http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
14 January 2010
The
terrorism trial of MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett continued in the
High
Court on Thursday with the prosecution still trying to impeach their
own key
witness, allegedly for making contradicting statements. At the end
of the
day the judge postponed the trial to Monday to make his
decision.
Prosecutor Johannes Tomana (who is also the Attorney General)
had earlier in
the week not complied with the rules required for an
impeachment and now had
to show the court how Hitschmann was departing from
statements he made when
he was arrested in 2006.
The State's case
rests on the evidence of the firearms dealer, who they say
implicated the
MDC official in a plot to destabilise the former ZANU PF
government. But
when the trial had resumed earlier in the week Hitschmann
reaffirmed what he
had been saying all along - that he had been tortured
into incriminating
Bennett.
On Wednesday Tomana had called on the court to impeach his
witness because
of the so-called contradicting statements. But Justice
Chinembiri Bhunu said
he could not order an impeachment to take place
because the State had not
followed the laid down procedure for
this.
Defence lawyer Trust Maanda told SW Radio Africa that because of
this Tomana
then tried to show the court that Hitschmann had made
contradicting
statements. But Hitschmann re-stated that he was tortured into
making the
statements in 2006.
If impeached Hitschmann would be
declared a hostile witness and would be
cross-examined by the State as if he
was a witness for the other party.
Maanda pointed out; "Once you impeach
your witness you are saying his
evidence must be discredited, but you are
not necessarily saying all
evidence must be thrown away."
Maanda
added; "The defence is saying the so-called confessions by Hitschmann
are
inadmissible against their client and so we are waiting for the court to
make a ruling on this."
Meanwhile the fire arms dealer described the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as his
biggest client, saying that at one time they
ordered ammunition from him
amounting to 20 000 rounds.
http://af.reuters.com
Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:39pm
GMT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's
attorney general accused the state's own chief
witness on Thursday of
seeking to damage the terrorism case against MDC
politician Roy Bennett by
giving evidence that was favourable to Bennett.
Bennett -- an ally of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who formed a
coalition government with
President Robert Mugabe last year -- has denied
the charges, which carry a
maximum death sentence, and says he is being
persecuted by Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
The prosecution, led by attorney general Johannes Tomana, wants
the High
Court to convict Bennett by relying on written confessions and a
video
recording made by gun trader and former policeman Peter Hitschmann in
2006.
But Hitschmann, who has previously disowned the confessions, on
Thursday
denied being involved in an anti-government plot with Bennett and
repeated
that he was tortured to implicate the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
treasurer-general.
Tomana said Hitschmann's evidence in
court would damage the state's case but
he would seek to show that
Hitschmann's confessions were made voluntarily
and would cross-examine him
to discredit statements he has made in court.
"The state is of the view
that the witness is deliberately being adverse to
the state case with the
view to unlawfully shield the accused person,"
Tomana said.
"The
evidence that has been adopted as the truth by the witness has the
effect of
damaging the state's case or prejudicing the state."
The arrest of
Bennett last February while his MDC colleagues were being
sworn in as
ministers in the coalition government, and his trial, have
heightened
tensions in the administration.
High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu asked
Hitschmann to explain the
discrepancies in his evidence in court and the
written and video confessions
he made in 2006.
Hitschmann told the
court he had no links with Bennett and did not buy
weapons of war. He
disowned some of the weapons attributed to him by the
state as well as
e-mail print-outs purportedly showing communication between
him and
Bennett.
He said he was tortured into making confessions at a military
barracks in
March 2006.
"The prosecution, in my humble view, has not
played a fair game in forcing
through this so called evidence. I continue to
deny any and all statements
whether signed or unsigned or video which differ
in content with my
consistent testimony in my trial and in these
proceedings," Hitschmann said.
Hitschmann, 49, was jailed for possession
of dangerous weapons in 2006, a
conviction and sentence he is appealing, but
was acquitted on the more
serious terrorism charges.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Jan 14, 2010,
16:16 GMT
Harare - A witness in the trial of a Zimbabwean official
accused of
terrorism and insurgency recounted Thursday how he had been
tortured by
state agents seeking his testimony.
