http://af.reuters.com
Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:36pm GMT
*
Major MDC rally scrapped for football tournament
* Minister faces charges
over tender contract
* MDC says Mugabe steps up crackdown on opponents
(Adds police banning
opposition rally)
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE,
March 25 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police on Friday cancelled an
opposition rally
set for the weekend and arrested a cabinet minister,
deepening antagonism
between the president and the prime minister's party
ahead of a possible
election.
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are supposed to be
partners in a unity government but it is coming apart at the
seams.
MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti told a news conference that
police had for
third time this month cancelled a major rally called by his
party for
Sunday, saying Mugabe's ZANU-PF had organised a football
tournament at the
same venue.
"Democracy is under siege because of
toxic activities of our (ZANU-PF)
colleagues whose intention is (the)
collapse of the global political
agreement and parliament and to force
through an election this year," he
said.
There was no immediate
comment from the police or ZANU-PF.
The MDC said Energy and Power
Development Minister Elton Mangoma, who was on
bail on a graft charge over a
fuel import deal, was arrested on Friday for
the second time in two
weeks.
Mangoma, a Tsvangirai ally and deputy treasurer of the MDC, is
accused of
forcing officials to cancel a tender contract for a power supply
pre-payment
system. Mangoma's lawyer Selby Hwacha said the minister would
plead not
guilty.
"As far as we are concerned this is part of a
harassment campaign that
ZANU-PF has embarked on against our structures, and
it is the type of
campaign that we have suffered before every general
election," an MDC
official told Reuters.
Tsvangirai urged regional
leaders last week to intervene to save Zimbabwe's
unity government from
threats posed by a spate of political violence against
MDC
supporters.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe were forced into a coalition two years
ago after a
disputed poll in 2008, which led to mass violence and a flood of
refugees
into neighbouring South Africa.
Relations between the
coalition rivals have worsened in the past two weeks
since police first
arrested Mangoma and the Supreme Court nullified the
election of another
Tsvangirai ally as speaker of parliament.
Police have also arrested
dozens of activists accused of plotting protests
against Mugabe similar to
those that toppled long-serving leaders in Egypt
and Tunisia.
Critics
say Mugabe, 87 and in power since independence in 1980, has used
brutal
policing and vote rigging to keep his grip on power despite a deep
economic
crisis.
Mugabe denies the charges, and accuses Western media of waging a
hate
campaign against him over his seizures of white-owned farms for
redistribution to black Zimbabweans.
Mugabe is pressing for fresh
elections this year, which analysts say will
favour his ZANU-PF party if no
major political reforms are put in place,
including a new constitution and
improved voter registration.
http://www.voanews.com
Peta Thornycroft |
Johannesburg March 25, 2011
ZANU-PF aligned Zimbabwe police officers
have arrested the country's energy
minister, and all but banned political
activities such as rallies by the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
while allowing those organized by
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
The energy minister, who is a
prominent member of the MDC, has been arrested
twice this month on
corruption charges that his lawyers
reject.
Police in Zimbabwe have again arrested the country's energy
minister Elton
Mangoma, this time as he traveled to work in Harare. He was
released on
bail last week on charges relating to a fuel deal he concluded
when
Zimbabwe's supplies ran short. He said after his release he had
informed
Mugabe about the deal. He was eventually released on
bail.
Now he has been arrested again, allegedly in connection with a deal
to buy
electrical equipment for the country.
His lawyer Selby Hwacha
confirmed the arrest Friday and said Mangoma was in
police cells in central
Harare and he denys the charges against his client.
Several human rights
organizations say that the Zimbabwe Republic Police
selectively arrest
suspects, mainly supporters of Tsvangirai's MDC, and do
insufficient
investigations before arresting suspects.
Eric Matinenga, a lawyer and
MDC minister for parliamentary and
constitutional affairs said there is a
record of what he called "malicious"
arrests in Zimbabwe.
