http://news.yahoo.com
Fri Jul 10, 9:43 am ET
HARARE
(AFP) - Zimbabwe's army and police on Friday refused to vacate
diamond
fields where security forces are accused of human rights abuses,
despite a
pledge last week for their withdrawal.
The announcement came despite a
call from the Kimberley Process, which works
to end the sale of "blood
diamonds", for the demilitarisation of the Marange
fields, where security
forces are accused of torture, killings and other
abuses against
civilians.
"The officer commanding Manicaland province, senior assistant
commissioner
Munorwei Shava Mathuthu, said security forces will remain in
place to deal
with illegal diamond dealers and panners," said the statement
read on state
television.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu "concurred with
the security forces", state
television added -- although on Sunday the
government had said it would
conduct a phased withdrawal from
Marange.
A team from the Kimberley Process on Wednesday accused the
military of being
involved in illegal diamond mining in the Marange and of
perpetrating
"horrific" violence against civilians.
The team
recomended that Zimbabwe remove the army from Marange by July 20.
The
team visited Zimbabwe last week on a fact-finding mission, after Human
Rights Watch accused the armed forces of using torture and forced labour to
control the Marange fields, saying 200 people had been killed last
year.
Zimbabwe has denied the allegations.
The Kimberley Process
was launched in 2003 to stop the flow of conflict
diamonds into the
mainstream market following wars in Sierra Leone and
Liberia. Zimbabwe has
two other diamond mines, Murowa and River Ranch, which
are Kimberley
certified and are not involved the claims of abuses.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com
Friday July
10, 01:27 PM
By
MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, July 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will review laws
forcing foreign companies to sell stakes in their businesses in a bid to
make sure they do not discourage investment needed for mines and other
industries, the mining minister said on Friday.
Under indigenisation
laws, foreign companies cannot hold more than 49
percent of a business and
must sell any stake above that to Zimbabweans. The
government is also able
to seize 25 percent of shares in some mines without
paying.
The laws
have led to the withholding of investment badly needed to raise
production
as Zimbabwe tries to recover from economic collapse under a unity
government
between President Robert Mugabe and old rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mines
and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu told an investment
conference
the review would lead to legislation more focused on investment.
'Careful
consideration will be taken to ensure that the process of
indigenisation is
not at the expense of the much needed direct foreign
investment,' he
said.
'We are back to the drawing board at stakeholder consultation stage
where
submissions of all the views of interested parties are now being
sought
again in order to address all the concerns,' he said.
Mining
has become Zimbabwe's leading source of foreign exchange, with gold
accounting for a third of exports, but political turmoil, lack of energy and
unfavourable regulation has forced some mines to close.
Zimbabwe has
launched a review of all mining contracts, saying it would
introduce a 'use
it or lose it' policy.
'In doing so we want to ensure that all those that
are performing will not
be prejudiced,' he said. 'We are doing it in a
manner that will not frighten
people away.'
http://www.voanews.com
By Ish
Mafundikwa
Harare
10 July 2009
A two-day
international investment conference ended in Harare Friday with
some
potential investors saying that now have a better understanding of the
investment environment in Zimbabwe. But others say the country is still a
risky investment destination because of the political
environment.
Over the two days meeting conference attendees heard how
Zimbabwe needs
massive investment to get its economy working again.
Investment and
government officials were at pains to sell the idea that
Zimbabwe is open
for business. Not everyone was convinced it is a safe place
to invest their
money.
A representative of a large South African
investment bank who spoke on
condition of anonymity told VOA some investors
will have problems investing
in Zimbabwe as long as senior officials from
President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party remain in powerful government
positions.
"I think one has to be absolutely blunt and accept the fact
that while there
are some key people from the previous government, from
ZANU-PF, that are in
critical positions in the unity government the
investment is not going to
come," the investor said.
He also noted
that Zimbabwe has a poor credit rating and that makes
investors
wary.
A compatriot of his however sees things differently. Praveen
Dwarika, a
representative of agricultural services company AFGRI, said there
seems to
be unity of purpose at the highest level in the Zimbabwean
government. That,
he said, is encouraging.
"Seeing the president,
prime minister and deputy prime minister at one forum
almost speaking with
one voice gives us a lot more comfort. We are positive
about what we have
heard so far," Dwarika said.
Dwakira added that the presentations at the
conference helped clarify a lot
of questions his company had about investing
in Zimbabwe. However he said
his company, while eager to invest in Zimbabwe,
is not about to take the
plunge. He said there are legal aspects that needed
to be looked into before
that happens.
Both investors agreed that
Zimbabwe is very competitive and there is great
potential
here.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said that while everything is in place
for
investment in Zimbabwe the political situation remains
unstable.
"There is a deficit of performance and execution in regard to
those things
that do not cost money that are well within our reach but that
have got
major fundamental traction," Biti said. "I am referring here to the
slow
pace of progress in the democratization of our country. For instance
issues
around media reform, issues around reform of our legislation, Public
Order
Security Act and so forth."
