The Age, Australia
Sarah Smiles,
Canberra
March 23, 2007
AN AUSTRALIAN diplomat has helped injured
activist Sekai Holland flee
Zimbabwe, in dramatic and direct defiance of the
Mugabe regime.
Australia's consul in Harare, Mark Lynch, last night
escorted Mrs Holland
and her Australian husband to Harare airport. From
there they were flown by
air ambulance to Johannesburg for urgent medical
treatment.
Mrs Holland had been held under armed guard in a Harare
hospital since being
severely bashed at an opposition rally almost two weeks
ago.
Another injured opposition official, Grace Kwinje, also escaped with
the
Hollands.
"I'm really relieved, it's terrific news," Peter
Murphy, a spokesman for the
Sydney-based Zimbabwe Information Centre said
last night. "The situation was
so unpredictable in Harare that both Sekai
and Grace's lives were in
danger."
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer said Zimbabwe's Foreign
Minister had personally warned
Australia's ambassador in Harare, Jon
Sheppard, against supporting
opposition activists.
Last night, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade
said Mr Lynch had helped the Holland family as
part of Australia's consular
obligations. "Don't forget, Jim Holland is an
Australian citizen and we have
been giving support to his wife as well," she
said.
She said Mrs Holland would be met in Johannesburg by the Australian
consul
in Pretoria.
Mrs Holland, 64, lived in Australia in the 1960s
and '70s and has two
children and a grandchild living in Sydney.
A
friend of the Holland family, former NSW senator Bob Woods, told The Age
that Mrs Holland had been "very, very nervous, of course". "She's got a
fractured leg, a fractured arm, two or three broken ribs."
She and Ms
Kwinje were injured in a violent crackdown on more than 40
members of the
Movement for Democratic Change party on March 11. Opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai was among those assaulted by police.
Mrs Holland said she
feared she would die without specialist treatment. But
when she tried to
board a plane last weekend, security forces stopped her at
the airport. On
Wednesday, a judge ordered that she be released from police
custody,
granting a court order permitting her to leave the country.
Mrs Holland's
husband, Jim, had earlier feared they could be killed by the
regime on the
way to the airport. "It's important to make sure the whole
world is
watching," he said.
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
22 March, 2007
On Thursday morning about 20
supporters of the MDC were arrested after they
took to the streets of Harare
to protest the killing by police of MDC member
Itai Manyeruke. The
protesters believe the police tortured Manyeruke to
death after they
detained him, following the blocked prayer rally in
Highfield on 12th March.
The family had been looking for him for over a
week, only to find his corpse
stashed at a morgue without their knowledge.
The arrested MDC protesters
are reported to have remained jovial and
jubilant after armed police
descended on the peaceful demonstration. They
are currently being held at
Harare Central Police Station.
Manyeruke was the second opposition
supporter killed by police at that
tragic rally two Sundays ago. The first
was Gift Tandare, whose body was
abducted by suspected CIO agents from a
funeral parlour in Harare and buried
in Mt. Darwin without his family.
Officials from the Save Zimbabwe Campaign
who met this week resolved to hold
a 'healing service' for Tandare. It's
being reported that this memorial
service is now scheduled for Monday.
Also on Thursday, the Mutambara MDC
reported that police in Chitungwiza
raided the home of the St Mary's Member
of Parliament Job Sikhala demanding
to know his whereabouts. Failing to find
him, they raided more homes in
Zengeza and St Mary's, indiscriminately
assaulting anyone suspected of
having distributed fliers for a rally
scheduled for Sunday. MDC president
Arthur Mutambara is expected to address
the rally at Huruyadzo Shopping
centre and it is believed police are
attempting to block it.
The MDC said several supporters were assaulted
and arrested while
distributing the fliers and mobilizing residents to
attend what they are
calling "the defiance rally." Those assaulted include
an expectant mother
and lawyers were trying hard to access them in the
police cells.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Angola Press
Agency (Luanda)
March 22, 2007
Posted to the web March 22,
2007
Luanda
Angolan Embassy to Zimbabwe considered as "completely
false" the information
published on Wednesday by the "TalkZimbabwe" site
that Angolan Government
had agreed with the Zimbabwean authorities for the
sending of 3,000
policemen, during the recent visit of the country's Home
Affairs minister,
Roberto Leal Monteiro "Ngongo".
ANGOP learnt from a
document, sent to the aforementioned site and to the
diplomatic corpse
accredited to that country that, the Angolan
representation stresses that
the official´s visit was meant for the signing
of "accords of bilateral
interest, such as of sharing of knowledge and
experience and not the
strengthening of local police forces.
Considering that the
corporation is in conditions to solve any abnormal
situation, it reminds
that that Angolan Government does not usually
interferes other countries'
internal matters.
Yahoo News
by Godfrey
Marawanyika
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe sought to shore up faltering African
support
Thursday as global pressure intensified on under-fire President
Robert
Mugabe over his government's draconian crackdown on opposition
leaders.
The worsening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and the
ensuing
international outcry, has prompted some African leaders to break
with their
traditional policy of "quiet diplomacy" with Mugabe's
regime.
And Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain, one of Mugabe's most
vocal
critics, dramatically upped the ante Thursday, saying it was already
preparing to work with a new administration in Harare.
"We're
beginning to think about what we could contribute following a
transition and
we're preparing support options including economic and
humanitarian
activity," a spokeswoman for Britain's foreign office said.
In a bid to
rally African leaders around, Zimbabwean Information Minister
Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu on Thursday warned them against being "divided by
imperialism."
"The West and the Western news networks are demonising
Zimbabwe, giving a
one-sided perspective," he said.
African leaders
have in the past closed ranks around Mugabe, but the cracks
are beginning to
show.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa this week likened Zimbabwe to a
"sinking
Titanic" in need of help, and urged southern African nations to get
involved.
The African Union, too, voiced concern, with chairman John
Kufuor describing
the situation as "embarrassing."
Amnesty
International accused the African Union and the rest of the
international
community of having failed to hold Zimbabwe to account.
"What more do we
need to witness before the African Union or the UN tell the
Zimbabwean
government 'enough is enough?'" the London-based rights body's
Africa
programme director Kolawole Olaniyan wrote in The Guardian.
The spotlight
has fallen mainly on South Africa, the regional powerhouse,
over its policy
of "quiet diplomacy" towards its northern neighbour.
Having itself relied
on foreign pressure to bring an end to the former
whites-only apartheid
regime, South Africa insists that Zimbabwe be allowed
to chart its own
destiny.
While expressing concern about the "deteriorating situation"
since Mugabe's
government launched the crackdown that saw opposition leaders
arrested and
beaten, Pretoria has refrained from outright condemnation of
Harare.
"We will do everything possible to get the parties around a table
for
dialogue," Sotuh African government spokesman Themba Maseko told AFP on
Thursday. "There are a lot of things we are doing, but at this stage we are
not able to say what."
The United States and Britain are leading the
international chorus of
criticism against the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has
ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980, and have threatened to broaden
sanctions against him
and his inner circle.
Zimbabwe's current
economic crisis, largely blamed on Mugabe's policies, has
been characterised
by an inflation rate of 1,730 percent, shortages of basic
commodities and
fuel, and an 80 percent unemployment rate.
Zimbabwe's Catholic archbishop
Pius Ncube urged his countrymen Thursday to
shake off the shackles of fear
and stand up to the government.
"My biggest worry is Zimbabweans are
cowards," Ncube told a meeting convened
by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance
-- saying many more have died as a result
of deprivation caused by Mugabe's
policies.
"That very fear (of death) is the demise of Zimbabwe. It's time
for a
radical stance, not soft speeches and cowardice."
SABC
March 22, 2007, 18:45
A
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers meeting
in Lesotho steered clear of the political crisis in Zimbabwe. The meeting
reviewed last year's heads of state and government summit decisions to see
how far SADC had gone in economic integration before the next ministerial
meeting to be held in the near future.