Michael Hitschmann
has turned into a problematic witness for the state as it
attempts to
prosecute junior agriculture minister - designate Roy Bennett of
terrorism
and insurgency charges.
Although he has admitted under oath to knowing
Bennett, Hitschmann has
distanced himself from video testimony in which he
says Bennett was buying
arms from him for a rebellion. He has also stated
that he has no knowledge
of emails in which he and Bennett allegedly discuss
an overthrow of the
government.
Prosecutors allege Hitschmann, an
arms dealer, was paid by Bennett to buy
weapons to assassinate government
officials.
Bennett, a white former commercial farmer and opposition
activist has been
charged with illegal possession of weapons for purposes of
terrorism,
banditry and insurgency. A senior official of the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), he has pleaded not guilty the charges.
The
MDC says the case against him is politically motivated and aimed at
keeping
him out of the unity government it formed with President Robert
Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party last February.
On Thursday, Hitschmann called into question
the veracity of the video
confession, in which he identifies arms allegedly
sold to Bennett, arguing
that he had been beaten just prior to its
filming.
'The people who caused this video to be filmed, your honour, are
the very
people who tortured me,' he testified. 'Despite burning my buttocks
with
cigarettes, kicking me in the testicles, and allowing me to urinate
upon
myself ... having caused me a head injury to my right temple, on the
video
evidence they conveniently do not show my face and hence you fail to
see the
blood.'
He said the video had been shot after he had been
tortured, restrained in
leg irons and handcuffs and denied medical treatment
or the ability to clean
himself.
Hitschmann's testimony has led
prosecutors to accuse Bennett's team of
influencing Hitschmann and
Hitschmann of siding with Bennett.
Prosecutors now seek to withdraw him
as a witness. Hitschmann, meanwhile,
has sought legal advice as to whether
testifying in Bennett's trial could
harm his appeal in the Supreme Court
against a 2006 conviction for
possession of arms of war without a
licence.
Presiding Judge Chinembiri Bhunu is expected to rule Monday on
whether
impeachment proceedings against Hitschmann can continue.
http://www.apanews.net/
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe)
Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's main political
parties are set to
resume Saturday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai announced
here Thursday.
The latest round of talks is expected to finalise all
outstanding issues
that have threatened to derail the country's fragile
power-sharing
government formed last February by Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), ZANU PF of President Robert Mugabe and a breakaway
MDC faction
headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
"All
three parties in the ruling coalition would participate in the
negotiations
that adjourned last year on 23 December," the spokesman said in
a
statement.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is mediating
in the
political dispute between the MDC and ZANU PF but the regional
leaders have
so far failed to push the Zimbabwean parties to fully implement
terms of a
power-sharing pact they signed in 2008.
The unresolved
issues include the swearing in of MDC treasurer Roy Bennett
as deputy
agriculture minister and disputed appointments of provincial
governors,
attorney general and central bank governor.
Also outstanding are issues
concerning the review of ministerial
allocations, parallel government
structures, conferment of national hero
status, the chairing of Cabinet,
Cabinet rules and the role and position of
the permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Information, George Charamba.
Charamba has been accused of
leading a campaign of hate speech aimed at
derailing the coalition
government.
JN/nm/APA
2010-01-14
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
14 January
2010
Twenty-five students were arrested at Bindura University on
Thursday, after
a demonstration over exorbitant tuition fees which have
resulted in at least
40 percent of students being denied access to write
their exams. Earlier in
the morning Zimbabwe National Students Unions
(ZINASU) President Joshua
Chinyere, Secretary General Grant Tabvurei and 5
others were arrested and
detained at Bindura Central Police
Station.
ZINASU, which represents students countrywide, split into two
factions last
year over serious management and ideological differences. A
statement
released by the faction led by one of the arrested, Joshua
Chinyere, said
over 850 students were denied access to write their exams
after the
university demanded payment of outstanding fees. Tuition fees are
currently
pegged between US$400 and US$850, depending on the course, but the
students
say the majority cannot afford to pay this.
