Mugabe says Zimbabwe elections possible this year

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

HARARE — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday said new elections
were possible this year despite a timeline that put the polls in 2012 at the
earliest.

"We still have six months to go and elections can be held this year," Mugabe
told a meeting of his ZANU-PF party's central committee.

"The inclusive government was never meant to last forever."

Mugabe said Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) wanted to extend the so-called "global political agreement"
under which it shares power with Mugabe's party in a tense coalition
government.

"When we appended our signatures to the global political agreement it was on
the understanding that this was a vehicle for fresh elections which would
decide who should govern this country," Mugabe said.

"Having joined government and tasted the warm sweetness of power, the MDC
formations no longer want elections. They want elections suspended
indefinitely and their governorship extended to infinite."

Negotiators from the rival parties agreed on July 6 to a timeline for
election preparations that would put the polls in 2012.

The roadmap set down a timeframe of 45 days to complete new electoral laws,
followed by 30 days for voter education and two months to prepare a new
voter roll.

No decision was made on the date for a referendum on a new constitution.

Under Zimbabwe's unity accord, signed after violent and inconclusive
presidential elections in 2008, a new constitution must be approved by
referendum before new general elections.

The constitution-writing process is running a year behind schedule. Drafters
have set September as the target for a referendum, but repeated delays have
cast doubt on the date.

NO elections this year - South Africa tells Robert Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

15/07/2011 15:49:00    by

SOUTH AFRICA has told the beleaguered Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe that
there is no way the country can have elections this year.

The South African facilitation team to the Zimbabwe political crisis said
polls can only be held when all the provisions in the GPA and the election
roadmap are fulfilled.

The team’s comments come in the wake of Wednesday’s declaration by the Zanu
PF politburo that elections would be held this year no matter what.

Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu PF spokesperson, said the politburo had unanimously
re-endorsed the party’s Mutare congress resolutions on elections.

South African President Jacob Zuma’s international relations advisor and
spokesperson of the facilitation team, Lindiwe Zulu, yesterday said restated
positions should be fulfilled first before elections could be held.

Zulu is on record saying elections in Zimbabwe were not feasible this year.

“In as far as elections are concerned, there are certain processes that need
to be followed, among them implementing everything in the election roadmap.
It’s not for the facilitation team to determine when elections will be held,
but they should be held when the environment is conducive, when all parties
are happy and when the institutions that are supposed to run the elections
are in place,” said Zulu.

“. . . We have to bear in mind that the roadmap was crafted by the
negotiators, who represented their parties and it was adopted not only by
the Troika, but the whole Sadc. We, therefore, expect the roadmap and also
the GPA to be implemented before elections are held.”

Zulu said the facilitation team would not be distracted by comments made (by
Zanu PF or anyone else) outside the negotiation process as her team only
dealt with negotiators.

She said her team would soon meet the negotiators to work on the timelines,
which would be presented at the Sadc summit in Angola next month.

The negotiators have agreed on timelines and presented them to principals,
but Zanu PF has refused to accept them claiming they would drag elections
into next year or 2013.

Speaking soon after the politburo meeting on Wednesday night, Gumbo said
their chief negotiator, Patrick Chinamasa, had taken them through the issue
of election timelines, but the party had rejected them.

“Some of the timeframes are unacceptable, given that they will drag
elections until next year or 2013,” Gumbo said, adding Zanu PF would push
for elections this year.

Political analysts meanwhile declared Zanu PF’s wish for elections this year
would most certainly hit a brick wall because Zuma and Sadc would not accept
another disputed election.

Political analyst John Makumbe said it was practically impossible to hold
elections this year adding it was “crazy” for Zanu PF to believe the
politburo could unilaterally impose its decisions.

“They are clearly living in the past and are refusing to realise that they
are no longer the ruling party. Now there is an inclusive government and
they are part of a three-legged pot, so it’s no longer the politburo which
runs the country,” he said.

Another analyst, Charles Mangongera, said it was clear Zanu PF would soon be
forced into an embarrassing climb-down over the election demands because
other GPA partners and Sadc won’t accept polls without a clear roadmap.

“These are just statements of bravado, but at the end of the day, Zanu PF
will soon have its tail between the legs, considering the stance taken by
Zuma and Sadc,” he said. Newsday

Four journalists arrested in Zimbabwe, lawyer says

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Jul 15, 2011, 17:53 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwean police on Friday arrested four journalists who were
covering the eviction of a police officer, who was reportedly sacked for
having the prime minister's party's song as his mobile phone ring tone,
their lawyer said.

Lizwe Jamela, from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights group, said
journalists Nqobani Ndlovu, Pindai Dube, Oscar Nkala and Pamenus Tuso had
sent him text messages that they were being detained at Ntabazinduna police
station near Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city.

Jamela said the four freelance journalists had gone to the police station to
cover the eviction of a policeman who was accused of supporting Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Police sources in Bulawayo said Tedious Chisango was dismissed from the
police force for having an MDC song as the ring tone on his mobile phone.

Friday's arrests come weeks after that of editor Nevanje Madanhire, reporter
Patience Nyangove and Loud Ramakgapola in connection with a story that The
Sunday Standard published covering the detention of Jameson Timba, a
minister in Tsvangirai's office.

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists condemned the arrests, saying it confirmed
that the country was a 'rogue state like Burma (Myanmar) and Iran.'

Foster Dongozi, secretary general of the union, said in a statement, 'This
is really frightening exercise the police has started. The union's fears are
that the arrests will escalate as elections are approaching.'

Armed cop robs taxi drivers

http://www.iol.co.za

July 15 2011 at 10:09am

.

A Zimbabwean police constable is facing armed robbery charges after he
allegedly robbed five taxi drivers of their money and valuables using his
service pistol, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Friday.

Aloud Hurumba, 23, was not formally charged when he appeared before regional
magistrate William Bhila, who remanded him in custody to July 27. His trial
date has been set for August 18.

Hurumba told the court that fellow policemen assaulted him while he was in
custody.

Prosecutor Michael Reza said he would investigate the claims, adding that
the accused should be remanded in custody for government doctors to examine
him.

Hurumba was stationed at Chikurubi Support Unit, Lima Troop.

Reza alleges that Hurumba was issued with a service pistol in April this
year. - Sapa

Police abduct MDC-T official in Headlands

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 July, 2011

The MDC-T district chairperson for Headlands Allan Svotwa, has been reported
missing since Wednesday night, when he was taken from his house by a Colonel
Svodzai and some police officers.

According to the MDC-T, the abductors said they were taking Svotwa to
Headlands police station. But relatives who went to look for him were told
he was not there.
Lawyers are reportedly making frantic efforts to locate the missing
official, as the party reels from an intensifying ZANU PF campaign of
arrests and torture of their officials and supporters.

Meanwhile two other MDC-T members are reportedly in hospital recovering from
injuries sustained in an attack by ZANU PF thugs on Thursday. A statement by
the MDC-T said Abel Samakande, the Mutoko East district chairperson, and
Steven Zenda, the Mutoko East District Organising Secretary, were severely
assaulted at the Mbare Musika bus terminus in Harare.

