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Nyarota allegations a cynical lie -
Ncube
PROFESSOR WELSHMAN
NCUBE
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• Text of Nyarota's coup plot claims
• Nyarota allegations
libellous - Nyathi
• Nyarota's tattered history
•
Outrage at Nyarota Empire claims
• Nyarota breaks
silence
• Nkomo sabotaged Daily News - Nyarota
• Daily
News publishes in Nigeria
• Masiyiwa vows to fight to 'last
drop'
• 'Daily News a Ndebele
Empire'
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THIS
is a letter written by Professor Welshman Ncube in response to
Geoffrey
Nyarota's allegations that Ncube and MDC spokesman Paul Themba
Nyathi tried
to stage a coup on their leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
Dear Geoff
I read your response to Mduduzi's
article with complete amazement and
bewilderment. It is not possible or
practicable for me to respond to every
allegation and every insinuation in
your article concerning myself. I will
also not attempt to say anything about
those parts of your article which
make no direct or indirect references to me
or about me. My response is as
set out below.
1.MATHUTHU'S WEBSITE
ARTICLE
Until your email I was not aware of Mduduzi Mathuthu's website
article. As
of now I have not read it but will make an effort to access it so
that I may
read it in due course. You seem to imply that I and Mr. P T Nyathi
must be
the two senior MDC officials referred to by Mathuthu who not only
must have
confirmed the existence of the alleged plot by yourself agaisnt
myself and
Mr. Nyathi but who must have also have helped Mathuthu devise what
you
characterise as a sting operation to discredit you.
The truth is a
far cry from this. As a matter of fact I have not spoken to
Mduduzi Mathuthu
since he left Zimbabwe more that a year ago. I certainly
did not meet or
speak to him while I was in London during the middle of
November 2003. I dont
believe that he attended the one public meeting I
addressed in London at the
Royal African Society. If he attended that public
meeting I did not see him.
It follows that I did not make any contribution
to the article.
To the
extent that you also seem to imply that Miss Mahlunge might have
confided in
me and disclosed to me the conversation you had with her making
the
allegation that Dyck alleged to you that I had not been adverse to
the
alleged proposal let me advise that I during my stay in London or at
any
other time Miss Mahlunge did not tell me anything about your discussion.
The
only meeting and discussion I had with Miss Mahlunge was a dinner
meeting
which included Mrs Sekai Holland, Grace Kwinje, Prof E Mukonoweshuro
and
Isaac Maphosa. Your issue did not arise at that meeting. Miss Mahlunge
also
attended one private meeting and one public meeting both of which
I
addressed. However, I did not have any opportunity to talk to her at
both
those meetings. The simple truth is that Miss Mahlunge did not tell
me
anything of your discussion. I learned of it for the first time through
your
email to me.
If Mduduzi Mathuthu spoke to two MDC senior
officials they certainly did not
include me. After I read your email I have
since spoken to Miss Mahlunge by
phone and she advises me that she has never
passed on your then "secret" to
anyone else other that Grace Kwinje who also
says she never told anyone
about it. Mahlunge insists she does not know
Mathuthu and that she did not
speak to him. By the way Miss Mahlunge is a
member of the MDC national
executive and therefore a senior member of the
party contrary to what you
seem to imply in your article.
Whoever
might be after slandering you they do not include me. In short, not
only did
I have absolutely no contribution to Mduduzi Mathuthu's article but
had no
knowledge of its existence until you wrote to me about it.
2.THE DYCK
FICTION
In your article you allege that that Dyck told you that he or
some other
unnamed person had approached me to sound me out on the plot or
proposal and
that when so approached I had not been adverse to the plot or
proposal. This
is a malicious and cynical lie. I have never met Zvinavashe
let alone speak
to him. I only know him from television and newspapers. I
have never had a
private meeting with Mnangagwa. I have only met him in
committee meetings of
Parliament and in open Parliamentary sessions. I met
him once in his office
with the Vice President of MDC to arrange an
invitation to the MDC
delegation to the opening of Parliament and once with
the MDC Chief whip to
protest and object to his attempt to select
parliamentary committee
chairpersons without the authority of the Committee
on Standing Rules. I do
not know Dyck. I have never met him. I have never
seen him. I do not know
what he looks like. I would not recognise him if I
met him.I have never
spoken to him. Where ever he is I am sure he will
confirm that he has never
met me or spoken to me. I have never been
approached by any emissary of
either Mnangagwa or Zvinavashe.