"This
archaic business of you smell a rat, you arrest. You throw [that
idea]
away. You don't arrest and investigate. Where it is possible to bring
that
person to court at a convenient date that should be done. We know how
people
are so fond of wanting to parade these so called important people in
town in
police jeeps and trucks," said Matinenga.
The home affairs ministry is
controlled jointly by the MDC and ZANU-PF. MDC
co-home affairs minister
Theresa Makone says the police do not obey her
orders.
Zimbabwe's
present constitution says that the police commissioner, Augustine
Chihuri is
appointed by Mugabe.
There was no one available for comment at Zimbabwe
police headquarters in
Harare Friday.
Zimbabwe's police have also
effectively ended all public activity for the
Movement for Democratic Change
party.
President Mugabe's ZANU-PF supporters are regularly holding
rallies and
political events in a campaign to collect signatures for a
petition
protesting continued European Union and United States financial and
travel
sanctions against 163 mainly ZANU-PF leaders and a number of
businesses
including a few state companies.
A week ago, the MDC was
told first by police and then by the Harare High
Court it could not hold a
rally on an open field near the center of Harare
because ZANU-PF was holding
a rally nearby.
MDC lawyers went to the High Court asking for a ruling to
allow the rally
but Judge George Chiweshe refused permission.
Judge
Chiweshe was former chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Commission which
many
analysts criticized as being partisan towards ZANU-PF during the last
elections in 2008.
Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda told VOA that
ZANU-PF had not applied to the
City of Harare to hold the rally which police
claimed would clash with the
MDC event.
By the end of the day there
had been no ZANU-PF rally, but scores of
policemen and militant ZANU-PF
members gathered where the MDC hoped to hold
its peace rally.
There
were several scuffles and a few people, mostly members of the public
walking
through the field to catch buses claimed they had been attacked by
ZANU-PF
supporters.
Zimbabwe's laws demand that political parties inform police
when they wish
to hold a rally, but they do not need police permission to
hold rallies.
Alert:
Friday, 25
March 2011
The MDC People’s Peace Rally has been moved to Budiriro 1
shopping centre, Sunday 27 March, 10AM. Main speakers, President Tsvangirai and
the Real Change team. Say No to
Violence!! Yes to Peace!!
Together, united,
winning, voting for real change!!!
--
MDC Information &
Publicity Department
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
25 March
2011
The MDC’s co-Minister of Home Affairs, Theresa Makone, was forced
into
hiding on Friday, as the crackdown against Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s
party intensifies.
Makone and her MDC party believe she
will be the next official to face
arrest, along with at least five others.
She told the UK’s BBC news that she
was in hiding to avoid arrest in what
called a “state plot.” She said that
she had been told that at least one
other MP, as well as the MDC’s nominated
Speaker of Parliament Lovemore
Moyo, faced imminent arrest.
These threats come as Energy Minister Elton
Mangoma was re-arrested on
Friday, on undisclosed charges. Last Sunday state
media had reported that
police were again after Mangoma in connection with
the cancellation of a
tender for the purchase of electricity equipment. He
was first arrested on
March 10th and charged with abuse of office, over a
fuel purchase from a
South African company.
Political analyst
Professor John Makumbe said this onslaught against the MDC
is a deliberate
effort by ZANU PF to “whittle down the numbers the MDC has
in Parliament
ahead of the election of a new speaker.” The vote was
unilaterally postponed
this week by ZANU PF’s Clerk of Parliament, Austin
Zvoma, after the Supreme
Court nullified the MDC-T’s Lovemore Moyo, who had
been elected in
2008.
The vote is now set to go ahead next week Tuesday, but Makumbe said
that
ZANU PF will ensure that the MDC does not have enough numbers to get a
majority vote in favour of Moyo’s return to the seat.
Makumbe said
this was a critical time for the MDC, who he said “should be
exercising some
muscle and saying once and for all that they can’t take this
anymore.” But
he said the party appears disorganised and without a plan.