Zenda was dragged off a bus and forced to contact his district chairperson,
Abel Samakande, who made his way to Mbare. The two were taken to a torture
base nearby and severely assaulted. Two Police Internal Security
Intelligence (PISI) officers are reported to have arrived during the
assault, but they simply took details of the two victims before they were
released.

Mbare MP Piniel Denga said: “The situation in this area is difficult to
manage because the ZANU PF youth militia work in cohorts with the police in
perpetrating violence against the MDC-T.”
Denga told SW Radio Africa that the Chipangano gang in the area receive
instructions from top ZANU PF officials, and they have destroyed boreholes
and other developmental projects, saying they are linked to the MDC-T.

The Chipangano gang has also been accused of blocking the Old Mbare hostels
rehabilitation programme, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A report in the Daily News said Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda accused ZANU
PF politburo member Tendai Savanhu, and the party’s Harare provincial youth
chairperson Jim Kunaka, of using the violent youths to attack council
workers who were rebuilding the hostels.

Masunda said the two should “stop politicising the Bill and Melinda Gates
project” because the funds were “not sourced for cheap political gains but
to ensure that people have good lives”.
Speaking at a ceremony at the Town House on Thursday, the Mayor reportedly
said: “Tell those misguided loose cannons in the form of Jim Kunaka to stop
politicising the project because the funders have more money to help us.”

But as the Mbare MP Denga explained, ZANU PF and the Chipangano youths want
no progress or development in the area if it benefits anyone suspected of
being a supporter of the MDC, or that makes local MDC officials appear to be
doing good for the people.

Assaulted Glen View detainees still denied treatment

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 July, 2011

The group of 24 MDC activists facing charges in the case of a murdered
police officer in Glen View, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts for
their routine remand hearing on Friday. Their lawyer Jeremiah Bamu revealed
that the 8 still in remand prison continue to be denied medical access by
prison officials, who are ignoring a court ruling ordering treatment.

The activists were arrested back in May after officer Petros Mutedza was
killed in a Glen View pub. The police randomly raided the area and arrested
only MDC members, despite evidence that many were not even present when the
tragic incident occurred. Witnesses said Mutedza was killed by unknown
assailants.

Defence lawyer Bamu told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the magistrate did
not set a trial date for the case but “made an undertaking” to set the date
at the next hearing on July 29th.

Regarding medical access Bamu said they were advised “to liaise” with the
prosecution next week and arrange for those needing it to seek private
treatment. “The earlier ruling said we should arrange medical access with
prison administrators but all our efforts have been in vain,” Bamu said.

The lawyer said the arrested activists sustained injuries when they were
severely assaulted by the police while in detention. He added that those
still in remand prison, especially the female inmates, are only getting pain
killers for their injuries.

A statement by the party revealed that Yvonne Musarurwa has a fractured left
hand and a wound on her right leg. Cynthia Manjoro has a large lump on the
left knee after being beaten with a bottle.

Glen View Councillor Tungamirai Madzokera, who sustained serious head
injuries during the assaults, has also still not been treated. As reported
on SW Radio Africa, lawyers said he is experiencing pain at night and is
having memory problems.

MDC Officials Brutalised After Abduction

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, July 15, 2011 – Two members of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), who were abducted on
Thursday in Mbare by suspected Zanu (PF) militia known as Chipangano, are
battling for their lives at a private hospital.

In a statement to the media, the MDC-T said Abel Samakande, the MDC-T Mutoko
East district chairperson and Steven Zenda, the Mutoko East District
Organising Secretary, were seriously assaulted by Zanu (PF) thugs in Mbare
ON Thursday.

Samakande sent a sms to a Radio VOP reporter about his abduction on Thursday
afternoon.

The MDC-T said Zenda, 36, who was at the Mbare Musika bus terminus was
forced out of a bus by Zanu (PF) youths led by one Hondo and started
assaulting him. “They dragged him to a building opposite former Bata Stores
at Mbare Musika where other Zanu (PF) youths were gathered and further
assaulted him with booted feet, button sticks and metal rods. The assault
resulted in him sustaining injuries on his head, hands, feet and back. Zenda
was forced to call his superiors to come to Mbare. He contacted his district
chairperson, Samakande, 42 who on arrival had his car's side window smashed
as Zanu (PF) youths tried to abduct him,” read part of the MDC-T statement.

"The two were then allegedly dragged into a torture base at Mbare Musika,
where they were further assaulted. During the assault, two police Internal
Security Intelligence, (PISI) officers are said to have arrived, and in the
presence of Zanu (PF)’s Chipangano chairperson and one Hondo, took details
of the two before they were released. The MDC-T said the two activists
reported the incident at Mbare Police Station where a docket was opened but
no arrests had been made although the assailants have been identified. The
RRB number is; 1217898.

“The two have since been admitted in hospital. Zanu (PF)’s violent
Chipangano terror group continues to roam the streets of Mbare, harassing,
intimidating and assaulting known MDC activists and supporters but no action
is taken against them,” the statement noted.

Chinese miners 'poisoning Zim elephants'

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za

Eyewitness News | 6 Hour(s) Ago

A Zimbabwean conservation group is claiming Chinese miners are poisoning
elephants in the Zambezi Valley.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce says it has reports of nine elephants
being killed so far.

The taskforce says the nine elephants were killed at Mushumbe Pools,
reportedly with poisoned loaves of bread.

Johnny Rodrigues believes a Chinese firm looking for uranium was
responsible, but there has been no police confirmation of that.

Rodrigues told Eyewitness News that the ivory has been removed from the
carcasses.

He is now worried that if the carcasses are not burnt, they will poison
other wildlife.

Rodrigues says they have reported the matter to the National Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority, who has promised to investigate.

Zimbabwe inflation quickens to 2.9 pct y/y in June

http://af.reuters.com/

Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:46am GMT

JOHANNESBURG, July 15 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate quickened
to 2.9 percent year-on-year in June from 2.5 percent in May, the Zimbabwe
National Statistical Agency said on Friday.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation was at 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent in
May, Zimstats said. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe)

Zim/SA trade deficit balloons

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Tobias Manyuchi     Friday 15 July 2011

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s trade deficit with South Africa increased more than
seven times over the past four years to hit 13,6 billion rands (about US$2
billion) last year, according to a report produced by the Ministry of
Economic Planning in Harare.

The report shown to ZimOnline yesterday said Zimbabwe last year exported
goods worth 1, 3 billion rands to South Africa, while importing 15,1 billion
rands worth of goods from its richer southern neighbour, its main supplier
of most key requirements ranging from food to loans to fund its struggling
industry.

Zimbabwe in 2007 imported 1.9 billion rands more worth of goods from South
Africa than it sold its giant neigbour that boasts Africa’s biggest economy.

According to the report, the huge trade imbalance in favour of South Africa
“reflects the difficulties being faced by local industry, as South African
imports and credit lines are helping to provide basic consumer goods as well
as keep some manufacturing industries afloat.”

Zimbabwe and South Africa were for decades each other’s biggest trading
partner on the continent in addition to being strong political allies.