Observers believe that for Zimbabwe
to attract the investment it badly needs
to rebuild its broken economy, the
government needs to show the change it
purports to represent. Conference
presentations alone, they say, if not
followed by clear change, will not
suffice.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
10 July
2009
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday admitted the government
cannot
compensate any farmers for farms acquired in the land 'reform'
programme,
echoing Robert Mugabe's sentiments that the British need to foot
the bill.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe were both speaking at the opening of the
Investment
Conference in Harare on Thursday, where the land issue and
property rights
dominated talks. Mugabe passionately defended his land
resettlement scheme,
which, since it began in 2000, has resulted in the
destruction of the once
prosperous agricultural sector. He was speaking in
response to a question on
farmers' compensation posed by the President of
the Commercial Farmers Union
(CFU), Trevor Gifford.
With agriculture
as the key to getting Zimbabwe's economy working again, the
unity government
hoped the investment conference would persuade potential
investors to put
their money into agriculture, as well as into other sectors
such as mining,
manufacturing and tourism. But Mugabe did not raise investor
confidence by
telling Gifford that 'not necessarily' every white farm will
be seized under
his ongoing land 'reform' programme. He also insisted that
compensation for
land was not the government's responsibility.
"The responsibility of
compensation rests on the shoulders of the British
government and its
allies," Mugabe said. "We pay compensation for
developments and
improvements. That's our obligation and we have honoured
that."
But
the fact is that full compensation has not been paid at all and only
about
5% of farmers have received anything at all. No compensation has been
paid
for land. The CFU President told SW Radio Africa on Friday that
although he
wasn't surprised by Mugabe's comments, he felt disheartened that
there's
been so little change in attitude within the unity government. He
explained
that critical reform is still a long way off in Zimbabwe, and said
investors
at the conference will be disillusioned by this visible lack of
change.
"The reality is that the investors were shocked to hear the
truth," Gifford
said. "This government has a lot of work to do to restore
property rights
and the rule of law before any investment is
forthcoming."
Mugabe has openly supported the ongoing offensive to remove
the remaining
commercial farmers off their land, saying in a speech earlier
this year that
white farmers were 'not welcome' in Zimbabwe. Despite his
clear animosity
towards the white farming community, which has directly
resulted in
intensified farm attacks and seizures this year, Mugabe still
told the
conference delegates on Thursday; "Above all Zimbabwe upholds the
sanctity
of property rights."
His comments come as at least three
farmers in Nyamandlovu are set to lose
their farms under the pretence of the
land resettlement scheme. SW Radio
Africa understands that war veterans
loyal to Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu,
have invaded farms in the area this
week. Mpofu was last year also
implicated in land attacks in the area, after
more than a hundred war
veterans attacked a farm belong to Wayne Munro.
Munro was assaulted in the
attack.
Tsvangirai meanwhile echoed
Mugabe's comments, telling delegates that the
government could not
compensate farmers for lost land, because of a lack of
funds. He said that
while there may be disagreement on the way the land
reform was carried out,
there was agreement on the need for it. Tsvangirai
himself has also
dismissed the ongoing land attacks as a handful of
incidents that have been
'blown out of proportion'.
Discord in the so-called 'unity' formation was
further exposed on Thursday
when Arthur Mutambara, the Deputy Prime
Minister, contradicted Mugabe on the
land issue. He told the would-be
investors that Zimbabwe needed property
rights and security of tenure to be
restored and said the "country can't
keep pushing the blame" for its
failures on to former colonial powers. He
also called for a moratorium on
the ongoing farm attacks, which, despite
bearing witness to, he has done
nothing about.
Mutambara, who is already at loggerheads with Tsvangirai
over how to deal
with the unilateral appointment of Gideon Gono and Johannes
Tomana, on
Thursday also openly differed with Mugabe on other fundamental
issues.
Mutambara spoke strongly against the stalling of the implementation
of the
Global Political Agreement, attempts to force the Kariba draft
constitution
on the people, and the state's failure to halt the breakdown of
the rule of
law. In a clear response to Mugabe's recent declaration during
his ZANU PF
Central Committee meetings that the Kariba draft would be the
only reference
document during the constitution-making process, Mutambara
said Zimbabweans
were yearning for a people-driven constitution.
http://www.sabcnews.com
July 10 2009 ,
6:33:00
Speaking at a special conference to promote
investment and support the
new government's economic rebuilding agenda,
Zimbabwe's Deputy Prime
Minister, Arthur Mutambara, has again called for a
moratorium on the land
resettlement programme to allow the government to
deal with irregularities.
The country's land reform programme has
been widely criticised due to
incidents of violence associated with
beneficiaries. Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai faced a barrage of
questions from concerned investors and
commercial farmers over the
investment climate. Asked when farmers evicted
from their land would be
compensated by the government, the president again
pointed the finger at
Britain, saying they have a responsibility to pay in
terms of a three decade
old agreement.