“This is
unfortunately a classic demonstration of how weak the MDC is in the
government. They should be mobilising its supporters in the streets and
calling for public action against what ZANU PF is blatantly doing,” Makumbe
said.
Minister Mangoma’s original arrest earlier this month drew an
angry reaction
from MDC leader Tsvangirai, who called for new elections and
said it was
time for a “divorce” in the two-year-old unity government.
Tsvangirai has
since said that the government was under the control of “dark
and sinister
forces,” a statement backed up by the MDC’s Priscilla
Misihairambwi-Mushonga
who said there had been a ‘coup’ in
Zimbabwe.
Minister Makone has also said that the Global Political
Agreement, which
formed the basis of the unity government, had proved to be
an “atrocious and
useless” arrangement which did not empower anyone other
than ZANU PF. She
also admitted to NewsDay that she has no control of the
police, who have
been openly displaying their partisan nature by only
arresting MDC
supporters and members.
Makone said it was hopeless to
expect SADC to resolve the political impasse
in Zimbabwe because ZANU PF had
all the power in its grip. ZANU PF’s Rugare
Gumbo then reacted on Thursday
by saying Makone should “make her authority
felt in the police force,” and
if for any reason she fails to do that, she
should leave the post of Home
Affairs Minister.
“Makone and (co-minister Kembo) Mohadi are the ones who
control the police
and she must not start blaming other people on issues
they are not linked
to. If she cannot control the police, what is she doing
there? Why does she
waste people’s time? She must leave the post,” said
Gumbo.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance Guma
25 March
2011
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is set to meet South African
President
Jacob Zuma in Durban on Saturday, as part of his regional tour of
SADC
states. The MDC leader has been briefing SADC leaders about the
collapsing
coalition government, asking them for help in constructing a
roadmap towards
free and fair elections.
Tsvangirai is expected to
brief Zuma on the worsening situation including
the arbitrary arrests of
MDC-T cabinet ministers and MP’s and the state
sponsored violence and
intimidation targeting his supporters. The trip is
also part of a diplomatic
offensive ahead of the SADC Troika Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security
meeting next week in Zambia.
Last week Tsvangirai met the head of that
SADC Troika, Zambian President
Rupiah Banda. The MDC leader later travelled
to the Mozambican capital
Maputo, where he met President Armando Guebuza
whose country is also a
member of the Troika. Tsvangirai later met King
Mswati of Swaziland and
President Ian Khama of Botswana.
A senior
party official told us the PM is trying to get leaders in the SADC
region to
establish an election roadmap, amid signs the marriage of
convenience with
ZANU PF has all but collapsed. “It’s clear Zuma has failed
to exert any
influence on Mugabe to implement the power sharing deal so the
least we can
try and get from him is a credible roadmap for free and fair
elections,” the
official told us.
Tsvangirai is said to want a clearly laid out role for
SADC in the elections
and has targeted further trips to Angola, Namibia, the
DRC and Tanzania
before the crucial Troika meeting in Livingstone,
Zambia.
Last week Tsvangirai said SADC should not stand back and watch
events in
Zimbabwe develop into full fledged chaos. “The people of Zimbabwe
want a
guarantee that they will be allowed to vote for parties and leaders
of their
choice in a free environment,” he said.
Several quarters
have already urged the MDC to broaden the scope of
intervention and try and
get the United Nations to play a key role in
resolving the crisis. SADC and
the African Union were accused of being timid
in their approach to Mugabe’s
intransigence.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
25 March
2011
The previously banned Daily News newspaper was finally back on the
streets
on Friday, almost eight years since the Robert Mugabe regime shut it
down.
The paper is now officially back in popular circulation after a
special
edition was released a week ago, boldly proclaiming its intention to
denounce abuse of authority and “bad governance.”
“We
unapologetically declare that we will take a critical stand against bad
governance and expose it for the entire nation to see,” it said in its
editorial.
“We won't stand by while rampant corruption and crass
materialism disable
both government and private sector. We will shout at the
top of our voices
when we detect abuse of power and political
intolerance.”