The
simple truth is that I have never been approached by any person in
connection
with the "fiction" you say Dyck told you about. If I had been I
would have
had no hesitation whatsoever in rejecting out of hand the
proposal since
there can be no political settlement of the Zimbabwean crisis
which can be
done without the approval of the President of the MDC and the
party's
national executive. Any viable settlement must be based on the
acceptance of
the MDC leadership as elected at the party's congress.
Whatever else I might
be I am not a fool and I will never be a sellout.
In short, it is
patently false that I was approached by Mnangagwa or
Zvinavashe or Dyck or
anyone representing any of them. It is equally false
that I had not been
adverse to their alleged scheme, if such a scheme
existed at all. If Dyck did
say to you what you say he said I have no idea
what game he was playing and
with whichever principals. What I know is the
fact that I was not involved at
all nor did I know anything about it. I find
it strange that if such a scheme
to sideline Tsvangirai existed Dyck would
in fact meet Tsvangirai, as he did,
to sell another version of the scheme to
him? It simply does not make sense!
We in the MDC leadership became aware of
the Dyck story, at least the version
proposed to Tsvangirai when Tsvangirai
briefed the MDC leadership on
it.
I must also state that I find it exceedingly strange that a seasoned
and
multiple award winning editor like yourself would sit on this sort
of
allegation for over a year without putting it to those who stood accused
by
Dyck. That Nkomo excluded you from a lunch meeting is neither an
explanation
nor an excuse. The present pretext of protecting us is also no
explanation
at all. We needed no protection since the allegation was pure
fiction.
3 THE LUNCH
As for the lunch with Mr. Nkomo, at no
time was I aware that you were to be
part of the lunch meeting which had been
arranged by P T Nyathi and Nkomo. I
was invited through Mr. Nyathi. I was
advised that the purpose of the lunch
was for Mr. Nkomo to apologise over
lunch for the behaviour of his marketing
and accounting staff who had been
refusing to accept MDC adverts until the
debt had been fully paid. At the
lunch meeting he did give the apology and
asked that in future I should deal
with Mr. Kurwa on the matter and that
should there be problems I should go
directly to him. My recollection is
that by the time of the lunch meeting we
had just fully paid the debt. To
the extent that you appear to insinuate that
Mr. Nkomo's hostility to you
that day might have had something to do with
what was discussed by us at
that lunch and that your dismissal might have
also been similarly connected,
let me state most categorically that at no
time during the lunch meeting did
your name ever come up. The only time I
discussed you with Mr. Nkomo was
after your dismissal when I inquired of him
as to what the real reason for
your departure was as I had not believed the
version put out by the company
at the time.
I sincerely hope that the
rest of us are not being drawn into a dispute
which might be essentially
between you and Mr. Nkomo for the reason that we
are perceived to be what you
call Mr. Nkomo's close associates.
4.THE HERALD ARTICLE
I do not
believe that The Herald article you refer to portrayed me in good
light at
all. The focus of the interview I had had with the author had been
on the
crisis in Zimbabwe and the way forward and not on the person of
Welshman
Ncube. The story which was written shifted its focus dramatically
to focus on
me rather that the national issues which had been raised during
the
interview. When the issues were focussed upon my comments were either
removed
from their context or altogether "sexed up" so as to ridicule the
MDC
official position or to appear as if I was opposed to the party position
and
accepted that Mugabe was legitimately elected. The article was a hatchet
job
meant to present me as a sellout and to place me in conflict with
colleagues
in the party. I did speak to the journalist who wrote the story
who advised
me that in some parts the story he had filed had been edited in
such a way as
to include and exclude certain things. Having agreed to be
interviewed by a
paper extremely hostile to the MDC I do take responsibilty
for the
consequences.
5.CONCLUSION
It appears to me that the Dyke
allegations about me are all part and parcel
of the ZANUPF and CIO strategies
to divide the MDC and split it right down
the line. The attempt to drive a
wedge between me and Tsvangirai and also
between Ndebele speakers and Shona
speakers in the MDC is an ongoing project
of the CIO and Zanu PF. So far it
has failed dismally. For the sake of
Zimbabwe we trust in God it will not
succeed. I am honestly totally bemused
that I would be placed at the center
of something I know absolutely nothing
about. The alleged Dyke claims are
completely false. I had nothing to do
with the Mathuthu story. I did not talk
to him. Mahlunge did not tell me
about the discussion you had with her. In
short, my name has been abused and
misused on a matter I have nothing to do
with. What you decide to do with
your article and what you choose to include
in it is up to you. My
conscience is very, very
clear.
