By ANGUS SHAW, Associated
Press – 3 hours ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — More teachers in Zimbabwe on
Tuesday joined a
national strike in which government workers are seeking to
double their
salaries.
Their action on the strike's second day, and
the absence of more staff from
government offices, began to disrupt routine
services in the southern
African nation.
Main schools in Harare sent
pupils home early Tuesday as teachers heeded the
call by labor leaders. They
are demanding the lowest monthly salaries of
$250 are raised to $538 to meet
the minimum needs of an average family of
five.
Zimbabwe Prime
Minister's Morgan Tsvangirai's party, in charge of the labor
and finance
ministries in the nation's shaky coalition, said in a statement
Tuesday it
cannot meet the demands of 235,000 government employees without
increased
revenue from diamond mining controlled by the President Robert
Mugabe's
party.
The former opposition Movement for Democratic Change of
Tsvangirai, a former
labor leader, said it wanted to pay "a living wage" to
ensure government
facilities and departments provided viable
services.
"It is possible to raise the funds if diamond revenues are
remitted to the
treasury" controlled by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, it
said.
In his 2011 year-end budget statement, Biti said mining groups in
the
controversy-mired diamond fields of eastern Zimbabwe pledged to pay $600
million into state coffers this year. But possible profits from diamonds
were far higher, he said.
Tsvangirai's party said Tuesday Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party "continues to hold
back on those national resources that
should benefit all Zimbabweans."
Mugabe's party has denied hoarding
revenues from diamonds. Human rights
groups accuse the party and military
chiefs of involvement in illicit
diamond trade and rights violations and
killings in eastern Zimbabwe, the
recently discovered site of one of the
world's largest alluvial diamond
deposits.
The Apex Council, the
umbrella body of public service labor groups, said in
a statement the
momentum of the five-day strike was building and its leaders
were picketing
schools and government offices where there were "pockets of
resistance."
"The strike will demonstrate the seriousness and resolve
workers can take on
bread and butter issues," it said.
Lines of
people seeking government services formed Tuesday at undermanned
government
offices that remained open. Nurses stayed at their posts awaiting
a decision
on strike action from their labor group, the Zimbabwe Nurses
Association,
health department officials said.
The militant Progressive Teachers
Union, the second largest teachers'
organization, said it had lost faith in
the coalition that had failed to act
against "workers who subsist on
corruption." They were against the strike
and kept some services running. In
a statement Tuesday, it said politicians
were using the teachers' plight for
"sheer grandstanding" to score political
points.
"No political party
has been sympathetic to government employees ... at one
time we were made to
believe that the selling of diamonds shall neatly dress
our wretched lives,"
the statement said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By
Tichaona Sibanda
24 January 2012
Government and civil servants have
agreed to talks aimed at resolving the
pay dispute that forced the public
sector workers to embark on a nationwide
strike.
Leaders from the
Apex Council, the government workers union and officials at
the National
Joint Negotiating Council, representing the state, will meet
Wednesday for
the first time since the start of the week-long industrial
action on
Monday.
The talks had been scheduled to take place before the strike
happened and
officials are playing down the likelihood of an early deal
being struck.
But Public Service minister Lucia Matibenga said she was
hopeful an amicable
solution will be found during negotiations to alleviate
the plight of the
civil servant.
In a statement, the veteran trade
unionist stressed that during an
inter-ministerial advisory committee on
17th January, the discussion centred
around expanding the fiscal space by
finding alternative sources of revenue
as well as ensuring that revenue from
diamonds is accounted for.
“It is pertinent to note that the issue of
civil servants’ salaries is
inextricably linked to transparency in revenue
from diamonds as well as the
ghost workers that were unearthed by
auditors,”
“Finance Minister (Tendai) Biti and myself went to brief the
Acting
President, John Nkomo on the status of negotiations and the
recommendations
of the Inter-Ministerial Committee,” Matibenga
said.
Tendai Chikowore, chairperson of Apex Council told SW Radio Africa
on
Tuesday that they ‘expect’ government to agree to their demands if they
want
sanity to prevail in the civil service.
“We are expecting
government to table a salary review for the civil servants
for January 2012.
We have tabled our figures and our position is known. The
way forward is
going to be determined by the outcome of the meeting,”
Chikowore
said.
She added: “If the result is negative, we will continue with the
strike…if
it is fine with us, then we will call off the strike.”
The
civil servants are demanding a minimum monthly salary of US$538, up from
the
current US$250.
Chikowore insisted that as a result of the strike, the
country was
experiencing some disruption to services as thousands of public
sector
workers have gone on strike, closing schools and in some instances
bringing
state business to a virtual standstill.
“As far as we are
concerned, the strike has been very successful, people
have heeded
overwhelmingly in the education sector, so we believe the
message has been
sent out to government that we are not backing down,” she
said.
Asked
about reports some government offices have remained open, Chikowore, a
teacher by profession admitted they had encountered pockets of resistance in
the first two days of the protests.
“We are going around as
leadership of council picketing some of the areas
and managed to convince
quiet a good number of them to go back home and join
the strike for a good
cause,” she added.
On Monday, SW Radio Africa’s correspondents said that
government offices in
the country’s two main cities were operating as
normal, on the first day of
the week long strike.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, January 24, 2012 -
Zimbabwe civil servants hid calls Monday to
embark on a five day job action
to press for better salaries in line with
the poverty datum line of at least
US$530 a month, a union leader said
Monday.
Tendai Chikowore of the
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) who is
co-ordinating the strike by
civil servants said the job stay away had been
successful adding that the
civil servants will meet with government
representatives on Wednesday to
break the deadlock on the salary hike
negotiations.
"The strike has
been successful and it will go on until the end of the week.
Most of our
members hid the call to strike today and we expect them to
continue until
the end of the week," Chikowore added.
"We are happy with the direction
of the strike," she added.
Zimbabwe government workers currently earn
between US$250 and US$350 a
month, from a raise in January 2011 from the
initial US$150 to US$200 a
month since the government introduced the
multiple currency system in 2009
after the formation of the shaky unity
government of President Robert Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
A one day strike last week by the civil servants did not have
much impact as
most workers went to work.
The strike by civil
servants has had political undertones with known Zanu PF
supporters and
officials accusing Tendai Biti, the minister of Finance of
failing to
increase civil servants salaries.
Biti has said government coffers are
dry and that the economy cannot sustain
the salary increases. Zanu PF has
said the country must use diamond revenue
to finance the salary hikes but
Biti has also said some of the diamond
revenue was not being deposited to
treasury.