As the day
progressed on Thursday police continued picking up more and more
students,
with ZINASU confirming the arrest of a further 18. 'The continued
crackdown
is meant to inflict fear on the students to stop the demonstration
but the
students remain adamant to continue protesting until their
grievances are
addressed,' the union said. They also expressed
disappointment that the
inclusive government had so far failed to deal with
their grievances and had
allowed the situation to worsen.
Efforts were being made during the day
to secure the release of the arrested
students. Former ZINASU President
Brilliant Dube told Newsreel that several
students were injured in
skirmishes with the riot police who were deployed
to deal with the
demonstration. Some of the injured were transferred to
hospitals in Harare
for treatment. Dube also said ZINASU coordinator Mfundo
Mlilo, lawyers from
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Students
Solidarity Trust were
intervening to help secure the release of those
arrested.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
14 January
2010
The SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security held a summit in
Maputo on
Thursday to consider, among other issues, reports on developments
in
Zimbabwe's inclusive government.
The summit came just two days
before negotiators from ZANU PF and the two
MDC formations begin another
round of talks on Saturday, which are supposed
to thrash out the remaining
and most contentious issues in the Global
Political Agreement
(GPA).
Most of the region's leaders were in Maputo for the inauguration
of
Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza. Guebuza, who first came into
power
in 2005, won a re-election in November last year and began his second
and
final five year term on Thursday.
Robert Mugabe attended the
inauguration ceremony and left soon after
attending a luncheon hosted by
Guebuza, according to Fred Katerere, a Maputo
based journalist. Katerere
told us reports in the media that Mugabe was to
attend the Troika meeting
were incorrect.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who had also been
invited, did not attend
because of a prior engagement. Tsvangirai, who is on
holiday in South
Africa, is expected in Harare on Friday. He officially
starts work on
Monday. Tsvangirai' spokesman, James Maridadi, told SW Radio
Africa he
believed the summit was a report back meeting which did not need
the
presence of the Prime Minister.
'This can only be a report back
summit on security in the region and not a
meeting specifically on Zimbabwe.
For it to qualify as a SADC summit on
Zimbabwe all the three principals to
the GPA must be available and be
involved in the discussions,' Maridadi
said.
The Maputo summit hosted by Guebuza, the current chair of the
Troika, was
attended by the past chair Swaziland, represented in Maputo by
Prime
Minister Subusiso Dlamini and the Troika deputy chair Zambian
President
Rupiah Banda. Also in attendance was the SADC chairperson Joseph
Kabila,
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South African
President
Jacob Zuma, who is the facilitator for the Zimbabwe
crisis.
Last week a ministerial conference of SADC foreign affairs
ministers joined
South Africa in expressing concern at the slow pace in
Harare at resolving
outstanding issues in the power-sharing government. The
ministers warned
that further delays could lead to more serious
problems.
An analyst told us the SADC leaders could have 'quietly' urged
Mugabe in
Maputo to expedite talks with Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara to
resolve the
outstanding issues.
The impasse in the talks continues to
be the failure by Mugabe and his ZANU
PF party to implement in full the GPA
reached with the two MDC formations in
September 2008.
Tsvangirai
objects in particular to Mugabe's unilateral re-appointment of
Gideon Gono
as Governor of the central bank and Johannes Tomana as
Attorney-General.
Gono is regarded as being directly responsible for the
destruction of the
economy and for helping to fund the repression. Tomana
has been one of the
main architects of the ongoing harassment of MDC and
human rights
activists.
Other issues at stake include the appointment of provisional
governors, and
the delay in swearing in MDC treasurer Roy Bennett, who is
the nominee for
the post of deputy Agriculture Minister.
Lack of
progress on these issues led Tsvangirai to disengage from the
inclusive
government last year. He refused to attend cabinet meetings, and
made a tour
of the region to explain his position to other SADC leaders.