The paper was granted a licence in May last year by the
Zimbabwe Media
Commission, which granted permission for 4 new publications.
The Daily News
is only the second to actually start printing, following
NewsDay, which has
been publishing since June last year.
But the
return of the Daily News was marred by an attack on one of its
reporters on
Thursday, which has been strongly condemned by a leading media
rights group.
Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Friday it is
“disturbed” by
the news that Daily News reporter Xolisani Ncube was attacked
outside the
MDC headquarters on Thursday. Ncube was reportedly attacked by
supporters of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai while interviewing people at
Harvest House.
One of his assailants hit him hard in the face and stole his
digital
camera.
“It is no coincidence that a Daily News journalist was attacked
just a few
days after the newspaper resumed publishing,” Reporters Without
Borders
secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “It seems the
authorities
take a dim view of its proclamation of independence and its
pledge to
denounce bad governance.”
Julliard added: “They clearly
feel threatened and are likely to watch it
closely and keep harassing its
journalists, which is intolerable. Harassment
of those who defend freedom of
expression will almost certainly increase in
the run-up to the parliamentary
elections in May.”
SW Radio Africa was unable to get reaction from the
MDC, after party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he was in a meeting and
unavailable for
comment.
http://www.radiovop.com
25/03/2011 18:40:00
Harare, March 25,2011 - The High
Court has set the hearing for the urgent
application which seeks an order to
compel Clerk of Court Austin Zvoma to
call for the election of the now
vacant post of Speaker of The House of
Assembly to next
Wednesday.
The application was made by the Morgan Tsvangirai led Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC-T) this week after Zvoma postponed
elections.
"It has been set down for next Wednesday," Mutare Central MP
and MDC-T chief
whip Innocent Gonese, the first applicant in the matter told
Radio VOP.
MDC-T lawyers on Thursday accused Judge President George
Chiweshe of sitting
on the party's urgent application filed on
Wednesday.
The pary's lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said the matter had been
allocated to
Justice Ben Hlatshwayo who does not come to court during the
afternoon.
Mtetwa said she was not surprised by the behaviour of Justice
Chiweshe, who
is known for ruling in favour of Zanu (PF).
“What can
you expect from a judge who once held results of an election for
over six
weeks and was still rewarded with the post of judge
president?. He was put
there so that he would do what he is doing now
(frustrating MDC),” said
Mtetwa.
Chiweshe is the same judge who threw out last Saturday’s urgent
application
by the MDC-T to be allowed to hold a rally that had been banned
by the
police.
The MDC-T had approached his court asking him to
review a Harare magistrate’s
court ruling upholding the police ban on its
rally.
The former speaker Lovemore Moyo of MDC-T will contest for his
seat while
Zanu (PF) is going to field its current party chair Simon Khaya
Moyo.
http://www.iol.co.za/
March 25 2011 at 06:08pm
The chairman
of the Kimberley Process has agreed to allow Zimbabwe to sell
diamonds from
its disputed Marange fields, deputy mines minister Gift
Chimanikire said on
Friday.
But the World Diamond Council, a global industry group, warned
its members
not to trade in the gems after key members, including the United
States,
Canada, Israel and the European Union, questioned the validity of
the
decision.
“Permission for sale was issued by the KP chairman,”
Chimanikire told AFP.
“But I do not know when the actual sale would take
place.”
He said the decision was probably taken in February, when
Zimbabwe Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu travelled to the Democratic Republic of
Congo to meet
with Kimberley chairman Mathieu Yamba.
Kinshasa holds
the rotating chair of the Kimberley Process, and has close
ties to President
Robert Mugabe.
The Marange fields, touted as Africa's richest diamond
find of the decade,
have been at the centre of a years-long controversy over
mining rights and
abuses by the military.
The Kimberley Process,
created to prevent the trade in “blood” diamonds that
fuel armed conflicts,
normally takes such decisions by consensus at its
regular meetings. Yamba's
decision appears to have been taken unilaterally.