In his 2012 budget statement last year Biti said Zimbabwe
expects to get
over US$600 million in diamond sales after the Kimberley
Process approved
the trade of the country's gems.
http://mg.co.za
HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Jan 24 2012 19:52
Zimbabwe
union leaders on Tuesday suspended a strike that shuttered the
nation's
schools as civil servants demanded a doubling of basic wages, on
the eve of
talks with the government, a spokesperson said.
"We have suspended the
strike for tomorrow only, pending the outcome of the
meeting with the
government representatives," Tendai Chikowore, spokesperson
for the umbrella
union for state workers, said.
"After the meeting, we will report on the
outcome and issue a statement. If
the outcome is favourable, we will call
off the strike. If it is not
favourable, the strike will resume on
Thursday."
An Agence France-Presse correspondent visiting government
schools around
Harare found only a few staffers and some pupils milling
around, as more
teachers heeded the five-day strike call.
"We were
just hoping there might be lessons but the teachers did not come to
class
today," one boy returning home from high school said.
Ignored strike
request
Unions called for a five-day stay-away this week, after a similar
call for a
one-day strike was largely ignored last
Thursday.
Chikowore said the workers want across-the-board pay rises
including a raise
from $200 to $538 a month for the lowest-paid government
workers, medical
insurance and an allowance for workers based in rural
areas.
The strike got off to a slow start but on the second day on
Tuesday, public
schools in the capital were deserted with a few staffers in
offices and
senior pupils milling around.
But at government
departments, work went on as usual with people queuing up
and being
served.
Civil servants, particularly teachers, nurses and doctors, have
been
striking on and off for better salaries since
2007.
Sabotage
The situation reached its height in 2008 when staff
shortages forced state
hospitals to close some units and teacher strikes
left only 50 days of
classes in the whole year.
Zimbabwe's economy
has begun recovering after a decade-long downturn,
following a power-sharing
agreement by long-time rivals President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai in the wake of failed 2008
polls.
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti says about one-third of the 230 000 workers on
the government
payroll don't actually exist, meaning corrupt employees are
siphoning off
salaries.
Biti, a Tsvangirai ally, has insisted the cash-strapped
government cannot
afford to pay higher salaries.
Mugabe has accused
the minister of deliberately sabotaging the government by
refusing the
increases. -- AFP
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, January
24, 2012 - Firebrand MDC99 leader, Job Sikhala has stormed
into the current
civil servants' strike by inviting the poorly paid
government workers to
back his current attempts to overthrow the President
Robert Mugabe led
inclusive government.
Sikhala told journalists at a party press briefing
in Harare Tuesday
afternoon Mugabe's extravagance and continued failure to
end the plunder of
the country's natural resources by his lieutenants was
the cause of the
government workers' misery.
Sikhala, who has in the
past few weeks been clamouring for Mugabe’s ouster
accusing the veteran
leader of dictatorship, called on Raymond Majongwe,
secretary general of the
Lovemore Matombo led faction of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Union, to
lead the demonstrations.
Majongwe, another firebrand activist, is also
secretary general of the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, which is
prominently involved in
current demands for a salary review under the
auspices of Apex Council,
government's workers' chief negotiating
arm.
“They (civil servants) must stop the soft approach,” Sikhala said,
“We know
Raymond Majongwe and others as militant leaders. They must now
confront
this regime head-on.
“They must now call strikes and marches
into streets and if they realise
that this week’s call for demonstrations is
not successful, they must go
into overdrive next week and call even for the
overthrow of this regime as
it has failed them.
“We encourage them to
become more militant and run away from the politics of
passivism. We have
been living with politics of passivism for a long time.”
The former MDC
MP for St Marys late last year led less than a dozen party
loyalists into a
street march to President Mugabe's Munhumutapa offices,
demanding his
resignation.
They however abandoned the march just before police could
close in on them.
Sikhala accused Public Service Minister Lucia
Matibenga, who was elected
Vice President of the George Nkiwane led ZCTU
faction, of arrogance and
taking the ZCTU factionalism to
government.
"Matibenga thinks Majongwe is out to undermine her as the
minister," said
Sikhala.
“She should have given audience to the civil
servants. She throws insults to
the civil servants from her high office
through the press.
"Such kind of discourtesy and arrogance should not be
allowed in our
politics. All of a sudden, two months into office you are so
arrogant and so
discourteous to a constituency that voted you to where you
are."
Sikhala called for her immediate resignation.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Peter Marimudza Tuesday 24 January
2012
HARARE -- A hotel worker is among 600 Harare residents infected with
typhoid, amid fears the disease could quickly cascade into an epidemic
similar to a cholera outbreak about four years ago that killed thousands of
people across the country.
City health director Prosper Chonzi blamed
the typhoid outbreak on
contaminated food sold in the open in the city’s
sprawling working class
suburbs that also often have poor sewage and water
reticulation systems.
"We have confirmed that the disease is typhoid. It
has been caused by
contaminated foodstuffs sold in the open,” Chonzi told
journalists.
“One of the confirmed cases is a person who works in a city
hotel. If people
eat food handled by the person, they risk contracting
typhoid," he added.
Chonzi, a medical doctor, said all samples of raw,
cooked meat and fish
collected from vending stalls at a shopping centre in
the low-income suburb
of Kuwadzana contaminated with the bacterium
Salmonella Typhi that causes
typhoid.
People contract typhoid from
eating food or drinking beverages that have
been handled by another infected
person. One could also contract the disease
if they drink or use water that
has been contaminated with sewage containing
Salmonella
Typhi.
Symptoms of typhoid include feeling weak, stomach pains, headache,
or loss
of appetite. In some cases, patients have a rash of flat,
rose-colored
spots.
The city health chief claimed the quality of
Harare’s drinking water was of
acceptable standards. But he still urged
residents to take precautionary
measures by boiling water or adding aqua
tablets used to kill bacteria
before using the water for drinking and other
domestic purposes.
Aqua tablets can be obtained free of charge from all
city health facilities.
According to Chonzi, the council has deployed
doctors and nurses to the
suburbs of Warren Park, Kambuzuma and Dzivaresekwa
where cases of typhoid
have been detected. The council would also ensure
uninterrupted water
supplies to the affected areas, he said.
A
cholera epidemic that coincided with a doctors strike killed 4 288 people
out of 98 592 infections between August 2008 and July 2009.
Health
experts have warned that Zimbabwe remains at risk of another outbreak
of
waterborne diseases because the same problems that helped drive the last
cholera epidemic remained unresolved, with six million people or half of the
country’s total population of 12 million people with little or no access to
safe water and sanitation.
