" When you come to the end of
everything you know
And are faced with the darkness of the unknown,
Faith is knowing one of two things will happen.
Either there will be
something solid for you to stand on,
Or you will be taught how to
fly."
Press Release No. 03/80
June 6, 2003 |
International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street,
NW
Washington, D.C. 20431 USA | |
IMF Suspends Zimbabwe's
Voting and Related Rights
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has suspended Zimbabwe's voting and related rights, after having
determined that Zimbabwe had not sufficiently strengthened its cooperation with
the IMF in areas of policy implementation and payments. As a result of today's
decision, Zimbabwe can no longer appoint a Governor or Alternate Governor to the
IMF, participate in the election of an Executive Director for its Board, or cast
its vote in decisions on IMF policy or country matters.
Economic and social conditions in Zimbabwe have deteriorated progressively
over the past four years. Real output has dropped by one-third, inflation has
reached 270 percent in the year through April 2003, and welfare and poverty
indicators have deteriorated. The Zimbabwean authorities introduced some policy
measures since early 2003 to arrest the decline in economic activity, including
a devaluation of the exchange rate of the Zimbabwean dollar from Z$55 per U.S.
dollar to Z$824 per U.S. dollar for most transactions, adjustments in fuel and
electricity tariffs, rolling back price controls, and raising interest rates
moderately. However, the authorities have not adopted the comprehensive and
consistent policies needed to address Zimbabwe's serious economic problems.
Zimbabwe has been in continuous arrears to the IMF since February 2001. As of
end-May 2003, Zimbabwe's arrears to the IMF amounted to SDR 164.9 million
(US$233 million), or about 47 percent of its quota in the IMF.
The suspension of a member's voting and related rights is one in a series of
escalating remedial measures that the IMF applies to members that fail to meet
their obligations under its Articles of Agreement. On September 24, 2001,
Zimbabwe was declared ineligible to use IMF's general resources and was removed
from the list of countries eligible to use resources under the IMF's Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility (see Press Release No.
01/40). On June 13, 2002, the Executive Board adopted a declaration of
non-cooperation with respect to Zimbabwe and suspended all technical assistance
to the country (see Press Release No.
02/28). On September 11, 2002, the Executive Board agreed to initiate the
procedure to suspend Zimbabwe's voting and related rights in the IMF.
The Fund urged the authorities to build on their recent efforts to strengthen
cooperation. The staff is ready to continue assisting the authorities. The Fund
would support the reinstatement of voting rights if Zimbabwe improves its
cooperation on economic policies and payments. The Executive Board will review
Zimbabwe's overdue financial obligations to the IMF again within six months of
the date of this decision.
Additional information on how the IMF deals with overdue financial
obligations is available in Chapter V of Financial Organization and Operations
of the IMF (IMF Pamphlet Series No. 45, 6th ed., 2001). This publication is also
available on the IMF's external website at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/pam/pam45/contents.htm
Reuters
06 Jun 2003 16:29 BST
Tsvangirai poses
threat to Mugabe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai,
detained twice this week amid anti-government protests, is
a fiery trade
unionist who poses the first serious threat to President Robert
Mugabe's
23-year grip on power.
Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), is
considered by his supporters and some Western
governments as Zimbabwe's only
immediate hope of ending a spiral of economic
decline coupled with
escalating unrest.
But analysts say the
former union leader is woolly on policy and lacks
the experience to rebuild
what was once a showcase African economy.
His judgment has also
been questioned after a videotape controversy
that led to his current trial
on treason charges for an alleged plot to
assassinate Mugabe.
A
secretly recorded video purported to show him discussing
Mugabe's
assassination with security consultants in Canada ahead of the
2002
presidential election. But Tsvangirai says he was framed and his
comments
taken out of context.
Tsvangirai was briefly detained
on Monday as his supporters launched a
series of mass protests dubbed the
"final push" to oust Mugabe. On Friday he
was arrested again, shortly after
holding a news conference to call for more
protests.