In an interview, Aziz Pahad,
SA's deputy minister of foreign affairs, said:
"This was really a technical
meeting. Yes, Zimbabwe is represented by a full
delegation consisting of a
minister and a delegation of officials. What is
happening in Zimbabwe is an
issue that is on everybody's minds. South Africa
has taken its own position
on Zimbabwe. We have said quite consistently that
we call for the respect of
the law by all sides and we call for no violence
against
anybody."
Pahad said it was the duty of South Africa and other countries
in the region
to create conditions for the Zimbabweans to solve their own
problems.
Referring to media reports that Angola was to send about 3000
troops into
Zimbabwe, Pahad said: "We know about these reports, but we
cannot verify
them."
Meeting to wrap late tonight
On the current
political crisis in Lesotho which led to five opposition
political parties
staging a sit-in in the house of Parliament and calling
for a three-day
national strike, Pahad said the SADC secretariat was working
hard to ensure
the crisis was resolved peacefully.
"We are really happy with the
progress made in Lesotho. Lesotho has gone
through difficult times. We think
the elections were free and fair. There
are some differences about
proportional representation and the SADC
secretariat has been intervening
that is why the three-day strike was called
off and conditions have been
created for all parties to dialogue," said
Pahad.
Asked if SADC can
play any useful role in resolving the current political
impasse in the
kingdom, Pahad indicated that SADC will assist where there
were
differences.
"We hope that this small matter about proportional
representation can be
resolved with the assistance of SADC. The Executive
Secretary of SADC has
been coming here a lot before and after elections. He
has managed to get the
confidence of the parties and I believe that together
we can ensure that any
outstanding issues are resolved," he said.
The
closed meeting will end late tonight. - Sapa
The Raw Story
dpa German
Press Agency
Published: Thursday March 22,
2007
Harare/Johannesburg- Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe
thanked China Thursday for supporting his country against
Western
critics amid signs of growing fatigue in Africa over the
political
and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, 83, told a delegation
led by China's construction minister
that Zimbabwe would reward China for its
backing by supporting
Beijing's stance on human rights and the one-China
policy.
It was difficult to find friends in the struggle for
independence
but China had continued to stand with Zimbabwe in the current
fight
against the big Western powers, state radio quoted Mugabe as
saying.
Zimbabwe has come under the international spotlight for the
brutal
beating of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several
opposition
officials when they tried to attend a prayer rally earlier
this
month.
Several of Zimbabwe's traditionally closest allies have
ventured
measured criticism of the action, including the African Union
and
Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, who this week compared Zimbabwe to
a
"sinking Titanic."
Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
sought to stem
African criticism Thursday, saying "African countries must not
allow
themselves to be divided by imperialism."
"Western news networks
are demonising Zimbabwe, giving a one-sided
perspective," he
complained.
The international community has urged Zimbabwe's neighbours
in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) to try to broker
a
resolution to the crisis in Zimbabwe but a meeting of SADC Council
of
Ministers in Lesotho Thursday steered clear of the
issue.
Meanwhile, two opposition officials who had been blocked
from
travelling abroad last week arrived in South Africa for
medical
treatment.
Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinjeh arrived in
Johannesburg after
Harare High Court ruled that they should be allowed to
leave Zimbabwe
to seek life-saving medical treatment outside the country,
South
African radio reported.
Holland and Kwinjeh, who were beaten in
police custody following
their arrest on March 11, were trying to leave for
South Africa on a
medical air rescue plane on Saturday when police stopped
them,
sparking international condemnation.
The two were taken briefly
to a police station, and then placed
under police guard at a Harare
clinic.
Opposition activists are using increasingly combative rhetoric
to
describe their struggle against the government.
Prominent rights
activist Lovemore Madhuku, who was badly beaten
by police, said Thursday said
he was ready to die in the fight for
political reform.
"I wish to make
it clear to them and others that we are prepared
to die for a new
constitution," Madhuku, the chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) said in a statement.
Archbishop Pius Ncube urged Zimbabweans to
take to the street to
protest the government's authoritarianism and declared
himself ready
to stand "in front of blazing guns."
The usually
moderate Zimbabwe Council of Churches Thursday warned
that the politically
tense situation in the southern African country
could degenerate into
bloodshed.
"If this state of affairs continues, we foresee a situation
that
will degenerate into civil unrest where there will be a lot
of
bloodshed," the council said in a statement.
It also warned that
criminal elements could manipulate the
situation to carry out criminal
activities under the guise of
political activity and called for dialogue and
tolerance among
political parties in the country.
© 2006 - dpa German
Press Agency
By Lance Guma
22 March 2007
A
stay away being planned by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
will
go ahead despite governments attempts to destabilize the union and its
protest plans. The ZCTU has called for a stay away on the 3rd and 4th of
April to press government to address the economic meltdown. ZCTU Secretary
General Wellington Chibhebhe told Newsreel a group of 'so-called unions' met
with Zanu PF structures in Marondera and are trying to mobilize people in
the rural areas who will be offloaded in Harare to intimidate people into
going to work on the two days of the strike.
Chibhebhe was referring
to affiliate unions calling themselves Concerned
Affiliates of ZCTU who
criticised the union for allegedly meddling in
politics and failing to
address workers concerns. At a meeting in Marondera
on Saturday the renegade
group issued statements criticising the planned
stay away and condemning
what they called illegal sanctions. The unions that
form this new,
pro-government rebel group are; the Commercial Workers'
Union, Associated
Mine Workers' Union, Zimbabwe Leather, Shoe and Allied
Workers' Union,
Zimbabwe Construction Workers' Union and the Transport and
General Workers'
Union.
Chibhebhe says they remain undeterred by the infiltration and the
brutality
shown by police in crushing meetings and rallies of opposition and
civic
groups. 'People are raring to go and stay home,' he said adding, 'our
guys
are on the ground disseminating information about the stay away.' He
said
they would continue spreading the information to increase the resolve
of
their members and hope it will counter manoeuvres by government to
sabotage
their plans.
Asked if they did not risk endangering their
members given events in the
past few weeks Chibhebhe said, 'we are more
threatened by hunger than those
who are physically going to threaten
people.' He urged workers to stay in
doors and not leave their homes on the
days of the strike arguing this would
ensure the police could not brutalise
them. 'They are safer in their homes
than outside their homes,' he
said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Globe and Mail, Canada
Despite the rising brutality of the Mugabe regime, an uprising is
not
imminent
STEPHANIE NOLEN
From Thursday's Globe and
Mail
JOHANNESBURG - It's going to get much worse before it gets better.
That is
the analysis of human-rights and democracy campaigners in Zimbabwe,
who are
reeling from a savage crackdown by security services over the past
10 days
but trying to shore up popular support for sustained opposition to
the
brutal regime of Robert Mugabe.
"Things are going to get much,
much tougher before there is some light at
the end of the tunnel," Reginald
Machaba-Hove, head of the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network and one of the
country's leading human-rights campaigners,
said by telephone from
Harare.
"There will be more violence, and not necessarily violence
associated with a
known arm of state, not just police beating people. We are
going to see more
of what started this week, with men, not in uniforms but
plain in grey suits
and unmarked cars, beating people."
Seven years
into the crisis in Zimbabwe, with inflation at 1,400 per cent
and the
country totally isolated by international sanctions, it is easy to
think an
eruption must be coming. "I know it's hard to believe things could
get
worse," Dr. Machaba-Hove said grimly. "But this is just the start of a
long
process."
When police opened fire at an opposition prayer meeting on
March 11, killing
one young man and injuring 13 other people, and then
brutally beat key
leaders of the opposition, leading to gory pictures
splashed in the
international news, many observers began to predict that
change in Zimbabwe
was imminent. But within the country, few people see it
that way.
"Most people here don't see change coming," a senior opposition
strategist
told The Globe and Mail. "You're not going to see an uprising
soon.
Thousands of people aren't going to storm parliament; they know
they'll get
shot and killed if they do."