The power-sharing government of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
President Robert Mugabe promised on coming to
power in 2009 to rebuild the
economy and restore basic services such as
water supplies, health and
education that had collapsed after years of
neglect and under-funding.
But the cash-strapped administration has found
it hard to undertake any
meaningful reconstruction work after failing to get
financial support from
rich Western nations that insist they want to see
more political reforms
before they can loosen the purse strings. – ZimOnline
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma and Simon
Muchemwa
24 January 2012
Day six of the official inquest into the
death of retired army general
Solomon Mujuru produced stunning evidence, as
it was revealed that his
remains were discovered in a blue flame allegedly
that ‘took time’ to
extinguish.
The 67 year old army general,
regarded as one of the key political power
brokers in ZANU PF, died last
August after his house caught fire at night
and the roof collapsed on him.
His body was found burnt beyond recognition.
An inquest to establish the
cause of death started last week Monday to
Friday at the Harare Magistrates
Court and resumed again on Tuesday.
Cletwell Garisai, a police officer
who was on duty at Beatrice Police
Station told the court on Tuesday that
when his superior, Officer in Charge
Simon Dube pointed to Mujuru’s remains
in the mini lounge, they were in
‘blue flames’.
This would appear to
contradict state evidence at the start of the inquest
claiming that no
traces of flammable liquids or powder were discovered at
the Mujuru house. A
blue flame can be associated with the presence of a
highly flammable
substance and would raise suspicion this was poured on his
body.
Vice
President Joice Mujuru could not hide her anger and exclaimed openly in
court following the testimony by Garisai, the police officer on duty on the
night Mujuru died. He said that it took the effort of more than 20 people to
put out the flames which were concentrated on both sides of Mujuru’s
abdominal area.
Mujuru’s body was facing downwards with hands folded
and covering the face.
The hands remained intact despite the fact that the
skin on the head was
burnt out. The suspicion is that his body might have
been moved around.
Garisai further indicated that when Mujuru’s remains
were turned upwards he
discovered that there was a huge hole on the right
hand side of the abdomen
although there was still some flesh on the chest
and the left side of the
abdomen.
Garisai’s evidence was more or less
similar to his superior’s Simon Dube,
who led the fire fighting exercise
until CID Homicide headed by Chief
Superintendent Chrispen Makedenge arrived
at 5:00am.
Soon after the arrival of Makedenge, senior military personnel
and ZANU PF
ministers arrived, prompting former Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa and
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi to run the
show.
Fears by the Mujuru family that evidence could have been tampered
with at
the scene were buttressed by Officer In Charge, Dube, who said it
was
difficult to tell who was running the show, with Deputy Commissioner
General
Godwin Matanga also calling the shots at the scene.
Whilst
Constable Garisai was instructed to guard the room where the body had
been
found, several people were also giving conflicting orders allowing
certain
individuals into the room.
The Officer in Charge for Beatrice Police
Station later accompanied the body
to One Commando Barracks morgue, where a
post-mortem was conducted
immediately.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) was also exposed when it emerged that
Beatrice Police Station had no
vehicle for almost six months by the time
Mujuru died. Police officers from
the station were assisted with a vehicle
by a white commercial farmer from
Taviscom farm for them to reach Mujuru’s
farm.
The inquest continues.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
13:00
HARARE - Vice President Joice Mujuru is expected to testify
this week in the
on-going inquest that resumes today at the Harare
Magistrates’ Courts to
determine circumstances surrounding the death of her
husband, Retired
General Solomon Mujuru.
Twenty two more witnesses,
including the Vice President, pathologists and
forensic experts from South
Africa are expected to give evidence before
regional magistrate Walter
Chikwanha.
The presiding magistrate will then make a ruling determining
what led to
Mujuru’s death and if there is anyone culpable then the
magistrate will
order the police to open a criminal record or call for
further
investigations.
So far, 20 witnesses have testified in the
high-profile court case, with two
of them saying they heard gunshots on the
night Mujuru died further stoking
suspicions as to how the decorated general
died.
Mujuru’s maid Rosemary Short and Clemence Runhare, a security
guard, insist
they heard gunshots on the night Mujuru’s house was razed down
by fire and
his charred remains were later found inside the house.
It
is not clear if Mujuru died before the fire or during the fire, with
suspicion pointing fingers at a possibility that he was murdered.
But
police details tasked to protect Mujuru denied everVP Mujuru to testify
hearing gunshots saying it was perhaps the sound from shattering asbestos
sheets.
Obert Mark, Augustinos Chinyoka and Lazarus Handikatari are
the three police
officers that were deployed to protect
Mujuru.
Giving their evidence in court last week, Mark and Handikatari
stunned the
Mujuru family and members of the public following the case when
they
revealed that they were asleep when fire broke out at the general’s
house.
This did not go down well with the Vice President, herself a
trained
guerrilla war hero, who said it was “shocking” that the police
officers
could conduct themselves in such a disgraceful
manner.
“Taking circumstances in which this thing happened it is really
shocking,
and you say to yourself is this how a person can discharge himself
when he
is supposed to do his duties?” asked Mujuru.
Mujuru family
lawyer Thakor Kewada from Scanlen and Holderness legal firm
told reporters
last week after the adjournment of the inquest that his
client is likely to
testify this week.
“We are expecting to have experts who include
pathologists and forensic
specialists to testify this week,” said
Kewada.
“She (Joice Mujuru) will be just assisting the court with
information she
knows on what transpired during the fateful night when her
husband died,”
Kewada said.
The late retired general was reportedly
leading a faction in Zanu PF
fighting to succeed the 87-year-old party
leader President Robert Mugabe.
The retired general’s death is reported
to have weakened the Mujuru faction.
Questioning witnesses in court last
week, Kewada blasted police for
negligence saying they left Mujuru to die as
they ran for three-and-half
kilometres to the farm compound looking for help
to locate Mujuru’s bedroom
when they could have made an attempt to save his
life.
Cross-examining one of Mujuru’s groundsman Tawanda Madondo, Kewada
said it
would have been wiser for police officers to break any window of
Mujuru’s
house to gain entry and rescue him than spending an hour running
around
while his house was smouldering to ashes.
The court also heard
from Short that Mujuru had frosty relations with the
police officers and at
one time the late general considered firing them.
According to Short,
Mujuru also strained relations with his police guards
that he advised her to
look after herself instead of depending on the
police.
Short also
dispelled the assumption that a seven-centimetre candle could
have started
the fire that led to the death of the decorated retired
general.
The
court also heard that keys for Mujuru’s vehicles are yet to be found and
that the late general was not alone when he entered his farm.
Short
also told the court that Mujuru had a feeling that he was going to die
and
wanted to sleep in the car the night he died.