The upshot
of this tour, particularly of Tsvangirai's meeting with Guebuza,
was that a
SADC Troika mission and a South African facilitation team visited
the
country towards the end of last year. Thursday's summit was expected to
receive reports from these missions.
A source in South Africa, who
has seen a report compiled by Zuma's
facilitation team, said it listed all
the obstacles to the full and
effective implementation of the GPA. The
report also recommends how some of
these obstacles can be
overcome.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 14 - A crisis meeting
called by the Ministry of Public
Service late on Wednesday in desperate
attempts to avert a crippling strike
in the next two weeks by civil servants
ended in another deadlocked, setting
the stage for a bruising confrontation
between the coalition government and
public workers.
In a rare
show of unity among the country's civil services, the Public
Service
Association (PSA), the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) and the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PUTZ) on Wednesday issued a
fourteen-day ultimate to the coalition government, demanding substantial
increases to their salaries and improvement in working conditions or risk a
crippling strike.
On Monday the civil servants rejected a government
offer to pay the highest
public worker US$236 a month.
The civil
servants want US$630, inclusive of housing and transport
allowances, for the
least paid civil servant per month, money the
cash-strapped coalition
government does not have.
Elphas Mukonoweshuro, the Minister of Public
Service, together with his
deputy Andrew Langa, later on Wednesday summoned
representatives of PSA,
ZIMTA and PUTZ in what sources said were
fire-fighting measures to prevent a
nationwide strike.
"We were
called for a meeting by the Minister (Mukonoweshuro) but nothing
came out of
it," Sifiso Ndlovu, the chief executive officer of ZIMTA told
VOP Radio on
Thursday.
"The Minister said he will immediately take the issue to the
principals,
that is President (Robert) Mugabe, Prime Minister (Morgan)
Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister (Arthur) Mutambara," said Ndlovu,
adding that civil
servants union leaders hoped to here from Minister
Mukonoweshuro soon.
"It was emphasized to him (Mukonoweshuro) that this
issue is a state of
emergency," added Ndlovu.
Mukonoweshuro confirmed
meeting civil servants representatives at his
offices late on Wednesday but
denied that an ultimatum had been issued.
"The 14-days is to for
consultations over their grievances. I don't see it
as an ultimatum. The
window period allows for consultations and further
negotiations," the
Minister told VOP Radio.
Previously, ZIMTA, PSA and PUTZ have separately
tackled the government over
poor salaries, moves which rendered the actions
ineffective due to
disharmony.
It is understood the Ministry of
Public Services has been in constant
consultation with Finance Minister
Tendai Biti over the threat by civil
servants to go on strike if their
demands are not meet.
Biti has publicly stated the coalition government
is technically broke due
to revenue constraints and appeals to the
international community have drawn
a blank as they insist on the full
implementation of the Global Political
Agreement signed by the three
principals.
A full perusal of the government offer shows that the
effected salary
increases range between US$7 and US$21.
The highest
paid civil servant, a permanent secretary in grade E5, has seen
his or her
monthly salary increased from US$185 to US$236 against a Poverty
Dictum Line
estimated about US$500.
In their demands to government the civil servants
have stated that they want
the least paid civil servant to earn US$630,
comprising of a basic entry
salary of US$460, a housing allowance of US$120
and a transport allowance of
US$50.
They also want a the
reintroduction of a rural allowance to be pegged at 20
percent of one's
monthly salary, arguing that awarding the civil servants
these demands would
ensure equitable remuneration and guarantee
competitiveness. The Poverty
Dictum Line is estimated at about US$500.
At its inception in February
2009, the government paid all civil servants an
allowance of US$100 a
month.
The allowances were later changed to a monthly salary, which
averages about
US$155.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 14, 2009
- Zimbabwe's women claim that the Short Term
Emergency Recovery programme
(STERP), aimed at improving the economy,
actually made them "poorer", Radio
VOP can reveal.