This is perhaps the most
significant among the many factors standing in the
way of a mass uprising:
Zimbabweans have an entirely reasonable fear of
savage repression by the
government. Mr. Mugabe's regime has shown it is
more than willing to use
brutal force; it has withheld food aid from
perceived opponents in the midst
of a harsh drought and left 750,000 people
homeless in 2005 when it
demolished whole neighbourhoods that had not voted
for him. The memory of
Mr. Mugabe's actions in Matebeleland in the 1980s,
when he oversaw the
murders by security forces of 20,000 Ndebele people whom
he saw as
opponents, is still fresh in Zimbabwe.
"This is not even close to what
they're prepared to do to stay in power.
People seem to forget what this
government, what this man, is capable of,"
the opposition strategist said.
"And the people around him now are the same
people who were around him when
he did Matebeleland."
Lack of leadership is another problem. The main
opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change, is badly divided. The
leader of the larger
faction, Morgan Tsvingirai, received a boost in his
credibility after having
his skull fractured by police last week, but he has
not proved able to unite
or effectively lead the opposition.
The
demonstrations on March 11 were organized by a new Save Zimbabwe
Campaign, a
joint effort of the political opposition, church groups and
civil society
organizations. As a body, however, it does not yet have
widespread
grassroots support.
And at the same time, the great majority of
Zimbabweans are preoccupied with
survival, not organized politics. A quarter
of adults in the country are
living with HIV/AIDS, and the national
treatment program is in a shambles.
With inflation tipped to reach 4,000 per
cent by year end, it is nearly
impossible to farm, buy basic supplies,
operate a business, keep children in
school or even eat.
Activists in
Zimbabwe say a key factor to watch is whether the coalition and
other
opposition to the regime can, given all those factors, manage to
maintain
the recent momentum, and organize more successful demonstrations in
the days
and weeks to come.
"Next weekend you should see demonstrations starting,"
said Lovemore
Madhuku, chair of the National Constitutional Assembly, who
was illegally
detained last week and suffered head wounds and a broken arm
as a result of
beatings in police custody. "The momentum cannot be taken
down. The regime
hopes that they will silence people, but the causes of
discontent are only
worsening."
The opposition hopes demonstrations
will not only put pressure on the regime
but keep the issue squarely in
front of the key regional players,
particularly South Africa, which is
believed to be the only country that can
effectively broker an end to the
crisis here. South African President Thabo
Mbeki has insisted on a policy of
"quiet diplomacy" to date, out of respect
for Mr. Mugabe as a revolutionary
hero (he led the fight that ended white
rule in Zimbabwe in 1980, and was a
key opponent of apartheid) and because
the issue of white ownership of land
in South Africa is also sensitive.
This past week, however, there were
rare rumblings of discontent from South
Africa (urging the Zimbabwean
government to "respect human rights"), the
African Union expressed concern
about the police crackdown and the key
regional leaders sent an envoy to
meet with Mr. Mugabe. It's painfully
little, Dr. Machaba-Hoves said, but
still more of a vocal response than
African leaders had made to date about
the crisis in what was once the
continent's most progressive
state.
Activists in Zimbabwe believe the best hope for peaceful change is
to put so
much pressure on Mr. Mugabe, within the country and via third
parties, that
his own party, Zanu-PF, which is also badly divided, pushes
him out, and
then sits down with the opposition for real constitutional
talks, leading to
a coalition government.
The worst-case scenario,
however, is that Mr. Mugabe and his remaining
allies start to arm their
supporters, leading to a violent civil conflict.
Already this week, Mr.
Mugabe imported 2,500 paramilitary officers from
Angola to "help quell
dissent."
Zimbabwe's political decline began in 2000, when Mr. Mugabe,
now 83, began a
politically driven land-redistribution program that seized
white-owned
commercial farms and handed them over to regime cronies, causing
a
once-flourishing economy to implode.
*****
A state in
decline
Zimbabwe's early success after independence in 1980 and its
subsequent
decline are reflected in its score on the Human Development
Index,
which measures life expectancy, literacy, education and standard
of living
to gauge the impact of policies on quality of life.
1980:
Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union wins an overwhelming
majority in February elections, bringing an end to white-minority rule. The
country gains independence
1,700%
ANNUAL INFLATION
The
rate, already the highest in the world, could reach 4,000 per cent by
the
end of the year, according to the International Monetary
Fund.
80%
UNEMPLOYMENT
An estimated 3.5 million
of
Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people have fled the country looking for work,
most
of them to South Africa.
37-year
AVERAGE LIFE
The lowest in
the world, it is down from 56 before Mr. Mugabe came to power.
SOURCE:
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, UN
---------
Reader's
Comment
James Clost from chaozhou, guangdong, China writes: judging from
this
article, and others, zimbabwe is quite possibly the worst place in the
world
to live. the sorrow of the zimbabwean people will only end in one of
two
ways:
1. the people finally revolt against the thug and criminal
mugabe, either
killing him in the process or, hopefully sending him off to
some
international court to languish the rest of his sorry life in prison;
or
2. mugabe dies.
either way is fine with me.
a.. Posted
22/03/07 at 5:00 AM EDT
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Even if Robert
Mugabe steps aside, unpicking the damage done to Zimbabwe's
political fabric
will be a complex task.
By Ayesha Kajee in Harare (AR No. 104,
22-Mar-07)
Zimbabwe is in a state of economic and political chaos. Annual
inflation is
soaring above 1,700 per cent so that shops change their prices
daily or even
hourly, the official exchange rate is laughably unrealistic
compared with
trading on the black market, and unemployment tops 80 per
cent.
Add to that the heavy security presence - by 5.30 in the evening,
there are
clusters of helmeted, baton-toting police on nearly every street
corner, in
the wake of the violence and mayhem that erupted when security
forces broke
up a mass prayer meeting on March 11.
But ordinary
Zimbabweans in Harare seem to shrug off their troubles and
soldier on. So
what makes the current political and economic situation any
different from
that before the 2005 elections, when I last visited Harare?
One
difference is that public-sector workers are now part of the protests -
teachers, nurses and municipal civil servants have joined trade unionists,
youth groups and women's movements because they have not been paid for
months.
Rank-and-file members in the security forces are also showing
signs of
financial and physical strain, as evidenced by reports that members
of the
presidential guard took potshots at State House earlier this
year.
Perhaps the biggest difference of all, though, is that even former
loyalists
within the ruling ZANU-PF party are distancing themselves from
President
Robert Mugabe because of his avowed intention to delay the next
election and
remain in power till 2010.
The disaffected include
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, whose husband, Solomon
Mujuru, led the army
until 1995 and is rumoured to retain significant
influence in the security
forces.
Solomon Mujuru apparently relishes the role of kingmaker, since
he was
instrumental in getting the pro-independence guerillas to accept
Mugabe as
their leader after he was released from jail. In what has been
widely
regarded as a lobbying campaign for the succession, Mujuru has been
wooing
foreign diplomats. His meetings with the United States, French and
British
ambassadors have provoked Mugabe to rail against "ambitious leaders
[who]
have been cutting deals with the British and Americans".
The
other major contender for Zimbabwe's hot seat is Emmerson Mnangagwa,
currently the rural housing minister and formerly a widely-feared
intelligence chief, who still commands support in the secret
police.
Both the Mujuru and Mnangagwa factions distrust Mugabe, and the
president's
increasing isolation within his own party may be the final nail
in a coffin
that he has been fashioning for some time.
Even if Mugabe
loses support to the extent that he is prevented from
contesting a
presidential election near, and from postponing the ballot
until 2010,
neither of the two potential heirs commands sufficient support
to win an
outright majority within ZANU-PF.
And while both Joice Mujuru and
Mnangagwa fought in the independence
struggle, neither has the presence and
almost mythic stature that has
allowed Mugabe to rally the rural masses in
the past.
If Mugabe goes, a fracture within the ruling party is more than
possible.
Given that the opposition is also fractured into two camps, this
does not
augur well for political stability in the immediate post-Mugabe
transition
period.
At a conference on elections and democracy held in
Harare last week, Koki
Muli, a speaker from Kenya, cautioned Zimbabweans
against believing the
removal of Mugabe would of itself bring an end to
their problems.
"I am sad and very worried that this country is making
the same mistake that
we made in Kenya in 2002," she said.