Witnesses who testified
also said retired general Mujuru’s vehicle was
parked at an unusual place
and that he had uncharacteristically left
groceries in an unlocked
vehicle.
The inquest resumes today after adjourning on
Friday.
Joel Mujuru, brother to the late retired general, said the
inquest has so
far raised questions and also provided answers to the family.
He hoped the
inquest will give the family closure.
“As a family we
will sit down and go through testimonies given in court so
that we map the
way forward,” said Joel Mujuru.
http://www.voanews.com/
23 January
2012
Chief Negomo of Mashonaland Central province brought the
action in Bindura
magistrate court after Mr. Tsvangirai refused to pay a
fine for allegedly
violating tradition by paying a bride price in
November
Violet Gonda & Ntungamili Nkomo |
Washington
A provincial magistrate has ordered Zimbabwean Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai to pay a traditional penalty including livestock,
cloth and snuff
for failing to heed a summons from a traditional leader in
connection with
his supposed November marriage.
Chief Negomo of
Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central province, brought the action
in Bindura
magistrate court after Mr. Tsvangirai refused to pay a fine for
allegedly
violating cultural norms by paying lobola or bride price in the
month of
November.
Negomo's traditional court tried Tsvangirai in absentia late
last year and
found him guilty of wedding Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo during
the month
which Shona tradition holds to be sacred. Mr. Tsvangirai has
denied marrying
Tembo, maintaining that he had only paid damages for getting
the 30-year-old
divorcee with child.
Tsvangirai refused to appear
before the chief, saying Negomo had no
jurisdiction in the matter. But
Negomo went ahead with the trial, fining Mr.
Tsvangirai two head of cattle,
two sheep, 10 meters of white cloth and a
bowl of snuff to appease the
spirits.
Accused by some of acting on behalf of President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF,
the chief registered his judgment with the Bindura magistrate’s
court after
the expiration of a 30-day period within which both families
were supposed
to have paid fines.
Negomo is taking steps to attach
the prime minister's property to collect
the fine.
Mr. Tsvangirai’s
spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, refused to comment.
MDC lawmaker Shepherd
Mushonga, a lawyer who recently won a case against
Chief Negomo, told VOA
reporter Violet Gonda that Negomo is a provincial
security officer for
ZANU-PF and is playing a political game against the
prime
minister.
“This is more politics than legal as the chief is the
provincial security
officer for ZANU-PF, so yes there is a political game
being played,"
Mushonga said. "If I was the Prime Minister’s adviser I would
tell him to
take this matter to the High Court on review."
But
Negomo's aide Cairo Mhandu, also a member of Parliament, insisted the
traditional leader holds no position in ZANU-PF and is merely fulfilling his
traditional duties.
Human rights lawyer Matshobana Ncube says Mr.
Tsvangirai erred in ignoring
the chief's ruling despite the fact the
traditional leader had no standing
in the matter.
Ncube told reporter
Ntungamili Nkomo the prime minister should now file an
interdict in the High
Court to stop the messenger of court from attaching
his property.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
24 January
2012
The political temperature has shot up in Chegutu East constituency
with the
war of words heating up between the MDC-T and ZANU PF, as the
country’s
elections draw near.
Charlton Hwende, the MDC-T national
representative in Mashonaland West
blasted Webster Shamu, the MP for the
area for ‘fighting dirty’ and accusing
him of sending thugs to intimidate
his family.
Hwende has already declared his interests to unseat Shamu,
the ZANU PF
political commissar and politburo member from Chegutu East. The
charismatic
Hwende is one of the youthful rising stars in the Morgan
Tsvangirai led MDC
and has already held several rallies that have attracted
the ire of Shamu.
He surprised many of his friends by shunning a safe
seat in Chegutu central
and decided to concentrate his efforts in a seat
held by ZANU PF, more so by
a fearsome MP, allegedly known for his
gangsterism.
Hwende took to Facebook on Monday to accuse Shamu of
unleashing a gang of
ZANU PF members who ransacked his rural home at
Muchechemera village, under
the Chegutu East constituency.
“Today
(Monday) at 2am in the morning six people in a Toyota Hilux suspected
to be
coming from voting in the weekend ZANU PF Mashonaland West Provincial
chairman elections ransacked my rural home in Mhondoro, Chegutu East
constituency forcing my 90 year-old grandmother and the wife of my worker to
flee to Harare,”
“My appeal to Shamu the MP of the area is for him to
ensure that such
victimisation and harassment of my family is stopped
immediately. We are not
afraid but peace loving for now,” Hwende wrote on
Facebook.
Last month, Hwende accused Shamu of instructing some ZANU PF
youths to
attack his young brother Livingstone, who was coming from an MDC
rally in
the district. Shamu has reportedly denied any involvement, charging
that if
Hwende wants a clean fight, “he will get it.”
“Because of
Shamu’s fierce reputation of dealing ruthlessly with political
opponents, I
knew it was not going to be easy to challenge him. But look,
this is
politics and somebody has to throw in their hat to stand against
him,”
‘”f you enter into a political ring, the aim is to win and this
is exactly
what I have set out to do. Shamu knows he has a big fight ahead
and so he’s
now resorting to dirty tactics to intimidate my family in the
hope that I
will not challenge him. Unfortunately for him that will not
happen, he
should expect this contest to go all the way to the finish line,”
Hwende
said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
24 January
2012
The owners of a bookshop in Victoria Falls, arrested last week for
selling
the Prime Minister’s memoirs, have been released on
bail.
Sinikiwe Mutore and Mlamuli Mabhena, who own the Rosepet Bookshop,
were
arrested for selling the book, titled: “At the Deep End”. Last week,
the
police raided the bookshop and confiscated all the 10 books in stock,
which
they took the police station before asking Matore and Mabhena to
produce
invoices showing how they had purchased the books.
The
receipts produced showed that the books had been purchased at a bookshop
in
Harare, but in spite of the proof, one police officer, who identified
himself as Officer Shiri from the Law and Order Section, went on to arrest
Matore, while Mabhena handed himself to the police on Sunday.
The
MDC-T said that the police “planted some subversive material and red
cards
and small MDC flags inside all the 10 books.”
“One of the subversive
materials has a list of 11 ZANU PF officials
including Robert Mugabe
claiming that they should be eliminated,” the MDC-T
said.
The State
then made a u-turn in court on Monday claiming that the two should
not have
been arrested but instead the company should have been brought to
court to
answer charges of ‘undermining the authority of the President’,
Robert
Mugabe
Magistrate Archibald Dingana then postponed to matter to 23 March
2012 when
Mutore will appear in court representing Rosepet Bookshop as its
managing
director.