But the relationship has changed over the past decade following the collapse
of Zimbabwe’s economy chiefly due to President Robert Mugabe’s controversial
policies, including his violent farm reforms that destabilised the mainstay
agricultural sector.

According to the report Zimbabwe, which used to sell more goods to South
Africa than to any other country on the continent, now exports most of its
products to Zambia, which absorbs 30 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports.

Botswana and Malawi are the second biggest export markets with each taking
15 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports, while South Africa, just like Mozambique,
accounts for only 11 percent of its northern neighbour’s export receipts.

Zimbabwe’s export sector has remained depressed over the past decade, a
reflection of a crisis-sapped economy that had contracted since 2000 and
only reversing the trend in 2009 following formation of a coalition
government by Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

While the economy has shown impressive signs of recovery and is seen
expanding by nine percent this year, capacity utilisation in the key
manufacturing sector remains depressing at or below 40 percent.

Local industries say they are unable to increase production because of a
host of problems including power shortages, high input costs, shortages of
working capital, antiquated machinery and technology. -- ZimOnline

South Sudanese Leader To open Harare Show

http://www.radiovop.com

By Amos Maseko, Harare, July 15, 2011 - President Robert Mugabe's government
has invited the newly installed South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit to
come and officially open this year's Harare Agricultural Show, which runs
from August 19 to 27.

“Mayardit will be opening the show this year. He has already confirmed his
attendance,” said a well placed official within Zimbabwe's agriculture
ministry who could not reveal his name on professional reasons.

According to the official, Mayardit confirmed his visit Thursday.

The visit will mark the South Sudanese leader's first ever visit to Zimbabwe
in his new official capacity.

Then Vice President of a united Sudan, Mayardit was in Zimbabwe 2009 “to
consult and update” President Mugabe on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the government in
Khartoum.

Analysts say Mugabe is keen to position his country for rich pickings in the
resource rich country after opportunities were rendered abound by her recent
split from a united Sudan to form her own autonomous state.

Mugabe's regime has been deserted by old friends in the past decade who are
careful not to associate with his authoritarian leadership.

During the past 10 years, Mugabe has found friendship among countries such
as Libya, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, whose leaders are also seen as rogue.

His visit is also expected to cement trade relations with Zimbabwe after
Zimbabwe’s secretary for Foreign Affairs Joey Bimha early this month told a
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration
and International Trade that Zimbabwean businesses had been invited by
Southern Sudan to come and exploit the numerous business opportunities that
have been made available by the recent split of the vast region to form its
own independent State.

Hangmen crisis puts pressure on death penalty

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

15/07/2011 00:00:00
    by Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE has “so many hangmen” government claims that an executioner cannot
be found are not credible, a Senator said during a debate in the House of
Assembly.

Some 55 death row inmates await their date with the hangman – but the
government says it has been unable to fill the vacancy since 2005. Several
newspaper adverts have gone unanswered, say ministers.

"In our country there are so many hangmen. Maybe we are not advertising
enough,” Chikomo Senator Morgan Femai (MDC-T) said while contributing to a
debate on the state of prisons on Wednesday.

Femai’s statement was laden with political undertones with its unmissable
allusion to perpetrators of political violence in the country, but for the
inmates, the life of uncertainty is proving unbearable.

At least one of the 55 prisoners has been in jail for 13 years, and he told
the House Committee on Human Rights: “I’m being hanged daily because I don’t
know when my sentence will be carried out.”

The parliamentary committee has recommended that the death row inmates’
sentences be commuted to life in prison, as capital punishment comes under
new pressure from legislators.
“Why are we continuing with this law if we can't find a hangman?” asked
Masotsha-Ndlovu Senator Enna Chitsa (MDC-T).

Obert Gutu, the country’s Deputy Minister of Justice and a Senator for the
MDC-T which supports abolition of the death penalty, said many Zimbabweans
would not take the job for fear it would attract “evil spirits to the
hangman and his family”.

“In the African culture, a job that entails the killing of another human
being is not considered a job at all,” Gutu said last week. “It is looked at
with contempt and superstition, mostly because as Africans, we believe that
if one kills another human being, the spirit of that person will return to
torment its killer and his family.”

'Sell-out' minister may be next victim of skewed land policy

http://mg.co.za/

JASON MOYO Jul 15 2011

President Robert Mugabe's use of farmland to stifle dissent among his
followers has been laid bare by the threatened invasion of a farm owned by a
senior member of his party, who is regarded as a moderate.

Tracy Mutinhiri is a Zanu-PF MP, deputy labour and social welfare minister
and the ex-wife of a struggle stalwart.

Nine years ago, a mob led by her then husband Ambrose Mutinhiri, an ex-army
brigadier, seized the property from tobacco farmer Gary Cartwright. Last
weekend, a Zanu-PF mob arrived to drive her off it.

Members of her party have alleged that she is "too friendly" with Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and is co-operating with members of his Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), Zanu-PF's coalition partner in government.

She is accused of voting with the MDC when Lovemore Moyo was elected as
speaker of Parliament earlier this year. After that vote she told reporters
that she had received death threats and she feared for her life.

Months earlier, while mourning the death of her brother, an MDC official who
had been killed in a car crash, she thanked the MDC for helping with the
funeral.

Last week she accompanied Tsvangirai on a tour of poor districts in the east
of the country.

Her rivals say all this is evidence that she has sold out to the opposition
and they are now demanding that she be driven off the farm.

"When I came back from the tour I heard that there had been meetings to plan
the invasion of my farm," Mutinhiri said.

Dozens of Zanu-PF militants camped for two days at the gates to the farm,
where they sang songs denouncing her and threatened to set fire to her
tobacco barns and her maize crop. Armed police kept the militants at bay.

She denied the charge that she voted against her party.

"How do they know? It was a secret ballot."

Mutinhiri said the invasion had been driven by Zanu-PF rivals who were after
her parliamentary seat.

She has also angered party leaders by opposing the setting up of torture
camps in her area and by co-operating with MDC councillors in development
projects.

She has banned the use of party slogans at village meetings and has resisted
pressure from her seniors to dole out money to Zanu-PF supporters from a
state-funded constituency development fund.

A Zanu-PF leader in the district, Lawrence Katsiru, said a formal appeal had
been sent to the party for Mutinhiri's expulsion from Zanu-PF because "she
is working more with the MDC than the party that voted for her".

Katsiru criticised "her refusal to work with Zanu-PF people in the
distribution of the fund". He said "people are now wondering if she still
belongs to Zanu-PF".

Mutinhiri said she used her allocation from the fund to renovate a school
and a clinic and to start a poultry project for locals.

She planned to meet senior party members this week and hoped her case could
"be addressed in line with protocol", she said.

Critics said she would probably discover party leaders to be cowed, afraid
to be seen to be defending her. To do so would be to risk the wealth they
themselves had accumulated under Mugabe's extensive patronage system, which
promises anything from farmland to lucrative government contracts in
exchange for total loyalty.

They said that although even his closest lieutenants were beginning to join
the growing murmuring over Mugabe's future, they were unlikely to challenge
him openly as it could mean losing the wealth they had gained under his
rule.

