Nine killed in post-runoff violence

Botswana seals off border

'Living in a city under siege'

Irish Times

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Mugabe seems intent on starting his last war - one against his own people,
writes Walter Marwizi in Harare.
SOUND SLEEP is nearly impossible in my suburb these days.

For the past three weeks, young people have been singing all night just a
few steps from my home. It is winter here, but that has not deterred them
from camping in the open, wearing only shorts and blue-and-white shirts
bearing the image of a fist-waving President Robert Mugabe.

They chant chilling slogans that remind people of the pre-independence bush
war, which resulted in some 30,000 deaths. One particularly popular refrain,
especially in the dead of night, is: "Win or war, win or war!" They also go
door-to-door denouncing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

We have not slept easily, really, all spring, since the March 29th
presidential election that showed Mugabe's grip on power might indeed be in
jeopardy.

But what I have seen in the past few days is something different from those
days of hope. No longer are people desperately discussing the runaway
inflation rates or thinking of an opposition victory; rather, they are
scrambling for something, anything, to show that they are with Mugabe and
that they should not be made a target in what looks to be Mugabe's last
war - one against his own people.

Sometimes, the young Mugabe minions use a loudspeaker to order everyone out
of their beds for a political meeting in the dead of night. For many, it is
a bewildering, sleepy reminder of the war of liberation, when these night
meetings - called pungwes - were used to rally the masses against Ian
Smith's racist regime in the 1970s.

The meetings were understandable then. Smith, who was considered an enemy by
the majority of Zimbabweans suffering under the yoke of colonialism, waged a
war against the majority. But now, 28 years after independence, it is
difficult to understand why anybody should camp in the open in winter and
sing war songs all night.

While I struggle to make sense of this, I have to explain it to my
five-year-old son, who is now taking a keen interest in Zimbabwe's history.
He asks me one of the hardest questions I've ever heard: "Will we be safe
when the war breaks out?"

"No, no," I say, trying to sound reassuring. "Nobody is going to war."

But what is happening outside - and what is streaming into our living room
over the state-run ZBC television, where daily bulletins show Mugabe
threatening war if he loses power - is not reassuring.

Three months ago, no one could imagine militias operating in Harare in broad
daylight. But in response to Mugabe's campaign call to defend the
revolution, soldiers have established bases all over the city. For the first
time since independence, residents here have to worry about their safety.
Today, we live in a city under siege.

What do you need to survive such an offensive? The right gear helps.

Coveted items these days are cards and T-shirts from Mugabe's party, the
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF). Most Zimbabweans
loathed such objects a few months ago, but they come in handy in times of
trouble with Mugabe's foot soldiers.

In the suburbs, young thugs can mount illegal roadblocks and demand proof of
one's support for Mugabe. They force people to chant slogans affirming that
war is imminent if Mugabe is removed from power. Chant unconvincingly, and
you may be brutally beaten.

But Mugabe's force is not felt only on the street. The young people and war
veterans who have joined his violent campaign set up shop wherever they
please. Take a recent Saturday at a beauty salon in the Glen View suburb of
Harare. Beautiful young women laughed and chatted, flipping through fashion
magazines while waiting their turn in the stylist's chair. They were
abruptly interrupted by a dirty, dishevelled young man.

"Everyone should get out," he shouted. "It's time for a Zanu-PF meeting."

Women leapt out from under the driers, and everyone sprinted toward the
door. In less than five minutes, the salon was closed, and the women were
sitting on the grass nearby, war rhetoric blasting at them.

Nearby, in Mbare, Harare's oldest suburb, young people wearing shirts
bearing the image of a fist-waving Mugabe stormed into a popular bar.

"This is the wrong time for drinks," they shouted. One of them grabbed a
beer from one of the patrons, emptying the nearly full mug in seconds.

Minutes later, the patrons were among more than 50 people who were forced to
chant slogans praising Mugabe. They were also told, in no uncertain terms,
that war would break out if they happened to vote the wrong way in the
election.

In Chitungwiza, another part of this city, the militias have imposed
curfews. Alice, a 24-year-old personal assistant, knows all too well that by
7pm, residents in these high-density suburbs should be indoors. Her boss
probably knows that as well, but she was still kept at work late on Tuesday
to type an urgent report for an emergency board meeting.

