The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
Back to Index
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Reuters

Zimbabwe police warn on protests over evictions
Sat Jun 4, 2005 8:58 AM ET
By Andrew Quinn
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's police warned on Saturday they would stop
protests over their urban clean-up campaign, which has seen illegal houses
and shops demolished around the country making an estimated 200,000 people
homeless.

State radio quoted police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena
as saying officials were aware of plans for protests against the crackdown
and would act to stop them.

"Some political parties and non-governmental organizations are enlisting
youths from several constituencies to disturb the flow of traffic by
blocking roads using barricades in order to protest against the police's
on-going operation," radio quoted Bvudzijena as saying.

President Robert Mugabe's government says the operation is meant to get rid
of illegal structures that have sprouted around urban centers and are seen
as a haven for illegal traders in foreign currency, drugs and scarce
commodities.

Police say they have made more than 22,000 arrests during the operation for
people charged with various offences.

Bvudzijena urged the public to carry on with their normal duties, saying
police were on "full patrol to guard against such occurrences."

There was no obvious sign on Saturday of increased police presence in
Harare's shantytowns, which have borne the brunt of the campaign to rip down
illegal structures, including shops, hawker stalls and dwellings.

A U.N. human rights investigator on Friday urged Zimbabwe to halt the
evictions, which he estimated had already made 200,000 people homeless and
could affect as many as 3 million people, one quarter of the Southern
African country's population.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

"We have a very grave crisis on our hands ... It is quite clearly a gross
violation (of human rights)," Miloon Kothari, U.N. special rapporteur on the
right to adequate housing told journalists in Geneva.

The police operation has thus far sparked little open resistance among
Zimbabweans, who are already struggling amid a severe economic crisis that
has left the country with critical shortages of fuel, foreign exchange and
other commodities.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which accuses
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF of stealing its victory in March parliamentary
polls, has said it believes the campaign is targeted at the MDC's urban
support base -- a charge government officials strongly deny.

MDC officials were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.

Kothari said he feared that between 2 million to 3 million people could be
targeted in the campaign, which began about two weeks ago, mainly in the
capital Harare and in Victoria Falls.

The government has promised to provide new housing plots and to construct
new market stalls for people who have seen their homes and businesses
destroyed.

But officials have also indicated they are determined to press on with the
operation despite a mounting outcry from human rights and religious groups.

The state Herald newspaper on Saturday quoted Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo as saying the clean-up drive reflected the policy priorities
of Mugabe's ZANU-PF following the March elections.

"This is the dawn of a new era," the newspaper quoted Chombo as saying. "To
set up something nice you have to first remove the litter and that is why
the police did what they have done."

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
IPS

In the Midst of Restoring Order - Chaos
Tafi Murinzi
Government calls the operation "Murambatsvina", a Shona word meaning "to
drive out rubbish". But, on the city streets where the campaign has been
carried out, people describe it as Zimbabwe's own "tsunami": a razing of
informal settlements and markets that has left thousands homeless, and
jobless.

BULAWAYO, Jun 3 (IPS) - Government calls the operation "Murambatsvina", a
Shona word meaning "to drive out rubbish". But, on the city streets where
the campaign has been carried out, people describe it as Zimbabwe's own
"tsunami": a razing of informal settlements and markets that has left
thousands homeless, and jobless.

Since May 25, authorities have bulldozed and burnt hundreds of
illegally-built homes and stalls. This was ostensibly to rid cities of
unauthorised buildings and cut down on the black market trade which
government blames for the scarcity of fuel and other goods. Over 22,000
people have been arrested, and vast amounts of property confiscated in the
course of Murambatsvina.

The leading opposition party, however, is having none of it.

"This is an indiscriminate abuse or assault on the people's basic survival,"
observed Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), which says the operation smacks of a campaign against party
supporters, most of whom are concentrated in urban areas.

Activist Felix Mafa believes the crackdown is also aimed at providing cheap
labour for a newly settled pool of black farmers who were awarded land
confiscated from minority whites after a series of farm occupations that
began in 2000.

Initially, the seizures were portrayed as a gesture of frustration by
veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence and other militants, who
were impatient at the slow pace of land reform in the country. Although
Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, most of the country's prime
agricultural land was still in white hands two decades later.

However, government critics have since claimed that the farm occupations
formed part of a plan to distract voters from the administration's failing
economic policies in the run-up to parliamentary elections in 2000, (several
properties have allegedly been given to ruling party members and allies).
The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's victory in the 2000
poll was disputed by the MDC - as was its triumph in the latest
parliamentary election, held in March.

Murambatsvina, also referred to as "Operation Restore Order", got underway
in the capital, Harare, but has since included Zimbabwe's second-largest
city of Bulawayo in the south, the northern resort town of Victoria Falls,
and Beitbridge on the border with South Africa.

Traders, some tearful, could only look on as police swung into action
Tuesday in Bulawayo, moving from site to site collecting roof material from
stalls before setting it alight.

At the city's oldest market, plumes of thick, black smoke filled the air.
Near the main bus station, a fire started by police threatened to get out of
hand, forcing them to request help from the fire brigade.

Metal frames eventually served as the only reminder of where traders' stalls
had once stood. But even these were carted away later by the police, who
also swooped down on Bulawayo's "World Bank": a flea market named for its
under-the-counter foreign currency transactions.

The foreign exchange available in Zimbabwe has dwindled over the past five
years as the national currency has depreciated, and inflation soared.

Mile-long fuel queues have become a permanent sight, making travel a
difficult and time-consuming exercise for both motorists and commuters,
(some 500 supposedly defective minibus taxis were also impounded and fined
during Murambatsvina).

Certain analysts say the economic malaise is linked to a decline in the
agriculture sector brought about by farm occupations, and Zimbabwe's costly
involvement in the Congolese civil war - amongst other factors.

President Robert Mugabe lays the blame on Western powers - which he accuses
of planning to topple him - and prolonged drought.

For traders like Sheila, a mother of five whose husband is unemployed, the
notion of plots in London and Washington may have seemed remote during the
past few days - and about as hard to swallow as the government's claims that
it was ridding Zimbabwean towns of a criminal element. This is because
Sheila is a fully licensed trader - whose stall was nonetheless destroyed.

"We had our licences in our hands but we didn't get the opportunity to show
them because they didn't ask us," she says of the gun-toting, baton-wielding
police officers.

Bulawayo's mayor and opposition-run council have expressed outrage at the
operation, which comes just as winter in the Southern hemisphere is
beginning in earnest. They say that at least 450 of the destroyed stands
were registered.

"It's very devastating," noted councillor Matson Hlalo. "You ask yourself
where is the human face? Where is humanity?"

Added another councillor, Amon Mpofu: "Now they are destroying the informal
sector just like they destroyed agriculture."

"Only somebody who's mad can do what we saw today."

With unemployment put at about 80 percent, many people have been obliged to
earn their living though informal trade, and the government's assault on
this sector has left them dumbfounded.

Up to a third of Zimbabwe's 12 million people are also said to be in need of
food aid.

On Wednesday, the director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP),
James Morris, held talks with Mugabe about the country's food crisis. The
agency estimates that maize production in Zimbabwe this year will amount to
less than a third of the country's needs.

Last year, the Zimbabwean leader rejected offers of food aid, claiming the
country could feed itself - this as rights activists and opposition
supporters alleged that scarce maize supplies were being used to force
people to vote for the ruling party in the March poll.

But, while Mugabe told Morris Wednesday that he would welcome food
assistance, statements by Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche the
following day indicated that government was far from resigned to admitting
its errors in the matter of food supply. Speaking on state radio, Goche
denied that Zimbabwe had any need of emergency assistance.

Certain opposition activists speculate that Murambatsvina was aimed at
diverting attention from food shortages and the other ills that beset
Zimbabwe, while others see it as a bid to gauge just how angry people are
about such matters.

"It is a pre-emptive strategy where they are testing the power of the people
against talk of mass action that has been smouldering for quite some time,"
says Mafa.

MDC economic advisor Eddie Cross has a similar theory.

"Mugabe," he says, "is goading the population to revolt. Then he can declare
a state of emergency and remove what is left of our civil liberties and
rights." (END)
Back to the Top
Back to Index
The Guardian

U.N. Urges Zimbabwe to Halt Evictions

Saturday June 4, 2005 4:16 AM

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER

Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) - The United Nations on Friday urged Zimbabwe's government to
halt its campaign of evicting urban poor and demolishing their shacks around
the country, calling it a clear violation of human rights.