While Tsvangirai backed
Mugabe on the compensation question, Mutambara
called on the leadership to
accept responsibility for their failures and
stop laying the blame on
Britain and the USA.
With a unity government in place between
Mugabe and his old rival
Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe is trying to recover from
economic collapse. Mugabe's
critics blame Zimbabwe's economic problems on
policies such as his seizures
of white-owned farms.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=19613
July 10, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The murder of a white Zimbabwean farmer by a black
mob last weekend
dramatically heightened the tension in a country already
thrown into chaos
by a wave of farm occupations.
Most of the
remaining 400 white-owned farms across Zimbabwe have been
occupied since
February by squatters, many of them claiming to be veterans
of the country's
civil war.
The new wave of invasions started as President Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
agreed to
establish a new unity government in February following disputed
elections
last year.
Although a number of white farmers have been
assaulted, last weekend's
murder of Bob Vaughan-Evans, a director of
Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers'
Union, on his farm on the outskirts of Gweru,
capital of the Midlands
Province, appears to be the first fatal incident in
an increasingly volatile
battle for land provoked by President Mugabe and
his Zanu-PF party.
Vaughan-Evans' wife, confined to a wheel-chair
following an earlier attack,
was assaulted by her husband's assailants and
was being treated in a
hospital in Gweru, union officials said.
The
killing has highlighted the crisis over the new illegal land occupations
in
Zimbabwe, which began in February. On Saturday, a group of former
guerrillas
in the bush war that led to Zimbabwe's independence vowed to
continue their
takeover of white-owned farms, defying a SADC Tribunal ruling
and a
government appeal for them to leave the farms.
In this
agriculture-dependent country of 13 million where 4 500 white
farmers onced
owned one-third of the productive farmland, thousands of
settlers have
occupied more than 4 000 white-owned farms. The remaining 400
to 500 farmers
are now under siege in a renewed wave of land invasions
sparked by the
formation of the inclusive government.
There has been a rush for free
pickings.
A regional court, the SADC Tribunal, has backed the farmers and
ordered
authorities to remove the invaders. But President Mugabe, who has
backed the
settlers, refused to abide by the court rulings to remove them
saying the
regional court had no jurisdiction over Zimbabwe and that the
land grab was
consistent with the Zimbabwe Constitution.
And police
do not appear to be making any headway. There have been sporadic
reports of
settlers preparing to leave farms of their own accord, especially
in the
Chegutu area.
Mugabe's government has argued that police action against
the invaders -
many of whom are armed with anything from knives and spears
to guns - could
trigger a civil war.
Politicians of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), formerly the
opposition, say Mugabe instigated the
occupations as a distraction from the
unemployment and inflation which have
crippled the once prosperous nation
and to shore up his flagging popularity
fortunes.
At an investment conference in Harare on Thursday, Mugabe
continued to sound
a defiant tone, despite international criticism of his
land grab, which is
being cited by rich Western countries as a reason for
withholding funding
desperately needed to bankroll the embattled new
administration. Mugabe
again threatened to use the constitutional amendment
to seize white-owned
land without compensation. he accused white farmers of
taking sides with the
British government.
Mugabe told the investment
conference that the land grab was going ahead as
planned.
"There is a
an agreement between us and the British government that there
will be land
acquisition in the country and that land acquisition meant that
the
commercial farmers, if approached, will have to give up their farms but
true
yes, they must get compensation, but they cannot refuse to give up
their
land because that is the requirement," Mugabe said.
Some squatters say
the land grab in 2000 was a spontaneous uprising as
freedom fighters had
become frustrated because government's
post-independence plans to buy
white-owned commercial farmland and
redistribute it to landless blacks had
floundered. There has been criticism,
however, that the land grab has
largely benefitted cronies of the regime
and not the poor peasants the
programme was designed for.
"It's been 29 years now since independence,
but there is no change,"' Moses
Madariki, a 54-year-old settler laying siege
to a portion of Stockdale
Citrus Estates in Chegutu told The Zimbabwe Times
on a recent visit to the
besieged farm. "At least I should get something to
better myself."
The chaotic land reform programme has so far proved not
to be the key to
prosperity for impoverished Zimbabweans. Many of the more
than 100 000
families that have been given repossessed land over the past 10
years have
lacked the financial resources necessary to work the
land.
They have, therefore, become subsistence farmers on commercial
farmland.
Others have simply abandoned the farms.
Inequality in land
distribution is not even the real problem, Madariki says.
It is simply a
symptom highlighting the economic despair of Zimbabweans.
"We are
sufferers, really we are sufferers," he said. "Poverty is our
motto."
When squatters began to occupy farms across the country at
the end of
February, Stockdale Citrus Estate, 100 km south west of Harare,
was
initially spared.