She left the office at 8pm and arrived home nearly an hour later. As she was
about to open her gate, a hoarse voice shouted at her from the dark:
"Sister, you have just arrived in time for our drills, so join us."

Before she realised what was happening, a group of youths had removed her
stiletto shoes and her jacket and began forcing her to chant pro-Mugabe
slogans. For six hours, she and several others were held captive in the
darkness just outside her door.

"This is the worst moment in my life," she said, describing the way the men
groped her. "They forced me to do all kinds of things." The captives were
also forced to march, Alice said, "the way veterans of the liberation
struggle used to do while preparing to fight Smith in the '70s." They had to
know this drill, the youths told them, in case Zimbabwe was recolonised
again and they had to join Mugabe's army.

It is reliving this particular history that makes me most fearful for the
future. What drills will my son have to learn? He and his young friends have
already picked up the habit of waving their tiny fists the way Mugabe does
on television. They do this at the slightest provocation. Already, the
children have clashed a number of times, threatening each other with war.

Walter Marwizi is a journalist in Zimbabwe

- (LA Times-Washington Post)

Women activists detained in Zimbabwe prison

MSNBC

Mugabe protesters enter 6th week of arrest; 'they want to go home'

Associated Press
updated 10:05 p.m. ET July 2, 2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Two women honored by the United States, Amnesty
International and others for braving beatings and arrest to hold peaceful
protests against Robert Mugabe are entering their sixth week in detention,
putting them among Zimbabwe's longest-serving political prisoners.

At a hearing Thursday, lawyers hope to persuade a judge to grant bail to
Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu of the human rights group Women and
Men of Zimbabwe Arise, who have sleeping on concrete floors in the harsh
cold of a southern African winter in detention. The two were arrested in the
capital, Harare, on May 28 and have been charged with disturbing the peace
and publishing statements prejudicial to the state.

In her blog on the Internet, fellow activist Bev Clark describes visiting
Williams and Mahlangu in prison on Friday, the day of a presidential runoff
election in which Mugabe - Zimbabwe's increasingly autocratic president of
nearly three decades - was the only candidate.

She and other colleagues took the women food and toiletries. A jar of honey
was confiscated by a guard.

"For 30 minutes, we sat on a small wooden bench chatting with them through a
fence," Clark writes. "They are both well and in good spirits but they've
had enough of sleeping on a concrete floor. They want to go home."

Williams, one of the founders of the organization and a former
businesswoman, was honored last year by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice with an International Women of Courage Award.

The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said Wednesday he hoped the
two would be given bail and the "sham" charges dropped.

"Jenni is a prominent person whose voice should be heard," McGee said.



'Prisoners of conscience'
Amnesty International, which gave the group known as WOZA an award for its
human rights work, demanded the women's immediate release, calling them
"prisoners of conscience."

The two women were arrested with 12 other activists after they marched to
the Zambian Embassy to call on Zambia, chair of the Southern African
Development Community, to help bring an end to the violence that has
engulfed Zimbabwe since a first round of presidential elections was held
March 29.

Some marchers were beaten by police as they were arrested. The state won an
appeal against bail being granted to Williams and Mahlangu, but the 10
others were released on bail.

"We are deeply concerned that the state is using detention to frustrate the
work of human right defenders," said Simeon Mawanza, London-based researcher
for Amnesty International.

Human rights activists and opposition supporters have increasingly come
under attack by Zimbabwe security forces and supporters of Mugabe.

WOZA
Formed in 2003, WOZA - an Ndebele word meaning "come forward" - has become a
powerful voice in the deepening economic and political crises in Zimbabwe.
It has held hundreds of peaceful protests and is known for its annual
Valentine's Day march in which red roses are distributed in a call for love,
peace and harmony.

It has 66,000 members across the country, many of whom have been beaten and
arrested countless times.

Williams, a 46-year-old mother of three, has been living in safe houses for
the last few years while her family had to flee to the United Kingdom.

"She has been arrested over 30 times and has certainly been beaten many
times," WOZA spokeswoman Annie Sibanda said.