Welsh
An earlier version of Prof. Ncube response
contained the following
paragraph, which was expunged by him from this final
version. - GN:
8. There is absolutely no validity in the extract sent to
you. Just so that
you know. When I visited London I indicated to the MDC
district committee
through its secretary that I was not going to hold any
public meetings
organised by any organ of the party because I did not wish to
be drawn into
the divisions and problems they were having as the purpose of
my trip had
nothing to do with party structures. I also indicated that I did
not wish to
meet them as a district committee for the same reasons. At the
end of my
meeting at the Africa Royal Society the chairman of the District
pleaded
with me to meet them as a district. I reluctantly agreed and a
meeting was
subsequently organised by them for Sunday early afternoon. An
hour before
that meeting the chairman phoned my assistant to tell him that
the meeting
had been cancelled. A few minutes before the scheduled start of
the meeting
the secretary of the district phoned me to inquire as to whether
I was on
time. I told her that I was still in East London as I had been told
that the
meeting had been cancelled. She told me that the meeting had not
been
cancelled and that she was at the venue with most of the people expected
to
attend and that she was expecting the rest to arrive in due course.
It
became obvious to me that, their divisions were the problem. I
then
proceeded to the venue of the meeting. I was informed that practically
all
branch chairs were present. I still remember off the top of my head at
least
6 who are not Ndebele, a Mnangatire, a Peter Ganya, a Mupendza, a
Makombe, a
Culverwell, a Williams. Needless to say the chairman and his vice
together
with 6 other members of the executive who are not branch chairs
presumably
being those who had been told the meeting had been cancelled were
not
present. I asked each of those present to state what the problems they
were
having were and their causes. Each person gave his or her view of why
they
were not working in cohesion. Among the many reasons raised was the
issue of
ethnicity allegedly practiced by some members of the district
committee.
There was unanimity on how to deal with the core problems
whereafter I told
them that I was going to take their suggested way forward
to the leadership
of the party in Harare and that once a decision had been
made they will be
communicated with.
I am not aware of the Zezuru
chairs who did not turn up or the reasons for
their not turning up. I do not
understand what the author means by writing
that "Fun enough there was
tribalism" and therefore can not respond usefully
to the allegation beyond
saying that I witnessed nothing which I could call
tribalism unless it is
being suggested that it is tribalism in itself
without more, to accuse
someone of tribalism, as you yourself has accussed
Nkomo.The validity or
otherwise of the accusations were not for me to
determine for I was not
sitting as a court of law on the matter.
MDC Rolls Out Aids Campaign
The Daily News
(Harare)
February 3, 2004
Posted to the web February 3,
2004
SHIFTING from politics that is the usual diet dished at
political rallies,
the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) has
started awareness
campaigns on HIV/Aids by advising its supporters on the
dangers of the
scourge which has wrecked havoc on the
economy.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, with
at least 2
000 Zimbabweans said to be dying from the disease each
week.
A grinding economic crisis and severe food shortages with 7.5
million people
or about 60 percent of the country's population facing
starvation, have only
helped exacerbate the impact of HIV/AIDS in crisis-hit
Zimbabwe.
"We believe the AIDS problem in Zimbabwe has reached
unimaginable levels,
hence we have regarded it as one of the crucial areas an
MDC government will
need to address urgently when it gets into power," said
Tendai Biti, who is
the MDC's shadow minister for economic affairs.
He
added: "That is the reason why we have decided to include the HIV/AIDS
issue
under strategic areas such as jobs, the land question, the exchange
rate and
good governance, which have resulted in this country going down on
its
knees.
"People are dying at alarming rates because of HIV-related
illnesses. We
have been turned into professional funeral-goers. Hardly a week
passes
without people attending a funeral for a relative or a
friend."
Biti made the remarks at the launch last week of the opposition
party's
economic recovery blueprint.
He said the country needed about
US$500 million (Z$1.8 trillion) annually to
import anti-retrovirals (ARVs),
hence the issue of HIV/Aids should be a
priority for any
government.
Echoing Biti's sentiments MDC national youth chairman Nelson
Chamisa called
on the youth during a rally of the opposition party last
Sunday to change
their behaviour in order to avoid contracting the dreaded
disease.
"AIDS is after our generation," Chamisa told about 5 000 MDC
supporters at
Zororo Grounds in Harare's Highfield high-density
suburb.