According the MDC-T, there are reports, indicating
that the police “have
gone on a crackdown on President Tsvangirai’s book
after it was successfully
sold across the country and outside
Zimbabwe.”
Bookshops in Harare that are selling the copies are apparently
being asked
by the police to show receipts of where they purchased the books
from.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
24/01/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
AIR Zimbabwe has insisted the High Court is yet to
determine an application
for judicial management by workers claiming to be
owed about $35 million in
unpaid salaries and vowed to “vigorously” fight
the case.
Caleb Mucheche, the lawyer representing worker said at the
weekend the
struggling airline now faced possible liquidation after the High
Court
appointed a judicial manager and barred the Air Zimbabwe board from
any
involvement with the company.
"Since the court has appointed a
judicial manager it means that this is a
prelude to liquidation. The
judicial manager will now move in and the
current AirZim board will have to
step aside," Mucheche told state media.
"The judicial manager will assess
if Air Zimbabwe is still a going entity,
but as the way things stand all is
not well he is likely to recommend
liquidation. That is the process.
Whenever a judicial manager comes in, the
next step is liquidation."
But
in a statement Monday acting chief executive, Innocent Mavhunga said the
High Court was still to make a ruling.
"The airline was only served
with a court application on Monday the 23rd of
January 2012 in which certain
individuals purporting to represent the
workers are seeking to place the
airline under judicial management,"
Mavhunga said.
"The majority of
the workers under the Applicant unions have distanced
themselves from the
court application which is clearly a mischievous but
grievous assault on the
interests of the workers. For this and other
material reasons, the Airline
will defend the matter most vigorously."
Air Zimbabwe is battling a
US$140 million debt pile including obligations to
the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (ZIMRA), National Social Security Authority
(NSSA) as well as the
workers’ medical aid and pension schemes.
Creditors seized the company’s
planes in South Africa and the United Kingdom
last December in a bid to
force payment.
A Boeing 737-500 was briefly held at OR Tambo airport in
Johannesburg over
while an American firm also impounded the long-haul Boeing
767-200 at London’s
Gatwick airport.
The airline has since been
forced to pull-out of the lucrative London and
Johannesburg routes to
prevent similar actions by restive creditors.
Management has been
pressing the cash-strapped coalition government to
take-over the company's
debts in order to facilitate the restructuring of
the company.
The
company’s troubles have worsened at a time global carriers are returning
after ditching the country as its economic challenges worsened in the last
decade.
Already, the United Arab Emirates-owned, Emirates Airlines
has announced it
will start flying into the country from the beginning of
next month.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Writer
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
15:53
HARARE - A Masvingo magistrate yesterday acquitted Zimbabwe
Human Rights
Association (ZimRights) senior official Joel Hita on charges of
organising a
photo exhibition in Masvingo showing the 2008 election
brutality.
The magistrate also found ZimRights not guilty.
The
trial failed to commence last August and was postponed indefinitely
because
the State was not ready to proceed as its witnesses failed to turn
up at
court.
However, prosecutors last week advised ZimRights and Hita’s
lawyer, Blessing
Nyamaropa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) of
the their readiness
to commence trial.
ZimRights was cited as the
first accused and was represented by its
chairperson Kucaca Phulu, while
Hita was cited as the second accused.
They were being charged under the
Public Order and Security Act (Posa) for
organising the photo exhibition in
2010 without police clearance.
Hita is the ZimRights Masvingo provincial
chairperson.
“On the 26th of April 2010 at around 1700 hours, the second
accused (Hita)
in carrying on the business of the first accused (ZimRights)
or furthering
or endeavouring to further, displayed 64 different photos in
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions Hall and gathered about 50 people at the
hall for
the photo exhibition without applying to the regulatory authority
for
permission to exhibit the photos,” reads the State outline used to
charge
Hita and Zimrights.
The photo exhibition, titled
“Reflections”, showcased pictures depicting how
Zimbabweans, particularly
those viewed as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
supporters, were
brutalised in 2008.
The lawyer who represented ZimRights and Hita lawyer
told the Daily News by
phone from Masvingo yesterday that “Magistrate Miss
Nyamwisa acquitted my
clients who were charged under Posa,” said
Nyamaropa.
Police have consistently shown a dislike for artists whose
work remind the
nation of past atrocities committed by the
State.
Visual artist Owen Maseko is before the courts for staging an
exhibition
depicting military massacres, also known as Gukurahundi, in the
Matabeleland
and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
The matter has
since been referred to the Supreme Court to determine whether
the artist’s
arrest does not infringe on his constitutional rights.
Maseko’s trial at
the magistrates’ courts on charges of contravening the
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) is on hold until
the Supreme
Court rules on the constitutionality of the matter.
Several police cases
against human rights defenders and their organisations
have fallen by the
wayside.
Others have been referred to the Supreme Court of appeal and
most of them
have been dismissed.
A classic example is the Jestina
Mukoko case against the state.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Bulawayo, January 24 2012- A health
time bomb is ticking in some of Bulawayo’s
high density suburbs where
uncollected garbage is accumulating in the
streets.
High density
suburbs such as Tshabalala, Sizinda, Magwegwe and Luveve are
now
characterised by heaps of uncollected garbage which has became both a
health
risk and an eye sore.
Residents in the suburbs told Radio VOP that
council was not collecting
refuse, a development which has resulted in
residents dumping rubbish in
streets and opening spaces.
“We have
gone for several weeks without any refuse collection. Residents are
dumping
rubbish everywhere in the high density suburbs. The situation could
have
been worse if we had managed to receive rains in the city,” said Jairos
Moyo, a resident in Tshabalala.
Moyo said residents were also worried
about the location of the dumps which
were exposing children to health
risks.
“Sometimes you see young children scrounging in these heaps. The
council
should really do something before this situation get out of hand.
Residents
now have to contend with heavy smell coming from the dumb that is
scattered
all over,” he said.
On Sunday Tshabalala residents called a
meeting and resolved to pull their
resources together and remove some of the
garbage.
“This issue is now a threat to our health. While we will
continue to engage
council over the issue we felt we also have a duty to
clear the garbage,”
said another resident.
Bulawayo Mayor Thaba Moyo
said council is aware of the problem and is
currently devising a programme of
action.
“Council has come up with a programme of action for the removal
of the
garbage. Our refuse collection vehicles will very soon move into the
affected areas during weekends,” he said.
President Robert Mugabe
recently described Bulawayo as the best run city in
the country.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey
Mtimba
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 11:52
MASVINGO - Police have
warned of a possible outbreak of political violence
as the country enters
another stage in the constitution making process.