Mahlangu, 35, a former sports administrator from Matalabeland in the south,
has been arrested more than 25 times.

Brave and resilient
WOZA members "are very brave and resilient," said Amnesty International's
Mawanza. "Despite repeated arrests and torture, they have continued to do
peaceful protests."

He praised the organization for taking up issues that affected everyday
life, such as access to food, health, education.

"The state is very concerned about their ability mobilize people," he said.
"They are afraid it can grow into a force they won't be able to contain.

Sibanda, who is based in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo where Williams
is from, said the organization is hoping the two women will be released
Thursday.

"But we are not holding out that it will happen. The state has consistently
played games with their lawyers," she said.

She said the organization had scaled down its work during the recent
political tensions but has continued to distribute flyers urging people to
keep up hope that there will be a solution to the crisis.

"The state is threatened by the fact that we are a mass based movement of
ordinary Zimbabwean men and women who over last five years have shown that
despite arrests, beatings and abduction we are still prepared to speak out,"
she said.

The following is an editorial reflecting the views of the US Government

VOA

An Electoral Farce
02 July 2008

The political charade in Zimbabwe is now complete. President Robert Mugabe
has followed his fraudulent election with a hasty and bombastic
inauguration, and despite the blood on his hands he stands again before the
world self-assured and unashamed. How will the world respond?

Mr. Mugabe's victory was never in doubt, after challenger Morgan Tsvangirai
dropped out of the race because ruling party supporters were beating and
killing his followers. To create the illusion of legitimacy, voters were
herded to the polls and forced to cast ballots under the watchful eye of
police or militia units. Many Zimbabweans said they feared being beaten if
they couldn't show a finger dipped in indelible ink, official proof of
voting, so they went along with the charade. But others reportedly resisted,
and turnout was low in many rural areas that had supported Mr. Tsvangerai
during first round voting on March 29.

As news reports and photos emerged from Zimbabwe documenting the violence
wreaked on opposition party activists, many in the international community
reacted with horror and sadness. Mr. Mugabe rejected the criticism, saying
it was orchestrated in the West to return his country to colonial status.
Yet some of his most telling critics are fellow leaders from Kenya, Botswana
and Zambia who have had a front row seat on the damage he has done his
country.

Mr. Mugabe remains in office, and world leaders must decide what to do next.
The United Nations and the African Union are discussing the situation, and
as they determine a suitable response they should not legitimize his actions
by dealing with him as if the June 27 voting was a free and fair election.

The United States stands ready to work with those organizations to resolve
the crisis in a manner respectful of voters' wishes as expressed in the
March balloting. Meanwhile, it will continue to support the Zimbabwean
people with its considerable commitment of food aid and medical assistance.

Zanu's claim re talks a lie - Biti

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 02 July 2008 21:55
HARARE - Despite claims by the junta and its ally, South Africa, that
dialogue between Zanu (PF) and the MDC is already underway to form a
government of national unity, the party's secretary general Tendai Biti has
dismissed them as 'malicious and untrue'.
'As a matter of fact, there are no talks or discussions taking place
between the two parties and most importantly, there is no agreement in the
offing,' said Biti.
While the MDC pursued dialogue in a bid to establish a Government of
National  Healing before June 12, the sham election on June 27 totally and
completely exterminated any prospects of a negotiated settlement.
'It is now the firm view of the MDC that those who claim they have got
a mandate to govern should govern. Chitongai tione,' said Biti.

Zimpapers fails to pay up after dirty job for Mugabe

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 02 July 2008 21:40
BY FOLOSI KANDABA
BULAWAYO
Zimpapers has plunged into further financial crises with revelations
that the state -controlled publishing company has failed to pay salaries to
its editors, reporters and senior managers.
Editors of all the company's publications, which include the
Chronicle, Sunday News, Herald and Sunday Mail, were supposed to have been
paid on June 23, but more than a week later their salaries were yet to be
paid. The company had no money after it rejected Morgan Tsvangirai's adverts
and took Mugabe's free of charge.
In Bulawayo, the branch manager Sithembile Ncube sent e-mails to all
the editors and their deputies informing them that their salaries would be
delayed.
'Our Bulawayo car was sent to collect drums of fuel in Harare.
Unfortunately the money that bought the fuel was the last that the company
had,' said a source in the management of the Bulawayo office.
In Harare, it was reported that the group Human Resources Manager,
Herbert Simemeza, informed editors that the company was making frantic
efforts to secure money to pay them. He is said to have told them that they
would only be paid when the money became available.
'He told all the editors there that the company was facing cashflow
problems and did not have money to pay them,' the source added.