He added: "There is nothing wrong with us as the youths meeting
and
socialising. All we need is to be responsible and behave.
"When
the MDC comes into power, there should be people. We do not want to be
ruling
over graves and sick people."
Chamisa said all national leaders had a
duty to raise awareness of the
HIV/AIDS scourge.
"It is cutting across
the lines, be it ZANU PF or MDC, youths or the adults.
People are dying and
we have to be on the look-out," he said.
Cholera Now Under Control in Binga, Says Parirenyatwa
The
Herald (Harare)
February 3, 2004
Posted to the web February 3,
2004
Harare
THE Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, has managed
to contain a cholera
outbreak that had resurfaced in the Chunga area in Binga
last month and had
affected seven people.
This is barely three months
after health officials in Binga district managed
to contain the first cholera
outbreak in November last year.
Last year's cholera outbreak resulted in
17 deaths and 101 cases that were
detected.
In an interview yesterday,
the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr
David Parirenyatwa, said his
ministry had put in measures that would help in
containing the disease in
Chunga to avoid further spread.
"We sent a health team to the Chunga area
to look into the problem and we
have managed to contain the disease," said Dr
Parirenyatwa.
He said the last cholera case was recorded on January 29 in
Chunga and no
other case has been reported since then.
Last year, a
cholera outbreak in Mola communal lands in Kariba resulted in
at least 19
deaths while 600 people who were affected by the disease
sought
treatment.
Three treatment centres were established in Mola to
prevent the disease from
spreading nearby areas.
Cholera spreads
rapidly in poor sanitary conditions and areas where there is
insufficient
water.
Cholera, whose symptoms include severe diarrhoea, is a contagious
disease
that can lead to death if one fails to access treatment within 48
hours of
contracting the germ.
A local company, Reckitt Benckiser,
last year partnered with the Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare and engaged
in a countrywide anti-cholera campaign
aimed at raising awareness on cholera
prevention through various forms of
the media.
The joint campaign was
embarked on after the cholera outbreak in Mola.
Role of Zimbabwean Media Probed
The Daily News
(Harare)
February 3, 2004
Posted to the web February 3,
2004
Global Arts, in association with Book Café will on Thursday host
a
discussion on the role and responsibility of media in Zimbabwe.
The
discussion, which takes off at 1700 hours at the Book Cafe, is the first
of a
bumper programme slated for the cultural cafe this year.
Media Monitoring
Project of Zimbabwe boss, Andrew Moyse will be the
discussant on a topic
which is contentious at the moment as most media
houses are now
fragmented.
Journalists Brian Mangwende and Alexander Kanengoni form part
of the panel.
"One gets a starkly different picture of the Zimbabwean
reality from reading
the government media and the private media," a statement
from the organisers
of the discussion said.
"The society's division
into two basic camps that not only disagree on
issues political and
ideological, but often bitterly and acrimoniously is
well reflected in these
two media camps.
"The state media sees and hears no evil as far as
government actions are
concerned, while the private media is unfailingly
critical of government.
"In addition, the state media is part and parcel
of government's campaign to
not just disagree with the opposition, but to
demonise them.
"They are portrayed as being not just opposed to the
government of the day
as is their right, but as unpatriotic enemies of the
state in the employ of
hostile foreign forces."
The statement added
that the private media in turn, although not always
unanimously supportive of
the opposition, is certainly sympathetic to the
opposition.
It noted
that despite the very real and deep political and partisan
differences in the
society, there are many issues that are not amenable to
being examined or
reflected in such simplistic terms.
As the population has become more
politically sophisticated, citizens have
increasingly been able to interpret
events and take positions on issues
beyond their basic partisan
leanings.
"One finds an increasing number of Zimbabweans who will support
a political
position not on the basis of partisanship, but by examining it
critically
and on whether they perceive it to be good for them or the
country.
"This is certainly true for the educated urban population who
are the
primary audience of both the state and private media.
"Yet
both media often seem to automatically take stances on issues depending
on
whether they are pro or anti-government or opposition, rather than on
their
merits or otherwise. This is one key way in which the "polarisation"
of the
media into loosely partisan camps makes its appearance," the
statement
said.
EU Business
EU diplomats temporarily barred from Zimbabwe polling booths:
observers
03 February 2004
European diplomats were
temporarily denied entry to some polling stations in
Zimbabwe during a
parliamentary by-election to fill a seat left vacant after
the death of its
vice president Simon Muzenda, an EU official and a local
election observer
group said Tuesday.