Tsvangirai
accuses Mugabe of stealing the 2002 presidential election
and says the
veteran African leader is the main impediment to
economic
recovery.
"Please (Mugabe) why don't you go now?
Because if you remain in power
this economy will never recover. And if you
wait too long to go, it will get
too dark to find your way out," Tsvangirai
said in the runup to the
protests.
Tsvangirai's working-class
roots could scarcely be more different from
his rival's
background.
Seventy-nine-year-old Mugabe led the dominant military
force of the
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in the long war against
white
minority rule. He boasts a string of university degrees.
Tsvangirai, 51, is self-taught beyond a basic high school education.
The son
of a bricklayer worked in a rural mine to support his family and cut
his
political teeth in the labour movement while working as a mine
foreman.
In 1988, he became full-time secretary general of the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions. Under his leadership, the federation broke
ranks
with Mugabe's ZANU-PF.
POWERFUL ORATOR, WEAK ON
POLICY
In December 1997, Tsvangirai led a series of strikes against
tax
increases and twice forced Mugabe to withdraw announced hikes. With
labour
backing, Tsvangirai helped to found the MDC in 1999.
In
February 2000, the movement showed its strength by engineering
Mugabe's first
poll defeat -- the rejection in a national referendum of
proposed
constitutional changes that would further have entrenched his
presidential
power.
In June of that year, despite killings and police
intimidation, the
MDC stunned the ruling party by winning 57 of the 120 seats
at stake in a
parliamentary election.
Tsvangirai captivated the
public with powerful speeches, but political
analysts say he is weak on
policy and detail.
During a tour of European capitals after the MDC
was born,
Tsvangirai's grasp of policy did not impress. Analysts say some
doubts
remain, but Tsvangirai has worked hard to build relations with
Western
countries.
"He has grasped that Zimbabwe needs to
cooperate, he's talked about a
more transparent land programme, repairing
relations with foreign donors and
fighting corruption," said Ross Herbert of
the South African Institute of
International Affairs.
"The
general view is that anyone would be better than the present
leadership in
Zimbabwe."
News24
Tsvangirai to remain in custody
06/06/2003 19:02 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe police Friday arrested opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai
and charged him with treason at the end of a week of mass
protests against
President Robert Mugabe's government.
Tsvangirai was
arrested at his home and taken to a police station in central
Harare on the
last day of mass anti-government protests, an official for the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) said.
His lawyer, Innocent Chagonda said he had
been charged with treason for
"organising and holding rallies urging his
supporters to take to the streets
to overthrow President Robert
Mugabe."
He said the 51-year-old opposition leader would remain in
custody for the
time being.
The arrest and treason charge came on the
day the MDC had called for a last
concerted push by its supporters to show
their anger against the government.
The party had set Friday as "D-Day"
and called for people to "rise up in
your millions" in street marches in
cities around the country.
The party blames the government for chronic
economic hardships and
widespread shortages affecting most Zimbabweans.
Around 80 percent of the
country's 11.6 million people live in poverty, and
inflation is officially
at 269%.
But although most shops and
businesses were closed in central Harare on
Friday, scores of ruling party
supporters and state security agents ensured
no marches got off the
ground.
Ruling party youths ripped up copies of the private Daily News
newspaper,
which is highly critical of the government. Police, swinging
batons were
also out in full force to quell would-be
demonstrators.
The government had obtained a court order declaring this
week's mass action
illegal. And it again went to court again to enforce that
order, following
an appeal lodged by the MDC.
Hundreds of opposition
supporters and officials, including lawmakers have
been arrested and some of
them beaten, the party has claimed.
Rolling mass action
Shortly
before his arrest, Tsvangirai had condemned the state's show of
force, and
vowed his party would press on with mass action.
He claimed that Mugabe
could no longer be called a "civilian president".
