric would match her own idealism. Once she realised it was a sham, she exposed it with all the zeal she had shown in opposing Uruguay's right-wing military dictatorship. "In Latin America I lived under military regimes. I've seen the signs in Zimbabwe," she said last weekend, after her valid work permit was revoked by Mr Moyo. "The illegal arrests and torture of journalists. The intimidation of the judiciary. The rise of extra-legal militia and the terror they inflict across the country. Gross disregard of the rule of law. Gross corruption. "It pains me to see this. When I first came to this country I would say proudly: "Zimbabwe proves that an African country can work"... Now it appears the Zimbabwe government does not want any foreign journalists to record how it turns into a full-fledged dictatorship."
The expulsion orders against Sayagues and Winter follows the forced resignation of the Manchester-born chief justice, Anthony Gubbay, after threats against him and his family from self-styled pro-Mugabe "war veterans", the main force in last year's invasion and seizure of white-owned farms. At the beginning of this month two top Mugabe government ministers told Mr Gubbay that his personal safety could no longer be ensured. Shortly after that, it was announced that the 69-year-old judge would from March begin a permanent leave of absence from the bench. Married with two children, Mr Gubbay will return to live in Britain some 44 years after he settled in what is now Zimbabwe.
Editorial from The Guardian (UK), 20 February
Nobody knows what to do about Mugabe
Making a mockery
The expulsion orders issued against two foreign correspondents working in Zimbabwe and expected moves to force all others to leave the country are just the latest in a long string of depredations wrought by Robert Mugabe. After terrorising the farming community, intimidating the opposition and fiddling last summer's general election, Mr Mugabe is now focusing on his own presidential re-election bid. His "campaign" to date has included attempts to trump up criminal charges against Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC's leader and his main rival, thereby disbarring his candidacy; the forced resignation of senior judges who challenged his diktats; renewed rampages by thugs given free rein by Zanu-PF; and efforts to muzzle the domestic media.
Somebody blew up the printing presses of the Harare Daily News last month. Perhaps Mr Mugabe might care to say what progress has been made in identifying the person who ordered this attack? Perhaps not. Mr Mugabe believes himself to be above the law. He is no more interested in impartial justice than he is in bringing peace to Congo or reversing the calamitous fall in living standards that has made paupers of his people. He appears concerned only with personal power and to that end will do all he can, including calling a snap election to perpetuate his Lear-like misrule.
What is to be done? Comradely persuasion, the preferred approach of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, has failed. Some people believe Mr Mugabe is mad and thus beyond the reach of reasoned argument; others that obsessed with his founding father status, he has forgotten that leadership is a responsibility, not a right. The freezing of IMF-World Bank support and other such sanctions has not modified his behaviour; tougher measures, like cutting South Africa's electricity supply subsidies, would hurt ordinary Zimbabweans most.
There is no safe prospect of a "people's power" revolt while the army and police remain firmly in Mr Mugabe's pocket. Outside military intervention is not an option. In London, the government expresses "extreme concern"; the UN woefully wrings its hands. Last May, Commonwealth ministers demanded Mr Mugabe uphold democratic rights. He ignored them then and he will again now. Big bad Bob, aged 77 this week and still going strong, scorns such impotence and through his unchecked excesses makes all the world his victim.
From The Bulawayo Chronicle, 12 February
A selection of headlines from a single (12 February) issue of The Chronicle. Not even this state owned newspaper seemed able to put a positive spin on what is going on.