The Zimbabwean
Written by Staff reporters
Monday, 31 May 2010 17:31
HARARE – Reports have been made country-wide that Zanu (PF) has stepped up its intimidation tactics ahead of the constitution making process set to kick off next month. (Pictured: A sham Zanu (PF) ‘educative meeting’ that locals are forced to attend for fear of their lives.)
This week a high-level undercover delegation was sent into Epworth, a shanty town on the outskirts of Harare, by the Union for Sustainable Democracy.
The findings shocked members. “We were dismayed by repeated accounts of how Zanu (PF) thugs are threatening to mete out violence on anyone who defies their formula for the constitution-making process,” read a statement from the organisation.
Epworth residents Tapiwa Machipisa, Rumbidzai Kaseke, Philip Nyajeka, Simon Zhakata and Priscilla Chakabva all spoke emotionally about how people in Epworth have been ordered by Zanu (PF) thugs to report for political meetings against their will.
The message, they said, has been a very simple one: ‘Shut up and leave the task of responding to questions to those who have been selected to do so’.
In the unlikely event of ordinary residents having to respond to questions, they are to answer in a particular fashion. In particular they have been instructed to emphatically state that the new constitution must not put any limit on a president’s term of office. Clearly, the intention is to confirm Mugabe as president for life.
There will be more ‘educative meetings’ chaired by loyal Zanu (PF) supporters to ensure that people understand how the constitution-making process is to be handled.
Landlords have been instructed to keep watch on their tenants and to either summarily evict anyone perceived to be sympathetic to the MDC or refer their names to ‘chairpersons’ for handling.
Meanwhile, residents have been given a month to acquire Zanu (PF) membership cards which, like Identity Documents, they have been ordered to carry at all times.
Intimidation condemned
They have been warned that election violence this time around will be much worse than in 2008.
“We view this fresh wave of intimidation with alarm and condemn it in the strongest possible terms. It is outrageous that thousands of innocent people can be forced to live in fear simply in order to guarantee the realisation of the unconstitutional and evil ambitions of a handful of people. We urge the unity government to swiftly and decisively denounce this act of repression,” said a spokesperson from the organisation.
Elsewhere in the country, residents of Plumtree, Chimanimani and Marondera have lodged complaints of violent outbursts spearheaded by top Zanu (PF) officials.
In Plumtree the MDC shadow senator for Bulilima, Vincent Mabhikwa Moyo, reported an escalation of violence from Zanu (PF) thugs, led by Zanu (PF) councillor Simon Sibanda and Chief Israel Tokwana.
“People in Bulilima are not free. They are forced to attend Zanu (PF) meetings and prevented from attending MDC meetings. They are told that if they fail to attend the Zanu (PF) meetings, or if they attend MDC meetings, they will loose the farms which were given to them by Zanu (PF),” said Moyo.
Moyo said that people had to be free to choose their party, be it Zanu (PF), MDC or Zapu, and should not be coerced.
Efforts of suppression
In Chimanimani, the losing MP and former Zanu (PF) minister Munacho Mutezo is reportedly leading a campaign of terror and working with Zanu (PF) war veterans and a Lieutenant Colonel Murecherwa from the Zimbabwe National Army.
Murecherwa is reportedly assigning junior soldiers to lead a horrific campaign of violence and intimidation in the constituency. The soldiers are allegedly using threats and physical violence against the MDC supporters.
The MDC Manicaland Province spokesperson Pishai Muchauraya has confirmed receiving such reports.
Said Muchauraya: “I have received the reports of violence. The violence is being unleashed in an effort to suppress people's views during the outreach exercise.”
“He is leading numerous meetings with villagers where we are being forced to attend. He is also threatening MDC supporters with death if the Kariba Draft fails,” said an MDC supporter who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Muchauraya said the MDC was reporting the cases of violence to the police but nothing was being done.
“We are also attempting to discourage the perpetrators of this violence, but it is very hard for us to confront armed soldiers,” said Muchauraya.
Living in fear
The Zanu (PF) councillor for Marondera rural district council, Mashayamombe, together with local war veterans, has been threatening residents with evictions for failing to attend daily political meetings where they are told to support the Kariba draft when COPAC outreach teams visit their area.
“We are living in total fear as we are intimidated, threatened with death and evictions if we do not report to these daily meetings. They are keeping a register in which they are ticking names of those who would have attended the meetings,” said residents.
At least 100 people, some of whom were victims of Murambatsvina, are housed in the area. They do not pay rentals to anyone and most of them earn a living by working at nearby farms.
They said it was against this background that councillor Mashayamombe and war veterans were taking advantage of them.
NELSON BANYA
PUBLISHED: 2010/06/01 07:18:55 AM
Business Day
RIO Tinto’s diamond unit in Zimbabwe says it has begun work on a $300m expansion programme to raise output six- fold, and is discussing with the government ways to improve the investment climate in mining.
Neils Kristensen, head of Murowa, the 300000-carat-per-year diamond mine in southern Zimbabwe, said on the sidelines of a weekend mining conference the firm had begun preparatory work for the planned expansion.
Rio Tinto owns 78% of Murowa, while Rio Zim — a wholly Zimbabwean-owned unit spun off from Rio Tinto in 2004 — controls the remainder.
“We have reinvigorated our feasibility study for a major expansion. The expansion will increase production by a factor of 6-7 times and double jobs,” he said. “That would push our capacity to 1,8- million carats per year of high quality production, which is predominantly gem.”
Rio Zim said last week the possibility of an improved investment climate in Zimbabwe had prompted Murowa shareholders to commission a review of expansion feasibility studies, to be completed by the end of the year .
“This expansion project should take place in the medium-term,” Mr Kristensen said. “We’re looking at up to 300m for which we would put up an investment proposal to both shareholders and get approval for what should be a fairly big expansion.”
He said the company was also in negotiations with the government over the operating environment.
President Robert Mugabe told the conference on Friday his government would not expropriate mines and said he realised the need to promote the industry’s growth when applying the law.
Murowa is also talking to the government about the state’s decision last week to ban diamond sales from the country, including from Murowa, until stones from the state’s Marange fields are certified by global industry regulators.
After announcing the ban, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu accused western countries of using the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which regulates the global diamond trade, to stop the government gaining from the diamonds.
Zimbabwe has been waiting for the certification of its Marange diamonds, and last week the Kimberley Process monitor, South African Abbey Chikane, said he would recommend Zimbabwe be allowed to export Marange stones.
Mr Kristensen said on Friday he was disappointed that Murowa had been drawn into the issues. Rio’s gems are certified under the programme.
He declined to comment further on the ban yesterday, but said that business conditions in Zimbabwe had improved.
“The good news, though, is that prices have recovered on the strength of demand from India and China, although the US is still weak.”
He said production at Murowa was improving and would surpass last year’s output, which declined to 124422 carats compared to 263000 carats produced in 2008. Reuters
Mining Weekly
COAL ACQUISITION
By: Loni Prinsloo
1st June 2010
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed resources investment company Sable Mining said on Tuesday that it would acquire an 80% interest in Monaf Investments, which holds the Lubu coal concession in the Bulawayo mining district of Zimbabwe.
The company would pay $3-million in cash and a further $3-million in shares at 28p a share, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions precedent.
Sable said that the transaction was part of its strategy to identify and invest in coal and iron-ore assets that could be rapidly developed to production.
The Lubu coal concession is about 120 km north-east of the Hwange colliery and the Bulawayo rail line runs 100 km to the south west.
The coalfields were originally explored by Messina Transvaal Development Services (MTD), which estimated that the area had an inferred resource of 334-million tons of low-sulphur coal. The resource is principally located in the 14-m to 18-m thick main seam, which is also believed to contain coking coal in its lower section.
Sable said that the portion of Lubu for which the resources have been calculated hold the potential for opencast mining.
Considering likely extensions to the coal seams below the overlying Karoo sandstone, it had been estimated by independent consultants Behre Dolbear & Company that with further exploration and drilling, there was the potential to increase the coal resource at Lubu to 515- million tons.
Sable had now reappointed Behre Dolbear & Company to review the historical data.
Sable Mining CEO Andrew Groves said that Lubu was a major undeveloped coal resource and that the company's immediate objective would be for Monaf to initiate a drilling programme to better define the geology of the coal basin with the intention of confirming the initial 330-million tons to Samrec-compliant status.
"Once this is achieved, the intention will be that Monaf would commission a bankable feasibility study and then move towards developing the asset to production. This investment complements our current coal interests in South Africa and Botswana, which we hold through Delta Mining," concluded Groves.
Australia News Net
Australian News.Net
Monday 31st May, 2010
In Zimbabwe, there has been a full ban on diamond exports while the country gets a clearance from the Kimberley Process.
The government said it imposed the ban while awaiting certification of gemstones from its controversial Marange fields.
Industry regulators are expected to quickly make a decision on the export of precious stones from Zimbabwe, which has been under a cloud since human rights groups charged that political cronies of President Robert Mugabe and the army had been profiting from illegal mining in Marange.
The government has accused Western countries of using the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which regulates the global diamond trade, to ban Zimbabwe from exploiting its own diamonds.
Harare has also rejected that diamonds for the Marange mine are blood diamonds, saying gems from the district have not funded armed conflict in the region.
The Zimbabwean
Zimbabwe: Today:
Written by Staff reporter
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 12:23
SADC Tribunal to hear application for a court order to refer the Zimbabwean government to the SADC Summit
The SADC Tribunal in Windhoek sits again today, Tuesday 1 June, in an important application to hold the Government of Zimbabwe in contempt of the SADC Tribunal and to obtain an order to refer the “matter” (see below) urgently to the SADC Summit.
The application calls upon the SADC Tribunal to consider without further delay measures under the SADC Treaty to terminate or suspend the membership of the respondent (the Government of Zimbabwe) from SADC.
The application is brought by Zimbabwean commercial farmers Louis Fick, William Michael Campbell and Richard Etheredge, the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe and the Southern African Commercial Farmers’ Alliance – Zimbabwe.
The basis of their application is that the Government of Zimbabwe continues with its campaign of arrests, prosecutions, imprisonment and other measures of intimidation which serve to destroy the lives of farmers and thousands of farm workers and their families on the commercial farms of Zimbabwe.
Background information (from the Heads of Argument for applicant):
This application is the sequel to two rulings by the Tribunal – Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd and Others v Republic of Zimbabwe (“the Campbell case”) and William Michael Campbell and Another v The Republic of Zimbabwe (“the referral proceedings”). In the former this Tribunal unanimously held that the respondent (the Government of Zimbabwe) was in breach of the SADC Treaty. In the latter it was held that the respondent had violated the ruling in the former, and the failure to comply with the first ruling was referred to the SADC Summit for its attention.
Despite this, the respondent has persisted with increased vigour and more flagrant contempt of the Tribunal in violating the above rulings. Thus lives, liberty and property of thousands of people protected by the Tribunal’s rulings – and that of their families, farm workers and their families – are increasingly imperilled each day. And on a continued basis senior members of the respondent’s government repudiate the Tribunal and its rulings, despite the country’s sustained membership of SADC.
The Zimbabwean
Written by Martin
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 09:58
The MDC is seriously concerned by the continued power cuts that have inconvenienced citizens and virtually brought business to a standstill across the country. The continued power supply disruptions by Zesa have not only brought unbearable and unnecessary hardships on the ordinary people, but are a threat to industry at a critical moment in the revival of the country’s industrial sector. The incessant and ceaseless power cuts have resulted in most commercial entities facing massive business losses and being forced to lay-off workers due to low production. The power utility’s load-shedding schedules are shambolic while the intermittent power supplies have damaged electrical gadgets in people’s homes and heavy duty equipment in our struggling manufacturing industries. The entire production sectors, including our farming, manufacturing and mining concerns have all been seriously affected by these power outages.
It is no wonder that the majority of Zimbabweans are wondering whether they will be able to watch the historic World Cup to be held in South Africa in less than two weeks time. It is shameful for Zesa to embarrass the nation and short-change citizens at such a historic moment for the country, the region and the continent. ZESA, which like any parastatal has been plagued by endemic corruption and colossal ineptitude, has short-changed innocent Zimbabweans who continue to receive astronomical power bills, even in cases where a household or a business premises would have had no access to power for a whole month.
This is daylight robbery by a parastatal that is rewarding its senior officials with hefty salaries and allowances for keeping the ordinary people in the dark. As a party, we restate our resolution of the national council of 16 May 2010, that we find unacceptable the charges being levied by public utilities. These charges are high and bear no reflection to a cost structure but rather to high wages and allowances that are being paid to senior management.
The MDC calls upon the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to urgently look into the state of affairs at Zesa with the hope of expeditiously making sure that Zimbabweans have access to electricity. Turn-around plans and astronomical bills have failed to address the issue and ordinary citizens continue to be short-changed every-day even though they are paying through the nose for a non-existent service.
The inclusive government should urgently look into these power outages as a matter of priority as they threaten the survival of the industries that we want revived for the benefit of the country and its citizens. Zimbabweans want real change. They want dignity, prosperity, hope, security and freedom. Zimbabweans will never load-shed their demand for basic services.
The Zimbabwean
Written by Gift Phiri
Monday, 31 May 2010 17:37
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe (pictured) has lost the confidence of the female population, according to a recent poll that projects he will win only nine per cent of women’s votes in a future election.
The poll conducted by non-governmental organisations, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, IDASA, the Research and Advocacy Unit and the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, shows that Mugabe has dismally lost the female vote.
The pollster predicted that Prime Minister and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party would come first with 51 per cent of the female vote. Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a faction of the MDC and also Deputy Prime Minister, is projected to clinch a paltry 3 per cent.
The latest poll results tally to that of another survey released recently by the Mass Public Opinion Institute that showed Mugabe clinching only 10 per cent of the vote in the heartland of his support base in Mashonaland East.
The report gives the first findings of a national poll of 2,153 women drawn from Zimbabwe's 10 provinces. The women were polled in mid-November 2009 and early December 2009.
Significantly, most women noted the skewed power relations among the principals in the inclusive government
"The majority of women (74 per cent) believe that Robert Mugabe has the most power in the inclusive government, with a small number (14 per cent) believing that Morgan Tsvangirai has any power at all, and virtually none believe that Arthur Mutambara has any power," the report states.
"However, most (51per cent) expressed support for MDC-T, with only 9 per cent and 3 pe rcent expressing support for Zanu (PF) and MDC-M respectively. 21 per cent said they were unwilling to say and 14 per cent stated they did not support any party."
The survey also found that 85 per cent of women felt they should have been consulted about the global political agreement and 70 per cent felt that women's interests were not represented in the inclusive government.
"80 per cent of women stated that their lives had not changed much for the better since formation of the inclusive government," the report further states.
The survey showed that there was little hope for the future in a country only slowly recovering from economic collapse after three decades of President Mugabe's rule.
Analysts say ordinary Zimbabweans are frustrated with the slow pace of economic recovery and reforms toward democracy since the unity government assumed office 15 months ago.
While the fragile coalition has stabilized the economy and re-opened schools and hospitals, it is financially incapable of rebuilding collapsed public infrastructure and providing clean water. At least eight out of 10 potential workers are unemployed, and organized crime and corruption are increasing in the wake of a decade-long economic recession.
The Zimbabwean
Written by Correspondent
Saturday, 29 May 2010 12:35
Rose Mujaranji given removal directions for next Tuesday 1 June on British Airways Flight BA962!
Rose Mujaranji has been given 3rd country removal directions from London Heathrow to Hamburg on Tuesday, 1 June 2010 at 10:30am. Rose, a 24 year old Zimbabwean, who is a victim of severe torture and a witness to her mother's murder, came to the UK to be reunited with her only living family. However, because she entered Europe first through Germany, the UK refuses to consider her for asylum. Furthermore, it is very likely that once in Germany she will be deported to Zimbabwe. Despite being a victim of torture and despite being at serious risk of self-harm, Rose was detained and taken to Yarl's Wood the first week of May at a routine sign-in. A week later, while waiting to be deported in Yarl's Wood, she took an overdose. Now that Rose is out of the hospital, the UKBA has rescheduled her removal date for 1, June. Support Rose's fight to stay in UK with her only family. Her campaigners with the Norwich Support Network and Justice & Peace are asking you to Take Action to Save Rose! http://bit.ly/8Y6
Written by The Zimbabwean
Sunday, 30 May 2010 17:35
Shamva- Gary and Jane Sharp who had been evicted from their farm in the Shamva area won a court case last wednesday allowing them to return to their farm and collect their belongings.
No sooner had Mrs Sharp walked out of the Court, when she was bundled into a police van and taken to Shamva Police station where she was held in the Charge office overnight. Her husband was told that if he wanted his wife free he must sign his farm over - over to who???! After intervention by their lawyer, Mrs Sharp was released without charge, on Thursday evening.
Indications are that the Minister of Transport and Communications, Nicholas Goche, also MP for Shamva North, is behind this. If so, then the minister clearly sees himself as above the law. Mrs Sharp was kidnapped/abducted by the Police – kidnapping is a serious crime anywhere in the world except, it seems, in Zimbabwe. However, Goche has a long history of violence and intimidation, having led widespread beatings and killings in his constituency prior to the 2008 elections. That he was chosen for high office is one of the painful ironies of the GPA, after an election where the citizens thoroughly rejected ZanuPF at the polls.
On Friday 29 May 2010, a group of between 30 – 50 Zanu-PF youth spent the day trashing and looting the homestead of Mrs Helen Newmarch who has a small farm approx 7 kms from Marondera on the Harare road. Helen was widowed many years ago and has brought up her four children by continuing to farm on her own.
She is at this moment at Police Headquarters in Marondera. It appears that the Police are reluctant to take action. Apparently it is the usual “we can’t get involved – it is political” excuse that farmers have had to listen to for the past ten years.
By Friday at 4;30 pm, attempts by agricultural representatives to contact the co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa, had failed.
The tempo of violence and threats against legitimate commercial farmers (black and white) is increasing and will in the end affect the remaining few thousand farm workers still employed on commercial farms.
It is with dismay that we note that over a year after the signing of the GPA, this criminal behavior by self styled ‘war vets’ and the ZanuPF youth is allowed to continue with impunity.
It is obvious that the threatened violence against the MDC, Civil society and those working towards democracy and a new constitution, will follow and snowball, as promised, ‘after the World Cup’.
The Zimbabwean
Written by SW Radio.
Friday, 28 May 2010 14:15
Freelance Journalist Stanley Gama last week appeared in court, together with four other journalists from The Standard newspaper, as state witnesses in the criminal defamation case against the Harare Mayor and eight councilors.
Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and the councilors are alleged to have defamed businessman Philip Chiyangwa when a 54-page report compiled by the council accused Chiyangwa of corruption.
The state alleges Chiyangwa was defamed after the damning report was leaked to The Standard and The Sunday Times of South Africa before it was debated by the full council.
Gama, who first broke the story, told SW Radio that he found it strange the state subpoenaed him to become a witness in the trial.
“I did my job as a journalist to expose a scandal; as such I don’t know why the state has summoned me to be a witness. I will do my best to respond to their questions because it’s what the law says, that if you are subpoenaed you must attend court,” Gama said.
He added: “I’ve no option but to attend, but as I said I don’t know why I’m a state witness.”
The trial of Gama of Masunda and his councilors failed to takeover after their defence lawyers pointed out that an appeal for their clients to be removed from remand was still pending at the High Court. ?The trial magistrate postponed the case to June 22.
Chiyangwa is suing Masunda and the councilors for US$900 million as compensation for the damage to his name and reputation because of publication of the leaked report.
The Zimbabwean
Written by Taurai Bande
Friday, 28 May 2010 14:51
HARARE - Female Zanu (PF) youths were trained to terrorise suspected MDC supporters in the run up to June 27, 2008 presidential elections, and some lived to tell the tale of attacks at their hands. (Pictured: – Inspirational MDC-T supporter Betty Amidu Kachichidza.)
Marondera resident and MDC-T supporter, Betty Amidu Kachichidza (42), explained how she narrowly escaped death at the hands of a female Zanu (PF) thug.
“It was one night in 2002 when I was asleep in my house in Dombotombo. I was woken up by a loud noise from people forcing my door open. My children were asleep in the room.
“To save my children from imminent death, I went to the room to challenge and possibly fight off the thugs. A group of youths numbering more than 50 including Garikayi Nyamakombo and Juliet Kanchito of 42 Kuwe Street, grabbed and whisked me to a nearby truck.
Salt in her wounds
“They started beating me up. Juliet Kanchito hit me with a sharp metal object on the head, legs and arms. I lost consciousness and they drove me to Dombotombo dam, where they intended to dump me. They rubbed salt into my wounds, to increase pain. I had never experienced or heard about such inhumane brutality.
“Meanwhile, one of my tenants, Tendayi Nyamuzhira, had rushed to report the incident to MDC-T ward chairperson, Johannes Razunguza. Razunguza and Nyamuzhira in the company of other party activists braved the danger and came to my rescue. The thugs fled leaving me for dead.
“Nyamuzinga and other sympathizes, rushed me to Borrowdale hospital for treatment. Given my critical condition, I was transferred to Harare for specialist treatment. I was admitted to hospital for several months because part of my brain was damaged. My hands and legs were badly hit by what appeared to be a machete. I could not believe females could be so heartless and dangerous.
“During my stay in hospital, Nyamuzhira, whom I regard as my hero, took care of my children. She provided them with food and other requirements. May god bless her with long life. I also owe my life to councillor Razunguza and other party activists who selflessly saved me.
“I was discharged from hospital in a wheel chair. My body was paralyzed. I later walked with the aid of clutches. No one believed I would walk again. My right arm remains supported with some metal devices from within. Sympathy from fellow MDC-T supporters and my belief in the struggle for democracy, gave me strength and hope. I remain convinced that dictatorship is about to fall and democracy will prevail in the country.
Freedom from tyranny
“Since I have gained fitness, I am back in the trenches fighting for democracy. The struggle for freedom from tyranny is my life. Nothing will scare me off from the justified and worthy cause.
“MDC-T as a caring people’s party is doing its best to ensure my family has food on the table. Though I do not expect to be rewarded for participating in the people’s struggle, I would like to commend President Morgan Tsvangirai and his elected officials at all levels, for acknowledging our contribution and sacrifices in the fight against dictatorship.
“My assailants, Juliet, Garikai and others continue to roam about scot-free. I hope the national healing process will run its full course. Perpetrators of violence must face justice, if the national healing exercise is to bring any lasting solutions to political polarization in the country”.
Perpetrators of violence such as Garikai continue to threaten Betty with death. Just last week, Garikai reminded her at Tutani Shops that she would be attacked again if she did not shift her political allegiance to Zanu (PF). Despite the threats, she remains a permanent and outstanding figure at MDC-T gatherings around the province.
Like any other MDC-T supporter, Betty is calling on people to exercise restraint and political tolerance as they prepare the constitution and eventual elections. She has confidence that MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai, Senators, Members of Parliament and councillors will romp to a resounding victory.
The Zimbabwean
Written by The Zimbabwean
Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:30
ROHR Zimbabwe is grappling to come to terms with the attempts by the ministry of home affairs to deny the people their legitimate right to hold the government to account and demand transparency through peaceful protests.
It is classic dramatic irony of the most extravagant nature; only one year governing alongside ZANU Pf, an MDC minister of all people elected by the people of Zimbabwe, would be at the part of a controversial alleged move to withdraw a legitimate fundamental right of the people in the backdrop of over a decade protracted struggle for democracy and human rights that has claimed lives of innocent men, women and children.
If there is anything that the MDC can do to stop this madness, is to be truthful about the situation on the ground and put pressure on their defiant partner in government ZANU Pf, to restrain from engaging in violent tendencies. Violence is a destructive force to our national brand; it stands averse to the current peace building efforts, the constitution making process, democratic transitional reforms and the economic recovery efforts to lure investment in the country to resuscitate the economy.
As an organization we view the unthinkable decision to ban protest ahead of the world cup as a criminal fraudulent attempt by the coalition government to create a misleading image of an all-is well in the house approach at the backdrop of growing persecution of victims of political violence, political activist, human rights defenders, and journalist among other mishaps. It is regrettable that we have new incidences of growing cases of violence and destruction of property in the grassroots communities around the country particularly in Mashonaland central, Mashonaland west and Manicaland.
ROHR Zimbabwe's growing impatience towards the outbreaks of violence targeted against vulnerable victims of political violence across the country has reached intolerable levels. In the wake of rampant allegations of a partisan police, that is reluctant to guarantee the security, safety and the observance of the rule of law, it is only through protest that the voices of victims of violence can be amplified and heard as an attempt to advocate for redress.
Understanding that the attempt to ban peaceful protest, if left unchallenged, sets in motion a bad precedence that people's democratic fundamental rights can be withdrawn at the whim of politicians and government officials.
ROHR Zimbabwe therefore intends to hold a peaceful march to call upon the coalition government to make concrete steps to ensure that violence is ceased forthwith.The coalition government should address the plight of victims of political violence in the country. Concerned that the infrastructure that caused untold suffering among innocent people in the
2008 elections is still intact and so far its existence has inspired the continued harassment of victims of political violence. We have received reports of not less than 50 families so far, forced to flee their homes due to systematic intimidation campaigns by youth militia and ZANU Pf supporters.
We reiterate our position that human rights are not gifts bestowed on the people at the pleasure of governments but they are universal and should apply to all. We seek to engage in a peaceful march to highlight the following demands to the coalition government.
. The security of victims of political violence should be guaranteed
regardless of political affiliation especially during the constitutional outreach scheduled to kick start very soon.
. Perpetrators of violence should be stopped from committing further
crimes from the ones still lurking unaccounted from the past eras stretching decades back to post independence. If left free they will continue to haunt communities, cause chaos being the chief drivers of impunity and deal a blow on the rule of law.
. The police should stamp up efforts to arrest all those who commit
crimes in the name of political patronage. No one is immune or above the law.
. The coalition government needs to make serious investigations on the
allegations of threats of widespread organized violence by ZANU Pf
after the world cup in South Africa.
. The coalition government should promote a culture of truth telling
to set a foundation for a credible national healing process that is built on transitional justice.
.The organ on National Healing should be dissolved if its not producing tangible results. Its continued presence is a burden on the taxpayers bill.
For Peace, Justice and Freedom
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 31 May 2010
By Staff Reporter
31 May 2010
The crisis ridden Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is being investigated by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) for allegedly importing 75 vehicles, without paying duty.
Property worth millions of dollars belonging to the cash strapped RBZ was auctioned recently to pay-off its creditors.
This weekend The Standard newspaper revealed that the Central Bank imported cars through supplier Imperial Motors, as part of the bank’s quasi-fiscal activities, which have now been stopped by the inclusive government.
Imperial Motors is a supplier of vehicles to government departments including State House, the President’s Office, the army, police and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
The Standard said some of the unmarked vehicles were allegedly used in ZANU PF’s terror campaign, during the election period.
The newspaper claims it has seen correspondence between RBZ Governor Gideon Gono and Imperial Motors. Ajit Patel, Imperial Motors CEO, is quoted in the documents, seen by the Standard newspaper, saying ZIMRA officials had also impounded their files and records.
“I have given all records as to my understanding that every transaction with the RBZ is and was above board. I suggest therefore, Honourable Governor, that Zimra approaches the RBZ directly for any queries in regards to these imports as all documentation has been handed over to your transport team.”
By Tichaona Sibanda
31 May 2010
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara eventually met in Harare on Monday to discuss the final report on the Global Political Agreement.
The three principals last met more than a month ago. There has been much concern that the leaders were displaying a lack of urgency in dealing with the implementation of the remaining issues in the GPA.
James Maridadi, Tsvangirai’ spokesman, confirmed to SW Radio Africa that the leaders were meeting in the capital. It is believed they are considering the final report by their party negotiators, on issues impeding the full implementation of the GPA.
‘The meeting started at 3pm and usually they finish around 6 in the evening. But I don’t know the agenda of the meeting,’ Maridadi said.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara have kept South African President Jacob Zuma, the facilitator in the protracted dialogue, waiting since April 3rd. The three political principals have to deliberate on the negotiators’ report before the South Africans can resume their mediation process. The report, compiled by the six party negotiators, gives advice to the principals on the implementation matrix - the formula to be used to share provincial governors and how to deal with the other issues.
Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us the principals need to resolve the outstanding issues in the GPA for the country to move forward.
Part of the outstanding issues being contested by ZANU PF and the MDC are the appointment of senior government officials including MDC treasurer general, Roy Bennett as deputy minister of Agriculture and the removal of targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his senior officials.
Mugabe refused to swear in Bennett, citing terrorism charges he was facing. However, Bennett was this month cleared of the charges, although the state is said to be considering an appeal against his acquittal.
Two weeks ago, Tsvangirai also wrote a strongly worded letter to Mugabe warning him that he risked plunging the country into a constitutional crisis, following his unilateral appointment of three High Court judge.
One of those appointed by Mugabe was the controversial former Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman, George Chiweshe, who is now Judge President of the High Court.
Tsvangirai, who only read about the appointments in the state controlled Herald newspaper, was expected to challenge Mugabe over the appointments during Monday’s meeting.
Mugabe’s unilateral decisions have threatened the fragile unity government on many occasions.
Unfortunately, once again, Zimbabweans are denied the right to know any details about Mondays meeting.
By Alex Bell
31 May 2010
A new spate of arrests in the name of Robert Mugabe’s land ‘reform’ programme has rocked the country’s remaining commercial farming community, with at least four arrests since last Tuesday
Most recently, last Friday police went to James Taylor’s Cedor Park Farm in Nyamandlovu, and arrested him. His son Matthew was later also arrested when he went to Nyamandlovu police station to assist his father. Both were kept behind bars over the weekend and were only released on Monday, despite James being in a fragile medical condition due to a recent stroke and diabetes. According to Chris Jarrett, the Chairman of the Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance (SAFCA), the Taylors have since been barred from entering their property this week.
Taylor gave up his Shirville Farm for resettlement several years ago, and in return was allowed to stay on at Cedor Park. Nevertheless the farm was invaded some months ago by a Mr. Chiguru who claimed he had an offer letter which ‘authorised’ him to occupy Shirville Farm next door - and Cedor Park. The Taylors immediately sought the intervention of the High Court, who ordered that Chiguru vacate the property.
But on Sunday it was clear that Chiguru was being given some influential help, as police took Taylor’s son out of the cells, transported him to Cedor Park and ordered him to clear the house, for Chiguru.
“This whole situation makes a mockery of the legal system in Zimbabwe,” SACFA’s Jarrett said. “There is no logic to it at all.”
Meanwhile, last Tuesday six truckloads of armed police arrived at Goff and Shirley Carbutt’s Oscardale Farm in the Inyathi district of Matabeleland North. They surrounded the homestead and proceeded to arrest Goff for being in illegal occupation of ‘state land’. This is despite him also giving up a large portion of his property for ‘resettlement’ under the land reform programme. As in the Taylor case, the Carbutt’s had been allowed to remain on a portion of the property, which was deemed as not being ‘state land’. But regardless of legal papers allowing them to remain on the farm, the family was evicted from their home at gunpoint on Tuesday. Goff, who has recently had a kidney transplant, was taken to the police station in Inyathi where he had to sleep on the concrete floor of the police cells for two nights
The convoy of police then proceeded to the vacant home of Ed Grenfell-Dexter of Riverside and Riverbank farms. There they convinced his watchman to lure Dexter out from Bulawayo, where he now lives. When he arrived he was arrested and was also detained in Inyathi police cells for remaining on ‘state land’, despite not living on the property anymore.
The police then also went to Mike Huckle’s Felton farm and broke into the house where Huckle’s staff lives. They gathered all the staff together and told them they had one hour to vacate the farm.
Huckle is a South African resident and is meant to be protected by a recently ratified bilateral investment protection agreement. That agreement has proved fruitless, as a number of South African farmers in Zimbabwe have faced eviction and harassment in recent months.
By Tichaona Sibanda
31 May 2010
Zimbabwean long distance runner, Stephen Muzhingi, made history on Sunday by winning his second Comrades’ marathon in a row in South Africa.
The 34 year-old Muzhingi tackled the strenuous course, a distance of 90 km between Pietermaritzburg in Natal and the coastal city of Durban, in five hours 20 minutes. He scooped the R250 000 for defending his title.
The Comrades marathon is also the world’s oldest and largest ultra-marathon and attracts over 20 000 runners from across the globe. Last year Muzhingi had made history again by becoming the first Zimbabwean to win the punishing marathon. This was his fifth race of the Comrades.
Muzhingi admitted after the race that he had been under immense pressure to win for the second time in a row. He told the Sowetan newspaper that he endured a lot of pressure from other athletes and ordinary citizens, to defend the title.
‘This was evident in the manner the athletes reacted to everything I did.
When I increased my pace, they would do so and when I decreased, they would also decrease, to show that they were watching each and every move I made. They were doing exactly what I was doing, but I must say that it was healthy competition,’ he said.
...................
By Violet Gonda
31 May 2010
The MDC on Monday accused ZANU PF supporters of embarking on an orgy of violence against its members, in various parts of the country, including an abduction, an arson attack and a disrupted rally.
In Manicaland, Makoni South MP Pishai Muchauraya was also summoned to appear in a Buhera court on Friday, for allegedly making statements that were ‘derogatory to the office of the President’, before the 2008 elections.
“The state alleges that I made some utterances that had the intentions of undermining the office of Zim’s oldest grandpa, Robert Mugabe, before the 2008 elections. Surprisingly, this is happening at a time some uniformed soldiers are intimidating people in my constituency,” Muchauraya confirmed on Monday.
He said if leaders abuse their office, citizens should have the right to denounce them and that people have the right to seek proper representation.
The constitutional outreach program is supposed to finally begin, after many delays, on June 15th. All this year there have been outbreaks of ZANU PF violence against the MDC, but this appears to be worsening as the date for the actual outreach nears.
In recent attacks MDC activist Aleck Rapera is said to have lost all his property when his house in Murehwa West, Mashonaland East province, was razed to the ground by suspected Zanu PF supporters on Friday. The arson attack was reported to the police but no arrests have so far been made, although the assailants are known.
A scheduled MDC rally at Hopley Farm was disrupted by armed police in Harare South on Saturday, while the party’s chairperson for Hopley Farm, Vengayi Chingorima, was abducted from his home by nine ZANU PF supporters. The MDC says the abductors included an army officer.
“The nine who were driving a Mitsubishi L200 truck with registration number AAG 7624, assaulted Chingorima all over the body before he was left in bushy area at night. His assailants threatened him with death if he continued to mobilise MDC activities in the areas,” said the MDC in a statement.
Despite being a partner in the inclusive government the MDC continues to report that violence and the selective application of the law is targeting its supporters.
At least 500 MDC supporters were killed during the last election and most of the perpetrators have never been brought to book, even though they are well known. Two of the alleged perpetrators of the 2008 violence are carrying out police duties in Harare. Tens of thousands of MDC supporters were tortured and beaten, and no one knows how many have subsequently died.
The MDC information department said: “Two suspected killers of MDC activist Gift Mutsvunguma, were last month recruited as special police constabularies at Kuwadzana police Station, a move which has left the community in shock.”
“Mutsvunguma, who was 29, was abducted at his Kuwadzana home by the two suspects on 4 July 2008. However, when his uncle Wurayayi Mangwiro, recently went to Kuwadzana police station to find out progress made in bringing the suspects to book, he was shocked at seeing the two at the police station carrying out police duties.”
By Lance Guma
31 May 2010
A spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has denied a report in the weekly Zimbabwe Standard newspaper suggesting the MDC leader was now dating a wealthy Harare businesswoman, following the death of his wife Susan in a car accident last year in March. The newspaper quotes sources who say Tsvangirai has been seeing commodity broker Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo for the past six or so months. ‘They love each other but the problem is that some party members are determined to wreck the blossoming relationship,” the report said.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi, however denied the relationship existed and said “there are some elements who are taking advantage of the Prime Minister’s unfortunate circumstance of being a bachelor at the age of 58 and are peddling intelligent but morally disposable merchandise for no one’s benefit.” He said if any relationship existed he would be the first to know. Maridadi was keen to stress that; “Nevertheless, when it comes to matters of the heart, the Prime Minister has a private life like anyone else and we pray that that privacy be respected.”
It’s reported that Tsvangirai first met Tembo in South Africa at the OR Tambo International Airport. She is said to be a wealthy woman who owns posh houses in Greendale and Greystone Park. Several MDC members are said to be unhappy with the relationship because she is a blood sister to Zanu PF MP for Goromonzi, Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga. Biata’s husband, Felix Nyamupinga, is the country’s deputy Ambassador to Australia. Additionally the Nyamupinga family is said to be related to Vice President Joice Mujuru.
The Standard newspaper quotes another source saying; “Some party members see the relationship as infiltration by ZANU PF and this is why they are against it but others are saying the Prime Minister should be allowed to choose a wife without other people’s interference.” Meanwhile others are saying senior MDC-T figures are trying to link Tsvangirai to Tembo but he has been hesitant, saying he wanted to focus on his political career. Another section of the party wants him to marry his late wife’s sister Leah Mhundwa who was made caretaker mum to his children, under Shona tradition.
Political commentator Msekiwa Makwanya told Newsreel there were a lot of people in the MDC who were married to, or have close relatives from, ZANU PF. He said Tsvangirai himself was a cousin to former Manicaland governor Kenneth Manyonda. The two contested against each other in parliamentary elections in 2000 in the Buhera North constituency. The current Speaker of Parliament from the MDC-T, Lovemore Moyo, is married to the daughter of Sithembiso Nyoni, a ZANU PF politburo member. Makwanya said what was important was for Tsvangirai to make his own choices as far as his love life was concerned and not be influenced by anyone, even those in his party.
In today’s Letter from America, Dr Stan Mukasa comments on the recent signs that MDC is now belatedly recognizing that Mugabe and ZANU have absolutely no intention of implementing in full the global political agreement. Full Story
http://www.zimaction.com/Letter2010/LFAMAY3110.htm
Sunday, 30 May 2010
By Hatirebwi Nathaniel Masikati
Media information and Publicity Secretary George Charamba
and Zanu PF Thsolotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo trying their best to justify lost
causes.
IF there is one thing that is going to seal the fate of
the Zanu PF, it is the association it has with egghead Professor Jonathan Moyo
and Presidential Spokesman and Information and Publicity Secretary George
Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru.
For some unknown reason Professor Moyo still behaves as
the Zanu PF national spokesman. For all we know Professor Moyo is the Zanu PF (MP)
for Tsholotsho North Constituency by default and Central Committee Member by
adoption following his decision to rejoin the Party that had parted ways with
him in 2005.
Since rejoining Zanu PF Professor Moyo has been given the
insurmountable task of proving his loyalty to the Party he left in acrimonious
circumstances that saw him throwing brickbats at the Presidium which require
some form of restitution on his part for him to be pardoned.
Professor Moyo’s readmission to the Zanu PF ranks was
made conditional on him undertaking never to show public disrespect or
opposition to the Party elders and delivering the promised split of the MDC-T
before the next elections.
The second test is proving much harder to overcome for
the egghead Professor who thought he had infiltrated the party enough during
his stint as a pseudo Independent MP.
He had forged links with MDC-M rebels that had won him
their trust to the point of them joining him in a frivolous and vexatious legal
petition to nullify the election of MDC-T’s Lovemore Moyo as the Parliamentary
Speaker.
He was also in talking terms with several MDC-T MP’s whom
he believed he could count on to help him saw seeds of disunity in the MDC-T
that would result in the 2005 style split that rocked the MDC following
infiltration by the CIO.
That support has not been forthcoming. Unrestrained
access to the State Media that he prioritized as the only tool he required to
divide the MDC-T was granted and has given him all the space he requires to
execute his task of dismantling the MDC-T unity to no avail.
Professor Moyo’s obsession with media propaganda as a
tool for political power acquisition and consolidation is legendary and knows
no bounds.
As Information and Publicity Minister from 2000 to 2005
he managed to abuse his authority and shut down several privately owned and
foreign media houses from broadcasting from the country.
He also crafted the most repressive laws and regulatory
infrastructure that the State has and is still using to gag free dissemination
of information.
The one person professor Moyo failed to get the better of
through the raft of laws and vitriolic propaganda he churned on State Media was
Roy Bennett’s Legal Counsel Beatrice Mtetwa.
The duo clashed in courts and on the streets of Harare
with Professor Moyo intending to silence the Humana Rights defender and at each
turn coming a cropper.
Professor Moyo’s political debauchery always came to
nothing each time he came face to face with Mtetwa and as if fate had it,
Beatrice Mtetwa’s and Professor Moyo’s ex-wife were of Swazi origins adding an
extra dimension to the duels between the duo.
Instead of openly admitting that he loathes anything that
attracts Beatrice Mtetwa’s support or intervention Professor Moyo has always
presented his personal vendetta against Mtetwa as political discourse between
MDC-T and Zanu PF which is outrageous.
That Professor Moyo’s politics is steeped in the
personality syndrome he always accuses the MDC-T of being preoccupied with and
not ideology can be gleaned from his obsession with the Mtetwa personality.
Despite his accusations that the MDC-T is preoccupied
with personality syndrome and bereft of ‘a coherent and homegrown ideological
framework,’ because of as he puts ‘the embattled party’s rather crazy reaction
to the appointment of Justice George Chiweshe as Judge President of the High
Court of Zimbabwe and its continuing subservience to Roy Bennett and his
sickening antics,’ facts on the ground tend to be to the contrary.
Ever since he jumped onto the sinking Zanu PF ship in
1999 Professor Moyo has been on a solo mission to save the political fortunes
of one man in Zanu PF that is President Mugabe.
For his personal protection from criminal activities that
forced him out of the Ford Foundation in Kenya and the Wits University in South
Africa Professor Moyo realised that his last safety enclave was in Zanu PF
under the stewardship of President Mugabe and his scorched earth mantra against
western nations he had swindled of funds and were baying for his blood.
When Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai led the MDC party
to oppose the Zanu PF excesses that had bankrupted the country and impoverished
90% of the citizenry Professor Moyo rallied behind Mugabe’s leadership of Zanu
PF and the country notwithstanding the catastrophe the government had caused to
the country that even the illiterate were able to see and wanted reversed .
While the MDC was agitating for Mugabe to go as it is
still doing to date to pave way for the reconstruction of the country’s
democratic governance and economic resuscitation Professor Moyo was and is
still crafting legislation to suppress citizens and pushing for Mugabe to
remain in office to derail implementation of policy programmes to benefit
ordinary people.
It was the MDC-T that in the national interest to stop
the economic hemorrhaging that Zanu PF had subjected the nation, decided to
surrender an election victory and work with the vanquished Mugabe and Zanu PF
in a coalition government that was imposed by SADC and the AU following refusal
by Zanu PF apologists to concede electoral defeat.
The MDC-T realised that in order for the country not to
slide into military dictatorship and Junta rule it had to accept working with
the defacto Junta leader Mugabe and make his involvement part of the solution
to avert a bloodbath for political power in the country that was economically
ravaged and where the majority of the people were left with no other solution
than to fight for survival.
Oblivious of this people centered consideration on the
part of the MDC-T, Professor Moyo believes the MDC-T acknowledges Mugabe as a
solution to the country’s problems because of his leadership skills when to the
contrary he is being acknowledged or his reckless and uncaring vindictiveness
that could cause more harm than good if he is excluded from an undeserved
political seat.
The pragmatic ideology that guides the MDC-T in accepting
to work with a failed President Mugabe in a transitional period such as the
coalition government is ample evidence of the political depth in the party as
it has managed to weigh consequences of refusing to accommodate the ruthless
dictator to the lives of ordinary citizens of the country.
The reason why the majority of MDC-T cabinet ministers
now openly admit that it is a privilege that history has been kind to give them
the rare opportunity to work under an iconic African dictator with a towering
global disrepute of Mugabe is because they now have insider knowledge of how he
became a dictator and who is behind his ruthlessness and more importantly how
they can push him out without exposing the populace to danger.
After the formation of the coalition Government last
year, Zanu PF relying on advice from morons like Professor Moyo’s Patrick
Chinamasa, Tofataona Mahoso, Johannes Tomana, Godfrey Chidyausiku, Mariyawanda
Nzuwah, George Chiweshe, Godfrey Chidyausiku and George Charamba etal tried
everything possible to cause the MDC-T to pull out of the coalition government
that was beginning to make a positive difference to the lives of the ordinary
citizens by breaching the transitional Constitutional amendments.
President Mugabe has been and is still being ill advised
to act unilaterally in making appointments of failed performers like Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and the Provincial
Governors notwithstanding that the party entered into an agreement that is
tacit and unambiguous on what he should do during the tenure of the coalition
to ensure proper winding up of the SADC and AU transitional arrangements for
the country.
m ’s negative politics of personalities and positions
shifted away from President Mugabe and focused on the positions of the Governor
of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Attorney-General respectively with
cacophonic calls that "(Gideon Gono must go" which the party
alternated with "(Johannes) Tomana must go".
Provincial Governors are not are part of the coalition
government President’s office in terms of our Constitution, relevant laws and
practice but rather as a result of their inclusion in Constitutional Amendment
No 19 which removed their seats from Parliament to the Senate and required the
president to make the appointments in terms of the coalition agreement which
restricts him to consulting and agreeing with the other principals before
effecting such appointments.
But because Professor Moyo is obsessed with the
personality that is the President and has a mission to accomplish to achieve
total acceptance in Zanu PF he still believes albeit wrongly that the President
is above the law and can act unilaterally in such appointments even when the
appointments are unconstitutional and there is no precedent coalition government
practice to fall back on.
What has reduced outstanding GPA issues, to ‘a pathetic
discourse about personalities and positions with nothing in it for the
struggling masses,’ is not because they are MDC-T afterthoughts since signing
the GPA on 15 September 2008 but rather the distraught the refusal by Zanu PF
to live by the spirit and letter of the agreement has caused by delaying
realisation of the quick recovery of the economy the population was hoping
would accrue from the agreement.
Indeed many elements now regret that they squandered
their vote on Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the MDC-T party on March 29, 2008
but not because the Premier and the MDC-T has failed them but rather because
they have accommodated an ungrateful and ruthless dictator and Zanu PF to do as
he pleases in the coalition government that is supposed to make their lives
better but failing because of the Zanu PF intransigency.
That is why many are eagerly waiting for the Constitution
reform initiative to be completed and give them a chance to vote against the
undeserving Zanu PF delinquents in the coalition government.
Unlike Zanu PF, MDC-T politics is not about prescriptive,
unworkable and outmoded Marxist socialist ideologies, policies and like minded
personalities and their positions but rather globally compliant democratic
practices that permit the citizens to direct the government towards the goals
that will benefit the populace.
No wonder that the party has a zero tolerance on
unilateralism and rewarding of total and fatal incompetents as epitomized by
the scandalous manner in which President Mugabe unconstitutionally appointed
George Chiweshe to the position of Judge President of the High Court on the
recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission without consulting the two
other coalition government principals which is required of him by CA No 19.
Whatever requirements the law imposes on the Judicial
Services Commission to discharge its functions without any influence from any
authority, they do not override or preclude the amended Constitutional
requirement for the President to consult his other principals before effecting
such appointments.
As it stands the recent unilateral appointment of Judges
by President Mugabe remains unconstitutional regardless of the numbers he so
appointed.
Professor Moyo’s obsession with the politics of
personalities and not the MDC-T’s becomes evident in the homage he pays
President Mugabe for appointing George Chiweshe and the flowery praise he
showers on Chiweshe’s suitability for the position of Judge President of the
High Court..
“It’s just personal about Chiweshe in the typical fashion
of MDC-T politics of personalities and positions.
The unacceptably ridiculous message from MDC-T is that
Justice Chiweshe should not be Judge President because he is a former
Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
It is common cause that before serving as Chairperson of
ZEC, Justice Chiweshe was a judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe based in
Bulawayo and that he served in that capacity with distinction. This means he is
a qualified and experienced judge with no blemish on the bench. Full stop.
The record will also show that it is Justice Chiweshe who
presided over the March 29, 2008 general election, which arguably stands as the
freest and fairest election ever held in Zimbabwe.
There is no serious minded person who can challenge this
fact in terms of what happened in the run up, the organisation and the conduct
of that election and still hope to be taken seriously.
Yes, there were problems after the March 29, 2008
election but they had nothing to do with ZEC or Justice Chiweshe.
In the main, the post March 29, 2008 election problems
emanated from the fact that the founders and funders of the MDC-T wanted ZEC
under Justice Chiweshe to unlawfully declare Tsvangirai as the winner of the
presidential election when everyone, including idiots, who observed knew only
too well that there was no outright winner in terms of the law requiring the
victor to have 50 percent plus one; meaning that a runoff election had to be
held by law.
The idea that Tsvangirai should have won an election that
he did not contest is so absurd that it is better left without any comment.
So what then is the MDC-T’s fuss over Justice Chiweshe’s
appointment all about ?.
Well, you do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure
it out.
As a foreign founded and funded political party, the
MDC-T does not want an independent minded judge who is wholly grounded in the
Zimbabwean national experience and who is above brown-envelope justice to
administer the High Court.
The truth of the matter based on his professional
experience is that Justice Chiweshe, whose qualification as a judge is beyond
question, is incorruptible and the MDC-T does not like people like that because
its British and American founders and funders foolishly believe that their
dirty money can buy anything, everything and everyone in Zimbabwe, especially
in the judiciary, the media and security organs of the state which have been
targeted as brick walls against regime-change.
The fact that Tsvangirai took the advice of the founders
and funders of his party to violate our electoral law by ‘‘boycotting’’ the
June 27, 2008 presidential runoff election cannot rationally be blamed on
Justice Chiweshe or ZEC. There comes a time when we must all carry our own
crosses and that applies to Tsvangirai, his MDC-T and its founders and funders.
In the meantime life must go on.
The irreversible reality done without prejudice is that
Justice Chiweshe is the Judge President of the High Court of Zimbabwe as an
expression of a selection by the Judicial Service Commission, which President
Mugabe has accepted and implemented. That is the end of that story, the rest is
the future,” eulogized Professor Moyo for a personality called George Chiweshe.
Anyone as good as the egghead Professor projects George
Chiweshe would be an asset that the country can ill afford to put to waste and
thus deserving the appointment.
So why did the President decide not to take this
unrivalled candidate to his co-principals with these arguments and seek their
endorsement of his appointment ?.
George Chiweshe was appointed to his position on the
recommendation of a Judicial Services Commission whose neutrality is
questionable. What with the likes of self confessed Zanu PF functionaries like
AG Johannes Tomana, public Service Commission Chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwah and
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku pulling strings in the Commission that is
complimented by two others from the Law Society whose names are not disclosed.
The position he has been appointed to is not about qualifications
alone but also his relevant experience in dealing with national issues that
require the incumbent to have demonstrated unbiased leadership.
It is that experience that disqualifies Chiweshe
regardless of how well academically qualified he was for the position.
The relevance of his experience as an army Brigadier in
an army whose commanders relied on his legal advice to pronounce that they will
only accept a straight jacket President with Liberation War credentials is a
major stain on his reputation.
The admission that under Chiweshe’s stewardship at ZEC
Zimbabwe held peaceful elections whose results could not be announced because
of a participant party’s foreign handlers interferences is the very reason why
he should never be made a crucial gatekeeper of our sovereign institutions like
Judge President of the High Court if he cannot make decisions in the face of
foreign interferences.
If the election was as peaceful and as well managed as
professor Moyo credits George Chiweshe why did it take him and his ZEC 35 days
to count less than 5million ballots and announce the outcome ?.
Why was it not possible to stage the Presidential runoff
in the stipulated 21days after the initial election and how legal was the
Statutory Instrument that set aside an Act of Parliament that he allowed to be
used in staging the June 28 presidential runoff election ?.
What distinguished him as a Bulawayo High court Judge
when it is known that he sentenced MDC political activists for trivial cases
while he never sentenced the violent Zanu PF mobsters who assaulted opponents
in the 2001 and 2005 elections ?.
If his distinguished service is measured in terms of
selective application of justice then we must agree with Professor Moyo.
But it is obvious that President Mugabe and his advisors
were aware of the unsuitability for the key post in the coalition government
and decided the best remedy was to ignore the Constitution and appoint thereby
creating a constitutional impediment in the coalition government that will buy
time for Zanu PF to think ways of regrouping.
That is why Professor Moyo and George Charamba are now in
overdrive with propaganda in support of the illegal appointment of George
Chiweshe and the other judges and can afford to publish drivel like;
“The irreversible reality done without prejudice is that
Justice Chiweshe is the Judge President of the High Court of Zimbabwe as an
expression of a selection by the Judicial Service Commission, which President
Mugabe has accepted and implemented. That is the end of that story; the rest is
the future,”
As for Professor Moyo’s preoccupation with the personality
that Roy Bennett is we can only conclude that it is in defence of his friends
Chinamasa and Tomana’s source of income as well as his fear of Beatrice Mtetwa
that drives him to insanity.
Both Professor Moyo and George Charamba are literate
enough to understand the meaning of this preamble to Schedule 8 of our
constitution and must stop displaying the kind of public ignorance they are
projecting in the name of defending the indefensible.
For the avoidance of doubt we repeat the preamble to
schedule 8 hereunder;
“For the avoidance of doubt, the following provisions of
the Interparty Political Agreement, being Article XX thereof, shall, during the
subsistence of the Interparty Political Agreement, prevail notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in this Constitution-“
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Source:
http://zimsentinel.blogspot.com/2010/05/lamentations-of-professor-jonathan-moyo.html
Posted by ZimSentinel at 06:43
New Zimbabwe.Com :: The Zimbabwe News You Trust
________________________________________
by: Staff reporter
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says the country will not rush into holding fresh elections, directly contradicting indications by his coalition partners that the next ballot would be held next year.
Speaking in Ghanaian capital Accra where he was attending a Ghana-Zimbabwe business summit on Monday Mutambara said there was no hurry to hold elections.
"We are busy working on electoral reforms, economic, political reforms and constitutional reforms that will make our elections free and fair.
"In Zimbabwe the question should not be about how soon elections should be held, it should be how to organise quality elections. There will be no elections until such time that we are ready," the MDC-M leader told AFP news agency.
Asked when elections are likely to be held, Mutambara said: "It will not go beyond 2013. We want to make sure that everything is set before elections are held."
However both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have indicated that general elections would be held next year although they appear to differ on whether the ongoing constitutional reform process must be concluded first.
In his birthday interview early in the year President Mugabe said he was ready to represent his Zanu PF party in the election which would go ahead next year whether or not there was a new constitution.
But premier Tsvangirai said elections would be held next year once the new constitution has been completed and endorsed in a national to a referendum.
Meanwhile Mutambara said Ghana and Zimbabwe should explore ways of enhancing bilateral trade.
"Ghana can tap our rich experience in the agriculture sector while we can also learn from Ghana’s banking sector which has seen a lot of reforms," he said.
Zimbabwean businesses are keen to exploit downstream opportunities in Ghana’s emerging oil and gas sector.
After years of casting envious looks at its oil-rich neighbours, the West African country recently announced significant offshore oil discoveries in a development expected to transform its economy.
Story from : NEWZIMBABWE.COM NEWS:
Published On: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 3:41 AM GMT
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news/news.aspx?newsID=2553
© New Zimbabwe News
New Zimbabwe.Com :: The Zimbabwe News You Trust
________________________________________
by: Staff reporter
AN administrator appointed by the government to run some of exiled businessman Mutumwa Mawere’s companies says the tycoon’s de-specification does not mean he will get his companies back.
In a surprise announcement last week co-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa said the government was lifting the specification of Mawere and two other exiled businessmen, James Makamba and John Moxon.
Mawere immediately welcomed the development but said a return to Zimbabwe depended on whether government was prepared to give him back control of his companies.
But Arafas Gwaradzimba, appointed to run the Shabanie and Mashaba Mines (SMM) after its take-over by government six years ago said Mawere’s de-specification had nothing to do with the ongoing reconstruction of the companies.
"Mr Mawere was de-specified and that has nothing to do with the reconstruction process. "It is the State that has de-specified him and that will not affect my work to reconstruct SMM," Gwaradzimba told the state-owned Herald newspaper.
Mawere was accused of externalising foreign currency and was specified under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in 2004.
He moved to South Africa and government efforts to have him extradited to face the externalisation charges failed.
But the state managed to seize control of his businesses claiming they had failed to pay their debts.
Mawere’s vast business empire included Shabanie and Mashaba asbestos mines , Zimre, CFI Holdings, Turnall, Steelnet, General Beltings, Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, Fidelity Life Asset Management, and NicozDiamond.
The companies were taken over through a presidential decree.
However SMM’s fortunes have declined under Gwaradzimba’s stewardship and the mines are struggling to pay wages and utility bills while production has also gone south over the years.
Mawere accuses Gwaradzimba of destroying his companies and says there was no justification for the action taken against him.
"I am not bitter but sad that the State's powers can be borrowed for personal gains. It is regrettable that six years of someone's life could be suspended and managed by the State to his detriment.
“It is not just specification because specification on the face of it is harmless but when it is associated with plunder, vulture capitalists in the guise of reconstruction and hypocrisy, it undermines the rule of law," he said.
Story from : NEWZIMBABWE.COM NEWS:
Published On: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 3:07 AM GMT
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news/news.aspx?newsID=2552
© New Zimbabwe News
New Zimbabwe.Com :: The Zimbabwe News You Trust
________________________________________
by: Dinizulu Macaphulana
THE line can be very thin between an astute political observer and a conspiracy theorist. It can even be thinner in a slippery and tricky scenario like the Zimbabwean political situation where prospects of democracy are as much in danger from the ruling tyrannical regime as they are from those who promise Zimbabweans “democratic change”.
I posit in this short instalment to forgive entirely the two types of MDC-T apologists who littered my inbox with complaints and threats, after New Zimbabwe.com published my short piece on “The curse of UK’s men in Harare”.
I will divide the protesters into two: the innocent, and the painfully ignorant. I was labelled at best “a rabid Tsvangirai hater who must shut up” and at worst “an idling conspiracy theorist without a scar from the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe”. All I had done was point out that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are not opposition to each other but opposame, and that both of them are pawns on the chessboard of the British political and economic elite.
Besides the forgiveness that I deliver with love, I would like to seize with gratitude the challenge to state exactly why I believe that the MDC-T are unequal to the important task of unseating Zanu PF, and that they are neither equipped with the “software” nor the “hardware” that is needed to consign Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF to where they belong -- in the blistering incinerators of the garbage of Zimbabwean politics and history.
I also would like to argue and supply the reasons that actually if Zimbabweans and all those around the globe who care about the economic and political happiness of Zimbabweans do not act with urgency, MDC-T will continue to delay the arrival of democratic change in Zimbabwe, ironically.
First, I must admit that “Morgan is more” as his apologists are fond of reminding us, and so many Zimbabweans believe and trust that he will deliver democracy to Zimbabwe one day soon. As much, I must warn that while he is more, he is not enough to remove Mugabe from power because the most important political decisions that he makes, and steps that he takes, he is advised by Mugabe. This is not one conspiracy antic.
When Tsvangirai fled Zimbabwe before the unfortunate June 29 presidential run-off election which Mugabe force-won with violence and threats of war, and which Tsvangirai most unwisely boycotted, he told the whole world that some members of the Central Intelligence Organisation advised him to flee Zimbabwe because Mugabe planned to kill him. Now, dear reader, do you need Nicollo Machiavelli or Dinizulu Macaphulana to point out that Tsvangirai fled the country and eventually boycotted the election on the advice of Mugabe who remained behind forcing a victory that has made him the president of Zimbabwe once more?
At the serious risk of being branded a conspiracy theorist, I insist that an imagined democratic movement that swallows without chewing contaminated intelligence advice from double-dealing agents of the dictatorship that it seeks to unseat will not deliver political change in any country anywhere under the sun, late alone in Zimbabwe where politics is still a dirty game.
Secondly, MDC-T have needlessly and most disappointingly failed to convince Africa, most of whose countries fought liberation wars, that they are an African political movement that respects the history and legacy of Africans against colonialism.
To pick a fresh example, MDC-T information chief, the innocent Nelson Chamisa, described Roy Bennett as “an angel” that Mugabe has been persecuting. Let me branch a little and remind you of a statement that was made by the sober David Coltart that people like him and Roy Bennet who served in the brutal Rhodesian forces must be grateful beneficiaries of the reconciliation and forgiveness that the common people of Zimbabwe have granted them to the point of voting them into political office, despite the well-documented atrocities and monstrosities of the Rhodesian regime.
Going back to my argument, it is fair and fine to forgive Bennet and his likes, but to innocently ignore history and see an “angel” in him is politicidal and very silly to be polite. But this exemplifies the political silliness of MDC-T who have made Alec Goosen and Roy Bennet the faces of their organisation, which has now nauseated the SADC and the African Union who would rather keep the embarrassing Mugabe than embrace what Malema calls “mickey mouse” politicians who show no iota of African historical knowledge or memory.
In short, MDC-T have long lost the information war to Zanu PF in Africa, and many African populations and organisations still unfortunately believe that Mugabe is a genuine Pan-Africanist.
The Chamisas of this world have done nothing to undress Mugabe and expose him as the genocidal tyrant that he is before Africa, but have concentrated on composing pointless poetry and coining silly insults that neither change hearts nor touch African minds but instead provide western imperialists with comic relief.
In short, I would like to ask the question that Thabo Mbeki asked Tendai Biti: in the remote possibility that MDC-T assume power in Zimbabwe, whose neighbours are they going to be, South Africa, Angola, Namibia or Britain and America?
Thirdly, I think Tsvangirai is not a leader in the true meaning of the word, but a manager -- an apology of a manager for that matter. Leaders are personalities that exude compelling influence within their organizations, inspire action, champion visions that make unpopular decisions popular and grow the organisations in unity. Leaders are men and women in charge and in control. Conversely, managers are maintainers of the status quo who in a hot political scenario can easily be mistaken for clueless and visionless placeholders who cannot lead revolutions but maintain tyranny.
Everyone who is familiar with Zimbabwean politics knows that Zanu PF has three factions -- one led by Mugabe himself, the other by Solomon Mujuru and a third by Emerson Mnangagwa.
Mugabe, to his credit, has made sure that all these factions report to him and catch the flu when he coughs. Mugabe commands these factions so emphatically that at the last Zanu PF congress where he was expected to be ejected, Mujuru held the microphone when Mnangagwa spoke.
On the other hand, Tsvangirai had the MDC suffer a debilitating split and various factions in his party openly defy him. He has also failed to master enough political masonry to attract away from Zanu PF any one of the factions, including the fired Dinyane operatives who have now all gone back to strengthen Zanu PF while MDC-T grows weaker by the hour. This makes Tsvagirai’s chances of outpacing Mugabe in the political leadership of Zimbabwe very narrow indeed.
A fourth point is that it is clear that Tsvangirai and the MDC-T have fallen for Mugabe’s trap of pushing them into confirming themselves as an organisation that is allergic and inimical, if not contemptuous of Zimbabwe’s historical and national values and ideals.
When Arthur Mutambara came and announced that “we are the new ZIPRA and ZANLA, and we stand on the shoulders” of the nationalist of yesteryear, MDC-T simplistically and with their typical unsophisticated analysis, judged him as a Mugabe parrot. Yet what Mutambara was trying to do was to wrest away from Mugabe the monopolisation of the Zimbabwean nationalist and patriotic legacy and label.
The MDCT have unwisely sold an unfortunate sentimentality to the youths of Zimbabwe that nationalist and patriotic language is Zanu PF language, that the national anthem is a Zanu PF slogan and that the national flag is Zanu PF regalia, which is sad because the Zimbabwean nation with its historical nationalist legacy and pride must exist beyond Mugabe and Zanu PF.
In fact a political party that will topple Zanu PF must first expose the falsehood of Zanu PF in its commitment to Zimbabwean national values, in short, in terms of political analysis and understanding MDC-T are a big apology and if left unchecked they will nationalise ignorance and popularize poverty of thought!
The above, dear readers are but a few of my reasons why I believe the MDC-T in Zimbabwe are actually a movement of delayed change. The comrades neither have the “software” nor the “hardware” to remove Mugabe and Zanu PF from power.
Call it hating Tsvangirai, call it conspiracy theorisation, the truth is written on the wall: Mugabe will not go by Tsvangirai and the MDC-T because while Zanu PF are playing rugby, the MDC-T are happy to play netball. In totality, Zanu PF is very safe in power with MDC-T as their opposition.
And dear reader, Mugabe’s recent invitation of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to officially open the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is a clear political statement that announces what is in store for the clueless MDC-T in the coming elections. Zimbabweans will have to wait longer for political change while Tsvangirai and the MDC-T learn slowly.
Dinizulu Macaphulana is a Zimbabwean student based in Lesotho.
He is contactable on e-mail: macapulana@yahoo.com
Story from : NEWZIMBABWE.COM NEWS:
Published On: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 2:08 PM GMT
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news/news.aspx?newsID=2505
VOA news
Sandra Nyaira | Washington01 June 2010
Chikane told VOA that he was still considering his next move, but added that he still sees Zimbabwe as on course to receive certification from the Kimberly Process to sell diamonds from Marange into international markets
Kimberly Process monitor Abbey Chikane expressed outrage Tuesday at the alleged removal of documents from his briefcase by state security agents while he was in Zimbabwe, photocopies of which were provided to state media.
The Herald newspaper, the Sunday Mail and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation published or broadcast extracts from the documents and e-mails in reports that accused the Kimberly Process of being a tool of West nations, in particular the United States and Britain, which have expressed concern over illegal diamond exports.
Chikane said in an interview that he was still considering his next move, but added that he continues to see Zimbabwe as on course to receive certification to sell diamonds from the controversial Marange alluvial field into international markets. Human rights groups have alleged abuses of local residents and illegal exports of diamonds.
In one of the photocopied emails, U.S. State Department special adviser on conflict diamonds Brad Brooks-Rubin was said to have advised Chikane to "endeavor to meet with the representatives of the parliamentary committee" on mines that has been prevented by Mines Minister Obert Mpofu from conducting a fact-finding visit to Marange. Reports said Brooks-Rubin also urged Chikane to meet civil society representatives.
Chikane did ask to meet with the parliamentary committee, leading some officials in Harare to charge that his itinerary was prepared for him by the West. Some of the e-mails allegedly purloined from Chikane were from Canada, the European Union and other unnamed African countries. The KP monitor said he planned his tour himself.
Responding to critics who said Chikane has not talked about human rights abuses in Marange, the Kimberly official responded that his brief is to look at the technical standards Harare must meet. However, Chikane said human rights groups in the Kimberly Process work closely with all members in trying to address human rights issues.
But Dewa Mavhinga, regional coordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said that if Zimbabwean officials broke into the baggage of the monitor, the Kimberly Process must take serious action against Harare.
VOA news
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington01 June 2010
A delegation of the Chinese Communist Party officials in Harare for a three-day visit at the invitation of the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe has met with him and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The delegation signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday with ZANU-PF Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo and hailed the close ties between the two countries, sources informed on the meeting said.
The delegation headed by Communist Party Vice Chairman Wang Gang exchanged views on the bilateral relationship with the president, the prime minister, and Vice President Joice Mujuru.
ZANU-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that the delegation also spoke out strongly against the sanctions which ZANU-PF charges Western nations have illegally imposed.
James Maridadi, spokesman for Mr. Tsvangirai, said delegates praised Mr. Tsvangirai for leading Zimbabwe out of its economic tailspin and working toward national reconciliation of political differences.
VOA news
Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington 01 June 2010
The tribunal was Tuesday asked to propose a special SADC summit to look at ongoing seizures of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe under the controversial land reform program, which the applicants say are illegal
The Zimbabwean government on Tuesday boycotted a hearing in the Namibia-based tribunal of the Southern African Development Community at which an application was lodged by a group of white farmers seeking the suspension of Harare from the regional organization for ignoring a 2008 ruling by the SADC court.
The tribunal found the seizures of white-owned commercial farms discriminatory and illegal.
Despite the Harare government’s failure to send a representative to the session Tuesday, the SADC tribunal heard arguments from the applicants, among them the Commercial Farmers Union, the Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance and a number of individual farmers.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said last year that Harare did not recognize the tribunal because its establishment had not been ratified by the requisite two-thirds of the regional group’s members. A Zimbabwean High Court judge however, ruled subsequently that the tribunal had been properly constituted.
Chinamasa could not be reached for comment on the latest development.
The tribunal was Tuesday asked to propose a special SADC summit to look at ongoing seizures of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe under the controversial land reform program, which the applicants say are illegal.
The tribunal reserved judgment in the case, sources said.
But Zimbabwean farmer Ben Freeth, an applicant, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that he and his co-applicants were satisfied with the proceedings and hoped for a favorable judgment in a few days.
"The government decided not to attend, but the session went ahead and we presented our arguments. We hope judgment will be in our favor," Freeth said.
Bulawayo-based attorney Matshobana Ncube said the government’s failure to see to its representation at the hearing should lead to an automatic default judgment for the applicants.
Said Ncube: "If the Zimbabwean government was given notice to attend and defaulted, what it means is that the judges ordinarily are going to make a determination in favor of the farmers."