"When
[President Daniel Arap] Moi went, we realised too late that it was not
enough. It is important to have an agenda to move forward."
Muli
added that Zimbabweans from across the political spectrum would need to
work
together to rebuild their economy and political institutions.
Most
Zimbabwean analysts and activists to whom this writer has spoken agree
that
removing Mugabe is only the first step, and concede that a transitional
government with a caretaker president - neither Mujuru nor Mnangagwa - is
probably the best way forward.
During the transitional period, they
say, the legal infrastructure must be
overhauled, and a constitutional
review and the repeal of restrictive laws
should be high on the agenda. The
institutions of democracy such as the
Electoral Commission must also be
re-invented so as to guarantee their
independence and autonomy before
proceeding with elections.
But many Zimbabweans believe they need an
independent broker to help with
this transition, as the boundaries of state
and party have become
insidiously intertwined. In the words of one member of
parliament, "In
Zimbabwe the ruling party is married to all state
institutions. we need a
divorce lawyer to dissolve this marriage."
Of
course, all this is based on the assumption that faced with a show of
no-confidence from within his party, Mugabe will actually concede defeat and
make way for a successor. Given his feisty character and his Houdini-like
ability to escape from seemingly impossible tight corners, observers warn
that he should not be written off too lightly.
"He may decide to
anoint a weak successor and continue to be the
puppet-master, like his
friend [Sam] Nujoma," said one, referring to the
former Namibian president
who anointed Hifikepunye Pohamba as his successor.
Such successors,
however, do not always prove to be the puppets that their
predecessors
expected. Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa's decision to
approve the
prosecution of former President Frederick Chiluba on corruption
charges is a
case in point. So is Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika's
break with
ex-leader Bakili Muluzi, who had handpicked him as successor in
the face of
fierce protests from his party.
If Mugabe does continue to influence the
presidency from behind the scenes,
there are those who fear his
Machiavellian mindset may cause him to keep
Zimbabwe teetering on a
political and economic precipice.
"It would be best for Zimbabweans if he
were to leave the country, but he'll
never agree," said one commentator. The
current world climate in the wake of
the establishment of the International
Criminal Court may partly explain
Mugabe's unwillingness to leave power, for
fear that he could be prosecuted
for human rights abuses in an international
court.
Would the promise of immunity and perhaps exile to a friendly
country be
enough to make him to reconsider? Given that former Liberian
president
Charles Taylor is currently awaiting trial by the Special Court
for Sierra
Leone, after exile host Nigeria released him into the custody of
the current
democratically-elected Liberian government, it may be difficult
to broker a
deal that Mugabe would find palatable.
But for the sake
of ordinary Zimbabweans, teetering on the thin edge of
outright catastrophe,
the African Union and other players might do well to
start looking for a
divorce lawyer skilful enough to negotiate the
transition.
Ayesha
Kajee is Programme Head for Democracy and Political Party Systems in
Africa
at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: AFR 46/006/2007
(Public)
News Service No: 058
20 March 2007
Your
Excellency,
I am writing to express my grave concern about the killing of
Gift TANDARE,
shot dead on 11 March 2007 by riot police while protesting the
ban of public
meetings. The ban was imposed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) from 20
February to 20 May 2007.
I am also gravely concerned by
the reported torture of Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and civil
society leaders and supporters, including
Morgan TSVANGIRAI, Lovemore
MADHUKU, Sekai HOLLAND and Grace KWINJE,
following their arrest and
detention at Machipisa Police Station and other
police stations on Sunday,
11 March 2007 in Harare, after they attempted to
attend a meeting organised
to protest a police ban of a prayer meeting. The
meeting was organised by
the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of
religious and civic
organisations, in Highfields, Harare.
Approximately 50 activists,
including leaders and supporters of the MDC and
civil society, were arrested
either at the venue of the prayer meeting or on
their way to it, and
detained. They were severely beaten during arrest and
while in police
custody. Many suffered broken limbs.
The organisation is also disturbed
by reports that three people were later
shot by police at Tandare's funeral
wake in Glen View on 13 March. Police
reportedly fired randomly at the
mourners. Two of the three, Nhamo RUSERE
and Dickson MAGONDO, were shot and
needed hospitalisation, while a third,
Naison MASHAMBANHAKA was grazed on
the arm by a police bullet, and was not
hospitalised. However, when Naison
Mashambanhaka went back to the funeral
wake later that day he was shot a
second time on the same arm.
The government has repeatedly failed to
investigate reported torture and
excessive use of force by the police and to
bring to justice suspected
perpetrators.
I am also deeply concerned
by the reported failure by police to comply with
a High Court Order
compelling police to facilitate the lawyers of those
detained access to
their clients as well as access to health care. Amnesty
International has
documented in the past cases where police disregarded
court orders thereby
effectively denying victims of human rights violations
protection of the
law.
Amnesty International believes that the three-month ban from 20
February to
20 May 2007 on demonstrations and public meetings is in breach
of Zimbabwe's
obligations to respect and protect the right to freedom of
expression,
association and assembly, enshrined in international and
regional human
rights treaties to which Zimbabwe is a party, including the
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter
on Human and
Peoples' Rights. The ban is also in breach of the Constitution
of Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, the very law that was cited to justify the
implementation of
such ban, Section 27 of the Public Order and Security Act,
stipulates that
public demonstrations can only be prohibited for a specified
period 'not
exceeding one month'.
Amnesty International is deeply
concerned that Grace Kwinje and Sekai
Holland, who were reportedly tortured
by police following the events of 11
March 2007, have been prevented from
seeking further medical attention in
South Africa on Saturday 17 March 2007,
when they were prevented from
boarding an air ambulance and forcibly taken
from Harare International
Airport to Harare Central Police Station. There,
their travel documents were
confiscated and an ambulance was instructed to
take Kwinje and Holland back
to hospital where they were placed under police
guard.
On Sunday 18 March 2007, Nelson Chamisa, national spokesperson for
the MDC
who was also beaten by police on Sunday 11 March, was attacked at
Harare
International Airport sustaining a fractured right orbit and a
sub-conjunctival haemorrhage (under the lining of the eye) as well as
multiple lacerations on the face.
Amnesty International is deeply
concerned that the government of Zimbabwe
has repeatedly failed to protect
and respect the rights of citizens to
engage in peaceful demonstration and
to enjoy freedom of expression,
assembly and association. The government has
also failed to implement the
recommendations contained in the resolution
adopted by African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights in November 2005
as well as those contained in the
report of its 2002 Fact Finding
Mission.
The events that started on 11 March represents a further
deterioration of
the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and require that the
government take
effective measures to bring to an end the ongoing and grave
human rights
violations. I therefore call on you to:
a..
Immediately lift the ban on public meetings imposed by police on 20
February
2007.
b.. End the human rights violations by the police and other law
enforcement officials and ensure that police officers abide by the highest
standards of professionalism and respect for human rights. The Government of
Zimbabwe must cease to use the police and other law enforcement officials
for political purposes, including for the suppression of peaceful public
assemblies and the persecution of opposition parties and human rights
defenders.
c.. Ensure that the police conduct their duties in a manner
consistent
with respect for internationally and regionally recognised
standards of
human rights and policing, without discrimination. Police
officers should
operate in a manner consistent with international human
rights law and
standards, including the Southern African Regional Police
Chiefs
Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) Code of Conduct for Police
Officials,
Article 1 of which states that: "In the performance of their
duties, police
officials shall respect and protect human dignity and
maintain and uphold
all human rights for all persons.".
d.. Institute
an immediate, impartial and independent investigation of the
killing by riot
police of Gift Tandare on 11 March, the shootings of three
people by police
on 13 March and allegations of excessive use of force by
police while
dispersing demonstrators attempting to attend the public
meeting on 11
March. Those suspected to be responsible must be brought to
justice.
e.. Institute an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into
the
allegations of torture of MDC and civil society leaders and their
supporters. Those suspected to be responsible must be brought to justice
without further delay.