The law enforcement
agents also said there was a likelihood elections slated
for this year or
early next year could be characterised by violence.
Speaking during the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) belated end-of-year party
for Masvingo
province which was held at Masvingo Polytechnic over the
weekend, police
commissioner, Charles Mfandaidza called for peace during
the periods he
described as passing phases.
“As you may be aware, the country is set to
hold a referendum that will
culminate in general elections.
“It is
therefore imperative for every citizen to realise that elections at
whatever
level in a country are just but events which come and go, whilst
brotherhood
and social relationships remain,” he said.
“Consequently, it defies logic
for all citizens to allow a decay of the
social fabric due to excitement and
overzealousness triggered by passing
events,” Mfandaidza said.
The
past elections have been characterised by ugly scenes of political
violence
that left dozens dead while thousands were injured and displaced.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC claimed that over 200 of its
supporters
were killed in the violent presidential run-off election in 2008
from which
it eventually pulled out citing increased violence.
Mfandaidza said
given the prevailing situation where there were some who
are seeking revenge
for the 2008 disturbances, there was bound to be
unprecedented violence in
the country.
“Allow me therefore, to reiterate the appeals for
forgiveness and tolerance
to ensure that the prevailing peace and
tranquillity is sustained.
“More importantly, to all those who harbour
hard feelings towards each
other, to find it within their hearts to forgive
those whom they feel
wronged them and desist from pursing a futile,
destructive and retributive
agenda,” Mfandaidza said.
He challenged
traditional leaders and the civic society to assist the police
force to
preach peace to the people ahead of the anticipated elections.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Helen Kadirire, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
15:57
HARARE - A bogus Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
officer was
sentenced to 245 hours of community service after he was found
guilty of
fraud.
Magistrate Gamuchirai Siwardi had sentenced Brian
Mukiwa, 23, to 15 months
behind bars but suspended four months on condition
of good behavior.
Another four were also suspended on condition that he
restitute $1 305 to
the victims before March 30 while the remaining months
were commuted to 245
hours of community service at Vainona Primary
School.
Mukiwa who had initially pleaded not guilty to the offence
changed his plea
after a witness gave testimony which implicated him to the
crime.
It is the state’s case that on September 23 last year, Mukiwa met
Charles
Maripfonde a lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College in a kombi and
lied to
him that he was employed in the President’s office as an
intelligence
officer.
Mukiwa later volunteered to help the latter get
a passport. On September 26,
the two men met in Harare gardens where Mukiwa
was given $205 by Maripfonde
together with the relevant
documentation.
After their transaction, Maripfonde informed his friends
about Mukiwa’s
exploits in organising passports.
But when
Maripfonde’s friends called him to arrange how they could get
assisted, he
allegedly professed ignorance of the stated transaction.
When Maripfonde
called him to introduce him to his friends, he denied ever
meeting
him.
Using the same modus operandi Mukiwa defrauded Tavonga Madamobe of
$200
meant for her passport.
In another count, Mukiwa claimed that he
could buy Mary-Anne Macheza a car
on auction at Beitbridge border
post.
He told the Harare Polytechnic college student that his job allowed
him to
cut corners and get things a lot easier.
Macheza deposited
$775 into Mukiwa’s Standard Chartered Bank account and
after that his mobile
phone was no longer available, resulting in the
student making a police
report.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/i
By Gift Phiri, Senior
Writer
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:59
HARARE - UK Development
minister Andrew Mitchell has rejected civil society
calls to audit
Zimbabwe’s $7 billion debt before admitting the southern
African county into
the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (Hipc) initiative.
Hipc is a debt
relief programme managed by the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
In a letter seen by the
Daily News, Mitchell out-right rejects calls by the
Zimbabwe Coalition on
Debt and Development (Zimcodd) and the Zimbabwe Europe
Network (Zen) to
conduct an official audit of the $7,4 billion debt to
increase
accountability over the country’s finances and help give Zimbabwe’s
people
control over their economy.
The two civil society groups, who are
spearheading the so-called “Jubilee
Debt Campaign,” wrote to the British
minister after it emerged that Finance
minister Tendai Biti had engaged the
UK embassy in Harare to work out an
arrears’ clearance strategy that will
see the country pursue the HIPC route.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF
has already thrown down the gauntlet and
warned that they will not allow
Biti to get Zimbabwe declared a HIPC as a
debt write-off strategy saying the
country was not poor but saddled with
sanctions.
Biti says the $7,4
billion debt was precluding the country from desperately
needed fresh lines
of credit and Hipc status will ensure the debts are
written off even though
the country will have to adhere to tough
macro-economic conditions
prescribed by international finance institutions.
Zimcodd and Zen had
proposed that before declaring Zimbabwe a Hipc, the
Zimbabwean Parliament
must first create a “Debt Audit Commission” which
would investigate how the
$7,4 billion debt was run up, and who benefitted
from the loans, and learn
lessons for future borrowing.
Mitchell said in his January 5, 2012 letter
to Zimcodd and Zen, lending by
international donors was not the primary
cause of Zimbabwe’s economic
decline, which accelerated rapidly after
2000.
“President Mugabe’s reckless economic mismanagement bears the major
responsibility for the crisis that reached its nadir in 2008, with
hyperinflation, the near collapse of basic services and a humanitarian
crisis that affected more than seven million people,” Mitchell’s letter
says.
“The UK does not support a debt audit, which the (Zimcodd and
Zen) report
recommends as a way for discussions of debt cancellation to be
informed by
the ‘legitimacy’ of the original loans. Loans made to
internationally
recognised governments are bound by legal contracts and
recognised in
international law."
“Attempting after the fact to
distinguish between legitimate and
illegitimate debts could cause lenders to
refuse to provide further loans
and would be catastrophic for developing
countries attempting to strengthen
their economies and reduce poverty
through accessing international
financing.”
Tor-Hugne Olsen,
co-ordinator for Zen, was moving to approach the AfDB
president Donald
Kaberuka asking him to release all information relating to
Zimbabwe’s debt
profile.
The Daily News understands the AfDB is taking the lead for
creditors in
discussions with Biti on what to do with the country’s $7
billion debt. Biti
has contracted a “debt expert” with the assistance of the
AfDB to assist
government in formulating an external debt and arrears
clearance strategy
which will form the basis for debt relief.
The two
civil society groups want the AfDB to release all information and
evaluation
of the AfDB loans which helped to create Zimbabwe’s $7 billion
debt and
signal that the bank would support and co-operate with a debt audit
in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Mitchell says in his letter the UK government was
working with
the international financial institutions and with donors to
clarify Zimbabwe’s
indebtedness and establish its eligibility for debt
relief under Hipc.