Mugabe sold the land-reform exercise as a programme to benefit the landless
poor. Although thousands of peasant families did benefit, the choicest farms
were parcelled out to his top allies. In that way, he ensured that party
officials would not speak out against his policies, lest they be driven off
their farms.

Even after her ordeal Mutinhiri continued to make it clear that she was
"very thankful" to Mugabe for "empowering" her with the farm. "No matter
what happens, I will stay put. I am entitled to this farm."

Mugabe and his politburo will decide Mutinhiri's fate on Friday. He is
likely to make an example of her and strike a blow for his radical loyalists
against party moderates.

Rushwaya challenges ZIFA to take her to court

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Lance Guma
15 July 2011

A lawyer representing former ZIFA Chief Executive, Henrietta Rushwaya, has
challenged a committee investigating allegations of match fixing to “be
brave enough to call her in a court of law, prove the allegations or shut up
forever."

An explosive 162 page report into match fixing involving players, coaches,
journalists and football officials, fingered Rushwaya as the alleged
mastermind. It is reported she prejudiced the football mother body of over
US$450 000 in proceeds during trips by the national teams to Asia, where
they deliberately lost matches between 2007 and 2009 as part of a betting
scam.

But Rushwaya’s lawyer Selby Hwacha is being quoted by BBC Sport as saying
“my instructions to her are that she should sue for damages." It was only
last year the politically connected Rushwaya was sacked from the ZIFA top
job for mismanagement and insubordination. Even then the allegations of
match fixing were already hovering, but no concrete report had been
compiled.

On Wednesday we asked the man who led the investigation, ZIFA Vice President
Ndumiso Gumede, why Rushwaya had not been arrested despite playing such a
leading role. “The police have our report and it’s up to them to follow the
people. If there is any criminal component to my report, it is them who
should follow up. I have no arresting powers,” Gumede told us.

Decorated coaches like Sunday Chidzambwa, Luke Masomere, Rodwell Dhlakama,
Methembe Ndlovu and Norman Mapeza have been sucked into the scandal, having
travelled with the teams on different occasions during their spells as
coaches. Chidzambwa, just like Rushwaya, has also threatened to sue over the
publication of the incriminating report.

But Gumede stuck to his guns telling us: ‘The truth is that there are people
who went with him (Chidzambwa) who have been truthful, whose conscience
worries them, who have told us the truth, including that Mr. Chidzambwa
bought a car in Singapore with the proceeds he irregularly got.”

Analysts are saying the match fixing allegations, if properly prosecuted,
could wipe out an entire generation of coaches and football players as they
all risk life bans under FIFA rules.

Some will take heart from recommendations from Gumede’s committee that
players should be dealt with leniently, because not all of them knew the
games were fixed.

Zim diamond watchdog rejected by Mines Minister

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
15 July 2011

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has rejected the monitor nominated by civil
society to oversee operations at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, saying the
appointment is null and void.

Lawyer Shamiso Mtisi, a representative of the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers
Association (ZELA), was put forward by civil society groups as the proposed
Local Focal Point for the international diamond trade watchdog, the
Kimberley Process (KP). But Mpofu has now effectively vetoed this decision,
saying Mtisi’s nomination lacked consensus from all participants in the KP.

The placement of a Local Focal Point is part of ongoing efforts to
legitimise Zimbabwe’s diamond trade, which was suspended in 2009 over human
rights concerns at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. These concerns are still
high with ongoing reports of rights abuses and rampant smuggling, all at the
hands of the military, which maintains tight controls of the entire area.

It was these concerns that Mtisi was said to have raised at a recent KP
meeting in the DRC, in a damning report on continuing violence at Chiadzwa.
Mtisi reportedly spoke about the continuing military presence at the diamond
fields, citing numerous incidents of severe beatings of villagers.

Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe Blood Diamonds Campaign told SW Radio
Africa on Friday that it is no surprise that Mpofu has rejected Mtisi as the
Local Focal Point. He explained that ZANU PF has their own candidate which
they would prefer in the role, and Mpofu is “blind” to any other proposal.

“They are throwing the baby out with the bath water with this decision,
because Mtisi is well respected,” Shumba said. “If the government wanted to
cultivate a healthy working relationship with civil society at the diamond
fields, then they shouldn’t have rejected him.”

Shumba also agreed that Minister Mpofu appears to be picking and choosing
when the KP’s ‘agreement-by-consensus’ rule best suits him. The KP has
repeatedly failed to reach consensus on Zimbabwe’s trade future, but Mpofu
has in turn repeatedly threatened to sell Chiadzwa diamonds anyway.

However, he is now hiding behind the consensus rule to veto Mtisi’s
appointment, which Shumba said is “a deliberate effort to frustrate the KP
process.”

The KP meeting in the DRC ended with no consensus on Zimbabwe’s trade
future, but despite this, the KP chairman Mathieu Yamba unilaterally
declared that exports from Chiadzwa could resume. A number of KP member
states have since distanced themselves from this announcement, insisting
that without consensus Zim diamond exports cannot be accepted.

Meanwhile, villagers from the Marange region where the Chiadzwa diamonds
fields are situated have spoken about the ‘curse’ that the diamonds have
become for them. Hundreds of former Marange residents have been relocated to
Arda Transau, an abandoned, government-owned farm in Odzi, where there are
reports of hunger and lack of proper sanitation and other facilities.
Residents said they will never benefit from the diamonds, with one resident
saying it is “a bad curse to the local people of Marange.”

Marange Diamonds 'Curse' to Zimbabweans Relocated From Mining Zone

http://www.voanews.com

14 July 2011

Residents of the diamond-producing area complain that mining security
operations have restricted their freedom, and many of them have been
relocated against their will without adequate compensation

Brendan Murphy

As the diamond world continues to argue over stones from the rich Marange
alluvial field in eastern Zimbabwe, the people of the Chiadzwa communal area
wonder if they will ever receive any benefits from the rich ground beneath
their feet.

Kimberley Process participants have sharply disagreed over issues including
compliance by firms working the field, but the voices of the people most
affected are rarely heard.

Residents of the diamond-producing area complain that mining security
operations have restricted their freedom, and many of them have been
relocated against their will.

Far from wealth, the diamonds have brought them daily challenges. Local
representatives say they voiced their complaints to government officials
only to be ignored.

Hundreds of former Marange residents have been relocated to Arda Transau, an
abandoned, government-owned farm in Odzi, also in Manicaland province, where
many complain of hunger and lack of proper sanitation and educational
facilities.

Thousands more will be moved away from their homes as mining continues. They
fear that they will never receive any benefit from the stones one relocated
resident said were “a bad curse to the local people of Marange.”

Access to the Marange area is highly restricted, limiting transparency even
for members of Parliament, government officials and human rights groups.
Roadblocks and patrols of staked-out claims restrict the freedom of movement
of local residents.

“Transportation is paralyzed,” said a Chiadzwa resident who asked not to be
named. "No buses are allowed to move in and out of Marange area. The area is
quite restricted.”