The economic cost of Zimbabwe's isolation

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com

July 3, 2008

BY Lance Mambondiani

THE runoff election has come and gone and with it also went our hopes for a
speedy solution to the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Judging by the newly elected President's bullfight at the African Summit in
Egypt, the chorus of condemnation from all over the world and questions
regarding the legitimacy of the elections, Zimbabwe is set for an
interesting chapter in its history. Realistically, the fate and direction of
the country's economy look irredeemably linear.

While the current economic policies of the returning government are at best
uncertain, the country's isolation from the international market place for
reasons ranging from sanctions, failure to attract international investments
and a reduced export capacity will suffocate the economy further and hurt
millions of our citizens already struggling to make a living within an
imploding economic nightmare.

While the government is increasingly adopting isolationism, the costs of
this approach could not be more severe. The inward looking economic approach
is unlikely to result in any meaningful economic results. There are several
economic reasons why this will be the case.

It appears every sector in a previously robust economy is now paralysed.
Agricultural production has been adversely affected by the land
redistribution programme. Statistics show, for example that annual wheat
production has fallen from a high of 300 000 tons in 1990 to less than 50
000 in 2007. The tobacco industry which was Zimbabwe's single largest
generator of foreign currency accounting for a third of Zimbabwe's foreign
exchange earnings in 2000 has also been adversely affected.

Tobacco earning declined from US$600 million in 2000 to less than US$125
million in 2007. The manufacturing sector is operating at 10 percent of its
capacity, shrinking by more than 47 percent between 1998 and 2006. This is
believed to have brought the output levels back to figures reported in 1972.
Price controls introduced in June 2007 condemned the manufacturing sector to
extinction. In an attempt to control hyperinflation and spiraling price
increases, the government directed all companies to halve their prices for
an indeterminate period. Price controls have led to price disequilibrium in
the economy resulting in economic distortions and rent seeking behaviour
which is feeding one of the most sophisticated black markets in the world.

The Zimbabwe dollar has become virtually worthless against major trading
currencies, trading at more than Z$40 billion to the US dollar and Z$90
billion to the Pound Sterling. The return of the zeros has put a strain on
the national payment system with many computers failing to handle the
enormity of so many zeros. The country's export capacity has shrunk to
record levels, leaving the Zimbabwe dollar in a permanent state of
implosion.

The recent announcement by some international companies such as Tesco in the
United Kingdom that it was to stop importing farm produce from Zimbabwe due
to the deteriorating political climate in the country is reminiscent of
economic sanctions against South Africa during the apartheid era. Whilst we
don't expect that the situation will be allowed to match that of South
Africa, disinvestments or economic sanctions prohibiting multi-lateral
companies from doing business in Zimbabwe can squeeze the economy towards
total collapse.

South Africa's history with economic sanctions is a worthy test case for the
government. Increased international isolation will bring down the country to
its knees, perhaps at a faster pace than was the case with apartheid
sanctions. By the 1980s, the United States, the United Kingdom and 23 other
nations had passed laws placing various trade restrictions on South Africa.
A disinvestment movement in many countries was also widespread, with
individual cities and provinces around the world implementing various laws
and local regulations forbidding registering corporations under their
jurisdiction from doing business with South African firms, factories, or
banks.

The difference between the two countries is that when economic sanctions
were imposed on South Africa, the country had a vibrant economy with growth
rates well above three percent. In contrast, Zimbabwe has had negative
growth rates since 1997. Further isolation will damage the country's
remaining export capabilities. The price of the isolationist policies by the
current regime is likely to see the Zimbabwe dollar suffer immense pressure
as international trading partners cut business ties with the country. Canada
and the USA are expected to table 'a fresh round of sanctions' against
Zimbabwe with the former having already announced travel sanctions against
members of the Zanu-PF ruling party and the prohibitions of all flights
originating from Zimbabwe in Canada.

