Independent, Ireland
By Philip Webster and Richard Lloyd Parry in Lake Toya
Tuesday
July 08 2008
World leaders are expected to threaten tougher sanctions
against Zimbabwe
today unless African nations take a stronger role in
negotiations to remove
President Robert Mugabe.
The G8 told seven
African leaders yesterday that unless they acted to deal
with the
"illegitimate" president, trade and investment on the continent
could be
hit, officials disclosed.
South Africa President Thabo Mbeki had an
uncomfortable time during the
session as several leaders, including US
President George W Bush, expressed
dissatisfaction at his failure to bring
Mr Mugabe to book.
Mr Bush called last month's election a sham and German
Chancellor Angela
Merkel, said she would back more sanctions. British Prime
Minister Gordon
Brown said: "There is growing support for sanctions against
the Mugabe
regime being stepped up." Mr Bush said Zimbabwe was discussed
extensively at
the meeting but, according to Jakaya Kikwete, President of
Tanzania, African
leaders and the G8 differed over how to respond to the
crisis.
"The only area that we may differ is on the way forward," Mr
Kikwete, who is
also head of the African Union, said.
Calling again
for a unity government in Zimbabwe, he added: "I want to
assure you the
concerns you have expressed are indeed the concerns of many
of us in the
African continent."
Violence
Mr Mugabe was the only candidate in
the run-off election after Morgan
Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change,
pulled out because of state-sponsored
violence against his supporters.
In an attempt to show his continued
leadership, Mr Mbeki flew to Harare at
the weekend for a meeting between Mr
Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai.
Mr Tsvangirai boycotted the meeting, saying
that Mr Mbeki could no longer be
trusted and a new mediation mechanism was
needed to tackle the crisis.
Dana Perino, spokesman for the White House,
said there was discussion among
some African leaders about a power-sharing
agreement for Zimbabwe and what
it would look like.
A Canadian
official quoted G8 leaders as telling their African counterparts:
"The
Mugabe regime is an illegitimate regime and it should not be tolerated.
A
number of G8 leaders drew attention to the fact that if Africa were to
develop, more than just official development assistance was needed. It
required trade, it required investment, and the image of Africa was
suffering because of what was going on in Zimbabwe." (© The Times,
London)
- Philip Webster and Richard Lloyd Parry in Lake Toya
· Bush losing
patience with South African diplomacy
· Opposition activist's body found
tortured and burnt
Patrick Wintour, Larry Elliott and Chris McGreal in
Harare
The Guardian,
Tuesday July 8, 2008
South Africa's president,
Thabo Mbeki, was given a fierce grilling by G8
leaders yesterday at a
private meeting at which they told him that they did
not believe his
mediation efforts in Zimbabwe were succeeding. They also
rejected his
suggestion that Robert Mugabe remain as titular head of
Zimbabwe. At what
was described as a fiery meeting, President George Bush,
German chancellor
Angela Merkel and Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper,
all challenged
Mbeki's assertion that his quiet diplomacy was working, a
claim that was
also questioned at the same meeting by some African leaders,
including the
Nigerian president, Umaru Yar'Adua, and John Kufuour,
president of
Ghana.
But Mbeki warned Britain and the US that Zimbabwe could descend
into civil
war if they pressed for tougher sanctions against the Mugabe
regime.
As the meeting took place it emerged that the tortured and burnt
body of a
Zimbabwe opposition party worker had been found on a farm
belonging to an
army colonel, two weeks after the activist was abducted. The
Movement for
Democratic Change said the discovery of Joshua Bakacheza's
corpse came amid
a renewed intensification of violence as the government
attempts to break
resistance to recognition of Mugabe's victory in the
widely condemned June
28 election.
At least 20 opposition activists
have been murdered since the ballot.
The G8 is expected to issue a
statement today calling for sanctions unless
Mugabe responds to mediation.
There is increasing frustration among some
western heads of government that
they are asking their electorates to donate
$25bn for Africa by 2010 when
some of Africa's most senior leaders are
unwilling to take a stand in favour
of democracy and human rights.
Gordon Brown's spokesman insisted Britain
wanted an outcome in Zimbabwe that
reflected the first-round election
results, in which opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai gained the highest
number of presidential votes and his
MDC party won control of the
parliament.
Britain has been accused by Mbeki's aides of trying to
persuade Tsvangirai
not to meet him. Mbeki had flown to Harare for an
expected meeting between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai, but Tsvangirai stayed away,
saying that a new
mediation mechanism needed to be established to tackle the
crisis. A
spokesman for Japan, the G8 hosts, reported: "Some African leaders
mentioned
that we should bear in mind that Mugabe will retire in a few
years. Putting
pressure on Zimbabwe, including sanctions, might lead to
internal conflict.
We should be discreet and careful."
Tearfund, one
of the aid groups operating in Zimbabwe, said: "African
leaders attending
the talks appeared to have asked for virtually nothing of
their G8
counterparts in discussions. The African leaders pointed to the
need for a
government of national unity, but the people of Zimbabwe want a
team of
mediators to facilitate a transitional government."
The Italian prime
minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said that some African
countries had warned
heavy sanctions would lead to a civil war. He added:
"South Africa is
pushing for a deal between the president and his opponent,
and I agree.
Sanctions can have a negative effect."
A UN security council resolution
drafted by the US and backed by Britain
would require the freezing of
financial assets of Mugabe and 11 of his
officials, and a bar on their
travel outside Zimbabwe.
Washington wishlist
The US president pinned
his hopes for global consensus on a small bamboo
yesterday. Honouring
Japan's Tanabata ritual, George Bush tied his wishlist
to a branch in the
garden of the hotel where the G8 leaders had gathered. It
read: "I wish for
a world free from tyranny: the tyranny of hunger, disease;
and free from
tyrannical governments. I wish for a world in which the
universal desire for
liberty is realised. I wish for the advance of new
technologies that will
improve the human condition and protect our
environments."
Mail and Guardian
Jul
08 2008 06:50
South African President Thabo Mbeki was given a fierce grilling by Group of
Eight (G8) leaders on Monday at a private meeting at which they told him
that they did not believe his mediation efforts in Zimbabwe were
succeeding.
They also rejected his suggestion that Robert Mugabe remain
as titular head
of Zimbabwe.
At what was described as a fiery
meeting, United States President George
Bush, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen
Harper, all challenged Mbeki's
assertion that his quiet diplomacy was
working, a claim that was also
questioned at the same meeting by some
African leaders, including the
Nigerian President, Umaru Yar'Adua, and John
Kufuor, President of
Ghana.
But Mbeki warned Britain and the US that Zimbabwe could descend
into civil
war if they pressed for tougher sanctions against the Mugabe
regime.
As the meeting took place it emerged that the tortured and burnt
body of a
Zimbabwe opposition party worker had been found on a farm
belonging to an
army colonel, two weeks after the activist was
abducted.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the discovery of
Joshua
Bakacheza's corpse came amid a renewed intensification of violence as
the
government attempts to break resistance to recognition of Mugabe's
victory
in the widely condemned June 28 election.
At least 20
opposition activists have been murdered since the ballot.
The G8 is
expected to issue a statement on Tuesday calling for sanctions
unless Mugabe
responds to mediation. There is increasing frustration among
some Western
heads of government that they are asking their electorates to
donate
$25-billion for Africa by 2010 when some of Africa's most senior
leaders are
unwilling to take a stand in favour of democracy and human
rights.
Gordon Brown's spokesperson insisted Britain wanted an
outcome in Zimbabwe
that reflected the first-round election results, in
which opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai gained the highest number of
presidential votes and his
MDC party won control of the
Parliament.
Britain has been accused by Mbeki's aides of trying to
persuade Tsvangirai
not to meet him. Mbeki had flown to Harare for an
expected meeting between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai, but Tsvangirai stayed away,
saying that a new
mediation mechanism needed to be established to tackle the
crisis.
A spokesperson for Japan, the G8 hosts, reported: "Some African
leaders
mentioned that we should bear in mind that Mugabe will retire in a
few
years. Putting pressure on Zimbabwe, including sanctions, might lead to
internal conflict. We should be discreet and careful."
Tearfund, one
of the aid groups operating in Zimbabwe, said: "African
leaders attending
the talks appeared to have asked for virtually nothing of
their G8
counterparts in discussions. The African leaders pointed to the
need for a
government of national unity, but the people of Zimbabwe want a
team of
mediators to facilitate a transitional government."
The Italian Prime
Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said that some African
countries had warned
heavy sanctions would lead to a civil war. He added:
"South Africa is
pushing for a deal between the president and his opponent,
and I agree.
Sanctions can have a negative effect."
A United Nations Security Council
resolution drafted by the US and backed by
Britain would require the
freezing of financial assets of Mugabe and 11 of
his officials, and a bar on
their travel outside Zimbabwe. -- © Guardian
Newspapers Limited 2008
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
07 July
2008
The Zimbabwean parliament elected in the country's March
31 general
elections is supposed to convene by July 17, but experts say the
prospects
for a timely launch are dim.
Constitutional experts say
the the new parliament's five-year term commenced
on Sunday, June 29, when
President Robert Mugabe was sworn in following a
single-candidate run-off
election that has been denounced internationally as
an electoral
sham.
According to such experts, Section 62 of the Zimbabwean
constitution says
the first session of the new parliament and the
swearing-in of house members
and senators should take place no later than
July 17. But those elected to
the parliament say they have no idea when,
realistically, it will open.
The two formations of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change claimed
a majority of five seats in the new
lower house. The grouping led by MDC
founder Morgan Tsvangirai and the
formation headed by Arthur Mutambara have
pledged to cooperate in
parliament.
Nonetheless, constitutional lawyer Greg Linnington told
reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe, continuing
political violence
against the opposition could prevent it from exercising
that majority.
MDC parliamentarian Innocent Gonese of Mutare, chief whip for
the Tsvangirai
formation in the last parliament, said his party's refusal to
recognize Mr.