The World Diamond
Council said in a statement that the United States,
Canada, Israel and the
European Union have indicated that the diamond sales
should not yet be
permitted.
The council “advises members of the international diamond
industry to
refrain from trading in and exporting goods from the region
until the
situation and the status of these goods becomes clearer”. -
Sapa-AFP
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Tobias Manyuchi Friday 25 March
2011
HARARE – Several top international diamond trade groups have
instructed
members to stay away from diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange mines,
a body
blow to plans by Harare to resume exports of stones form the
controversial
mines.
The World Diamond Council (WDC), Jewelers of
America (JA), the Diamond
Manufacturers & Importers Association of
America (DMIA), the Gems &
Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)
have told members not to risk
product integrity by purchasing gems
originating from the Marange or
Chiadzwa diamond field.
The Rapaport
Diamond Trading Network said any member caught trading in
Marange diamonds
will be named, shamed and expelled form its RapNet trading
network.
The move by the key trading groups comes in the wake of
reports that
Kimberley Process (KP) chairman Mathieu Zamba of the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo has unilaterally given Zimbabwe permission to export
the diamonds.
The KP takes decision by consensus.
"Prudent traders
will ask for written assurances from suppliers that
diamonds were not from
the Marange," diamond dealer Rappaport said in a
circular to members
released Friday.
It added: "Members found to have knowingly offered
Marange diamonds for sale
on RapNet will be expelled and their names will be
publicly communicated ….
the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
vows to list companies that
buy these diamonds. "
The KP that
monitors the diamond industry banned Zimbabwe from selling
diamonds from
Marange in 2009 over allegations of human rights abuses in the
extraction of
the gems and failure to meet minimum requirements for trading
in the
precious stones.
But the organisation allowed Zimbabwe to conduct two
supervised sales which
took place in August and September last year
following a report by its
monitor Abbey Chikane that said Harare had met all
KP conditions.
However subsequent KP meetings failed to reach agreement
on whether to
permanently lift the ban on Marange diamonds. The monitoring
group had said
the stones would remain prohibited until there was consensus
on the matter –
a position which Zamba has now unilaterally overruled to
allow Zimbabwe to
exports the stones.
The issue of Zimbabwe selling
the Marange diamonds has divided the KP along
political lines, with Western
countries led by the United States, Germany
and Australia as well as civil
society groups that are members of the
organisation calling for the
extension of a ban.
African and other countries, including Russia, have
however opposed the
calls to ban the diamonds. -- ZimOnline
http://af.reuters.com
Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:41pm
GMT
By Alfonce Mbizwo
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe Finance Minister
Tendai Biti said on Friday the
country was unlikely to pay off any
international arrears this year after
revenue collection fell 35 percent
below target in the first quarter.
Biti said Zimbabwe, which owes foreign
lenders $7 billion, was not meeting
its economic expectations and revenue
collection was below target by $80
million every month.
"We are
supposed to be collecting $230 million every month but at the moment
we are
only managing to get $150 million," Biti told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai early this month said the
country would use
revenue from alluvial diamond sales to repay part of its
external debt,
which stands at more than annual gross domestic product
estimated at $6
billion.
Last November, Biti presented a $3.2 billion
budget of which $2.7 billion
was expected to come from domestic revenues and
the remainder donor
assistance.
"We are on a cash budget, so this
means we are not going to pay off arrears
or carry out some of the capital
expenditure projects lined up for the
year," Biti said.
He did not
say whether the lower revenue collection would affect growth
estimates for
the economy, which he earlier said would expand by 9.3 percent
this
year.
In his budget, Biti expected $500 million to come from foreign
financiers
but that has not been forthcoming as key Western donors have
withheld aid
and demanded broad political reforms.
President Robert
Mugabe and rival Tsvangirai set up a coalition government
two years ago that
has stabilised the economy but has not managed to attract
the billions of
dollars needed to rebuild the devastated economy.