Then a group arrived at the gate in March and
demanded that the owner,
Richard Etheredge, sign over his land for President
Senate, Edna Madzongwe
to take over.
Etheredge refused, and the
squatters set up camp just outside the main gate,
screaming and threatening
him until the police forced them to move further
away from the house. But
they periodically returned to threaten the family.
"I've been trying to
keep it cool, but it's difficult when they are
thrashing at the gate and
calling you all sorts of names," he said at the
time.
Etheredge says
the property was originally bought by his father from the
government in
1947. It had been sold by the government of the day as a
mining property,
"not suitable for agricultural purposes".
Etheredge and his family had
bought the farm from his father in 1977 and
"since that day, every bit of
profit we have made has been ploughed back
into the farm, making it one of
the most modern, highly mechanized farms in
Southern Africa".
Most of
the farm has been taken over by settlers. Madzongwe was attracted
by the
farm-house and the citrus orchards. She has since moved in, her
arrival
timed to coincide with the orange-picking season.
There have been two
deaths on the farm since her arrival. An alleged
orange-thief died after he
was assaulted and tortured overnight by Madzongwe's
security
guards.
One of the guards immediately disappeared from the farm. Then he
returned to
Stockdale last week. He is alleged to have committed suicide
soon after his
return. The President of the Senate was reported to have paid
the deceased
guard's family a total of $30 to help meet burial
expenses.
One of the accusations levelled against the commercial farmers
over the ages
has been their poor treatment of workers. The new farmers do
not seem to be
doing better than their predecessors in this regard.
http://af.reuters.com/
Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:07pm
GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will provide $142 million in its next
budget to
help small farmers buy the resources needed to boost food
production,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Friday.
Millions of
Zimbabweans are expected to face food shortages in the coming
year and their
impoverished country is seen needing substantial food aid
from
abroad.
"We are going to provide $142 million for the provision of inputs
for the
2009 summer crop for small-scale farmers," Biti told an investor
conference
in Harare.
Biti said the government planned to increase
support for subsistence farmers
in the hope of reversing years of decline in
its farming activities. The
sector has been in a downward spiral since 2000,
when President Robert
Mugabe targeted white-owned commercial farms for
seizure to resettle blacks.
Farmer groups say output has also been hit by
exorbitant costs of inputs
such as seed and fertiliser.
Biti also
said the government intended to reopen its agricultural commodity
market
"before the end of the year".
The Zimbabwe Agricultural Commodity
Exchange was closed several years ago
after a law was passed making the
Grain Marketing Board the sole purchaser
of maize and
wheat.
Agriculture minister Joseph Made said in May that Zimbabwe
expected to
harvest 1.2 million tonnes of the staple maize this season, more
than double
last year's output but still less than annual consumption of
about 2.2
million tonnes.
Made's comments contradicted earlier
statements by Biti, who said in March
the country needed assistance with
around 80 percent of its cereal
requirements.
A report by the United
Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and
World Food Programme
last month said about 2.8 million people in Zimbabwe
will face food
shortages in the coming year and will require some 228,000
tonnes of food
assistance, including 190,000 of cereals.
FAO forecast production of
winter-season wheat of only about 12,000 tonnes,
the lowest ever. That
reflected the high cost of fertilisers and quality
seeds, farmers' lack of
financial liquidity and uncertain electricity supply
for irrigation.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
10 July 2009
Over 200
teachers under the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
took to
the streets of Masvingo Friday morning, demonstrating for a review
of their
US$100 allowances. Earlier in the week the PTUZ called for a class
boycott
beginning July 10 and this is to be repeated next week on the 17th
July.
President Takavafira Zhou said the campaign was code-named Operation
Friday/Chisi/Inzilo and further boycotts would stretch to the 23rd July if
government did not increase their allowances.
On the first day of the
campaign Zhou led the group of teachers from the
PTUZ offices into the city
centre. They took a petition to the provincial
offices of the Public Service
Commission. For a country accustomed to riot
police beating up any
protestors it was surprising to see police actually
escorting the
demonstrating teachers on the streets. The unions want
teachers salaries
raised from US$100 to US$500 saying this was well in line
with figures
released by the Central Statistical Office stating that an
average family
required over US$500 to survive.
Newsreel spoke to the Acting chief
executive officer of the larger, Zimbabwe
Teachers Association (ZIMTA),
Sifiso Ndlovu, and he told us their union
would only call for a strike at
the end of July if government ignored their
demands. Ndlovu said they were
committed to the process of current
negotiations through the National Joint
Negotiating Council. He also said
they intend to make Education Minister
David Coltart and Finance Minister
Tendai Biti hold onto their promise that
salaries would be reviewed. Ndlovu
denied speculation they would demonstrate
in the middle of July, before Biti's
budget presentation, to put pressure on
government.
