2010 07 21 - Updated -
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/headline/icc-pressed-to-prosecute-mugabe-youth-and-militia/
Dave Fish Eagle on Jul 21st, 2010 and filed under Main Headline.
VIENNA
Jul 21 2010
The International Criminal Court must probe alleged crimes against humanity after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia launched a campaign of rape during 2008 elections, a campaign group said Wednesday.
Witness statements by rape victims, vetted by a team of international lawyers, suggest the ruling ZANU-PF unleashed “sexual terror” against women who supported the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), it said.
The charges were made by AIDS-Free World, an advocacy group co-founded by the UN’s former special envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, after an 18-month investigation.
A legal dossier will be handed to the ICC in The Hague next month, in the hope that the court’s prosecutor can launch proceedings for crimes against humanity, Lewis said.
“What we are calling for collectively is serious intervention at every level,” Lewis said at a press conference at the world AIDS forum in Vienna.
He urged the UN Security Council, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to end their “criminally delinquent” silence.
“We know as we are sitting here that it’s going to happen again,” said Lewis.
“There’s not the slightest question that Mugabe has his youth corps and his war veterans, and they are ready to do it again and the world is silent. How is it possible that he’s allowed to get away with it?”
The probe, Electing to Rape - Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, was released in Johannesburg last December.
It detected a surge in rape ahead of the first round of Zimbabwe’s blood-stained presidential elections that reached a crescendo before the second round.
So far, 70 personal accounts, checked by lawyers who made six trips to southern Africa and supported by certified affidavits, have been collected, AIDS-Free World said.
In 300 hours of testimony, victims identified 241 men who raped them, and estimated the total acts of rape to be 380.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as many other rape victims are too fearful - or too sceptical of getting any redress against their attackers - to come forward, said the report.
“Every victim supported the MDC, and in every attack the perpetrators were clearly identifiable as ZANU-PF youth militia or war veterans,” the term for former fighters in the war against white minority rule, AIDS-Free World said.
Activists were raped in front of their families or abducted by ZANU-PF youths who marched them to militia bases or camps in the countryside, where they were repeatedly assaulted, sometimes over days, the document said.
“Many women were forced to watch their husbands, children and parents killed or tortured before they were raped,” it said.
“Nine of the women believe they were infected by HIV/AIDS as a result of the rapes, and an additional 17 women also tested positive in the months following the rapes, raising the possibility that their rapists infected them. Ten women reported that they became pregnant by their rapists.”
During their ordeal, the ZANU-PF men repeatedly accused the women of being “sell-outs,” of “giving the country back to the whites” or being the “whores” or “puppets” of MDC candidate Morgan Tsangvirai.
Police were indifferent to the few women who had the courage to file a complaint, and not a single rapist has been prosecuted, it said.
The MDC said more than 300 people were killed in pre-election violence.
Mugabe claimed victory in the disputed elections, which eventually led to a unity government.
It is meant to draft a new constitution that will pave the way to fresh elections, but the reform process is running about a year behind schedule.
2010 07 21
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/headline/police-selling-diamonds-illegally/
Metro Staff Writer on Jul 21st, 2010 and filed under Main Headline.
Written by John Chimunhu
Harare
Senior police officers are still heavily involved in the illegal sale of diamonds from the controversial Marange fields in eastern Zimbabwe despite recent vehement denials by Home Affairs co-minister Kembo Mohadi.
In one bizarre case, a police officer was found conducting the roaring trade from his house at the Fife Avenue police station.
The discovery came as international diamond trade bodies and both sides of the inclusive government were bent on sweeping the abuses under the carpet to allow Zimbabwe to offload the Marange ‘blood diamonds’ onto an unsuspecting global market.
Rights groups and consumer watchdogs last Friday vowed to take their fight to the stores.
The radical consumer rights group Consumer Action said it would mount a two-day protest outside diamond stores, including blocking entrances to Tiffany’s in New York and other shops in several other cities in early August, timed to coincide with the Kimberly Process monitor’s visit to Zimbabwe, where he is expected to certify the country’s controversial Marange stones for international sale.
Underworld figures in the illegal diamond trade named several top cops as the culprits in the thriving rackets.
Investigations by this newspaper revealed that the well-organised gangs included illegal diamond miners displaced from the Marange fields in the widely-condemned, brutal 2008 army-led Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return) in which security forces allegedly murdered up to 200 illegal miners, according to Human Rights Watch.
Finding the illegal diamond sellers in Harare was not difficult. A contact led this reporter to the Ximex Mall, a centre for illegal deals of all kinds. Among a band of youth dressed in expensive American designer clothes and fiddling with mobile phones was a youth who called himself Grey.
2010 07 23
Written by Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group Coalition(ZDFG)
Friday, 23 July 2010
The Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group (ZDFG), a coalition of Zimbabwean organisations is cordially inviting Zimbabweans to a meeting with Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara (pictured) at the Lumen United reformed Church, 88 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RS Saturday 24th July from 19:00hrs to 21:00hrs.
ZDFG chairperson Mrs Lucia Dube said - “ZDFG works for Zimbabweans and these meetings are free. It is important that Zimbabweans have an opportunity to meet the people making decisions about their lives. ”
DPM Mutambara is one of two deputy Prime Ministers in the Zimbabwe coalition government. The Oxford educated engineer is in London to also attend a conference organised by the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers. He has today been talking about the need to focus on infrastructure development in the rehabilitation of Zimbabwe.
The ZDFG recently hosted the other deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe and Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart.
“We will continue facilitating these meetings for our Zimbabwean people in a non-partisan way. It is our responsibility as Zimbabweans to identify our own roles in the reconstruction of Zimbabwe and to seek an understanding on what the Government of the day is doing about our issues,” Mrs Dube said.
2010 07 21
Written by MAGARI MANDEBVU
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
‘There cannot be many veterans who are less than 50 years old’
After reading the account of constitutional outreach meetings in Wedza-Rusape area in The Zimbabwean last week, I have one or two questions.
It is unfortunate that the people who need to answer them would refuse to read this paper if it was offered to them, but I certainly won’t be heard if I don’t speak out now.
I would like to examine the credentials of the person who is reported as saying - “As a person who fought for this country, I would be insulted if someone who has links with the British who we were fighting during the war became president.”
My first question would be - “Which country were you fighting for?” because I find it hard to believe that a real freedom fighter didn’t know who he was fighting against. But then perhaps he was fighting on the other side. Every schoolchild used to know that the war was fought between Ian Smith’s army on one side, which was in rebellion against Britain, and ZIPRA and ZANLA on the other. Where were the British then ?.
And when was ‘Soko’, the vocal war veteran, in the four months when Smith and the miscellaneous members of the 1979 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia regime had surrendered to the British, who supervised an election and handed over power to the winner ?.
Which raises a second question. Have the war vet Soko and all the others who read from the same script forgotten that the winners of that election were the party of the man who still occupies State House ?.
Haven’t we already got a president who has links with the British ?.
He did shake hands with Prince Charles and the temporary British governor Lord Soames and accepted the symbols of power from them. He also accepted quite a lot of money from them to help the first land reform programme.
If ‘Soko’ doesn’t know this, he certainly has a president now whose history he doesn’t know.
And if he is so opposed to any connection with the British, how could he have accepted the land he apparently now occupies under a resettlement scheme which they helped to fund ?.
Now, I’m not claiming the British are angels, but we need to give even the Devil his due.That ends my questions about history. Now I have a few about biology.
Are war veterans human beings ?.
As far as I know, all human beings die sooner or later. There cannot be many veterans of that war, which ended 30 years ago, who are less than 50 years old. If they are human, how much longer can they live ?.
Have Soko and his chorus got any suggestion for what should happen after the last person who carried a gun in that war (which the Old Man himself didn’t do) lays down his or her mortal body and goes to face the final judgement ?.
If the ruinous state we were in 18 months ago is any indication, everyone else is likely to have starved to death or emigrated by then, so maybe Soko isn’t thinking that far ahead.
2010 0719-
Written by BEAULAH MASIYANISE
Monday, 19 July 2010
President Robert Mugabe said Zimbabwe does not need Western
Aid to revive its shattered economy, after the EU demanded more progress in
making human rights and political rights and political reforms.