I would very much appreciate being informed of
the measures that the
Zimbabwean authorities would take to address the
matters raised in this
letter. I have also written about these matters to
the Minister of Home
Affairs, the Hon. Kembo
Mohadi.
The Raw Story
By
Clare Byrne
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday March
22, 2007
Johannesburg- Steven Friedman has a theory about why
South
Africa refuses to condemn the regime of Zimbabwean President
Robert
Mugabe.
"Democracy promotion has never been a core focus of our
foreign
policy, it has been at best a by-product," says the
associate
researcher at the Institute for Democracy in South
Africa.
This assertion about an African country celebrated for
having
pulled off a peaceful transition to democracy may sound
surprising,
but Friedman offers a compelling explanation.
"The
anti-apartheid 'struggle' was essentially a battle against
racism. Democracy
was a happy by-product, which the post-1994
government has largely protected.
But it was a means to an end -
freeing black people from subordination - not
an end in itself,"
Friedman wrote in the Business Day newspaper
Thursday.
South Africa's refusal to condemn human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe
is therefore not a diplomatic "aberration" as many would have it
but
the continuation of a foreign policy focused more on bigotry
than,
say, black-on-black oppression.
Defeating that bigotry involves
showing the world that African
countries can be successful. With regard to
Zimbabwe, South African
President Thabo Mbeki's eagerness to distance himself
from white
bigots who gloat over the country's demise explains his
kid-glove
treatment.
"It creates an unfortunate defensive reaction: If
the white bigots
are attacking this guy (Robert Mugabe) we're (South
African
government) not going to join in," Friedman said in an interview
with
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Mbeki's silence on Zimbabwe has
infuriated and puzzled in equal
measures. Most feel, like Friedman, that
South Africa's reticence on
the ruthlessness of the Mugabe regime is a show
of solidarity with a
former liberation-struggle era ally.
Others point
to another motive. South Africa is also grappling
with the land reform issue.
Thirteen years after the African National
Congress (ANC) came to power, only
16 per cent of South African land
is in white hands. With a lot left to do,
South Africa is loathe to
criticize a country that got it wrong.
Still
others point to pride. When appointed his point man on
Zimbabwe by President
George W Bush in 2003, Mbeki - foolishly
perhaps - promised quick results. A
change of strategy now might be
seen as an admission of
failure.
Whatever the reason, Mbeki's silence has been deafening.
While
world leaders were last week lining up to condemn Mugabe for
the
crackdown on his political opponents, Mbeki was busy penning a
letter
to the nation - about white racism in South Africa.
His letter
was timed to coincide with the country's Human Rights
Day, but many felt he
should have used the occasion to address
atrocities in Zimbabwe.
South
Africa's official reaction to the shooting dead by
Zimbabwean police of a
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) supporter and beating of
several others, including MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, began with a curt "we
have noted the developments
in Zimbabwe."
Under pressure from public
opinion, Pretoria grudgingly turned up
the heat, with spokespersons
expressing "concern," then "extreme
concern" and finally, Wednesday,
declaring the beating of opposition
leaders "unacceptable."
While
assuring critics the government was in constant contact with
both Zimbabwe's
ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC, a government spokesman
reiterated Wednesday that
"only dialogue among the main political
protagonists" could bring about a
lasting solution.
Hard to have dialogue with a government whose agents
beat you for
trying to hold a peaceful prayer rally, MDC supporters have
reacted
indignantly.
"You'd think the ANC liberated South Africa all
on its own," a
Business Day editorial noted wryly.
South Africa's
stance on Zimbabwe echoes it controversial vote on
Myanmar in January when it
joined forces with Russia and China to
quash a United Nations Security
Council resolution condemning human
rights violations in the junta-ruled
nation. South Africa said the
council was incompetent to deal with what he
called an "internal
matter."
When requested for a security council
briefing on Zimbabwe last
week, the current president of the council, South
African ambassador
Dumisani Kumalo similarly replied that the situation was
no threat to
international peace, therefore outside the council's
remit.
Whether further violence in Zimbabwe could spill over
into
neighbouring countries is still impossible to tell, but
further
unrest could accelerate the human exodus from what Zambian
President
Levy Mwanawasa called a "sinking Titanic."
Some three
million Zimbabwean migrants are already thought to have
made their home in
South Africa, where the unwelcome competition they
generate for low-paid jobs
is the source of growing resentment.
The Financial Times advised South
Africa recently: "The choice is
simple: get involved now, while the
Zimbabwean state can be saved, or
get unavoidably involved later, in rescuing
a failed state."
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
The Citizen
HARARE - Prominent Zimbabwean rights activist Lovemore
Madhuku, who
was badly beaten by police in a crackdown 11 days ago, Thursday
said he was
ready to die in the fight for political reform.
Those
who committed the brutalities were entertaining the view that
their wanton
acts would deter us from our crusade of pushing for a new
constitution,
Madhuku, the chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA)
said.
"I wish to make it clear to them and others that we are prepared
to
die for a new constitution," he said in a statement.
Madhuku was
one of more than 40 civil and political rights activists
arrested on March
11 as they tried to attend a prayer rally in Harares
Highfield
district.
He, like opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was badly
beaten by
police, suffering head injuries and a fractured arm.
Meanwhile, the usually moderate Zimbabwe Council of Churches Thursday
warned
that the politically tense situation in the southern African country
could
degenerate into bloodshed.
If this state of affairs continues, we
foresee a situation that will
degenerate into civil unrest where there will
be a lot of bloodshed, the
council said in a statement.
It also
warned that criminal elements could manipulate the situation
to carry out
criminal activities under the guise of political activity.
The group
called for dialogue and tolerance among political parties in
the country.
-Sapa-dpa
Last updated 22/03/2007 18:07:40
The Telegraph
By
Richard Holt and Fiona Govan
Last Updated: 4:06pm GMT
22/03/2007
The Foreign Office has begun preparations to
work with a new
government in Zimbabwe once President Robert Mugabe leaves
office.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We're beginning to
think about
what we could contribute following a transition and we're
preparing support
options including economic and humanitarian
activity."
The former colonial power is looking to the future as
international
pressure on Mugabe builds following increased violence against
the
opposition and an economy heading for collapse.
Unnamed
senior officials at the Foreign Office reportedly believe that
2007 may be a
"pivotal" year for Zimbabwe.
Tony Blair described recent events in
the country as "appalling,
disgraceful and utterly tragic for the people of
Zimbabwe".
advertisement
The Prime Minister said that he
wanted the European Union to widen
political sanctions against the regime,
which were imposed in 2002.
He said Mr Mugabe's actions damaged the
reputation of the whole region
and urged African leaders to take a tougher
line with the 83-year-old head
of state.
"Let's be very clear:
the solution to Zimbabwe ultimately will not
come simply through the
pressure applied by Britain," Mr Blair said. "That
pressure has got to be
applied within Africa, in particular within the
African Union."
The Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, likened Zimbabwe to the
"sinking
Titanic" and said it was time to consider changing the policy of
"quiet
diplomacy" with Harare adopted by his government and South Africa.
His comments came after the US ambassador to Harare, Christopher Dell,
publicly branded Mr Mugabe a "despot dictator" and suggested that his long
years in power were coming to an end.
"The man is in a corner
and he knows it," said Mr Dell. "What we are
really looking at is a failing
regime that is increasingly wobbly.
"The key new element in the
equation that has become obvious over the
past 10 to 12 days is the spirit
of resistance, some would say defiance, on
the part of the people. They
believe they have nothing left to lose."
In London yesterday 10
members of the British branch of the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change were arrested for staging a sit-in at the
Zimbabwean High Commission
after entering the building to stage a protest at
the state-sponsored
violence towards their colleagues at home.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished:
March 22, 2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe - An outspoken Zimbabwean
Catholic archbishop urged his
countrymen to fill the streets to protest an
upsurge in state-orchestrated
violence and said he was willing to lead a
campaign of peaceful resistance
to force President Robert Mugabe to step
down.
Zimbabweans should abandon cowardice, Archbishop Pius Ncube told a
gathering
of clerics, pro-democracy activists and diplomats, most from
Western
countries, in Harare Thursday.
"I am ready to stand in front.
We must be ready to stand, even in front of
blazing guns," he
said.
"The biggest problem is Zimbabweans are cowards, myself included.
We must
get off our comfortable seats and suffer with the people," Ncube
said.
Ncube has long been an ardent critic of Mugabe, 83, and his ruling
Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front party. The archbishop's
efforts in
the past to rally Zimbabweans have not led to mass protests, but
his latest
comments come at a time when the opposition appears particularly
determined.
Ncube noted two deaths in political violence since police
crushed a prayer
meeting in Harare on March 11, and said the nation's
economic collapse at
the hands of its rulers killed many more impoverished
citizens.
Opposition activist Gift Tandare, 31, was shot dead when police
fired tear
gas, live ammunition and water canons to stop a March 11 prayer
meeting they
said was a banned political protest. Thursday, the Christian
Alliance of
Zimbabwe, head of a grouping of church, civic and opposition
groups that
organized the prayer meeting, reported the second death, saying
30-year-old
Itai Manyeruki died in the hospital from injuries suffered March
11.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change, and another 46 activists were hospitalized after the
arrest,
beatings and alleged torture by police breaking up the prayer
meeting. The
violence prompted a world outcry.
Two activists injured
in the police crackdown, Sekai Holland and Grace
Kwinje, were freed by a
court order Wednesday and allowed to fly to
neighboring South Africa on
Thursday for treatment unavailable in Zimbabwe.
Holland and Kwinje, who
were admitted to a Johannesburg hospital Thursday,
had been detained
Saturday at the main Harare airport when they first tried
to fly to South
Africa for treatment.
Holland's husband, Jim, told The Associated Press
in Johannesburg that while
police were beating his wife they bragged that
Central Bank Governor Gideon
Gono paid them 1 million Zimbabwe dollars
(US$42) to carry out the attacks
and gave them a meal allowance of 100,000
Zimbabwe dollars (US$4).
"It is worth less than 100 U.S. dollars these
days but they were very proud
of the fact that they were being paid money to
carry out this torture," said
Holland.
Ncube, the head of the western
Bulawayo archdiocese, said Thursday that
Zimbabwe had entered its eighth
year of political and economic turmoil since
Mugabe ordered an often violent
land redistribution program to seize
white-owned commercial farms and hand
them over to blacks in 2000.
The program disrupted the agriculture-based
economy in the former regional
breadbasket, leading to acute shortages of
food, hard currency, gasoline,
medicines and other essential
imports.
"We have to stand up against this oppression. The time for
radicalism is
now," Ncube said. "If we gather a crowd of 20,000, the
government will not
use its guns" to kill mothers, sisters and
brothers.
Concern about events in Zimbabwe has been growing in
neighboring countries.
Malawian church leaders and human rights activists
held a candlelit vigil
and prayers Thursday "to beseech God to intercede in
the deteriorating human
rights and political situation" in
Zimbabwe.
A similar coalition in Botswana staged a demonstration to urge
both the
government and the Southern African Development Community to take a
tougher
line.
Zimbabwe has come in for international condemnation,
but southern African
leaders, except for Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa,
have been muted in
their criticism of Mugabe.
Mugabe's violent
clampdown on opposition activists was not on the agenda of
a meeting in
Lesotho Thursday of the Southern African Development Community,
but it was
on the minds of delegates, South African Deputy Foreign Minister
Aziz Pahad
said.
"We have said quite consistently that we call for the respect of
the law by
all sides and we call for no violence against anybody," Pahad
said in
Lesotho. "We cannot interfere in the internal problems of Zimbabwe
except to
help them to solve their problems."
In London Thursday, a
senior Foreign Office official said Britain was
prepared to help Zimbabwe
recover from its economic and political chaos only
if Mugabe's successor
commits to reform.
Many analysts say Mugabe's immediate successors are
likely to come from
within his own party, rather than the reform-minded
opposition. That would
present the international community with the
difficult question of whether
to work with men and women tainted by
association with Mugabe's repression,
a cloud of corruption, or
both.
The British Foreign Office official, speaking on condition of
anonymity in
line with ministry policy, said Britain and others would want
to work with
Mugabe's successors to stabilize Zimbabwe's economy and bolster
its
democratic institutions.
But they would only engage, he said, if
the successors were committed to
reforming the economy, restoring rule of
law and ending political violence
and working toward free and fair
elections.
Forbes
Associated Press
By
DONNA BRYSON 03.22.07, 12:31 PM ET
Britain is prepared to help Zimbabwe
recover from its economic and political
chaos only if Robert Mugabe's
successor commits to reform, a senior foreign
office official said
Thursday.
Recent street clashes between the Zimbabwean president's
security forces and
his political opponents have brought new attention to
the crisis in the
southern African country, and to the possibility Mugabe
could be toppled.
Many analysts say his immediate successors are likely
to come from within
his own party, rather than the reform-minded opposition.
That would present
the international community with the difficult question
of whether to work
with men and women tainted by association with Mugabe's
repression, a cloud
of corruption, or both.
The foreign office
official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with
ministry policy,
said Britain and others would want to work with Mugabe's
successors to
stabilize Zimbabwe's economy and bolster its democratic
institutions.
But they would only engage if the successors were
committed to reforming the
economy, restoring rule of law and ending
political violence and working
toward free and fair elections.
"If
they agreed to that, then I think the international community would
re-engage fairly vigorously," the official said, noting that the steps he
outlined were similar to prescriptions for improving governance in Africa
embraced by the African Union and the Southern African Development
community.
Britain, the colonial power in Zimbabwe until the
83-year-old Mugabe took
power in 1980, has been one of his sharpest
critics.
Mugabe's detractors inside and outside Zimbabwe accuse him of
repressing
dissidents and independent media and of overseeing a
corruption-ridden
regime responsible for an economic meltdown that began
with his orders in
2000 for white-owned farms to be handed over to
blacks.
Many of the farms ended up in the hands of Mugabe's cronies, and
what was
once the region's breadbasket is now a basket case. Thee government
is
struggling to maintain roads, rails and hospitals and inflation and
unemployment are soaring.
Ordinary citizens have become increasingly
emboldened in their protests, but
Mugabe's security forces have responded
brutally.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic
Change
opposition party, was among scores of activists injured as police
broke up
an opposition meeting earlier this month, and that was followed by
what
opposition officials described as a purge of their followers in their
urban
strongholds.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called
for a protest strike April
3-4. It was unclear, however, if the opposition
could face down the police
and mount the kind of sustained and widespread
protests it would take to
unseat Mugabe.
A more serious threat to
Mugabe could come from within his ruling ZANU-PF
party. Pragmatists within
the party have likely been sobered by the economic
crisis and the country's
increasing international isolation, and may decide
the only way out is to
ease out Mugabe.
The push could come from one of two factions - one led
by former
parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, and another by Vice
President
Joyce Muguru, whose husband is a powerful ex-army commander. With
Mugabe
vowing to run again in presidential elections set for 2008, this year
could
be pivotal.
By Violet Gonda
22 March 2007
A political committee of
the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific - European Union
joint parliamentary
assembly, resolved Wednesday to send a mission to
Zimbabwe to investigate
the recent attacks on members of the opposition and
civic
groups.
Thokozani Khupe, the Vice President of the Tsvangirai-MDC
attended the
meeting in place of Nelson Chamisa. Chamisa is the opposition
MP who was
viciously attacked by suspected state security agents last Sunday
at the
Harare International Airport en route to Brussels. Chamisa regularly
attends
the meetings of the ACP-EU as do ZANU PF MPs.
Khupe said the
ACP-EU parliamentarians also issued a resolution condemning
the brutal
attacks on the political activists in Zimbabwe.
There was an outcry from
EU MPs when it was reported that two banned Zanu PF
MPs, Walter Mzembi and
former Minister Edward Chindori Chininga, had been
granted visas to attend
the meeting. The Belgium government is reported to
have cancelled the visas.
This resulted in the Mugabe regime sending little
known two Senators from
Harare, Forbes Magadu and Clarissah Muchengeti
including Albert Chimbindi
from the Zimbabwe embassy in Brussels.
The ACP-EU committee asked both
the MDC and ZANU PF representatives to give
their side of the story and
Senator Forbes Magadu is reported to have merely
said the attack on Chamisa
was unfortunate as he is a 'good guy.'
Khupe told the committee: "I am
here because our Secretary for Information
and Publicity and Kuwadzana
Member of Parliament Hon Nelson Chamisa, who was
supposed to be here, is
agonisingly lying in a hospital . having been
brutally assaulted by members
of Robert Mugabes Central Intelligence
Organisation at the Harare
International Airport. This was in the close
proximity of his fellow Members
of Parliament from ZANU PF who are in this
meeting and should be hanging
their heads in shame."
She appealed to the African delegates in
particular saying the crisis in
Zimbabwe is an African problem, which in the
main must be resolved by
Africans. "We need the solidarity of our fellow
Africans when going through
such violence and oppression, and we welcome
those few who have spoken in
condemnation against these abuses and rights
violations. It is only when we
stand in solidarity around democratic
principles and the rule of law that
any nation can succeed."
The MDC
Vice President told us the delegates agreed to call upon SADC
leaders to
condemn what is happening in Zimbabwe and to intervene to find a
solution to
the crisis.
But observers are sceptical about the full commitment of the
ACP countries.
Sources said the body's Bureau committee, which sets the
agenda for the
parliamentarians, had issued a weak joint declaration on
Nelson Chamisa the
previous day. Some of the African and Caribbean MPs were
just not willing to
issue a strong statement condemning the rights abuses in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the UK House of Commons urged Britain to take out
tougher
sanctions against the Mugabe regime after it emerged that
Chindori-Chininga
had tried to dodge the sanctions. This former minister of
mines and mining
development is a regular visitor to France despite the EU
travel sanctions,
and had duped Belgium immigration officials by applying
for the visa using
only one of his two family names.
The EU targeted
sanctions were renewed for another year in February and more
names of
Mugabe's cronies and MPs, like Walter Mzembe, were added to the
list early
this week. The restrictions include an arms embargo, travel bans
and asset
freezes on Mugabe and other top officials.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
The Citizen
By RAPHAEL TENTHANI
BLANTYRE, Malawi - A
coalition of Malawian church leaders and human
rights activists Thursday
held a candlelit vigil and prayers "to beseech God
to intercede in the
deteriorating human rights and political situation" in
Zimbabwe.
A
similar coalition in Botswana also planned to demonstrate to urge
both the
government and the Southern African Development Community to take a
tougher
line against the brutal clampdown against opposition supporters.
"We
express our profound concern and outrage at the horrific events
that have
recently transpired in Zimbabwe, which have resulted in opposition
leaders
being killed, beaten, and traumatized by a ruling elite that appear
to have
no tolerance whatsoever, for any dissenting views, and are prepared
to go to
any lengths to preserve their grip on power," read a statement
issued at the
vigil.
About 50 people attended the prayer meeting, held in a darkened
room
to symbolize the suffering in Zimbabwe. They warned the escalating
crisis
would have "massive negative effects" on impoverished Malawi, which
has
received an estimated 100,000 Zimbabwe refugees in the past year and
looks
set to absorb even more in the coming months.
Zimbabwe has
come in for international condemnation for the brutal
break-up a prayer
meeting in Harare and the arrest and subsequent beating of
opposition
leaders. But Southern African leaders, except for Zambian
President Levy
Mwanawasa, have been muted in their criticism of President
Robert Mugabe
despite the impact of Zimbabwe's meltdown on their own
economies.
The Botswana Civil Society Coalition on Zimbabwe planned a rally late
afternoon in front of the headquarters of the Southern African Development
Community in Gabarone in solidarity with victims of the repression in
Zimbabwe. -Sapa-AP
Last updated 22/03/2007 18:07:42
Botswana News Agency - 3/22/2007
By
Mothusi Soloko GABORONE - A mass demonstration against the human
rights
abuses in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa's silent diplomacy policy is to
take
place in Gaborone today. The demonstrations will start at Gaborone
Secondary
School grounds. Briefing members of the media this week, the
chairman of
BOCONGO, Mr Baboloki Tlale, said a local civil society movement
has been
formed to deal with the Zimbabwean crisis. Although the movement has
not
been given a name, participants suggested that it should be named
the
Botswana Civil Society Coalition on Zimbabwe (BOCISCOZ). However, the
base
of the movement as well as its committee members were still to be
decided.
Participants at the conference, which included the Executive
Director of
MISA, Mr Emang Maphanyane, and Ditshwanelo Director, Ms Alice
Mogwe,
condemned the Zimbabwean government for the degeneration of the rule
of law
and human rights abuses. They also criticised it for its
shrinking
democratic, religious, political and media freedom. "Our brothers
and
sisters are being brutalised by a regime that has lost its mind," Mr
Tlale
said. The President of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Mr
Nicholas
Mkaronda, urged Southern African Development Community (SADC)
leaders to
listen to those who elected them into office. "Parliamentarian
should also
talk about this issue with their constituents," said Mr Mkaronda,
adding "we
are not asking them to invade Zimbabwe but to exert pressure on
Harare to
abandon its brutal laws." The local civil society also suggested
the holding
of inter religious services throughout Botswana to protest
against the
Zimbabwean government. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the
British Foreign
Secretary, Mrs Margaret Bechett, states that "for those of us
--
governments, NGOs, members of the public -- who have watched the tragedy
of
Zimbabwe unfold over recent years, this latest appalling attack comes
as
little suprise". It says the attack was a synptom of a country in
crisis,
adding that an economy was free for all -- GDP down 50 per cent since
2000
and inflation set to top 5 000 per cent. The statement says Britain is
doing
what it can to alleviate the suffering of Zimbabweans while making sure
that
assistance was not being exploited to prop-up the regime itself. In
the
past, Britain gave more than 140 million pounds to Zimbabwe directly
to
humanitarian assistance projects and to help combabt the HIV/AIDS
epidemic
which has infected one in every five Zimbabweans. The statement
states that
Britain was playing a leading role in the EU to isolate President
Robert
Mugabe's regime. "We have targeted the people at the top rather than
impose
wider sanctions that would harm the very people we are trying to
help," said
the statement. Furthermore the statement states that Britain
wants reforms
in Zimbabwe and that the UK cared about policies and not
personalities as Mr
Mugabe wanted the world to believe. BOPA
BBC
By Paul
Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News
website
The British and some other Western governments
believe that the most likely
way for President Robert Mugabe to leave office
in Zimbabwe is by a "palace
coup" led by factions in his own
party.
A military-type coup is thought to be unlikely. There would be
an
accumulation of overwhelming pressure instead.
However, it is also
accepted that he might face down his critics and contest
and win another
six-year term as president next year, despite being already
83.
Opposition too weak
Foreign diplomats do not
appear to think that the opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai is strong
enough at the moment to effect a change. "The
opposition was swept off the
streets," said one.
They are therefore looking to people inside the
ruling Zanu-PF party.
The names of a former general, Solomon Mujuru
(whose wife Joyce is a
vice-president), and Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former
head of security, are
being mentioned as possible future leaders, with a
former finance minister,
Simba Makoni, as a prime minister.
And
signals are going out that there would have to be a change of direction
not
just of personality for Zimbabwe to re-enter the international
fold.
"2007 is a pivotal year", a senior British official told reporters
in
London.
The problem with that statement is that there have been
pivotal years before
and nothing has
changed.
Differences
This time, in the British view, it is
different.
There is the 2008 election coming up and that requires
decisions.
There is economic catastrophe, in which inflation could reach
5,000% later
this year.
There is internal dissent within Zanu-PF,
which in December refused Mr
Mugabe's request to stay on until
2010.
There is civil unrest and there is Zimbabwe's international
isolation,
including growing isolation from its neighbours.
The
British government believes there are several scenarios for a Mugabe
exit -
he could negotiate his departure, he could be pushed out or there
could be a
civil explosion.
The most likely scenarios are seen to be the first two,
his departure
engineered in some way by his own party.
And
Western governments are now drawing up what they called "principles of
re-engagement".
These are the basic conditions under which they would
help a Mugabe
successor.
A new leader would have to stabilise the
economy, by ceasing to print money
for a start, return to a rule of law, end
state violence and eventually hold
an election.
The concept of a
peacekeeping force to help in that process has not been
ruled
out.
Britain is quietly helping human rights lawyers,
though it denies funding
the opposition.
It is also gathering
information about violence by the government, has given
aid totalling £150m
over the last few years and is encouraging Zimbabwe's
international
isolation.
However, it does not want to give Mr Mugabe a stick with which
to beat it,
so is preventing its ambassador Andrew Pocock, who is in London
at the
moment, from speaking out publicly, unlike his American counterpart
Christopher Dell.
Political football
One obstacle to
bringing international pressure on President Mugabe is that
he is regarded
as the liberator of southern Africa.
South Africa has tried quiet
diplomacy but is unwilling to engage in public
condemnation.
It could
cut off electricity to Zimbabwe but is reluctant to do so.
The
British hope may sound far-fetched but it is that South Africa will want
change in time for the football World Cup it is hosting in
2010.
But nobody is counting on such change.
Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
VOA
By Joe De Capua
Washington
22 March
2007
Observers have differing views over the long-range affects
of the current
government crackdown in Zimbabwe. Is the government
consolidating its
control further - or is the opposition becoming a real
threat to President
Mugabe.
One of those watching developments is
Siphamandla Zondi an analyst with the
Institute for Global Change in South
Africa. From Johannesburg, he spoke to
VOA English to Africa Service
reporter Joe De Capua about the violence in
Zimbabwe.
"My view is
that it is just another level in the continuing deterioration of
the
situation in Zimbabwe that started as far back as the beginning of the
1990's when you had massive student uprisings and workers picketing all over
the place.so I see this as just a logical step in the continued
consolidation of state power and the use of state power to stifle opposition
and discontent. Just another symptom of a state that feels pushed into a
corner. That is frustrated. That is in panic. That treats everything as some
kind of a political ploy from some big brother somewhere," he
says.
Is the opposition a true threat to President Mugabe? Zondi says,
"We have to
accept that it is not yet the tipping point. It's not yet the
beginning of a
collapse, the beginning of a crisis. It's certain not so for
a number of
reasons. One is that the ruling party is still well entrenched
in Zimbabwe
politics.and is assisted by the failure, dismal failure of the
opposition to
build its base and use it to launch an alternative in
Zimbabwe."
He says that external pressure won't work on Mugabe until
there's a strong,
united opposition that can challenge the ruling ZANU-PF
party in rural areas
and in ZANU-PF strongholds. That opposition needs the
support of SADC, the
Southern African Development Community.
The First Post, UK
Moses Moyo
Albert Dube is a 34-year-old Zimbabwean police constable
stationed in the
country's second city of Bulawayo, and he is a man who is
ashamed of his
past and fearful for his future.
When he joined the
force 12 years ago, his duties covered routine street
patrols and crime
prevention. Today he only leaves barracks to take part in
police actions,
beating and arresting peaceful demonstrators. And many of
those he assaults
and threatens are his neighbours, friends, relatives, even
close members of
his own family.
"I am in a Catch 22 situation," he tells me, when we met
in a small drinking
club in the suburb of Makokoba. "People are very angry
with us. They accuse
us of being Mugabe's dogs. But we have to carry out our
orders."
He describes how in a police action against demonstrators in
Bulawayo
recently he came face to face with his own father-in-law, and beat
him with
his baton. On an earlier occasion he broke the thigh of a man he
knew well.
"Now, as well as the baton, I have been told I must be armed
with a
high-powered rifle. That means I will be expected to shoot
people."
He looks round nervously as he talks. "Who are you frightened of
- the
police or the local people?" I ask him.
"Both," he says, going
on to recount how his unit roughly arrested a heavily
pregnant woman caught
up in a demonstration a month ago. The woman went into
labour in the charge
room, and is only now recovering in hospital. Her son
is not expected to
live.
Constable Dube has other problems. His wife Betty is a staunch
supporter of
the opposition MDC party, and home life is fraught with
tension. "She says
it is her or the police. Either I leave the force, or she
leaves me," he
says, and there are tears in his eyes.
If he does
quit, he will be in good company: police numbers have dropped by
10,000 in
recent months, many leaving because of poor pay and conditions. As
I
reported for The First Post yesterday, President Mugabe is having to
'borrow' nearly 3,000 policemen from Angola in return for diamond mining
rights.
The US ambassador, Christopher Dell, says he detects a new
mood among
Zimbabweans. "People have turned a corner, they are not afraid
any more." He
also claims that the violence we are suffering is causing a
split in the
security forces - that ordinary police officers are reluctant
to carry out
the attacks and beatings expected of them.
But
reluctance and refusal are poles apart if you have to earn a living -
however small - in a country where inflation is approaching 2,000 per cent.
A police salary, small though it is, and police food rations, unreliable
though they may be, still make all the difference.
Constable Albert
Dube has no desire to attack his fellow countrymen. But
when on April 2 the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions takes to the streets
in protest against
Mugabe's regime, Dube will be in the police line
confronting them. Armed
with his baton, and his high-powered rifle.
FIRST POSTED MARCH 22,
2007
Cape Argus (Cape
Town)
March 22, 2007
Posted to the web March 22, 2007
Zama
Feni
Cape Town
As Zimbabwe's political repression and police brutality
intensifies,
Zimbabweans who have sought refuge in the city say they are too
scared to
visit their families under the current volatile political
climate.
"I won't risk my life. I will wait till the current wave of
brutality calms
down," said 35 year-old Simon Tendai, a Zimbabwean who
trades on Greenmarket
Square.
"I just miss my family, especially
my eight-year-old daughter - I wish I
could bring them down
here.
"The turmoil in my country is a result of one very old crazy
fellow. South
Africa has failed to convince President Robert Mugabe that his
strong-arm
tactics are crazy. Other African leaders are not brave enough to
convince
the old man - my only hope would be to see him (Mugabe) no
more.
"Mugabe, whom we once all hailed as a liberator, will go down in
history as
one of Africa's greatest tyrants, just like Idi Amin of Uganda,
Mobutu
Sese-Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) - you
know
their story," he said.
Another Zimbabwean, who identified
herself as Grace, said: "I respect
President Mugabe, but he has overstayed
his welcome. I respect the ruling
party, Zanu-PF, (but) I wonder if there is
anyone brave enough to topple him
(Mugabe). Zanu-PF has some fine brains and
potential leaders."
Grace, whose two teenage boys are in Zimbabwe, said:
"When I visit my
family, they cry every time I board a bus back to South
Africa. And when I
am here eating all the nice things, I always think of
them."
Grace said she realised that living conditions in shacks around
the city
were not very good.
"But most shack dwellers and some
jobless men here sleep with full stomachs,
cook with electricity in a shack
- a typical Zimbabwean woman in the slums
outside Harare cries for bread.
Electricity, a can of Coke and a bed are
luxuries."
Rhys Jimanga, 31,
who hails from the small town of Kwekwe, about 200
kilometres from the
capital Harare, said he had arrived here in 2003.
On the banning of
political rallies, Jimanga said: "I could not believe it
when uniformed men
and women, bestowed with restoring law and order, beat
opposition supporters
like that - anyway, their actions were a reflection of
the stinking attitude
of the head of the state, Robert Mugabe, towards
opposing
voices.
"You cannot not believe how much my friends and brothers want to
come to
South Africa - the political situation there (in Zimbabwe) is
pathetic, and
the casualties are the poorest people," he said.
Asked
how it felt to be associated with the green, black, gold and red
Zimbabwean
flag which was hanging on the front of his car, he said: "I am a
Zimbabwean,
I love my country. This (flag) is the symbol of my identity -
but I'm just
fed up with the ruling elite and its terrible habits."