Tichafara Kusena, councilor of Mukwada Ward, which borders Chiadzwa and is
also rich in diamonds, complained that security forces at roadblocks harass
the community.

“The local people are not very free when they are moving around because
sometimes we are just stopped by the police,” Kusena said. “Anywhere you
come across with them, they question you, they search even vehicles and
sometimes the vehicles are taken to the diamond base on allegations that the
vehicle is not cleared, when it’s not cleared it’s not allowed to move
around the mining area. Sometimes they let their dogs on people when they
are moving or when they are going to the shops.”

While violence in Marange has subsided considerably since the 2008 military
operation securing the zone in which an estimated 200 people - mostly
freelance miners - were killed, the community still fears attacks by
security personnel guarding claims.

Mbada Diamonds, the largest operator, is said to have expanded its claim
recently, but company director David Kassel declined to respond to questions
on this point.

Malvern Mudiwa, chairman of the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust, said
Mbada has created a "fire-guard" around a large area to mark its newest
claim.

But many families still live within the staked-out zone, which is patrolled
by armed security guards accompanied by attack dogs. Mudiwa said the dogs
attack people or livestock if they wander too close to the fire-guard. But
it is impossible to avoid crossing it because it cuts through the community.

“I wouldn’t know what [the guards] are expecting from the villagers who are
staying on their own land,” Mudiwa said. “This is why I’m saying this is
very unacceptable. As CCDT we condemn this action in the strongest possible
way.”

Mbada director Kassel told VOA Studio that alleged human rights abuses are a
myth.

“Since the time of my company’s investment into the Marange diamond fields,
which is approximately in August to September 2009, I have not been aware or
seen or been told by any party, and I’ve been very much involved at
community level in the rural areas of Chiadzwa and Marange, I’ve not been
made aware of any human rights abuses that are purported to have taken place
or to have been taking place or anything of that nature at all. All of that
reporting is inaccurate, it’s untrue, and it’s not verifiable or verified.”

Mudiwa, who records the incidents and often helps victims to the hospital,
said attacks appear to many to be a mining company tactic to force residents
to relocate.

With travel restricted and incidents of harassment frequent, some residents
welcome relocation to Arda Transau. One relocated man who gave his name only
as Francis said that in Marange, he was afraid to leave his house for fear
of the guard dogs.

“Good riddance,” he said of Marange. But he has found life at Arda Transau
difficult.

Civil society activist Shamiso Mtisi, a so-called local focal point for the
Kimberley Process, said relocated families face starvation in Arda Transau
once they have run through compensation of US$1,000 and groceries provided
by the mining firms.

Relocation began in July 2010, when Anjin Investments moved 12 families to
temporary housing in Arda Transau. A relocated man who asked not to be
identified said he did not think he had a choice. He said the governor of
Manicaland and the Marange district Administrator told residents they would
be forcibly moved if they did not go.

Residents were promised two and half hectares of land with some irrigation,
but the 200 families at Arda Transau have much less than one hectare of land
from which to eke a living. The shortfall in farmland is disastrous for
livelihoods.

“The company simply said we were going to be moved - they never negotiated,"
said one of the first moved by Anjin. “It was a year of bad harvest. We didn’t
have any food. We had to buy food. It got serious before the end of last
year.”

The Center for Research and Development in Mutare reported that 146 families
were relocated in the middle of the 2010-2011 farming season.

Center Director Farai Maguwu said relocated families lost all of their
investment in their fields and had to clear new plots in mid-season at Arda
Transau.

“The families were forced to abandon their crops in the midst of the
agricultural season,” Maguwu said. “They were given food stocks for 3 months
and a US$1000 disturbance fee. They are currently starving whilst the
community is now under an army Brigadier Nyakunu whose duty is to
effectively conceal humanitarian disaster unfolding.”

Mbada Director Kassel told VOA that Chiadzwa residents were moved to
“wonderful accommodations” including arable land, with water, schools and
hospitals.

“Relocations are being done with the absolutely approval of the people, in
consultation with the people, in consultation with the authorities. There
are no forced removals by any means,” Kassel said. “The people are more than
happy to move, and there is absolutely no truth to forced removals of
people. Certainly not in Mbada’s concession.”

Francis, relocated to Arda Transau by Mbada this May, complained that there
is no clean drinking water and his small children have to walk seven
kilometers to Odzi for school as the local school that was promised does not
yet exist.

“They are proposing to build a school,” he said. “But you see some of these
things are just promises. One other thing about the new location is that we
don’t have potable water, drinking water. Down there in Chiadzwa, we had a
borehole at our home.”

Francis said his family must walk five kilometers to fetch water.

As reported by VOA, Marange diamonds have not benefited the Zimbabwean
people. But for Marange residents they have been nothing short of a
disaster.

When Anjin started to relocate residents of the Chiadzwa communal area in
July 2010, the company had not even gone through the process of a tender to
establish its claim with Harare. Eventually moved from temporary shelters,
these families say that they still have not seen the facilities established
in Arda Transau that they said government officials told them they could
expect, such as functioning clinics and schools.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said he had visited Arda Transau and that the
homesteads there are modern and comfortable. “They have done more than 1,000
homesteads which are complete,” Minister Mpofu said. “Those are
state-of-the-art homesteads which have not been seen anywhere else in
Africa. It is a modern resettlement program.”

Those relocated to Arda Transau did not complain about their homes, but said
the water and electricity promised by the officials before their relocation
is still not available.

“We were allocated 4-bedroom houses. Nothing else. No water, no electricity.
They said electricity would be supplied,” a man relocated by Anjin told VOA.

“Right now, people are just starving there at Arda Transau. They have no
food, lots of those people who were given plots this year, they didn’t plow
during the past rainy season, and as a result they are in hunger.”

The Anjin resident said people who had been relocated to the Anjin area were
still better off than those on the Mbada side. Anjin, he said, had offered
some of the men construction jobs for a few dollars a day. But now those
jobs have ended.

Another 4,000 families are slated for relocation to the same farm.

Maguwu of the Center for Research and Development says Arda Transau is not
big enough to accommodate those 25,000 people, let alone give them enough
land.

Two smaller companies operating in the Marange mining zone, Pure Diamonds
and Marange Resources, will soon initiate relocations of their own.

The New Reclamation Group, which holds a 50% stake in Mbada, has a video on
its Web site that portrays its treatment of Marange residents in a different
light than the residents themselves. “The people of Marange have been aided
to the tune of $2.5 million US," it declares. The video shows residents
receiving food aid and says Mbada has given relocated residents food and
farming inputs and planted trees.

But Marange residents are demanding sustainable benefits such as jobs or
shares in the mining company. Local councilor Tichafara Kusena observed that
the mining companies never consult the community about needs when providing
aid - for instance donating unneeded exercise books to a school that was
desperate for text books.

Kusena said the people of Marange are losing hope of ever benefiting from
diamonds.

“The general feeling is that we are not going to benefit ... because those
who are supposed to benefit, those who are directly affected ... are are
being relocated to Arda Transau, which is far away from the mining
companies,” Kusena said.

