The Sunday Times, UK
February 25, 2007
Diamonds at centre of power struggle
Jan Raath, Harare, and RW
Johnson
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's endlessly proclaimed illusion of Zimbabwean
democracy, prosperity and health and education for all reached its most
surreal extreme at a party held yesterday costing 300m Zimbabwe dollars to
celebrate his 83rd birthday.
This sum would have been worth £150,000
when officials of the ruling Zanu-PF
began collecting for the event in
December, but by this weekend it was down
to £23,000, so fast is the
currency falling in value.
Mugabe mingled with the 20,000 guests in the
Mboka football stadium in the
city of Gweru and used a lengthy speech to
condemn homosexuality. The party
was shown on national tele-vision, although
viewers in Harare suffered a
power cut.
Mugabe accused Morgan
Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, of
waging economic sabotage with the help of the British.
"Their efforts will
come to nought because we have the support of the
people," he declared.
"Even if he [Tsvangirai] denounces us from the top of
a mountain or appeals
for foreign intervention from there, we are not going
to fall."
The
celebrations were disrupted by strong winds and rain from Cyclone Favio.
But
giant cakes had been baked and thousands of children wearing red sashes
were
bussed in to the stadium where, according to the state-controlled
Herald
newspaper, they would "interact with political leaders and role
models that
would inspire them to serve their country with decorum".
The "role
models" turned up in an array of luxury vehicles. They were the
same party
officials whom Mugabe, in a rare moment of realism, had described
in an
interview last week as ambitious, corrupt cheats trying to drive him
out.
The party was held as bread disappeared from shops, inflation
was forecast
by the International Monetary Fund to rise to 4,000% by the end
of the year
and demonstrations and political gatherings were banned by the
police in
Harare for fear that they would trigger looting.
"The
president has lost touch with the people," said Wellington Chibebe,
secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), who was
assaulted by police for being part of a small protest in Harare last
September. "What he is doing is throwing a party at a funeral."
One
of the unexpected side effects of Zimbabwe's 1,600% inflation is that
people
who bring their dying relatives to hospital are simply
disappearing.
Families deliberately give fictitious names and addresses
because they
cannot afford the fees for the hospital, undertakers and burial
sites. So
the country's mortuaries are choked with unclaimed
dead.
"The Shona people in many ways have a culture of the dead," said
Father
Oskar Wermter, a Jesuit priest who spends most of his life among the
desperately poor residents of Harare's Mbare township. "But now, because of
the economic breakdown and social disruption, these things are
happening."
Every morning, before Wermter gets to the gates of the St
Peter Claver
parish house, the knot of supplicants begins to swell:
desperate, anxious
people pleading for money for rent, education, clothing
and medication.
"There are a few charitable things associated with this
birthday party, but
it is another propaganda occasion to try and convince
the people everything
is wonderful and he is doing wonderful things for the
people," said Wermter.
"I cannot make out the psychology of that
man."
Among the achievements in 27 years of what the Herald calls
Mugabe's
"sublime, visionary leadership", are infant mortality as bad as
Somalia's;
one of the highest postnatal maternal mortality rates; the
highest inflation
anywhere; the fastest economic decline in a state not at
war; and a place at
or near the bottom of international indices for
corruption and press
freedom.
The latest evidence of the descent into
dystopia comes from an unpublished
report by psychiatric experts which shows
that 40% of people in and around
Mbare suffer from chronic depression and
anxiety.
"It means that nearly one in two people in the street is
severely
psychologically disabled," said one of the doctors involved. "So
when people
accuse Zimbabweans of being apathetic and not standing up to the
government,
this is why."
This weekend the general council of the
ZCTU was discussing whether the
government's stalling over wage demands from
doctors, teachers and civil
servants, most of whose salaries barely cover
their transport to and from
work, merited a national strike. Last week the
government sent riot police
into schools in Harare where teachers were in
their classrooms but refusing
to teach. The police attacked them with dogs,
batons and tear gas, witnesses
said.
The recent discovery of diamond
deposits in Marange has added a twist to the
succession battle raging within
Zanu-PF. A power struggle between Solomon
Mujuru, former army chief and the
biggest landowner - whose wife Joyce is
Mugabe's deputy - and the president
broke into the open last week.
Khupukile Investments, Mujuru's company,
owns a large share of the diamond
field. Last Tuesday Mugabe announced that
the mines were being nationalised.
As so often in Africa, control of the
mines has come down to a trial of
political and military strength. If Mujuru
wants to defend his position he
must stage a coup or force Mugabe to back
off. But the ageing president
cannot afford to back down - any sign that his
writ no longer runs could be
fatal to his regime.
"There is a new
mood in this country," said a western diplomat. "When people
can't afford
the cost of transport to go to work, let alone eat or pay the
rent, and that
includes much of the army and police, the government becomes
very
vulnerable.