The relationship between the coalition government and
teachers has been very
shaky for the past few months. Two months ago
government averted a strike by
promising to review teacher's salaries and
offered them incentives, like
free education for their children. The slow
pace in reviewing the US$100
allowances has however strained relations. PTUZ
Secretary General Raymond
Majongwe this week lashed out at Biti saying; 'The
minister of Finance is
now behaving like we were not together all along. He
is behaving like a
Catholic priest giving pieces of bread to a woman with
closed eyes.'
The government has meanwhile sought to assure teachers that
they are
engaging the donor community to encourage them to pick up the bill
for their
salaries. The unions however say such pledges are 'indefinite and
undependable'.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=19591
July 10, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Magistrate Moses Murendo on Thursday postponed to
July 21 2009 the
ruling in an application for referral to the Supreme Court
by Zimbabwe
Independent editors Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure who
stand
accused of publishing or communicating falsehoods.
Their
lawyer, Innocent Chagonda, applied for postponement saying he needed
time to
peruse the state's opposing application before filing a response.
The
magistrate granted the postponement and said the defence should file its
submission in response by July 14, 2009.
Chimakure and Kahiya are
being charged of contravening Section 31 of the
Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform) Act following a story published in
the Zimbabwe Independent
issue of May 8, 2009 under the heading "Activists'
abductors named". The
subtitle "CIO, police role in activists' abduction
revealed" appeared below
the heading.
The story alleged that notices of indictment for trial in
the High Court,
served on some of the activists revealed that the activists
were either in
the custody of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) or
the police
during the period they were reported missing.
However the
two have since made an application for referral to the Supreme
Court
challenging the constitutionality of Section 31 of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act under which they are charged.
Section
31 of the Criminal Code states that any person who, whether inside
or
outside Zimbabwe
(a) publishes or communicates to any other person a
statement which is
wholly or materially false with the intention or
realising that there is a
real risk or possibility of-
(i) inciting or
promoting public disorder or public violence or
endangering public safety;
or
(ii) adversely affecting the defence or economic interests of Zimbabwe;
or
(iii) undermining public confidence in a law enforcement agency, the
Prison Service or the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe; or
(iv) interfering
with, disrupting or interrupting any essential service;
shall, whether or
not the publication or communication results in a
consequence referred to in
subparagraph (i), (ii), (iii) or (iv); shall be
guilty of publishing or
communicating a false statement prejudicial to the
State and liable to a
fine up to or exceeding level fourteen or imprisonment
for a period not
exceeding twenty years or both.
Lawyers for the two journalists argue
that Section 31 of the Criminal
Codification Act is unconstitutional and
that the penalty of a 20- year
prison term is so heavy and disproportionate
to the offence and infringes
Section 20 of the Bill of
Rights.
Section 20 of the constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees the right
to freedom
of expression.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
10 July
2009
Elias Rusike, the first man to launch an independent daily newspaper
in
Zimbabwe, has died at the age of 68.
The former chief executive of
Zimbabwe Newspapers and former publisher of
the Financial Gazette, died on
Wednesday at St Anne's Hospital in Avondale,
Harare. Reports say he was
suffering from cancer.
During his tenure as publisher of the Financial
Gazette, he was famously
told by the late Eddison Zvobgo that 'cabinet was
skinning you alive' for
daring to criticize Robert Mugabe and some of his
cabinet ministers.
Rusike, who retired to go into farming a decade ago,
first became chief
executive of Zimbabwe Newspapers in 1984 after serving on
the Public Service
Commission. He resigned from the newspaper group in 1989
in the wake of the
Willowgate Scandal in which one of the company's
newspapers, The Chronicle,
exposed widespread corruption in government
towards the end of 1988.
Rusike became chief executive and publisher of
the weekly Financial Gazette
in 1989. Three years later he launched the
first independent
daily, the Daily Gazette. But because of an economic slump
the newspaper
ceased to publish in 1994.
In 1995 Mugabe blocked
Rusike from entering politics after he had won the
primaries to represent
ZANU PF in the 1995 elections. Mugabe instead
recalled the country's High
Commissioner to London, Herbert Murerwa, to
stand in Rusike's Goromonzi
constituency before appointing him Minister of
Finance.
Elias Rusike
is expected to be buried next week at his Goromonzi farm.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa Features
By Columbus
Mavhunga Jul 10, 2009, 5:08 GMT
Harare - A three-year-old
Zimbabwean, nicknamed the 'world's youngest
terrorist' after his abduction
last year by state security agents and
imprisonment for three months, is
struggling to adjust to life as a free
infant.
Nigel Mutemagau was
two when suspected members of President Robert Mugabe's
secret service
seized him and his parents, both senior members of the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), from their Banket home about 100
kilometres west of
Harare last October.
His mother, Violet Mupfuranhewe and his father,
Collen Mutemagau, were among
dozens of MDC and human rights activists that
were rounded and charged with
terrorism in a crackdown on Mugabe critics a
month after the leader of 29
years signed up to share power with the
MDC.