"His power now lies
completely in the forces of repression," he told
reporters and diplomats at a
press conference.
Tsvangirai added that although his party wanted to help
solve the country's
problems through dialogue, it would not back down from
its calls for mass
action against the government.
"From now on we will
embark on rolling mass action at strategic times of our
choice without any
warning to the dictatorship," he said. "More action is
certainly on the
way."
Meanwhile, in the country's second city of Bulawayo meaningful
mass
demonstrations failed to gain momentum. Hundreds of police and
military
patrolled the streets, according to a correspondent
there.
Mugabe and his government have defended the use of force to
suppress the
street protests, saying it was meant to ensure peace and
stability in the
country.
Independent (UK)
Repression on the streets, but for how long can Mugabe
stave off a revolt?
By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
07
June 2003
Military helicopters circled over Harare's skies and
ruling-party militiamen
flooded into the city, taking up positions alongside
soldiers and
paramilitary police.
Army trucks and four-wheel-drives
patrolled the streets, dispersing even the
smallest groups, while packs of
armed ruling Zanu-PF enforcers wearing white
T-shirts emblazoned with the
words "No to mass action" roamed the city.
Yesterday had been billed as
the climax of a week of opposition strikes and
protests aimed at ending the
rule of the President, Robert Mugabe. The
general strike succeeded in
shutting down Zimbabwe's already collapsing
economy. At least two protesters
were killed and hundreds wounded.
Faced yesterday with the unmistakable
signs of a peaceful revolution in the
making, the 79-year-old President tried
to crush it by deploying the biggest
police, military and paramilitary
operation since independence in 1980.
The opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) had called on
Zimbabweans to gather "in their
millions" at designated centres around the
country and to march peacefully.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, was
arrested for the second time in a week
and charged with treason.
And, in an unprecedented act of repression, Mr
Mugabe deployed more than
2,000 armed ruling-party henchmen around the
capital to intimidate opponents
and quash the risk of a "Yugoslavia-style"
overthrow. The young thugs, known
as "green bombers", are notorious. Trained
in military-style camps run by
the ruling party, they are accused of some of
the most heinous human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe. Scores of opponents of the
regime have been raped and
tortured at their camps.
The presence of
the militias in the streets of the capital yesterday helped
to keep most
protesters at home. But the scale of the security operation
also exposed Mr
Mugabe as a tyrant who is now clinging to power by force.
His land reform
policies are blamed for severe food shortages, inflation of
nearly 300 per
cent, more than 70 per cent unemployment and violence that
has led to the
deaths of hundreds of people in the past few years.
The extraordinary
scenes in the capital were an indication for many, in
Zimbabwe and other
African capitals where Mr Mugabe has enjoyed support,
that the end-game has
begun for his regime.
The treason charge against Mr Tsvangirai carries a
mandatory death penalty.
Wayne Bvudzijena, police spokesman, said the
security forces had "no option"
but to charge him because of his "continued
defiance of the law and his
determination to cause chaos".
He added:
"He has called for protests to overthrow President Mugabe in
defiance of the
law. We have to maintain law and order."
But the charge reflected Mr
Mugabe's determination to end the political
career of a rival who this week
demonstrated his power to mobilise enough
support to shut down the economy.
Mr Tsvangirai is already on trial on
separate treason charges connected to an
alleged plot to kill the President.
He has vehemently denied these charges
but it is now considered hard for him
to win all the cases he is
facing.
Mr Tsvangirai was still in custody last night, and the regime
seems
determined to prevent him from fanning the flames of mass anger against
Mr
Mugabe's rule. Mr Bvudzijena said the police would only release
Mr
Tsvangirai "after finishing our investigations". Lovemore Madhuku,
professor
of law at the University of Zimbabwe, said: "The logic seems to be,
'If we
don't get him on one treason charge, we will definitely get him
on
another.'"