While Zimbabwe looks intent on giving the rest of the world the finger, or
in the words of Charamba, "the west can go hang a thousand times' can the
country afford protectionism when most countries in Africa are opening up to
international trade and free market economies in an increasingly globalized
world. Among the most important ideas in orthodox economies is the theory
that countries prosper through trade and not necessarily through subsistence
farming.

The perfect example of this is the globalization of China's economy, which
has propelled the country as a competitive force on the world stage. Trade
statistics for China are remarkable; its exports have grown by 13 percent
per annum since 1981 and by 18 percent since 1991. Its share of world
exports has risen 1.1 percent in 1981 to 6.8 percent in 2005 making China
the world's third-largest exporting nation after the United States and
Germany. It is anticipated that if the growth rates of the past decades can
be sustained, it could overtake the US in 2008 and Germany in 2009.

Yes, there has been criticism of the neo-liberal agenda to trade and the
need to make trade more equitable across regions but empirical evidence
suggest that the case for outward looking policies is stronger than that of
inward looking policies. The World Bank's World Development Report in 1987
is incisive; growth in income per capita was highest in the strongly
outward-looking economies. The same was true for growth in total GDP and in
value added in manufacturing, and for the standard measure of the efficiency
of investment. On all these indicators, the outward-looking countries also
outperformed inward-looking economies, although by a smaller margin. This
failure of a strong inward orientation to promote domestic manufacturing -
not just exports of manufacturers - is particularly striking since the whole
point of looking inward is to industrialize faster.

Clear consensus among mainstream economists is that outward looking trade
policies are one of the key factors to economic development. Zimbabwe's
inward looking economic model within the context of deteriorating
macroeconomic fundamentals cannot support an economic revival of any kind.
The polarized political environment will drive away any remaining chance of
FDI, the perceived breakdown in the protection of property rights is an
indictment to investors seeking opportunities. The recent threats of the
nationalization of industry have now become a reality as the government is
set on a vindictive path against foreign owned businesses. Soon, policy
makers will have to weight the economic cost of defending perceived threats
to national sovereignty against the rationality of prudent economic policies

There is no doubt that the state of the economy has reached crisis point.
Unfavourable economic climate has led to a mass exodus of Zimbabwe's
talented professionals into the Diaspora. It is estimated that 3 million
Zimbabweans have migrated to South Africa for economic and political
reasons. More than a million more are scattered across the UK, USA and
Australia. With the unemployment rate recorded at more than 80 percent, it
certainly will take a while to bring industry utilization to reasonable
sustainability.

Without the resolution of the political process, the pressure on an already
crumbling economy will be immense. Whilst it is certainly noble that the
country's sovereignty be protected at all costs, assuming that Zimbabwe can
be self sufficient when almost 80 percent of its consumables and 100 percent
of its fuel requirements are imported is an unrealistic proposition
bordering on an exercise in folly.

Without cogent, economic policy pronouncements beyond the sovereignty
rhetoric, the fear is that the "comrades" in the ruling party may have
condemned the country back to discredited economic policies of the cold war,
worse still a confused form of socialism all in pursuit of political
survival.

Lance Mambondiani is an Investment Executive at Coronation Financial, an
International Financial Advisory company registered in the UK and trading in
Southern Africa and the United Kingdom. He can be contacted at
coronation.uk@btinternet.com

Why is Zimbabwe still afloat? China

Globe and Mail, Canada

HANY BESADA

Special to Globe and Mail Update

July 2, 2008 at 8:59 PM EDT

How has Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe managed to avert a complete state collapse
thus far?

His disillusioned citizens are facing a new wave of price increases that
will put the most basic of food essentials even further out of their reach.
On the streets of Harare, a loaf of bread costs the equivalent of what a
dozen new cars would have cost a decade ago (when factoring current consumer
price indicators and inflation figures). With public wages largely
unchanged, as many as three million Zimbabweans have been forced to take up
menial jobs in neighbouring South Africa to support their families.