“They are being relocated without even employment, being relocated without
even compensation, being relocated without even any benefit," he continued.

"What can we expect? We are not going to benefit.”

Meanwhile, international attention has dwindled since 2009 when massive
human rights abuses came to light. Rights activists say only large scale
violence would boost pressure on Harare to institute reforms in Marange.

Human rights advocates also worry that the Kimberley Process has become a
toothless watchdog under its new chairman, Mathieu Yamba of the Democratic
Republic of Congo, whose unilateral rulings and declarations have grossly
favored the Zimbabwean government and those extracting immense wealth from
the Marange field.

Far from that diamond trove, Marange people in Arda Transau face an
uncertain future.

“Most people are actually starving,” the resident relocated by Anjin told
VOA.

“They don’t know where the diamond money is going. Maybe some people in
Harare, maybe the minister of mines knows better.”

SA to probe ‘stampede’ after 14 Zims left injured

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
15 July 2011

The South African Department of Home Affairs has said it will investigate
the causes of last week’s ‘stampede’ at a refugee reception centre, which
left 14 Zimbabweans injured.

The incident occurred last Friday at the Marabastad Refugee Reception Office
in Pretoria, which is already notorious for being overly congested. The
congestion has also worsened recently, after the closure of the Crown Mines
Refugee Reception Centre in Johannesburg last month.

“The Department regrets the incident and will embark on further
investigations to determine the conditions which led to the stampede with a
view to ensuring there is no recurrence of such an incident in our offices,”
Manusha Pillia, Home Affairs spokesperson told The Zimbabwean newspaper this
week.

South Africa has the highest number of registered asylum-seekers in the
world and about 95% of asylum seekers in South Africa enter from Mozambique
or Zimbabwe. The country is now trying to toughen its immigration laws,
including changing the amount of time asylum seekers have to register at
Refugee Reception Centres.

The current time limit of 14 days could be reduced to five if the department
of Home Affairs succeeds in passing its Immigration Amendment Bill, which is
before Parliament. The amendment could prevent many asylum seekers from
receiving refugee status because already the 14 day period is not long
enough.

Zimbabwe's Exiled Community Struggles in South Africa

http://www.voanews.com/

July 14, 2011

Nico Colombant | Johannesburg

Zimbabwe's growing exile community in South Africa is struggling with many
issues, such as bureaucratic hassles, losing their rights in their home
country and a lack of opportunities in their new country.

There is shouting and jostling, as hundreds of Zimbabweans wait inside the
compound of South Africa's Department of Home Affairs in an attempt to get
or renew their asylum papers.

Outside, Samuel Bango feels lucky because he finally got his own papers
renewed.

He says he left neighboring Zimbabwe because he could not feed his family
anymore as inflation and political violence became unbearable.

Austin Mamvura explains it took three weeks for him to get his own asylum
papers.  He tries to get by in South Africa by selling cookies to other
Zimbabweans waiting in line.

Many Zimbabweans say that in addition to the bureaucratic hassles, they face
discrimination in public places, and the constant threat of xenophobic
violence.  More than 60 Zimbabweans were killed in a wave of anti-immigrant
attacks in 2008, and more similar killings have since been reported.

At human rights offices in Pretoria, Zimbabwean lawyer Gabriel Shumba says
it is not just in South Africa where his fellow nationals feel at a loss. He
feels frustrated exiled Zimbabweans cannot more easily help improve the
situation in their own country.

"In terms of Zimbabwe's political realities, the deliberate sidelining or
disenfranchisement of people who have been forced to flee their country in
particular for national processes such as the constitutional reform
exercise, such as national healing issues, such as even elections," said
Shumba. "There are over four millions Zimbabweans who are now currently in
exile, who are people who are unable to vote for a new government in their
own country."

Other exiled Zimbabweans are concerned about bare survival.

Unemployed, homeless and hungry, they have found refuge at the Central
Methodist Church in a noisy section of downtown Johannesburg.

Offices have been converted into cramped quarters, where families huddle
together.

The church's lobby has been converted into a market area and also a place to
dry laundry.

One of the jobless living here, Isaac Matanda, was previously a local
government administrator in Zimbabwe.  He fled by foot last year because he
feared for his life due to his opposition political activities.

"Things have not been so comfortable to date, because I am still in search
despite that I have got high qualifications," said Matanda. "I am trying to
run around."

More Zimbabweans have been streaming into South Africa recently, amid
uncertainty over elections to be held possibly this year, incessantly high
inflation and the continued arrests of opposition leaders and activists in
their country.

Conservative estimates put the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa at 1.5
million, with more than 300,000 among them seeking asylum.

At night before bedtime, exiled Zimbabweans come together to sing and pray
for better days.

The man behind the church's generosity is Bishop Paul Verryn.

"We deal with almost every possible human difficulty that you possibly can,"
said Bishop Verryn. "There are relationship problems, there is violence,
there is sometimes alcohol, it is a problem in the building. It is not
smooth sailing and there are not any easy and quick answers."

Bishop Verryn gives nightly sermons where he also advertises available jobs
in South Africa which he hears about.

The services are well attended.  Exiled Zimbabweans say they are a moment of
reprieve in turbulent and desolate times away from home.

At the end of the service, when the bishop asks who wants special prayers
and a sprinkle with holy water,  dozens of adults rush forward with their
children, hoping they will have a better life eventually, wherever that may
be.

World's top asylum spot S.Africa plans crackdown

http://af.reuters.com

Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:59pm GMT

* Strong economy attracts regional migrants

* Violent attacks on migrants worries gov't, investors

By Jon Herskovitz

JOHANNESBURG, July 15 (Reuters) - South Africa has set the stage for the
mass deportation of more than one million Zimbabwean immigrants later this
month in a move that could alter its status as the world's largest country
of refuge.

South Africa has been a beacon for asylum seekers due to its liberal
immigration laws, proximity to African trouble spots and massive economy
compared to the rest of the continent that has attracted millions seeking
wealth they cannot find at home.

About one in five of the 845,800 asylum seekers globally in 2010 sought
refuge in South Africa, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees.

That is nearly double the combined figure for the United States and France,
the world's number two and three countries in terms of asylum applications.

The bulk of asylum seekers are from neighbouring Zimbabwe, which has become
an economic basket case under its entrenched leader Robert Mugabe, whose
ZANU-PF party has been charged by global powers with using violence and vote
fraud to stay in power.

The government said the crackdown on the Zimbabweans is a signal it wants to
get tough on those who use asylum applications to seek work and money.

"Following this project, our intention is to document nationals of other
neighbouring countries," said Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa.

South Africa allowed hundreds of thousands from Zimbabwe to enter without
documents about two years ago when its neighbour was swept up in political
violence and its already unsteady economy collapsed under the weight of
hyperinflation.

It set an end of 2010 deadline for the Zimbabweans to apply for proper
visas -- with 275,000 filling out paperwork -- and said when July ends, it
will start deporting what analysts estimate could be one to two million
other Zimbabweans without proper documents.