Quoted in the state-run Herald Newspaper, Mugabe said “Zimbabwe shall recover by her wits and resources”. My question to the President is that, Is it Zimbabwe that does not need Western aid or it is Mugabe and Zanu-Pf that surely does not need western aid anymore as I do not see the ordinary Zimbabwean benefiting from the vast diamond deposits. Mugabe and his cronies single handedly brought the Zimbabwean economy to its knees, how in the world are they to be trusted to revive the economy that was not so long ago the world’s fastest shrinking economy ?.
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa but now relies on aid for its survival.
Farms have not been productive since the disastrous land reform. The World Food Programme has named Zimbabwe as one of the global hunger hotspots. Only 10% of winter wheat has been planted due to shortage of fuel, fertilisers and farming expertise. Seventy ‘per cent’ of commercial agricultural land has been destroyed due to the disastrous reform, with more renewed farm invasions. Surely how is one to survive without aid when the above issues have not been addressed ?.
Zimbabwe’s health system without international aid would have completely shut down. With a population ravaged by the HIV/Aids epidemic, Zimbabwe relies mostly on donors for Anti-retroviral drugs, Care, Education and awareness, Counselling and testing. There are about 350 Aids orphans a day due to the epidemic.
The cholera epidemic of 2008-2009 which saw 4000 dead due to the collapse of urban water supply, sanitation, and garbage collection systems and water contaminated with faeces. The unusual high fatality rate was due to the fact that Zimbabweans were seriously weakened by hunger due to unproductive farms, homelessness due to operation Murambatsvina, collapse of the public health sector, HIV and Aids. Zimbabwe was assisted by numerous international agencies that funded for clean water, drugs, sanitation and hygiene programmes.
Lest we forget the tortured and injured people that pass through clinics due to organised political violence.
Zimbabwe is in abject poverty with the food crisis worsening. Many people around the country are surviving on international food aid.
Mugabe and the Zanu-PF regime have used international aid to pump up the Zanu (PF) regime by diverting aid.
Gideon Gono is responsible for funding Mugabe’s repression on Zimbabweans and he admitted that he had raided the accounts of foreign aid groups to pay for government works and spending with sponsored violence and intimidation across Zimbabwe. Borrowing money from private bank accounts without consent is unethical and tantamount to abuse of the central regulatory powers. Gono also abused funds meant to fight HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis in 2008 to aid Zanu (PF)’s political party.
Zanu (PF) used and still uses international food aid to gather support. Politicisation of food aid discrimination are still being recorded across the country with widespread incidents of beneficiaries being asked to produce party cards and denounce their political parties before one can qualify to get food. The same happens for access to healthcare care, with Zanu (PF) card holders the sole winners.
With the discovery of the Marange diamonds and its occupation by the army, Mugabe can boastfully kick international donors goodbye. The aim of the Marange diamonds operation is not to secure the revenue from the diamond Mines for the new government coffers - money that could be spend on addressing Zimbabwe’s massive humanitarian crises or on kick-starting the once profitable agricultural sector, but to produce a new stream of revenue with which to line the pockets of Mugabe’s loyalists and maintain the repressive and predatory infrastructure that keeps them in power, i.e. the secret air-strip built in Marange diamond field, an easy access to smuggle the nations valuable stones.
Zimbabwe’s wealth has continued to benefit only the Zanu (PF) regime. Zimbabwe has only Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) to blame for its dependence on aid. Surely Mr President, we need to look at the reasons for this aid dependency.
2010 07 23
http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2010-07-23-mugabe-faces-excommunication
VENERANDA LANGA
President Robert Mugabe faces possible ex-communication from the Roman Catholic Church for allegedly violating a standing doctrine governing the conduct of its members when he wore a Vapostori robe at a gathering of a Johanne Marange Apostolic Sect in Manicaland last weekend, church leaders have said.
Rod in hand, President Mugabe preached polygamy to the congregation of more than
200 000 worshipers who had gathered for their annual Passover at Mafirarikwa in Marange communal lands, further compounding his “transgressions”.
“Our Constitution allows for polygamy. We will not force people into monogamous marriages. Inga muBhaibheri chaimo zvirimo. Solomon haana kungopihwa upfumi chete asi nevakadzi vakawanda”(It is written in the Bible that King Solomon was not only blessed with riches but with many wives as well) President Mugabe said.
Father Oskar Wermter, the social communications secretary of Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said through this gospel of polygamy and his involvement in Vapostori spiritual rites, President Mugabe reduced himself to a “schismatic” knowingly.
The 86-year-old leader was baptised and confirmed as a full member of the Catholic Church when he accepted Holy Communion.
Wermter said Catholic rules would not bend because of President Mugabe’s political status and profile.
“Reuben Barwe calls President Mugabe a devout Catholic on national television.
First of all, he (President Mugabe) went to a church that has no links with the Catholic Church and when a Catholic person goes to such a church he is referred to as schismatic because they have breached their contract with the Roman Catholic Church.”
Barwe is ZBC’s chief correspondent.
2010 07 23
http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2010-07-23-copac-officials-booted-out-of-orange-grove-motel
MERNAT MAFIRAKUREWA
Jul 23 2010
Members of the constitutional outreach programme in Chinhoyi were on Tuesday ejected from a motel they were staying in for non-payment amid reports that other lodgings in the province have threatened to do the same.
Twenty-one members of Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac) housed at Chinhoyi Caves Motel were thrown out and relocated to a nearby Roman Catholic Church.
Orange Grove Motel in Chinhoyi has also threatened to evict Copac officials living there.
The Copac officials told NewsDay the embarrassing incident could force them to abandon the project.
The team said their plight was worsened by the unavailability of food and they have resorted to scrounging since their allowances had not been disbursed.
“Something has to be done about our plight. We are dedicated to this programme but Copac should reciprocate our efforts,” a team member who declined to be named said.
“We have not been getting food at all and we wonder how we are supposed to continue working.”
Contacted for comment yesterday, Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora, said he was aware of the cases of evicted outreach teams but it was true that the hotels had not been paid.
He said there were some outstanding payments because the respective hotels only submitted bills for 25 days instead of the entire 65 days of the outreach programme.
“United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is responsible for paying 25% of the bills for the entire constitution making process. So when they were processing the payments they only released money relating to the invoices submitted,” he said.
“I believe Copac and the hotels should equally share the blame.”
Mwonzora said he has been advised that UNDP is now in the process of dealing with the matter.
2010 07 24
http://news.radiovop.com/index.php/national-news/4245.html
Harare, July 24, 2010
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku will on Wednesday preside over an appeal filed by Attorney General Johannes Tomana challenging the acquittal of Movement for Democratic Change Treasurer Roy Bennett.
Bennett’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa and Chris Mutangadura, a chief law officer in the AG’s Office who confirmed to Radio VOP that the State’s appeal seeking to nullify the acquittal of the former Chimanimani legislator will be heard in Chidyausiku’s chambers on Wednesday.
Bennett, who had been on trial since last year on charges of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s previous administration was acquitted in May by High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu.
Justice Bhunu ruled that the state failed to prove a prima facie case against Bennett during his high profile trial.
Bennett is Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s pick for deputy agriculture minister in the shacky transitional unity government.
The former legislator was arrested in February 2009, shortly before he was to be sworn in, over terror charges stemming from accusations that he had funded a plot to topple President Mugabe four years ago.
2010 07 24
http://www.swradioafrica.com/News230710/Uproar230710.htm
SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
By Tichaona Sibanda
24 July 2010
There is an uproar in political circles over the way funds raised from tollgate fees have been channeled to developmental projects, mainly in ZANU PF strongholds.
The tollgates, operated by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, were launched in August last year. As of March this year the government said it had pocketed US$ 12 million in fees and the bulk of the money has been spent on trunk roads rehabilitation and pothole repair.
Nationally there are 22 tollgates on the country’s major roads that are cashing in an average of US$ 1,3 million every month. But eyebrows have been raised at the way the funds have been distributed to rehabilitate roads in only some of the provinces.
The weekly Zimbabwe Independent reported Friday that Robert Mugabe’s rural home district of Zvimba, and some nearby districts in the area, have controversially grabbed the largest amounts of money from tollgate fees collected nationwide.
The paper said the move has caused shock in political and civil society circles, adding that it also confirms the skewed distribution of resources in the country, with most resources being allocated to areas where Mugabe and his closest cronies hail from.
Mugabe and his loyalists have over the years been accused of grabbing national resources to develop their own regions, at the expense of others. This has created imbalances in national development and angered other regions which felt marginalized.
Out of the US$ 15 million distributed so far, areas perceived to be ZANU PF strongholds have benefitted the most. Bindura got US$ 2,6 million and Zvimba slightly more than US$ 2 million. Mhondoro-Ngezi in Mashonaland West got US$ 1,8 million.
The Independent says all the top six beneficiaries of tollgate money are in the Mashonaland provinces, Bindura (Mashonaland Central), Zvimba (Mashonaland West), Mhondoro-Ngezi (Mashonaland West), Chaminuka (Mashonaland East, US$ 510 000), Mazowe (Mashonaland Central, US$ 190 000), and Pfura (Mashonaland Central, US$ 137 655) .
2010 07 24
http://news.radiovop.com/index.php/national-news/4242.html
24/07/2010 09
Harare, July 24, 2010
Police on Friday arrested John Ziyera, one of the monitors shadowing the chaotic constitution making exercise despite assurance by Constitution Select Committee (OPAC) leaders to spare them from harassment and arrest.
Ziyera, who is a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Election Support Network and Zimbabwe Peace Project Independent Constitutional Monitoring Project (ZZZICOMP) monitor was arrested and detained at Dumba Business Center, Mutasa North Constituency where he had been monitoring a constitution making outreach meeting.
In a statement Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights whose lawyers reacted to Ziyera’s arrest said the monitor was allegedly apprehended after the participants in a meeting at Dumba Business Centre tried to physically attack him as he was regarded as a foreigner in their area.
Although Ziyera identified himself as a ZZZICOMP monitor to David Chimhini, one of the COPAC team leaders, the legislator allegedly proceeded to hand him over to the police under unclear circumstances.
“Ziyera was then detained by the police from 15 - 00hours and was subsequently transferred to Mutare Law and Order Section after three hours. When Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyers, Blessing Nyamaropa and Roselyn Hanzi attended at the police station they were advised that no charges had been levelled against the ZZZICOMP monitor. The police continued to detain Ziyera even after the lawyers produced his accreditation card that had been issued by COPAC,” ZLHR in a statement.
The rights group said a police officer advised them at the police station that the senior police officers at Mutare police station were consulting and verifying with senior police officers in Harare on the way forward.
Ziyera was released into the custody of his lawyers after being detained for almost five hours, on condition that he appears at the Mutare Law and Order Section at 08 - 00 hours on 24 July, 2010.
2010 07 24
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/7079084.html
July 24, 2010
The European Commission on Friday adopted a 15 million euros (around 19.2 million U.S. dollars) aid package to support the reestablishment of essential health and water supply services and to provide food assistance, short term food security and livelihood support in Zimbabwe.
The commission's new funding decision will address these humanitarian concerns via a wide range of interventions including support to primary health care, the provision and distribution of vital and essential medicines and medical supplies. Part of the money will also be used in pilot livelihood support activities including cash transfers and voucher systems.
"If we want Zimbabwe to get back on the path towards longer- term development, we will need to carry on with our efforts to provide clean water and sanitation facilities to the population, alongside our food assistance programs," said Kristalina Georgieva, commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.
In concrete terms, the dollarization of the Zimbabwean economy has improved overall food availability in the country. However, access to food is still difficult for those who do not have foreign currency. The commission is replacing food distribution with schemes aimed at injecting funds to improve food security through local purchases, in line with its March 2010 Communication on humanitarian food assistance.
Over recent years, the EU has been one of the largest donors in funding emergency water and sanitation interventions, as part of the integrated public health approach to tackle potential epidemics. Cholera, measles and typhus outbreaks are currently occurring in the country.
On March 31 this year, the commission adopted a Communication on Humanitarian Food Assistance, which lays out a new policy framework for EU humanitarian action to strengthen efforts to tackle food-insecurity in humanitarian crises. In 2010, over 1 billion people are considered to be food insecure.
Source - Xinhua
2010 07 24
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=11898
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Sat 24 July 2010
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has recalled his top diplomat at the United Nations (UN) in New York.
An official government gazette on Wednesday stated that President Mugabe had recalled Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku, who has been Zimbabwe’s permanent Representative at the UN in New York over the past seven years.
Chidyausiku has been recalled to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs head office in Harare.
Foreign affairs secretary Joey Bimha confirmed Chidyausiku’s recall but said it was part of President Mugabe’s restructuring and plan to reshuffle some foreign missions.
“The President has reassigned ambassadors who are already serving to other stations,” Bimha said.
′During his tenure, Ambassador Chidyausiku saw the re-election of Zimbabwe to the UN Commission for Human Rights for a three-year term from January 1, 2006.′
Ambassador Chidyausiku also recently drafted an agreement that seeks to ensure a nuclear-free world.
The draft proposes a 26-point plan to establish global peace and security.
′The outspoken ambassador recently saw China and Russia block a US draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would have slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe by highlighting the partial manner the world body was handling Zimbabwe.
Ambassador Chidyausiku will be replaced by Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa, who was Zimbabwe’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.
Chipaziwa will be replaced by Ambassador James Manzou who, prior to his reassignment, headed Zimbabwe’s mission in Angola.
′In another development, Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo, who was Zimbabwe’s envoy to South Africa, has also left the foreign service to work full time at the ZANU-PF Headquarters in Harare following his election as party national chairman at the party convention last year.
Ambassador Phelekezela Mphoko, who was Zimbabwe’s top diplomat in Moscow, Russia, will replace him in South Africa.
′Ambassador Moyo was at the helm of Zimbabwe’s mission in Pretoria for the past decade.
′During his tenure, former South African president Thabo Mbeki brokered the Global Political Agreement, which saw the formation of the inclusive government by the country’s three major political parties.
President Mugabe also appointed Mary Mubi, who has been the country’s representative in Sweden, to represent the country in Italy and at the Food and Agriculture Organisation headquartered in Rome.
Ambassador Mubi takes over from Margaret Muchada, who is yet to be re-assigned.
Former Ambassador to Australia Stephen Chiketa has been moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to take over from Mubi.
2010 07 23
Written by SW Radio Africa
Friday, 23 July 2010
The organ for National Healing and Reconciliation has been tasked to ‘engage’ the country’s top military brass, in order to involve them in efforts to create an environment of tolerance and respect in Zimbabwe.
The Joint Operations Command (JOC) is made up of Army and Airforce commanders, Central Intelligence Organisation directors, police and prison commissioners - most of them veterans of the 1970’s war of liberation. It is widely believed the group gets its orders from top ZANU PF officials, most of who belong to the party’s politburo.
In 2008 JOC spearheaded Robert Mugabe’s violent fight back, after he lost the first round of the presidential election to then arch rival and now Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai. Since independence the military establishment has long been accused of committing most of the country brutal human rights abuses.
JOC comprises General Constantine Chiwenga, the overall military chief; Augustine Chihuri, the national police commissioner, and General Paradzai Zimondi, the commander of the prison service.
Air Marshal Perence Shiri is the commander of the Airforce and the person who masterminded the brutal Gukurahundi military campaign in the early 1980’s, while Happyton Bonyongwe is the director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). He is a retired Brigadier in the Zimbabwe National Army.
On Wednesday, the highest decision-making organs of ZANU PF and the two MDC formations met in Harare to try and deal with issues of violence as well as to create an avenue that would foster healing and forgiveness. The indaba was also meant to kick-start the stalled national healing process.
Participants ‘unanimously’ agreed to engage the military to see how they could be part of the process. A source told us since members of JOC were the purveyors of violence, it was felt their presence or contributions would help break the ice to bring perpetrators and victims of violence to a round table.
Critics have questioned whether any statement backed by ZANU PF at this conference can be taken seriously - given that they are widely understood to be behind the violence, and could stop it if they wanted to.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister warned that there can be no room or tolerance for retribution, as this perpetuates the cycle of oppression and suffering.
‘Our healing process must be founded upon the three principles of truth, justice and forgiveness. There can be no truth without justice. While it may not be possible to undo what has been done, it is sometimes possible to assist the victim to move on and rebuild a life that has been shattered,’ Tsvangirai said in his weekly newsletter.
An analyst told us the Prime Minister’s message was perhaps directed towards JOC, ZANU PF and its legion of hardline supporters, most of whom have blood on their hands.
However Theresa Makone, co-Home Affairs Minister from the MDC-T, said cases of people implicated in political violence during the last ten years will not be swept under the carpet but will be handled in accordance with guidelines of the GPA.
Makone told the Daily News on Thursday that criminal cases such as the one involving Joseph Mwale and Kainos ‘Kitsiyatota’ Zimunya - the alleged killers of Tsvangirai’s former driver, Talent Mabika and his assistant Tichaona Chiminya - would be dealt with by the organ for National Healing and Reconciliation.
Article 18.5 (c) of the GPA agreement says all political crimes of violence committed during the last ten years will be dealt with under the organ for National Healing and Reconciliation.
Makone added; ‘Most of the cases will be handled at the local level because we want the people to tell us how they want the cases to be handled. The perpetrators should own up and express remorse and forgiveness for what they did in a typical African way.’
2010 07 23
Written by SW Radio Africa
Friday, 23 July 2010
A group of ZANU-PF affiliated thugs is reported to be illegally occupying a building in Bulawayo’s Central Business District. Our sources in the area said the building is owned by an Indian businessman who rents out shop space to other businesses, but they have not been able to operate since the occupation. The police have not arrested or even questioned the illegal invaders.
Themba Nyathi in Bulawayo said the building is on 4th Street, opposite the Chicken Inn. Nyathi, who visited the site and witnessed the occupation first hand, said the thugs were definitely ZANU-PF because they were wearing their party regalia.
He added - “They are making no secret about it. Even a blind man could see that these guys are ZANU-PF. They are like a law unto themselves because they know no-one is prepared to bring them to book.”
This news comes just a day after the national executive bodies of the two MDC formations met with the ZANU-PF politburo in what was described as a historic event aimed at bringing national healing.
The three-hour meeting organized by the National Organ on Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, was convened to ensure that the three political parties adhere to sections of the GPA which urge all parties “to shun violence and to promote national healing.”
At the meeting delegates agreed that “there could be no healing without justice and compensation and that the police must arrest all perpetrators of violence in order to kill the festering culture of impunity that has destabilized peace and compromised security of persons in Zimbabwe.”
But ZANU-PF has never respected any agreements made in regard to violence, intimidation and the role of the police. Many reports from the constitutional outreach program have accused the police of allowing intimidation and assaults to take place, in their presence. It appears as long as ZANU-PF controls the organs of security, their actions against the opposition remain immune from prosecution.
2010 07 23
Written by SW Radio Africa
Friday, 23 July 2010
A leading advocacy group has called for urgent international action to prevent the “looming carnage” in Zimbabwe, warning that the next presidential election will condemn thousands of people to violence, unless there is immediate action. (Pictured - Robert Mugabe)
The group, AIDS-Free World, has urged the United Nations Security Council to take the lead in confronting Robert Mugabe, warning that the “writing is on the wall” for more politically motivated violence ahead of possible elections. The group expressed particular concern for the safety of the country’s women, warning they could face a “grisly repeat” of the politically motivated rape campaign orchestrated by Mugabe during the 2008 elections.
Last year AIDS-Free World released a shock report detailing the horrific rape campaign against Zimbabwe’s women, as part of ZANU PF’s violent strategy to hold on to power. The report, ‘Electing to Rape - Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’, documents 380 rapes committed by 241 perpetrators, who all identified themselves to their victims as ZANU PF members. The report also detailed that the figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as many other rape victims are too fearful to come forward. Any kind of justice for the crimes has been nonexistent, and there has been no condemnation or action from either the African Union or the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
AIDS-Free World this week used the report to highlight its concerns at the World Aids Conference, currently underway in Vienna. The group said it is critical for the AIDS movement to act to prevent more violence in Zimbabwe, saying - “Protecting those who are exposed to human rights violations that put them at risk of HIV is a crucial part of HIV prevention.” They explained that 37% of the women they interviewed for their report have since tested positive for HIV.
The group said the evidence contained in their report is enough to prosecute Mugabe and his henchman in ZANU PF for crimes against humanity, and they are now making good on this threat. A meeting has been scheduled for next month with officials from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where a dossier on the crimes will be handed over for investigation. AIDS-Free World legal and gender advisor, Shonali Shome told SW Radio Africa this is one strategy to end the impunity and silence that still prevails over the rape campaign.
“We are very disappointed at the absolute silence from the (Southern African) region,” Shome said. “We have also yet to see a strong response from the United Nations and again we’re very disappointed.”
Shome explained that there is a sense of urgency to advocate for international action, saying that “all the evidence points towards this kind of violence starting up again.” She expressed concern that there are growing reports of violence across Zimbabwe, where the constitutional outreach programme has seen ZANU PF return to its violent ways. Shome said that it is unacceptable for Africa and the international community to stand by passively and watch as Mugabe “gears up for another campaign of rape and terror to hold on to power.
“The writing is on the wall that this will happen again and it is on us now,” Shome said. “If the international community does not respond, then we are absolutely complicit in what happens.”
The AIDS-Free World report details how the rape campaign unleashed on the country’s female opposition supporters, and often their children, was both widespread and systematic, with recurring patterns. This included the uniform physical and emotional brutality of the rapes, the modes of detention and even location of the rapes, the specific types of beatings, and the consistent refusal by the police to investigate the attacks. Some women were forced to watch the rape of their daughters and murder of their husbands and other family members before or after they were raped. Other women were held as sex slaves in ZANU PF camps for weeks at a time.
The report states that the ZANU PF government was well aware of the rape campaign that, along with the election violence, was masterminded by the Joint Operations Command (JOC). The report goes on to detail Mugabe’s own complicity in the rapes, explaining how he not only knew about the campaign, but also refused to prevent it or punish those responsible.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/Documents/23919945-Electing-to-Rape-Final.pdf
2010 07 24
Written by Christian Ncube
Friday, 23 July 2010
JOHANNESBURG
A leading HIV/AIDS and women’s rights advocacy group has called on the international community to act urgently to prevent a recurrence of sexual violence during Zimbabwe’s next election that could be held next year.
(Pictured - Zanu (PF) youth militia)
Zimbabwe’s elections over the past decade have been accompanied by political violence and gross human rights abuses largely blamed on supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party.
The country witnessed some of its worst political violence in 2008 after a parliamentary election that was won by then opposition MDC while leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a parallel presidential poll but with fewer votes to avoid a second run-off ballot.
In a bid to ensure Mugabe regained the upper hand in the second round vote, Zanu (PF) militia, war veterans and state security agents unleashed an orgy of violence including systematic rape of women across the country, especially in rural areas many of which virtually became no-go areas for the opposition.
US based Aids Free World said the perpetrators of the violence and rapes remain scot-free and are likely to commit more crimes should the world not act now to prevent this happening.
“AIDS-Free World calls urgently for international action to prevent the looming carnage in Zimbabwe,” the group’s spokeswoman Julia Greenberg said in a statement last week.
She added - “The United Nations Security Council must take the lead in confronting President Robert Mugabe. If it does not, the next presidential election period, quite likely in 2011, will condemn the women of Zimbabwe to a grisly repeat of the politically motivated rape campaign orchestrated by Mugabe during the 2008 elections.
“The United Nations can choose to wait and count the number of women raped, the number of new HIV cases, and the number of tortured bodies, or it can choose to act now. In conjunction with SADC and the AU, the Security Council can finally give life to the principle of “Responsibility to Protect” and apply it to Zimbabwe.”
The group, which said it would next month hand over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) evidence of politically motivated rape committed by Mugabe’s supporters, said prosecuting the perpetrators was key to ensuring there was no recurrence of the violence and abuse.
It said the alleged perpetrators of more than 380 cases committed during a “carnage of rape” that started in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s disputed presidential election run-off continue to freely roam the streets while their victims face the trauma of disease and broken families.
“AIDS-Free World continues to advocate for action at the highest levels of international organizations. Next month we will speak with officials of the International Criminal Court,” the group said on the sidelines of last week’s international AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria.
In the months after their brutal rapes, 37 percent of the women interviewed by AIDS-Free World tested positive for HIV.
Whether or not they acquired HIV from their rapists, the consequent trauma and displacement put their health and treatment in jeopardy, the advocacy group noted.
“The culture of impunity in Zimbabwe, so entrenched that the actions of the President himself promote rape as an effective political strategy, helps spread HIV,” said AIDS-Free World.
2010 07 23
http://www.swradioafrica.com/News230710/MDCT230710.htm
SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
By Lance Guma
23 July 2010
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party will have to meet and decide whether to continue participating in the current constitutional outreach exercise which has been marred by incidents of violence and intimidation.
In a hard hitting interview, party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said it was now necessary for the leadership to meet and ‘say under the circumstances what is our continued participation in this process. What is the end and what is the product?’
He told Newsreel they were receiving reports from their structures, and even from ZANU PF supporters, complaining that they were being frog marched into torture bases, and indoctrinated on what to say before being taken to outreach meetings.
‘This is very ugly a picture, very disturbing a trend and very discouraging a pattern. When one looks at what has been happening across the whole country it’s not as if people are being allowed to express themselves.’
He likened what was happening to the siege mentality that accompanied the bloody election violence of 2008, when Mugabe and his ZANU PF party lost elections and sent out army units to murder over 500 opposition supporters in retribution.
So will the MDC pull out from the outreach ?.
‘Look I can’t do that, I have no power to make those kind of alternatives or permutations. The leadership will look at these issues forensically and surgically and come up with a position’. He said people are being turned into robots and this had made the outreach a farce.
2010 07 23
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told the state-run Herald newspaper the jingles have nothing to do with elections but are merely intended to encourage ZANU-PF members to participate in the constitutional revision public outreach process
Sandra Nyaira
Washington 23 July 2010
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Relations are more tense than usual between Zimbabwe's power-sharing partners - ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai - as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation keeps playing jingles hailing President Robert Mugabe much to the displeasure of the MDC.
Zimbabwe's Cabinet agreed on Tuesday that ZBC should stop playing the extended political songs because they do not reflect the spirit of the unity government established in February 2009 following a traumatic election cycle in 2008. Ministers said the spots asserting Mr. Mugabe remains in charge re-open wounds from that bloody period.
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told the state-run Herald newspaper the jingles have nothing to do with elections but are merely intended to encourage ZANU-PF members to participate in the constitutional revision public outreach process now unfolding around the country - in some areas with political intimidation and sporadic violence.
Gumbo said the spots are not jingles but rather songs by the Mbare Chimurenga choir from an album entitled "Nyatsoterera," Shona for "listen carefully." The lyrics of the title song inform listeners that Mr Mugabe and his two vice presidents, Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, are in charge, not the inclusive government.
Information Secretary George Charamba said the Cabinet decision was not communicated to the state broadcaster because Information Minister Webster Shamu is away and the acting minister could not be reached.
ZBC Chief Executive Happison Muchechetere has declared that the state radio and television network will not stop playing the songs. He invited the MDC to provide its own music for similar airing. Former information minister Jonathan Moyo weighed in threatening legal action if the Cabinet forced the state broadcaster to drop the jingles.
Moyo said those who object to the songs do not share the history of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle.
Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sandra Nyaira that the jingles saga shows that Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF is not serious about the national unity government.
The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe said the return of ZANU-PF propaganda on all stations of the state broadcaster illustrates the extent to which ZBC is a propaganda tool for the former ruling party.
MMPZ Coordinator Andrew Moyse said the torrent of offensively partisan ads that falsely promote ZANU-PF as the ruling party violates the spirit of the 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing.
Sydney Chisi, director of the Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe, said the broadcaster must pull the jingles in order to preserve unity and peace in the country.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation responded to critics by posting three rhetorical questions on its website.
"Should Cabinet be involved in the day-to-day running of the institution ?.
Are revolutionary songs not part of the history of Zimbabwe and why should anyone be unsettled by the songs ?.
In view of public demand for the songs should the national broadcaster not listen to the voice of its viewers and listeners?" the ZBC website asked.
2010 07 24
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-2906-Gukurahundi+storm+envoy+posted+to+SA/news.aspx
24/07/2010 00
by Staff Reporter
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Re-deployed ... Phelekezela Mphoko
* * * * * * * *
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has named controversial envoy Phelekezela Mphoko - who once said the Gukurahundi atrocities were a Western conspiracy - as Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa.
Prior to his redeployment, Mphoko was the country’s ambassador to Russia.
He replaces Simon Khaya Moyo who has since moved to Harare to work full-time for Zanu PF after being elected the party’s national chairman.
Secretary for foreign affairs Joey Bimba confirmed the appointment which came as part of a redeployment of some six heads of Zimbabwe’s missions abroad.
Mphoko, a keen photographer who is said to have close links with the country’s intelligence services, caused a stir while posted to Botswana when he claimed, without elaborating, that the Gukurahundi atrocities were a ‘Western conspiracy’.
He was speaking during a panel discussion on Zimbabwe in 2009 where he also barracked the discussants who included attorney Beatrice Mtetwa, calling them sell-outs and accusing them of misrepresenting the situation in the country.
Meanwhile his appointment to the key South Africa posting could further strain the frosty working relationship between the parties in the coalition government.
There had been considerable jockeying for the post between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations with the former opposition parties claiming that the under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) they were supposed to fill any diplomatic positions that became vacant.
However analysts insisted it was unlikely Zanu PF would give-up the South Africa mission to the MDCs because of the crucial role that country plays in Zimbabwe’s political and economic affairs.
Meanwhile the reassignments also saw Zimbabwe’s permanent representative to the United Nations Boniface Chidyausiku being recalled to Harare. He will be replaced by Chitsaka Chipaziwa, who represented the country to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland.
James Manzou leaves his posting in Angola to take up the Geneva mission while the country’s former ambassador to Australia, Stephen Cletus Chiketa replaces Mary Mubi in Sweden.
Mubi was redeployed to Italy where she will also represent Zimbabwe at the Food and Agriculture Organization, which is headquartered in the capital, Rome.
2010 07 24
http://news.radiovop.com/index.php/national-news/4246.html
24/07/2010 13:18:00
Nelson Chamisa rubbished off claims his party was involved in the alleged bombing
Harare, July 24, 2010
Former St Mary’s legislator Job Sikhala claims that his bus was petrol bombed outsid his house on Friday night by suspected Zanu (PF) thugs who left flyers with Movement for Democratic Change-T logos at the scene of the crime.
Radio VOP saw the damaged bus on Saturday, which the MDC99 leader said was a source of income for his family.
He dismissed outright suggestions that the MDC-T could be involved despite the flyers saying he was being punished for working closely with the party’s secretary general Tendai Biti, former Housing minister Fidelis Mhashu and Simba Makoni, the Kusile/Mavambo/Dawn leader.
“It’s certainly not MDC-T otherwise how would they want to implicate themselves by leaving flyers bearing their logo all over the place,” Sikhala said. “It’s the work of Zanu (PF).”
He said police had collected materials suspected to be remnants of the petrol bomb. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he needed time to get details of the case.
Sikhala said his guards tried to give chase to the assailants but they failed to catch with them.
The outspoken politician left the MDC led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to form his MDC-M in May.
He left the mainstream MDC in 2005 after the party split into two.
Sikhala claims several attempts have been made on his life including an incident when his car was allegedly shot while he drove from his Gutu home.
MDC-T spokesman, Nelson Chamisa rubbished off claims his party was involved in the alleged bombing.
Petrol bombs have become synonymous with Zimbabwe’s history of political violence.
A few years ago petrol bombs rocked cities across the country and Zanu (PF) tried to pin the cases on MDC-T activists but non of them were successfully prosecuted.
2010 07 24
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-2909-Terror+suspects+to+be+deported/news.aspx
24/07/2010
by Staff Reporter
* * * * * * * *
Flase alarm ... Terror suspects face deportation
* * * * * * * *
THE two Pakistanis arrested last month while trying to enter South Africa using fake documents are set to be deported after a Harare magistrate’s court fined them US$ 200 each for breaching the country’s immigration laws.
Imran Muhammed, 33 and Chaundhry Parvez Ahmed, 40 were arrested by Zimbabwean security agents at Beitbridge border post triggering a terror scare following reports that militants could target South Africa which was then hosting the FIFA World Cup Finals.
Initial reports claimed one of the men was a wanted terrorist in Pakistan but it later emerged they were just illegal immigrants.
The duo was arrested after they failed get off a bus travelling to South Africa at the border crossing for immigration clearance along with other passengers.
Immigration officers also found them with emergency Tanzanian travel documents that had names different from those on their passports.
Muhammad had a travel document in the name of Stanley Celestino Mgazawa while Ahmed’s read Alex Ezekiel Nziko.
Both men pleaded guilty when they appeared at the Harare magistrate’s court on Thursday.
Muhammad told the court that a woman who claimed to be a travelling agent helped them enter Zimbabwe and was assisting them to get to South Africa.
He said the woman provided them with the Tanzanian documents.
They were told to pay the fine or spend 30 days in jail.
The court also imposed a wholly-suspended three-month jail term on condition they do not commit a similar offence in the next three years.
2010 07 23
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/top-stories/4943-mzembi-in-trouble.html
The Financial Gazette
* * * * * * *
Friday, 23 July 2010
Shame Makoshori, Chief Business Reporter
THE Presidency, disturbed by reports of possible conflict of interest in the handling of a friendly match between Zimbabwe and Brazil ahead of the month-long 2010 FIFA World Cup staged in South Africa recently, has asked for a detailed report on the trip by the Samba boys, which insiders say targets Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Walter Mzembi.
The Masvingo South legislator is alleged to have exerted his influence to wrest a contract to transport the Brazilian national team from Pathfinder during their brief stay in Zimbabwe last month. The Brazilians beat Zimbabwe by three goals to nil in a pre-World Cup warm-up match in Harare, but went on to lose to Netherlands in the second round of the World Cup to crash out of the tournament. But the logistical arrangements surrounding their tour have caused extensive friction in the tourism industry with many complaining about possible conflict of interest after Mzembi’s Munandi Travel and Tours, ended up as the official transporter of the Samba Boys ahead of luxury transport operator, Pathfinder, which had won the tender to transport the Brazilian team. Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, this week expressed ignorance of the investigation, referring questions to the Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena. Bvudzijena also professed ignorance over the issue. “These are private deals, there is no need for police involvement in private business,” he said.
Government sources, however, said last week the report will largely centre on how Mzembi’s company, Munandi Travel and Tours, ended up as the front-runner at the expense of Pathfinder, which owns some of the finest coaches in the country imported from France last year. Mzembi, who was the chief organiser of the friendly match which cost government and private partners roped into the deal an arm and a leg in appearance fees, is understood to have struck an arrangement with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) in order to clinch the contract.
A match staging agreement between ZIFA and a Swiss domiciled company, Kentaro AG, which was the agent for the Brazilian team, indicates that the local football governing body was responsible for handling the deal. Mzembi, who could not be reached for comment, replaced Francis Nhema, who is now the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management, as Tourism Minister at the formation of the inclusive government in February last year following a stint as deputy minister of water resources and infrastructure development in President Robert Mugabe’s previous administration. His main challenge is to repair the country’s badly bruised image following years of international isolation and bad publicity. But Mzembi has over the past few months courted controversy after he threatened a journalist from a provincial weekly for allegedly giving information to the effect that bigwigs in Masvingo province had diverted several tonnes of sugar, destined for constituencies in that province, for personal gain.
Last year, Mzembi exchanged harsh words with the war veterans after the fighters of the country’s liberation struggle accused him of betraying ZANU-PF and the former guerilla fighters after he blasted one of their leaders, Joseph Chinotimba, of continuing to tarnish the country’s image through renewed farm disturbances at a time Zimbabwe was trying to attract tourists ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Mzembi’s troubles with colleagues in ZANU-PF started after he accompanied Movement for Democratic Change leader and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, on his maiden trip to the West and Europe to re-engage a sceptical international community which has been withholding aid and lines of credit from the country despite the consummation of a unity government between President Mugabe and his long-time rival, Tsvangirai.
2010 07 23
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/national-report/4929-from-donors-to-diamonds.html
The Financial Gazette
Friday, 23 July 2010
Clemence Manyukwe, Political Editor
IT was clear to all and sundry last Friday that Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, was speaking the language of ZANU-PF during his address to the Senate. While defending the country’s Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review statement and evidently frustrated by months of futile banging on donors’ doors, Biti proposed the nationalisation of diamond mining in particular and the need for government to extract more revenue from the mining sector.
President Robert Mugabe had set the tone for Biti, the secretary-general of the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) three days earlier.
In his address on the occasion to open the third session of the seventh Parliament, the President said emphasis in government has shifted from reliance on aid as a critical factor for economic development.
To analysts, this was not a bolt from the blue coming from the ZANU-PF leader, but a sign of changing times with regards to Biti.
The Finance Minister’s statement comes against the backdrop of failure to raise adequate budgetary support from donors, who have so far provided US$ 207 million out of the required US$ 810 million.
“Zimbabwe is endowed with serious mining resou-rces but these mining resources are just benefiting outsiders, the multi-nationals that own these mines. If you take the Zimbabwe Platinum Mine, the biggest mine in Zimbabwe, it is owned by Impala, a South African company. If you talk about our gold sector, again the major dominant players are South Africans. We are not benefiting. The mining model we have in this country where people just depend on tax and royalties is not good enough,” Biti told senators.
“Last year we only got US$ 44 million from the mining industry yet they exported over a US$ 1 billion. This year if you look at the graph that I have handed out , they have exported about US$ 650 million but we have only gotten US$ 15 million. This is why for Chiadzwa we have said only the State should mine diamonds at Chiadzwa. If we continue to give concessions to makoronyera (dealers), it is a disaster for this country, let us have the State to mine diamonds.”
Economic analyst, Eric Bloch, this week said government was clearly extending its interest on mining, but described Biti’s proposal to nationalise diamond mining as disastrous.
“Diamond mining must be done by the private sector with proper controls in line with KP (Kimberley Process) requirements. Governments are not capable of running businesses. Look at parastatals the world over, including Zimbabwe. The private sector is the one which has the skills,” said Bloch.
He added that although gemstones can make a difference in the life of a nation, there are also fears of misuse of diamond funds if governments are involved in diamond mining.
Bloch said at the moment local mines may appear to be making a windfall, but they are still developing their mines after a decade of neglect as a result of the country’s tenuous economic and political process.
The other pitfall is that the country’s diamond industry still faces uncertainties as a result of the Kimberley Process (KP), a certification scheme established in 2003 which brings together governments, industry and civil society with the aim of eradicating the trade in conflict diamonds.
Unlike government claims of the existence of a wholesale nod on the export of diamonds from last week’s World Dia-mond Council meeting in Russia, this is not so - according to a civil society organisation Partnership Africa Canada(PAC), which is also a member of the KP.
“Under the terms of the agreement, Zimbabwe will be allowed to export a limited number of diamonds produced since May 28 in two sites in Marange.
“At the same time a Kimberley Process review mission will visit the country to assess conditions in the region and compliance with the scheme’s standards,” according to PAC.
“Zimbabwe will be able to export one more batch of diamonds at the start of September, but any exports thereafter will be contingent on mea-surable improvements in the diamond fields.”
The organisation added that the agreement is far from perfect, and it will take considerable efforts by all parties to the KP, especially Zimbabwe, to make it work.
“The crisis in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector should act as a wake-up call to governments and the diamond industry: This issue is too important, both to consumers and to diamond mining communities, to keep lurching from crisis to crisis,” said the diamond watchdog.
Harare lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, who represents, Africa Consolidated Reso-urces in its dispute with the government over Marange claims on Monday said, government must be involved in diamond mining only in a partnership not single-handedly doing the mining.
“These are national issues and the government must not be a bystander. They should come into a partnership and this is what we have been proposing over the years,” said Samkange.
Speaking last week during the official commissioning of a multi-purpose drilling rig in Harare brought into the country by Goldsearch Holdings, a wholly Zimb-abwean-owned company, Bishop Trevor Manhanga of the Evangelical fellowship of Zimbabwe, said empowerment is critical, but that does not mean seizing properties.
“A nation is built on hard work and integrity. Empowerment is about seizing opportunities and not properties and government should create the enabling environment,” the clergyman said.
2010 07 23
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/top-stories/4931-zbh-defiant-over-zanu-pf-jingles.html
The Financial Gazette
Friday, 23 July 2010 12:02
Njabulo Ncube, Clemence Manyukwe and Levi Mukarati Staff Reporters
THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) yesterday appeared to defy a Tuesday Cabinet directive to stop playing ZANU-PF jingles, which ridicule other partners in the shaky coalition government. The Financial Gazette has it on good authority that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy, Arthur Mutambara, ganged up against President Robert Mugabe at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting over the abuse of the State-broadcaster for partisan purposes, resulting in the decision ordering the dropping of the musicals.
But it was business as usual yesterday on the airwaves, as ZBH continued with its political campaign for the party whose single-handed governing of the country since independence in 1980 was interrupted following its defeat by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations during the 2008 general polls.
ZBH chief executive officer, Happison Muchechetere, yesterday declined to comment on the continued use of the jingles by the public broadcaster which has raised questions over ZANU-PF’s sincerity in the power-sharing truce signed between the three principals.
The previous jingles aired by ZANU-PF spin-doctors in the run-up to the bloody 2008 harmonised elections were blamed for the political violence the MDC-T claims killed over 300 of its supporters.
There are also questions whether ZANU-PF is paying the State broadcaster for flighting the jingles played every hour on both television and radio.
“I don’t talk about those issues over the phone,” Muchechetere said.
Media Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu, was not answering his mobile when this newspaper called seeking comment.
But sources in government and at Pocket Hills, the headquarters of ZBH, said it was business as usual as they had not be formally advised of the Cabinet directive, which President Mugabe is said to have acceded to.
“Nothing has been communicated to us. We are playing the jingles as if nothing has happened,” said a senior ZBH executive, speaking strictly on condition he is not named.
Cabinet sources said PM Tsvangirai was the first to bring up the subject during the meeting and DPM Mutambara came in strong support.
“The issue of these jingles created debate, but it was (DPM) Mutambara who gave a sound analysis of their impact to the coalition government. He said they were in bad taste, insensitive to other players in the coalition government, divisive and politically undermined the authority of the Prime Minister,” said the source.
“ZANU-PF ministers sought to downplay the subject arguing that there are pirate radio stations demonising the President and their party, but the MDC ministers stood their ground that they had no control over the stations.
“In the end the Cabinet resolved that the jingles be stopped with immediate effect and a statement condemning the pirate radio stations must be issued.”
ZBH has continued to be biased against both formations of the MDC, occasionally maligning its leaders and glorifying ZANU-PF despite negotiators agreeing at their last round of talks to reform the public media by specifically turning the parastal into a truly public broadcaster run by an independent board.
In the run-up to the 2008 general polls, the MDC-T wrote a letter to the broadcaster complaining about its tilted coverage and media blackouts meted against the party.
In a letter written to then ZBH chief executive officer, Henry Muradzikwa, the MDC-T said as a publicly-funded corporation, the broadcaster must be impartial, adding that the corporation was in violation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) guidelines.
Media watchdogs have also roundly condemned ZBH’s alleged bias and impartial coverage of other partners in the coalition government.
Recently, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), said ZBH was continuing to violate Article XIX of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and its public service charter, which compels it to give fair and balanced coverage to all political parties.
MMPZ added that the bias underlines the need for urgent and thorough reform at the so-called public broadcaster to release it from ZANU-PF clutches and censoring activities disadvantaging the other partners in the inclusive government.
“This deliberate censorship of the activities of the country’s most popular political party in government not only represents a flagrant breach of the GPA, regional and international protocols on public broadcasting, but also graphically illustrates the grossly unprofessional journalistic conduct of the national broadcaster that is depriving the nation of important news about the activities of the country’s Prime Minister and his party’s government ministers,” said MMPZ.
ZANU-PF insiders claimed yesterday the removal of the jingles would be a major blow to Shamu, who doubles up as ZANU-PF’s political commissar, as he intended using them as the launch-pad for the party’s campaign during the on-going constitution-making process and the next elections pencilled for next year.
Former Information tsar, Jonathan Moyo is credited with producing and directing ZANU-PF jingles at the height of President Mugabe’s land reforms and during the past elections.
2010 07 23
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/national-report/4927-a-revolution-devouring-its-own-children.html
The Financial Gazette
Friday, 23 July 2010 11:57
* * * * * * * *
Could this be the case with Mliswa saga ?.
* * * * * * * *
Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
INDEED, the cliché “it never rains but pours”, aptly applies to Temba Mliswa - the youthful ZANU-PF politician and businessman who strayed into an “inferno” of legal challenges on June 28, when he was first arrested on allegations of fraud and extortion. What has followed is quite unprecedented.
The wheels of the country’s previously lethargic justice system have suddenly been well-oiled and are turning at amazing speed never seen before as far as the alleged criminal charges stalking the controversial businessman cum politician are concerned.
Inside one month, the former fitness trainer and self-styled guru of Zimbabwe’s black economic empowerment crusade has had more than 40 criminal charges thrown at him, some dating as far back as 2002, at the height of President Robert Mugabe’s chaotic land reforms.
Police and judiciary officers, who have revealed in court that some of the cases had been gathering dust at their offices largely because Mliswa was perceived to be “untouchable”, have also shown amazing zeal and passion in dealing, once and for all, with the ZANU-PF enfant terrible.
The spring and agility of the police has been dazzling if not amazing.
His legal quagmire has been a minefield that has aroused the interest of local, regional and international media, hard-pressed for sexy headline news and cannon fodder for newspaper satirists who caricature the 38-year-old entrepreneur in cartoons.
As if not enough, police this week dusted up yet another fresh charge against Mliswa in which it is claimed he allegedly swindled the central bank of US$ 3,5 million in what has been described as a well-knit scam through one of his companies, Saltlakes Holdings two years ago.
Court documents indicate that police might press up to 70 charges allegedly linked to the incarcerated ZANU-PF politician, which include the contravention of the Firearms Act, contempt of court, extortion, theft and public violence, in addition to on-going fraud cases filed by former white farmers who have formed a beeline to file charges against their tormentors.
The documents show that some of the cases were pending trial, while others had not been finalised as complainants were not being located.
Mliswa is cited as accused in five fraud cases, four theft, one fraud and theft, one stock theft, eight common assault, eight assault, one assault and theft, two public violence, two contempt of court, one extortion, five malicious damage to property, one Shop Licenses Act violation, one Firearms Act violation and a case of housebreaking and theft.
It goes without saying that the former fitness trainer’s troubles began on June 28 when he was arrested, along with Martin Mutasa, the son of Presidential Affairs Minister, Didymus Mutasa, and George Marere, on allegations of fraudulently attempting to take over a Harare vehicle accessories company.
Prior to his arrest, he had accused police Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri, of being corrupt in the handling of the cases involving the company, Nashio Motors.
He was granted a US$ 400 bail by the magistrates’ court, but was subsequently re-arrested on another case.
He was again granted the same amount as bail, but before tasting freedom, the police came up with more charges, which have seen the vocal businessman spending nearly a month behind bars.
The police have so far brought more other charges alleging Mliswa swindled former white commercial farmers.
In a dramatic twist, Mliswa has implicated Chihuri, businessman Paddington Zhanda and Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, Constantine Chiwenga, saying he sold them some of the generators he is alleged to have stolen from farmers around Karoi in Mashonaland West Province.
The controversial businessman is alleged to have used names of senior government officials to illegally obtain generators from Bonvalley, Gavensham, Hesketh, Westlands and Spring farms.
While Chihuri has dismissed Mliswa’s claims, Zhanda has admitted to buying a generator from the Saltlakes Holdings boss, insisting it was a purely commercial transaction. Chiwenga is yet to add her voice on the issue, which has all the basic ingredients of a powder keg.
Mliswa has since applied to have his case referred to the Supreme Court citing infringement of his constitutional right to freedom.
But the State, through prosecutor, Phyllis Zvenyika, argued that the Constitution allows deprivation of liberty when there is reasonable suspicion that one has committed an offence.
In a failed urgent High Court application to bar police from re-arresting him, Mliswa said his problems stemmed from a letter he wrote to Chihuri alleging corruption in the manner law enforcement agents were handling his cases.
In his affidavit filed at the High Court last week, Mliswa stated that the cases being re-opened by the police should now be brought to court by way of summons.
He alleges malice in the manner in which the State kept bringing up charges, even in cases which had been withdrawn before plea. Justice Felistus Chatukuta, however, dismissed the application for lack of urgency.
But questions abound what is the real story behind Mliswa’s present predicament. Could he be a victim of power struggles at play within ZANU-PF or is he a victim of the politics of patronage system in the party.
Or has the State finally mustered courage to deal with corruption and other violations relating to its controversial land reform programme whose Achilles heel has been the rampant looting and the general breakdown of law and order in the commercial farming community.
Some, citing Mliswa’s role in black economic empowerment, wonder whether the “revolution” was devouring its own children.
In the court of public opinion, Mliswa could be past his usefulness in ZANU-PF’s scheme of things.
Those who may have admired Mliswa’s courage, zeal and outspokenness in doing their bidding could be having a change of heart regarding the style, content and approach to take in line with the prevailing political order. In their view, rightly or wrongly, Mliswa is a square peg in a round hole.
Whereas Mliswa’s strengths, including his weaknesses, came in handy prior to the consummation of the inclusive government between ZANU-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change formations in February last year, when abrasiveness and brazenness were acknowledged by way of a badge of honour, so to speak, the game plan has since changed.
ZANU-PF is now trying to re-package itself, as an orderly party that respects the rule of law and property rights ahead of the decisive elections next year, which are likely to be won on the basis of issues and the credibility of candidates.
Many in ZANU-PF are said to have read the signals well, but quite a few of the party faithful may be caught offside.
Mliswa could be one of those who remained blinded by the old order. With the passage of time, the jury will pass the verdict.
While the court processes rummage through Mliswa’s papers, there are obvious own goals the businessman could have scored in the realm of political execution.
* Mliswa appears to have difficulties in restraining his loose tongue and maintaining his cool, more so when provoked. His attack on Chihuri, at a time when he was at his weakest, could have left a sour taste in the mouths of many. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, could have provided some useful lessons for Mliswa.
* The businessman created a lot of foes in his adopted home province of Mashonaland West, ruffling the feathers of political gurus such as Ignatius Chombo, Webster Shamu, Reuben Marumahoko and Faber Chidarikire, among others. Fighting from a divided home base, it has not been possible for Mliswa to marshal party cadres in the province to speak with one voice on the issue.
* Mliswa might also have blundered by attempting to influence the make up of ZANU-PF’s presidium when he campaigned for the elevation of his uncle, Mutasa, to the position of party chairman in complete disregard of an unwritten rule between the former PF-ZAPU and ZANU-PF, which reserves the post for former PF-ZAPU cadres. A lot of people in ZANU-PF have burnt their fingers by trying to tinker with the party’s succession politics - an erstwhile hot potato.
* Mliswa’s closeness to key security chiefs and influential government officials might have had the effect of elevating his status to that of a threat to national security.
But even with all these perceived weaknesses, some political observers are convinced that a reformed Mliswa is still useful to ZANU-PF and the country. They say Mliswa remains one of the rare breed of youths in Zimbabwe who encapsulate intellect, energy and determination that can take the country forward.
His ability to transform himself from being a rugby coach, fitness trainer, cricket and football administrator to being a successful farmer, businessman and politician of note - all in a space of 10 years - speaks volumes about his adaptability to situations as well as his eye for opportunity, which, however, needs to be exercised under mature guidance.
Yet others argue that the issue is no longer about Mliswa vis-à-vis the State. They say the saga has now assumed a life of its own, with political predators pursuing their prey in the ensuing confusion.
The early casualties could have been Mutasa and Co-Home Affairs Minister, Theresa Makone, who crossed the police’s path when they attempted to spring out of police cells, Martin Mutasa.
The list of accusations could be endless, according to police sources privy to details of the investigations.
Okay Machisa, the national director of Zim-Rights, said it would be foolhardy for Zimbabweans to believe that the State was finally dealing with chaos that reigned supreme under the land reform exercise, but instead certain powerful individuals in ZANU-PF and government were pursuing personal political wars and, unfortunately, Mliswa has been the first victim.
“I have no faith that the State wants to deal with the farm looters or other abusers of State resources as exemplified in the Mliswa case,” said Machisa. “The State is controlled by certain individuals who react ruthlessly to those who will have interfered with their interests,” he added.
Takura Zhangazha, a Harare-based political analyst, agreed with Machisa that it would be too soon to assume that the State was sincere in dealing with farm looting when there were cases concerning the actual acquisition of farms that are outstanding either at courts or in regional and international tribunals.
“I see Mliswa’s present condition as a result of the dangers of the politics of patronage, especially a patronage system that depends on securocrats and proximity of those in power. They can abandon you a their own convenience,” said Zhangazha.
There is talk of fresh elections probably early next year to effectively deal with the inconclusive presidential elections which gave birth to the shaky coalition government. ZANU-PF could already be on an election campaign undertaking an anti-corruption campaign and were now using Mliswa as an example of how determined the party is to nip corruption in the bud.
Phillip Pasirayi, the co-ordinator of the Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe, said while Mliswa could be facing serious criminal charges, he could also be a victim of political expedience by schemers in ZANU-PF.
“My reading of the issue is that ZANU-PF wants to sacrifice a few party members and project an image of a reformed party. With talks of fresh elections, we might see a few not-so-powerful party faithfuls being sacrificed to dupe the electorate that ZANU-PF is ready to deal with corruption and lawlessness,” said Pasirayi.
Trevor Maisiri, the director of the Africa Reform Institute, a Harare-based political think-tank, said Zimbabweans should remember that ZANU-PF had the habitual and periodic tendency of sacrificing its own members at every juncture where certain sentiments needed to be “piercingly projected”.
“We remember the time when Phillip Chiyangwa was dragged to the courts during his active days in the ZANU-PF Mashonaland West provincial structures. There is also the case of former finance minister, Chris Kuruneri. These classical examples actually depict those moments when ZANU-PF uncharacteristically becomes venomous to its own constituents. ZANU-PF operates in cycles and momentary seasons,” said Maisiri.
Chiyangwa, then the Chinhoyi legislator, faced charges of espionage after he was arrested in December 2004 together with three other State security agents for allegedly contravening the Official Secrets Act.
Chiyangwa was subsequently acquitted and set free in February 2005.
Kuruneri was arrested the same year in 2004 while he was still minister of finance for violating the country’s strict foreign exchange control regulations. He spent some considerable time in prison before being acquitted in 2007.
Analysts said ZANU-PF cadres like Mliswa should be able to read these indications in order to understand and endeavour to be on the right side of action.
2010 07 23
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/top-stories/4937-acr-agreeable-to-out-of-court-settlement.html
The Financial Gazette
Friday, 23 July 2010 12:06
Clemence Manyukwe, Political Editor
AFRICAN Consolidated Resources (ACR) says it is agreeable to an out of court settlement, preferably a joint venture with the coalition government to end a bitter ownership wrangle over Marange diamonds. In a letter to Finance Minister, Tendai Biti on Monday, the mining firm appealed to the minister to act as a broker for such a deal citing animosity and mistrust between itself and other parties in the dispute who include Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu.
Last week in his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review statement, Biti was the first to suggest an out of court settlement in what he termed a win-win situation between ACR and the government in their wrangle over Marange claims.
The dispute is currently before the Supreme Court after government appealed against last year’s verdict delivered by High Court Judge, Charles Hungwe, which said the claims belonged to the mining company.
In its communication to Biti, ACR restated its position that at law and as a matter of fact, the diamonds belonged to it, but it was now open to a partnership with government - a position it said it has held since 2006.
Besides a partnership, the company said it remains open to any other reasonable proposal.
“We remain willing to consider any reasonable proposal to resolve matters amicably.
“Unfortunately, there is animosity and mistrust between parties at present and accordingly we would welcome a pro-active role from your office to bring the parties to a negotiating table, on an entirely without prejudice basis,” wrote Andrew Cranswick, the chief executive officer of ACR.
The communication was also copied to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
“Whilst we remain confident that the law and the facts are clearly supportive of our position, we appreciate that this is a matter of national importance, which must be resolved, preferably by acceptable compromise,” added Cranswick.
ACR has previously stated that it supports the sale of the diamonds on condition that the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme criterion is met and that 100 percent of gross revenue from the mine is received by the fiscus.
In his Mid-Term Fiscal Review statement last week, Biti said diamonds worth US$ 30 million had been sold but nothing was realised by either Treasury or the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
“It is important that any revenue from Marange is accounted for transparently in terms of the law, with the consolidated revenue fund receiving its dues in full under Parliamentary oversight in terms of the Constitution,” said Biti.