"Mugabe can't go on printing money ad nauseam. Things could
change very
quickly in the next few months."
Facts of
failure
Inflation 1,600%
Unemployment 80%
Population living
on less than £1 a day 80%
Gross domestic product down 30% in ?ve
years
Life expectancy (men) 37 years
Life expectancy (women) 34
years
Infant mortality 60 per thousand live births
HIV/Aids one in
five adults infected
(Sources: IMF, Dfid, Unesco, UNaids)
Zim Online
Monday 26 February 2007
By
Hendricks Chizhanje
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government on Sunday said trade
union leaders calling
for a national work boycott in April are itching "to
start a war" in the
country and vowed to sternly deal with them.
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the largest umbrella union for
workers in the country, at the weekend it was mobilising workers for a
two-day nationwide job boycott in the first week of April over the country's
fast deteriorating economic crisis and worsening conditions for
workers.
The union - that has slated its job stayaway for April 3 and 4
and says
industrial action would escalate as from April - had given
President Robert
Mugabe's government up to February 23 to begin implementing
measures to stem
an economic meltdown that has made life in the once
prosperous southern
African nation unbearable.
State Security
Minister Didymus Mutasa promised a tough response to any
ZCTU-organised
protests or work stoppage.
"They (ZCTU) want to start a war and we are
more than prepared to deal with
them," said Mutasa, who is also in charge of
the government's chaotic land
reforms and is a close a confidante of
Mugabe.
Mutasa advised ZCTU leaders to learn from previous attempts to
organise
anti-government protests that have been ruthlessly crushed by
soldiers and
police, adding the union better heed warnings by the government
over the
April strike.
About 30 ZCTU leaders and activists were last
September severely assaulted
and tortured by the police after attempting to
organise workers to march in
Harare in protest against worsening economic
hardships and poverty.
Many of the trade unionists had to be hospitalised
for several days to
receive treatment for severe injuries during the torture
that was condemned
by major Western governments, local and international
human rights groups.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena would not say
whether the law enforcement
agency would use the same brutal tactics against
the ZCTU in April but said
the union could not organise any public protest
in Harare and surrounding
areas where the police have banned political
meetings and protests for three
months.
The police imposed the ban on
public protests and meetings following last
week's running battles in
Harare's Highfield working class suburb with
supporters of the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.
Bvudzijena said: "The
police have issued a three-month ban on such
activities so it would be
illegal for them (ZCTU) to organise protests."
ZCTU president Lovemore
Matombo was not immediately available on Sunday to
comment on the
government's threats to stop the April job boycott.
Zimbabwe is on a
political knife-edge as a steep economic crisis takes its
toll on a
population grappling with inflation of nearly 1600 percent, the
highest in
the world and surging unemployment and poverty.
The tensions have
worsened following proposals by Mugabe's ZANU PF to extend
his rule under an
election harmonisation plan, which will see a presidential
election
scheduled next year coinciding with parliamentary polls in 2010.
The
opposition and civil groups have condemned the move, saying Zimbabwe
cannot
afford to have Mugabe in charge for an additional two years. They
have
threatened to roll out mass protests to block the plan, while a large
section with Mugabe's own ruling ZANU PF party is opposed to extending his
tenure. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 26 February 2007
By own
correspondent
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri has told state
media that the police are aware that some senior
government officials were
involved in illegal mining and smuggling of
precious minerals but said the
law enforcement agency could not arrest them
because of lack of evidence.
Chihuri at the weekend appealed to
members of the public with information to
come forward promising the police
would arrest anyone suspected of illegally
dealing in precious minerals
regardless of their political or social
standing.
"I am sure
members of the public know these chefs (a colloquial reference to
powerful
politicians) involved in illegal running, but my appeal is they
should come
forward with information," said Chihuri.
Chihuri also vowed to
protect witnesses who come up with information that
could be used to arrest
the politicians and government officials.
Speculation has always
been rife that powerful ruling ZANU PF party and
government politicians were
behind the upsurge in illegal mining of precious
minerals and smuggling them
out of the country.
For example, the World Diamond Council (WDC)
last month accused River Ranch
Diamond Mines - a Zimbabwean firm owned by
the husband of the country's
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, ZANU PF politician
Tirivanhu Mudariki and
others - of smuggling diamonds mined in Zimbabwe and
"blood diamonds" from
the Congo into South Africa.
The
smuggled diamonds are certified as clean under the Kimberly Process
before
being sold to unsuspecting international buyers, the WDC said, a
charge
River Ranch has vehemently denied.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon Gono has publicly admitted that
revenue from gold sales
sharply dropped over the past few years because most
of the precious mineral
was being sold to illegal dealers instead of the
central bank that is the
only one permitted by law to buy gold.