“We support this work and have provided all the
information on UK debt
requested by the government of Zimbabwe, as it works
through this process,”
Mitchell says in the letter.
The British
Development minister emphasises in the letter that debt relief
and clearance
of Zimbabwe’s arrears was an important element in securing the
country’s
economic stability, “not least because it will enable Zimbabwe
again to
access international finance to fund its development and reduce
poverty.”
As the coalition government grapples with rebuilding a
country ravaged by
more than a decade of economic and political turmoil, it
has indicated that
it needs about $8.5 billion in emergency aid to revive
the economy.
“Debt relief to Zimbabwe could of course only be given once
the country has
completed its political transition, through free and fair
elections that
lead to a reforming government committed to equitable and
sustainable
development,” Mitchell said in the letter.
Dewa Mavhinga,
regional co-ordinator for pro-democracy pressure group Crisis
in Zimbabwe
Coalition said Mitchell had clearly misunderstood the calls for
a national
debt audit. “It is not a repudiation of Zimbabwe’s legal loan
contracts, but
a mechanism to ensure a full measure of transparency and
accountability,”
Mavhinga told the Daily News.
“The people of Zimbabwe, through a
Parliamentary Debt Audit Commission, have
a right to know what loans the
government of Zimbabwe acquired; for what
purpose, and whether or not the
borrowed money was actually used for its
intended purpose. Zimcodd and Zen
are correct to demand a debt audit before
a decision on whether to declare
Zimbabwe a Hipc country is taken.”
http://www.esi-africa.com/node/14090
Harare, Zimbabwe ---
ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 24 January 2012 - The French
consortium which has been
granted a licence by the Zimbabwean government to
build a US$3 billion
thermal power plant in the country is in the process of
finalising
preparations to commence construction.
Revealing this to New Ziana,
energy and power development minister Elton
Mangoma said that
when
complete, the 2,000MW project which was being rolled out over the next
four
years was expected to alleviate the country's worsening power
woes.
Currently, the country's sole power utility, Zesa Holdings, is
producing
about 1,400MW against a national demand of over 2,000MW per day,
leaving a
shortfall which has to be imported.
With the economy now
recovering from a decade of contraction caused by
sanctions by some Western
countries, demand for power is rocketing.
The new power station will be
situated in the Lusulu coal fields at Binga,
in the Matabeleland North
province of Zimbabwe. The coal fields have an
estimated 1.2 billion tonnes
of coal reserves.
Minister Mangoma went on to say that more firms were
showing interest in
investing in the country's power sector. “People are
always making inquiries
and it is a good thing for our country that we have
people willing to invest
in this sector. As Government we will always
welcome new investment,” he
added.
With Zimbabwe facing a critical
shortage of power, the government is also
pursuing the expansion of the
existing power stations at Hwange and Kariba
to boost supplies. The Batoka
Gorge project is another one in the pipeline
set to offset the country's
power woes once implemented.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Nkululeko Ndlovu 19 hours
8 minutes ago
ZIMBABWE'S national defence policy is premised
on the need to counter the
illegal regime change agenda sponsored by some
Western countries in the past
decade, Defence Minister, Emmerson "Ngwena"
Mnangagwa said yesterday.
Minister Mnangagwa said this in a lecture to
army officers attending the
Joint Command and Staff Course Number 25 at the
Zimbabwe Staff College.
"With the emergence of the regime change agenda
around the year 2000, our
defence policy had to be tailored towards
countering influences that were
being spread by the Western media through
such devices as the Internet, CNN,
BBC and Sky News," he
said.
Minister Mnangagwa said the country's defence policy derived its
legal basis
from the Constitution.
"The constitutional obligations of
the ZDF are threefold, that is, to defend
Zimbabwe's independence,
sovereignty, territorial integrity and national
interests, to participate in
the creation of a common regional security
architecture and to contribute to
the maintenance of international peace and
stability," he said.
The
minister said the violent removal of sitting presidents in some
countries in
North African countries showed the need to come up with defence
policies
that safeguard a nation's sovereignty.
"It is clear that the West
together with the United States is using such
tactics to sponsor regime
change in various countries. Africa therefore
needs to guard against such
manoeuvres if it is to successfully resist
neo-colonialism," he
said.
Minister Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe's defence policy respected
regional and
international treaties and conventions that the country was
party to.
He added that Zimbabwe championed a policy of non-interference
and
preventive diplomacy in its interactions with other
nations.
Minister Mnangagwa also said Zimbabwe was against the
proliferation of
nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction.
Various officers drawn from the country's security arms and
others from Sadc
are attending the course.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
24
January 2012
South Africa is facing criticism for appearing to be
actively preventing
asylum seekers from seeking protection in the country,
with policies that
are in contravention of the country own Refugees
Act.
According to the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) group, a recent
policy
change has made it mandatory for new applicants for asylum to produce
an
‘Asylum Transit Permit’ when they submit an application for asylum at
refugee reception offices, located in Musina, Pretoria, Durban and Cape
Town. These permits, despite not being part of the Refugees Act, are meant
to be made available at the border.
But the LHR has found that this
Permit is not being issued at the main point
of entry at Beitbridge,
potentially leaving hundreds of Zimbabweans at risk
of arrest and
deportation.
According to Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh of the LHR’s Refugee and
Migrant Rights
Programme, “immigration at Beitbridge have taken a decision
not to issue
this permit to newly arrived asylum seekers, yet the Refugee
Reception
Offices around the country continue to demand this document before
they will
allow access.”
Ramjathan-Keogh also told SW Radio Africa
that police road blocks are being
set up in the Limpopo Province to screen
the immigration status of all
foreigners travelling out of Limpopo, the
province most asylum seekers have
to travel through if they’ve come through
the Musina border. Ramjathan Keogh
said that the police are arresting people
who may be trying to seek
protection as asylum seekers. These persons are
then being summarily
deported.
“Home Affairs is actively refusing
entry to asylum seekers and removing any
persons who have been unable to
lodge asylum applications on entry. Their
policy is directed at exclusion
rather than protection which flies in the
face of South Africa’s
international commitments to protect refugees,”
Ramjathan-Keogh
said.
She added: “Corruption, lack of understanding of the law and basic
xenophobic attitudes by some government officials at the border post prevent
those seeking asylum and international protection in South Africa from
starting the process to apply for asylum,”
“These methods seem to be
used by the Department to reduce the number of
asylum applications while not
dealing with the systemic problems of
corruption and inefficiency within
immigration and asylum services at the
ports of entry.”