BOTTLENECKS

With few staff and a flood of applicants, it can take Home Affairs months or
even years to process applications, allowing immigrants to stay long enough
to earn mostly modest sums of money to help their families back home.

"As long as regional economic inequalities remain so stark, South Africa
will continue to be a primary (if temporary) destination," said Loren
Landau, director of the African Centre for Migration and Society at the
University the Witwatersrand.

The only problem is that those legitimately seeking political asylum face an
uncertain future, waiting longer in South Africa for a decision than in many
other countries.

A concern for South Africa is that not only are the number of asylum seekers
from neighbouring countries growing, but so are the numbers from further
afield African states including Somalia, Ethiopia and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.

With unemployment at 25 percent, the government has faced criticism from its
poor for allowing immigrants into South Africa, where they compete for
scarce jobs and space in shantytowns that have mushroomed in major cities.

Tensions flared about two years ago when attacks on migrants left at least
62 dead and more than 100,000 homeless, rattling the nerves of the
government and investors.

The refugees strain public services but many also take on jobs for which
there are not enough skilled South Africans, or perform work that South
Africans do not want to do.

"I would say that the net result is that the benefit equates to or surpasses
the burden," said James Chapman, a refugee attorney at the University of
Cape Town Law Clinic.

The government, concerned about the influx, is planning to tighten its
borders and expel those who stay illegally.

"The issue here is not about too many asylum seekers, per se. Rather, it's
about a migration management regime that is ill-suited to South Africa's
regional position," Landau said.

The return of Mugabe's propagandist

http://mg.co.za/

RAY NDLOVU Jul 15 2011 00:00

The growing influence and political resurrection of former Zimbabwe minister
of information Jonathan Moyo in the past seven months is sharpening the
bitter factional battle within Zanu-PF.

There is mounting uncertainty and division among Zanu-PF's two factions, led
by Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa, over the latest ambitions of the
brash tactician.

Political speculation is that Moyo is being fronted by the Mnangagwa faction
to head Zanu-PF's election campaign and replace Webster Shamu, the party's
current political commissar and minister of information and publicity.

Shamu's term as political commissar will expire in 2016 and he has the
difficult task of reviving Zanu-PF's waning support in the country in
preparation for the next elections.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismissed the claims of behind-the-scenes
tussling, saying: "I don't know what you are talking about. Our politburo
members are chosen at the congress and Moyo is our party member and a
politburo member too. It is not true. This is political speculation by
certain individuals."

However, the Mujuru faction is opposed to Moyo's ascendancy, wary that his
rise could be used to manoeuvre it out of the succession race. As early as
2004 Moyo was linked to the Mnangagwa faction, when he overtly lobbied for
Mnangagwa's rise to become the country's deputy president ahead of the
incumbent Joice Mujuru in a "coup meeting" called the "Tsholotsho
Declaration".

President Robert Mugabe later fired Moyo as minister of information and from
Zanu-PF's 50-member politburo -- the party's highest decision-making body -- 
in February 2005 and accused him of being the ringleader of the coup plot.

However, in December last year Mugabe reinstated Moyo to the politburo. The
move was interpreted by observers as an attempt by Mugabe to rope in Moyo's
propaganda expertise.

Months later Moyo's comeback trail has been littered with a raft of
provocative statements that have ­rattled Zanu-PF structures.

CONTINUES BELOW

A bruising loss in March to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over
the post of speaker in Parliament is said to have done little to inspire
confidence in Moyo among party members after he had promised to win the post
back for Zanu-PF.

The speaker's election was marred by allegations that several Zanu-PF
legislators voted for the MDC's Lovemore Moyo and this led to his victory
over Simon Khaya Moyo, the chosen candidate.

Jonathan Moyo's recent verbal spat with South Africa President Jacob Zuma,
whom he described as a "tainted negotiator", and his leading role in
Zanu-PF's delegation to the Southern African Development Community summit in
South Africa last month, have further compounded claims of behind-the-scenes
tussling to install him as the party's chief strategist in preparation for
the next elections.

Moyo has been making spirited calls for the arrest of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and is perceived to have been behind the arrest of Jameson Timba,
a top Tsvangirai aide, who spent three days in police custody after he
allegedly called Mugabe "a liar".

Moyo has called for a crackdown on independent journalists, whom he accused
of false reporting and of receiving Western funding.

Zanu-PF hawks remain fearful that Moyo's brash style could hurt the party's
stability and image and provide easy political leverage for the MDC.

Last month Gumbo clashed openly with Moyo, saying, "he does not speak for
the party", only for Didymus Mutasa to emerge later and defend Moyo's
utterances as necessary steps to defend the party against imperialism.
Mutasa is a fervent Mugabe ally and is the minister of state for
presidential affairs. The contradictory statements expose the depth
of ­divisions within the faction-riddled party.

Said political analyst Eldred Masunungure: "Zanu-PF is no longer operating
as an institution and depends entirely on one person to resuscitate the
party.

"It must be worried, because where the party is going at this rate remains
unclear. Why should Zanu-PF depend on one person? The defence of the party
is a collective duty. Zanu-PF is utterly vulnerable because it is dependent
on the skills of one person and that is tragic."

Is Jonathan Moyo regretting his anti Mugabe stance?

By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 15/07/11

Yes it’s true that Jonathan Moyo hates his past because proof lies in his
writings in which he passionately castigated Robert Mugabe, the President of
Zanu-pf. Moyo said and did things that he now wishes he should never have
said or done. That’s why he does not want his dirty skeletons metaphorically
speaking removed from the cupboard. Fortunately, he cannot undo some of his
“wrongs” especially what he wrote, it’s there for eternity and historians to
analyse and sometimes laugh at.

Judging from his latest attempts to silence the independent press as if we
have pardoned him for his retrogressive media laws e.g. AIPPA, it can be
argued that he is facing tough tests of allegiance and loyalty to Zanu-pf.
Evidence that the architect of Zimbabwe’s tough media laws is under the
microscope is his latest attempts to gag the Daily News and the Zimbabwe
Independent by stopping them from republishing articles he wrote attacking
Robert Mugabe. However, the media is fighting back.

“He hates the fact that our papers are exposing him as the unprincipled and
inconsistent character that he is. He hates his writings of five years ago.
You remind him of this and he unleashes his venom on you,” Alpha Media
Holdings Chairman, Trevor Ncube said (Newsday, Jonathan Moyo hates his past,
14/07/11).

“It is a clear attempt (his threat of lawsuit against the Independent) to
block information that he deems distasteful and an indirect way to
intimidate the media into self-censorship,” Media Institute of Southern
Africa director, Nhlanhla Ngwenya said (The Independent, Jonathan Moyo in
bid to gag the Independent, 15/07/11). What appears to be worrying Moyo
since re-joining Zanu-pf , can be narrowed into two problems: personal and
party.

Topmost on what can be perceived as Moyo’s personal problems which could be
the driving force in his endless search for political immunity are his
unresolved issues with the Ford Foundation Kenya and the University of
Witwatersrand in South Africa. That could also explain his alleged
presidential ambitions whereby he acts and speaks as if he is a Super-
Minister or as “the President of the Republic in waiting” come “the looming
danger” which he threatened recently. Another personal crisis Moyo is facing
is that of sanitising or air-brushing his self-inflicted damaged image as he
appears to be having flash-backs or nightmares of something he regrets
doing – his anti-Mugabe stance.