Figures released by independent economists in Zimbabwe last week show that
the annual inflation rate has reached 9 million per cent. With the worthless
Zimbabwean dollar trading at more than one billion to £1, the country's
central bank announced the introduction of a billion-dollar banknote. With a
sinking economy and hyperinflation that has produced millionaires and
billionaires struggling to feed their families, how is it that Zimbabwe is
still afloat? One answer may be China.

By many accounts, China has become one of Zimbabwe's most important foreign
investors, following the exodus of Western multinationals in the mid-1990s
as a result of the worsening political and security situation in the wake of
the seizure of white-owned farms. Last month, China's ambassador to Zimbabwe
said a Chinese company was seriously exploring the possibility of investing
$500-million (U.S.) for electricity generation in Zimbabwe. This comes on
the heels of discussions between the two countries on expanding bilateral
trade and investments.

In the past two years, China has thrown Zimbabwe's disintegrating economy a
lifeline with energy and mining deals, reportedly worth more than
$1.6-billion. It was reported that these deals gave China access to
Zimbabwe's precious mineral resources, including the world's second- largest
deposits of platinum, as well as gold, chrome, coal, nickel and diamonds.
These major investment projects included the construction of three
coal-fired thermal power stations to assist the state power company, which
was cutting customers' electricity for seven hours a day. It also included a
deal with the China Machine-Building International Corp. to mine coal and
build thermal-powered generators in Zimbabwe, with the aim of reducing the
country's electricity shortage.

Indeed, Beijing's economic support for Harare remains strong and, through
its efforts, China has secured the contracts to develop Zimbabwe's
agricultural, mineral and hydroelectric resources. Tobacco counts amongst
Zimbabwe's top exports, and China is Zimbabwe's largest importer. China has
made large investments in the country's tobacco production and processing
industry, and also has injected more than $200-million into Zimbabwe's
farming, manufacturing and mining sectors. China supplies Zimbabwe with
expertise, technical assistance and agricultural equipment. Chinese
investors also helped Zimbabwe process tobacco into cigarettes and export
them as finished products. And investors and a local company undertook a
joint venture in the form of a large cement factory in Gweru to meet the
national demand for cement.

Western analysts and Zimbabwean critics contend that Beijing will continue
to support Harare unconditionally, while piling up various claims on
Zimbabwe's natural resources and other commodities. With a lack of direct
competition by Western firms in the local market, Zimbabwe will remain one
of China's important resource bases. But Zimbabwe's fragile state is putting
Beijing in an increasingly vulnerable situation, as Western condemnation of
China's long-standing ties with the autocratic Mr. Mugabe is becoming
increasingly more vocal. China's continued involvement in Zimbabwe,
particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors, also carries
significant sovereign risk - and Beijing is gambling it will be able to
manage relations so as to guarantee its claims in what would almost
certainly continue to be a chaotic transition period.

Zimbabwe's socio-economic profile has undergone a seismic change. The
growing importance of China in the country's economy is evidenced by
economic assistance and foreign investment deals in the extractive sector,
in state-owned enterprises and in the agricultural sector. The key to this
is China's willingness to use barter trade to secure investment deals, and
it appears as though China's motives are actually economic - namely, to
satisfy its growing economic needs.

A constructive engagement with China will have to be put in place, focusing
on improving transparency in contracts, investment deals and loan
agreements. This will be particularly critical in any post-Mugabe economic
reconstruction period if ordinary Zimbabweans are to reap the full benefits
of increased Chinese investments instead of only a current handful of
political elite in Harare.

Hany Besada is a senior researcher at the Centre for International
Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.

Masunda elected Mayor of Harare

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com

July 3, 2008

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - Muchadeyi Masunda, the former chief executive officer of the
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the banned Daily
News, was on Tuesday elected non-executive Mayor of the City of Harare .

Masunda, who sits on the board of more than ten companies is the chairman of
several. He was a founding member of the Commercial Arbitration Centre,
which he has run for several years. He was the chairman of the executive
council of the Zimbabwe Institute of Directors. A lawyer by profession,
Masunda, 56, is also chairman of the recently established Voluntary Media
Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ). He is a well known figure in cricket and tennis
circles.

He is expected to run the council for the next five years after he was
unanimously elected by councillors. His deputy will be Ward 42 councillor,
Emmanuel Chiroto. Chiroto's wife, Abigail, was killed in election violence
three weeks ago.

In accepting his new role as Mayor of Harare, Masunda appealed to
councillors from both Zanu-PF and the MDC to bury their political
differences and work together for "the restoration of Harare 's Sunshine
City status.

"We should forget our political differences and work together to get back
the city to its former glory," he said.

"We all can acknowledge that the city is in a mess and we need to sort out
the mess. Harare is the first impression to any visitor to the country and
we need to create the right impression for the country."

He highlighted the need to address the issue of housing developments, refuse
collection and the road network in the city's high-density suburbs hence the
call for councillors to work together and avoid petty political differences.

Masunda said the council would focus on increasing and improving the city's
facilities that had been overstretched by the increasing population.

He also chairs boards of various companies that include Duly's Holdings
Limited, Atlas Copco and John Sisk & Son, among others.

Masunda's election follows recent amendments to the Urban Councils Act. The
amendments have seen, among other things, the scrapping of the office of the
executive mayor.

In 1996, the government amended the Urban Councils Act to introduce the post
of executive mayor taking over sweeping powers from town clerks.

In his new post, Masunda will not have executive functions in terms of the
day-to-day functions of the council. His main responsibility is to chair all
full council meetings and preside over Harare civic functions.

A council official said Masunda would not occupy Harare 's mayoral mansion;
it would be used as a guesthouse and for other council civic receptions.

"The mayoral mansion and office were established to cater for an executive
mayor, who acted in the capacity of head of council's administration and
political office," said the official. "But, as is known to you, the position
of executive mayor was abolished.

"Accordingly, the new mayor will be allocated an office at Town House, but
the mayoral mansion will be used as a guest house for councillors' dignitary
guests and also as venue for council civic receptions," he said.

As part of the Sadc-initiated electoral reforms, Zanu-PF and the two MDC
parties agreed to scrap the post of executive mayor and revert to a
ceremonial mayor.

The government and the governor's office would give general direction to
council and monitor its performances.

Elias Mudzuri, a former mayor elected on an MDC ticket, was dismissed by the
government on allegations of incompetence. However, the move was widely
viewed as vindictive to the opposition which had control of a number of
urban councils.

The government later appointed a commission to run the city.

"There is no better qualified person for the office of Mayor of Harare than
Much Masunda," said Geoffrey Nyarota, managing editor of The Zimbabwe Times.
Nyarota, who was the founding editor-in-chief of The Daily News, sat on the
board of ANZ with Masunda.

"Masunda was endowed with resourcefulness, stamina and a rare combination of
tenacity and resilience as he guided ANZ through turbulent times; just the
qualities now required to restore the once flourishing City of Harare back
to its former status and, perhaps, beyond.

"With his connections in appropriate places, both in Zimbabwe and outside,
my own hope in the future of Harare as a dynamic and flamboyant city is
fully restored, once the economic and the political crises are resolved."

Mugabe illegitimate-Liberia

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By Staff ⋅ © zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ July 2, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅ Post a
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Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said that the African Union
must not recognize the outcome of the June 27th elections in Zimbabwe and
declare the results unacceptable.

According to a government statement Sirleaf made the comments at the closed
door Session of the African Union (AU) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, when she
made her intervention to colleagues during a closed session. She said the
international community should work with the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to find a permanent solution to the situation in Zimbabwe.
She put forward Liberia as a case in point, saying the 1985 election was
endorsed by Africa and the world, which frustrated the true will of the
people of Liberia and subsequently engendered a fourteen year civil war that
left over two hundred thousand persons dead.

The Liberian leader called on the African Union to be courageous to say that
‘all is not well in Zimbabwe’ and that the request by SADC for a
postponement of the June 27 Zimbabwean elections should be heeded.

The President reminded Summit participants that the African Union Observer
Mission declared the June 27th elections fell short of the accepted AU
standards, and that this was a similar position taken by the Pan African
Parliament and the United Nations Security Council. She urged Summit
participants to take a firm stance as well: ‘All these persons and
institutions cannot be wrong, cannot be conspiratorial as we may be made to
believe,’ she stressed.

Johnson Sirleaf also called for a peacekeeping mission in Zimbabwe as an
early warning system in order to monitor and prevent further escalation of
the crisis. She finally called on the AU be consistent with the standards it
promotes.

Senegalese leader slams Zim unity move

IOL

    July 03 2008 at 07:41AM

By Fiona Forde, Basildon Peta and Hans Pienaar

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade says
calling for a government of national unity doesn't go far enough in
addressing Zimbabwe's crisis. He has also questioned President Thabo Mbeki's
role as mediator.

In an interview with Independent Newspapers in the Red Sea resort town
on Wednesday, Wade said "limiting opinion at the intervention point" in
calling for negotiations - without any reference to the recent botched
poll - was not the right thing to do.

"Because (President Robert Mugabe) will get back as a president, full
president, the chief of the police, of the army. And, on the other side, you
have half of the population. They will fight. And we (the African Union)
will be responsible for not taking the correct measures."

However, the 82-year-old leader said he would support the plan mapped
out for the country and assist where he could. While he is not formally
putting himself up for the job of mediator, he said, unlike Mbeki, he had
good relations with both Mugabe and rival Movement for Democratic Change
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and had an understanding of the crisis, after years
of negotiating on the sidelines.

"I have told Mugabe that I will not be involved in official mediation,
but call me any time. I am waiting. I will help."

During a briefing in Harare on Wednesday, Tsvangirai called Mbeki's
role as mediator into question by calling for an AU envoy to intervene and
accusing the South African president of bias after years of failed
intervention.

Wade said that in the recent past he had told Mbeki that "Tsvangirai
is not confident with you" and had expressed the same concern to Mugabe.

He also said the Zanu-PF leader had told him that "Mbeki is a friend,
of course, but I am not accepting what he wants".

Wade said evidence of that came to light when he received a call from
Tsvangirai a day before Friday's sham election. The MDC leader sought advice
about a last-minute offer the Mbeki delegation had made in a bid to stop the
violent poll.

"They offered him a position of executive prime minister, but they
said they had not yet met Mugabe."

Tsvangirai declined, as did Mugabe. The AU has now called on the two
rivals to sit down and negotiate what Mbeki failed to facilitate.

However, Tsvangirai insists that a government of national unity (GNU)
"doesn't address the problems facing Zimbabwe or acknowledge the will of the
Zimbabwean people".

Wade has appealed to both sides to begin to talks immediately about a
GNU. He believes it is the only solution to a situation where Mugabe and
Tsvangirai both have half the population behind them and the country is
divided along battle lines.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said on Wednesday night the party was
ready for talks and had laid down its conditions. He said the MDC would give
the Mugabe regime a "two-week window" in which to meet the conditions.

A South African government source said exploratory discussions would
start at three different places and would likely focus initially on reducing
the violence.

Tsvangirai said in Harare on Wednesday that violence was continuing as
Zanu-PF sought retribution against voters who did not turn out for Friday's
runoff or spoilt their ballot papers. So, for now, a GNU would not be on the
agenda.

"A GNU doesn't address the problems facing Zimbabwe or acknowledge the
will of the Zimbabwean people," Tsvangirai declared in response to an AU
resolution calling for a GNU.

After the AU summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Mbeki said on SABC TV that
Mugabe had not objected to the AU's request for dialogue.

"He said they were committed to that and that indeed, even as we were
sitting at the meeting, the Zimbabweans were interacting among themselves."

Mbeki described Mugabe as "fully supportive" of co-operation and
dialogue between Zimbabwe's political parties to find a solution to their
challenges.

AU President Jakaya Kikwete, who is also president of Tanzania, said
in Egypt on Wednesday that talks led by the Southern African Development
Community would begin "as soon as possible" and "will move very quickly".

Although he declined to put a time-frame on a final deal, he said he
would expect "to see movement by the end of the year".

Kikwete said neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai had expressed any objection
to him personally and that he did not expect them to do so.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on July
03, 2008

Josiah Tongogara’s vision for Zimbabwe