For two months, Nigel and his parents were held at undisclosed
locations
until the couple were finally brought to court at the end of
December and
charged with plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe.
Incredibly, Nigel's
name also appeared on the original list of
accused.
After charges were laid the family was transferred to the
notorious
Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare.
In January,
Nigel was released into the custody of a relative. His parents
were release
on bail in February, only to be briefly rearrested in April.
Nigel, who
doesn't smile much and hides behind his mother when meeting
strangers, is
fortunate to have made it out of prison alive.
In a recent report,
Amnesty International said 970 prisoners had died
between January and May
and called the conditions behind bars deplorable. A
documentary screened on
South African television earlier this year showed
skeletal inmates wasting
away from hunger and disease.
At the request of the cash-strapped
government, the International Red Cross
has since begun feeding thousands of
detainees.
Five months after gaining his freedom, Nigel is still haunted
by his
experiences.
In an interview last month Violet told the German
Press Agency dpa: 'Nigel
cries every time he hears voices of people singing.
He is really terrified
by crowds. At times he starts shouting.'
The
family has taken him out of nursery school because he was having
difficulty
reintegrating, she says.
'Nigel was beaten on many occasions during his
incarceration - when he
cried, or asked for food, or wanted to go to the
toilet. He was also
threatened and watched his mother being tortured,
including having boiling
water poured over her followed by iced water and
being forced to remain in
her wet clothes,' Frances Lovemore, a spokesperson
for the Counselling
Services Unit, an organization that works with the
victims of political
violence, told dpa.
'Collen and Violet are very
close as a couple, and the separation of the
family unit, since Collen was
not in the same cell as Nigel and Violet, also
affected Nigel,' Lovemore
added.
Nigel's brother Allan is also finding it tough to be a kid after
being
robbed of his parents for three months.
The seven-year-old, who
fled to a neighbour's house, when seven armed men in
three unmarked vehicles
pulled up outside his parent's home in Kuwadzana
township last October, is
now afraid in his home.
'And if he sees big vehicles he runs away,'
according to Collen.
Violet and Collen testified about their detention
recently in the Supreme
Court, where they are seeking a permanent stay of
prosecution on the basis
of gross violations of their rights while in
detention, including torture.
In a hearing on their detention in April,
High Court Justice Charles Hungwe
remonstrated with the state over its
detention of Nigel.
'The Republic of Zimbabwe must be seen, through the
acts of its public
officials, to be protective of the rights of the child,'
Hungwe said.
Amnesty International lamented the lack of progress by the
five-month-old
unity government on human rights as 'woefully
slow'.
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF says it has identified
58
children under five who are currently behind bars with their mothers at
the
country's eight main penitentiaries. The agency is supplying the mothers
with food, clothes, nappies and other supplies
Bill Fletcher Jr 9 July 2009 The Left finds it hard to condemn torture when it is carried out by
'progressive' governments rather than imperialists, writes Bill Fletcher
Jr, and often attempts to deny its existence or downplay its
significance. Speaking with reference to acts of torture perpetrated by the
Mugabe government - some against people he knows - Fletcher argues that if 'the
Left is to hold the moral high ground, it must mean that it is prepared to
engage in criticism - including constructive criticism - when crimes are
uncovered'. Many people on the Left have difficulty addressing the issue of torture.
Certainly when the torture is carried out by imperialists, there is no problem
condemning it. But what happens when torture is carried out by organisations or
governments that claim to be progressive, anti-imperialist, or even on the Left?