"EU diplomats were denied entry into some polling
stations despite a letter
from the constituency registrar saying they were
allowed access," the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) chairman
Reginald Matchaba-Hove
told AFP.
"This is as a result of lack of
information between electoral bodies,"
Matchaba-Hove added.
But EU
officials in Harare later said the diplomats were allowed in after
waiting
for an hour at polling stations.
"The problem of accessing some of the
polling stations was a temporary
setback where they had to wait for an hour
before they were allowed in,"
said an offcial, who asked not to be
named.
The two-day by-elections in the centre-east constituency of Gutu
North began
on Monday.
The poll is being contested by retired air
marshal Josiah Tungamirai of the
ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -
Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party of
President Robert Mugabe and Crispen Musona
from the main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), led by
Mugabe's arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
Some 59,390 people are eligible to
vote in the Gutu by-election, but only
17,104 had voted by the end of polling
on Monday, according to the
state-owned Herald.
The paper said 1,451
people were turned away for either not possessing
proper identity documents
or because their names were missing from the
voters' roll.
The MDC has
alleged electoral fraud, saying the ruling party had included
about 7,000
people from other constituencies on the Gutu North voters' roll.
In
response to opposition allegations, registrar-general and government
chief
coordinator of elections Tobaiwa Mudede told AFP: "We cannot comment
while
the by-election is still in progress."
The MDC holds 54 of the 150 seats
in parliament.
ZESN is a network of 38 non-governmental organisations
which teamed up on
the eve of the 2000 parliamentary elections.
It
focuses on voter education, election observation and monitoring,
media
monitoring and publicity and research and advocacy.
'We urge all
Zimbabweans to emulate the peaceful conduct of (local)
elections in view of
the 2005 general elections," the ZESN said in a
statement.
Zimbabweans
will go to the polls next year for five-yearly parliamentary
elections.
Mixed Reactions to New Passport Fees
The Herald
(Harare)
February 3, 2004
Posted to the web February 3,
2004
Harare
THE new passport fees announced by the Registrar
General's Office on Sunday
have been met with mixed reactions from the
public, with some welcoming the
move but demanding efficiency in the
processing of the passports.
Others, however, criticised the move saying
it would put passports beyond
the reach of many.
Mr Amon Rupiya, who
welcomed the increases, said the Registrar General's
Office should speed up
the processing of applications.
"We should see a change in the queues at
the Passport Office and we should
also see a reduction in the corruption and
prevalence of middlemen who pry
on unsuspecting applicants at the Passport
Office," he said.
Mr Rangai Chitseru, who concurred with Mr Rupiya, said
the RG's Office
should now work extra-hard to clear the backlog and the
queues which form
daily at the Passport Office.
"It makes no sense for
us to continue paying large sums of money when the
service that we are being
offered remains the same.
"The changes in the fees should also translate
to the services that we
receive and if the workers were putting in 100
percent effort then they
should upgrade to 200 percent," he said.
An
applicant who declined to be named said she was not concerned about
the
increases as long as it would speed up the processing of her
application.
"What I am particularly concerned about is for this office
to shorten the
turnaround of applications and if that means we have to pay
more then so be
it.
"There is no need really for someone to wait for
six months or more for a
passport because, with the economic hardships in the
country, some people
literally survive on their passports," she
said.
However, some applicants who were not aware of the new fees had to
go back
home after being notified about the changes, which took effect from
Sunday.
Other applicants, however, criticised the RG's Office for
increasing the
fees, arguing that this was likely to turn away many potential
applicants.
Mr Sydney Ndadzungira said the increase in the passport fees
was tantamount
to denying ordinary citizens their legal
right.
"Obtaining a passport should be a right of every citizen in this
country,
whether rich or poor, because the document is not any different from
an
identity card or a birth certificate.
"But for us to have equal
chances of obtaining this document, the fees
should be kept low enough,
especially for application for ordinary
passports.
"I can understand
if the increases are for executive and urgent passports
because that will
depend on one's pocket, but the rest of the people should
be afforded a
chance to obtain a passport, whether it takes six months or
more," said Mr
Ndadzungira.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi, last year
said the country
was moving to a situation where people would have to pay the
full cost of
producing a passport, with no subsidy from the
taxpayer.
The minister said charging the full recovery cost should
eliminate queues as
additional revenue would help in recruiting more workers
and to import the
material needed for the production of the travel
documents.
The Registrar General's Office last month indicated that it
had managed to
clear the backlog after it extended working days to six,
including
Saturdays, while an average of 700 people were reported to be
collecting
their passports daily.
As an added measure, the office had
also suspended the issuing of urgent
passports from mid-December to the
middle of last month to allow for the
clearing of the
backlog.
Daily News
ZIMRA service pathetic
Date:3-Feb,
2004
Since ZIMRA’s slogan is “We are here to serve”, you would
expect to be
served.
I have found that their service leaves a
lot to be desired.
I have left their offices consumed with anger
after having spent money
on fuel and countless hours in a queue at Drill
Hall, as they then told me
my “documents are not correct”.
They
will only accept two quotes from two specific garages, who charge
for the
quote, and on returning to their offices, they inspect the vehicle
themselves
to give it their own “evaluation”.
If they will not accept the two
quotes, why must we drive to the
garages, wait for someone to value the
vehicle and then pay for the quotes?
To add insult to injury, you
have to pay the VAT (value-added tax) in
cash only.
As they do
not accept the quotes at face value, you are not sure what
the VAT will be
and are forced to go to the bank and return later carrying
large sums of
cash!
This can only be described as a nightmare. What next? I think
ZIMRA
should change their slogan to “You are here to serve us”.
Going Insane
Bulawayo
Daily News
We need an independent electoral
body
Date:3-Feb, 2004
REPORTS carried by this
newspaper yesterday that thousands of voters
from Harare have been
fraudulently allowed to register to vote in the
ongoing by-election in Gutu
North constituency once again make the case for
an Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) that is insulated from
interference by the government,
ruling and opposition party politicians and
other vested
interests.
The need for such an electoral body is the more
important now as
Zimbabweans prepare for the 2005 parliamentary plebiscite
whose levels of
transparency, fairness and conformity to internationally
acceptable
standards of democracy are critical to this country shaking off
its pariah
status.
According to the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party, an audit of the voters’ rolls being used in
the poll in Gutu North
revealed that about 7 000 people from at least 13
high-density suburbs in
Harare, who were previously registered as voters in
those areas, were for
some mysterious reason now appearing on the Gutu North
voters’ register.
Other reports carried by the local Press during
the course of last
week speak of widespread violence and intimidation by
pro-ruling ZANU PF
party militants against supporters of the
MDC.
A circular is said to have been sent to some of the
traditional chiefs
in the constituency, according to some of the accounts,
warning the
traditional leaders that they will be stripped of their powers if
their
subjects vote for the opposition candidate.
Predictably,
ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira dismissed these
worrying reports as
baseless and mere fabrications by the ruling party’s
opponents and detractors
out to tarnish the image of President Robert Mugabe
and his
government.
And Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, who under
Zimbabwe’s patently
undemocratic electoral laws is the one in charge of
preparing the voters’
rolls and the running of elections, can be expected to
insist as he has
always done in the past that the voters’ register is well in
order and that
everything about the by-election has been above
board.
But the point is really not whether the audit of the Gutu
North voters
’ roll done by the MDC is correct in its findings or
not.
The point is that no matter what protestations Shamuyarira,
Mudede or
that thoroughly useless body, the Electoral Supervisory Commission,
can and
will make, the country’s electoral system centred around Mudede has
lost all
credibility.
No one, except probably the young and
blind zealots indoctrinated by
the government under its controversial
National Youth Service Training
Programme, believes that it can deliver a
truly democratic and fair election
that is free from violence and
intimidation against opponents and the
manipulation of the voters’
rolls.
The only way for the government to restore respect and
credibility to
elections in this country is for it to remove its dirty hands
from the
electoral process and, as suggested by countless observers to
the
controversial 2002 presidential ballot, allow an IEC to manage
future
elections.
The IEC must be born out of a truly
consultative process that should
involve ordinary Zimbabweans, civic society,
labour, churches, opposition
parties or everyone and every organisation that
has a stake in the
well-being of this country.
Insisting that
Mudede alone should remain in charge of elections
because that is the best
way to protect the country’s sovereignty – whatever
that means – will only
mean that Zimbabwe will continue to be shunned by the
rest of the progressive
international community as a caricature banana
republic in which elections
are routinely rigged in favour of the Dear
Leader and his cronies.
Daily News
Econet challenges proposed law
Date:3-Feb, 2004
Econet Wireless has filed an urgent chamber
application in the High
Court to contest government’s decision to bar private
telecommunication
firms from operating international telecommunications
services.
The government last week gazetted Statutory Instrument
18/04 which
provides that Tel One shall, with effect from January 31 2004,
provide
access to all international telecommunications services and
provide
international interconnection capacity for all other public
licensed
telecommunications operators including voice over internet
protocol.
Econet Wireless (Private) Limited through its lawyers
Kantor and
Immerman has cited Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority of
Zimbabwe and the Minister of Transport and Communications as the
first and
second respondents respectively.
According to the
application, Econet is seeking to interdict the
government from interfering
with the company’s base station, international
gateways or any of its
international telecommunications obligations under
the International
Communications Constitution.
The telecommunications company is also
seeking interim relief to
suspend provisions of the Postal and
Telecommunications (International
Telecommunications Services) Regulations S
I 18/04 pending the full
determination of the matter in the courts and also
that the same provisions
be declared null, void and of no effect and
application.
In the court papers, the company argued that Tel One,
as a private
company like Econet could not be given the exclusive right to
provide access
to international communications as this would be tantamount to
reinstating
the government’s monopoly that was struck down as
unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court in 1998.
It further
contends that Tel One does not have the capacity on its
international gateway
to carry incoming and outgoing international traffic.
“As we speak,
Tel One subscribers cannot call overseas cellphone
numbers and it would be
virtually impossible for it to carry the Applicant
(Econet)’s traffic,” the
company states in court papers adding that the
actions would result in the
disruption of the company’s more than 160 000
subscribers international
business communication including YourFone public
phone shops.
“The background of this matter and the chronology of events since
2000
demonstrated beyond doubt that the second respondent has always
harboured a
desire to close down the Applicant (Econet)’s operations and the
Statutory
Instrument is therefore tailored to cover the Applicant,” Econet
said.
The company further argues that legislating for an individual
company
should not be permissible and constitutes abuse of legislative
powers.
State media reported last week that the government had
realised that
“several telecommunications companies” were providing satellite
services
through third parties which had serious implications for the
country’s
security and was “prejudicing the fiscus of much needed foreign
currency”.
The reports also alleged that Econet was one of the
several
telecommunications companies which were “illegally” accessing the
satellite
based services.
The High Court was by yesterday still
to set a date for the hearing.
Business Reporter
February 2004
For Further Information Please
Contact:
Nkanyiso Maqeda, MDC Director of Information: 00263 91 248 570
James Littleton: 00 27 727 310 554
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QUOTES
?While Zimbabweans must be the key players in forging their own
destiny, we believe that democratic governments in the international community
have a duty to assist in the creation of an international political environment,
which will set the stage for internal processes leading to meaningful and
peaceful negotiations,? said MDC Vice President Gibson Sibanda in an address to Members of
the European Parliament (27 January
2004)
?Today?s comments by President Thabo Mbeki, suggesting that President
Mugabe has agreed to enter formal dialogue with the MDC, are deeply
encouraging?Mugabe and Zanu PF [now] need to demonstrate a tangible commitment
to dialogue,? said Paul Themba Nyathi (22
January 2004)
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RESTART
On Thursday 29 January, the MDC launched its eagerly awaited RESTART[1]programme, the party?s blueprint for sustainable economic recovery in Zimbabwe, formulated in adherence to social democratic principles.
The repressive and anti-democratic instincts of the Zanu PF government were in evidence again on the day of the launch when the police informed the MDC that they would not grant permission for the launch to go ahead as planned. This was despite the fact that the MDC had acted in accordance with the guidelines set out in the draconian Public Order and Security Act, and submitted an application to the police within the four day period stipulated under the Act.
The police based their
decision to ban the meeting on the spurious grounds that the application had
gone to the wrong office and that they lacked sufficient manpower to cover the
event. The second element of the police case underlines the absurdity of their
argument: how can the launch of a policy agenda in front of an audience of
diplomats and journalists constitute a security threat? The MDC successfully
applied to the High Court to have the police decision overturned, allowing the
launch to go ahead as planned.
?With RESTART, we are offering Zimbabweans a new
beginning in a new direction we seek to take the country. RESTART is a holistic
programme whose success will depend on a multi-faceted attack on the current
political, economic and social ills brought about by tyranny, greed and
corruption.
?The programme is guided by the values of the MDC: peace, freedom,
justice and solidarity,? said MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai at the launch of
RESTART
?RESTART puts the people
first. It has been developed according to social democratic principles that
places the pursuit of social justice for all the people as the fundamental
objective of an MDC government.