Mugabe as the legitimate head of state could complicate
getting the new
parliamentary term going.
http://www.hararetribune.com
By Tafara Shoko | Harare
Tribune News
July 7, 2008 19:11
news@hararetribune.com
Zimbabwe, Harare--The Zimbabwean parliament elected in the country's
March
31 general elections is supposed to convene by July 17, but experts
say the
prospects for a timely launch are dim. Constitutional experts say
the the
new parliament's five-year term commenced on Sunday, June 29, when
President
Robert Mugabe was sworn in following a single-candidate run-off
election
that has been denounced internationally as an electoral sham.
According to such experts, Section 62 of the Zimbabwean constitution
says
the first session of the new parliament and the swearing-in of house
members
and senators should take place no later than July 17. But those
elected to
the parliament say they have no idea when, realistically, it will
open.
The two formations of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
claimed a majority of five seats in the new lower house.
The grouping led by
MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai and the formation headed
by Arthur Mutambara
have pledged to cooperate in parliament.
Nonetheless, constitutional lawyer Greg Linnington said for Zimbabwe,
continuing political violence against the opposition could prevent it from
exercising that majority.
"The president, Mugabe, is suppose to
issue a gazette calling for the
sitting of the parliament," Linnington said.
He also indicated that
parliament, if it sits, only twenty five of elected
MP's need to be
available meaning that even if ZANU-PF kidnaps all MDC MP's
parliament can
still go forward.
MDC parliamentarian Innocent
Gonese of Mutare, chief whip for the
Tsvangirai formation in the last
parliament, said his party's refusal to
recognize Mr. Mugabe as the
legitimate head of state could complicate
getting the new parliamentary term
going.
Gonese repeated the MDC's position that legally, Mugabe was
not the
president of Zimbabwe. He however admitted that the continuing
violence will
have a detrimental effect on the ability of MDC MP's
participation in the
new parliament-.-Harare Tribune News
http://www.hararetribune.com
By Business
Editor | Harare Tribune News
July 7, 2008 19:32
news@hararetribune.com
Zimbabwe, Harare--The Zimbabwe government said on Monday it would soon
set
up a board to spearhead implementation of the Indigenisation and
Economic
Empowerment Act, through which locals will be able to acquire
majority
shares in foreign-owned companies.
Indigenisation Minister Paul
Mangwana said that names of persons
identified to implement the Act had
since been forwarded to President Robert
Mugabe for approval. Mangwana said
funds to support the programme were also
in place while drafting of the
statutory instrument to govern operations of
the board was taking place. "We
are now at an advanced stage of setting up a
board to implement the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment programme,"
Mangwana
said.
"Names have been sent to President Mugabe for approval," he
said
adding the board would start implementing the Act once appointed. I
can't
give the date when the board will be appointed but it will be soon,"
he
said. Mangwana said the indigenisation programme would not affect every
company but selected entities. Mugabe signed the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act into law this year and it became the central theme of the
ruling party during campaigning for the just ended elections.
The Act requires foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe to cede 51
percent
stake to indigenous Zimbabweans. But Harare has said not all
externally held
firms would be compelled to sell a majority stake to local
blacks and that
share swap was not immediate but that the government would
draw up a
timeframe for the indigenisation process.
Zimbabwe is already
suffering from foreign investor flight following
its controversial seizure
of white-owned farms to resettle blacks, which has
put into question
Harare's commitment to the protection of private property.
Mugabe
has repeatedly rejected accusations that policies authored by
his
government, including the land seizures that saw white-owned farmland
parcelled out to mostly black supporters of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party,
are the chief cause of Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The Zimbabwean leader
instead blames the crisis on Western sanctions against his
government.-.-Harare Tribune News/ Additional reporting by Nokuthula
Sibanda
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
07 July
2008
Zimbabwe's opposition remained under pressure
following the refusal Saturday
by Movement for Democratic Change founder
Morgan Tsvangirai to meet with
President Robert Mugabe in a meeting brokered
by South African President
Thabo Mbeki, as MDC sources reported that armed
troops tried to force their
way into Tsvangirai's Harare home early
Monday.
MDC officials said soldiers bearing AK-47 assault rifles were
brought to his
Avondale home in two trucks and made to enter the house, but
were barred by
security guards.
Last month Tsvangirai sought refuge
in the Dutch embassy in Harare after
announcing that he would not
participate in the June 27 presidential run-off
election, initially emerging
only to hold news conferences but last week
resuming residence at his
home.
Elsewhere, the MDC member of parliament Willias Madzimure for
Kambuzuma, a
Harare suburb, saw his furniture factory firebombed early
Sunday for a loss
estimated at some US$120,000. Ruling ZANU-PF party militia
were suspected in
the attack.
Harare correspondent Thomas Chiripasi
told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
situation in the capital is increasingly
tense as incidents of violence
against opposition officials become more
frequent.
Elsewhere, MDC
officials said armed ZANU-PF militia late Sunday invaded a
holding center in
Ruwa, east of Harare, where more than 300 opposition
supporters have been
housed after fleeing political violence in their home
areas in recent
months.
MDC sources said eight people were injured and an unknown number
were
abducted.
The holding center was set up last month to receive
opposition members who
sought refuge at the South African Embassy in Harare.
MDC Welfare Officer
Fred Makuvise said it was not easy to count casualties
or abductions as the
center is a no-go area for the
opposition.
Meanwhile, sources in Manicaland said armed men abducted
three opposition
activists from their homes in Makoni South constituency on
Saturday, and
they remained missing.
The Times
July 8, 2008
A victim of Mugabe's thugs tells how she was repeatedly
raped and forced to
beat other women suspected of supporting the
Opposition
Catherine Philp
When the militia came for the boys,
Caroline hid inside. Scores of teenagers
from her neighbourhood had already
been forced from their homes to become
foot soldiers for the Zanu (PF)
militia. At night she could hear them
scouring the streets for opposition
supporters, forcing them to
indoctrination meetings where they were beaten
and denounced.
But as the election neared, they came for the girls too,
desperate to swell
their ranks with young recruits. Caroline, 17, was
marched to a Zanu (PF)
base at a derelict house on the edge of Mbare slum,
handed a baton and
ordered into the next room.
"They said I had to
beat somebody they had caught or they would beat me,"
she recounts. "But
when I got there, they raped me, one by one."
Untold numbers of women,
old and young, have been raped during weeks of
state-orchestrated terror in
Zimbabwe, but shame and stigma has prevented
most from speaking
out.
Several female activists from the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
have been dragged from their homes and gang-raped; still more common
has
been the sexual assault of women abducted in place of their politically
active menfolk.
But perhaps the least known and most numerous groups are
the young girls
forced to join the ruling party's own militia, who are
systematically raped
to cow them into submission and forced to carry out
acts of violence against
their own neighbours or face more brutality
themselves.
Whichever group they belong to, the rape victims of Mugabe's
terror campaign
continue suffering long after much of the other violence has
died down,
unaware of what the future holds.
"It was two weeks ago it
started and still I am shaking," Caroline says.
"Maybe I am pregnant or
maybe I have the HIV now. I do not know what to do
now. No one can
help."
The sudden proliferation of youth militias across Zimbabwe was
fuelled by
the forced recruitment of thousands of underage
boys.
David, an opposition supporter from the notorious Epworth township,
had his
16-year-old son taken from the house every night for five weeks to
join the
militias in their rampages around the streets. "He is just a boy
but I could
not stop him, the big ones would have beat me," David says. He
still cannot
bring himself to ask his son what he was made to
do.
Caroline knows all too well. "It was a week before the election and
the
trouble was getting worse," she said. "The Zanu (PF) chairman said that
in
the Eighties when there was war, girls fought too so we need them to
fight
this time too." So the boys drew up lists of all the teenage girls in
their
neighbourhood and went to take them from their
houses."
Caroline was led to a house in Adbeni used as a militia base.
Opposition
supporters were taken there from the pungwes (indoctrination
meetings) held
elsewhere. Caroline was led into a room by two older militia
leaders in
their twenties to administer a beating. "But instead they raped
me, the two
of them, in turn." Afterwards they took her to another room
where a woman
was lying face down on the ground. They told her she must beat
her with the
rope and baton they had given her. "I said 'How can I beat her,
she is older
than me? How can I beat someone who is like my mother, my
grandmother?'."
The face of her own mother, two years dead from Aids, loomed
in front of
her. But she remembered the horror of the rape and did what she
was told.
The next day she ran away from Mbare, to her grandmother's house
in
Highfield. But her older brother went looking for her. She had not told
him
the truth about what happened.
"He said, 'You have to go back to
the base or they will beat us too'," she
recalls. "And I had seen many
people badly beaten, who are disabled now from
beating, so I had to go
back." When she got there, the militia leader was
angry. He took her into
the room and raped her again. Then he forced her to
drink strong alcohol and
sent her to beat the people again.
During the daytime when she was
allowed home, Caroline would see the people
she had helped to beat hobbling
through the streets.
"I'd say, 'I am sorry, we are forced to do it'," she
said. "And I'd say do
whatever they want so they don't beat you. They don't
know what is in their
hearts." She did not tell them of the rape that she
was enduring night after
night; the militiamen had told her they would kill
her if she told.
The ordeal only stopped when the election was over. "Now
they have left us
alone, they are happy their president won," Caroline said.
In other parts of
the country, the violence has continued, but Mbare is
quiet for now.
Caroline's soul is not.
"I do not think I will ever be
happy again in my life," she sobs quietly
into her T-shirt. Two weeks after
the first rape, it is still too early to
know if she is pregnant and it will
be months before she can discover
whether she has been handed a death
sentence too.
HIV is so prevalent in Zimbabwe - 3,000 people die of
Aids-related illnesses
every week - that rape victims who can afford them
are given antiretroviral
drugs to fight its onset.