While diamond industry
experts say Zimbabwe could have lost nearly US$300
million worth of the
mineral after villagers, illegal panners, dealers and
smugglers invaded the
Chiadzwa diamond fields discovered last year in the
country's eastern
Manicaland province. - ZimOnline
The Guardian
Sunday
February 25, 2007 5:31 AM
By JEROME DELAY
Associated Press
Writer
VILANCULOS, Mozambique (AP) - A huge clean-up operation was under
way
Saturday in some of Mozambique's most popular resorts as the southern
African nation's fledgling tourist industry struggled to recover from a
devastating cyclone that left tens of thousands homeless.
Casualties
from Cyclone Favio appeared to be limited thanks to a warning
system and
evacuations by authorities, with initial reports of 10 dead.
Vilanculos,
which used to be an idyllic resort boasting some of Mozambique's
most
exclusive tourist lodges, was left in ruins, with mighty palms uprooted
and
the main road cut in half by a three-foot deep pothole. There was no
electricity and no running water.
The central market, made of steel
and tin, totally collapsed as did most
other flimsy structures in an area
where most homes are built of bamboo and
straw.
Favio came ashore at
Vilanculos on Thursday with sustained winds of 125 mph
and heavy rain. It
moved across central Mozambique, bringing more flooding
and misery to an
area that has been deluged since January.
Rene Christensen, a Danish
national and longtime resident of the town, said
all that remained of his
home was the frame.
``The bad thing is that nobody is informed and nobody
knows what is going
on. Everything is broken down. We don't know if and when
we are going to get
help,'' Christensen said. ``It is as if we have been
erased from the map.''
Traumatized residents had begun cleaning up.
Despite the destruction, some
vendors were back on the street selling
vegetables and fruit.
The nearby town of Inhambane and the resort of Tofo
Beach were also badly
hit. The area has stunning beaches and is popular with
divers, snorkelers
and big game fishermen because of the array of sea life,
including giant
mantas and enormous whale sharks.
There was no sign
of any tourists in Vilanculos and locals said that they
had all moved to
safer ground.
The government has encouraged the development of the
tourist industry as
part of the economic revival in the impoverished country
still suffering
from the legacy of colonial rule and civil
war.
Authorities said they were still assessing the full scale of the
damage and
the likely cost of reconstruction. The European Union, UNICEF and
CARE were
among the agencies sending in relief supplies.
Neighboring
South Africa sent two government ministers into the disaster
area and said
it was ready to provide assistance, including helicopters to
transport food
to temporary accommodation centers.
Fernanda Texeira, the head of the
International Federation of the Red Cross
in Mozambique, said Friday that
the number of homeless living in tented
camps had jumped almost overnight
from 88,600 to 121,000 and that more could
still arrive.
Favio was
expected to worsen the flooding from the Zambezi river, which has
been
swollen by heavy rains in Malawi and Zimbabwe. About 30 people were
killed
in Mozambique and nearly 90,000 forced from their homes by the
earlier
floods.
Some 800 Mozambicans died in floods caused by two cyclones in
2000 and 2001.
Since then, the government has overhauled its disaster
management system
which successfully limited casualties this time
around.
The East African
By L. Muthoni
Wanyeki
What does it mean to be a citizen in Africa?
Consider the
case of Trevor Ncube, chief executive of the Mail and Guardian
in South
Africa and one of the last independent publishers still operating
in
Zimbabwe. A product, as he puts it, of the federation of the former
Nyasaland and Rhodesia, he was born and brought up in Zimbabwe. He has
suffered the ignominy of having his passport detained. A court ruling got it
back. Then, when he needed his passport renewed, he was informed his
citizenship had lapsed as he had not renounced his Zambian citizenship. His
protestations to the effect that he had never been a Zambian citizen were to
no avail.
He was forced to formally renounce a citizenship he had
never had at the
Zambian High Commission in Zimbabwe and endure another
court battle to
obtain a judgement to the effect that he was, indeed, a
Zimbabwean, that the
government had to issue him a passport and refrain from
interfering with his
citizenship and his freedom of movement ever
again.
Closer to home, consider too the case of Jenerali Ulimwengu, CEO
of Habari
Media in Tanzania. His father, born in German East Africa, had a
long
history in the political movements that brought about Tanzanian
independence. He himself, born in Tanganyika, was an active Chama cha
Mapinduzi member for almost all his working life - working for the
government of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and campaigning for the first two
presidents who succeeded tanzanian's founding president. He too was declared
stateless, purportedly on the grounds of his Rwandan ancestry, even though,
like Ncube, he had never been a Rwandan citizen.
He was eventually
allowed to remain in Tanzania as an "investor" until,
eventually, he was
forced to "naturalise" himself as a Tanzanian. This
process took over five
years, during which he had to travel, when necessary,
on a document he
likens to a "medical certificate."