At that moment there is often silence, sort of a freeze-frame. Most recently I have found myself badgered by emails from an insulting
individual who happens to be a fanatic supporter of Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe. On one level, this is par for the course. Despite my stand on countless
issues, there exists a small collection of individuals who believe that the sun
rises and sets based on one's stand on President Mugabe. Thus, due to my
criticisms of the Mugabe clique, I have become el Diablo. So be it. What was interesting, however, was that in both this experience as well as
several others, when I have raised that I know people - not just know OF, but
know people - who have been tortured by the Mugabe regime, there is complete
silence. The statement is not even acknowledged. Then the silence breaks and the
polemics continue as if nothing was ever mentioned. In general, the Left has four main responses to allegations of torture
carried out by progressive organisations and/or governments. These include: Denial: It is all a lie; never happened. Minimise: It is an aberration, committed by rogue elements. Silence: Let's pretend that it will all go away. Relativism: It may have happened, but it is not as bad as what the
capitalists do. We on the Left are so afraid that any acknowledgement of a crime committed by
a progressive or so-called progressive will give aid and comfort to the enemy
that we respond in such a way as to discredit ourselves and our mission. I
understand this. In the 1970s and early 1980s I could not believe allegations
that were made against the Khmer Rouge in Kampuchea/Cambodia. I simply could not
believe that a political movement that had carried out such a heroic struggle
against a US puppet regime (Lon Nol's) and united the country would descend into
such fanaticism. Yet they had and each time that criticisms were raised and went
unanswered by segments of the Left, our credibility plummeted. Today we have the case of the Mugabe regime. At this very moment there is an
attempt at a unity government between the Mugabe group and the main opposition
(Movement for a Democratic Change). Such an effort should be supported,
including by the dropping of sanctions that have been instituted by the USA and
other countries. This, however, does not clean the slate. Torture, including
rape-as-repression, has been too widely documented to dismiss. While the people
of Zimbabwe will have to settle their own accounts in a manner that they deem
appropriate, that does not mean that those of us on the outside can or should
remain agnostic, and it certainly should not mean that we live in a world of
denial. If the Left is to hold the moral high ground, it must mean that it is
prepared to engage in criticism - including constructive criticism - when crimes
are uncovered. Certainly every action must be put in a context, and there is no
doubt that actions are at times carried out by or in political movements and
governments that are not sanctioned by the leadership. Yet when there is a
pattern, any and every attempt to dismiss it weakens our ability to insist on a
practice of consistent democracy. If torture is wrong when carried out by
pro-capitalists, for example, both because it is unreliable as well as immoral,
how then can we on the Left tolerate it under any circumstances? How can we so
quickly dismiss as 'fabricated stories' the reports of rape-as-repression
whether they emerge from Zimbabwe or from the Sudan? The fact that these matters
are reported by the mainstream white, capitalist press does not mean that they
can be rejected out of hand. It should mean, instead, that we take investigation
seriously in order to uncover the truth and separate that from pro-imperialist
dis-information. The case for self-determination and sovereignty for Zimbabwe and against any
efforts by the USA, Britain or any other country to destabilise the situation is
not helped by denial of the often vicious repression (including torture) that
has been meted out against the opposition. If anything, denial is met with an
unanticipated consequence at the mass level: Democratic-minded people can often
naively throw their support for so-called 'humanitarian interventions' by the
big powers. * This article first appeared on BlackCommentator.com. * Bill Fletcher Jr is executive editor of BlackCommentator.com, a senior
scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of
TransAfrica Forum and co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organised
Labour and a New Path toward Social Justice.
HARARE, 10 July 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe and
Botswana have reported their first suspected cases of swine flu as the H1N1
virus began to establish a foothold in southern Africa.
Photo:
Keith Marais/IRIN
Swine flu
spreads
Neighbouring
South Africa has reported 54 laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu so far, 32
of which have been linked to a squash tournament at a university in
Johannesburg. No deaths have been reported in the region as yet.
Dr
Lucille Blumberg, head of epidemiology at South Africa's National Institute for
Communicable Diseases, told IRIN that most cases of the illness were "mild", and
that it was too early to tell whether people living with HIV/AIDS would be
affected to a greater degree by the flu.
Most of the world's people
living with HIV/AIDS are in southern Africa, where most countries also have
severely stretched health services. Blumberg said in other parts of the world
swine flu had killed healthy people as well as those suffering from underlying
illnesses.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, which was unable
to contain a recent cholera epidemic that killed more than 4,000 people and has
a health system close to collapse, said it was prepared to combat swine flu.
One Zimbabwean competing in the Johannesburg squash tournament was
confirmed as infected. Henry Madzorera, Zimbabwe's health minister, told IRIN:
"At this stage, we don't know if he was infected in Zimbabwe or South Africa."
An Asian man was placed in quarantine after arriving in Zimbabwe from
Britain, but has yet to display any symptoms. "The Asian man informed his doctor
in Zimbabwe that friends he had stayed with in London had tested positive for
the H1N1 virus. As a precautionary measure, he has been quarantined."
Madzorera said the World Health Organization had supplied antiviral
drugs to Zimbabwe. "So far, I can say we are prepared to deal with swine
influenza to some degree, as we have 21,400 courses of drugs to treat it."
The OCHA monthly humanitarian update for June warned that "Due to the
country's vulnerability, hazards can easily translate into disasters if not well
managed. Previously, the hazards have resulted in disasters that have caused
severe destruction and human suffering, including loss of lives, as in the
recent cholera epidemic."
Botswana
In Botswana, Health
Permanent Secretary Newman Kahiya said in a statement: "The public is hereby
informed of the first confirmed case of Pandemic Influenza A(H1N1) 2009 in
Gaborone [the capital], Botswana. Laboratory confirmation was received this
morning (10th July 2009)." It is understood that the reported case is a male
patient in the capital.
The Ministry of Health has been
working on a prevention, control and mitigation strategy ever since reports of
the outbreak were reported in other parts of the world
"The Ministry of Health has been working on a
prevention, control and mitigation strategy ever since reports of the outbreak
were reported in other parts of the world," Kahiya said. "Systems and structures
are in place to monitor and address the situation. The public will be
continuously updated as and when new developments unfold."