Medical services
for the poor, however, have ground virtually to a halt
under the month-long
aid work ban imposed by Mugabe's regime.
Caroline can only guess how many
other girls are carrying her same burden.
"There were so many of them who
were taken into the other rooms too and I
heard the noises," she
says.
"But nobody will talk of it. It is a great shame. So each of us
suffers
alone."
Homeless and hungry
200,000 - number of
Zimbabweans internally displaced since the March
elections 2,000 number of
party militia bases erected in week after the
elections 5 million people
expected to need food aid in next 9 months
Source: www.reliefweb.com; www.thazonet.com; Times archives
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 07 July 2008 21:39
THE withdrawal of a German
contract to supply paper for Zimbabwe's
worthless bank notes is not a
problem, says Zimbabwe's central bank
governor, Gideon Gono, writes Dianna
Games in Business Day, Johannesburg.
Does anyone really care?
People have struggled to get bank notes for
years now and have little to buy
with them anymore.
In the same week that Germany's Giesecke &
Devrient announced it would
no longer be doing business with Harare, UK
supermarket giant Tesco, which
buys about £1m worth of vegetables from
Zimbabwe a year, announced that it
would stop doing business on moral
grounds.
The announcements are the strongest signs of the
increasing moral
pressure being applied to companies seen as propping up the
Robert Mugabe
regime.
The debate is not new but the severity of
the current situation in
Zimbabwe has lent it momentum. It is the new
talking point that is helping
to relieve fatigue over Zimbabwe's political
dramas. Should foreign
companies doing business in Zimbabwe be boycotted?
Should they shut up shop?
Zimbabwean businesses, alongside foreign
companies, have been silent
on the issue of government repression, poor
governance and destructive
economic policies. Business aversion to publicly
ratcheting up pressure for
change appeared to be based on three central
platforms - fear, self-interest
and survival.
In a country run
by a government bent on total control, it is easiest
to keep your head down.
And in any case, some businesses have profited from
the weird economy,
particularly those with links to the ruling party and the
extensive benefits
of government patronage.
There is no doubt that foreign exchange
generated by exporters,
particularly in the mining sector, has helped to
prop up the government. And
it is equally clear the ruling party is not
using these funds in Zimbabwe's
best interests.
The Naspers
saga, in which the company was contracted by a middleman
to print brochures
punting all the good things Zanu (PF) has done since
1980, is a case in
point. That contract was certainly not paid for in
worthless Zimbabwe
dollars.
And it was not an isolated example. Efforts over the years
by
British-based magazine New African to defend Mugabe against western
critics
were rewarded with large government propaganda contracts paid in
foreign
currency. Last year, for example, the Zimbabwe government allegedly
paid New
African $1m for a 70-page propaganda feature following
internationally
publicised attacks on key Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) officials.
Many businesses operating in Zimbabwe argue that
the weight of
politics, which in turn has resulted in an increasingly
onerous operating
environment, has been its own kind of
sanction.
Political risk has shot through the roof and uncertainty
is the order
of the day. Coping with inflation, now unofficially estimated
at 9-million
percent, is its own challenge.
The MDC has upped
the ante, saying it will revisit licences given to
foreign companies if it
comes into power. It justifies its stand on the
basis that investors are
effectively supporting Mugabe's regime, whatever
defence companies use to
justify their actions. This defence has mostly
included the fact that
companies do not want to worsen already high
unemployment.
This
might be a consideration. But the bigger issue is that it simply
makes no
economic sense to leave now, just when there is a glimmer of light
at the
end of the tunnel. Companies also know that giving in to moral
pressure will
only open up opportunities for those companies less concerned
with corporate
governance issues, notably from the east.
If there is a grey area
in this moral morass, perhaps it is that
companies should maintain some
reputational high ground by not doing direct
deals with the current
government.
Morally, there is no doubt that pulling out of Zimbabwe
in its darkest
hour would be the right thing to do. Commercially, it makes
no long-term
sense. Either way, does Mugabe really care?
Games
is director of Africa@Work, an African
consulting firm.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
July 8, 2008
TOYAKO, Japan (AFP)
- African Union Commission chief Jean Ping was rushed to
hospital on Monday
in Japan where he is attending an extended session of the
Group of Eight
summit, a Japanese official said.
Ping was to be treated at a hospital in
Sapporo, the closest major city to
the summit venue, after falling sick,
said the foreign ministry official,
who declined to be named.
"We
formed a group of necessary people in charge of taking care of him, and
I
presume that he is receiving medical treatment by now," the official was
quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
The official refused to
comment on the nature of Ping's illness or
condition.
Ping joined
leaders of several African countries attending Monday's session
of the G8
summit, which was focussed on aid and development in Africa.
Ping is
expected to play a major role in pushing for a political
breakthrough in
Zimbabwe where the AU is seeking to push the ruling Zanu PF
party and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into forming a
unity
government.
Ping's mystery sickness follows hard on the heels of Zambian
President Levy
Mwanawasa's stroke suffered during an African Union summit in
Egypt last
week. Mwanawasa was leading regional criticism of President
Robert Mugabe's
government. He remains in a French hospital, battling for
his life.
SABC
July 08, 2008,
07:00
Thami Dickson
The United States government is confident that it
will secure sufficient
votes in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions
on Zimbabwe.
The council is expected to vote later this week for a
resolution calling for
sanctions on Zimbabwe. Washington and its allies are
pushing for punitive
measures against President Robert Mugabe's government
following the
controversial election run-off in that country. Washington
says Mugabe's
government is illegitimate and has no political
credibility.
It is a product of an illegitimate electoral run off in
which only Mugabe
contested, they say. A draft resolution has been
circulated to the council
members which calls for sanctions against Harare.
These include an arms
embargo, travel restrictions and freezing of assets
belonging to Mugabe and
his key government ministers and officials. The idea
is to push him to agree
on a negotiated and inclusive political
settlement.
A minimum of nine votes from the fifteen members of the
council is needed to
adopt a resolution. Of critical importance is that the
five veto wielding
powers will have to vote in favour of the resolutions for
sanctions to be
implemented. Although China's veto right could save
Zimbabwe, Washington has
immense influence in the council and enjoys the
support of Zimbabwe's former
colonial masters. The vote is expected later
this week.
With South Africa often accused of shielding Zimbabwe in the
Security
Council, all eyes are now on how it will vote on this draft
resolution. But
with mediation role on one hand and its critics on the other
side, South
Africa's vote is surely going to generate much debate.
IOL
Basildon
Peta
July 08 2008 at 06:40AM
As the death toll after
the June 27 run-off poll climbed to 20
recorded cases, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) said it would
prefer a respected figure such as
former United Nations (UN)
secretary-general Kofi Annan or businessman Cyril
Ramaphosa to take charge
of mediation to end the Zimbabwe
crisis.
One reason MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted a meeting
convened
by President Thabo Mbeki in Harare on Saturday was his insistence
on the
appointment of an African Union mediator on a more permanent
basis.
Tsvangirai's spokesperson, George Sibotshiwe, said on Monday
a figure
like Annan would be the "first prize" as his track record spoke for
itself.
An accomplished negotiator like Ramaphosa would also be
welcomed by
the MDC, as would former African heads of state such as
Botswana's Festus
Mogae or Sir Ketumile Masire, or Mozambique's Joaquim
Chissano.
Other suitable candidates included former Organisation of
African
Unity secretary-general Salim Ahmed Salim and former UN
secretary-general
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said Sibotshiwe.
The
MDC has reiterated its position not to negotiate directly with
President
Robert Mugabe unless a series of conditions are met, including a
stop to
violence.
To underscore its reasoning for the boycott of Mbeki's
meeting with
Mugabe on Saturday, the MDC on Monday circulated a gruesome
photograph of
one of its drivers, Joshua Bakacheza, who disappeared two
weeks ago and
whose badly burnt body was found dumped at a farm in Beatrice,
near Harare.
He is suspected of having been abducted and killed by
Zanu-PF thugs.
The MDC said the latest casualties brought the
overall number of its
supporters killed since the first round of voting on
March 29 to at least
109.
This article was originally
published on page 6 of The Star on July
08, 2008
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
July 8, 2008
TOYAKO, Japan
(New York Times) - As world leaders convened on Monday for
three days of
talks on issues including climate change and rising food and
energy prices,
the agenda quickly shifted to the political crisis in
Zimbabwe, exposing a
split between Western and African leaders.
The leaders of seven African
countries and eight industrialized nations
emerged divided after three hours
of closed-door meetings dominated by
Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe was sworn
in last month for a sixth term as
president after weeks of violence against
his opposition, followed by a
one-candidate runoff that leaders around the
world called a sham.
The United States and Britain have proposed an
international arms embargo
and sanctions on the Zimbabwe government. But
with Mr. Mugabe warning
Western nations not to interfere, and the African
Union already on record as
rejecting sanctions, the union's head, President
Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania,
suggested that a power-sharing agreement was the
answer.
"We are saying no party can govern alone in Zimbabwe," Mr.
Kikwete said at a
news conference with President Bush after the meetings,
"and therefore the
parties have to work together to come up to - to come
out, work together, in
a government, and then look at the future of their
country together."
Addressing Mr. Bush, he said: "We understand your
concerns, but I want to
assure you that the concerns you have expressed are
indeed the concerns of
many of us on the African continent. The only area
that we may differ on is
the way forward."
Mr. Bush said he and other
Western leaders had "listened carefully" to their
African counterparts. But
he did not mention any discussion of sanctions and
ignored reporters'
questions on the issue. Mr. Bush said: "You know I care
deeply about the
people of Zimbabwe. I'm extremely disappointed in the
elections, which I
labeled a sham election."
The leaders are gathered here on the
mountainous northern Japanese island of
Hokkaido for the so-called Group of
8 summit meeting. Technically, the group
includes the United States, Great
Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada,
Russia and Japan. The annual event
has broadened to include heads of states
from around the world, including
the so-called "Africa outreach" group of
seven African leaders, from
Tanzania, Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
Senegal, and South
Africa.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the meeting draws protesters and a
shadow meeting
as well. Two hours north of the official meeting site, in
Hokkaido's largest
city of Sapporo, globalization foes held a third day of
protests focused on
agriculture on Monday, including a march and an
alternative gathering of
nongovernmental organizations.
About 150
people, some made up as clowns or dressed in black-spotted cow
suits,
marched through downtown Sapporo. While Japan has not been as hard
hit as
many poor countries by rising food prices, organizers said the
current food
crisis was a chance to rethink agricultural trade, and rely
more on locally
grown products.
The marchers, who chanted "No More G-8" in English and
Japanese, included
Japanese farmers and a handful of activists from Europe,
the United States
and Latin America. In the heavy-handed style of Japan's
security during the
summit meeting so far, there were about the same number
of police officers
as protesters. The police formed a cordon around the
march and followed in
four blue and white buses.
"We face a food
crisis, but the G-8 has no answers," said a march organizer,
Yoshitaka
Mashima, who is vice chairman of the Japan Family Farmers
Movement. "This is
an opening for us to appeal to the public with new
ideas."
The food
crisis was also an issue in the meeting with African leaders,
according to
officials who attended. Mr. Bush has made aid to Africa,
especially his
program to fight global AIDS, a centerpiece of his foreign
policy agenda,
and has said repeatedly that he intends to use this year's
meeting to press
his fellow Group of 8 leaders to live up to their 2005
pledge to double
development aid to Africa by 2010.
According to the advocacy group One,
which is based in the United States and
focuses on fighting poverty and AIDS
around the world, just 14 percent of
those pledges have been filled. Dan
Price, a deputy national security
adviser to Mr. Bush, said the African
leaders spoke of the "essential need"
for wealthy nations to live up to
their pledges at the Monday meeting.
But despite the focus on poverty and
disease, it was clear that Zimbabwe
weighed most heavily on the leaders'
minds.
Mr. Bush said the leaders spent "a fair amount of time" talking
about the
political situation there.
The African Union leaders have
publicly offered only limited criticism of
Mr. Mugabe over the violence
before the June 27 runoff. In the weeks before
the vote, state-sponsored
enforcers beat and killed followers of Morgan
Tsvangirai, the opposition
leader who won 48 percent to Mr. Mugabe's 43
percent in the first round of
elections. Days before the runoff, Mr.
Tsvangirai withdrew.
Many
African leaders have sought to persuade Mr. Mugabe to agree to a
power-sharing arrangement with Mr. Tsvangirai and his Movement for
Democratic Change, so far to no avail.
Last week, the United States
formally introduced a sanctions resolution at
the United Nations, calling
for an international arms embargo and punitive
measures against the 14
people deemed to be most responsible for the
violence. But the African Union
argues that the idea is a local problem that
can be dealt with locally, and
after Monday's session, it was clear that had
not changed.
As Mr.
Price, the deputy national security adviser, said, "It's fair to say
that
not all African leaders are in a position to support sanctions at this
time."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
July 8, 2008
By Tendayi
Dumbutshena
SOUTH Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been a frequent
visitor to Zimbabwe
over the past eight years in his role as mediator.
Meetings with his
counterpart Robert Mugabe have always been held behind
closed doors to
ostensibly protect confidentialities.
Last Saturday
an exception was made. The media were given a photo
opportunity and a
briefing by both men after the meeting. Why the openness?
Bound together by
a deeply ingrained cynicism, Mugabe and Mbeki were looking
for a big
propaganda coup in their joint bid to keep the Zanu-PF leader in
State
House.
Since the Zimbabwe crisis began in 2000, Mugabe has with grim
determination
refused to meet MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. All of a sudden
he agreed to
meet him last Saturday at State House where his wife said he
would never set
foot. Mbeki wanted Tsvangirai to meet Mugabe at State House
in a devious
attempt to get him to tacitly recognize his presidency of
Zimbabwe.
Logically a tacit recognition of Mugabe's state presidency means
an
acceptance of the June 27 run-off election.
To their credit
Tsvangirai and his team did not bite. They quickly realised
the trap that
was being set for them. Meeting Mugabe at State House would
have been a
monumental tactical blunder from which Tsvangirai would not have
recovered.
Mbeki in his crusade to protect Mugabe had his own reasons
for wanting the
two protagonists pictured together. Anticipating tough talks
on Zimbabwe at
the G8 summit in Japan three days later, Mbeki wanted to
argue that the
meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai signaled a major
breakthrough in
efforts to form a national unity government.
He would
have pleaded for G8 countries to give this process a chance by
desisting
from taking punitive measures against the Mugabe regime. He would
have used
the same argument to try and stop the United States and United
Kingdom from
sponsoring a UN security council resolution calling for
sanctions against
Harare.
The Tsvangirai - Mugabe meeting was designed to achieve two
objectives.
First, to stall international efforts aimed at isolating and
punishing the
Mugabe regime by peddling the falsehood that real progress was
being made.
Second, to dupe the MDC into unwittingly giving tacit
recognition to Mugabe's
presidency and by logical extension to the June 27
poll.
It is a pity that the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutanbara could not
see the
game of deceit being played by Mugabe and Mbeki. Mutambara
accompanied by
his secretary-general Welshman Ncube went to State House to
take part in the
meeting. They were too naïve to realise they were just
being used as pawns
to advance a Mugabe-Mbeki sinister agenda to legitimize
the June27 poll and
its outcome.
Television footage showed Mugabe
sharing jokes with Mutambara .
Mugabe knows that in his quest for
domestic and international legitimacy the
Mutambara faction is not critical.
It is, however, crucial in his desire to
reverse the parliamentary losses of
March 29. He seeks to destroy MDC
structures by eliminating or displacing
its key officials and foot soldiers
especially in rural areas. He also wants
to wrest control of the House of
Assembly from the combined majority of the
two MDC factions. This he intends
to achieve in two ways. The first is by
charging some of Tsvangirai's MPs
with crimes that carry custodial sentences
in excess of six months.
A compliant and complicit judiciary will oblige.
The resultant by-elections
will be won by Zanu-PF through tried and tested
methods of murder,
intimidation and outright electoral fraud. This strategy
has already been
rolled out. The second is to break the pact between the two
MDC factions by
offering ministerial and other posts to the Mutambara
faction.
There is parity in the House of Assembly between Zanu-PF and the
MDC - 99
and 100 seats respectively. The 10 seats held by the Mutambara
faction hold
the balance of power. By offering them cabinet positions Mugabe
hopes to
kill two birds with one stone. He will break the pact between the
two
parties in both Houses of Parliament giving Zanu-PF a comfortable
working
majority. He will also create an illusion of a government of
national unity
and argue that he has complied with the African Union (AU)
resolution on the
matter. This will enable Mbeki to fly all over the world
telling all that
the Zimbabwe crisis has been resolved.
The Mutambara
faction must be careful. They should realise Mugabe detests
all opposition
forces and cannot act in good faith. He will crack jokes with
Mutambara to
make him vulnerable to his schemes. Mutambara and Ncube should
not delude
themselves into believing that they can strike a genuine deal
with Mugabe.
There will never be genuine rapprochement in Zimbabwe as a
prelude to
coalition government. At the end of the day Mugabe wants
untramelled power
for himself with a few co-opted opposition members in
government who cannot
even influence a decision to build a bridge in
Murehwa.
They should
also learn from history. The March 29 election showed that the
Mutambara
faction got most of its votes in rural Matebeleland South with a
sprinkling
in Matebeleland North. Elsewhere it was decimated. If the faction
goes into
an unholy alliance with Mugabe for a few government positions
there will be
a heavy political price to pay down the line. They will lose
their base in
Matebeleland and be left with no option but to collapse into
Zanu-PF to
safeguard crumbs from Mugabe's table.
Joshua Nkomo was cajoled and
bullied into dissolving ZAPU and signing the
Unity Accord in 1987. Even with
his enormous stature he failed to carry his
base. Today people like John
Nkomo, Joseph Msika, Dumiso Dabengwa and others
with strong struggle
credentials are unelectable in areas where ZAPU once
reigned
supreme.
Nkomo and Msika hold senior positions in Zanu-PF and government
but are on
the periphery. They watch helplessly as the country is taken over
by
murderous mobs and economic criminals.
What Mugabe wants to do is
co-opt certain naïve and opportunistic elements
in the MDC and package it as
a national unity government. The position taken
by Tsvangirai's faction - a
transitional government to create a
constitutional framework for
internationally supervised elections - is the
correct one. It is one
consistently advocated by Mavambo leader Simba
Makoni. That position refuses
to reward murder torture and electoral fraud.
It seeks to assert the
supremacy of the ballot over the bullet.
It seeks to reaffirm the
inalienable right of the people of Zimbabwe to
freely elect their leaders.
It recognizes that Zimbabwe's political system
is totally rotten and needs a
complete overhaul. It realises the imperative
of restoring the integrity and
impartiality of state institutions such as
the police, armed forces and
courts which have been suborned and reduced to
organs of
Zanu-PF.
Opposition parties must not be seduced by whatever positions
Mugabe offers.
It would be a betrayal of all those who were murdered while
fighting Mugabe's
despotic rule. Thousands of lives have been ruined. To
abandon these people
for the comforts of office would be an unforgivable act
of treachery.
The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote: "To abandon
principles for a
portfolio is contemptible."
As the Mutambara faction
is lured by Mbeki and Mugabe it should be careful
not to be ensnared into
the web of deceit being spun by these two men. It
should know that no
meaningful change can be effected in Zimbabwe without
the destruction of the
fascist edifice Mugabe has constructed over the
years.
Politicsweb
Sapa
08 July 2008
British Foreign Secretary says top
officials in Mugabe regime should be
targetted.
PRETORIA (Sapa)
- British foreign secretary David Miliband on Monday called
for "tough"
sanctions against Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's regime
while also
denouncing human rights abuses.
In a lecture at the University of SA in
Pretoria, Miliband called for an end
to the violence and intimidation of
Zimbabweans and for the United Nations
to impose further sanctions against
Mugabe's Zanu-PF regime.
Asked about what types of sanctions should be
brought against Zimbabwe he
said: "I think the most important sanctions are
travel and financial
sanctions which hit the top of the regime hard. They're
the people who are
profiting from the abuse and intimidation that has taken
place. I think that
its right that the UN this week take tough and clear
financial and travel
sanctions against those people."
Miliband, in
South Africa on a three-day visit, also called for a
transitional government
led by those who won the initial election on March
29.
Zimbabwean
opposition party Movement for Democratic Change won the first
round of
elections, which led to a presidential run-off on June 27.
"We support
the call for a transitional government, a broad based government
in respect
of the March 29 election. We hope that the African Union can join
the SADC
in bringing good sense to bear in the situation and above all to
end the
violence," said Miliband.
Referring to President Thabo Mbeki's mediation
efforts, Miliband said Mbeki
was an "extremely experienced politician" who
did not need advice.
Mugabe, who won the presidential run off election
following the withdrawal
of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai from the race, was
described as a person who
has "turned the weapons of the state against his
own people" and unleashed a
campaign of violence.
This was reiterated
by British high commissioner Paul Boateng who described
the situation as a
"tremendous tragedy" and a "concerted effort" by Mugabe
to make the
Zimbabwean elections seems like a British-Zimbabwe affair.
"We recognise
and accept our historic responsibility for Zimbabwe.
We've never denied
where the initial land grab came from... What we are
saying in relation to
Zimbabwe is that of course we care."
Miliband said the African Union and
the European Union needed to work
together to resolve conflict on the
African continent and respond to crises.
Meanwhile the United Democratic
Movement (UDM) said Britain needed to work
with the SADC in order to resolve
the problems in Zimbabwe.
On sanctions, party leader Bantu Holomisa said
these would only hit ordinary
citizens and put further strain on South
Africa's ability to meet the
socio-economic needs of its own
people.
Miliband was expected to meet with African National Congress
president Jacob
Zuma on Tuesday.
Zim Online
by Nokuthula Sibanda Tuesday 08 July
2008
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government said on Monday it would
soon set up a board
to spearhead implementation of the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment
Act, through which locals will be able to acquire
majority shares in
foreign-owned companies.
Indigenisation Minister
Paul Mangwana said that names of persons identified
to implement the Act had
since been forwarded to President Robert Mugabe for
approval.
Mangwana said funds to support the programme were also in
place while
drafting of the statutory instrument to govern operations of the
board was
taking place.
"We are now at an advanced stage of setting
up a board to implement the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
programme," Mangwana said.
"Names have been sent to President Mugabe for
approval," he said adding the
board would start implementing the Act once
appointed. I can't give the date
when the board will be appointed but it
will be soon," he said.
Mangwana said the indigenisation programme would
not affect every company
but selected entities.
Mugabe signed the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act into law this
year and it became
the central theme of the ruling party during campaigning
for the just ended
elections.
The Act requires foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe to
cede 51 percent
stake to indigenous Zimbabweans.
But Harare has said
not all externally held firms would be compelled to sell
a majority stake to
local blacks and that share swap was not immediate but
that the government
would draw up a timeframe for the indigenisation
process.
Zimbabwe is
already suffering from foreign investor flight following its
controversial
seizure of white-owned farms to resettle blacks, which has put
into question
Harare's commitment to the protection of private property.
Mugabe has
repeatedly rejected accusations that policies authored by his
government,
including the land seizures that saw white-owned farmland
parcelled out to
mostly black supporters of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party,
are the chief
cause of Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
The Zimbabwean leader instead blames
the crisis on Western sanctions against
his government. - ZimOnline
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
News Release - 8th July 2008
The Zimbabwe Vigil, a London-based
protest group, has launched a campaign to
have the 2010 Football World Cup
moved from South Africa because of growing
instability in the region. It
says FIFA must take action to ensure the
safety of teams and their
supporters.
The Vigil has been demonstrating outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
in London
every Saturday since 2002 in protest at human rights abuses by the
Mugabe
regime. It is gathering signatures for a petition to FIFA from the
thousands of people passing the Embassy. It says the situation in South
Africa will be so bad because of the implosion of Zimbabwe that the World
Cup should be moved.
The Vigil is also running a petition calling on
European Union governments
to suspend aid to governments of the Southern
African Development Community
(SADC) because they have failed to hold
Zimbabwe to account. It wants this
money to be used instead to finance
refugee camps in countries neighbouring
Zimbabwe to provide a refuge for
Zimbabweans forced to flee because of
hunger, violence and the need for
medical attention safe from xenophobic
violence.
Vigil Co-ordinator
Dumi Tutani said 'we find it repugnant, for instance,
that British
taxpayers' money should go to the Malawi government. More than
£60 million
a year goes to Malawi whose President, Bingu Wa Mutharika, has
been given a
farm in Zimbabwe and has named a highway after President Mugabe'.
Text of
the Petitions
1."A Petition to the International Federation of Football
Associations
(FIFA)
With the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe
and the likelihood of
unrest spreading to South Africa we call upon FIFA to
move the 2010 World
Cup from South Africa to a safer venue. By the time the
World Cup takes
place President Mbeki's support of the Mugabe regime will
have made the
whole region unsafe because millions more refugees will flee
Zimbabwe
prompting further xenophobic violence in neighbouring countries.
FIFA must
ensure that World Cup teams and their supporters are not
endangered."
2."A Petition to European Union Governments
We
record our dismay at the failure of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to help the desperate people of Zimbabwe at their time of
trial. We urge the UK government and the European Union in general to
suspend government to government aid to all 14 SADC countries until they
abide by their joint commitment to uphold human rights in the region. We
suggest that the money should instead be used to feed the starving in
Zimbabwe."
For further information, contact: Rose Benton (07970 996
003, 07932 193
467), Dumi Tutani (07960 039 775) and Ephraim Tapa (07940 793
090).
Vigil co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy,
429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to
protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
Dear Friends
'Restore Zimbabwe' Service and 'Free UK
Zimbabweans from Limbo!' Rally and
Walk. Friday 11th July from 11.30 am -
2.30 pm. 12 noon: service at St
Margaret's Church, Parliament Square,
Westminster, London SW1 led by the
Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. 1.30
pm: rally 'Free UK Zimbabweans from
Limbo!' at 1.30 and a walk to the Home
Office. The event is being organised
by the group 'Strangers into Citizens'
who are calling on the Home Office to
allow Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the
UK to be able to work and have access
to training. www.londoncitizens.org.
Shona /
Ndebele Mass in Southwark. Sunday 13th July at 6.30 pm, Southwark
Cathedral,
London Bridge, London SE1 9DA (Tel: 020-7367 6700) will be
holding a special
Eucharist for the Zimbabwean community in the Shona and
Ndebele languages
with a Zimbabwean choir. Nearest station: London Bridge.
For directions,
check:
http://www.southwark.anglican.org/cathedral/Cathedral_area.pdf
Restoration
of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR)
The Vigil's partner organisation on the
ground in Zimbabwe have opened a
blog where you can check out their posts:
www.rohrzimbabwe.blogspot.com.
A
page has also been set up on the Vigil website for information from
ROHR.
New Petition launched
The following petition was launched last
Saturday (5/7/08):
"A Petition to the International Federation of Football
Associations (FIFA)
With the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and the
likelihood of unrest
spreading to South Africa we call upon FIFA to move the
2010 World Cup from
South Africa to a safer venue. By the time the World Cup
takes place
President Mbeki's support of the Mugabe regime will have made
the whole
region unsafe because millions more refugees will flee Zimbabwe
prompting
further xenophobic violence in neighbouring countries. FIFA must
ensure that
World Cup teams and their supporters are not
endangered."
We are still running our petition to the EU:
"A Petition
to European Union Governments
We record our dismay at the failure of the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to help the desperate people
of Zimbabwe at their time of
trial. We urge the UK government and the
European Union in general to
suspend government to government aid to all 14
SADC countries until they
abide by their joint commitment to uphold human
rights in the region. We
suggest that the money should instead be used to
feed the starving in
Zimbabwe."
We also suggest the money saved be
used instead to finance refugee camps in
countries neighbouring Zimbabwe to
provide a refuge for Zimbabweans forced
to flee because of hunger, violence
and the need for medical attention safe
from xenophobic
violence.
'Countdown' by Pauline Henson
This is a book by Vigil
supporter Pauline Henson. She is the mother of Wiz
Bishop who many of you
know. The book is described as follows: "It is 2001/2
and the run-up to the
Presidential elections. Zimbabwe is in a fever of
hope and expectation of
change. Violent political intimidation is sweeping
the country. The farm
invasions have been going on for over a year and the
Zimbabwean police have
become increasingly politicized. It has become more
difficult for an honest
policeman to operate in that environment and when an
old racist white farmer
is murdered Detective Chief Inspector Dube is
surprised that his superiors
permit him to investigate the crime. This book
accurately reflects the
horrors of rape, torture and brutality that
characterized this terrible
period in Zimbabwe's history. It is set against
a factually verifiable
account of events occurring at the time and the
ending is as inevitable as
the tragedy that is now unfolding in the
country." The author is a
Zimbabwean whose writing reflects her deep love
and knowledge of the
country. Case Closed, the first book in the Dube
series, was a prize winner
at the International Book Fair in Harare.Further
details and available to
buy online at http://www.lulu.com/content/2752118
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against
gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Boston Globe
By Los Angeles Times /
July 8, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - She has to call the young men her
"comrades." She cooks
food for the comrades and serves them. She sweeps
their floor and cleans up
after them.
And whenever any of the
comrades wants sex, she is raped.
Asiatu, 21, is a prisoner of the
comrades at a command base of the ruling
ZANU-PF, one of 900 set up by the
party to terrorize Zimbabweans into voting
Robert Mugabe back into power in
the one-man presidential runoff election
late last month.
The
election is over, but the terror isn't.
"I'm still at the base. I'm being
raped by four or five men daily," she
whispers, bursting into tears. "Any
time they want, night or day.
"To me a comrade is a murderer, someone
who's cruel."
She has been at the base for about 10 weeks, ever since she
was abducted in
the middle of the night because her mother is a supporter of
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.
She has to stay most
of each day and night at the base, a sex slave of the
thuggish youth
militias unleashed by the government. The Los Angeles Times
interviewed her
during one of the several short daily periods she is allowed
to leave the
base.
When asked why she doesn't escape during her free time, she gives a
chilling
explanation: "They promised me if I run away, my mother will be
killed."
A slight, pretty figure, about 5 feet tall, Asiatu wears a
flowing black
dress with splashes of red. Her braids are tied back by an
extravagant puff
of red tulle. Her eyes are sad and fearful. And she rarely
smiles.
She says she looked forward to the June 27 runoff and the result,
assuming
she would be freed.
But with the election over and no sign
to the end of her imprisonment, she
has lost hope. She is fearful she might
be pregnant, and terrified she has
AIDS. She is the sole breadwinner in her
family, but has not been able to
sell vegetables because she spends all her
time at the base.
"I pray God most of the time. I pray, 'You are the one
who knows my future.
Help me. Stop this happening to me.' "
A base
commander who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity said that
Mugabe
himself said the bases will continue to operate. Some members of the
ruling
party say new operations are being planned. But the commander said
there was
no government money to feed the youth militias at the bases and
that
supporting them had become a major problem.
That could be a problem for
ZANU-PF: For most of the young shock troops,
their main motivation is the
hope of a quick dollar to feed their families,
with food scarce and
opportunities to get ahead almost nonexistent.
The camps were set up
after ZANU-PF's defeat in the March 29 parliamentary
and presidential
elections to provide bases from which to target opposition
activists.
At most of the bases, young women have been forced to
serve ZANU-PF youth
militias, and men forced to attend the camps
daily.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 poll
because
of the violence. But Mugabe, who finished second to Tsvangirai in
the March
poll, pushed ahead with the runoff despite international
condemnation. He
was declared the winner soon afterward and hastily
inaugurated.
The opposition MDC reports an upsurge in pregnancies among
victims of rape.
Written testimonies by victims show many cases of women
raped because they
or their close relatives were MDC activists. The party
does not have a
figure on the number of rapes reported in the continuing
political violence.
Asiatu's ordeal began one afternoon when 35 ZANU-PF
militia members came to
her house because her mother is an MDC
member.
"I was eating and they kicked my food," she says. "They started
beating me,
saying I was an MDC member. They said I should be killed." Three
days later
they came at night and forced her to go to the base. "I was just
crying. I
thought they wanted to kill me."
To protect her, the
location of the base in Zimbabwe is not identified. She
does not go by the
name Asiatu in her community.
There are political meetings at the base,
with songs and slogans. "I just go
to save my life. But I will never be
ZANU-PF," she said.
Before the election, she says, she saw hundreds
beaten at the base, between
10 and 50 people a day. She says she saw two MDC
activists stoned to death.
The gang of militia members pelted the two with
bricks and rocks, taking
about three hours to kill the
men.
Elizabeth, 30, an MDC activist and vegetable seller, says she was
raped at
the same base before the election.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
July 8, 2008
HARARE - The State on Monday asked
for further remand of MDC secretary
general Tendai Biti, facing treason
charges, to August 26.
Biti's lawyers, Tendai Uriri and Chris Mhike,
immediately applied to the
High Court for a review of his bail
conditions.
The case, in which Biti's lawyers want his passport returned
and the
reporting conditions scrapped, has been set down for Wednesday at 9
am in
the High Court.
This followed Biti's brief appearance before a
Harare magistrate for a
routine remand Monday morning, where his lawyers
demanded that the State
furnishes the court with details of investigations
into 11 complaints raised
by Biti during his initial remand.
"We
insisted on the production of the written report concerning the
complaints,"
Uriri told The Zimbabwe Times. "On the 20th of June, the court
ordered the
State to investigate the 11 complaints and report back in 14
days. So the
State is in contempt of court."
The 11 complaints regard the manner in
which Biti was arrested, which his
legal team said bordered on
abduction.
Biti was whisked away by 10 gunmen as he stepped out of a
South African
Airways plane without formally going through immigration. The
team sped off
in a white Mercedez Benz.
The arrest was calculated to
cause extreme shock and horror, said Uriri,
adding holding Biti
incommunicado, with no legal representation, no access
to food, was
blatantly illegal.
"It was a breach of one of the most fundamental of all
human rights, the
right of any individual to legal practitioners," Uriri
said.
The State has also failed to provide reasons why no warrant of
arrest was
exhibited to Biti when he was arrested.
The MDC secretary
general's legal team also wants a report why Biti was
interrogated
continuously and unnecessarily on issues which were irrelevant
to charges
preferred against him.
He has also complained of ill-treatment and wants
the State to explain why
they detained him at Matapi holding cells, which
have been condemned by the
Supreme Court as unfit for habitation.
He
has also filed a complaint for ill-treatment in the manner in which he
was
leg ironed and brought to court with three heavily armed prison wardens,
in
blatant breach of the principle of presumption of innocence, and with his
legal practitioners not informed.
Biti, facing four counts of
treason, was freed from remand prison on June
26, two weeks after he was
arrested soon after touching down at the Harare
International Airport
.
He has been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty, and
also
with publishing false statements and insulting the
president.
His bail conditions specify that Biti remain in his home, hand
in his
passport and the deeds to his house, and report once a week to a
police
station.
But Uriri told The Zimbabwe Times that the legal team
would be applying for
refusal of further remand during the next sitting on
August 26 if the State
fails to provide a trial date.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
8th
Jul 2008 00:14 GMT
By
Chenjerai Chitsaru
REAL patriots often look back on what they call
"the wasted years" of
Zimbabwe's political development and wonder if the
present leadership is as
devastated at the carnage as they are.
For
instance, what would have transpired if, before the war veterans were
unleashed on the commercial farmers in 2000, President Robert Mugabe and
Zanu PF had not pursued a strictly political goal and entered into earnest
negotiations on the gradual transfer of most of the properties to deserving
indigenous farmers?
They wonder, also, if after the parliamentary and
presidential elections in
2000 and 2002 respectively, Mugabe and Zanu PF had
not, with indecent haste,
promulgated the twin ugly sisters, the Access to
Information and the
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order
and Security Act
(POSA).
Some will say this is all water under the
bridge and is profitless
speculation on what might have been. Others would
argue that, after the
results of the constitutional referendum - a stinging
rejection of Zanu PF's
proposals - there was no way both the party and its
leader would have
backtracked. The rejection was tantamount to "a call to
arms".
Yet, as we observe the recent developments towards a resolution of
the
impasse, most of us wonder if, with Mugabe still a player, there is any
basis for hope. Last week, there was a report that, during his latest
shuttle to Harare, Thabo Mbeki had announced that a government would soon be
constituted with Mugabe in a ceremonial role - doing what some cynics have
called a "Banana" - and the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai as prime
minister.
At the time of writing, there was no indication of exactly how
Mugabe had
reacted to the proposals. All we read of more violence against
MDC
supporters, including reported killings- hardly the kind of stories you
would expect to read after such an enormous breakthrough in protracted
negotiations.
Moreover, the story in The Guardian newspaper followed
a report on a TV
channel, showing Mugabe and Mbeki at a meeting in Harare,
indicating that
the South African president had pulled off a deal which many
of us would
have thought impossible, given his pro-Mugabe sentiments and his
alleged
contempt for the former trade unionist.
Perhaps the man has
seen the light at last. Of course, most people would say
"about time too",
but others might be more hesitant in being so upbeat:
there must be a catch,
they will say, perhaps not of Catch 22 proportions
but what hey might call a
"Mbeki catch" - something which looks promising on
the face of it, but is
really no more than a red herring or a ruse.
Unfortunately for Mbeki, he
has garnered such a reputation for doublespeak,
it may not be uncharitable
to say of his critics that they believe he always
speaks with the forked
tongue of a serpent.
The truth is that most of what is likely to happen
now must depend on how
Mugabe views his place in history: hero or villain?
Some may insist that
his role in the deterioration of he political and
economic future of this
country was only marginally due to anything that
Mugabe did or did not do in
the last 28 years, that other people and other
circumstances may have
intervened, crucially, to thwart what may have been
his best-laid plans to
advance this country to its realistic
potential.
Other people would insist that on the basis of his political
background
throughput the struggle, Mugabe is not as a man to be easily led
by the
nose by allies or subordinates. He is a very head-strong politician,
one of
those described by most African analysts as a "hard man".
Some
of his critics might even go so far as to say that only such a man
would put
his own political ambitions, even at the ripe old age of 84,
before the
economic and political future of his own country.
On the periphery of the
potentially successful conclusion of the long-drawn
negotiations between the
MDC and Zanu PF must be a close at what kind of
government is likely to
emerge.
The MDC might want to study political developments in Britain as
a guide. In
London, whose control was wrested from the Labour Party by the
Tories, the
Mayor, Boris Johnson, has just had to accept the resignation of
one of his
deputies, over allegations of misbehaviour and misappropriation
of funds.
The fact that the mayor is white and the deputy black is probably
of no
relevance whatsoever.
This has occurred so soon after the Tory
victory tongues have inevitably
been wagging: the men are so new to the
power game, they thought they could
get away with everything, in the
euphoria of the Tory success. But the
Labour Party has already spoken of
"the wheels coming off" the
Conservative-led Council. How this is likely to
affect moral among the Tory
councillors is not to be predicted with any
certainty.
What the MDC must be prepared for is a roasting by the Zanu
PF, almost at
every turn, if the government emerging from the talks is led
by that party.
Moreover, they must not be hesitant to chart an entirely new
course from
what followed by Zanu PF in nearly 30 years of self-absorption
and
spend-thrift policies. The essence of the change promised during the
election campaign must be visible immediately after the inception of the
news regime.
The party would find itself vulnerable to attacks if it
showed any
hesitation in pursuing policies which spell loudly and clearly to
the
electorate that it will not be "business as usual" after a change of
government. In opposition, the party has often displayed a lack of political
maturity which fairly stunned most neutral observers. The split over whether
or not to take part in the Senate elections was almost facetious in its
intensity. Some people called it "mahumbwe chaiwo" - child's play. Others
targeted the leaders as being so self-absorbed they were characterised as
being "more Zanu PF than MDC" - a reference to the early days of the
opposition party.
Some of the criticism was probably unjustified. A
political party, by its
very nature, is susceptible to turbulence of one
sort or another, probably
over nothing more substantial than a difference of
personalities. Compromise
is the watchword and the politician who is
prepared to make the game with
the guidance of the beacon of compromise is
not likely to last very long.
But what might face the government is how
to wipe out the perception among
the people of Zimbabwe that corruption and
greed are inevitable in a ruling
party, that challenging the ruling party is
dangerous, not only to the
health of the opposition, but even to their
lives.
Zanu PF created an atmosphere of such terror and corruption the
new
dispensation, if it is to be successful, must be its direct antithesis.
Zimbabwe, both politically and economically, might not survive another round
of rule under clones of either Mugabe or Zanu PF.
Politicsweb
Sapa
08 July
2008
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa says external forces should
leave
Zimbabwe alone.
HARARE (Sapa-AFP) - Robert Mugabe's regime
warned the West on Monday to
"stop meddling" in Zimbabwe's crisis as the
veteran leader faced mounting
pressure to cut a deal with the opposition
after his one-man election.
While US President George W. Bush again
labelled the June 27 poll a "sham"
and G8 leaders attending a summit in
Japan pushed for new sanctions, a top
Mugabe lieutenant said the outside
world had no role to play in the crisis.
"We appeal to foreigners and
external forces to leave the resolution of the
Zimbabwe situation to
Zimbabweans alone," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
told the state-run
Herald newspaper.
"Britain, the US and the EU, in particular, should stop
meddling in our
affairs."
Group of Eight industrial powers, at a
meeting on the sidelines of the
summit, were to try to persuade African
leaders to pressure Mugabe over the
violence-wracked vote boycotted by
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
urged Zimbabwe's parties to restore the
"rule of law" and said he would take
up the crisis with African leaders.
Ban, speaking to AFP on his plane as
he arrived in Japan, said Mugabe's
election lacked legitimacy.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile said new sanctions were to be
discussed
at the gathering.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, on a
three-day visit to South
Africa, said Mugabe had "turned the weapons of the
state on his own people"
and called on the world to support fresh
sanctions.
After meeting African leaders on Monday, Bush sought to show
solidarity with
Zimbabweans while criticising Mugabe, who has ruled the
country since
independence from Britain in 1980.
"I care deeply about
the people of Zimbabwe, I am extremely disappointed in
the election, which I
labelled a sham election," Bush said with Tanzania
President Jakaya Kikwete,
the current chairman of the AU.
Kikwete's comments, however, highlighted
the West's difficulties in
pressuring Mugabe, with the Tanzanian leader
reiterating the AU's relatively
mild call for dialogue.
"I want to
assure you that the concerns you have expressed are indeed the
concerns of
many of us in (the) African continent," he said, adding that
"the only area
that we may differ is on the way forward."
"We are saying no party can
govern alone in Zimbabwe and therefore the
parties have to work together,
come out to work together in a government and
then look at the future of
their country together," said Kikwete.
At a summit last week, African
Union leaders called for dialogue in Zimbabwe
and the formation of a
national unity government.
Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) opposition,
has rejected a unity government, saying
it does not reflect the people's
will and accommodates Mugabe after much of
the world dismissed his
re-election as a farce.
The G8 talks come
after a weekend meeting between Mugabe and South African
President Thabo
Mbeki, the regionally appointed mediator for the crisis.
A breakaway MDC
faction also attended the talks, but Tsvangirai refused to
meet Mbeki, who
has faced criticism over his quiet diplomacy approach. Mbeki
was also among
the African leaders in Japan.
Chinamasa said Western powers were trying
to wreck chances of a negotiated
settlement.
"It is very evident that
their hand is involved and complicating the smooth
dialogue between ZANU-PF
and the two MDC formations," he said, referring to
the ruling
party.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off five days before the poll,
citing
rising violence against his supporters that left dozens dead and
thousands
injured.
His party also faced major obstacles in
campaigning, with rallies barred and
the MDC's number two leader, Tendai
Biti, jailed on treason charges.
Biti, who was released on bail on June
26, appeared in court again Monday
and was told to return on August
27.
Tsvangirai finished ahead of the 84-year-old Mugabe in the March 29
first
round of the election, but with an official vote total just short of
the
outright majority needed to secure the presidency.
VOA
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
08
July 2008
Some Zimbabweans are reportedly condemning what
they describe as the Mugabe
government's quest to legitimize itself after
the ruling ZANU-PF party
reportedly called for international recognition of
the June 27 run-off vote.
This comes after the Harare government Monday
urged the international
community to accept President Robert Mugabe's
re-election, adding that any
move to impose U.N. sanctions on the government
would hurt everyone
involved. The June 27 presidential run-off election, in
which President
Mugabe claimed victory, was widely condemned as illegitimate
after main
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out.
The UN
Security Council is reportedly due to discuss a U.S. and British
proposal
for financial and travel restrictions on President Mugabe and his
top
officials as well as an arms embargo on the country.
Glen Mpani is the
regional coordinator for the transitional justice program
of the Center for
the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Cape Town,
South Africa. He
tells reporter Peter Clottey that the June 27 presidential
run-off election
was neither free nor fair.
"We basically understand that governments are
elected by the people in a
free and democratic process. And according to the
AU (African Union) report,
the SADC (Southern African Development Community)
report and the PAN African
parliamentary report, there was no free and fair
election. So, to go out and
request the world to recognize the leader while
he had previously been
saying that "we are a sovereign nation and we will
listen to what our people
say" is contradictory and more or less playing to
the same tune that we don't
care about anybody," Mpani noted.
He said
the international community would only recognize a government that
was
elected in a free and fair atmosphere.
"The world would only recognize
the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe, which
they have been informed that
they have not been respected. So, there is no
way the world can respect the
wishes of only a few people who have had the
capacity of muzzling the will
of the people," he said.
Mpani concurred that sanctions usually do not
tend to achieve their intended
objective.
"In general, sanctions
don't yield much because those who would be
perpetuating human rights abuses
or those who are governing, they always
find ways of circumventing these
sanctions or processes. But I think in an
environment like the Zimbabwean
one, unfortunately whether we agree or
disagree the decision of whether
sanctions are going to be put on Zimbabwe
on what or who they should go to
are part of foreign policies of different
countries. If there is any
political leadership or any government that has
got the interest of the
people at heart, I think this is an opportunity for
people to sit down and
seriously consider negotiating and coming up with an
arrangement that is in
the interest of the people of Zimbabwe," Mpani
pointed out.
He said
any international coordinated pressure backed by either the United
States or
Britain could be seen as trying to force a regime change in
Zimbabwe.
"Unfortunately, this issue has been reduced to an issue of
Britain and the
ZANU-PF government. And I think the unfortunate thing about
it is that,
whatever, Britain and America decide to do in terms of trying to
exert
pressure, it gives an opportunity for the ZANU-PF government to
continue
with its campaign that there is a regime change agenda on Zimbabwe.
But we
know fully well that that is not the core issue. The core issue that
is in
Zimbabwe is an issue of bad governance that has been caused by a
leadership
that has lost the mandate of the people to govern. And they will
take any
opportunity to try and push them towards a peaceful resolution to
claim that
they are under attack and under siege from western countries," he
noted.
Meanwhile, World leaders at a Group of Eight industrialized
nations summit
in Japan have also raised the prospect of more sanctions on
the Harare
government unless quick progress is made to end a political and
economic
crisis after Mugabe's re-election in a poll that drew global
condemnation.
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 07 July 2008 21:50
It cannot just be Western antagonism against
the man. He must be doing
something wrong, says the Accra Daily Mail in an
editorial.
When he took over from Abel Muzerewa close to three decades
ago,
Zimbabwe, with its terrible racist and bloody liberation war past, was
still
a showpiece of Africa.
Many sub-Sahran Africans looked on
with envy as certain aspects of
that country were decidedly like a developed
country. Food was the strong
point of Zimbabwe. It produced enough to feed
itself and sell the surplus to
the rest of the world. Great things were
expected of that country.
Today Zimbabwe cannot feed itself; it is
a country totally uneasy with
itself and the rest of the world. No one, not
even the rulers of Zimbabwe
can put their hands on the Holy Bible or Holy
Koran and swear to Almighty
God that the country is living in normal times.
Fundamental freedoms and
human rights are absent and instead of the rule of
law, the rule of thuggery
exists there. Just look at the rather puerile
exercises last week of
detaining diplomats, asking charities to "suspend"
food aid and the arrest
of Morgan Tsvangrai the MDC leader
twice...
So what happened to NEPAD and the Peer Review Mechanism?
Are African
leaders telling us that what is taking place in Zimbabwe is an
acceptable
African norm?
We are most disappointed by what is
looking like the complicity of
African leaders, by their prevarication, in
this totally self-destructive
path Mr. Robert Mugabe has taken his country
these past several years. Like
Iddi Amin, like "Emperor" Bokassa, like
Mobutu Sese Seku and the other
unsavoury types who drove their countries
into the abyss, is Mugabe going to
be allowed to drive this once thriving
country to the ground? Can't Africa
call Mr. Mugabe to order? What a pity,
what a shame...
Zimbabwe Guardian
Dyke Sithole
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:04:00
+0000
MOST of Zimbabwe's major banks have been upgrading
their automated teller
machines (ATMs) to release a maximum of $100 billion
in cash, up from $25
billion, in a move expected to bring relief to the
majority of the people.
By yesterday morning most banks had started
releasing the new maximum
withdrawals.
Whilst the latest
review of the cash limits is likely to be welcomed as good
news by other
sectors of the economy, it is highly unlikely to be cheered by
the bulk of
the country's inflation-jaded workers, most of whom are
wallowing inexorably
below the official poverty datum line of (PDL), about
$5 trillion for an
average family of six.
The average worker earns a net slightly
above the new daily withdrawal cash
limit of $100 billion.
On
Wednesday last week RBZ announced the new cash limits following
consultation
with various stakeholders.
"The new daily withdrawal limit is
still not adequate," said James Shamu who
runs a green grocery along Herbert
Chitepo in Bulawayo, "especially for
people like us whose business involves
cash on daily basis. If the Reserve
Bank raised the daily withdrawal to at
least a trillion, I think it would
have been better. One can hardly buy a
two litre bottle of cooking oil with
only $100
billion!"
New Vision, Uganda
Monday, 7th
July, 2008
The Zimbabwean situation seems to be at a stalemate. The African
Union has
called for a government of national unity between President Robert
Mugabe's
Zanu-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC).
But Mugabe said MDC must first drop its
claim to power and accept him as the
rightful head of state, while
Tsvangirai wants the result of the first
round, which he won, to serve as a
basis for a political settlement.
In this, Tsvangirai is supported by the
European Union.
"The EU will only accept a formula which respects the
will of the Zimbabwean
people, as expressed in the elections of March 29,
which saw the MDC and
Morgan Tsvangirai win," a statement by the French
presidency said on Friday.
Europe might not be the best placed to comment
on the Zimbabwe crisis, given
Britain's past role and interests in the
former Rhodesia.
In fact, London's involvement makes it easy for Mugabe
to dismiss any
criticism as a plot by neo-colonial imperialist powers. The
type of racist
language uttered by him and his henchmen would never be
accepted of a
European leader.
On the same grounds, the role of South
Africa's leader as mediator should be
questioned. Mbeki is too close to
Mugabe, their past and current interests
are too deeply intertwined, to be
credible as an arbiter.
To break the impasse, the AU should first and
foremost appoint a new
mediator who is acceptable to all parties.
It
needs somebody of the clout of Kofi Annan to bring the two seemingly
irreconcilable leaders together and foster a solution during a transition
period.
Using his soft-spoken diplomatic skills, Annan achieved the
almost
impossible in Kenya, creating a unity government among two leaders
who were
literally at each other's throat.
There is no reason why he
would fail to broker a similar deal in Zimbabwe.
Let Mbeki step aside, in
the interest of Zimbabwe and the Southern African
region.
OhMyNews
Politicians
manipulate hunger to stay in power
Masimba Biriwasha
Published 2008-07-08 13:23 (KST)
In the run-up to the June presidential
run-off elections in Zimbabwe,
President Robert Mugabe's government banned
the distribution of food to poor
people by NGOs. The government accused NGOs
of using food to campaign on
behalf of the political opposition.
More
than anything else the government ban on food distribution is a
revelation
of how much the stomach has influenced political developments in
the
country.
Zimbabwe is a nation-state that has been increasingly built on
the politics
of empty stomachs since it attained independence from British
rule in 1980.
A combination of widespread rural poverty and a legacy of
the liberation war
have in many ways nourished President Robert Mugabe's
rule since 1980.
Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Unity-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) has
mastered the art of handing out Lazaric crumbs to the majority
of the
people, particularly in the rural areas, in exchange for political
gain and
control.
In many ways, the Mugabe regime has largely fed off
the majority of the
people's inability to access basic services that can
allow them to
independently lead their lives and make decisions that promote
the
democratic well-being of the nation-state.
Thus, Zimbabwe's
democratic culture is largely malnourished as much as the
people's stomachs
are empty, and as in many parts of the continent, this
tends to augur well
to those in the echelons of power.
Essentially, the lived reality of
poverty limits citizens' ability to invest
in social capital strategies that
are a pre-requisite for a functional
democracy. Many people only focus on
day to day survival making them either
politically apathetic or highly
vulnerable to political chicanery.
Approximately 70 percent of
Zimbabwe's 13 million people live in rural
settings with no access to basic
services such as water, health, education
or transportation. Many of these
people depend on agriculture for their
livelihood and food but lack of
support from the government and poor
rainfall patterns have devastated
subsistence agriculture.
With an estimated 80 percent of the population
living on less than US$2 per
day, poverty in the country is
endemic.
To put it bluntly, poverty, hunger, and deprivation have played
a key role
in strengthening Mugabe's stranglehold on power, making his rule
one of the
most paradoxical in modern times.
It is ironic that though
Robert Mugabe is credited with instituting health
and educational reforms to
help previously marginalized black people, rural
underdevelopment and lack
of access to information have nourished his rule.
And it appears that his
government has such a vested interest in keeping the
majority of the
population poor and dependent on the wiles of the ruling
party
government.
In Zimbabwe, as in many parts of Africa, rural areas remain
underdeveloped
and inaccessible. Due to high levels of poverty, many rural
folk tend to be
dependent on what the government provides to
them.
Rural folk have developed a dependency syndrome that has served to
sustain
the incumbent government. Mugabe's government has effectively used
rural-based poverty as a means to maintain an ideological stronghold on the
rural people.
Unfortunately, unlike during the early years of
independence in 1980, ZANU
PF's charity has failed to address the
fundamental problems that fuel rural
poverty.
Government actions in
rural areas have been more about political expediency
as opposed to an
investment in agriculture, road projects or economic
infrastructure.
Without jobs and unable to produce adequate food,
rural-based populations
are forced to turn to government for food
assistance.
However, the ZANU PF government has not always been able to
fill this need,
leaving it to non-governmental organizations.
Some
ZANU PF apparatchiks fearing lack of control over food utilize food
handouts
as a political tool, or use NGO food distribution as a political
campaign
platform.
The ban on food distribution by the ZANU PF government was
therefore a
calculated move to win the battle over people's
stomach.
It is fact though that poor people simply have far less time to
devote to
the types of participation that give life to democracy. Poverty is
antithetical to the growth of democratic values.
Sadly, politicians
in Zimbabwe, and indeed throughout the continent, have
Japan Times
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
By HANY BESADA
WATERLOO, Canada - Disillusioned
Zimbabweans 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 remaining
unchanged, up to 3 million Zimbabweans
have been forced to take up menial
jobs in neighboring South Africa in
recent years to support their families
back home.
New figures, released by independent economists last month,
show that annual
inflation has reached 9 million percent. With the worthless
Zimbabwean
dollar trading at more than 1 billion to £1, the country's
Central Bank
announced the introduction of a Z$1 billion
banknote.
With a sinking economy and hyperinflation that has produced
millionaires and
billionaires who struggle to feed their families and have
to rely on
remittances from South Africa for survival, questions are
surfacing as to
how President Robert Mugabe has managed to avert a state
collapse thus far.
Some answers can be found in the much publicized and
often controversial
Zimbabwean-China relations.
By many accounts,
China has become one of Zimbabwe's most important foreign
investors,
following the exodus of Western multinationals in the mid-1990s,
due to the
worsening political and security situation in the country, after
the seizure
of white-owned farms.
Last month Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Nansheng
Yuan said a Chinese
company was exploring the possibility of investing $500
million for
electricity generation in Zimbabwe. This follows discussions
between the two
states on expanding bilateral trade and
investments.
Over the past two years, China had 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, aimed at
reducing the
country's electricity shortage.
Indeed, Beijing's
economic support for Harare remains strong and, through
its efforts, Beijing
has secured the contracts to develop Zimbabwe's
agricultural, mineral and
hydro-electric resources. Tobacco counts among
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.
China also
injected a capital injection of more than $200 million into
Zimbabwe's
farming, manufacturing and mining sectors. China supplies
Zimbabwe with
expertise, technical assistance and agricultural equipment,
including
tractors and agro-processing.
Chinese investors help Zimbabwe process
tobacco into cigarettes and export
these as finished value-added products.
Chinese investors and a local
company also undertook a joint venture in the
form of a large cement factory
in Gweru, to meet the national demand for
cement.
It seems likely that Harare will become increasingly reliant on
Beijing for
economic support, as Zimbabwe's economic and political situation
continues
to deteriorate. 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, for as long as
the incumbent
government remains in place.
Yet, the current fragile
state of the country is putting Beijing in an
increasingly vulnerable
situation, as Western condemnation of China's
long-standing ties with the
autocratic regime of President Mugabe is
becoming increasingly more vocal.
China's continued involvement in Zimbabwe,
in the agricultural and mining
sectors in particular, furthermore carries
significant sovereign risk.
Beijing is gambling that it can manage relations
to guarantee its claims in
what will almost certainly continue to be a
chaotic transition
period.
The growing importance of China in the country's economy is
evidenced by
economic assistance and foreign investment deals in the
extraction sector,
state-owned enterprises and the agricultural sector. The
key to this is
China's willingness to barter-trade. China's motives appear
economic -
namely to satisfy its growing economic needs.
A
constructive engagement with China will have to focus on improving
transparency in contracts, investment deals and loan agreements, if ordinary
Zimbabweans are to reap the full benefits of increased Chinese
investments.
Hany Besada is senior researcher and program leader at the
Center for
International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Canada. Web site:
www.cigionline.org