BOTH NCUBE AND ULIMWENGU say their
cases were cruelly elaborate,
dehumanising and yet petty attempts to silence
political dissent. That they
were not routine attempts to regularise
citizenship matters is attested to
by the facts that none of their siblings
- who had the same citizenship
status as they did - were
affected.
But, as Maria Nassali, formerly of Uganda's Kituo cha Katiba,
points out,
"African women do not even need to antagonise state power to be
denationalised." Many African states, ours included, still deny women the
right to full citizenship. Obtaining citizenship only through our fathers
and husbands, many African women still do not, by law, have the right to
pass on our citizenship to our spouses or to our children.
And then
there are all of those Africans whose families and communities
found
themselves, at the stroke of a pen in Berlin, on different sides of
the new
borders. (Which is what, for example, has allowed for the recent
disgrace of
having Kenyans of Somali descent illegally detained and deported
to
Mogadishu for questioning over the Islamic Courts Union issue.) Or the
Africans who are products of mixed marriages - not just between Africans and
non-Africans but also between Africans of different African
states.
There is something deeply painful about being assumed not to
belong. Or
being forced to make choices about one's identity to belong. Or
to have one's
belonging snatched away. Lacking citizenship (itself a
human-rights
violations) renders one vulnerable to more human-rights
violations. We need
to settle the question of who is an African by tossing
out limiting notions
of our states and ending the priority given to descent
over naturalisation.
L. Muthoni Wanyeki is a political scientist based in
Nairobi, Kenya
The Vigil marked Mugabe's
birthday celebrations with a performance by
Zimbabwean protest singer
Viomak, who sang several songs from her new album
"Happy 83rd Birthday
President R G Mugabe (bones of a 30 year old)".
Everyone joined in as she
sang "Gono Bvisa Father Zero (Gono remove Father
Zero [Mugabe])". It came as
no surprise that the Zimbabwean Embassy did not
accept her invitation to
attend the launch of the new album. Viomak
generously bought pizzas and
soft drinks for our supporters - in contrast to
the celebrations in Gweru
where there was food for the bigwigs while the
ordinary people went away
hungry. Unlike the obscene birthday feast for
Mugabe we had a genuine
celebration for Vigil Co-ordinator Rose, who turned
62 (bones of a 62 year
old) today and was given a great pom-pom by Vigil
supporters.
With a
big demonstration in Trafalgar Square against proposals to modernise
Britain's nuclear deterrent we had many people stop by to sign our petition.
Every cause under the sun seemed to be represented in Trafalgar Square,
except, strangely enough, anything to do with Africa. There were the usua;l
protests about Iraq, Iran, Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan . . . but no
obvious reference to Darfur and Zimbabwe, or even Somalia. What is going on
here? Is Africa just being airbrushed out of world problems?
The
British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph (20/2/07) reports that Zimbabwe
may
gain the vice-presidency of the World Food Programme (WFP) with the
support
of all seven African countries presently on the WFP's 36-strong
executive
board. This makes us realise we have a lot more to do in
spreading
knowledge about Zimbabwe. Indeed we spent time today discussing
the
situation with a gentleman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who
continued to proclaim his support of Mugabe.
Better news was a visit
by a big group of interested girl guides from
Speldhurst in Kent who have
been alerted to the Zimbabwe situation by our
English supporters, Sue,
Alfred and Francesca Toft. A group from the Vigil
had the pleasure of
visiting St Mary's Church, Speldhurst to take part in a
service for Zimbabwe
a couple of weeks ago.
We are pleased to say that support is growing for
ACTSA's Zimbabwean rally
in Trafalgar Square on 10th March - we urge
everyone to come and make this a
really big Zimbabwean event - for details,
see:
http://www.actsa.org/Pages/Page.php?pID=1109&title=Rally%20for%20Dignity.
In the meantime next week (3rd March) the MDC UK is joining us for a
demonstration in solidarity with MDC activists back home who are receiving
brutal treatment at the hands of the Zanu-PF Regime and against the
postponement of the Zimbabwean Presidential Elections to 2010.
For
this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 70 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
- Monday,
26th February, 7.30 pm. Central London Zimbabwe Forum.
Upstairs at the
Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam Street, London WC2
(cross the Strand
from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go down a passageway to John
Adam Street, turn
right and you will see the pub.
- Saturday, 3rd March, 2 - 4 pm - MDC
UK Demonstration at the Vigil.
- Saturday, 10th March, 1-4 pm - ACTSA
rally for Zimbabwe in
Trafalgar Square. The Vigil will still be manned
during the two hours the
rally overlaps with the Vigil. Mass toyi-toyi to
the Vigil planned at the
end of the rally.
Vigil
co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London,
takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross
violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil
which started in
October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored,
free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk