Loaded down with so much money he can barely carry it all, but this young Zimbabwean isn’t on his way to buy a bike or a computer. All that cash might just buy him a loaf of bread.
The Times, SA
Francois
Rank
Published:Mar 15, 2008
THE National Prosecuting Authority has
been asked to arrest and charge
high-ranking Zimbabwean police and
government officials involved in human
rights abuses, should they ever again
set foot on South African soil.
The NPA was given a
dossier detailing acts of torture allegedly committed by
President Robert
Mugabe's security agents against leading members of the
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change .
The document, submitted by the Southern Africa
Litigation Centre, contains
30 sworn statements from, among others, lawyers,
medical experts and the
victims themselves.
NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali
confirmed that the authority was considering the
centre's request to act on
the torture allegations.
In the dossier, victims describe how they were
made to lie down before being
beaten on the soles of their feet,
electrocuted with wires attached to their
genitals and, in the case of one
victim, made to lie across a railway line
ahead of an oncoming
train.
Two victims describe being subjected to a form of torture known as
"Birchenough Bridge", whereby they were handcuffed, suspended from a pole
and beaten.
Thirteen police officials who allegedly carried out the
torture, and five
senior police and government officials - including a
Zimbabwean Cabinet
minister - who bore full knowledge of police actions have
been named in the
dossier.
Several of the accused regularly visit
South Africa either on official
business, or to receive medical care or do
their shopping, the centre said
this week .
The litigation
centre's request for legal action by South Africa is based on
an
international law whereby a country can prosecute foreigners implicated
in
humans rights abuses committed outside its borders.
South Africa's
implementation of the Rome Act is broader than in other
countries, making it
the best option for bringing such a case.
The torture allegations stem
from a police raid on the MDC's Harare
headquarters, Harvest House, in March
last year, during which more than 100
people were detained. Other claims
concern separate incidents involving MDC
officials, including an attack on
presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai
on March 11 2007.
The
litigation institute's director, Nicole Fritz, said the consistency in
the
testimonies about the type of abuse inflicted, as well as the
involvement of
several named perpetrators, "speaks to the systematic use of
torture by the
police and supports the conclusion that crimes against
humanity have been
and continue to be perpetrated in Zimbabwe".
SABC
March 15, 2008,
20:45
The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, has pledged
to
establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to deal with
atrocities committed over the past 30 years, if elected president.
He
was addressing thousands of party supporters in the town of Gweru, in the
midlands province. Tsvangirai also described Zimbabwe's economy as a
national disaster.
He called for a re-evaluation of the Zimbabwe
dollar, and a more concerted
effort to restore investment in the economy.
The Southern African country
will hold presidential, parliamentary and
council elections on March 29.
The Times, SA
Published:Mar 15, 2008
When I sat down to write this piece, I
was going to boast that this
newspaper is probably one of the most expensive
in the world.
If you want to know why, please return to
the front page and you will see
that you are holding a 5.6-million product
in your hands.
But then quick research gave reason for some
caution.
I discovered that the Mail & Guardian and Zimbabwe's
Independent and
Financial Gazette already cost 15-million and that the
Standard costs
11-million. Just behind us are the Zimbabwe Herald at
4-million and the
Sunday Mail at 3-million.
Nonetheless, I said to
myself, we are still up there. Our extraordinary
ascent to these heights has
been rapid, having gone from just 50 in 2000. By
the middle of 2007, when
the Zimbabwean government chopped three noughts off
its bank notes, a
Hararean was paying 400000 for the Sunday Times.
But it did not take us
long to get our noughts back. When the clock struck
midnight on December 31
last year, we had outdone ourselves and were selling
for 600000. In January
we were up to 1.2-million. In February we jumped to
2.6-million. Then we hit
the big time.
Now, this story would be funny were it not so tragic. Many
of us laugh at
Zimbabwean prices, forgetting that they are really about
people's lives.
During the course of 2000 I spent some time in a
then-teetering Zimbabwe.
The signs were there that things were going
downhill. Everywhere I went
people would speak about how the tomato had
rapidly shot up to 10. Initially
I was puzzled by this tomato refrain, until
I discovered the centrality of
the tomato to the Zimbabwean diet and how its
steep rise was hurting
stomachs.
I became so obsessed with the
subject that I eventually wrote a story about
the ten-dollar
tomato.
Over the years I paid close attention to the price of the tomato
and would
ask Zimbabweans returning from home how much the vegetable
cost.
I checked again this week and was told that a single tomato costs
3-million.
I was also informed that an egg will set you back 2.5-million, a
10kg bag of
mealie meal 70-million and a two-litre bottle of cooking oil
150-million.
This, in a country where the average office worker or nurse
earns
300-million to 400-million.
Robert Mugabe's apologists and the
defenders of quiet diplomacy routinely
castigate the media and civil rights
groups for paying too much attention to
Zimbabwe.
They speak of the
hundreds of thousands who have died in Sudan and in the
Democratic Republic
of Congo, and of the undemocratic ways of that libido-
charged youngster who
runs Swaziland. They ask why these countries do not
receive the same
attention as Zimbabwe and insinuate that the country hogs
the spotlight
because whites have been Robert Mugabe's primary victims.
Which is
nonsense of the highest order. The victims of the Mugabe regime are
black
Zimbabweans who go hungry because of the misery he has visited upon
them,
and the black political activists who have had their genitals crunched
with
pliers and subjected to high-voltage electrical instruments.
The reason
the Zimbabwean story is high on the agenda is because the country's
decline
represents one of the most dramatic unravellings of a society in
modern
history.
At the turn of the century Zimbabwe was in trouble, but was
still within the
confines of rescue.
The currency was in decline but
not in free fall. Obviously, inflation was
rocketing but not out of control.
Infrastructure worked. Harare did feel a
bit like Pietermaritzburg or Port
Elizabeth, but it was generally okay.
Since then the country has
regressed to medieval times - politically,
economically, infrastructurally
and socially.
One of the continent's thriving democracies - which once
had a sound
judiciary, thriving civil society and a free media - turned into
a skunk.
And Harare is now like Butterworth.
Authoritative bodies
have estimated that anywhere between four and five
million Zimbabweans - out
of a population of 13 million- are political and
economic refugees in South
Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Britain, Canada
and New Zealand. And most
of these are young individuals who will probably
never
return.
Zimbabwe is a man-made catastrophe that could have been arrested
had the
Zanu-PF leadership been reined in by Southern Africa's leaders.
Instead,
they all gave Mugabe and his lieutenants solace and allowed them to
undo all
the gains of post-liberation Zimbabwe.
In two weeks' time,
Zimbabweans have a chance to change the direction of
their country by
removing Mugabe from power. I would like to believe they
will, but I have my
doubts.
In the past I have gotten into trouble for saying that
Zimbabweans are the
most docile, oppressed people in the world, unwilling to
take risks to free
themselves; that they are quite content to just plead for
international
help.
So they will stream to the polls on March 29 and
the vote will be split
three ways . There will be no clear winner, forcing a
run-off between Mugabe
and Simba Makoni.
Makoni will probably win
that one, but Mugabe will have engineered a victory
long before the first
ballot is cast.
The young people will pack their rucksacks and head for
the nearest border -
to roam the streets of Gaborone, Johannesburg and
Lusaka.
Mail and Guardian
Mail
& Guardian reporter
15 March 2008
11:59
New voter statistics out in Zimbabwe this week
showed the urban
centres will be a major battleground in the elections in
two weeks' time.
Harare and Bulawayo, the two largest urban
centres in the
country, now account for a combined 20% of the total voter
count of
5,5-million.
In previous elections, the share of
urban voters was lower,
allowing Mugabe to throw all his resources into the
rural areas to secure
his rule. This time he might have to do better if he
is to fend off his two
challengers, Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba
Makoni.
After a weekend in which both candidates attracted
large crowds
to their rallies in Bulawayo and the Midlands -- areas already
largely
pro-opposition -- there are questions about how the urban vote might
be
split between the two, and whether the split will be enough for Mugabe to
retain control.
Ibbo Mandaza, a senior Makoni adviser,
said on Tuesday that
whoever does well in Harare and Bulawayo this time has
a good chance of
going all the way.
But Tsvangirai
dismissed suggestions that Makoni has been
chipping away at his traditional
urban support. He said this week that he
merely saw Makoni as a faction of
Zanu-PF, and that voters, too, would see
the new challenger as
such.
"To me this is a split in Zanu-PF. It has nothing to do
with the
MDC. You have two candidates that I am contesting with from
Zanu-PF; Robert
Mugabe's faction and Simba Makoni's faction. That's what I
can read and for
me that is where it ends," Tsvangirai
said.
But analysts believe Makoni will feed on the
disillusionment
among urban voters over Tsvangirai's failure to lead a
united opposition
into the election.
Mugabe himself will
be watching the urban count more closely
than he would normally. Zimbabwean
electoral law requires the winner of the
presidential race to gain a clear
majority -- more than 50% -- to avoid a
run-off with the second place
candidate. Mugabe will therefore be hoping
that Makoni and Tsvangirai split
the urban vote and leave his rural support
intact.
"As
long as Makoni is fishing from the same pond as Tsvangirai,
there is no
chance of a run-off," said analyst Gordon Moyo.
Supporters of
Tsvangirai believe Makoni is likely to attract
much of his support from
traditional Zanu-PF supporters, who still back the
ruling party but are
angry at Mugabe's refusal to hand over power to a
younger
leadership.
Mugabe is yet to hold an urban rally, and at all
his rallies in
rural areas, he has largely ignored Tsvangirai, pouring most
of his vitriol
on Makoni and those he believes are opposed to his continued
hold on the
party.
Meanwhile, João Miranda, the Angolan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
and head of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) observer
mission to the Zimbabwean election, says he
believes free and fair elections
are still possible, even as opposition
groups raised fresh protests over the
government's conduct ahead of the
polls.
Miranda, who is also head of SADC's organ on politics,
defence
and security, said in Harare this week the regional body would have
120
observers on the ground by next week. Fifty SADC observers are already
on
the ground.
But there are concerns that SADC will
arrive too late and will
not have sufficient opportunity to observe the
pre-election conduct of the
various parties, in particular Zanu-PF
supporters who have been involved in
acts of intimidation against the
opposition.
Miranda, however, insisted that SADC could still
effectively
observe the electoral process even with only two weeks of
campaigning left
before the March 29 election date.
"The
number of observers is enough to cover all constituencies.
We think we have
enough time to observe this election. Even if we had two,
three days, it
would still be sufficient to complete the mission," Miranda
said on
Wednesday. "We need to believe in the capacity of the mission to do
the
job."
He said he believed a transparent election was
possible, and
that all parties "must have the capacity to accept the outcome
of the
elections. This is what we expect of all the people of Zimbabwe, all
the
candidates, and the political institutions of this
country."
But opposition groups this week accused Mugabe of
taking yet
another step to give Zanu-PF an advantage.
A
list of polling stations published by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission this
week showed that there would be up to three times as many
polling stations
in Mugabe's rural strongholds as there would be in urban
areas.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the largest
local
observer group, said the distribution of urban voting centres was such
that,
in one district of Harare, if all registered voters were to vote in
the
allotted 12 polling hours, each voter would have a maximum of nine
seconds
to cast a vote.
Zambia Daily Mail
By CHARLES
MUSONDA
ZIMBABWE's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has ordered all millers in
that
country to organise their own transport to collect maize from Zambia in
an
effort to avert imminent starvation.
According to the Zimbabwe
Guardian of yesterday, in an effort to speed up
the process, the ruling
ZANU-PF had dispatched youths to Lusaka to help in
the loading of the maize
onto Zimbabwe-bound trucks.
Most parts of Zimbabwe have run out of maize
stocks, with the little
available stocks being sold on the black
market.
According to the paper, in Bulawayo, a 10-kilogramme bag of maize
was now
fetching Z$200 million instead of the stipulated Z$10
million.
Zimbabwe's Minister of Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo confirmed the
government
had dispatched manpower to Zambia to help quicken the delivery of
maize.
"We have paid for the maize and we have to quicken the loading. We
have an
urgent case here and we can't just fold our arms. The government now
has a
team in Zambia assisting with logistics and supervising the whole
thing as
well," he said.
Zimbabwe, which has been gripped by its
worst ever economic crisis, has been
battling severe food shortages for the
past eight years.
A joint crop assessment report by the Ministry of
Agriculture and the Food
and Agriculture Organisation released last week
said Zimbabwe could face
another grain shortfall this year because of a
shortage of seed and
fertilizers that affected the cropping
season.
And the Business Digest reports that Zimbabwe paid US$28 million
last
December for the 150,000 metric tons of maize the country ordered from
Zambia.
Delays in delivery of the maize forced Zimbabwe to pay
another US$18 million
to South Africa for the importation of maize estimated
to be between 100 000
and 130 000 tonnes for the GMB to boost the country's
low maize stocks.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono told
President Mugabe at a
function last Saturday that the country would not have
imported maize from
South Africa had Zambia delivered the consignment on
time.
"We paid US$28 million for the importation of 150,000 tonnes of
additional
maize from Zambia. Only 36,000 tonnes were delivered. We paid
US$3 million
for additional maize being delivered from South Africa. Last
month we paid
US$15 million to South Africa," Mr Gono said.
GMB
reportedly attempted to send some of its workers to Zambia to load the
maize
but they were turned back as they did not have the necessary travel
documents.
GMB Mashonaland West provincial manager, John Mafa confirmed
the
developments.
Mr Mafa said GMB was hoping that Zambia would soon
finish loading the maize
and send the trucks to Zimbabwe by
weekend.
"Our guys were turned back as they had no work permits. We are
desperately
trying to fix that and as we speak, Zambia is loading that maize
for us.
However, they can only do it at their own pace since we were
supposed to
send the labour," Mr Mafa said.
He said GMB was finding it
difficult to convince its labour force to
volunteer to go to
Zambia.
"They are not willing to go there. We are looking at other
strategies
including the use of uniformed forces with passports. We are
hopeful that if
we do, we can get the maize at the latest by Sunday," he
said.
Zimbabwe's maize stocks are at a critical level and Mr Mugabe told
a rally
in Inyathi that the government had imported another 300,000 tonnes
of maize
from Malawi.
He said the maize from Malawi would complement
deliveries from Zambia.
On Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture and
Cooperatives Sarah Sayifwanda
blamed GMB for the delay as it had insisted on
using its own chemicals to
fumigate the maize.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu & Taurai Shava
Washington &
Gweru, Zimbabwe
15 March 2008
Spokesmen for
Zimbabwean presidential candidates Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba
Makoni
returned fire Saturday at Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri for
comments
Friday endorsing President Robert Mugabe's re-election and saying
that what
he termed Western "puppets" would not be allowed to lead the
country.
Speaking at a ceremony dispatching police officers to
peacekeeping duties in
Liberia, Chihuri declared, "We will not allow puppets
to take charge."
President Mugabe has accused his opponents of serving U.S.
and British aims
in Zimbabwe, including regime change and the reversal of
the land reform
program he launched in 2000.
Spokesman Denford Magora
for independent candidate Makoni said Zimbabwe is
not a military state and
that the army and police must obey the will of the
people.
Spokesman
Nelson Chamisa of Tsvangirai's formation of the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe
that Chihuri's statements amounted to what he called a
"constitutional
coup."
Independent candidate Langton Towungana described the statements
by Chihuri
and similar remarks by other security service chiefs as
"inflammatory."
In the Midlands capital of Gweru, meanwhile, presidential
candidate and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told supporters that he is
opening what
he called a "new phase of the struggle" to unseat Mr. Mugabe
and his ruling
ZANU-PF party.
Tsvangirai told an estimated 15,000
supporters Zimbabwe must look ahead
instead of to the past for solutions,
meaning ZANU-PF must be voted out of
power.
Correspondent Taurai
Shava of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported.
Elsewhere, Makoni was in
Masvingo, the capital of Masvingo Province,
drumming up support in a rally
at Mucheke Stadium where he told an estimated
1,000 assembled that the
policies of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF have
failed.
In an
interview, Makoni spokesman Denford Magora said the candidate is
seeking to
sharpen the contrast between his message and that of Mr. Mugabe
and
ZANU-PF.
Meanwhile, President Mugabe was urging his supporters to reject
his
opponents including Makoni by voting en masse for ZANU-PF. Mr. Mugabe
told a
rally in Mount Darwin in Mashonaland Central, a ruling party
stronghold, in
an apparent reference to Makoni, that "genuine leaders are
elected by the
people, they do not just come from nowhere and try to force
themselves on
the people."
The campaign took a surprising turn this
week with the emergence of polling
data showing Tsvangirai with an imposing
lead over President Mugabe.
A poll taken by the Mass Public Opinion
Institute in February showed Mr.
Mugabe with the support of 30% of those
polled versus 28% for Tsvangirai and
12% for Makoni - but unofficial MPOI
data gathered in March and leaked on
Friday showed Tsvangirai with 28% of
support vs. 20% for Mr. Mugabe and 9%
for Makoni.
Some 31 percent of
voters declined to respond, an MPOI official said.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 14 March 2008 09:14
Are we all enemies of the State?
BY TAONA
MOTO
When people in the whole country become enemies of the state, then
something
is terribly wrong with that state. In Zimbabwe today, it appears
as if
almost every citizen is into one form of mischief or the other;
mischief
that does not at all endear them to the owner of the country, one
Mr Robert
Gabriel Mugabe.
I would want to believe that possibly
Mugabe is the only patriot left in
Zimbabwe otherwise everyone else is an
enemy of the country. How else can
one afford to be patriotic to the marrow
and still retain their sanity? How?
Teachers have been striking for the
second time this year; they are enemies
of the state - agents of the British
- because they are supposed to keep on
working even when their salaries can
no longer cover the cost of commuting
to and from their workplaces. They are
supposed to be patriots, otherwise
why would they demand huge salaries when
they know that the Government has
other more important things to attend
to?
There are also the doctors and university lecturers who are almost
permanently on strike. Then there are also farmers who demand to know
producer prices before they start tilling the land.
Then there are
villagers in Matabeleland who are now reportedly refusing to
accept payment
for anything in Zim dollar; they prefer the rand or pula as a
means of
payment because they can no longer trust their country's own
currency.
Then some peasant farmers refuse to sell their grain to the
Grain Marketing
Board, instead preferring to smuggle a few buckets to sell
on the black
market in towns and cities. They don't think the price offered
by the GMB is
fair, but there is no-one to argue with. So they end up being
enemies of the
state.
There are many people, hundreds of thousands,
who were given the land to
till under the land reform programme. Most of
them have not bothered to see
where the pieces of land are, and those who
have taken up the land are not
doing better than those who never bothered to
take it up. Year after year,
they have made a fortune from selling farming
inputs and implements.seeds,
fertiliser, chemicals, and most commonly
diesel. Almost every farmer,
including senior members of Mugabe's cabinet
and party, is guilty of this
mischief. We know that it is the British who
are behind all this, but this
makes them enemies of the
revolution.
Business has been getting orders from the British to keep on
increasing
prices. Even though common-sense thinking detects that they
should sell
their products and services above cost in order to make profit,
they are
expected to sell below cost. The argument is that they should make
money
from huge volumes (never mind where the raw materials come from!), not
price
increases, even when inflation is well over 100,000 percent. In fact,
they
are expected to do like the GMB, which imports maize for more than $5bn
per
tonne and sell it to millers for just $2.5m. Or like NOCZIM which
imports
fuel for about $20m per litre only to tell it for about $80,000. A
special
pricing commission has been put in place to ensure that they achieve
this
miracle; otherwise anyone who does not comply becomes an enemy of the
state.
We sell the foreign exchange we get from our relatives in the
diaspora and
from moonlighting for the some hostile Western media on the
black market;
even Government ministers and State media journalists also
sell their forex
to the same market when they return from the President's
many trips. So they
are also enemies of the president and his
country.
Almost most all the vehicles on Zimbabwean roads - including
those of
ministers of religion and other God-fearing individuals - are
running on
fuel sourced from the black market. Bread, cooking oil, and other
basics of
life are only available on the black market. So by going out of
the way to
source these on the illegal black market, we all run afoul with
the dictates
of good citizenry, and thereby become enemies of the
state.
Anyone who tries to think or argue otherwise is an enemy of the
country!
They are witches and prostitutes, to use the presidential
language!
I just wonder how many other Zimbabweans really qualify to be
called
patriots. So this should be some form of consolation to Morgan,
Simba,
Dumiso and others who have are being insulted daily for allegedly
being less
patriotic.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 14 March 2008 09:24
BY MUSA NYASHA
A number of years ago, just
before the last presidential elections, Morgan
Tsvangirai was interviewed by
James Makamba on his presidential aspirations.
This interview was aired on
Makamba's Joy TV.
I watched this interview with interest and then with
horror as, during the
final minutes, Tsvangirai fell into another
trap.
To finish the interview, Makamba said that even though Tsvangirai
was vying
to succeed President Mugabe, there must be some things that the
MDC
President admired about Mugabe. Morgan Tsvangirai finished an interview
in
which he was appealing to the people of Zimbabwe to vote for him to be
president of the nation, by extolling his opponent's virtues. Predictably,
state-controlled newspapers had a field day. They simply led with how the
opposition leader had "praised Mugabe". The qualities that Tsvangirai
admitted Mugabe had were those of being articulate and a liberation war
veteran.
Anybody who goes into a competition or war is best advised
to understand his
opponent and why that opponent has his or her admirers.
The opponent's
weapons must be neutralised. Whether or not Mugabe has been
rigging
elections since Edgar Tekere and Margaret Dongo first dared to
challenge
him, it is an undeniable fact that Mugabe does have supporters. In
order to
beat Mugabe through the ballot box it is necessary to understand
why he is
admired by those who do.
Robert Mugabe promotes and
personifies the image of the man who dares speak
and stand against the
forces of oppression. He is the brave African who
dared tell Tony Blair to
"keep your England and I will keep my Zimbabwe".
Mugabe is the elder
statesman who has stood the test of time and managed to
keep a strangle-hold
on the reins of power in Zimbabwe for almost 28 years.
Robert Mugabe is
the African hero who has returned the land to its rightful
owners, the black
people of Zimbabwe. The world is blind to the Mugabe who
has turned
Zimbabweans into paupers. The world does not know the liberator
who has
turned oppressor. Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) are masters of the
conspiracy
theory. Whoever opposes them is said to be part of the western
world's
machinations for the re-colonialisation of Zimbabwe.
[xhead]Wedded to
corruption
Some of Zimbabwe's war veterans and even citizens fail to separate
the
person of Mugabe from the war of liberation, its principles and gains.
These
people are willing to forgive all transgressions for the sake of
protecting
the 'sovereignty' of the state. These people are honestly afraid
of
betraying the struggle by removing the 'father of the revolution' from
power.
It is essential to convince these people that the principles
of the struggle
are not under siege and that these principles can survive
Mugabe. It is
important to understand that the struggle that made Mugabe a
hero, has also
claimed him as a victim.
There are also people in
Zimbabwe who vote for Zanu (PF) and Mugabe in order
to maintain the
corruption in Zimbabwe. There are people who are amassing a
great deal of
wealth through foreign currency and other deals which would
not be possible
in a Zimbabwe that will have been returned to normalcy,
where systems work
as they should and regular, honest employment is
rewarding.
There are
people who are threatened by the idea of President Mugabe losing
elections.
Some have joined or remained in his inner circle through licking
Mugabe's
boots and enjoying the privileges that come with this patronage.
There are
people who are afraid of losing the farms, the tractors etc they
received
through being Mugabe's praise-singers.
These are some of the people who
want the Mugabe regime to survive its
latest test for purely selfish needs.
Will presidential hopefuls reach out
to these people and maybe promise them
deals similar to those being offered
to Mugabe himself to assure him of
immunity if he agrees to leave office?
The Zimbabwean
Zanu members campaign
against Mugabe
BY MXOLISI NCUBE
BULAWAYO
Senior Zanu (PF)
politicians who secretly back Makoni are waiting until a
few days before
election to reveal their hands, The Zimbabwean learnt this
week.
Politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, a respected former
ZIPRA commander and
intelligence supremo, has already sided with independent
presidential
candidate and former finance minister Simba Makoni. His Zapu
(PF) party
merged with Zanu in 1987, in a marriage of convenience that led
to the Unity
Accord.The two former politburo members have claimed in various
press
briefings and public announcements that they have the support of some
major
players in Zanu (PF), who are yet to come out in the open - claims
which
Mugabe and other party members have vehemently denied.Ruling party
sources
in Bulawayo, however, this week revealed that some senior
politicians had
not yet declared their support for Makoni in a bid to
"direct things from
within" and would only announce their allegiance to the
former minister a
few days before elections.These are said to be members
aggrieved by the way
in which former freedom fighters, led by their National
Chairman Jabulani
Sibanda, shoehorned delegates at the 2007 Special Congress
to nominate
Mugabe unopposed to represent the party in the presidential
elections.
"After failing to control things in the congress, they have
resorted to
urging people to decampaign the President," said a party
official. "Most of
those that are actively decampaigning him are the party's
candidates in the
council, parliamentary and senatorial elections, who have
told people to
vote them in, but choose Makoni to lead the country out of
its current
economic crisis. Very few, who include Obert Mpofu and Andrew
Langa, are
still showing support for Mugabe."Most of the party members who
are openly
campaigning against Mugabe are said to be in Matabeleland
North."Mpofu gave
the names of these candidates to the President and said
that they needed to
be investigated, as they were not committed to
preserving the country's
unity and sovereignty," said another source. "We do
not know what will
happen to those members, as the President took the names
but made no mention
of any measures."Mpofu confirmed that some party
supporters were
decampaigning Mugabe, but would not reveal their names to
The Zimbabwean."I
cannot reveal their names, but I know them and I have been
told most of the
bad things they are saying," he said
The Zimbabwean
BY MXOLISI
NCUBE
BULAWAYO
Junior officers in Bulawayo have accused their
superiors of cheating them
out of allowances they should get for policing
the forthcoming elections.The
police officers, who all spoke on condition of
anonymity, claimed they had
been promised a paltry Z$15m a day - not even
enough to buy a meal - for
working during the elections. The allowance would
add up to Z$150m for the
10 days that most of them will deployed."Staff from
other ministries have
been promised Z$300m a day, but we have been told that
we will only get
Z$15m a day for our part, yet we will be doing all the
donkey work. This is
not fair and we believe that our bosses have tampered
with the money," said
one junior police officer.A senior officer based at
police headquarters in
the city confirmed the amount, but rubbished claims
that the allowances had
been altered."We do not alter the allowances. These
boys always complain to
convey a negative image of the whole set-up when
things do not favour them.
These things are done in a transparent manner and
audited at the end of each
exercise," he said.Junior officers have made a
killing in the past for
taking part in various operations such as Sunrise
Two, which is said to have
earned each officer Z$1.5bn.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 14 March 2008 14:59
HARARE
Anxiety, fear and
lawlessness characterize the countdown to Zimbabwe's
decisive general
election in two weeks time, government opponents, human
rights activists and
political analysts said this week.
New evidence of rising harassment
and violence against opponents of
President Mugabe and his ruling party in
the run-up to the March 29 general
elections has been obtained by The
Zimbabwean on Sunday.
Families of victims have spoken of beatings, murders
and disappearances, in
interviews conducted at a secret safe house with
opposition supporters.One
such victim, an activist for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change,
was on Thursday evicted from government
houses in Ruwa by a machete-wielding
Zanu (PF) mob ostensibly because she
did not support Mugabe.A family
spokesman said militants linked to the
ruling Zanu (PF) party first
plastered the MDC activist's house with Zanu
(PF) posters and later threw
the family's furniture out in the rain.In
Rushinga, Edson Muwengwa, an MDC
council candidate has been missing since
February 15 in what the MDC and the
Muwengwa family fear is an abduction
following several deaths threats and an
attempt on his life by Zanu (PF)
supporters.In Bubi and Umguza, Zanu (PF)
militants were reportedly harassing
MDC supporters who signed nomination
papers for electoral candidates for the
opposition party.Opposition MDC
parliamentary candidates Marvellous Khumalo,
Pishai Muchauraya, Thabitha
Khumalo have all been attacked or detained in
the past two weeks in
connection with door-to-door campaigns.Party spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said
the MDC has been receiving reports from all provinces of
mounting violence,
intimidation and arrests.Simba Makoni has also reported
intimidation and
assault of his independent candidates, with the Hatfield
house of his Harare
South parliamentary candidate, Joram Nago, attacked by a
Zanu (PF) mob last
week.At a secret location, opposition activists showed
scars from attacks by
what human rights groups say is an increasing number
of pro-government
militias.Abednico Bhebhe, a spokesman for the MDC
(Mutambara), said his
group had lodged a complaint with the electoral
authorities, protesting
intimidation of supporters."Intimidation is rampant
and the conditions are
not conducive for a free and fair election," he
said.The Tsvangirai
formation has appealed to the High Court for relief and
filed a complaint
with the Zimbabwe Election Commission's multi-party
liaison committee
alleging official harassment of its candidates and
supporters.Rainosa
Tivatye, the United People's Party's Zengeza east
parliamentary candidate
was brutalized by a Zanu (PF) mob on
Tuesday.Speaking in a bedside
interview, Tivatye said he was stunned when
police released the goon squad
after briefly detaining them, with no charge
preferred against them.In
Uzumba, MDC parliamentary candidate Florence
Machinga was kidnapped by a
Zanu (PF) squad and harassed for close to four
hours.The incident happened
after a meeting with Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission officials at Mutawatawa
Growth Point. A truckload of ruling party
thugs accosted Machinga and
dragged her out of her vehicle, kicking and
screaming.She was later taken to
the police station on charges of tearing
down Zanu (PF) posters. Police did
not prefer any charges against
her.
Despite the focus on the so-called war veterans, human rights groups say
many other pro-government militias have been formed ahead of the general
poll and they tolerate no dissent."The attacks on the innocent women and
children in the absence of the men at work in the cities is an indication of
the desperation of Zanu (PF) to win at any cost," one rural woman in Ngezi
said, holding a young child with a scarred face.After 28 years in power,
President Mugabe is accused by his opponents of orchestrating all the
violence in order to save his political career."You must stand your ground,
defend your situation, defend your family. We are entitled to do that, but
please, we shouldn't go assaulting people," he said at one of his rallies at
the weekend.On Tuesday police cancelled MDC rallies in Makoni South
ostensibly because Vice President Josph Msika had made last minute
arrangements to address rallies in the same area. Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC
parliamentary candidate in the area, said he was appalled by the
prevarication on police's part, and said he was challenging this in court.A
series of repressive laws stifling civil liberties, a seemingly
state-sponsored campaign of violence and intimidation, and the failure of
international arbitration to"The more the ruling party sees it cannot get
what it wants, the more desperate it has become," said Abednigo Bhebhe, an
MDC lawmaker from the country's southeast.
Bhebhe spoke as Zimbabwe
police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri on
Thursday joined defence
forces commander, General Constantine Chiwenga and
head of prison services,
Major Gen Paradzai Zimondi in making implicit
threats of a coup in the event
that Mugabe loses the election."We will not
allow any puppets to take
charge," Chihuri said at Police General
Headquarters in Harare while seeing
off nine police officers who are joining
the United Nations peace-keeping
mission in Liberia. "I am happy that
Zimbabweans are wise," he said in
apparent reference to Tsvangirai and
Makoni, who have both been labelled
stooges of the West.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 14 March 2008 15:06
HARARE
Domestic and international election
observers will not be allowed to stay
with the ballot boxes between the
polling booth and the place where votes
are counted, it has emerged.In
effect, this means that only the monitors
assigned by the official Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission, who are civil
servants, will be able to deliver a
verdict on how free and fair the
elections have been.Observers, on the other
hand, will be given free access
to observe the electoral process across the
country, but their findings will
not be taken into account by ZEC.Political
observers say this is tantamount
to ZEC policing itself - and refusing any
outside monitoring.Zanu (PF)'s
hand-picked observers will be present in
groups of three at each of the
country's 11,000-plus polling stations. A
local observer group has been
ordered to stop conducting voter
education.
The local observers are still to be accredited and a spokesman for
the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network said he was very unhappy."The
government
is screening the list of names we submitted to remove those they
don't
like," said a pro-democracy activist.Four monitors are meant to be at
each
station as well - some 62,000 in all. These will all be civil servants,
drawn mainly from the Ministries of Education and Home Affairs, and - to the
concern of some analysts - the Defence Ministry.An agent for each candidate
contesting the election is also allowed at every polling station.The SADC
delegation said it was deploying observers at potential "hot spots" to try
to bolster the security of voters.The Zimbabwe Government has issued
invitations only to a few 'friendly' countries.From the US, only the
December 12 Movement, a staunch ally of the ruling party has been invited to
provide observers, while other organisations, such as the Carter Institute
and the National Democratic Institute, which might usually expect to monitor
elections, have not been asked.This raises serious doubts about the
impartiality of the entire election observer process.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 14 March 2008 15:35
The National Constitutional Assembly
is urgently calling SADC observer
mission in Zimbabwe to convene an urgent
meeting with President Robert
Mugabe over statements made by Police
Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and
Prison Commissioner General Major
Paradzai Zimondi.
A senior government official is not supposed to declare his
political
allegiance in public let alone at a government meeting using
government
resources. Commissioner Augustine Chihuri as his custom yesterday
called
protests against opposition candidates if Mugabe loses the coming 29
March
elections.
Chihuri has already declared violence and a possible
civil war if majority
of Zimbabweans chose another candidate ahead of Mugabe
and NCA strongly
condemn such statements especially by government officials
who should be
apolitical especially when discharging national
duties.
It is however an important development that such a statement has
been made
in the presence of SADC's 54 strong observer mission already in
the country
which has already hinted that elections could be free and
fair.
The NCA is asking SADC to make its stance clear on these
developments
especially now that they filtered into the state mouthpiece
dismissing any
chances of such statements as malice.
This kind of
intimidation by Chihuri is the kind of politics which SADC
should be able to
dismiss and condemn as they determine how people are
likely to vote and
possible action post election period. Such reckless
statement by senior
public servants dismisses a possibility of a free and
fair
contest.
Chihuri who has threatened to shoot any Zimbabwean likely to
protest against
the results of the elections was supposed to have borrowed
advice from
foreign affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi that free
elections should
not be a victory only of the opposition.
The NCA
would want to convey to Mr Chihuri that victory should not be that
which
determine Mugabe as a victor. The organisation also wants to alert Mr
Chihuri that he does not own the country and the police force hence do not
have the mandate to threaten the public for choosing who to vote
for.
Chihuri's comments comes a few days after another senior official,
commissioner of the prison services Major General Paradzai Zimondi also
threatened war if Mugabe lose the coming elections.
The most alarming
thing in both cases is that these senior civil servants
declare their
political allegiance and patronage when discharging state
duties when an
ordinary civil servant like a teacher is not allowed to
support an
opposition party let alone wear a t-shirt of choice.
The NCA believes
that manipulation of state resources to propagate party
propaganda should be
dismissed with all who believe in a free and fair
election. The two senior
civil servants have used state resources and time
to spread their ZANU PF
propaganda messages and SADC should response to such
utterances.
It
is the feeling of the NCA that if SADC is to come with an honest
assessment
it should take into cognizant all events especially in the police
and
military, food distribution and rural campaigns leading to the election
date.
One bizarre thing at this meeting is that Chihuri made these
statements
preparing the police force for violent activities at a sendoff
gathering of
police officials for peace keeping initiative in Liberia
.
National Constitutional Assembly
Information and Publicity
Department
National Spokesperson, Madock Chivasa
Tel: +263 -4- 736338
www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 15th March 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
A Zimbabwean
in the Diaspora phoned me this week and told me how desperately
she longs to
come home. She misses everything so much: familiar faces and
beautiful
places, old friends and casual acquaintances, the overwhelming
friendliness
of people and of course the glorious climate and magnificent
countryside.
She asked me how things were now in Zimbabwe and I replied that
they are
very bad, and still getting worse. You cannot really describe what
a hundred
thousand percent inflation looks like, or shops without food or
hospitals
without medicine. My friend, like so many others that have been
struggling
to survive these years in exile in foreign countries, wonders
when she will
be able to come home. She says she meets Zimbabweans all the
time and always
the talk is of home and plans for the day when they can
return. Everyone
wonders if it will be soon, asks if March 2008 will finally
see an end to
the need for exile.
My friend asked if anything was as she remembered it
at home and I looked
out of the window. On the surface and for a few minutes
nothing at all had
changed. The sun is still bright and the sky blue;
babblers and bulbuls
splash in the birdbath; the Msasa trees are covered in
new pods and the wild
orange trees in hard, green, cricket-ball fruits. In
the canopy of trees
overhead the voice of an Oriole sings out again and
again and a Paradise
Flycatcher, still with its long orange breeding tail,
flits backwards and
forwards. Children still play on the streets with home
made footballs and
roll bicycle rims along dusty paths. On the roadside
women still sit selling
tomatoes and avocadoes that they've carefully
arranged into pyramids. Some
even have a few ground nuts for sale but like
most things they are a
luxury - an enamel cupful for two and a half million
dollars tipped into a
newspaper cone. The ordinary people are still the same
too, friendly,
courteous, smiling, welcoming and generous.
After the
conversation with my friend, I felt so sad about this great
extended family
of Zimbabweans now living away from home. Such trauma we
have all been
through these past nine years - those of us who have stayed
and those who
have gone. But we still have one thing in common and that is
that now, after
nine years of struggle, we have all had enough. Now it is
time for families
to be reunited, communities to be rebuilt and for Zimbabwe
to stand
straight, tall and proud again. It is not too late.
I close with a quote
from Mahatma Gandhi:
"When I despair I always remember that all through
history the way of truth
and love has always won. There have been tyrants
and murderers, and for a
time they can seem invincible, but in the end they
always fall, always."
Until next time, thanks for reading, with love cathy.
www.cathybuckle.com
15th March 2008
Dear Friends.
Robert Mugabe
declaims at every opportunity that the former colonial power
is responsible
for Zimbabwe's troubles; blame the Brits, blame sanctions,
blame the
opposition, blame anyone rather than acknowledge his own personal
responsibility for the mess the country is in. I believe that one of the
real causes for Zimbabwe's troubles is the 'fatal flaw' in Mugabe's own
personality. He is a vain, arrogant man, never happier than when he is
strutting the world stage and basking in adulation. What he cannot face is
rejection, particularly from once faithful followers. His response, when it
comes is cruel and vindictive; a brief look at Zimbabwe's recent history
illustrates my point.
Back in February 2000 the government of
Zimbabwe held a Referendum on a new
constitution for the country. Zanu PF
had mounted a nationwide campaign to
popularise the new constitution which
gave the President greatly enhanced
powers including the power to take land
from the white commercial farmers
and redistribute it to landless black
peasants.
Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF lost that Referendum by a sizeable
majority: 61 of
120 constituencies voted No to his new
constitution.
'Whites vote No in their thousands' screamed a ZBC headline
but amazingly
Mugabe himself made what seemed like a very conciliatory
broadcast thanking
the whites for their participation. No one watching that
broadcast could
quite believe what they saw: a contrite and seemingly humble
Mugabe
accepting defeat.
Two weeks later, under the direction of
Chengerai Hitler Hunzvi, now buried
in Heroes Acre, hordes of so-called war
veterans began the violent farm
invasions. On March 2nd, Mugabe was again on
TV. Gone was the conciliatory
tone; now whites and farmers in particular
were the enemy, they must be made
to tremble, strike fear in the hearts of
the white man and no, he would not
turn the war veterans off the
land.
Confusion reigned supreme with the police for the most part backing
Mugabe's
line and refusing to implement court orders to eject the invaders.
The
propaganda machine ground into top gear with rumour and counter rumour
of
weapon caches and white-hatched plots to topple the government. On the
ground, murder, rape and torture were increasingly used to intimidate and
terrorise the population .
In June of the same year there was a
General Election; the newly formed MDC
won 57 seats, Zanu PF 62 and Zanu
Ndonga 1. The long delay in announcing the
results indicated there was some
serious rigging going on; why else would it
take so long to count the votes.
' It's not who votes that counts but who
counts the votes'!
By the
time of the presidential elections in March 2002 Robert Mugabe could
have
had little doubt that he had lost the people's affection. His 'heroic'
status had been tarnished by government corruption and mounting public
dissatisfaction with steadily deteriorating living conditions and food
shortages, not to mention the increasing use of the Green Bombers, Mugabe's
'new war veterans' as he called them, to subdue villagers and townspeople.
In spite of all the violence, there was a massive turnout over the two days
of voting. There were five candidates contesting but the only two that
mattered were Mugabe and Tsvangirai. The others, the three stooges I called
them, accounted for about 55 thousand votes. 3 million Zimbabweans had voted
we were told. Mugabe gained 1million 685, 212 votes and Tsvangirai 1million
258.401. No longer could Mugabe claim that all his people loved
him.
The relevance of these figures to the harmonised elections that will
take
place on March 29 2008 is not hard to see. Despite the fact that there
are
four elections taking place on that one day it has become very clear
that
the only one Mugabe is really interested in is the Presidential vote.
All
his party's candidates have been instructed to put 'Mugabe for
President'
ahead of all other considerations.
Mugabe has to win, his very
survival, psychological, political and maybe
even physical depends on it. If
the people no longer love him and vote for
him willingly then he will, like
an abusive father, use force to ensure
their obedience. In all of this he
will be assisted by self-serving
followers, such as 'Bishop' Kunonga and
other unholy reverends who have
granted him god-like status or service
chiefs who swear they will never
salute any other leader. Such adulation is
food and drink for a man like
Mugabe; without it his bloated ego will wither
and die; no wonder that even
at 84 years of age he cannot give up. And if
the unthinkable happens and he
loses the election, Mugabe will remain the
vengeful enemy; I believe his
successor in State House would do well to
remember that.
Yours in the struggle. PH.
Government of Australia
Date: 15 Mar 2008
AA 08 14
Australia will provide an
additional $2 million to the World Food Programme
(WFP) for food aid to meet
an urgent and growing need for humanitarian
assistance in
Zimbabwe.
The WFP is currently feeding about 2.7 million Zimbabweans,
targeting the
neediest such as children and those affected by
HIV.
This further contribution underlines Australia's determination to
continue
to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of
Zimbabwe.
Australia's latest assistance is in addition to our
contribution of $3.5
million to the WFP in August last year for use in
Zimbabwe. It also adds to
$3.75 million in support for international
humanitarian relief efforts in
Zimbabwein 2006-07, much of which was for
food aid which Australiaprovided
for the Zimbabwean people.
Zimbabwe
continues to experience erratic weather patterns, as well as the
HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Crop production has fallen. The country is experiencing
ongoing
economic problems, and hyper-inflation is causing food prices to
rise beyond
the reach of many people. A growing number of households are
vulnerable to
hunger.
The WFP has a strong track record of delivering humanitarian aid
effectively
in difficult environments. Australia has a close working
relationship with
WFP, particularly in the Asia Pacific region and in
Africa.
Media Contact:
Sabina Curatolo (Mr McMullan's Office) 0400
318 205
AusAID Public Affairs 0417 680 590
Cricinfo
Martin
Williamson
March 15, 2008
Excerpt
This Sunday the great and
the good from around the world assemble in Dubai
for one of the most
important meetings in the ICC's 99-year existence.
The subject of
Zimbabwe, the thorn in the ICC's side that won't go away,
will again be
raised. Almost two years after Zimbabwe Cricket started its
own, largely
discredited, forensic audit into accounts that many inside the
country claim
are seriously flawed, the ICC's own independent auditors,
KPMG, are set to
present their own report.
Even before the findings have been presented, the
ICC finds itself in a
no-win situation. It is certain that malpractices will
be revealed - ICC
chief executive Malcolm Speed himself pointed them out
last June - but it is
expected that ZC chairman Peter Chingoka will plead
that Zimbabwe's economy
is in such a mess and the local currency so
worthless, that nobody adheres
to standard practices and every business does
whatever is necessary to
function.
The ICC executive will have to
decide whether to accept that argument. This
is where politics comes into
play. Chingoka has assiduously courted and
received the backing of the
Indian board in return for his support when push
comes to vote. How strong
that bond is, is likely to be tested to the full
in Dubai, but it is
predicted he will survive. The UK government are clearly
suspicious,
requesting a copy of the audit in advance because, as a
Westminster source
told Cricinfo, they suspect a potential cover-up and want
to see what KPMG
have to say for themselves.
Assuming he lives to fight
another day, Chingoka himself is also an issue as
he is due in London in
June for the ICC annual conference but the UK
authorities, as things stand,
have ruled him persona non grata and refused a
visa. Behind-the-scenes
meetings to try to get him into the UK have, so far,
failed, and the
executive will need to decide if they want to hold the
meeting without one
of their most senior members or move it abroad. Unless
the government stands
down, it is likely an alternative venue will be
sought. That could raise
warning signs about next year's ICC World Twenty20
in England where even if
Zimbabwe are allowed, Chingoka again might be
turned away.
Martin
Williamson is executive editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
Loaded down with so much money he can barely carry it all, but this young Zimbabwean isn’t on his way to buy a bike or a computer. All that cash might just buy him a loaf of bread.