Although the President relied on his feared security
apparatus including
rifle butts, volleys of live fire, tear gas and water
cannon to prevent
people from massing in the streets, he must now come to
terms with the
message sent by the many people who for five days defied his
orders to go to
work. This was a clear victory for the opposition, which had
told people to
stay at home if they were prevented from marching. State media
bulletins
urging the people to report for duty, and an assortment of threats
against
those who opted to stay at home, fell on deaf ears.
Even Mr
Mugabe's supporters admit he cannot rely on his army and youth
militias
indefinitely and that in the face of sustained civil disobedience,
he may
have to opt for a dignified exit strategy.
Charles Muchagonei, an
activist, was beaten by militias as he tried to get
to a venue for the
marches yesterday. "Who said hell is somewhere out there
in the universe? It
is right here in Zimbabwe" he said.
Hundreds of opposition supporters
were arrested. "We have managed to bring
calm and we will keep on arresting
those who commit offences," the police
spokesman said.
Mr Tsvangirai
was first arrested on Monday for defying a court order to call
off the
protests. Before his rearrest he vowed the mass action
would
continue.
"Through peaceful mass action, the people of Zimbabwe
delivered a mortal
blow to the dictator.From now onwards we will embark on
rolling mass action
at strategic times of our choice and without any
warning," he said.
"More action is certainly on the way."
FIVE
DAYS THAT SHOOK ZIMBABWE
Monday 2 June
Centre of Harare shut down
by strike. Police fire shots to disperse crowds
marking start of week of
"mass action" demanding an end to Robert Mugabe's
rule. Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, arrested and charged
with contempt of court. Six opposition MPs
arrested. Three students feared
dead.
Tuesday 3 June
Violence in Harare worsens as security forces
brutally assault protesters.
Across the country riot police use tear gas and
soldiers in armoured cars
fire guns to disperse demonstrators. Two hundred
people try to march on
Bulawayo but are forced to flee.
Wednesday 4
June
Schools and universities closed. Most businesses remain shut.
Policemen raid
a hospital and take away people they had beaten earlier. The
MDC reports the
first death of a supporter, Tichaona Kaguru, after being
tortured by the
army.
Thursday 5 June
Businesses remain shut
despite Mr Mugabe's threats. He calls an emergency
meeting of his Zanu-PF's
decision-making politburo. It vows to "teach
Tsvangirai and his MDC a
lesson". The MDC calls on Zimbabweans to assemble
"in their millions" at
designated centres on the final day of the march.
Friday 6 June
Mr
Tsvangirai arrested and charged with treason as riot police, soldiers
and
ruling-party militants flood Harare to foil climax of protest.
Troops
deployed across the country. Mr Tsvangirai promises more protests.
Zvakwana Newsletter #33
The sound of gunfire will never silence their
demand for change and freedom
June 06, 2003
"Come to the
edge."
"We can't. We're afraid."
"Come to the edge."
"We can't. We will
fall!"
"Come to the edge."
And they came.
And He pushed them.
And
they flew.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire
Thanks for dreaming
This was the title of one of the
many emails that Zvakwana has been receiving today. We can take this two ways.
The writer was suggesting that the idea of the march today was too ambitious. Or
we can say that yes! it is good to dream. For without ideals, dreams and
ambition we are but empty vessels with no aspirations and no commitment to
bettering our lives. There were many pro-democracy supporters in Harare town
centre today ready to participate in the gathering for peace and freedom. They
must be congratulated for refusing to meet the zanu militia head on. zanu pf
were therefore deprived of the bloodbath that they were hoping for. Varied and
sustained non-violent campaign will wear down zanu pf; of this you can be
sure.
- In the constant confrontation between the rock and the water, the water wins
finally, not by strength, but by perseverance.
~ Anonymous
Morgan Tsvangirai arrested on Friday
afternoon
Shortly after Tsvangirai gave a press conference today
he was arrested for inciting violence. The police allege that during rallies
held in the month of May, Tsvangirai made statements inciting the people to
demonstrate violently. In his press conference today, Tsvangirai said:
From Monday, June 2, up to today June 6, Mugabe was not in
charge of this country. He was busy marshalling his forces of repression against
the sovereign will of the people of Zimbabwe. However, even in the context of
the brutalities inflicted upon them, the people's spirit of resistance was not
broken and the jackboot or the sound of gunfire will never silence their demand
for change and freedom.
Africa Unity Square in Harare on Friday 6th
June
Zimbabweans moving into Harare town centre today witnessed
zanu pf youth militia occupying nearly every street intersection as well as
being encamped on traffic islands. These youth are being used by the mugabe
regime and in the process they are being dehumanised. Many of them were less
than 20 years of age. Side by side with the militia were zanu pf riot police. As
10 am approached, the militia left their stations and made their way to Africa
Unity Square that they took over in a threatening manner.
Picture: just one of
the many, many groups of zanu pf youth militia being led by their
"baas"
Where did these people come from? Reports from victims of indiscriminate
violence in Harare this week have said that they are strangers from outside of
the city. On Sunday, June 1st, at least 6 brand new Zupco buses were seen
ferrying youth into Harare from Marondera. Many eyewitnesses have reported large
numbers of young men based at zpf's shake shaking building since at least Monday
this week. Much violence began once these thugs were deployed across the
city.
. . .
INFORMATION PLEASE! . . .
Zvakwana is asking for information regarding which company printed
these t:shirts and who provided the stock. Write to news@zvakwana.org
"If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
If
we as Zimbabweans do not collectively participate in actions to expel the mugabe
regime, it is likely that our children will:
- have their education
disrupted
- go into crime because there
are no jobs in this destroyed economy (inflation at 262%)
- leave the country to find
work elsewhere
- join mugabe's militia to
get drinking money and to abuse fellow Zimbabweans
Change demands action. Are
you sitting on the wire?
Sights and sounds during the day
- some commuters were ferrying armed police around the city centre
- 4 water canons accompanied by jeeps of riot police drove through the city
with their sirens wailing
- helicopters flew overhead
- army tanks with mounted guns were seen on the road
- police on horseback, on foot and in Santana vehicles were moving around the
avenues
- town centre was a no-go area for the Daily News
- a truck load of army were stationed in Samora Machel Avenue
- in Mabvuku/Tafara some people were forced to eat pieces of the Daily News
that they were reading
Many obstacles for the opposition, and YOU as a pro-democracy
activist to overcome
As you are seeing from what has been
mentioned, today it was very difficult for Zimbabweans to face this show of
force from mugabe's employees. We must remember though that mugabe is playing a
short term game. Yes, he would be wise to let people exercise their democratic
right to assemble and to protest peacefully because when you suppress these
democratic rights, you drive the movement underground and it becomes even more
determined and more cunning than before. Zvakwana is everywhere.
Police refuse basic rights of prisoners
Police
treatment of people arrested during the week of mass action June 2-6 has been
shocking. Part of the pre-trial punishment has been the withholding of food from
detainees. In a number of incidents family members have been arrested for
attempting to provide their relatives with food. Human rights activists trying
to provide this basic humanitarian service have been threatened with
imprisonment. On June 5th human rights activists Jenni Williams and Sheba
Dube-Phiri in the company of human rights lawyers, Trevor Ndebele and Kosam
Ncube tried to get food to prisoners in Bulawayo. Read about their experience at
www.zvakwana.org
Bulawayo
Church Service
CIO and Senior Army Officers arrived at St Mary's cathedral and spoke to
Archbishop Pius Ncube in advance of the planned church service for Justice and
Peace. These agents of the state were reported to have been in a very
intimidating mood. This interview continued for half an hour. The Archbishop was
instructed not to march after the service and told that there were to be not
politics in the church, no political slogans, posters or dress denoting politics
of any kind. When the PA system was being installed, the Security Forces then
demanded that it be taken down. The situation is tense as prayer time nears.
Sent in at 13:30 hours
The service did not fall under the
proscriptions of POSA because it was a religious event and although the police
had spent half an hour with Pius attempting to dictate the terms of the word of
God they would not stop things from going on. Very slowly the church filled and
continued to do so till almost the end of the service and by then the 500 seater
was just about full with only three pews in the Lady Chapel left empty. Pius
started the vigil by giving the terms under which the police wanted the service
to take place. No party regalia and various embargoes on what could be said and
what could not be said and then proceeded to defy all in what he himself said
about our evil and satanic regime. No testimonies were given as we have
previously had and those in the congregation who were invited to come forward -
as they have willingly done before - were too scared to do so today. As we
joined hands for the Our Father a lone helicopter circled overhead. We sang
Inkosi Sikelele Africa and slowly the MDC open hands were raised in a most
moving display of confidence in the sanctuary which the church so freely gives
to all who are persecuted. Few, if any, would have dared to do this outside the
walls of St Mary's. The lesson read by Kingsly Dube was the Nazara proclamation
- Luke 4. "I come to set the captives free!"
From a
Bulawayo subscriber
Brave students in Harare are leading the way
Two accounts from students at the University of Zimbabwe
Story 1
I just wanted to give info to zvakwana and hopefully you
will be able to act on it. Firstly the number of casualties at the U.Z. is 45,
this is the official number of students that we have been able to ascertain as
having been injured in the Monday protests. There are however three students who
at the moment are missing, there have been sms that have been saying that these
three are dead. I can neither confirm nor deny that but what i know for sure is
that they are missing. A semblance of the damage done and human rights
violations by the police and army can be found in room G4 new complex 5, also
known as Baghdad at the UZ. The room is spluttered with blood, the mattress is
partially burnt. I was there this morning and wished I had a camera. If someone
can access the room they can be able to testify, the occupant of the room is
still unknown to me as of now, but I am trying to establish that. Sad stories
can also be heard from the several female and male students about the amount of
brutality wrought on them by these state agents.
Story 2
Pliz come
to UZ and see the amount of destruction caused by these uniformed forces of
Zimbabwe. Doors of our residence were vandalised, so many students were beaten
up and got injured in the process, some of them sustaining severe injuries and
are now hospitalised. Our food was looted, properties like cellphones destroyed!
Taikandirwa mateargas mumarooms edu kuti tibude, tirohwe, misuwo ichipazwa
tichiponderwa imomo! These guys were really dressed for mass killing!
Photograph
shows a broken door in Manfred Hostel at the University of Zimbabwe campus in
Harare.
Threatening letters placed under doors of shops in
Borrowdale
Zvakwana was informed that some shop owners are
receiving the following hate mail. What should you do? Get together as business
leaders and discuss a strategy. Give each other support. Keep these letters as
evidence. Do not be intimidated. This is divisive zanu pf behaviour engineered
by mad moyo.
Mass Action Against Unrepentant White
Rhodesians
* For A Long Time We Have Been Registering The
Houses Of All Racist Former White Rhodesians
* Now The Mass Action Will Be Directed To Your
Door Steps
* Prepare For Tear Gas, Destruction Of
Properties
* You Have Enjoyed Enough
* Prepare To Run, If You Don't Stop The MDC
Hooliganism
* We Are No Longer
Kefas
Bits and pieces
- Mutare issues criticism for lack of leadership during the Week of Action
- Victoria Falls does count! They were asking why no mention of their march
and why no assistance
- Please tell your readers that in Newlands in Harare, The Blue Banana and
Mama Mia restaurants have remained open while others have been closed
Thank you for all your feedback, suggestions, ideas and
courage.
Zvakwana newsletters
During the Week of Action
Zvakwana made some great effort to keep Zimbabwean email subscribers informed
about events as they happened on the ground. We would like to thank the many
Zvakwana activists out there who sent in pictures and stories as well as tips
for us to chase up and report on. We will continue to keep in touch especially
with breaking news but not so often as before. Besides doing this newsletter, we
are also working to change the government. Watch this space (state house) for a
new occupant before too long. Or maybe we just make it into a museum. Chefs from
either party shouldn't need such big mansions. Don't you think?
Visit our website at
www.zvakwana.org
Mugabe worm gnaws the life from Zimbabwe
David Hopps at the
Riverside
Saturday June 7, 2003
The Guardian
Zimbabwe's cricketers
will insist for a lifetime that they are not
representatives of Robert
Mugabe's tyrannical regime but they can no longer
feign that they are immune
to its consequences.
Richard Johnson deserves recognition for a startling
bowling debut - the
fourth best in English Test history - but it came against
a country whose
cricketing stock is falling as fast as the Zimbabwe dollar.
This is a side
that is fast becoming unworthy of Test
status.
Zimbabwe's players might try to close the dressing room door on
the
injustices of their nation, some of which have brought fear and horror
to
their own friends and families. They might strive to maintain a unity,
black
and white alike, in the most trying times, hoping that one day soon
they
will awake to discover the Mugabe nightmare is over and begin a
painful
rebuilding process.
But the Mugabe worm is among them, too,
weakening them at every turn. A
Zimbabwe side once respected for efficiency
and bloody-mindedness has
succumbed to naivety and hopelessness. Geoff Marsh,
their Australian coach,
bemoaned: "Our boys are just not used to this
standard."
Johnson, a dependable professional deserving of his chance,
was the
benefactor of their confusion. A Durham crowd initially hoping that
the
local boy, Steve Harmison, would be given the new ball, met the
announcement
of Johnson's name in silence. Midway through his first over,
after Mark
Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle had fallen in successive balls, they
were
roaring him on to a possible hat-trick. A hint of outswing, and a nibble
the
other way off the seam, and this Test cricket lark seemed a
doddle.
"I tried to swing the ball away but it just wasn't happening, so
Nasser told
me to bowl straight. It was probably not a 94-all-out wicket but
you get
silly days like this in cricket."
Zimbabwe's situation is not
as much silly as desperate. Over the past five
years an entire side has
departed, and the cricketing stock from which once
they might have been
replaced has shrunk to subsistence levels. The
consequences of Zimbabwe's
political madness are irresistible.
Andy Flower and Henry Olonga,
black-armband protesters in the World Cup,
entered retirement in a blaze of
publicity but there have been countless
others.
Murray Goodwin and
Neil Johnson left three years ago, encouraged by their
wives, to seek a
better lifestyle in Australia and South Africa
respectively. Scott Brant, a
young left-arm fast bowler, chose Queensland
and Essex after his family moved
to Australia. Ryan Watson is making his
name as a batsman for Scottish
Saltires.
They have lost eight successive Tests and only rain is likely
to prevent a
ninth today. Bangladesh have lost a record 11 in a row, with
Cairns and
Darwin to come, but Bangladesh, stricken by floods and
occasionally famine,
still possesses one essential ingredient:
hope.
Three England bowlers have bettered Johnson's display by taking
seven
first-innings wickets on debut. The Surrey pair of Alec Bedser and Jim
Laker
achieved it just after the war but the best return came from John
Lever,
Essex's smooth left-arm swing bowler, who took seven for 46 against
India in
Delhi on the 1976-77 tour.
Johnson might reflect on the
oddity that the greatest Test debuts have been
followed largely by
disappointment. Bob Massie, a burly Australian, swung
the ball prodigiously
both ways at Lord's when he took 16 wickets against
England in 1972. He
played only five more Tests and never again took five
wickets in his
career.
When Narendra Hirwani, a bespectacled Indian leg-spinner, took
eight in each
innings against West Indies at Madras 16 years later, his
world-record 16
for 136 led India to imagine him the great wrist spinner that
Shane Warne
was later to become. But his career lasted only 17
Tests.
Johnson also reaped the benefit of five of the seven lbw
decisions, a record
for a Test innings. Dickie Bird was once partly
responsible for the world
record of 17 lbws in a match, in Trinidad in 1993,
the same Dickie Bird who
spent half-an-hour trapped in a lift at the
Riverside on Thursday.
"It's stairs for me from now on," vowed Bird
yesterday. Johnson, though, for
the next few days at least, will be walking
on air.
Telegraph
Mugabe's brutal regime approaches a bloody conclusion
By Tim
Butcher in the townships of western Bulawayo
(Filed:
07/06/2003)
By moving so violently against peaceful demonstrators in
Zimbabwe this week,
Robert Mugabe has made sure the endgame of his regime
will be bloody and
brutal.
This was the message from the townships of
Bulawayo and the hinterland of
Matabeleland where hatred of Mr Mugabe runs
almost but not quite deep enough
for people to take on his police, army and
security forces.
"Non-violence is no longer an option in this country,"
Vusa Kunene, a
well-educated but under-employed carpenter, explained in a
friend's crowded
shack in the township of Tshabalala.
"They had made
sure of that now but here it is not like other countries
where they use water
cannon on you if you take to the streets.
"Here the police just beat you
and beat you. There is nothing to stop them
from killing you and I am
scared."
He was not exaggerating but his fear explained why millions in
Zimbabwe
heeded the Opposition call for a week-long general strike but few
followed
the call for street protests and marches.
At this stage in
the Zimbabwe crisis, the fear of brutality by security
forces outweighs the
general hatred of the regime. It is a situation that
many in the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change think will be reversed
soon.
Bulawayo's
tree-lined avenues, carefully laid out in colonial times to be
wide enough to
allow an oxcart to turn round, were patrolled all week by
riot police and
armed soldiers peeping out from under steel helmets.
Their camouflaged
jackets helped to conceal them against the trunks of the
jacaranda trees but
the gun metal grey of their assault rifle barrels stood
out rudely among the
mothers pushing prams and hawkers selling newspapers.
An army helicopter
clattered noisily overhead, a clumsy display of force by
the regime, and an
assortment of trucks and other security vehicles were
parked at strategic
junctions.
Pre-emptive strikes by the security forces had already filled
the holding
cells of Bulawayo's central police station to overflowing with
sympathisers
loyal to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Defence
lawyers told
of how they were beaten up by the police as they asked to
interview clients.
So many people were taken prisoner in overnight swoops
that temporary
holding cells had to be set up at the Stops Camp, once an
officers' club
during colonial times but now a notorious torture
centre.
Police checkpoints were set up on all approach roads to
Tshabalala and other
western townships which have been turned by overcrowded
conditions and
miserable job prospects into breeding grounds for the
Movement's support and
hatred of Mr Mugabe.
Vehicles were stopped,
passengers searched and ID documents demanded in a
police crackdown not
dissimilar to the worst excesses of the security forces
under white
rule.
Vusa and his neighbours dared not venture from their homes after
sunset
following swoops at night by armed police.
In the city centre,
riot police played cat and mouse with suspected
Opposition loyalists.
Whenever a group of more than a dozen or so assembled
at a street corner,
police would appear in large numbers only for the
"disaffected youth" to
disperse.
"I support the stayaway but the ruling party makes it difficult
because they
are linked with many employers," said Baillie Nkomo, 21, from
the townships.
"They threaten to take your job away if you do not turn up to
work at some
state-owned firms."
The week-long stayaway marked a
significant change of tactic for the
Opposition which spent three years
challenging Mr Mugabe's regime through
the courts. "We found he was foiling
us at every turn," said David Coltart,
the movement's shadow justice
minister.
"Violence is not what we are encouraging but the time has come
for the
people to show, through mass action, what they feel of a brutal
regime that
ignores every aspect of the rule of law."