The Zimbabwe action, which the government calls a cleanup campaign,
represents a form of apartheid and must be halted, said Miloon Kothari, a
U.N. expert on the right to adequate housing.

``We are seeing in the world, and Zimbabwe is a good example now, the
creation of a new kind of apartheid where the rich and the poor are being
segregated,'' Kothari told reporters.

Over 200,000 people have already lost their homes and a further 30,000
people have been detained since the government began the crackdown on May
19, he said.

``The vast majority are homeless in the streets,'' Kothari said. ``This kind
of a mass eviction drive is a classic case where the intention appears to be
that Harare become a city for the rich, for the middle class, for those that
are well-off ... and the poor are to be pushed away.''

Zimbabwe was plunged into political and economic turmoil when President
Robert Mugabe's government began seizing thousands of white-owned commercial
farms for redistribution to black Zimbabweans in 2000. Combined with years
of drought, the often-violent land reform program has crippled agriculture -
the country's economic base.

Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk 50 percent during the past five years, and the
unemployment rate is at least 70 percent. Agriculture - the country's
economic base - has collapsed, and at least 70 percent of the population
lives in poverty.

Amnesty International has also condemned the crackdown, saying it has left
whole communities without shelter and destroyed thousands of livelihoods. It
said police and other security forces are using excessive force - burning
homes, destroying property and beating individuals.

Thousands of street vendors have been arrested and their wares seized.
Police using torches, sledgehammers and bulldozers have burned and
demolished kiosks and homes of the urban poor in shantytowns around the
country, leaving thousands homeless.

The evictions apparently are a result of the notice Harare's
government-appointed Mayor Sekesai Makwavarara gave in May to dwellers in
the city's myriad backyard shacks. He told them they had until July to
vacate, citing health grounds. About half the city's poor live in such
shacks. The government has not explained why it began demolitions before the
July deadline.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUE - June 3, 2005

Email:jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

In todays Herald (Friday 3rd June 2005) the extensive listing of ;

Section 5 (Lot 169) 281 properties.
Section 7 (Lot 13) 178 properties
Section 8 (Lot 24) 230 properties
Section 8 (Lot 25) 26 properties

are repeated having first appeared in last Fridays Herald(27th MAY 2005)

However in todays Herald (Friday 3rd JUNE 2005) there appears a third
notice under LOT 169 pertaining to a single property which does not appear
in the original nor the repeat LOT 169. This extra Lot 169 is given below.

It has also come to light that the repeat listing of LOT168 contains an
extra property in the weeks 2nd repeat.  The original Lot 168 (Section 5)
pertains to 264 properties and now list 265.  The extra property under Lot
168 is also listed below;`

No 237 Deed of Transfer 6116/93 Liemba Farm P/L
Remainder of Subdivision A of Weardale (792,0332) hectares.

LOT 169 Land Acquisition Act(Chapter 20;10)
Preliminary Notice to Compulsorily Acquire Land
Notice is hearby given,in terms of subsection 1 of section 5 of the Land
Acquisition (Chapter 20;10), that the President intends to acquire
compulsorily the land described in the Schedule for peri-urban agriculture.

A plan of the land is available for inspection at the following offices of
the ministry of Statr Responsible for Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement in
the Presidents office between 8a.m and 4p.m from Monday to friday other
than on a public holiday on or before 4th July 2005.

a) Block 2 Makombe complex crn Harare Street and Herbert Chitepo Harare.

b)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement, CR119,,Government
Composite Block,Robert Mugabe way,Mutare.

c)Ministry of Lands,Lands Reform and Resettlement, 4th Floor,Block H,Office
146,Mhlahlandlela Government Complex,Bulawayo

d)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and resettlement, M W Building,Corner
Park.Link Street,Chinhoyo.

e)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,!st Floor Founders
House,,The Green,marondera

f)Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement,19 Hellet Street,Masvingo

g)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Exchange Building,Main
Street,Gweru

h) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Mitshabezi, First
Floor,Office no F20, Gwanda

i) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,
Ndodahondo Building ,Bindura

Any owner or occupier of any other person who has an interest and right in
the said land,and who wishes to object to the proposed compulsory
acquisition,may lodge the same,in writing,with the minister of State for
national Security,lands,land Reform and Resettlement,Private Bag
7779,Causeway,harare,on or before 4th July,2005

D.N.E.Mutasa
Minister if State for National Security,lands,lands Reform and Resettlement
in the Presidents Office

1) Deed of Transfer 6541/96 Caledonia Enterprises (private)Ltd
/Goromonzi/Lot 1 of Caledonia
297,4369* hectares

Email:jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Back to the Top
Back to Index
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the subject line.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prelude text

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Letter 1:

I refer to Trevor Midlane's letter.

It is so easy for one to be opinionated and full of fight when at a
distance.  Whilst appreciating, in theory, what he is saying about closing
down everything so that "we can start rebuilding", in reality, this is not
so straightforward.  Had everyone initially worked together and stayed
together, this might have worked; but this is extremely difficult to do
now, when one has family or when one is old or when one has no other option
but to go on.  There are those of us who have to stay here and have to try
and survive. Each person has his/her way of doing this...co-existers
included!

Trevor must remember that people can leave this country only if
· They have a foreign passport/may claim citizenship of another country
· If they are under 45 and skilled in some way
· If they have sufficient funds to "buy" their way into a country
· If they can get sponsorship
· if they seek asylum
. Without the above options, the rest of us must stay here regardless. So
you can imagine that I nearly died laughing at his remark "Go and be a
barman in Jo`burg if need be, in spite of age".  One no longer just crosses
a border and is welcome.  South Africa has what is called BEE - ex-farmers
or businessmen do not stand a chance of employment.

To be here in Zimbabwe is to understand and suffer.... Trevor writes "I
have come to realise there are certain people who will do anything to look
after themselves."  This is human nature and this statement is true of
Trevor himself.

Sheliegh Barton

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NO 2

I wholeheartedly back Barman Bertie, in asking Trevor Midlane, to pay for
his expenses, whilst he is a barman in Johannesburg. This Wonderman Trevor,
seems to have the answers to all problems in Zim. He must get real &
realise people are all in different situations, especially financially.
This is a very tricky time we are all going through, but good luck Trev as
a barman, all the best, perhaps even at the Ranch in Joes .

Maid Marion

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NO 3

Your vindictive article is sickening to the bone. You are a product of lies
and theft yourself and many others having been brought up on stolen riches.
Who are you referring to as thieves when you mention 'produce from stolen
farms'. Zimbabwean repossessed their lands. if you like call it 're-stolen
farms' as that would be better appropriate
Kindest Regards from:

Kingston Dutiro

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NO 4

This letter is written by Sister Patricia Walsh of the Dominican Order of
the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. Hatcliff Extension

Family and Friends thank you for your telephone calls, your e-mails And all
your support and encouragement in these dreadful days and hours - it is A
great help.

The International Press says that the police are destroying "illegal
structures" in Zimbabwe. Let me share with you a little of what is very
legal but has been destroyed.

In 1992 many thousands of people were put into a Holding Camp at a Place
called Hatcliffe Extension, they were not allowed to build permanent
structures because this was going to be temporary. In 1995 one of our
student Sisters, Tarisai Zata who was a student at the School of Social
Work and was doing some studies for her degree, one evening she came back
Home and said "we must do something to help these people to live like human
beings" and that was the beginning of the Dominican Missionary Sisters
involvement in Hatcliffe.

We have worked with the people there for the past 10 years, peoples of All
religions and none, people of all political persuasions and none.

Over the years through the generosity of you all we were able to sink 8
Bore holes, help to feed thousands of people, build and run a crèche for
AIDS orphans (180) of them. We visited once a week and two of our nursing
Sisters, Gaudiosa and Carina treated people, helped to get about 100 People
on to an Anti-Retroviral medicine programmers etc do home based care, Took
people to hospitals etc.

The people of Hatchliffe have become friends and family of us the Dominican
Sisters.

Yes, some people had moved in illegally, but the majority were there
Because they were put there and were repeatedly told that they would be
moved to a better place at some time, most of them paid their monthly
"rent" for The little square patch -.

On Friday morning last week I got a call that the riot police had come Into
a section of the area and demolished everything - most of the wooden Shacks
are just broken to pieces. I went out on Friday and Saturday - people Were
sleeping out in the open, many of them sick, cold and hungry. On Saturday I
visited again some had managed to leave (those who have Z$500 000 - and
have some relatives in "legal" places".

On Sunday morning I got a call that the police had given instructions That
all structures in the original section have to be demolished within 24
hours, including the crèche, clinic and other structures which we had Built
with and for the people. Where do I get people on Sunday to come and
dismantle all the buildings. I decided to wait until Monday. On Sunday
evening I received one phone call after another saying "come quick They are
going to kill us" - others would say "don't come you might be killed".

Early on Monday morning I drove out to Hatcliffe, already in the distance I
Could only see smoke rising up - nothing else. I arrived, I wept, Sister
Carina was with me, she wept, the people tried to console us - they were
ALL outside in the midst of their broken houses, furniture and goods all
over the place, children screaming, sick people In agony. Some of the
people who are on ARV drugs came to us and said we Are phoning Sister
Gaudiosa (Sister is doing the ARV programme) but she is Not answering us,
we are going to die". We explained that Sister was on Home leave but that
we would help in whatever way we could. It was a heartbreaking situation.

The structures "mentioned above" that we the Dominican Sisters were Working
from were left untouched but had to be dismantled immediately otherwise
They too would be destroyed. Sister Balbina from the House of Adoration
came With carpenters and other staff members and started dismantling the
structures.

We are distributing all of them to people who have nothing, they will be OK
if we leave them lying on the ground. Some friends arranged for a crane To
come in to lift out two containers where we had medicine and food stored -
it was one of the saddest days of my life,.

How does one say That Peter aged 10 and his little brother (John) aged 4
(Not their real names) are "illegal". We had provided them with a wooden
Hut when their Mother was dying, she has died in the meantime, these two
Little people had their little home destroyed in the middle of the night,
we Get there, they are sitting crying in the rubbish (that was their home
Until Sunday) - what do we do with them? they are only one example of the
Many vulnerable orphans whose little lives are destroyed.

Veronica (not her real name) is an elderly widow who is chronically ill
herself, she has 3 young grandchildren from her dead daughter - her home is
destroyed.She is wearing a Rosary Beads around her neck, an apron with The
picture of the Sacred Heart and a tee shirt with President Mugabe's photo -
she has tried all means to survive!

Some people came and said, "Sister there are two people who are dying
Please come." one of them Mary (not her real name) who is out in the open
all Night lying on an old damp mattress cant' move with pain, she has
shingles,which is open and bleeding, what is worse her tears or her
bleeding wounds? I felt/feel paralyzed.

Anne (not her real name) delivered a baby a week agao, she is Critically
ill and is on the verge of death, what do we do with her? we give her pain
killers, we give her blankets, we give her food (which she in unable to
eat) - what is going to happen to her baby?

Some of you have asked if I am safe, don't worry we are well "protected" by
the riot police who are cruising around this disaster area all day, I Was
so relived to see them eating sugar cane which means thet they are not
Hungry and will have the strength to "protect us", I don't for a minute
Believe that they accepted this sugar cane from "illegal people" on an
"illegal settlement".

A Grandmother asks, "Sister why has God abandoned us? I do not try to
answer. people call out "Sisters pray for us". An emergency taxi (mini bus)
stands in the middle of this "war zone" with the words "God is Faithful"
written on it!

Just now we are going back there with food, clothing, medicine and cash, we
can only try.

I am NOT cold, I am NOT hungry but I am very ANGRY. I pray that this Will
pass. We stand in shock and cry with the people but we also have to try to
keep them alive. When will sanity prevail. Where is the outside world? Busy
talking about a "NO vote by France"

How can the "little ones of this world be brutalized in this way" - Their
only crime - they are poor, they are helpless and they happen to live In
the wrong part of town and in a country that does not have oil and is not
Very important to the West.

One bystander told me that he had phoned the Red Cross asking for help But
was informed "it is not a war situation" so there is nothing we can do!

PRAY FOR US.

God bless and reward you for your concern.

Patricia Walsh OP

PS the only "good" thing that I have experienced is that my otherwise Very
gray hair had a nice red tinge yesterday evening (from the red dust in
Hatcliffe)!! but I had to wash it - for a little while again today I Will
be a "red head" - my Irish genes are coming through in my old age!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NO 5

SW Radio Africa

I wish to pay a special tribute to Gerry Jackson & the team at SW Radio
Africa for their sterling work over the past three years.  Due to lack of
donor funding their shortwave broadcasts ended on 31st May.  Their evening
news broadcasts were special to me and to many others, as they kept us up
to date with what was happening in our country.

Sister Anne

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for Agriculture.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
East African Standard

      Mugabe supporters angry at demolitions of shanties
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Harare

      Sabina Takawira once supported Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

      But like many other Harare residents, she is now furious after
watching a colleague's house demolished under a relentless government
clean-up drive that is not even sparing die-hard supporters of Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF party.

      Police took the two-week-old exercise to Harare's Kambuzuma suburb
yesterday, demolishing houses built under a scheme authorities say is
illegal, but which residents claimed had Mugabe's blessing.

      "I will never support Zanu ever again," fumed Takawira as a bulldozer
razed an imposing house set on about half an acre at Kambuzuma's Joshua
Mqabuko Nkomo Heights.

      "What has happened here is (undermining) the party."

      Police say the action taking place around the country is their largest
operation since Mugabe approved the seizure of white-owned farms to give to
landless blacks in 2000, a step which plunged the country into turmoil.

      Officials say the clean-up campaign, dubbed "Operation Restore Order,"
is meant to get rid of illegal structures that have sprouted around urban
centres in the last few years and are seen a haven for illegal traders in
foreign currency and scarce food items.

      But critics say the exercise has merely worsened the plight of
ordinary Zimbabweans grappling with an economic crisis showing itself in
record inflation, unemployment of over 70 per cent and acute shortages of
foreign currency, fuel and food.

      More than 22,000 people have been arrested in the campaign, which
started by targeting street traders and then moved into dense urban
shantytowns before taking on newer neighbourhoods like Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo
Heights, where many of the houses are suburban-style bungalows.

      The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused
Mugabe's government of using the clean-up campaign to target opposition
supporters in urban areas where it won most of the seats in March
parliamentary elections.

      But Takawira said Friday's demolitions had hit ruling party members
who occupied most of the targeted houses.

      The atmosphere was tense at Kambuzuma, with dozens of riot police
keeping at bay hundreds of residents who watched as the bulldozer ploughed
through buildings.

      "I really feel used after all the work we did for the ruling party at
the last elections even though we did not win here," said Takawira's friend,
tears streaming down her cheeks as she stood among her household furniture a
few metres from the rubble that used to be her house.

      "My husband is a policeman and we worked hard to put this place
together. I have lost more than Z$800 million ($84,246) through this
destruction and some of my furniture was damaged as I hurried to get it
out," she told Reuters.

      Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, led ZANU-PF
to another victory in March 31 parliamentary elections the MDC says were
rigged.

      But the opposition retained its dominance in urban centres whose
residents have borne the brunt of an economic crisis many blame on
government mismanagement.

      Police said on Friday they planned to continue the operation until it
was completed despite mounting anger among those affected, many of whom are
leaving cities for rural family homes or sleeping in the open with nowhere
else to go.

      ($1 = 9,496 Zimbabwe dollars)

      - Reuters

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Made Clarifies Land Acquisition Process

The Herald (Harare)

June 3, 2005
Posted to the web June 3, 2005

Harare

THE gazetting of acquired farms that was recently publicised in the media
does not mean that Government is starting all over to compulsorily acquire
farms for resettlement, the Minister of Agriculture, Cde Joseph Made, said
yesterday.

He said the farms have already been acquired but the publication of such
farms was necessary because the acquiring process took time to be completed.

Cde Made was speaking in Harare at a meeting with the head of the European
Commission delegation to Zimbabwe, Mrs Francesca Mosca.

She was accompanied to the meeting by the commission's food security
advisor, Mr Bart Missinne.

Secretary for Agriculture Cde Ngoni Masoka also attended the meeting.