The
government has established a toll-free number for reporting any suspected cases
of swine flu.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
10th July 2009
Dear Friends.
President
Barack Obama is about to pay a visit to Africa but it is not his
first visit
to the continent. In his memoir 'Dreams From My Father' Obama
describes his
first trip to his Kenyan father's homeland and his reactions
to that
momentous visit. It was momentous for so many reasons, not only
because he
was at last connecting with his African roots but because, as the
son of a
black African father and a white American mother, Barack Obama was
searching
for his own identity. Obama's father had left his American family
to
complete his Ph.D studies in Kenya when Barack was a very small boy and
the
child had grown up never really knowing where he fitted in life. It's an
experience shared by thousands of other people who grow up without a father
but in his case it was further complicated by his bi-racial status and the
state of American race relations at the time. Barack Obama's father had died
before his son finally visited Kenya. Father and son had met only once when
Dr Obama had briefly visited him in the US and that brief visit had created
more questions than it answered for the young Barack Obama. Upon his arrival
at Nairobi Airport, Obama is astonished to find that his name is known. The
African BA air steward asks him, "You wouldn't be related to Dr Obama by any
chance?" and he answers, "Well, yes - he was my father." In the book, Obama
comments, "For the first time in my life, I felt the comfort, the firmness
of identity that a name might provide. no one here in Kenya would ask how to
spell my name, or mangle it with an unfamiliar tongue.My name belonged and
so I belonged, drawn into a web of relationships, alliances and grudges that
I did not yet understand."
And this is the remarkable man who is now
president of the United States. He
is remarkable not just because of his
experiences but because of the way he
has internalised those experiences and
learned from them. When he says as he
did on Thursday just before his trip
to Ghana at the weekend, "I'd say I'm
probably as knowledgeable about
African history as anybody who's occupied my
office." it is hard not to be
convinced by his honesty and undoubted
understanding of Africa. "I can give
you chapter and verse," he says, "on
why the colonial maps that were drawn
helped to spur on conflict and the
terms of trade that were uneven emerging
out of colonialism." And with
direct relevance to Africa today he goes on,
"I believe that Africans are
responsible for Africa. I think that part of
what's hampered advancement in
Africa is that for many years we've made
excuses about corruption or poor
governance, that this was somehow the
consequence of neo-colonialism, or the
West has been oppressive or
racist.And yet the fact is we're in 2009. The
West and the US has not been
responsible for what's happened to Zimbabwe's
economy over the past 15-20
years. It hasn't been responsible for some of
the disastrous policies that
we've seen elsewhere in Africa. And I think
it's very important for African
leadership to take responsibility and be
held accountable."
It will
be interesting to see how, or if, Robert Mugabe reacts to President
Obama's
words. Will he dismiss Obama as 'an idiotic little man' as he did
Johnny
Carson, the Under Secretary of State for African Affairs in Obama's
government? Mugabe and Carson apparently met on the sidelines of the recent
AU Conference in Libya. The meeting was not a happy one and afterwards
Mugabe told the Herald that he was very angry with Carson who had apparently
told him that he should stick to his side of the bargain according to the
GPA. "Who is he?" Mugabe is alleged to have asked, adding "It is a shame, a
great shame and he an African American." Now, here's another African
American, this time the President of the most powerful country in the world,
telling Africa and its 'Big Men' that it's time to stop blaming the colonial
past for Africa's problems. Is it likely, in the light of what we know about
the man, that Mugabe will heed President Obama's advice? The signs are not
good. Observers have noted that Mugabe's rhetoric has of late become
increasingly paranoid and racist. White farmers are representative of former
colonisers and have supported the British against him, he maintains and, to
quote Mugabe, "Colonisers can never be friends so we turn our backs on them
and face the east." But it is not only whites he takes issue with, in a
direct snub to the outspoken Ambassador, Mugabe failed to agree to an
official farewell visit from the black American Ambassador, James McGee,
thereby breaking with basic diplomatic courtesy. Irene Khan, the head of
Amnesty International was also treated with his usual abusive language, "I
don't know where this little woman came from - always shouting." Mugabe
ranted, but then Khan had just issued an extremely unfavourable - and
honest - report on Zimbabwe's human rights record.
It is
incomprehensible that the MDC partners in this Inclusive Government
can
continue to maintain, as Morgan Tsvangirai does, that this same Mugabe
is
'part of the solution' to the country's problems. I for one cannot see
any
way in which the racism and vitriolic hatred which Mugabe espouses
towards
anyone who disagrees with him can have any part in Zimbabwe's
future.
President Obama is right to remind African leaders - and that
includes Prime
Minister Tsvangirai - that they are accountable for their own
misgovernance.
For Kenya, for Zimbabwe and for so many other former
colonised African
countries where Big Men continue to rule after patently
rigged elections, it
is not yet uhuru.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH