The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008
Jonathan Oliver, Political Editor
Gordon Brown is set to
press ahead with tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe
despite the embarrassing
veto of his plan for a United Nations arms embargo
and travel
ban.
Officials were last night drawing up a "plan B" after Russia and
China
ambushed Britain at the UN security council in New York. Number 10
hopes the
European Union and the United States can draw up a joint agreement
that
would include a ban on trips abroad for any Zimbabwean linked to Robert
Mugabe's regime and new efforts to freeze the assets of the Zanu-PF
leadership.
Yesterday David Miliband, the foreign secretary, could
not hide his
disappointment at the collapse of the government's Zimbabwe
policy. He
insisted that Britain had been right to push the issue to a vote
despite the
threat of a Russian and Chinese veto. "The UN has been saying
for a long
time this is a real problem," said Miliband.
"So we said,
'Let's have real action.' It is right that in the end people
show their
cards. You have to get people to front up. There was hiding going
on."
Officials admitted there was initial shock at the outcome but
believe that a
powerful package of measures can still be agreed.
"If the
US and EU work together, a lot can still be done," said one source.
"We will
start with expanding the travel ban to include all those people who
have
been involved in the latest violence and people working for companies
supporting the regime, but we are ready to go further if need
be."
Denis MacShane, the former Foreign Office minister, echoed the
private
frustrations of diplomats by calling for Russia to be expelled from
the G8.
Yahoo News
By DAVID
STRINGER, Associated Press Writer Sat Jul 12, 3:55 PM ET
LONDON - British
Prime Minster Gordon Brown will press the European Union to
take harsher
action against Zimbabwe, after Russia and China vetoed proposed
new
sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, his office said
Saturday.
Brown plans to discuss EU action against President Robert
Mugabe's regime
when the British leader meets with French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana at a summit starting
Sunday in Paris.
The three will be among 43 leaders of European, Middle
Eastern and North
African nations at the summit.
Brown's office said
he would propose new EU travel bans on members of
Mugabe's government and
action against companies owned by Mugabe allies.
Russia and China on
Friday vetoed a proposal from the United States and
Britain for a new U.N.
arms embargo and other punitive measures against
Zimbabwe's president and
top aides. Western powers mustered nine votes, the
minimum needed to gain
approval in the 15-nation council, but the action
failed because of the
vetoes by two of the five permanent members.
The vetoes came as a
surprise and disappointment for Brown. The British
prime minister believed
he had secured sufficient international backing for
U.N. sanctions against
Mugabe during last week's summit of leaders from the
Group of Eight
industrialized nations, said a Brown spokesman, speaking on
condition of
anonymity in line with government policy.
"It was a high-stakes gamble,
which earlier in the week looked promising
because the Russian president had
made commitments at the G-8 to go along
with financial sanctions," said Mark
Malloch-Brown, Britain's minister for
African, Asia and the
U.N.
Zimbabwe's opposition party said Friday that at least 113 of its
members
have been killed in political violence since March.
British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain would continue to
press Mugabe
over government-backed violence and intimidation of the
opposition during
Zimbabwe's first-round presidential vote in March and
runoff ballot in
June.
"Mugabe is more isolated within his own country than ever before,"
Miliband
told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We have got to make sure,
though,
that the final hold that he has on power, which is at a barrel of a
gun, is
as short as possible because the misery for those people is
absolutely
overwhelming."
Meanwhile, South African President Thabo
Mbeki continued to mediate talks
between Mugabe and the opposition led by
Morgan Tsvangirai.
South African officials say the goal of the talks is
forming an inclusive
government in Zimbabwe. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai say
they are willing to
share power, but they differ on who should
lead.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF wants Mugabe at the head of any coalition
government,
something the opposition and Mugabe's critics in the West have
rejected.
Tsvangirai bases his claim to leadership on the first round of
presidential
voting in March, in which he beat Mugabe and two other
candidates, but did
not win the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid
a runoff against
second place finisher Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, who
withdrew from the June runoff because of a campaign of
violence against his
supporters, has accused Mbeki of bias in favor of
Mugabe, and called for a
second mediator to be brought in.
Nicole Fritz, head of the Southern
Africa Litigation Centre, an independent
human rights group that has closely
followed the Zimbabwean situation,
worried that without the pressure of
sanctions, Mbeki would be able to make
little headway as
mediator.
The failure of the sanctions resolution "buys Mbeki time," she
said. "My
sense is that buying Mbeki time is not going to do us any
good."
In a statement Saturday welcoming the defeat of the resolution,
South Africa
said it believed "imposing sanctions would indeed have impacted
negatively
on the current dialogue process among Zimbabwean political
parties."
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said sanctions would
have taken the
U.N. beyond its mandate in trying to punish political
disputes by
"artificially elevating them to the level of a threat" to
international
peace and security.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya,
whose nation is one of Zimbabwe's major trading partners, said Zimbabwe should
be allowed to resolve the political crisis on its own.
Editorial
The Observer,
Sunday July
13, 2008
The decision by China and Russia to veto UN sanctions against
the regime of
Robert Mugabe has raised fresh concerns about the role of the
Security
Council but, more pertinently, has demonstrated the malign
influence both
countries can play on the international stage. The two have
brought down UN
resolutions before; last year, they opposed measures to
press Burma to ease
repression. Yet this latest decision, coming days after
Russia backed a G8
proposal for tough measures against Zimbabwe, including
an arms embargo, an
assets freeze and a ban on Mugabe and his cronies from
travelling, is
shameful.
China and Russia argued that the Security
Council is mandated to deal only
with matters which threaten international
peace and security and that
regional efforts need time to work. But millions
of Zimbabweans have been
displaced to other countries in the region as a
result of Mugabe's policies.
Further, China's claim that sanctions would
undermine the South
African-mediated talks between the rival parties looks
equally bogus. Mugabe
has remained in power in part due to international
inertia; the time for
allowing him room for manoeuvre is
over.
China's extensive interests in Zimbabwe have fuelled fears that it
is always
likely to side with Mugabe. Russia's behaviour raises grave doubts
about its
reliability as an ally. Now the challenge for those countries
which backed
sanctions is to agree a way forward themselves. The Security
Council might
have been exposed as toothless, but the UK, especially acting
through the
EU, and the US still have real power to exert diplomatic,
economic and moral
pressure on the Mugabe regime. They must use it.
Brown to hold urgent talks with EU
leaders in Paris today after UN vetoes
Gaby Hinsliff, Tracy McVeigh and
Paul Harris
The Observer,
Sunday July 13, 2008
Gordon Brown will
hold urgent talks with European leaders about Zimbabwe
today after plans to
impose UN sanctions on Robert Mugabe's brutal regime
collapsed in
disarray.
Russia and China used their vetoes in the UN Security Council
to block the
measures - only three days after the Russian president, Dmitry
Medvedev,
signed a statement endorsing financial penalties against leading
figures in
Harare. Brown had told MPs on Thursday of a 'major breakthrough'
at the G8
on Zimbabwe, with Russia now signed up to sanctions. William
Hague, the
shadow foreign secretary, accused him yesterday of being 'clearly
over-confident' about the deal, with questions now being asked about the
government's diplomatic skills.
The Foreign Secretary, David
Miliband, accused the Russians of
double-dealing, adding: 'The vote
yesterday showed that, in the end, the
Russians and the Chinese - I wouldn't
quite say put two fingers up -
effectively blocked the action. The Russians
and Chinese were briefing in
all sorts of directions.'
Downing Street
said Brown would discuss the way forward in Paris today with
the French
President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and European Commission President
José Barroso.
Options include expanding an EU ban on travel to leading
members of Mugabe's
regime and taking measures against companies owned by 14
individuals close
to the regime, who would have been targeted by the UN
motion unsuccessfully
proposed by Britain and the US.
It is understood that the Foreign Office
and the US State Department
realised on Friday, hours after Brown's
parliamentary statement, that Moscow
was backtracking amid speculation of a
difference of opinion within the
Russian government, but decided to push
ahead with the vote to flush
positions into the open. A Downing Street
spokesman said those who vetoed
the proposed economic sanctions, arms
embargo and travel ban 'must now take
responsibility for the failure of the
Security Council to act'.
Brown will still ask for a UN envoy to be sent
urgently to Harare. Kofi
Annan, the Ghanaian former UN secretary-general,
offered his help in
negotiating a peaceful solution to the crisis. He told
The Observer: 'They
are talking of sending UN envoys now, and already I have
talked to people
involved, and I am offering advice and my services. Of
course I would help
because I am an African.'
Britain may also take
bilateral measures with the US. But these may lack the
moral authority of a
united UN front against Mugabe, thus strengthening what
is widely seen as
his illegitimate grip on power.
There was jubilation among Mugabe's
supporters at the vetoes. His
information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, said
he wanted to 'thank those who
helped defeat international racism disguised
as multilateral action at the
UN', adding that the UN should have nothing to
do with member states'
elections. The blocking of sanctions was also
welcomed in South Africa.
The British ambassador to the UN, John Sawers,
pointedly described Russia's
decision as 'inexplicable', adding: 'The
Security Council has failed to
shoulder its responsibility to do what it can
to prevent a national tragedy
deepening and spreading its effects across
southern Africa.'
His US counterpart, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the Russians
had seemed
supportive of sanctions all week and then 'something happened in
Moscow'.
That gave China, which has a growing reputation for exploiting
Africa's oil
and mineral stocks with scant regard for human rights, an
excuse to veto the
sanctions.
African Press Organization
HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 13, 2008/African Press
Organization (APO)/ - We
strongly regret the highly inappropriate and
unacceptable comments by the
Permanent Representative of Zimbabwe
questioning the Secretary-General's
impartiality toward events in
Zimbabwe.
There is nothing one-sided about defending the right of the
people of
Zimbabwe to choose a legitimate government in a free and fair
election.
The Secretary-General will continue to support efforts to
promote talks
between both sides in Zimbabwe that can lead to a democratic
transition and
economic recovery for the people of that
country.
SOURCE : United Nations - Office of the Spokesperson of the
Secretary-General
The Telegraph
Last
Updated: 12:01am BST 13/07/2008
Just how bad does the
tyranny in Zimbabwe have to get before the world
takes action?
Robert Mugabe has already installed himself as President-for-life,
having
stolen two elections and had more than 5,000 of those who supported
the
opposition party either killed or imprisoned. He also ensured that a
further
200,000 were evicted from their homes.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of
the opposition, sensibly decided there
was no point in continuing to
co-operate with Mugabe's grotesque parody of
democracy. Mugabe then claimed
victory in a sham of his own creation.
The condition of Zimbabwe's
people grows daily more desperate - solely
because of Mugabe's abysmal
mismanagement of the country.
The leaders of the democracies in Europe
and America tried to persuade
the United Nations Security Council to impose
sanctions on Zimbabwe, as well
as a travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his top
henchmen. Their attempt failed.
Russian and China, both permanent
members of the security council and
able to veto any proposal, torpedoed the
idea of punishing Mugabe's regime.
David Miliband, Britain's
Foreign Secretary, called their decision
"incomprehensible". In fact, it is
only too understandable, for it derives
from the ruthless pursuit of
self-interest that has characterised the
foreign policies of these
states.
China's investment in Africa has increased hugely recently,
but the
real reason for both these vetoes isn't economic: it is fear of the
precedent that would be set if the UN explicitly authorises action against a
country because it is governed by a tyrannical autocrat.
Zimbabwe, as Russia's ambassador to the UN correctly pointed out, is
no
threat to international stability.
"The security council's
application for enforcement measures," he
concluded, "has no foundation
under chapter 7 of the UN Charter. This draft
is nothing but the council's
attempt to interfere with the internal affairs
of states."
China agrees with that judgement, confirming that there is a tacit
pact
between the world's dictatorial regimes to ensure that they can
continue to
deny their people basic democratic rights: they know they
themselves will
become vulnerable if it is established as a principle of the
UN that there
is a limit beyond which governments are not entitled to
oppress their own
people.
China and Russia have largely co-operated in the global
"war on
terror", essentially because they feel at least as threatened by
fundamentalist terrorism as America and Europe do. But they are not
interested in spreading democracy and respect for human rights around the
globe.
Russia uses the leverage that its control of gas and oil
gives it to
prevent its neighbouring states from embracing full democracy,
just as China
uses its power to ensure that the citizens of countries such
as Burma and
Tibet are denied elementary democratic rights.
Reducing all matters of foreign policy to a calculation of naked
self-interest certainly makes everything simpler, and there are Western
politicians who insist that our democracies should give up on idealism and
concentrate on the "realistic pursuit of self-interest".
That,
however, would leave the world defenceless in the face of the
grim expansion
of Russia and China's vision of the future, a vision that
does not include
the two most precious ingredients of peace and prosperity:
democracy and the
respect for human rights.
John McCain, the Republican candidate in
America's presidential
election, has suggested an alternative to a UN
deadlocked by the vetoes of
China and Russia.
He proposes a
"league of democracies", in which nations committed to
what might be termed
"the Western system" would come together and use their
joint power to try to
advance more enlightened forms of governance. It
wouldn't be an alternative
to the UN. But it would tackle some of the
problems which vetoes from the
tyrannies on the security council ensure that
the UN cannot.
There are many difficulties with turning McCain's vision into reality.
Yet
the failure of the UN, like the impotence of the G8, which was also on
display last week, requires serious debate on how to remedy the
ineffectiveness of global institutions.
The alternative is that
the West sits on the sidelines as tyranny
crushes democracy - and Zimbabwe
becomes the latest failure to confront
autocracy.
"Telegraph
view" is written by our team of leader writers and
commentators. This team
includes David Hughes, Philip Johnston, Simon
Heffer, Janet Daley, Con
Coughlin, Robert Colvile, Iain Martin and Alex
Singleton.
http://www.unobserver.com
Elisa
Burchett:
There are
opposing views on how to handle the crisis in Zimbabwe. On one
side there is
the African Union through its mediator the SADC* (facilitated
by South
Africa and Angola) stressing the futility of imposing sanctions
against
Zimbabwe and the rejection of the idea that Zimbabwe is a threat to
international peace and security.
On the other side there are the G8
leaders at this year's G8 summit implying
that Zimbabwe is viewed as a
threat to international peace and security, and
that "We will take further
steps, inter alia introducing financial and other
measures against those
individuals responsible for violence."
South African Ambassador Dumisani
Kumalo is attempting to stave off the
growing public perception that
Zimbabwe poses an international threat. To
the contrary, Ambassador Kumalo
says the African Union has stated
un-categorically that we do not need
sanctions against Zimbabwe. They do not
believe Zimbabwe is a threat to
international peace and security, and that
the G8 leaders' use of chapter
VII of the UN Charter is really surprising
and goes way over the
top.
Ambassador Kumalo says of sanctions, one of the persons targeted is
the
Governor of the reserve bank who is said to have printed money that is
being
used by the military. "I don't know of a governor of reserve bank who
prints
part of the money and says this is for the ones who are hungry and
this is
for the ones of the military", Ambassador Kumalo said. "If you cut
out the
money out of Zimbabwe it will have a tremendous impact on
neighboring
States.When the people flee from Zimbabwe they come to our
country, he
added."
A.U. leaders say they are for applying pressure
on all parties, but they are
urging the international community not to take
measures that will complicate
the situation, literally blowing the country
apart, Ambassador Kumalo
stressed. The A.U. is for taking measures that will
urge the parties to seek
a political solution through
negotiations.
The "other" point of contention is opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Ambassador Kumalo is concerned there is a wish to impose Mr.
Tsvangirai as
president of Zimbabwe; a move that Mr. Kumalo is stressing
would complicate
things and create huge problems. "The E.U., through its
presidents, said
openly to the press that they want to see Tsvangirai
installed as president
of Zimbabwe", Kumalo pointed out.
"We (the
A.U./SADC) want the people of Zimbabwe to select through free and
fair
elections, without violence, without intimidation, who their leader is.
The
Europeans are complicating issues because they are choosing one and
saying
we won't accept anything unless it is led by Morgan Tsvangirai. This
creates
huge problems", Kumalo Stressed.
A recent U.S. draft resolution for
applying sanctions on Zimbabwe now goes
in the direction of giving the U.N.
Security Council the ability to certify
a partial election, Ambassador
Kumalo said. "If the Security Council is now
going to go into countries and
start certifying one election or part of an
election, where are we going to
stop?" Again, he stressed the importance of
negotiations between the parties
and the importance of allowing the people
of Zimbabwe the opportunity to
choose.
U.N. Deputy Secretary General Asha Rose Migiro says the U.N.
holds that the
run-off elections were illegitimate and that the only way out
of this crisis
is for the two sides to agree on a political solution that
would pave the
way for a democratic transition and economic recovery of the
country. She
would not say were she stood on sanctions against Zimbabwe, but
conveyed
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call on the government of Zimbabwe
to
immediately lift sanctions on humanitarian activities. She said, "The
people
of the Zimbabwe deserve no less."
If the current humanitarian
situation remains unchanged in Zimbabwe 5.1
million people will be left at
grave risk due to food shortages, Mrs. Migiro
told the press.
*SADC
is the acronym for South African Development Community.
Elisa
Burchett
UNHQ Bureau Chief
U.N OBSERVER & International Report
July 12, 2008 at 17:24:35
by Zaw Nay Aung
http://www.opednews.com
It
is not only disappointing but a shocking experience that China and Russia
vetoed again to block the UN resolution against Zimbabwe's Mugabe regime. It
is unbelievable how China and Russia could turn a blind eye to the
atrocities and block the UN action which could bring significant changes in
Zimbabwe's conflict. China and Russia started enjoying their vetoes since
Burma's issue was raised at the UN Security Council led by the US and UK in
early 2007. They always claim that it is "internal affairs" but what does
that mean in fact?
Not only the UN itself but the international
community has the
responsibility for global justice, freedom and prosperity
of the
underprivileged countries, and the affluent states have the right to
promote
freedom, rights and democracy of other countries where it needs to
be
promoted. It cannot be claimed that the countries working for the
betterment
of global society are interfering. And the United Nations itself
has the
right to intervene in situations like in Zimbabwe and Burma. The
real
interference is blocking the welfare of general population or majority
of
the people in a country where rights and freedom is extinct.
When
a country is facing a significant challenge of humanitarian disasters,
the
international community has to intervene to resolve the conflicts rather
than doing nothing and calling it an "internal affair." Is it the right
thing to do to let people die from natural disasters such as Cyclone Nargis
in Burma or man-made disasters such as extra-judicial killings, arbitrary
detentions and "mass intimidation'" against people who speak for justice,
freedom and equality of prosperity? If you look at the recent events in
Zimbabwe and Burma, the authoritarian regimes and their militias violently
cracked down on the opposition and controlled power undemocratically and
illegitimately. Although the UN actions are initiated, the powerful "vetoes"
have been overriding the process of resolving political stalemates in Burma
and Zimbabwe. If the United Nations could not address these conflicts, then
the world powers such as United States and United Kingdom will surely
tighten the measures against these brutal regimes of Zimbabwe and
Burma.
Then the circle of sanctions and the process of resolving "internal
affairs"
would take ages and people would continue living in these
deteriorating
circumstances without hope for freedom and prosperity. It is
the time for
the global society to unite and work together for the global
prosperity. The
world should no longer be divided as North and South and the
world powers
should realize that the Cold War era was over decades ago.
Crucially the
term "internal affair" should not be coined when the incidents
of
oppression, injustice and inhumanity occurred in a society. The world
should
not afford to ignore the atrocities as "internal affair." When the
freedom
and prosperity of people are not allowed to flourish, atrocities
have the
opportunity to grow up. It is absolutely interfering in the process
of
development and democracy in a country.
Zaw Nay Aung
is an exiled Burmese in the UK and MSc student of political
science at Royal
Holloway, University of London.
Sunday Nation, Kenya
Story by MUTUMA MATHIU
Publication Date: 7/13/2008 Sometimes,
when I hear arguments about "looking
East" and getting alternative markets
for our groundnuts, alternative
investment sources and source markets for
tourists, I suffer a momentary
discomfort. Why not the "traditional"
markets? is the question that would
pop up in my head.
This is
evidence of the extent to which I, a product of "cultural
diplomacy," am
programmed to link progress, investment, "aid" and all good
things to the
West. But the moment passes; if it didn't, I'd go and lie in a
darkened room
until it did.
The state of Africa today is evidence of failure on
two fronts: one,
the failure of Africa to gainfully govern itself. The
corruption, the
brutality, the selfishness of our politicians and their soft
brains are a
mountain on the path of Africa's progress.
TWO, IT
IS A FAILURE OF WESTERN thinking and its well meaning
interventions in
Africa's development. The truth of the matter is, even
after 50 years of
trying, the West has not succeeded in wiping what former
British prime
minister Tony Blair called "a stain on the conscience" of
mankind: the
death, poverty and suffering on our home continent.
Frequent
promises about wanting to help Africa, followed by zero
action, convince me
that it is not right for Africa to put any more faith in
Western
interventions.
In 2005, the leaders of G-8 nations met at
Gleneagles, Scotland, and
Mr Blair, who was chairing, had pushed with his
usual missionary zeal for
Africa to be near the top of the
agenda.
In 2005, life was good in the West. Economies were booming,
the
sub-prime mortgage business was booming, food was plentiful and cheap
and
oil was selling for $60 a barrel. Egged on by the persuasive Mr Blair,
the
rich were prepared to be generous, if not with their money, at least
with
their promises.
Africa had asked, rather ambitiously, for
total cancellation of debt
for all African countries. The G-8 agreed to
waive debt for 18 of the
poorest countries. There was a commitment in the
communiqué to increase aid
to 0.56 per cent of GDP by 2010 and 0.7 per cent
by 2015 with an increase
for Africa of $25 billion by 2010; a promise to
ensure that all Africans had
access to anti-retrovirals by 2010, help to
train peace keepers, support for
Nepad.
On trade, the G-8
recommended the completion of the Doha Round of
world trade talks which it
said would help lift 40 million Africans out of
poverty. Help was promised,
too, for African exporters to deal with health
and safety standards in rich
markets.
But the main thrust of the G-8 reasoning was that
development was the
responsibility of Africans and their leaders and that
rich countries would
support those countries which were taking concrete
measures to achieve good
governance and to fight corruption.
Today, oil is double what it was in 2005, rich country growth a
fraction of
what it was, currencies, especially the dollar, have weakened,
the sub-prime
contagion has infected many and the rich too have to pay high
prices for
their food. Talk of a recession is not uncommon.
On top of which
there is growing urgency to deal with climate change
and to figure out a way
to fix the growing energy problem. In other words,
the rich countries are in
absolutely no mood to be generous to Africa; they
have problems of their
own.
The rich countries could not fulfill promises made of their
own
volition at Gleneagles three years ago. I think it would be to expect
too
much to expect them to keep such pledges in the current
circumstances.
After 45 years of praying, hunting, begging and
dreaming of aid, it is
time to admit in a fundamental way that mortgaging
the country and our
interests for the sake of aid is not working, that aid
alone will never
transform our lives.
HAVING MADE THAT
ADMISSION, LET'S go the whole hog and have a
programme to phase it out,
starting with development assistance. When rich
countries screw us out of a
deal, they will say: you shouldn't be
complaining, we give you aid. If we
refuse aid, they would have to say: you
shouldn't be complaining, it is my
right to screw you out of the deal.
Poverty is not the absence of
money, it is the lack of opportunity. I
suspect there are many politicians
in this country who go into public
service simply because it is the easiest,
if not the only, way to make lots
of money quickly and without too much
sweat.
And repression and denial of human rights is often the
result of
competition for power and access to state resources by the elite.
Zanu-PF in
Zimbabwe has been bludgeoning opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
because
they fear losing access to the resources of corruption: public land,
government contracts and the communal till. Poor governance and corruption
are, in an important way, the consequences of poverty.
THE G-8
WOULD LIKE US TO FOCUS A LOT of attention on treating the
symptoms and not
as much on attacking the more difficult and intractable
disease beneath. If
business was booming and it was easier to make more
money in the private
sector, the greedy would be weeded out of politics
through natural
selection, I believe.
The developing countries that are galloping
ahead are not the darlings
of the G-8, those poor countries which obey the
fanya hii of the World Bank.
They impose tariffs, manipulate the
value of their currencies,
discourage imports and are ruled by a strong arm,
the kind of behaviour that
would give the International Monetary Fund
apoplexy.
Now that we are the issue of the loins of cultural
diplomacy, what do
we do? Do we remain the darling of the rich and a stain
on their conscience
by sweating the same formula that has failed us for 45
years or do we, like
China, throw the IMF rule book into our appropriate
rivers and strike out on
our own?
Mutuma Mathiu is the managing
editor, Sunday Nation.
The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008
John Sentamu
We pass them on the streets and sit by them on
the bus, but most of us are
unaware that across Britain today are thousands
of people who have fled
Zimbabwe because of the brutal atrocities of Robert
Mugabe's regime. Those
Zimbabweans who have come to Britain are among
millions who have fled their
country in fear of their life and who dare not
return. They are doctors and
teachers, farmers and businessmen.
They
are people who want to work, who want to restore some dignity to their
families, who want to return home when Mugabe - as he surely will be - is
finally kicked out of office.
I know of one teacher who has been here
for four years, living hand to
mouth, thanks to the charity of church
communities. When he applied for
asylum he was turned down because nobody
believed things were as bad as he
claimed. Today, while we now see he was
telling the truth, he is in limbo,
neither able to return home nor to make a
home here. For at least 50 others
it is even worse, they are in detention -
one has been incarcerated for two
years. This threatens to make our
government's protestations about
conditions in Zimbabwe sound
hollow.
Russia and China have now vetoed United Nations sanctions against
Zimbabwe,
and the African Union must act to ensure that a new imperialism
from such
countries doesn't exploit the situation in Zimbabwe. And while I
applaud
Gordon Brown for keeping up the pressure in the international
community to
isolate the Mugabe regime and end the abuses of its people,
there is a
saying that "he who comes to court must come with clean hands".
If Britain
calls for sanctions against Zimbabwe, which I support, it must at
the same
time do right by those Zimbabweans who have fled to this country.
What kind
of humanity is it that says, grudgingly, you can stay here if it's
impossible to return home, but you must lose your dignity? You may be
skilled, willing and energetic, but you must do nothing. Why should exiled
Zimbabweans be compelled to twiddle their thumbs when they could be
contributing to Britain by being allowed to work?
"Cowardice asks the
question, 'Is it safe?' " said Martin Luther King.
"Expediency asks the
question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question,
'Is it popular?' But
conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' " Acting
to restore the dignity
of exiled Zimbabweans may not be politic or popular
but it is the right
thing to do.
Of course we must distinguish between criminals who have
fled here - and
must be deported - and those who have exhausted the asylum
system. We should
give those people a year and a day's leave to stay, so
that they can escape
this dehumanising limbo, find education and employment,
and prepare to
return on the day that Mugabe is gone.
When Ian Smith
declared independence for Rhodesia in 1965, I was a student
attending a
church conference with Yoweri Museveni, who today is president
of Uganda. We
were outraged at what Smith had done and Museveni went to see
the leader of
the conference, saying we must protest. He was told that this
is not what
Christianity was about, we were there to learn about Jesus and
the Bible.
Museveni said if we could not protest, then we were leaving, so
three of us
left. I have been working for the freedom of the people of that
country ever
since, the breadbasket of Africa which Mugabe has turned into a
basket
case.
It is sickening to watch Zimbabwean judges refusing to hear Morgan
Tsvangirai's case that the elections have been rigged, when they know
perfectly well they were. To see Mugabe taking an oath of office while
holding the Bible is little short of blasphemous. But if this is corrupt
religion, there are many courageous people of faith in that country who have
not come under Mugabe's spell. Some are bishops who will be here soon for
the Lambeth conference of the Anglican communion.
The media will
inevitably focus on divisions around human sexuality but most
of our time
will be spent discussing global justice for the poorest
countries, the
environmental crisis and how people of different faith
traditions relate to
each other. These bishops represent thousands of unsung
heroes and heroines
in Christian communities around the world who are
working for justice every
day, often at great personal risk. They believe,
as I do, that justice will
come to Zimbabwe too.
Mugabe was right when he said that only God could
remove him. No tyrant
lives for ever. No cruel regime lasts. God puts down
the mighty from their
seat and raises up the humble and meek. And he uses
ordinary people to do
this. Mugabe will not last. I vividly remember another
tyrant, Idi Amin. He
butchered many of my fellow citizens but is long gone
and Uganda is on
course to a peaceful future. That will happen for Zimbabwe
too.
In the meantime we in Britain must ensure no Zimbabwean is destitute
on our
streets, must provide them with dignity until they can return home.
Jesus
never called the Samaritan "good", that was just what he became known
as
later. But now is the time for Britain to become a good Samaritan to the
people of Zimbabwe. For anyone who is in need is my neighbour.
John
Sentamu is the Archbishop of York
The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008
The ex-defence secretary's critics want him to quit as director of Weir
Group
Jason Allardyce
Lord Robertson, the Labour peer, is under
pressure to step down as a
director of a Scottish company that has business
dealings in Zimbabwe.
The former defence secretary and Nato
secretary-general is paid £39,000 a
year as a non-executive director of the
Glasgow-based Weir Group.
In March the firm paid £113m for CH Warman Pump
Group (CHW), a specialist
manufacturer with bases in Zimbabwe and other
African countries.
Robertson's involvement in a company which continues
to trade under Robert
Mugabe's despotic regime has put him at odds with
Labour policy.
Gordon Brown has urged British companies not to invest in
Zimbabwe.
Yesterday the prime minister signalled his intention to press
ahead with
tougher sanctions against the country, despite the embarrassing
veto of his
plan for a UN arms embargo and travel ban.
Officials were
hastily drawing up a "plan B" after Russia and China ambushed
Britain at the
UN security council in New York.
No 10 now hopes the European Union and
the United States can draw up a joint
agreement that would include a ban on
trips abroad for any Zimbabwean linked
to Mugabe's regime and new efforts to
freeze the assets of the Zanu-PF
leadership.
Yesterday, David
Miliband, the foreign secretary, could not hide his
disappointment at the
collapse of the government's Zimbabwe policy. He,
insisted Britain was right
to push the issue to a vote despite the threat of
a Russian and Chinese
veto.
"The UN has been saying for long time this is a real problem," he
said. "So
we said 'Let's have real action'. It is right that in the end
people show
their cards. You have to get people to front up. There was
hiding going on."
Weir acquired CHW, which has an annual turnover of £40m
and employs 430
people, last March. As part of the buyout , it acquired 100%
of the share
capital of Warman (Zimbabwe), which provides sales,
distribution and after
sales services for equipment used in platinum mining
and has an estimated
annual turnover of £500,000.
Weir's chief
executive Mark Selway has said he believes opportunities in
Zimbabwe would
be "quite significant" in the medium term.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem foreign
affairs spokesman, said: "With Gordon Brown
making such tough noises on
Zimbabwe, it would be grossly hypocritical if a
Labour peer had not ensured
that the company on whose board he serves is not
upholding both the spirit
and the letter of government policy.
"Companies like Weir need to look
closely at whether their investments
assist Mugabe's regime in any way,
whether through providing much-needed
foreign exchange or direct revenue to
the government.
Angus Robertson, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman,
said: "If George \ is
fully aware and content with this commercial decision
it is definitely at
variance with the views of the prime minister and that
is not a tenable
situation for him to be in.
"Now is a time for all
people of influence to do their utmost to support
democracy in Zimbabwe and
not prop up the Zanu-PF regime directly or
indirectly."
However, Lord
Robertson defended the company's deal, saying: "Weir inherited
Warman's
small office in Bulawayo which has insignificant business of
£500,000 a year
and the group has not invested in Zimbabwe since the
acquisition. In no way
could this give comfort to Robert Mugabe."
A Weir spokeswoman refused to
comment on the ethics of investing in
Zimbabwe, adding: "We wouldn't get
involved in politics. We follow our
global customers. A number of them
operate in the mining market generally in
Africa and some of them operate in
Zimbabwe. We are supplying to a number of
global operators."
The Times, SA
Published:Jul 13,
2008
Zimbabwe's
middle classes have been forced into cheating and doing menial
jobs to
scratch out a living, writes Dingilizwe Ntuli
Sabina Mlilo is
a widow and a proud teacher of 22 years' standing, but she
has little to
show for all that if you consider that she now earns
Z60-billion a month -
which crudely translates into the price of 12
tomatoes.
Her salary,
which sounds ludicrously astronomical, becomes even more absurd
if you
consider that her transport to and from school costs her Z40-billion
a
day.
She walks several hours a day because she can't afford to pay the
fares.
With US1 worth Z12-billion, Mlilo earns as little as US4 a
month.
She still considers herself among the lucky ones because she
doesn't have to
worry about accommodation costs. She owns a house in the
Queens Park East
suburb of Bulawayo.
That saves her from paying rent,
which landlords charge in foreign
currency - ranging from R150 a month for
one room to US250 for a two-bedroom
flat.
Mlilo earns much less than
she has to spend but, despite this seemingly
bizarre financial anomaly, she
hardly ever skips a day's work and still
manages to pay school fees for her
two children, who attend government
schools. The schools charge about
Z20-billion a term for each child.
Mlilo says she uses her salary only to
pay for her children's school fees
because there is nothing else worthwhile
that it can buy.
Her children are better off staying at boarding school,
where their basics
such as food, bedding, heating and water are taken care
of by the school.
Staying home by herself, Mlilo saves a lot on such
expenses.
Her real income comes from a poultry project she runs from home
and deals
that she does at her school.
"If you are not a dealer, you
will never survive in Zimbabwe. There is not a
single person in this country
surviving on their salary," Mlilo says.
"We just use our workplaces'
resources to conduct our deals and continue to
hold on to our jobs with the
hope that things will change soon and we will
regain our
dignity."
"Dealing" can range from selling clothes and other items from
foreign
countries to dealing in foreign currency sent by family and
relatives who
live abroad.
Mlilo raises chickens at her house and
sells the birds to buy essentials or
barters them if her customers have no
money.
She says most people without cash to buy basic commodities have
resorted to
bartering. Trading goods like-for-like is the most common way to
keep hold
of the value of something.
As a senior teacher, Mlilo also
benefits from arrangements common at schools
where teachers take up to three
months unofficial leave, in cahoots with
head teachers, travel to work in
South Africa and return home with
groceries, which are
shared.
Younger teachers with young families are the ones who mostly take
such leave
to work in restaurants, bars and street-corner hair salons in
Hillbrow and
downtown Johannesburg, while heads and senior teachers cover up
for them and
look after the families.
On their return after their
three months of toil, they bring critical basics
such as cooking oil, sugar,
soap, flour, rice and other toiletries for their
senior
colleagues.
They sell some of the commodities on the black market and use
the money to
buy foreign currency to pay their rent and other
bills.
"This is how we make ends meet in Zimbabwe. Otherwise, if we
become selfish,
we will all suffer. Someone always knows somebody who has
access to certain
commodities and services. We have essentially been turned
into a nation of
petty traders," Mlilo says.
Buying groceries outside
Zimbabwe is much cheaper but because most people
have no travel documents
many find themselves at the mercy of black-market
sharks, primarily
cross-border hawkers.
Mlilo's is the story of a typical
lower-middle-class citizen in a country
whose economy has imploded by all
accounts - although those in power are
still in denial. Working-class people
and peasants are even worse off.
Meanwhile, the government is frantically
printing new currency - and the
highest denomination at the moment is a
Z50-billion note.
If you don't have access to foreign currency, you are
doomed.
The staple, maize meal, is hard to find and, when in stock, a
20kg bag costs
Z650-billion (54) in shops and Z1-trillion (83) on the
thriving black
market. A week ago it was Z150-billion.
A week ago,
the official price of a two-litre bottle of cooking oil was
Z250-billion but
this week it was going for Z700-billion (58).
Bread was Z10-billion but
is now Z70-billion (5.80).
Beer prices rose sharply from
Z8-billion a pint last week to Z100-billion
(8.30).
The currency is
so crippled that prices increase over the course of a single
day.
For most urban dwellers, such as Mlilo, life has simply
become unbearable.
Things that many South Africans take for granted, such
as maize meal, milk,
margarine, bread, sugar, meat, cooking oil and tea,
have become luxuries
beyond the reach of growing numbers of people as some
of these good s cost
10 times more than their wages.
Mlilo says it is
easy for teachers to resort to menial work in South Africa
because they do
not need visas to travel and only need to produce their
latest pay slips
with their passports at the border.
She says some schools, particularly
in rural areas, actually have secret
rosters that show when teachers willing
to do menial jobs in South Africa
can travel, as long as they agree to the
"terms and conditions" set by
senior staffers.
Those who are unable
to travel, for whatever reason, are helped out so that
they don't spill the
beans.
Although these intricate arrangements are made to the detriment of
pupils
and the quality of their education, Mlilo says teachers have no
choice but
to resort to such survival tactics because of the country's dire
economy.
When they escape the poverty north of the Limpopo to work in
menial jobs,
the teachers and other semi-professionals live in subhuman
conditions,
sleeping in such places as Johannesburg's Park Station and
living mainly on
bread.
For reasons ranging from cost saving to
avoiding the xenophobia-ravaged
townships where they would otherwise find
shelter with friends, this is the
daily routine of these economic
refugees.
After eight successive years of economic meltdown, hope has
virtually
deserted Zimbabwe.
These are desperate times for most
of the country's people.
Because Zimbabwe has become so desperate,
many people have turned into petty
criminals, with some devising ways to
make money out of others' misery.
People survive by overcharging for the
commodities they have access to.
Cross-border hawkers buy basics in
bulk from neighbouring South Africa and
Botswana for resale in the knowledge
that people will buy them at any price.
Most of the hawkers are actually
runners for top businessmen and politicians
who use their influence to get
access to basic goods.
With such spurious government initiatives as the
"people's shops", they put
managers of companies such as sugar producer
Hippo Valley, cooking oil-maker
Olivine and other basic commodity producers
under duress, forcing them to
sell basic products to them at the official
price. Then they channel the
goods into the black market through their
surrogates.
These businessmen and politicians do the same with foreign
currency, which
they procure from the central bank at the official rate of
Z30000 to a US
dollar and take to the black market to make a
killing.
Civil servants in key government departments also take advantage
of people's
desperation to extort money and goods for services that should
be offered
free or at a nominal fee.
It's almost impossible to get
essential documents such as birth
certificates, identity papers and
passports if one doesn't pay an insider in
the relevant department to
process them.
So serious is the scourge of corruption that some police
officers have
resorted to "reheating" cases that had been dropped so that
they can extort
money or groceries from people.
Others simply
confiscate basic goods from suspected opposition supporters.
At roadblocks,
police have gained notoriety for cleaning motorists out of
any groceries
they may be carrying, accusing them of trading without a
licence.
Searches and seizures by the police have become so common
that they occur
even in recreational parks.
The practice has, in
effect, turned the Zimbabwean police into pickpockets
as this is where they
seize foreign currency.
In the private sector, more and more people are
opting for unpaid leave to
search for greener pastures in neighbouring
countries and abroad to
supplement their meagre salaries.
Banks are
just keeping their doors open in the hope that one day they will
get back to
doing real business.
People use banks just to cash their pay
cheques.
Loss of business has presented the banks with the temptation to
invest in
the stock market, which has inexplicably remained the only
investment option
yielding reasonable returns.
Although they are
discouraged by law from taking positions on the stock
market, banks are
finding ways, including illegal means, to invest in the
stock market to
preserve value.
If you walk into a bank with a lump sum, wanting to
invest in a
fixed-investment account, bank officials will advise you rather
to put that
money into the stock market for better yields.
In a
country where even the wealthy are struggling to make ends meet, it is
the
unconnected and uneducated people, who lack any hope, who are prone to
be
recruited in exchange for petty allowances to be used in such vile
projects
as political terror.
Even though there may be the possibility of a
political settlement that
could eventually stabilise the economy, more and
more people want to leave
Zimbabwe because they have lost faith in its
derelict economy.
For now, though, they will just have to stay buckled up
for what seems to be
a perpetual bumpy ride.
http://www.hararetribune.com
By MacVivo | Harare Tribune
News
news@hararetribune.com
Updated:
July 12, 2008 19:07
Zimbabwe, Harare--Ever since
the defeat of Robert Mugabe during the
March 29 election, Grace Mugabe has
shed her prior role as a passive First
Lady world famous for shopping, a
midget in the shadow of her husband.
Instead, it appears that she
has taken up arms and has answered her
husband's call to "mobilize" the
people and defeat British imperialism that
is rearing its ugly head,
disguised as Morgan Tsvangirai, in the affairs of
the Zimbabwe.
In the process, she is positioning herself to take over as leader of
ZANU-PF's Women's League, as the folks over at the Zimbabwe Independent
reported yesterday.
However, unlike the late, beloved, Sally
Mugabe, Grace has decided to
follow the easiest path towards taking over
power in the Women's League. She
is using tax payer money to buy herself
into power.
Over the past week she has been all over the country,
dangling pieces
of silver to the starving masses of Zimbabwe.
On Saturday, she took her campaign to her husband's home area, Zvimba.
There
she splurged. She distributed 100 tractors, 1 000 ploughs, 1 000
harrows, 1
000 knapsacks, 1 000 chains, 1 000 scotchcarts, 1 000 cultivators
over 1 000
food hampers, T-shirts and cloths to Zvimba East, Zvimba West,
Zvimba North
and Zvimba South constituencies.
The Harare Tribune understands
that Grace's spree of giving is
completely funded by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ), which Gideon Gono,
a close friend of the Mugabes', currently
controls. Grace confessed to the
fact: "With the assistance of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, this
distribution of farm implements that I am doing is a
continuation of
President Mugabe's farm mechanisation programme election
promises. "
Gono, is the same person the MDC has promised to
immediately prosecute
once it gets into power, because of his proven
criminality record since he
took over the management at the RBZ in
2003.
In the run up to the one man election of June 27, which
Mugabe
presumably won by 85%, Grace had joined Robert Mugabe on the campaign
trail.
From the dusty business center of Sarahura in dry,arid
Mwenezi River
Valley in Mwenezi District, to Shamva, Grace stayed at
Robert's side. It was
during that time that she vowed: "Tsvangirai will
never step into the state
house"
And, knowing that the people
are starving, Grace also dolled out rice,
sugar, washing and bathing soap,
cooking oil, flour, sanitary pads and
candles in Zvimba.
Grace's sudden obsession with politics, we understand, stems from the
fact
that she can no longer go on her old shopping sprees around the world.
Every
time she is out of the country, the media follows her, waiting to
pounce on
her the moment she opens her purse full of US dollars ( foreign
currency
bought on the black market by Gideon Gono's minnows)..
A couple of
weeks ago in Rome, she couldn't even leave the hotel she
was staying in with
Mugabe without the media tailing her. The presence of
the media presumably
scuttled her plans for shopping.
Now she has turned her attention
to politics and by extension, power.
As she is learning from Robert, there
is nothing sweeter than power,
especially power gained through the shedding
of people's blood, cheating and
money-.-Harare Tribune News.
africasia
JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (AFP)
South African firms are resisting the urge to pull out of
Zimbabwe despite
an increasingly hostile business climate in the hope they
will be in prime
position to benefit from a future upturn.
Once a
relatively stable market, Zimbabwe has become a nightmare for foreign
businesses in recent years with the annual inflation rate now well into
eight figures and the government trying to impose prices for goods and
services.
Several Zimbabwe-based South African bosses were hauled
before the courts
last year for overcharging while they are also having to
absorb the impact
of a new law forcing them to cede a controlling stake to
native Zimbabweans.
But analysts say the dozens of companies -- ranging
from mining giants and
banks to tourist operators -- which are still
clinging on are confident that
things are bound to get better at some
stage.
"I believe that the decision by companies to stay in Zimbabwe is
more of a
long-term business strategy than a humanitarian gesture. They are
simply
positioning themselves for an anticipated economic recovery," said
Johan
Rossouw, chief economist at Cape Town-based Vector Securities and
Derivatives.
South Africa has long been Zimbabwe's biggest trading
partner and, according
to the department of trade and industry in Pretoria,
around 20 major
companies and scores of smaller enterprises are still
operating there.
Among the biggest still toughing it out is Standard Bank
which trades under
the name Stanbic in branches throughout
Zimbabwe.
"Doing business is very difficult but we continue monitoring
the situation
in Zimbabwe and our business operations," Clive Tasker, chief
executive of
Standard Bank Africa, told AFP. "We have no intention of
pulling out."
South Africa's largest supermarket operator, 'Pick n Pay,'
is also keeping
its foot in the door through its 25 percent stake in
Zimbabwe's TM chain
even though it has not received any dividends in the
last four years.
"TM continues to trade under exceptionally difficult
economic conditions
with procurement being their biggest challenge," said a
statement from Pick
n Pay. "We continue to support our colleagues and hope
for political and
economic stability in the near future."
As well as
the high street giants, South African mining firms are still
clinging on in
Zimbabwe despite the ever growing problem of finding parts
and coping with
constant power blackouts.
The Johannesburg-based Impala Platinum, the
biggest foreign investor in
Zimbabwe through its subsiduary Zimplats, said
it was working out how to
circumvent some of the problems it had experienced
and was hoping to
increase production fourfold by 2010, according to a
recent report in the
Sunday Times.
"We are in talks with neighbouring
Mozambique to import electricity for our
mining operations in Zimbabwe," a
statement said.
Meanwhile, tour operators are still arranging holidays
for thousands of
foreigners to visit the country's premier attraction, the
Victoria Falls.
Tommy Edmund, chief executive of the Johannesburg-based
Tourvest, said the
Falls benefitted from its location next to the Zambian
border.
"All supplies for the hotel are transported from Zambia,
including food and
fuel," he told AFP.
"That makes us least affected
by the meltdown. We have always been using the
US dollar currency, so we did
not feel the impact of the Zim dollar
collapse."
While few are making
much money in the current climate, Rossouw of Vector
Securities and
Derivatives says many businesses are prepared to absorb
short-term losses
and avoid leaving the door open for their rivals.
"By pulling out now,
companies are likely to find it hard to establish
themselves all over again
once the situation stabilises," he said. "They
also fear opening up
opportunities for the competition."
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 12 July 2008 17:34
A draft United Nations
(UN) resolution on Zimbabwe, vetoed by Russia
and China on Friday, names and
shames President Robert Mugabe and 13 members
of his cabal as responsible
for the violence that led to the death of scores
of opposition
supporters.
Nine members of the Security Council voted for the
resolution which
was blocked by Russia and China which have been supplying
arms and doing
business in Zimbabwe. It was the way that Russia wielded its
veto power that
surprised diplomats.
While the government was
claiming victory yesterday, the MDC said the
mere fact that UN Security
Council met to deliberate and vote on such a
resolution showed the gravity
of the matter.
"The international community has recognised that the
violence in
Zimbabwe is state-sanctioned," said MDC spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa. "Over a
hundred people have been killed, many thousands beaten,
tortured and
displaced and millions are now facing economic hardship and
starvation."
He said the MDC hoped the AU and the SADC would take a
prominent role
in seeking a solution to the crisis.
Chamisa
said his party was looking forward to genuine dialogue
brokered by SA
President Thabo Mbeki.
But the National Constitutional Assembly
chairman Dr Lovemore Madhuku
said yesterday the veto was "a blessing in
disguise". He said it was
necessary for people to take the struggle to the
streets.
"We don't need those sanctions. Sanctions play into the
hands of the
Mugabe regime. If they had been imposed, Mugabe would have
justification to
cling on claiming he is fighting foreign
interference."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband criticised
the resolution's
defeat.
"It'll appear incomprehensible to the
people of Zimbabwe that Russia,
which committed itself at the G8 to take
further steps including introducing
financial and other sanctions, should
stand in the way of Security Council
action.
"Nor will they
understand the Chinese vote," he said.
The US launched a scathing
attack on Mbeki after Pretoria's UN envoy
voted against targeted
sanctions.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said: "We are surprised
by what appears
as Mbeki appearing to protect Mugabe while Mugabe uses
violent means to
fragment the opposition. I think he (Mbeki) is out of touch
with the trends
inside his own country.
"We are concerned, but
we are encouraged by the trends that we see
inside South
Africa."
China said on Saturday that sanctions against Zimbabwe's
government
would "complicate", rather than ease, conflict in the troubled
African
country, defending its decision to veto the resolution.
China's decision to block the sanctions may bruise relations with
Western
powers weeks before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games. China also
faces
international pressure over Sudan, where international prosecutors are
pursuing arrests for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
South Africa
welcomed the decision of the United Nations Security
Council not to impose
sanctions against Zimbabwe, foreign affairs said
yesterday.
Spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said SA voted against the draft resolution
on
Friday, in accordance with the African Union Summit of head of states and
government decision to "encourage President Robert Mugabe and the leaders of
the MDC to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with view to promote
peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation of the Zimbabwean
people".
He said South Africa was facilitating talks between Zanu
PF, the MDC-T
and MDC of Arthur Mutambara, in Pretoria.
"It is
our considered view that imposing sanctions would indeed have
impacted
negatively on the current process among the Zimbabwean political
parties,"
he said. "In addition both SADC and AU have not called for
sanctions."
The AU summit in Egypt a fortnight ago had appealed
to states and all
parties concern to refrain from any action that could
negatively impact on
the climate for dialogue.
The UK
ambassador to the UN said the Security Council had failed the
people of
Zimbabwe. "The people of Zimbabwe need to be given hope that there
is an end
in sight to their suffering," Sir John Sawers said. "The Security
Council
has failed to offer them that hope."
The Conservative Party also
criticised the veto. Shadow foreign
secretary William Hague said: "The
excuse given by Russia and China that the
issue is no threat to world
stability, does not hold water when millions of
Zimbabwean refugees have
fled to neighbouring countries.
"With the UN paralysed, the need
for more serious and properly
enforced EU sanctions is all the
greater."
Ed Davey, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, said: "It's
a bad day for
the UN and a disastrous day for the people of
Zimbabwe."
He said Britain must now try to exert pressure on Mugabe
through the
European Union, the African Union and, in particular, South
Africa.
"President Mbeki has been the one who has shown the worst
leadership
of all, frankly, even worse than Russia and China," Davey
said.
Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar
Association,
said Friday's vote threw the future of the UN into
question.
"We simply cannot permit these types of crimes and
individuals to move
forward and if the Security Council cannot act we need
to be looking at
other mechanisms," he said.
The torpedoed
draft resolution which would have resulted in the
imposition of an arms
embargo on Zimbabwe and stringent financial and travel
sanctions, has put
the spotlight on the role Mugabe and his inner circle
have played in the
violence that has gripped the country.
The draft says the 14 were
"engaged in or provided support for actions
or policies to undermine
democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe,
including having ordered,
planned, or participated in acts of politically
motivated violence, or as
providing support to individuals or entities".
Mugabe, who tops the
draft list, is blamed for "activities that
seriously undermine democracy,
repress human rights and disrespect the rule
of law".
He is
followed by Constantine Chiwenga, the Commander of the Zimbabwe
Defence
Forces, who the draft said "directed repressive state policy and
committed
human rights abuses".
The draft said Emmerson Mnangagwa, the
Minister of Rural Housing, was
"responsible for activities that seriously
undermine democracy, repress
human rights and disrespect the rule of law".
He was third on the list with
Reserve Bank Gideon Gono "who is responsible
for funding repressive state
policies" coming fourth. Gono has presided over
the central bank which has
printed trillions of dollars used in Zanu PF
campaign schemes.
The UN draft says Police Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri "bears
wide responsibility for serious violations of the
freedom of peaceful
assembly". Chihuri, the draft says, leads a police force
that has been used
to break up peaceful demonstrators, and arrests of
opposition figures and
banning of their activities.
Patrick
Chinamasa, who is also a Minister of Justice, was listed as
responsible for
activities that "seriously undermine democracy, repress
human rights and
disrespect the rule of law".
Head of the Air Force, Perence Shiri,
is not spared. The draft accused
him of "complicit in forming or directing
oppressive state policy".
Health Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa
also features on the doomed
draft. He was said to be responsible for
activities that seriously undermine
democracy, repress human rights and
disrespect the rule of law.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa was
listed as responsible for the
same charges.
The Permanent
Secretary for Information and Publicity George Charamba
who told the West
"to go hang" at the recent AU summit in Egypt was
described as "Member of
Government complicit in forming or directing
oppressive state
policy".
The same charges were levelled against Paradzai Zimondi,
head of the
Prisons, the head of the Central Intelligence Organisation,
Happyton
Bonyongwe, Ministers Sydney Tigere Sekeramayi, and Joseph Made who
also
doubles up as Mugabe's farm manager..
If the draft had
sailed through, Mugabe and his cabal would have been
confined to Zimbabwe as
a result of the travel sanctions. Their assets would
also be subject to a
freeze wherever they are located outside Zimbabwe.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 12 July 2008 17:28
THE ruling Zanu PF
party continues with a covert plan, hatched by the
Joint Operations Command
(JOC) soon after the March elections, to completely
decimate the MDC
structures despite winning the June presidential poll
run-off, the
opposition party has said.
The plan allegedly involves the
elimination of key MDC members,
destroying the party's structures as well as
their businesses to completely
cripple the only opposition party that has
shaken President Robert Mugabe's
uninterrupted 28-year-old
rule.
But some political analysts said the sustained attack on the
MDC was a
plot to force MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has refused to
talk to
Mugabe, to the negotiating table.
Others, however,
believe that the 84-year-old Mugabe has lost control
of the youth militia
and war veterans, who secured his "victory" through a
violent
campaign.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the sustained attack
on party
activists was an attempt by Mugabe's administration to completely
cripple
the party and thereby
remove future internal opposition
in the country.
"This is a deliberate plan to decimate our
structures," Chamisa said.
"This is shows that Mugabe is not sincere when
calling for negotiations."
Zanu PF election spokesperson Patrick
Chinamasa could not be reached
for comment as he was said to be in South
Africa for the Zanu PF/MDC talks.
But he is on record blaming the MDC for
the violence.
Even Mugabe has accused the MDC of causing the
on-going violence,
warning Tsvangirai and other party officials that his
government would hold
them responsible for the orgy of
violence.
"These cases of arson, kidnappings and violence on people
coming from
the MDC have shown a definite pattern which we read across the
country,"
Mugabe said.
The MDC said it remained committed to a
peaceful, negotiated solution
to the Zimbabwean crisis but a catalogue of
acts of bad faith by Zanu PF
continue to poison the environment for
negotiations.
The party cited the continued murders, beatings and
displacement of
MDC leaders and supporters. It also said there was continued
persecution of
MDC MPs and disappearance of party activists.
The party's secretary-general Tendai Biti, a key member in the
negotiations,
is facing treason charges, but the MDC says these are trumped
up.
It is estimated that more than half of the MDC councillors
in Harare
elected in March are in hiding fearing for their lives. Some of
them were
living in "safe houses" in the city after being hounded out of
their homes.
The MDC last week said at least 20 of its supporters
had been killed
while 5 000 had gone missing since the June 27 presidential
election
run-off, in which Mugabe was the sole candidate following
Tsvangirai's
withdrawal citing excessive political violence.
According to the MDC at least 109 of its supporters have been murdered
while
more than 20 000 have been displaced since the March 29 election in
which
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe but without enough votes to claim the
presidency.
Statistics indicate that 4 293 MDC supporters have
been tortured or
assaulted by suspected Zanu PF loyalists countrywide
between March 1 and
June 15 this year.
Only last week, the body
of missing MDC driver for Mashonaland West
Joshua Bakacheza was discovered
at a farm in Beatrice in a decomposing state
after he was allegedly abducted
by State security agents.
Bakacheza was abducted two days before
the June 27 elections together
with another MDC activist Tendai Chidziwo
while helping murdered party
official Tonderai Ndira's wife to move her
property from Mabvuku to a safe
haven.
Properties of MDC
officials have not been spared.
Last week, suspected Zanu PF
militia petrol-bombed a factory belonging
to MDC MP for Kambuzuma Willas
Madzimure in Chitungwiza.
Madzimure said the furniture-making
factory valued at US$120 000
including a Nissan pick-up truck were
destroyed.
A truck belonging to the ruling party, claimed
Madzimure, was seen
driving off soon after the factory caught
fire.
In June, a grocery shop belonging to MDC House of Assembly
candidate
for Gokwe Central, Linnet Ganyani was also petrol-bombed, again by
suspected
Zanu PF loyalists, leaving her without a source of livelihood. A
US$22 000-
truck belonging to Gutu businessman Beria Musimudziwa was torched
at Bhasera
growth point, forcing the MDC activist to go into
hiding.
Madzimure said: "This is a vicious attempt by Mugabe to
break the
moral and financial fabric of MDC by targeting the drivers of the
party in
all the areas, countrywide."
MDC records show that the
MPs who have been arrested since the March
29 elections include Tendai Biti,
the party's secretary-general and MP-elect
for Harare East, Misheck Shoko,
MP-elect for Chitungwiza South who was
arrested in Mberengwa for campaigning
for the MDC during the run-off period,
Trevor Saruwaka, MP-elect for Mutasa
Central who was arrested on political
violence charges, MP-elect for Mutare
West Pishai Muchauraya, and Shuwa
Mudiwa, who was arrested on charges of
kidnapping a 13-year-old.
MP-elect for Mkoba Amos Chibaya was
arrested on allegations of
inciting the police to revolt against the
government during a rally, Heya
Shoko, MP-elect for Bikita West, Ian Kay
MP-elect for Marondera Central and
senator-elect for Kariba John Masaba were
all arrested on charges of
inciting political violence.
The MDC
said those in hiding included Naison Nemadziwa, MP-elect for
Buhera South,
who was abducted last week and later found at a police station
and released
on $100 billion bail after police charged him with inciting
violence in his
constituency, Pearson Mungofa, MP-elect for Highfield East
who is wanted for
causing discontent among security officers, Edmore Marima,
MP-elect for
Bikita East who is wanted for inciting political violence and
attempted
murder, Shepherd Mushonga, MP-elect for Mazowe Central, and
Broadwin Nyaude,
MP- elect for Bindura South who are wanted for inciting
political
violence.
Eric Matinenga, MP-elect for Buhera West, was earlier
arrested on
charges of political violence, while Elton Mangoma, MP-elect for
Makoni
North, and Pineal Denga, MP-elect for Mbare are wanted for allegedly
inciting political violence.
Candidate MPs Godfrey Chimombe
from Shamva North and Biggie Haurovi
from Hurungwe East who lost in the
parliamentary elections were arrested on
charges of inciting political
violence.
The MDC fears that parliament might be sworn in with some
of the MPs
still in hiding.
The MDC said in Mashonaland Central
145 of their supporters were in
prison or police custody while Masvingo has
356, Midlands North has 57,
Mashonaland West 114 and 476 in
Manicaland.
In Harare the MDC said 31 of its supporters were
arrested while
Matabeleland South had 63, Matabeleland North 59, Mashonaland
East 184,
Chitungwiza 11, the Midlands South 69 and Bulawayo
nine.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred
Masunungure
said the attack on MDC activists and their properties by
suspected Zanu PF
supporters was an attempt to pressure the opposition party
to the
negotiating table.
"If you look at the violence, it is
no longer targeted at the general
public as it was prior to the 27 June
election but at key MDC activists. It
an attempt to force them to the
negotiating table," Masunungure said.
He said soon after the March
election, the violence was directed at
the general public in order to force
them to vote for Mugabe. But now the
violence was targeting key MDC
officials.
Masunungure said in order to solve the political crisis
in Zimbabwe,
there was no alternative to talks.
By Caiphas
Chimhete
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 12 July 2008 17:05
THE trial of the Standard
Press, newspaper editor Davison Maruziva and
MDC faction leader Arthur
Mutambara opened last Thursday, with the defence
asking for the three to be
removed from remand.
Charges against the paper, Maruziva
and Mutambara arose on 20 April
following publication of the opposition
leader's opinion article titled "A
Shameful Betrayal of National
Independence" which the State says was false
and also in contempt of
court.
The defence on Thursday requested that the accused be
removed from
remand until they are served with all State papers, including a
statement of
complaint from Justice Tendai Uchena, without which the charge
of contempt
of court could not be sustained.
Magistrate Morgan
Nemadire however remanded the accused, including
Iden Wetherell representing
the newspaper company, to 28 August.
"It is only fair and in the
interest of justice that the accused
remain on remand until a way forward is
determined," Nemadire said. "The
prosecution has done its best by providing
some of the papers today."
State prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare only
served the defence with some of
the state papers during the hearing. These
included warned and cautioned
statements for each accused and statements
from State witnesses comprising
one from the Media and Information
Commission (MIC), police, army and
another from the Registrar of the High
Court.
But the defence argued that they should also be served with
the diary
of investigation. Zvekare refused to release it saying he needed
to go
through it first to see if there was any privileged information since
the
case involved "state security" and some recorded information could be a
serious breach of the same if released for public consumption.
Mutambara's lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said the defence was unable to
make
applications for a constitutional challenge in the case because of the
prosecution's delay in releasing of the papers.
"Arthur
Mutambara, Davison Maruziva and The Standard Press should not
have authored,
edited and published false information which is likely to
undermine public
confidence in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Defence
Forces of
Zimbabwe as well as contemptuous to the High Court of Zimbabwe",
Academy
Chinhamora of the MIC said in his witness' statement.
A Principal
Research, Investigations and Monitoring Officer at the
MIC, Chinhamora said
by publishing the article, both Maruziva and the paper
were in agreement
with the supplied information and so had a common
intention.
The ZRP's Faustino Mazango, also testifying for the State, submitted
that
"Mutambara insulted the law enforcing agencies by referring to them as
imbecilic and cynical military junta running the affairs of the
country".
The army's Nicholas Dube submitted that Mutambara lied
when he wrote
that there was heavy army presence in the major cities
intimidating ordinary
citizens.
Maruziva denies the charges on
the basis that the article was purely
Mutambara's opinion which the Standard
merely published while Mutambara
denies the same charges on the basis that
as a leader of a political party,
he has a constitutional right to express
himself on all issues of national
interest.
Zim Standard
Business
Saturday, 12 July 2008 16:30
THE Zimbabwe Investment
Authority (ZIA) has embarked on a
restructuring programme to create a lean
structure to drive the
organisation, a year after the formation of the
investment promotions
agency.
ZIA was formed last year
following the merger of the Zimbabwe
Investment Centre (ZIC) and Export
Processing Zones Authority (EPZA).
Newly appointed CEO Richard
Mbaiwa told Standardbusiness the
restructuring had been assented to by the
ZIA board.
"We will have a new structure for ZIA. We are in the
last stage of
implementing it," he said.
He said there will be
few casualties as the organisation has not
replaced staffers who left the
country's investment promotions body.
"It might have a few people
who might be affected," he said.
Mbaiwa, who has been in charge in
an acting capacity, took over the
reins last week though his appointment is
effective 1 April. He was mandated
to provide leadership in executing the
Authority's mission to promote and
facilitate value-added investment in
Zimbabwe so as to contribute to
sustainable national economic development
and growth".
Like all the other heads of parastatals and
quasi-government body
Mbaiwa is on a renewable performance-based
contract.
Analysts say Mbaiwa, boasting over 22 years experience in
the public,
private and quasi-government sectors, faces a tough hurdle to
promote
investments into the country in the wake of a political stalemate
after the
27 June one-man presidential election run-off.
In the
first half of the year, ZIA approved investments projects worth
over US$335
million. If the projects are undertaken, they will generate 3
565 employment
opportunities to the already shrinking job market.
In the
comparable period last year, ZIA approved projects worth US$329
billion with
a potential to generate 4 249 jobs.
Investors who have put their
money into Zimbabwe are quacking over the
implementation of the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act that gives
locals a controlling
shareholding in foreign-owned companies operating in
Zimbabwe.
Amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act will give government 25%
shareholding free of charge in foreign owned mines.
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 12 July 2008 15:37
THE British have been celebrating the
sixtieth anniversary of the
National Health Service
(NHS).
Aneurin Bevan, a much-adored socialist, introduced
this free health
service for all.
In 1948, socialism seemed the
ideal ideology for many countries. The
Second World War had ended three
years earlier and most politicians felt
ordinary people deserved a "break"
from the horrors of that conflagration
brought about by a man who had gone
bonkers.
The present Labour government has reviewed the NHS. In a
voluminous
document, it proposes many improvements, still anchored on the
free
availability of health services to ordinary, low-income citizens. There
has
been criticism of the service for a long time, including the incidence
of
being infected in the hospitals.
At independence,
Zimbabwe's first government tried to introduce free
education and a
"people-centred" health service. But the socialist thrust
was immediately
out of kilter with the realities of the post-UDI economy.
Today,
both sectors are in dire need of salvation. They are only two
of the big
holes which must be filled with something if Zimbabwe is to be
salvaged from
the abyss of a horrific collapse of everything we looked
forward to from 18
April 1980.
Whether you are in the country or outside, any thoughts
of what we
need to do to end the crisis must hinge on how we got there in
the first
place. There are those who insist that our mistake was to place
too much
trust in people who had only a marginal interest in other people's
welfare.
Yes, when they returned from years of toiling in hellish conditions
for the
freedom of the country, they were imbued with the same spirit of
selflessness which had inspired them to launch the struggle. But somewhere
along the way, their focus shifted, tragically.
No longer were
they totally committed to the ideals which had guided
them while they fought
from Zambia, Angola and Mozambique. A new dimension
of their commitment had
been born from what they had seen on arrival in
Harare. This great
metropolis may have looked a little tattered on the
edges, but it still
ticked.
What fascinated them was how all this could now belong
to them - and
not to the people they had conquered. The temptation to
replace the former
masters - in every way possible - was almost
irresistible. Once installed as
the new lords of the manor, they paid only
incidental attention to the
ordinary people.
There was a spate
of strikes during this period, workers protesting at
their low wages, which
they compared with the luxury with which the new
leaders were looking after
their own interests. To quell the agitation among
the workers, the
government sent in soldiers or the police.
Today, they use the same
weapons to quell political agitation. What
are we to make of this
coincidence?
There are those - the apologists? - who claim that
even at that early
stage a foreign element was detectable as a major factor
in sowing the seeds
of discontent. The so-called dissident menace was
spawned by the apartheid
regime, they claim. If there had been no material
support from the racists
the menace would not have persisted for as long as
it did.
Today the government still insists the foreign element is a
factor in
our crisis. Last week it was expected to be tabled at the Security
Council.
Britain and the United States were pushing for sanctions against
President
Robert Mugabe and his fellow travellers. But China and Russia,
although no
longer as committed to the Zimbabwean struggle as they were in
the mid-70s,
were expected to use their veto power to block any punitive
response.
All this must sound sickeningly familiar to any
Zimbabwean with even a
cursory understanding of where it all began. It is
accepted that no nation
is an island, that we are all part of a Global
Village whose rules and
regulations must somehow be adhered to if we are to
remain respectable
members of that community.
Yet, even
allowing for the old African adage that you cannot stand
idly by while your
neighbour's hut is burning, there must come a time when
people decide that
they and only they can determine their own destiny,
albeit with minimal
outside help. Zimbabweans who took up the electoral
cudgels against Zanu PF
on 29 March must have felt they had done just that -
taken a decision to
determine their own destiny at the polls. After the
abuse of that entire
system by a party with hardly any respect for even the
most elementary
requirements of what constitutes fair play, most of them
must have wondered:
what else do we need to do?
Most of them know what the answer is.
If Mugabe and Zanu PF know the
answer too, then we are set for a titanic
battle for the soul of Zimbabwe.
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 12 July 2008 15:34
IT is difficult to
understand what drives a human being to murder
another in order to secure a
political advantage.
Long after the 29 March and even the
recent 27 June presidential
election run-off, people continue to be
brutalised and killed in gruesome
circumstances. Violence -including rapes -
continue to be reported.
These things would not be happening if we
had peace monitors in place.
The violence that is mostly attributed to Zanu
PF is not going to stop until
there are external monitors to deter
it.
It is important, therefore, for both the United Nations and the
African Union to agree on sending monitors to Zimbabwe until peace and
stability return. The parties to the negotiations, in part claim they are
entering into negotiations for the sake of peace and for their supporters.
They should, therefore, have no problems with the presence of monitors whose
aim will be to enhance peace.
The delay in convening parliament
could be attributed to a desire to
resolve the crisis Zimbabwe is facing and
that this is part of the search
for a solution to enable it to move
forward.
Negotiations however succeed where parties to a conflict
conduct talks
in the spirit of give-and-take. The most successful model of
negotiations is
one that results in a win-win situation.
The
current dialogue between the two MDC formations and Zanu PF needs
to be
conducted in good faith and must be informed by a realisation that
long-term
stability and peace is never anchored on a single victor in a
conflict
situation.
Various factors drive parties to the negotiating table,
but key among
these is that the political terrorism of the past three months
is incapable
of delivering the Zimbabwe we - not even the architects and
perpetrators of
the violence - all envisage.
The government
acknowledges this, but more importantly it recognises
that it no longer
holds the key to the future and that consequently it
requires other
political players to rescue it from its dismal record.
Zanu PF's
challenge right now is to make itself relevant to the
present and future
rather than continuing to focus on its assumed glorious
past. Last week's
draft United Nations sanctions list against 14
individuals - headed by
President Robert Mugabe - for their role in the
recent wave of violence
signals how fast time is running out for them.
It defies logic that
while purporting to pursue negotiations there is
no let-up on crimes of
violence which would disgrace primitive savages. Jean
Pierre Bemba, the
former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo pushed his luck
too far. That has earned him custody at the
International Criminal Court at
The Hague.
The MDC argues that the on-going violence is part of a
strategy to
"eliminate" its leadership and points to the arrest of its
elected senators,
MPs and councillors. Zanu PF and the government are the
ones in power and if
they are genuine, they can halt the violence or track
down and punish the
perpetrators. If it continues along this path, it needs
to remember that
there is no night so long it does not end with
dawn.
Zanu PF can't do to the MDC what it did to PF Zapu. Those
were not
negotiations, they were modalities of absorption. The MDC commands
a
nationwide popular following. That cannot be beaten into submission in the
long-term. Zanu PF should not be deluded by its own propaganda. Nobody is in
any doubt about the true nature of its "victory". If it wants to find a way
out of its isolation it needs to stop the violence - now.
Pahad, Mbeki Complicit In Mugabe Repression
Letters
Saturday,
12 July 2008 15:53
I was shocked when one of the television channels
showed a headline
saying South African government official, Aziz Pahad had
advised the western
governments not to meddle in Zimbabwe's affairs but to,
instead, leave
Africans to deal with the issue.
If my
memory is correct, we have been in this crisis for about nine
years now with
the likes of Pahad, President Thabo Mbeki, the African Union
and SADC saying
nothing but instead urging Mugabe and Zanu PF to continue
abusing
us.
It's only the western governments which seem to care much about
our
predicament. They accepted our brothers and sisters who crossed into
their
territories illegally without setting gangs from their youth
movements/militia to terrorise them. Only recently Botswana and Zambia have
begun standing up to President Robert Mugabe's bullying, albeit too
late.
I don't know which solution Pahad is talking about. Is it
letting all
of us being murdered while they pretend not to hear our pleas
for help?
I suspect that the xenophobic attacks against Zimbabweans
and other
nationals were a creation of people like him and Mbeki for how
come they
took almost a week before denouncing the ruthless
attacks?
There's this silly belief among African presidents that
the
imperialists are about to take over our country. What for? For their own
information, there's nothing left to envy in Zimbabwe because of their
comrade. It is Zimbabweans who are crying out that the land that was given
to lazy and jealous non-farming but politically connected people be given to
farmers who are capable of putting the land to productive use and thus
revive the country's crumbling economy.
Ever since the new
breed of farmers took over, we have known hunger.
We have been reduced to
degreed, poor and hungry refugees in neighbouring
countries such as South
Africa. It pains us to hear Pahad cheering our
tormentors. I hope when the
day of reckoning comes we will judge Pahad and
his SA colleagues as
accomplices of Zanu PF. Shame on you! What is it that
we have done wrong so
much so that you take no notice while our freedoms are
being trampled
on?
First Pahad and his president accused us of being unable to
solve our
own problems when we went running to them in our moment of need
asking for
help. They told us to come back to our country and deal with our
problems on
our own. It pained us to hear Pahad call Morgan Tsvangirai a
"cry baby"
whenever he seeks their help. Then when we started solving our
problems on
29 March they came up with this silly idea that our problems
could only be
solved by a Government of National Unity. Whatever that animal
is!
Why don't you commend us for defeating the tyrant in spite of
his
entire armoury?
Dejected
Harare
------------
Promoting
Mediocrity
Letters
Saturday, 12 July 2008
15:52
I recently came across Moton Malianga, the former deputy
minister of finance/economic planning.
I wondered
what had happened to him since he was dropped from
government. I had known
the Maliangas and was friends with Washington
Malianga during the turbulent
1960s.
I felt a sense of bitterness. These were men - and
there are
more women like these men - who fought so hard so that we could be
free and
stand proudly among the community of nations and yet with all due
respect,
today they are paupers.
What empowerment is Zanu
PF promoting when nationalist leaders
such as these men are left to wallow
in poverty? Do we blame this on the
leadership in Manicaland - that allows
people like Kenneth Vundukayi
Manyonda to be forgotten when he could be
playing an important role in
labour matters in this
country.
I have often wondered whether we would have
"problems" with
labour movement if we had someone of his background in the
Ministry of
Labour. We are very good at ignoring the skills we have, yet
when these
people go to neighbouring countries we start to whinge about
skills exodus.
Christopher Kuruneri was a brilliant chap. He
had problems after
coming to the aid of this country, but how was he
rewarded? We are very good
at elevating mediocrity while pretending that we
do not have talent. Is it
because talented people frighten the hell out of
us?
Tirivanhu Mhofu
Emerald
Hill
Harare.
--------
AU, Sadc Must Reject Stage-managed Run-off Poll
Letters
Saturday, 12 July 2008 15:49
THE Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition, comprising more than 300
non-governmental organisations
championing the human rights and governance
cause in Zimbabwe reiterates
that the twin crises of governance and
legitimacy in our country are set to
worsen following the presidential
election run-off held on 27 June
2008.
Coalition contends that the current government
of President
Robert Mugabe cannot claim legitimacy, due to successive
controversial
elections and the entrenchment of coercive politics through
the
establishment of a Repressive State Apparatus (RSA), infrastructure of
violence represented by the youth militia, war veterans, security agents and
the enactment of repressive legislation such as POSA and AIPPA among
others.
Any government that is established on the blood of
ordinary
people who are massacred and tortured because of their political
beliefs
lacks legitimacy and the mandate to rule.
Since
1980, thousands of Zimbabweans who shared a different
political opinion to
that of the ruling Zanu PF party have been killed.
During the period 1982-5,
scores of villagers and political activists in the
Matabeleland and the
Midlands provinces were murdered and lost property
during what became known
as the Gukurahundi massacres, perpetrated by the
State
agents.
Beyond any doubt, the greatest burden of guilt for
these
atrocities lies with the Zimbabwean government forces, in particular
the
notorious 5 Brigade, or Gukurahundi Brigade.
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition maintains that the national crisis
will not be
resolved if Zanu PF continues to subvert the will of the people
as expressed
emphatically on 29 March 2008 when the people overwhelmingly
voted for
justice, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, jobs and
food.
As part of restoring governmental legitimacy and
peoples'
confidence in public national affairs, the Coalition demands SADC,
the AU
and the greater part of the international community must reject
forthwith
the stage-managed elections; an immediate end to political
violence and
intimidation; repeal repressive legislation and unjust laws;
advocate for
opening up of political space, including print and broadcast
media access;
and that among other things the government addresses the
economic and
humanitarian crisis, including unbanning all non-governmental
organisations.
Crisis Coalition
Zimbabwe
-------------
How Zanu PF
Gypped Voters
Letters
Saturday, 05 July 2008
17:05
AT Kuwadzana 5 Primary School in Harare, where I cast my
spoilt
vote on the morning of 27 June 2008, there was a new Zanu PF way of
voting,
which I witnessed.
The people were told
to record the serial numbers of their
ballot paper on their palms. They
would then proceed to Holland, a Zanu PF
base in Kuwadzana 6, where they
would register their serial numbers as
evidence that they indeed voted for
Zanu PF.
It was being speculated that those whose addresses
will be
missing from this list at base, the interpretation would be that
they didn't
vote or they voted for the wrong person in the one-man
presidential election
run-off, and that this would result in their houses
being repossessed.
The right mental attitude towards any
Divine promise of God will
bring it to pass . . .
Wezhira Wezhara
Harare