Then the party problems are mainly those of re-integration whereby he
appears to be facing a credibility crisis and a crisis of confidence in the
eyes of vigilant Zanu-pf hardliners who are unconvinced by his “chameleon
style” tactics and lack of guerrilla war credentials other than transiting
through Tanzania to the United States for his Western funded degrees. The
party has had to engage in fire-fighting tactics to douse Jonathan Moyo’s
fireworks in the wake of his fiery attacks on SADC and the Mediator on
Zimbabwe South African President Jacob Zuma. To some Mugabe loyalists, Moyo
is “a big risk”, “incompetent” and an “unguided missile” - from online
comments.

It is possible that Jonathan Moyo is facing resentment from within Zanu-pf
as there has not been any internal party healing since the Tsholotsho
debacle hence growing factionalism. However, rejoining Zanu-pf must have
been a matter of survival for the serial flip-flopper who had to shed real
tears to be pardoned five years ago. According to the BBC, Jonathan Moyo
cried (yes cried) when asked if he was plotting a coup, Mugabe told a
campaign rally in March 2005.

“We asked him whether he wanted to stage a coup…and tears started flowing
down his cheeks,” Mugabe said in Moyo’s home districts (BBC, Mugabe ‘made
ex-spin doctor cry’, 24/03/05). “He did terrible things, going to the army
commander,” Mugabe told the crowd, gathered in a dusty stadium outside a
beer shop owned by Moyo, the BBC said citing AFP as its source.“No Jonathan,
you are clever, but you lack wisdom. You are educated, but you do not have
wisdom,” Mugabe said.

Mugabe’s words seemed prophetic about Moyo because after writing “Why Mugabe
should go now,” Jonathan Moyo went on to re-apply to work for the same
person he was demonising with an archive of precious articles for political
historians. So who is wise now? Moyo’s failure to “raise” Zanu-pf from its
“Lazarus moment” is frustrating many in the party and is evidenced by a
series of botched projects such as the following:

•    Jingles – which backfired as research later showed they are
counterproductive;
•    Anti-sanctions campaign – is terminally ill and abandoned for being too
problematic;
•    Indigenisation – backfired when parliament found it to be
unconstitutional; even the promise to pay for the shares is unconvincing and
too risky when the state is failing to pay 75 000 ghost workers a living
wage;
•    Insisting on second opinion on ghost workers – backfired because the
Auditor General also confirmed there are over 10,000 ghost workers on the
civil service payroll;
•    Using over a thousand Chibondo skeletons – backfired, because of
outraging public morals and opening Pandora’s box as some of the dead bodies
had fluids suggesting they did not die 30 years ago during Ian Smith’s
regime;
•    Hate speech especially against President Zuma and SADC – backfired, as
Zanu-pf had to embark on fence-mending diplomacy to nearly all regional
leaders;
•    Resisting a diamond audit, backfired as it showed there was something
to hide;
•    Threatening the ‘the looming danger”  a military coup – backfired when
some in Zanu-pf distanced themselves from the cowardly act
•    Elections now or in 2016 – proving unrealistic without constitution and
voters roll

With this analysis, we hope we have answered the question, “Is Jonathan Moyo
regretting his anti-Mugabe stance” with a resounding “Yes”.

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com

A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com/

The question
July 15, 2011, 10:36 am

An article in the UK Independent on 13th July titled “France claims Gadaffi
is prepared to sacrifice his grip on power”  caught my eye this week.
Rumours are that Zimbabwe might be his destination of choice if – and it’s a
big if - he decides to leave Libya. Gadaffi is on record as saying “I am not
going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr” but things have
changed quite a lot since he said that. Nato forces began their bombardment
in mid-March and they have inflicted considerable damage on Gadaffi’s
forces. He is under increasing pressure from his own ministers and soldiers
as well as the ‘rebels’ to leave the country. “The question,” says the
French Foreign Minister, “is no longer whether Gadaffi is going to leave
power, but when and how.”

So where would he go and, more to the point, who would have him?  His
relationship with Robert Mugabe goes back a long way. The news that there
were African mercenaries fighting on Gadaffi’s behalf in the present
conflict came as no surprise.  Rumours that Mugabe had dispatched Commando
troops to Libya to protect Gadaffi tied in neatly with reports that Zanu PF
was being funded by the Libyan leader who has fiercely defended Robert
Mugabe’s regime at the AU.

It would not be the first time Mugabe had intervened militarily in another
African country. Zimbabwe sent 11.000 troops to the Congo back in 1999 in
defence of Laurent Kabila. That war lasted four years and led directly to
the start of Zimbabwe’s economic collapse. The rewards for the army’s top
brass however were lucrative deals in Congolese diamonds. Would it suit the
military to have Gadaffi as an exile in Zimbabwe bearing in mind the
security considerations that would be involved?

And now, twelve years later, is Mugabe about to give refuge to his friend
Gadaffi, a man who, like Mugabe, has used violence against his own people to
retain power. The fact that it would alienate Zimbabwe from the rest of the
world is hardly likely to trouble Mugabe. When asked in parliament about
Zimbabwean involvement in Libya, the Minister of Defence, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, replied, “I have no mandate to investigate activities happening
in another African country.” Such a bland non-answer did little to quieten
the rumour mill. It was reported that in early March the US identified
Zimbabwe as a possible exile venue for Gadaffi and the Russian envoy on the
Libyan crisis met with Mugabe as recently as July 5th.

How will ordinary Zimbabweans react to having the Libyan dictator in their
midst? Neither civic society nor the MDC have reacted so far. Rumour has it
that Gadaffi’s family already owns several properties, including farms,
businesses and residential stands. Gadaffi himself purchased a house once
owned by Grace Mugabe in one of Harare’s ‘leafy suburbs’.

Mugabe will be the one to make the decision about whether to give Gadaffi
asylum and moral considerations are not likely to carry much weight. Mugabe
has already given refuge to Mengistu Haile Mariam the former Ethipian
dictator and the Ruandan genocidaire Protais Mpiranya. The Zimbabwean people
have been silent on that issue too. Mugabe will perhaps be encouraged by
stories that Gadaffi has a plane loaded with gold bullion and thousands, if
not millions, of US dollars ready for a quick getaway. Gadaffi is apparently
demanding absolute guarantees of his personal safety. That might be
difficult in a country where greed and envy appear to be the over-riding
motives for the diamond-rich military elite. How other African leaders would
view such a development is another consideration. While Mugabe professes not
to care what the west thinks of him, he is anxious not to offend his African
brothers. Having a man like Gadaffi in the country would surely make
Zimbabwe a target for all sorts of extremist groups and that would not play
well with Zimbabwe’s neighbours, including South Africa, whose President
Zuma is the facilitator for the troubled negotiations between the political
parties.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

Bill Watch - Parliamentary Committees and Status of Bills Series - 15th July 2011