The process of acquiring land, Cde Made said, had to be started afresh after
every 24 months and if it was not completed, it would have to continue after
12 months.

"The process of acquiring a farm is tedious, it takes time, and sometimes it
might surpass the cost of the land itself," said Cde Made.

He said Government has to pay full compensation for the properties that it
acquired for resettlement and some properties that belonged to organisations
such as churches have already been de-listed from compulsory acquisition.

Zimbabwe, he said, was interested in the mechanisation of its agricultural
sector to increase production.

He said the land reform programme had been successfully implemented but what
was only left was to deal with the finer details of the whole programme.

Mrs Mosca said: "We recognise that there had been some irregularities in the
process and we know there is a will to rectify them."

Back to the Top
Back to Index

PUBLIC                                                                                                                                  AI Index: AFR 46/011/2005

1 June 2005

 

UA 148/05

Fear for safety/ Excessive use of force     

 

ZIMBABWE       

 

Thousands of informal street traders and residents of informal settlements

               

Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of thousands of informal street traders and residents of informal settlements across Zimbabwe who are being targeted for forcible eviction in a government operation called "Operation Murambatsvina" (meaning drive out the rubbish, and referred to by the police as 'restore order').

 

"Operation Murambatsvina" reportedly aims to "clean up" urban areas and tackle illegal trade in foreign exchange. The evictions are being carried out without notice and without court orders. During the evictions, police and other members of the security forces are using excessive force, burning homes, destroying property and beating individuals. In at least one instance police reportedly forced people to destroy their own homes. Amnesty International believes that many more people are in danger of injury as the operation continues.

 

Since 18 May 2005, many thousands of people have been forcibly removed from informal market areas in Harare by the police. Similar police actions have taken place in across the country in Bulawayo, Mutare, Chitungwiza, Rusape, Murehwa, Gweru, Masvingo and Kadoma. Although the government has claimed that the traders are unlicensed, lawyers have said that many of those arrested last week had licences. The traders have been given no notice and their goods have been destroyed or confiscated. Many traders are alleged to have been beaten during the operation.

 

Public anger at the destruction of property and livelihoods has resulted in traders and residents of affected areas attacking police. In response, armed police and the armed forces have been sent into some areas to quell unrest, raising further concerns for the safety of the affected communities.

 

On the night of 26 May 2005, more than 10,000 people were forcibly driven from their homes in the informal settlement of Hatcliffe Extension in northern Harare. Police reportedly destroyed homes - leaving the settlement's families destitute and sleeping in the open. The government has reportedly threatened more evictions from squatter camps around Harare.

 

In September 2004, Amnesty International reported on the attempted forced eviction of thousands of people from Porta Farm, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Harare, during which police reportedly misused tear gas against residents. The police were acting in defiance of a court order prohibiting the eviction. According to eye-witness testimony the police fired tear gas directly into the homes of the Porta Farm residents. At least 11 people died in the following weeks, after what eyewitnesses claim was exposure to the tear gas. Amnesty International has repeatedly called for a full investigation into the events which took place at Porta Farm and the subsequent deaths, but no investigation is known to have taken place. (See Amnesty International press releases: Zimbabwe: Ten dead following police misuse of tear gas, AFR 46/027/2004, 22 September 2004 and Zimbabwe: Another death at Porta Farm - 11 people now dead following police misuse of tear gas, AFR 46/028/2004, 1 October 2004)

 

Amnesty International is very concerned that Porta Farm may again be targeted in the current "clean-up" operation. The residents of Porta Farm have lived there for more than 10 years, and have invested in the development of the area.      

 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible in English or your own language:

- expressing concern for the safety of people being forcibly evicted from informal settlements such as Hatcliffe Extension in northern Harare, informal market areas and street stalls, and at the use of force by police and security officers;

- calling on the authorities to investigate the reported use of excessive force by members of the security forces and for this practice to be ended;

- calling for an immediate end to all forced evictions;

- calling for those forcibly evicted from their homes to be given immediate access to shelter, food, clean water and sanitation facilities, and for full compensation and reparation to be made for the loss of homes and property;

- expressing concern that Porta Farm, where at least 11 people died following police misuse of teargas in September 2004, may again be targeted;

- urging the authorities not to attempt to forcibly evict the residents of Porta Farm or any other informal settlement; 

- reminding the authorities that evictions must be carried out in full compliance with international human rights law, including with due process, legal protection, redress and appropriate relocation measures.

 

APPEALS TO (Time difference = GMT + 2 hrs / BST + 1 hrs):

 

President

His Excellency                                     

The Hon Robert G Mugabe               

Office of the President       

Private Bag 7700

Causeway

Harare, Zimbabwe

Fax:                        00 263 4 734 644

[Salutation:           Your Excellency ]

 

Minister for Home Affairs

The Hon Kembo Mohadi   

Ministry of Home Affairs  

Private Bag 505D

Causeway

Harare, Zimbabwe

Fax:                        00 263 4 726 716

[Salutation:           Dear Minister]

 

Minister for Local Government, Public Works and National Housing

The Hon Ignatius Chombo

Ministry of Local Government, Public Works                

and National Housing

PO Box CY441

Causeway

Harare, Zimbabwe

Fax:                        00 263 4 708 848 (If someone answers, ask for the fax)

[Salutation:           Dear Minister]

 

               

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO. His Excellency Mr Simbarashe Simbanenduku Mumbengegwi, Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe House, 429 Strand, London WC2R 0JR. Fax: 020 7379 1167  Email: zimlondon@yahoo.co.uk

Back to the Top
Back to Index
From News24 (SA), 3 June

Evictions: Challenge dismissed

Harare - A Zimbabwean court threw out a legal challenge to an urban clean-up
campaign that has left thousands destitute and homeless and led to the
arrest of about 22 000 people in Harare, a lawyer said on Friday. Tafadzwa
Mugabe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said: "High court judge Tedius
Karwi has dismissed the application by 2 000 families removed from Hatcliffe
Extension to declare their eviction illegal." "What this means is that the
judiciary has confirmed that the operation is lawful. The judge said the
conduct of the police and the Harare Commission was lawful and said it was
regrettable there was human suffering in the process of the evictions." The
2 000 families were thrown out of their makeshift homes in Hatcliffe
Extension, a slum 10km west of Harare. They were moved to the settlement in
the early 1990s after they had been removed from the streets of Harare in a
clean-up campaign on the eve of a visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth to
Harare. Bands of armed police have gone on the rampage in the last two weeks
in major towns across Zimbabwe. They have demolished and torched backyard
shacks and makeshift shop stalls in a campaign that has drawn widespread
condemnation. Affected families have been sleeping in the open in several
townships and slums on the outskirts of Harare, while others have been
battling to find transport to take them to their rural homes. Others who
could not find transport resorted to burning their property in frustration.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, called on
Wednesday for protests against the clean-up campaign and for foreign
intervention to pressure the government to end the controversial drive in
major towns and cities.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
From The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June

Mugabe takes his revenge on traders

By Rochelle Mutton in Bulawayo

A woman stands in the mangled ruins of her market stall in downtown
Bulawayo, eyes brimming with tears and unable to find the words to describe
her grief and fear. Bulawayo is Zimbabwe's second city after Harare and has
become the latest target in a brutal countrywide blitzkrieg on the informal
economic sector. Hours earlier, dozens of heavily armed police demolished
thousands of licensed market stalls, smashing, burning and seizing goods and
arresting hundreds of vendors. Like thousands of others in devastated
Bulawayo, this woman lost all her wares and her livelihood in one terrifying
morning of wholesale destruction. "What can we do?" she asks. "That is how
we get rent; that is how we get food." Another woman vendor sits among the
twisted metal and cardboard wreckage with a single bag of oranges for sale,
desperate to earn her bus fare home. To her right a man smiles as he
retrieves bunches of unspoiled bananas from his cart. He is about to make a
sale when a stampede down the street gives him the split-second warning he
needs to run as a police truck carrying eight officers swoops. My reflexes
are much slower, leaving me in the middle of the police as they leap off the
truck, seize three women vendors without explanation and bundle them away.
For the rest of the day the terrified vendors who have anything left to sell
hide behind cars and shopfronts, displaying only small samples of wares at a
time. Impassive gestures belie the frightened eyes and simmering anger of
the Bulawayo traders, who in the past two days have been collectively
murmuring the word of their darkest horrors, "gukurahundi". It is the local
Shona word for "the wind that sweeps away the chaff before the rain" and
used to describe the action overseen by the President, Robert Mugabe, to get
rid of the political opposition at the beginning of his reign in the early
1980s.

Then, Mugabe's Fifth Brigade, trained by North Korean forces, killed
thousands, and tortured many more, of the minority Ndebele tribe that lives
in western Bulawayo. This time, the Government-sanctioned attacks are
countrywide. The Mugabe regime calls the crackdown Operation Murambatsvina,
meaning clean out the filth. The first alleged murder was reported this
week, a woman vendor beaten so badly by police that she died in a Bulawayo
hospital. There is bewilderment as to why the police and army have been
ordered to destroy market stalls and housing, leaving tens of thousands of
people without a livelihood or shelter. The Government says it is targeting
criminals who deal in foreign currency, and that it is removing illegal
eyesores. Most Bulawayo vendors sell only in Zimbabwe dollars and run their
stalls at the municipality's invitation. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, says the ruling Zanu PF party
wants to provoke a state of emergency to introduce unrestrained powers of
search, arrest and detention. It is believed the raids are meant to punish
urban dwellers who voted overwhelmingly for the opposition in the election
on March 31. "I have no doubt it's a policy of retribution against people
who are perceived, correctly, as being opposed to this fascist regime," said
the MDC's legal affairs spokesman, David Coltart.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Dear friends,
 
Today I write from a devastated Bulawayo. When I said that after the
election there would be greater repression I could not possibly have
imagined what is happening in Zimbabwe now, first in Harare starting nearly
two weeks ago, and now coming to us.  The police started yesterday evening
and continued today with the result that all the fruit and vegetable stalls
on Fith Ave, all the stalls of every sort in Lobengula Street mall, the
whole of Entumbane informal market, the furniture and mattress makers in
Makokoba and all the food and clothing sellers and service -providers at
Renkini are history.  The "World Bank" is an otherworldly scene of twisted
iron bars and metal frames of what were once market stalls.  There are piles
of rubble everywhere lying in chaos and the police are trying to shovel it
away.  Late this morning they attacked the sellers along Lobengula street,
dumping their wares into police trucks and burning the stalls.  Smoke was
wafting everywhere. The mayor went to try to explain to the vendors that the
city council had nothing to do with it and was not even told, but some threw
stones at him.  They cannot resist the police by try to stone the one person
who is trying to help them.  Other women beseiged the council offices.
Later the mayor met with representatives of the vendors. This afternoon a
convoy of six huge police trucks was seen coming from Entumbane loaded with
remnants of stalls.  I haven't heard anything about Sekusile market or
Emganwini, but doubtless they have also been destroyed.  With the exception
of Emganwini and probably Sekusile, all these are legally designated stalls
for vendors, for which they get licenses from the City Council and pay
monthly fees.
 
There are no words to describe what this means to hundreds of thousands of
people who eke out a living selling on the streets, trying to get by when
the formal economy has collapsed.  If ever any government has behaved like
this, not to a selected, ostracized or demonised group of its population,
but to the entire country, even their own supporters, I don't know where or
when it existed.  They have not just openly stolen peoples' goods, but their
entire livelihoods.  Do they expect them to go to rural areas where everyone
knows there is no food?  Could Didymus Mutasa have really meant it when he
said that we only need six million Zimbabweans, not twelve?
 
In Bulawayo at least we have few informal settlements where people lived,
but there are some, and doubtless we will hear about them soon.  Late this
afternoon the streets of the business centre were eerily empty as most cars
do not have fuel.  Many people have simply parked their cars and try to
walk.  Every petrol station has a long queue snaking around the block,
leading to a sign on the forecourt saying "No Fuel".  It appears that there
is none.  Anywhere
 
Our brains are evidently not equipped to absorb or give meaning to the
destruction that has been perpetrated.  We are not, as far as we know, at
war, but that is what appears to be happening.  Our government  is making
war on the nation.  We cannot attempt to explain it, and everyone is in a
state of shock.  We cannot  "adjust" any more to our fate, but as a people
we are paralysed by fear and desperation.  There will be prayer meetings of
the faithful, all night vigils, but when the Amen is said, nothing will have
changed. Hopelessness in the face of unspeakable evil and violence is our
future.
 

M
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough - Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY

Operation Drive Out Trash : A Bulawayo Pastor's view
Sokwanele : 4 June 2005

Bulawayo, 5th Avenue : 1 June 2005A Bulawayo pastor visited the scene of desolation on 5th Avenue following the trail of destruction left by Mugabe's stormtroopers.

All is quiet on 5th Avenue, but all is not well. The scene is of utter chaos. The stalls have been trashed, the produce destroyed. Rats are running all over the place. Wooden tables lean drunkenly on three legs, torn plastic covers are draped over twisted metal frames. It is a scene of desolation and a scene of despair. Everything is broken. A few shattered and squashed vegetables are lying on the ground. An occasional cyclist and Scania (handcart) move slowly down the street making their way round the scattered pathetic debris.

The police came on Wednesday morning under direct orders from the highest office in the government and in just a brief time brought crashing down the stalls, the hopes and the livelihood of hundreds of innocent people unable to defend themselves. People trying to earn an honest living have been left destitute by a cruel, unjust and vicious government.

These people were doing nothing illegal. They have licences to carry on their business. They have paid for those licences. They each have a licence number and a stall number. They pay rent for the sites along 5th Avenue.

Bulawayo, 5th Avenue : 1 June 2005On Wednesday, I stopped to speak to two of the stallholders. They were too frightened to give me their names. They were just sitting there. And yet when we spoke they were able to manage a smile. They have current licences and they have paid for their site. I asked them what they would do now. Their answer was brief and heart rending: "We will starve and our children will starve."

I did not know these two, but over the years have come to know several of these hardworking, cheerful and patient people. Their stalls were open for long hours as they waited patiently for customers. They were up early in the morning to buy good quality produce. Some of them must have risen before 4 am to get from their homes in the western suburbs. Now they will be unable to pay their rent and face eviction from their homes. No jobs are available. Their children will have to leave school, unable to raise school fees.

Anger and sympathy welled up in me in equal proportions. There is little doubt in my mind that there will be some divine judgment meted out in due course. God is neither deaf nor blind and he hears the cries of the oppressed. I pray that those who ordered this wickedness and those who carried it out will be hounded by their consciences until their dying day. If they have no conscience, then I pity them exceedingly. People with no compassion or mercy will receive none.

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked!

Visit our website at www.sokwanele.com
Visit our blog: This is Zimbabwe (Sokwanele blog)

We have a fundamental right to freedom of expression!

Sokwanele does not endorse the editorial policy of any source or website except its own. It retains full copyright on its own articles, which may be reproduced or distributed but may not be materially altered in any way. Reproduced articles must clearly show the source and owner of copyright, together with any other notices originally contained therein, as well as the original date of publication. Sokwanele does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising in any way from receipt of this email or use thereof. This document, or any part thereof, may not be distributed for profit.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
IOL

Anti-graft chief appears at corruption trial
          June 04 2005 at 10:44AM

      Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank governor has admitted authorising a
bank transfer by the country's former finance minister who is on trial for
corruption, a newspaper said on Saturday.

      Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono, who is
spearheading an anti-corruption drive, was speaking at the trial of Chris
Kuruneri, accused of siphoning scarce foreign currency out of the country.

      Relating the circumstances of the money transfer in the Harare High
Court on Friday, Gono said Kuruneri had actually saved the country from a
"national catastrophe", the state-controlled Herald said.

      Kuruneri is charged with illegally transferring R5,2-million out of
the country between 2002 and 2004 through a local commercial bank, which
Gono headed before becoming central bank governor. Kuruneri denies any
wrongdoing.

       In his testimony on Friday Gono said it was he who had asked Kuruneri
to lend the commercial bank $500 000 (about R3,5-million) in 2002 in the
national interest.

      The bank later authorised the transfer of an equivalent sum in rands
to Kuruneri's accounts in South Africa, the Herald said.

      "I requested the accused to assist as he had done on other previous
occasions and circumstances involving national matters," the Herald quoted
Gono as saying.

      "The bank that I had the privilege to lead was at the centre of rescue
missions for this country," he said.

      The central bank chief added that he was bound under Zimbabwe's
official secrets act from revealing details of what Kuruneri's money was
used for.

      The former finance minister, who has been in jail for more than a
year, also denies charges of smuggling more than $500 000, £34 000 (about
R425 000) and ?30 000 (about R250 000) through Harare International Airport
between 2002 and 2004.

      He says he bought a house and a luxury car in South Africa with money
he earned outside the country before he became minister.

      Zimbabwe is critically short of foreign currency needed to purchase
fuel, medicine and food. - Sapa-dpa

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Sunday Times (SA)

Zimbabwe steps up anti-Aids fight

Saturday June 04, 2005 11:17 - (SA)

HARARE - The Zimbabwean government has launched a set of guidelines to stall
the spread of HIV and Aids claiming at least 3,000 lives weekly and avoid
discrimination against people living with the virus.

A new HIV and Aids policy strategy was unveiled in Harare to reduce the rate
of HIV infection in the public service and the private sector, according to
Public Service Commission chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwah.

The 17-page document lists 16 objectives and proposes several projects
targetted at workers and employers, including providing education on Aids
and avoiding transfers of workers that lead to the separation of spouses.

Employers are obliged under the strategy to create working conditions that
are conducive for people living with HIV and Aids.

"The Public Service Commission should ensure there is no discrimination,
subtle or open, in handling or interacting with employees," the document
says.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV and Aids pandemic
with an infection rate of 24.6% and at least 3,000 people dying weekly from
Aids-related illness - or about one person every three minutes - according
to the National Aids Council.

The pandemic also accounts for more than 70% of hospital bed occupancy.

Zimbabwe's battle with the pandemic has been compromised by a collapsing
public health sector and dwindling donor funding due to the strained
relations between the Zimbabwean government and its former benefactors in
the West.

The government collects a monthly levy from workers to fund HIV and Aids
projects. Vice President Joyce Mujuru acknowledged at the launch of the
policy document that Zimbabwe does not have enough money to fight the
pandemic.

"Although the government is fully committed to reducing the impact of the
HIV and Aids pandemic, we do not have resources with which to deal
effectively with the pandemic," Mujuru said.

Under the new policy, government ministries and departments will receive
money from the treasury every year to run HIV and Aids awareness and
prevention programmes at workplaces. The amounts were not revealed.

"The challenge ahead is to find the resources to fund all the activities in
the document but I firmly believe that where there is a will there is a
way," Mujuru said.

AFP
Back to the Top
Back to Index
News24

Observers slam Zim 'clean up'
04/06/2005 13:35  - (SA)

Harare - The Zimbabwean government's blitz on shack dwellers and street
traders continued on Saturday despite reports President Robert Mugabe had
ordered a halt to the two-week crackdown.

In the north western town of Chinhoyi, police arrested 708 vendors and
seized large quantities of scarce staples including sugar, cornmeal and
cooking oil, said state radio. They also arrested 621 gold panners - the
sole source of livelihood for many unemployed.

Leslie Gwindi, spokesperson for the government-appointed Harare City
Council, next the next phase in the capital would see homeowners heavily
fined for not "sprucing up" and repainting their properties although most
say that in current economic crisis conditions they cannot afford it. Cement
and paint are only available on the black market, and at exorbitant prices.

More than 200 000 people have lost their homes and a further 30 000 detained
since the start of the crackdown May 19, United Nations housing expert
Miloon Kothari said in Geneva on Friday. He urged the government to halt its
campaign of mass evictions, saying this was a clear violation of human
rights.

International attention

Many of those who lost their homes - often forced by police at gunpoint to
demolish the structures themselves - had formal lease agreements or had
rented plots from ruling party militants who had seized white owned farms on
the outskirts of the city with Mugabe's approval.

Under Mugabe's "Fast Track Land Reform" launched in February 2000,
self-styled war veterans occupied 6 000 white-owned farms and established 24
"housing co-operatives" near towns and cities.

In a test case on Friday, a judge refused an urgent plea by human rights
lawyers to place a ban on further demolitions. Tedias Karwi said although
government ministers had attended the launch of the scheme, home makers had
failed to file building plans, and the authorities were "within their
rights" although "a longer period of notice would have been better."
Demolitions continued while Karwi was delivering his ruling.

Sithembiso Nyoni, Minister of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, told state
radio on Saturday "Operation Murambatsivna" (drive out trash) "is not
targeting dissenting voices to government - it is aimed at restoring
cleanliness and order in the country."

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
alleges urban poor are being punished for supporting his party during recent
general elections, and forced back to rural areas where they can be
controlled politically by denial of access to food.

Amnesty International has also condemned the crackdown, saying it has left
whole communities without shelter and destroyed thousands of livelihoods.

With up to four million people in urgent need of relief food after poor
harvests, Mugabe is maintaining a strict monopoly on distribution for the
government's Grain Marketing Board.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
New York Newsday

Africa Seeks More Positive Spin on Its 'Brand'
At an economic summit, the media are blamed for not highlighting success
stories on the continent as leaders seek financial relief.

By Robyn Dixon
Times Staff Writer

June 4, 2005

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - It's not easy to market a vast continent of more
than 50 nations as a desirable, upbeat sort of place when at any time there
might be war breaking out, hunger, people dying of AIDS and malaria, others
struggling in poverty, and entrenched government corruption.

But African leaders and businessmen meeting here for an economic summit this
week took on the challenge of how to promote a positive "brand Africa." Many
argued that the continent's real problems were not death, disease and
criminality but the international journalists who wrote about them without
noting African successes.

"We are not angels, but we can't all be devils all the time," Tanzanian
President Benjamin Mkapa said at a news conference at the Africa Economic
Summit of the World Economic Forum, which ended Friday. The talk of Africa's
image problem comes at an important moment, with international attention
focused on the continent in the lead-up to next month's Group of 8 summit of
leading industrial powers in Gleaneagles, Scotland. British Prime Minister
Tony Blair is expected to lobby for doubling African aid to $25 billion a
year and cancellation of all the debt of poor African countries.

Some, like Niall FitzGerald, chairman of Reuters news agency, said world
leaders had a rare opportunity to redress African poverty and disadvantage,
and that forgoing it would shame the current generation.

Despite Africa's rich natural resources and a flow of international aid,
poverty there has worsened, not declined, in recent decades. The assistance
is often highly conditional and in the form of loans, not grants.

The Cape Town summit's main purpose was to focus international business and
political support before Blair's big Africa push. But although the U.S.
agrees broadly with most of the goals, it has its own approach on aid and
debt relief, and is wary of a British proposal to sell International
Monetary Fund gold to help Africa.

If there was a contradiction between summit participants wanting to market
Africa as a big success story while seeking debt write-offs and massive new
aid, it was drowned out in the general criticism of the media coverage of
Africa.

In the last decade, Africa has seen a dramatic transformation, with the
resolution of many conflicts, leaders' growing reluctance to deal with
neighbors who seized power illegally, and the spread of democratic
elections, some freer than others. Economic growth in Africa on average has
reached 5%.

All this, participants argued, added up to an attractive perception of
Africa that could win investment, create jobs and help nations rise out of
poverty.

Nicholas Stern, permanent secretary of the British Treasury, said reporters
had failed to recognize improvements in African governance and the way aid
is delivered on the continent.

"Journalists are very bad at doing this. Those who are professionally
skeptical and cynical are often flying in the face of evidence," he said.

In a session on "branding" Africa, Carol Pineau, an American producer of a
promotional documentary on Africa, said images of starving African children
from 25 years ago had lodged in people's memories.

"We show Africa as if it has no economic life. We also show Africa as if it
has no family life. It's as though they wake up and go to war or a refugee
camp," she said.

The optimism and unity of the summit cracked only once or twice, when the
subject of Zimbabwe came up, offering an insight into the gap that remains
between Western and African views on governance, poverty and aid.

Paul Applegarth, chief executive of the U.S.' Millennium Challenge
development program, which aids only countries that meet strict criteria on
governance and democracy, stated that the organization would not give a
dollar to Zimbabwe unless it made serious reforms.

Zimbabwe has been criticized for evidence of fraud in April's elections,
government arrests of thousands of small traders and the recent demolition
of hundreds of shanty houses, which left thousands homeless.

"Should we put our money into Zimbabwe, where it's going to be squandered?
Or should we put it into countries that are poor but where the governments
have said, 'We want to change'? We will put our money into countries where
aid will work," he said at a press briefing.

But Mkapa, one of the continent's reformers, blamed Western journalists for
what he saw as bias in highlighting Zimbabwe's failures.

"All I can see is a resuscitation of old prejudices by developed countries
against Zimbabwe, against a very firm assertion by Zimbabwe of the right to
manage its own affairs," the Tanzanian president said.

African leaders have a system of peer review to promote good governance, but
one analyst, Raymond Louw of the newsletter Southern Africa Report,
questioned how credible the mechanism could be if leaders failed to condemn
Zimbabwe.

Asked how to convince those skeptical of Africa's successes, Pat Davies, the
chief executive of Sasol, a leading South African energy company, said he
was "not strong on marketing and gloss."

"Once the substance is right, then the perceptions will follow."

Back to the Top
Back to Index
The Telegraph

Vast majority think African aid is wasted, poll shows
By Rachel Sylvester and Andrew Sparrow
(Filed: 04/06/2005)

A huge majority of Britons believes that pumping billions of pounds into
Africa would be a waste of money, a verdict that is a major blow to Tony
Blair's crusade to rescue the continent.

As the Prime Minister prepares to fly to Washington on Monday to try to
secure American support for proposals to tackle poverty in the Third World,
a poll for The Daily Telegraph shows that 83 per cent of people are not
confident that money given by the West would be spent wisely.

It also shows that 79 per cent of voters believe that corruption and
incompetence were to blame for Africa's problems.

The Government is planning a package of measures designed to reassure the
public that taxpayers' money would not end up in the pockets of corrupt
politicians. New legislation will allow money smuggled into this country by
corrupt former African dictators to be seized and returned to the countries
concerned.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, hinted at the crackdown yesterday when he told
a press conference in Edinburgh that the Government's package for Africa
would "combine action on debt, aid, and trade with good governance,
transparency, an attack on corruption and the encouragement of private
investment".

His pledge follows growing public and celebrity support for the Make Poverty
History campaign in the run up to next month's summit of leaders of the
world's richest nations in Scotland.

Bob Geldof, who is organising Live 8 concerts in five countries before the
G8 meeting in Gleneagles, has called for a million people to march on
Edinburgh to press the politicians to do more to eradicate poverty.
Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that he would waive the VAT fee for the
concert.

Britain is confident of securing a deal with America under which money owed
by poor countries to multilateral institutions such as the World Bank would
be written off.

However, the poll indicates that many Britons remain suspicious of the way
money given to Africa would be spent.

YouGov asked how confident respondents were that donated money would be
spent wisely, "rather than being wasted or finding its way into the pockets
of criminals and corrupt governments".

More than 80 per cent said they were either "not very confident" (41 per
cent) or "not at all confident" (42 per cent). Only 11 per cent expressed
some confidence that the aid would not be squandered.

The public's lack of faith in Africa's ability to cure its own ills was also
revealed when respondents were asked to identify three factors most to blame
for the condition of the continent.

Corrupt and incompetent government was seen as the main problem, with 79 per
cent citing it as a factor. More than half of respondents also cited the
HIV/Aids epidemic and civil wars.

By contrast only a minority said factors for which the West was
responsible - such as colonialism, exploitation by multinationals or
protectionist trade policies - were among the principal causes of African
poverty.

Fewer than 10 per cent said the continent's problems could not be solved. A
majority said Africans could help themselves with assistance from rich
countries.

According to Treasury sources, a new law, ratifying the UN convention
against corruption, will be implemented under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
in the autumn.

It will give the Government power to seize the assets of corrupt former
politicians from overseas in a similar manner to the power that already
exists when dealing with suspected terrorists and organised crime.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that several bank accounts, containing
millions of pounds, are already being monitored so that they can be frozen
as soon as the law is in place. A list of "politically exposed persons" has
been circulated to banks and building societies.

The Government also intends to do more to deal with companies that offer
bribes to corrupt officials.

Mr Blair wants to force all oil, gas, mining, forestry and fisheries
companies to disclose their payments to governments. Businesses that want to
qualify for export credit guarantees might also have to demonstrate that
they do not offer bribes.

The Chancellor said yesterday that he believed America was now prepared to
support his proposal for 100 per cent debt relief for the poorest countries.

"This is not a time for timidity nor a time to fear reaching too high," he
added.

"This year is our chance to reverse the fortunes of a continent and to help
transform the lives of millions."

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Joshua Nkomo Housing Co-operative destroyed

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-04

ONE of the last thriving housing schemes, the Joshua Nkomo Housing
Co-operative, was yesterday destroyed by police rendering hundreds of
families homeless as the ongoing operations Murambatsvina and Restore order
gather momentum.
The project had over 3 000 members who contributed $11 million each in
membership fees, apart from purchasing the stands.
Police who say they have identified over 24 illegal co-operatives in the
capital descended on the scheme as early as 7 am yesterday in a convoy that
stretched close to 500 metres.
Bewildered home owners could not believe their eyes as two bulldozers razed
some of the houses including that, which was the headquarters of the
co-operative and another belonging to Comrade Sitiya - the chairperson of
the scheme.
 "I don't really know how many of us were here, but the membership is
definitely over 3 000. When I joined in 2002 I paid $500 000 as joining fees
another $10 million for the stand. The joining fee was recently raised to $6
million and up to now I can't believe that all my investment has been
destroyed in just a few minutes," said Tichaona Munyanduki one of the
homeowners.
A middle aged woman also wept uncontrollably as she watched her house being
reduced to rubble before she could save over 20 bags of fertiliser that were
in one of the rooms.
 The scheme becomes the latest prominent settlement that was established at
the height of farm occupations in 2000 to be destroyed after Tongogara Park
at White Cliff Farm, Nyadzonya and Chimoio near the Harare International
Airport and Mvurachena.
Several leaders of the Joshua Nkomo Housing Co-operative tried in vain to
have their houses spared with police insisting that they were only following
orders from their superiors.
Meanwhile, police were summoned to disperse several flea market operators
who had gathered at Town House to make inquiries on how to obtain operating
licences.
Several Zanu PF officials including the spokesperson for women's league,
Nyasha Chikwinya addressed thousands of informal traders and flea market
operators and others who used to do business at Siyaso and Mupedzanhamo.
Chikwinya said it was the ruling party's policy that the informal traders
should be                       licensed and that the markets had been
closed down due to illegal activities that were now going on there.
"As the ruling party, we want to promote informal trading but we don't want
a situation where anyone can operate from anywhere. People are going to be
licensed and given places to operate from," she said.
Police will next week begin a major crackdown on all major high ways to
trace defective vehicles and others breaking traffic regulations.
In recent weeks, police impounded defective vehicles and several commuter
omnibuses in the capital and detained them at Chikurubi in the on going
operation.
This resulted in severe transport shortages in the capital with some
unscrupulous operators hiking their fares without requisite approval.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Residents accuse govt of backtracking land reform

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-04

RESIDENTS of Joshua Nkomo and Leopold Takawira Housing Co-operatives in
Harare yesterday accused the government of backtracking on the achievements
and gains of the hard won independence after police ordered them to vacate
their houses by yesterday.
War veterans and youths who graduated from the national youths service
training programme in 2000 established the two housing schemes with the
blessing of several government officials including the Minister of Local
Government, National Housing and Urban Development, Ignatius Chombo.
Joseph Nyambo, said the objective of the war was to get back the land and
give it to the majority adding the blitz was unnecessary.We fought the war
to free the land from the white man, what we are doing now is fighting
amongst ourselves. What they want to do is just like a chicken eating its
own eggs," he said.
Chairman of the local branch for the Zimbabwe National Liberations War
Veterans Association, (ZNLWVA), who was only identified as Mtize said they
had government approval when they established the scheme. He said they had
even been promised that their houses would be spared.
"We had assurances from the government that our houses would be spared. We
regularised everything after our initial houses were destroyed. Those who
are coming to destroy should talk to us first thing tomorrow," a visibly
angry Mtize said.
A youth leader Enock Mukunze, who said they were encouraged to form the
cooperative after graduating as a green bomber in 2000, said it was baffling
that they were now being told to destroy their houses.
"We were encouraged to form these cooperatives after graduating from the
youth service. We thought we were setting an example for other youths but
with this development it's baffling. Are they telling us that all the
cooperatives in Harare are illegal," he said.The two housing schemes are
situated around some water reservoirs for the city amid fears that they
could be lying on top of water pipes.
On Thursday, police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said the operation would
continue adding that police had also arrested 12 suspected criminals who
were on the wanted list for various crimes including armed robberies, house
breaking and theft and also found several quantities of basic commodities.
Other major settlements that have been destroyed include, Tongogara Park at
White Cliff Farm, Nyadzonya and Hatcliffe Extension.
Some families are still stranded at Hatcliffe with no transport to ferry
them to their rural homes.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Mbeki, Bush show concern over Zimbabwe's political crisis

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-04

SOUTH Africa President Thabo Mbeki and his American counterpart George W
Bush on Wednesday expressed concern over the continued political impasse in
Zimbabwe between the two feuding political parties, the ruling Zanu PF and
the opposition MDC.

According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news on
demand, Mbeki and Bush - who met at White House in Washington - stressed
that a solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis was of importance to Africa
and the international world.
Bush and Mbeki made the statements on sidelines of their talks on global
issues.
Mbeki is the mediator in the Zimbabwe case, though the main opposition MDC
claimed recently that it had cut all political ties with the South African
leader, accusing him of taking sides with President Robert Mugabe's
government in the countdown to last March's general elections.
"Our challenge is to assist the people of Zimbabwe to overcome their
political and economic problems," Mbeki said.
Bush and Mbeki added that a democratic, stable and prosperous Zimbabwe was
in the best interest of Africa and the international community.
Mbeki had since 2000 been pushing for dialogue between Zanu PF and the MDC
in a bid to break the ice.
Soon after the 2002 parliamentary polls, the two protagonists held talks,
which ended prematurely after they failed to agree on the agenda and also on
Zanu PF's insistence that the MDC withdrew its presidential election
petition in the High Court-which it didn't do.

Europe has come under heavy criticism from the ruling party - challenged
President Mugabe's victory in the court after he lost more than 400 000
votes arguing that the election was stolen.
Since Bush assumed the US presidency in 2000, he has been pushing for regime
change in Zimbabwe and in 2001 his country's congress passed a Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill, which effectively imposed sanctions on
the southern African nation.
However, President Mugabe said he would not back down to vitriol either from
the West or Europe and has since vowed that the dirty imperialistic tricks
will not work saying Zimbabwe will never be a colony again.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Clean-up exercise starting to affect council business

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-04

THE chickens are coming home to roost as it emerged this week that the
on-going clean up exercise has started affecting council business amid
reports that committees of the commission running the affairs of Harare have
failed to meet as stipulated for the past fortnight.
A city council insider told The Daily Mirror that business had not been
executed normally since the twin operations by the police and city fathers
dubbed Murambatsvina and Restore Order were launched.
"We have not been holding committee meetings for a while and I heard it is
due to the current clean up operation. We do not even know when the next
full commission meeting will be held," the source said. The source added
that three committees, including the audit committee and the procurement
board who were meant to sit about two weeks ago have since failed to do so.
Local authorities have numerous committees looking at various aspects of
areas of management.
The committees are tasked with discussing issues and make recommendations to
councils before they are adopted at monthly meetings. Harare is, however,
being run by a commission appointed last year after the MDC-dominated
council resigned protesting excessive government interference, while some
councillors were fired for alleged mismanagement.
However, city spokesperson Leslie Gwindi disputed the reasons given for the
committee's failure to meet as required.
"There is absolutely no truth in that. What has the clean up to do with
committee meetings. The environment committee is actually going to hold its
meeting next Tuesday," he said.
 Asked when the next commission meeting would be held Gwindi said: "We only
wait to be informed by the commissioners."

Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

LSZ condems clean up exercise

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-04

THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) has condemned the ongoing joint clean up
exercise by the government and the Harare City Council saying it is an
infringement of the constitutional rights of the people affected.
In a statement yesterday, the president of the society Joseph James said the
government and the council
 did not respect the constitutional rights of individuals.
"It is however clear that the wholesale destruction of buildings and
businesses and the mass arrest of citizens
 and non-citizens of Zimbabwe, without the due process of law is a blatant
and unacceptable violation of the
 constitutional rights of those affected by these actions," James said.
He added that many people had been left homeless and deprived of their
livelihood and freedom.
James also said a government with people at heart respects the
constitutional rights of individuals and would have been expected
 to warn the citizens of its intentions, follow the due process of law and
made contingency plans for those left shelterless by the operations dubbed
Murambatsvina and Restore Order.
The lawyer decried the actions of the government, asserting that although
the aim of the exercise was to
 curb crime it was imminent that criminal activities would increase.
"The stated purpose for these actions by the government is to curb crime.
However, the unfortunate consequence of such action is that the persons who
previously were able
 to earn income in the informal sector will in many cases be forced to turn
to crime to survive," James said.
The government and the city council embarked on the exercise to rid Harare
of illegal settlements, criminals, vagrants and beggars living on the
streets
 and informal traders operating from undesignated places.
The operation resulted in most flea markets in the city being shut down and
termini for commuter omnibuses being relocated to the periphery of the
capital's Central Business District (CBD).
The clean-up exercise had since spread to other urban areas.
It has been received by mixed feelings with some residents saying the town
was beginning to regain cleanliness while others asked "at what cost?"
However, the government has since said there was no going back on the
programme and vowed to sweep the city clean.
An insider from the
 Harare Municipality said the council was now contemplating taking water
bourses to new termini and scrap the tar clean.

Back to the Top
Back to Index
christiantoday.com

Africa AIDS Situation Desperate says UN as Orphans Forced into Prostitution
      Posted: Saturday, June 4 , 2005, 13:28 (UK)

During the recent UN meeting, Secretary General Kofi Annan warned of the
vast spread of HIV/AIDS all over the world and called for strong leadership
and more funds to fight the deadly disease.

Annan described the progress as "significant but insufficient."

Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria outlined the financial
needs that need to be substantially increased so that projects on
prevention, testing, treatment and care for HIV/AIDS orphans may work
properly.

The most affected area in the world is Africa, where an alarming number of
children are losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. According to the survey, by
2010 there will be 40 million orphaned children whose parents died of AIDS,
95% coming from sub-Saharan Africa.

In the current situation, there are 12 million children orphaned in
sub-Saharan Africa because of HIV/AIDS and are being exposed to the deadly
disease themselves. As the recent UNICEF study revealed, orphaned girls are
three times more likely to become infected than girls whose parents are
alive.

Many orphaned girls are forced to work as prostitutes by relatives to make
their living, a recent survey found.

"AIDS is reversing the trends that were improving for girls," said Margie de
Monchy, regional child protection officer for the United Nations Children's
Fund. "We really have to look at the kinds of lousy choices - and sometimes
no choices - that they have for survival."

"Orphaned girls are at the absolute margins," said James Elder, UNICEF's
spokesman in Zimbabwe. "They are the very bottom of the barrel. They are
much more likely to engage in risky behaviour just to survive."

As the meeting of G8 leaders approaches, a new aid plan for Africa has been
proposed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ahead of the summit, he has
been meeting leaders to gain support for his G8 agenda. The next meeting is
scheduled on Monday with U.S. President George Bush in Washington, D.C.

However, as recently reported, President Bush has expressed his opposition
to new plan, but during a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki
he promised to help Africa.

The situation in Africa attracts a lot of broad international public
attention these days. However, there are many Christian organisations and
charities already providing help and meeting the needs of African people,
despite huge shortcomings in funding.

Doug Peterson, leading Teen Missions International in Zambia said: "Meeting
the spiritual need is the key. We do want to give the orphans a hope for the
future. We share with them the claims of Jesus Christ."

"We have Bible studies, we have camps to nurture them and disciple them in
this relationship that they've discovered. And it really begins to make a
difference in their lives, and the hope that we were stating that was
missing many times begins to grow from that point."

Change in their lives brought by new hope is impacting the community and
many of the orphans are challenged to make a difference for Christ.

Doug Peterson describes: "It's exciting to see that they have a hope and a
desire for the future and to serve the Lord with their lives and to see the
Lord change what was such a big problem in Zambia, and actually there's a
hope and an answer."

Anna Lisa
anna@christiantoday.com
Back to the Top
Back to Index