In a document the women, led by the country's
Deputy Prime Minister,
Thokozani Khupe, said :"STERP also acknowledges that
women's presence in key
decision-making positions is minimal and this has
been compounded by unsound
market liberalisation policies which have
resulted in the feminisation of
poverty."
Khupe made the document
available to local and international investors last
year.
It is called
"Prospectus on investing in women".
The women said poverty levels remained
higher for females than males.
It said the Poverty Assessment Study Survey
(PASS II) suggested that
structural unemployment was higher for females (70
percent) than males (56
percent) because of the inclusion of the very poor
and poor in agriculture
and informal economy who are largely
women.
"Rural areas had a higher structural unemployment rate (62 percent)
than
urban areas (35 percent)," the document said. "These findings suggest
that
structural unemployment is high in Zimbabwe, in both rural and urban
areas,
with the rate higher for rural areas and women."
In a Foreword to
the document Khupe, who is Vice President of the Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC-T), said women leaders had a duty and
responsibility to improve
and inspire each other and ensure that they were
not relegated by society to
perpetual consumers but to become producers of
the bread basket of
Africa.
She said :"The positive effect of the inclusive government can be
measured
by its ability to impact positively on the lives of women in
Zimbabwe
regardless of race, religion, social class or political
affiliation."
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 14, 2010 - A Harare Magistrate has
acquitted prominent
Harare lawyer Mordecai Mahlangu, who was being accused
for trying to
prejudice the state case for Roy Bennett's trial by
obstructing the course
of justice.
Magistrate Archie
Wochiunga on Thursday ruled in favour Mahlangu's
application for refusal of
further remand arguing that the facts on the
State case did not constitute
an offence.
"It is the finding of this court that from the wording of the
letter there
was no intention by the accused (Mahlangu) to prejudice the
State case (Roy
Bennett's trial) that is going on at the High Court.
The
letter is a legal opinion for a legal practitioner (Mahlangu) to another
legal practitioner (Attorney General Johannes Tomana). The application for
the refusal of further remand is hereby granted," ruled Wochiunga.
He
stood accused of writing a letter to the Attorney General's office
purporting to be Peter Michael Hitschmann, the state's key witness in the
trial of MDC treasurer general Bennett. In the letter Mahlangu is said to
have written that the Mutare arms dealer would not testify in the
ongoing
trial of Bennett because the evidence that the state recorded was
obtained
through torture.
A relieved Mahlangu told journalists outside
the court that the decision
reaffirms his faith in the legal system "which
had been shaken by the recent
events".
"I hope this will be applied to
all legal practitioners who have been
persecuted for doing their work as
lawyers," said Mahlangu.
Advocate Happias Zhou said the ruling vindicates
them on their complaints
that the AG's office has not been run
professionally.
The State was being represented by prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba
and he did not
challenge the ruling.
During the court application
Nyazamba had argued that Hitschmann was a
"competent and a compellable
witness" who will help the state case against
Bennett.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, January 14, 2010 - A special
Parliamentary Select Committee
spearheading the country's on-going
constitution making process is pressing
President Robert Mugabe to publicly
speak against acts of violence ahead of
the deployment of members of the
constitutional outreach teams.
Douglas Mwonzora the committee's
co-chairperson said his committee had
requested that Mugabe and Prime
Minister Tsvangirai publicly speak against
violence to facilitate the
creation of a conducive atmosphere for
Zimbabweans to freely express what
they want included in the, making of the
country's new
constitution.
"We have asked the GPA chief negotiators to come
and address the outreach
team on the issue of violence. We hope it will
help," said Mwonzora.
"We want to create an atmosphere where our
people can express themselves. We
wanted the GPA principals to come and
launch the outreach programme but they
are not in the country. We wanted
them to denounce violence and preach
tolerance."
Mwonzora
said it is an emperical fact that some sectors of the Zimbabwean
society
were traumatized in 2008 by the Zanu PF led government whose
manpower is
still place.
"The apparatus and machinery still exist. But
Zimbabweans must get out of
that problem by doing something about it. They
suffered because the
constitutional set up allowed it. We have to change
this," said Mwonzora.
But Mwonzora's came at a time when the MDC
reported that there is a
resurgence of violence in Mashonaland East. The MDC
said Zanu PF is
organising villagers registering everyone in preparation for
the public
outreach programme.
The committee wants to prevent the
outbreak of violence like the one
witnessed in the run up to the June 2008
Presidential run off election.
On Tuesday war veterans threatened
to turn the whole constitution making
process upside down when they
threatened to beat up members of the civil
society who differed with them on
particular areas of the constitution
making roadmap.
The war veterans
did not want civic society members to contribute to the
making up of the
thematic committee which deals with issues concerns war
veterans and the
country's liberation struggle.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
14 January
2010
South African civil rights initiative AfriForum has won a High Court
bid
allowing them to sue the Zimbabwean government over land invasions on
South
African owned farms in Zimbabwe.
Legal papers are now set to be
served on Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
and Attorney General Johannes
Tomana next week, over what AfriForum has
called the 'cruel' and
'revengeful' takeover of South African owned land.
The civil rights group
launched an urgent bid in court on Wednesday to cite
the Zimbabwe government
as a respondent in their case, brought forward on
behalf of three South
African farmers who have all recently been violently
forced off their farms
in Zimbabwe. AfriForum is trying to enforce a
regional ruling made in 2008
that Robert Mugabe's so-called land 'reform'
exercise was unlawful. The
ruling was handed down by the human rights court
of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), which also ordered the
Mugabe government to
ensure the protection of farmers and their rights to
their land.
But
the ruling has been openly ignored and land invasions, taking place
under
the guise of land 'reform', have intensified this year, including the
violent invasions on South African owned farms. The government has also
dismissed the ruling, with Chinamasa announcing it was 'pulling out' of the
Tribunal and would no longer recognise the court's rulings. This
conveniently opened the floodgates for intensified and lawless land attacks,
that to date, SADC has done nothing to prevent.
AfriForum's legal
representative Willie Spies, told SW Radio Africa on
Thursday that it is
this 'disregard' for the Tribunal that has forced
farmers to try get the
ruling enforced in other SADC member states. Spies
explained that the group
is trying to 'set a precedent' where other SADC
countries can enforce the
SADC land ruling in their countries. He continued
that the case against the
Zimbabwe government will be heard in South Africa
next month, where the
group will further try to get SADC's ruling registered
and enforced in South
Africa. He explained that this will be in order to use
it against Zimbabwe,
from within South Africa, to seek compensation for the
farmers that have
already lost land.
"We will also try and register the amount to which
farmers are entitled to
in court and look at the possibility of recovering
it, using Zimbabwean
assets here in South Africa. Zimbabwean government's
top brass have plenty
of assets here," Spies said.
In recent weeks a
number of South African farming families, mainly in the
Rusape area, have
been forcibly evicted from their land, while others have
been notified that
their properties will be seized in the coming week. Dolf
du Toit and his
family left their property last week after days of violence
and
intimidation. Their forced eviction came in the wake of two other
evictions,
including that of Manda Farm's Ray Finaughty, who fled his home
with his
family on Christmas Eve amid increasing violence by land invaders.
The
evictions have come just weeks after South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a
bilateral investment protection agreement, meant to offer the farmers some
form of safety net against invasion. AfriForum had originally tried to stop
the signing of the document, over fears it would fail those South African
farmers whose land has been expropriated under the land grab campaign. But
the government made assurances that it would protect its citizens in
Zimbabwe, and as a result the investment pact was eventually signed. Both
governments have since argued that the document is not yet valid because it
hasn't been ratified in parliament, leaving the South African farmers with
no protection.
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Thursday,
01.14.10
By
DONNA BRYSON
Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG -- Zimbabweans
crossing illegally into neighboring South Africa
after holidays at home are
being raped and robbed by gangs on both sides of
the border, a medical aid
group said Thursday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres officials said hundreds of
Zimbabweans who work in
South Africa have been coming back across the border
daily over the past
week after spending Christmas and New Year's in
Zimbabwe.