The objectives of RESTART are to reconstruct the social
fabric and economic infrastructure, to stabilise the macro-economy, to recover
levels of savings, investment and growth and to begin to transform the economy
and society to achieve equitable, inclusive national
development,? said Tendai Biti, MDC Secretary for
Economic Affairs
The MDC is planning to showcase the RESART programme in Gweru on Thursday and Bulawayo on Friday. At the time of writing, however, the police have yet again attempted to prevent the MDC from engaging with the people by banning the promotion of RESTART in Gweru. Yet again the MDC is having to apply to the High Court to seek redress in order to communicate its policies to the electorate. What is clear from the actions of the police is the Mugabe government is panicked by the response RESTART is likely to receive from a population fed up with Zanu PF?s consistent record of failure.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITICAL
VIOLENCE/INTIMIDATION
Last week the MDC offices in Harare and Bulawayo were raided by police who claimed they were looking for ?subversive publications?. Documents that were confiscated included the MDC?s party policy document, party newsletters and personal documents belonging to MDC staff.
Responding to this latest incident of state harassment, Paul Themba Nyathi said:
?After the encouraging remarks by President Mbeki,
indicating a commitment by President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF towards entering
into a process of dialogue, this latest anti-democratic act is a setback towards
creating an environment conducive for meaningful inter-party dialogue?.
Four MDC activists were last week kidnapped at gun point by members of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation at the MDC offices in Chimanimani (Manicaland Province)
Dumisani Muleya, the chief reporter of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, was recently attacked outside a hotel in Harare.
A meeting of the Combined Harare Residents? Association (CHRA) was last week banned by the police.
Gutu North
By-Election
Today, voters in Gutu North cast their ballots to elect a
new MP for the Gutu North constituency, following the death in September of the
previous incumbent, Vice President, Simon Muzenda. Unfortunately, the campaign
for Gutu North is consistent with other elections in recent years in Zimbabwe in
that it has been characterised by violence and intimidation by Zanu PF, who yet
again are seeking to defraud the electorate by distorting the electoral process.
The table below illustrates the desperate and callous nature of Zanu PF?s
election tactics
- 1 February ? Traditional chiefs and headman in Gutu tour polling
stations in the constituency warning people not to vote for the MDC. Voters are
threatened with eviction from their homes if it is discovered that they voted
for the MDC.
- 26 January ?
The MDC?s candidate for Gutu
North, Crispa Musoni, was taken hostage for several hours by over a hundred Zanu
PF youth who attempted to force him to withdraw his candidature from the
by-election.
- During the course of last week, scores of
houses owned by suspected MDC supporters were torched by Zanu PF supporters,
rampaging through areas of Gutu North.
- Zanu PF have illegally registered over 7,000
people from Harare in Gutu North in an attempt to rig the
ballot.
PERSONAL
TESTIMONIES
Ngoni Mudzamiri ? ?It
was around 9 am when a vehicle full of Zanu PF people approached me. They easily
identified me because I was putting on an MDC T-Shirt?they hauled me onto the
truck and quickly drove away. I was beaten all over my body along the way. I was
driven around the constituency before being taken to Mpandawana where I was
tortured until I fell unconscious. I was later dumped along the Harare/Chiredzi
road.?
Kassim Jonas ?
?Two well-known Zanu PF thugs, Nhema and Mtirikwi, in
the company of a group of other Zanu PF youths, last Tuesday approached me while
I was going about my normal business?.they began assaulting me with fists and
booted feet before handcuffing me and my friend John Muridzo?they then led us to
the Central Intelligence camp at Gutu Mupandawana?.there they ordered us to
stand on our heads?.?
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GENERAL
NEWS
ؼ/FONT> 7.5 Million Will Need Food
Aid
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the number of people forecast to be in need of food aid over the next few months is a record 7.5 million.
ؼ/FONT> Defiance of Court
Orders
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights have expressed deep concern at the frequency with which the government now ignores court orders. In a statement issued last week the ZLHR said:
?Defiance of court orders has become endemic
in Zimbabwe and it is an issue that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
Godfrey Chidyausiku, Judge President of the High court, Paddington Garwe, and
the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa,
must do something about if the integrity of the courts and the justice system is
to be protected.?
ؼ/FONT> Price of Bread Set To
Rise
Within the next week the price of bread is scheduled to rise above Zim$3,500 per loaf.