Meanwhile the
Consortium for Refugees and Migrants (CoRMSA) has also raised
concerns about
the South African government denying foreigners their rights
to asylum.
CoRMSA said in a statement that they have witnessed “some of the
most
heartbreaking and inhumane treatments of asylum seekers outside the
Department of Home Affairs Refugee Reception Office in Marabastad,
Pretoria.”
CoRMSA quoted a person trying to gain access to the
refugee reception
office, with the group saying in a statement that the
quote “is an
illustration of the impact of a new shift in government policy
on asylum
seekers in South Africa.”
The quote says: “They used to
take about 100 newcomers a day, but now they
turn everyone away, it doesn’t
matter what nationality you are, so fewer
people are coming. Too many people
just stay at home without legal permits…
When people come with letters from
Lawyers for Human Rights, they just tear
them up. Newcomers have no
access…”
CoRMSA also echoed the concerns made by the LHR regarding the
Transit
Permit, stating that “the practise requiring that asylum seekers be
in
possession of this transit permit in order to gain access to the asylum
process is in itself unlawful.”
“Results of this practise are that
asylum seekers are unable to receive
protection and are vulnerable to
arrest, detention and deportation to
countries of origin where they may face
persecution or death,” CoRMSA said.
“CoRMSA demands that there be clarity
on the government’s policy with
regards to asylum seekers and that the
rights of these vulnerable persons be
protected and defended,” the group
said.
http://www.mlive.com/
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 6:58
AM
The Muskegon Chronicle By The Muskegon Chronicle
Our planet abounds
in horrific dictators, most of whom eventually are erased
from power by
their suffering, mutinous subjects. But one of them -- Robert
Mugabe --
continues his despotic reign as president of Zimbabwe.
This land, once
"the breadbasket of Africa," is now a place where hardly
anyone feels
safe.
In Peter Godwin's book, "The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom
of
Zimbabwe" (Little, Brown and Co., 2011), he distills this hell during
three
decades of President Mugabe's "smart genocide":
"There's no
need to directly kill hundreds of thousands, if you can select
and kill the
right few thousand ... It is as if he has taken an entire
nation hostage,
using them as human shields."
In the Oct. 31, 2011, edition of The Weekly
Standard, David Aikman describes
the impact of this tyrant:
"With
desperate hyperinflation, a drop in male life expectancy from 62 in
1990 to
44 today, widespread cholera, and desperate malnutrition, Zimbabwe
is a
dying state presided over by an 87-year-old mafioso."
nate-hentoff.jpgNate
Hentoff
The United Nations, as usual, has been useless in rescuing these
utterly
helpless people. South Africa and a few other African nations have
murmured
their displeasure -- fruitlessly -- at this monster who has
actually likened
himself to Hitler.
In one of my many ineffective
columns about Mugabe's terror ("Mugabe's
Victims, Mostly Black," Village
Voice, May 6, 2003), I quote his
self-appraisal from March 21,
2003:
"I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one
objective,
justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people,
recognition of the
independence of his people, and their right to their
resources. If that is
Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times
Hitler, that is what we
stand for."
That self-adulatory tribute was
in response, as Mugabe noted, to his having
been compared to Hitler by the
British press. Soon after the speech, the
United States "accused Zimbabwe's
government of unleashing a new wave of
violence against the opposition,
which it said was incited when President
Robert Mugabe compared himself to
Adolf Hitler" ("US slams Mugabe's 'black
Hitler' speech," The Mail &
Guardian Online, Sapa-AFP, March 25, 2003).
Further along in the story,
it was reported that President George Bush,
responding to the violent
crackdown, froze "the assets of Mugabe and 76
other government officials,
charging they have undermined democracy."
But the Hitler of Africa was
not intimidated by the president's reaction.
As I wrote six years later,
"the BBC's Mike Thomson, in a series of reports
from Zimbabwe ... spoke to
'a Zimbabwean mother and (13-year-old) daughter
who are still too afraid to
return home after being abducted and repeatedly
raped by militiamen from
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party a year
ago.' ... Their fear has not
lessened despite the new alleged
'power-sharing' coalition between Mugabe
and the Movement for Democratic
Change's Morgan Tsvangirai" ("No One Feels
Safe in Zimbabwe," Cato
Institute, July 3, 2009).
This so-called
"coalition" has not been allowed by Mugabe to actually
function, as reported
by Celia W. Dugger in The New York Times ("Robert
Mugabe Hounds Rivals in
Zimbabwe, Parties Say," April 18, 2011):
"More than a quarter of
President Robert Mugabe's opponents in Parliament
have been arrested since
agreeing to join the government in a shaky
power-sharing arrangement, part
of an intensifying campaign of harassment
intended to drive them out of
office, officials from both sides say."
This is why one member of the
targeted Movement for Democratic Change was
arrested: "The police accused
Moses Mzila Ndlovu, co-minister for national
healing (that is not a typo) of
attending a meeting held without their
authorization."
His crime,
Dugger reported, was attending "a memorial prayer service for the
thousands
of civilians from the Ndebele minority slain in the early years of
Mr.
Mugabe's 31-year rule."
But alleged elections continue in Zimbabwe and
this Hitler is ready. Last
summer, the Times' Dugger quoted a high-ranking
general in the Zimbabwe
army, Douglas Nyikayaramba, who said this to a
state-run newspaper:
"President Mugabe will only leave office if he sees
fit or dies. We will die
for him to make sure he remains in power" ("General
Says Mugabe Rival Is a
Threat to Zimbabwe," June 23, 2011).
The
military, Dugger reports, will be ubiquitous during the forthcoming
elections (as always) because the president's opponent, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, is, according to the general, a "'major security threat'
who 'takes instructions from foreigners.'"
However, this "security
threat" has "survived arrests, a police beating,
assassination attempts and
a treason trial over the past decade" ("Robert
Mugabe Hounds Rivals in
Zimbabwe, Parties Say," April 18, 2011).
Thankfully, he's not quitting
the government and will campaign for the
presidency to free the people of
Zimbabwe from Mugabe's shackles.
Next week we will meet Patience Mhlanga,
born and raised in Zimbabwe. She
will tell us how she escaped and is now a
student at Fairfield University in
Connecticut while also volunteering in
such organizations as the Gospel
Mission's orphanage in southeastern India.
Patience's calling is to help the
abandoned wherever she can.
This
witness against the Hitler of Africa has a lot to tell us from personal
experience.
And during this next "election," how many members of the
American media will
be there as our witnesses to the hell that is Robert
Mugabe's merciless
occupation of Zimbabwe?
Nat Hentoff is a
nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and
the Bill of Rights.
He is a member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press, and the
Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow.