MSF teams treated 10 rape victims in just six days at the
beginning of
January. Last year, the aid group said, there were about 15
rapes reported
each month. Injuries suffered during robberies also were up
significantly,
according to the group also known as Doctors Without
Borders.
Giuseppe Demola, who heads MSF operations at the main crossing
at Musina,
attributed the crime increase to the holiday spike in border
crossings.
"There are these gangs that ... are attacking almost
systematically," he
said, saying both Zimbabwean and South African criminals
were involved.
MSF has called on South Africa to open its borders to
Zimbabweans fleeing
their country's economic collapse. Demola said in
telephone interview
Thursday that would mean more Zimbabweans could cross
legally, and therefore
safely.
Zimbabwe's political leaders, under
pressure from South Africa and other
neighbors, formed a coalition
government almost a year ago, pledging to
tackle the country's political and
economic crises. The economy has shown
some improvement, but continuing
political impasse makes the future
uncertain.
Late last year, the
United Nations and the international Red Cross appealed
for millions of
dollars in foreign aid for food and medicines and to bolster
health,
education and sanitation in Zimbabwe.
South Africa took a step last year
toward acknowledging the futility of
trying to stop the influx, saying
Zimbabweans could travel on a free 90-day
visitor's permit and apply to do
casual work during their stay. But
travelers still need passports, which
many Zimbabweans lack either because
they are too expensive or because their
crippled government has been slow to
issue them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
A Zimbabwean tourist was eaten by a
“dinosaur-sized” shark in South Africa’s
most popular holiday
destination.
By Ben Leach
Published: 8:57AM GMT 14 Jan
2010
Witnesses described watching as a man was pulled under the surf
and dragged
out to sea off Fish Hoek beach in Cape Town. They described
seeing the shark
carrying the man’s body in his mouth, turning the sea the
colour of blood as
it did so.
One witness, Gregg Coppen, posted the
following message on Twitter: "Holy
s***. We just saw a gigantic shark eat
what looked like a person in front of
our house. That shark was huge. Like
dinosaur huge."
The attack happened on Wednesday afternoon following
an increase in shark
sightings. Lloyd Skinner, 37, a Zimbabwean who lived in
the Democratic
Republic of Congo, was standing chest-deep 100 metres from
the shore and
adjusting his goggles when he was attacked.
Cape Town's
disaster management services had issued a warning hours earlier
that sharks
had been spotted in the water, but the shark flag was not
flying. Mr Coppen
told the Cape Times newspaper the shark was "longer than a
minibus".
He said: "It was this giant shadow heading to something
colourful. Then it
sort of came out the water and took this colourful lump
and went off with
it. You could see its whole jaw wrap around the thing
which turned out to be
a person."
British visitor Phyllis McCartain
told the same paper: "We saw the shark
come back twice. It had the man's
body in its mouth, and his arm was in the
air. Then the sea was full of
blood."
Kyle Johnston said: "We were swimming only about 15 metres away
from the
guy. We were at about chest depth and he was a little deeper. We
looked at
the walkway and saw people waving towels at us, then we looked
further out
to sea and saw what looked like blood, and a man's leg come
up."
His friend Dane Leo added: "I was floating and I thought the people
waving
at us were joking, but then I looked back and saw a fin and
blood."
Mr Skinner was reportedly on holiday in Cape Town for the month
to attend
the wedding of his partner's daughter. His partner was at the
beach with
him.
His body has not yet been found. Ian Klopper, a
spokesman for the National
Sea Rescue Institute, said: "You can rule out any
chance of finding him
alive. Whether we find body parts, it's very unlikely.
We think the shark
took everything."
Alison Kock, a shark scientist,
said it was probably a great white, the most
commonly spotted shark in the
area. "More than 70 per cent of recorded great
white attacks on humans
result in just the shark biting and then leaving,"
she said. "There is that
30 per cent where the shark behaves like it did in
this case, where it came
back and killed the person."