An International
Monetary Fund (IMF) team visiting for annual consultations
with the
government this week indicated that a resumption of lending by the
institution, which last lent Zimbabwe money in 1999, was still far
off.
The Fund wants Harare to clear arrears of more than $140 million
before it
contemplates any funding programme.
http://www.ipsnews.net/
By Tariro Madzongwe
HARARE,
Mar 25, 2011 (IPS) - The identity of as many as a thousand
decomposing
bodies in an abandoned mine in Mount Darwin, 100 kilometres
north of Harare,
may never be known. "War veterans" associated with the
ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front party are removing
them with no
regard for preserving evidence.
According to ZANU-PF, the human remains
in the mine belong to people killed
in the late 1970s during the country's
liberation war.
What has raised eyebrows is the state of the bodies,
which are still intact,
only partly decomposed - a powerful stench hanging
over the site.
When IPS visited the mine site on Mar. 18, as part of a
tour organised by
the Ministry of Information, hundreds of decomposing body
parts were piled
on the ground not far from the entrance to the mine
shaft.
A pathologist who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity said
bodies
allegedly dumped in the mine three decades ago should not look like
those
being removed from the site.
"Ordinarily by this time there
should only be bone-remains if it's true that
these bodies are of people who
died in the 70s," the pathologist said.
"Certainly there should not be any
smell at all from the remains over 30
years after those people
died."
Over the past three weeks, members of the country's war veterans
association
have been removing bodies from the mine. The veterans say they
have long
known that the mine held dead bodies, but are acting now to
protect them
from informal gold miners.
According to one of the war
veterans on the scene, George Rutanhire, once
all the bodies have been
exhumed from the mine - there are four other mine
shafts with bodies in them
- they will be re-buried at the Mt Darwin
Provincial Heroes'
Acre.
The Movement for Democratic Change party, which has been in an
uneasy
government of national unity with ZANU-PF since 2008, insists the
bodies
found are those of MDC activists who have disappeared without a trace
in any
of several waves of political violence since 2000.
The MDC and
ordinary Zimbabweans alike have queried the way bodies are being
removed by
untrained personnel.
MDC deputy spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi says he
doubts the remains belong
to victims of the war. "These bodies look fresh;
ZANU-PF should come clean
on the issue of these exhumations," he
said.
"If those people died during the war, why are they only exhuming
them now
when they claim to have known about the bodies all these years?
Those
remains are of MDC [members] who were killed by ZANU-PF activists
[beginning
in] 2000 and especially during the runoff elections of
2008."
Speaking for ZANU, spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismissed the MDC’s
claims.
"What do you expect from the MDC? It’s their standard line just
to criticise
everything ZANU-PF does. They have got nothing to
say."
Last week, the ZANU-PF's Fallen Heroes of Zimbabwe Trust forced
school
children, teachers and villagers from the surrounding area to view
the
decomposing remains so that they could "appreciate how evil whites
are."
"Those villagers know that many of those remains are of MDC
activists but
they are too scared to say it," said Chihwayi. "That’s why
ZANU-PF is now
instilling fear by showing them those remains. This shows
that we are again
not going to have free and fair elections."
The MDC
has also accused its rival of trying to plant fear in the population
that
those who don’t vote for it will end up dead. Mugabe has called for
fresh
elections to be held this year.
Chihwayi said that by failing to use
forensic techniques as the bodies are
uncovered, to establish when and how
these people died, ZANU-PF is causing a
serious rift in the government of
national unity.
"They must be transparent in the exhuming of these
bodies. ZANU-PF is also
now using the remains for its propaganda purposes to
up whip emotions ahead
of elections."
Human Rights Watch has accused
security forces and ZANU-PF of beating,
torturing and killing political
opponents.
Earlier this week, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, warned
that the human
rights situation in the country is getting worse, and
predicted violence
would further intensify if the elections are held this
year.
http://www.iucn.org/?uNewsID=7165
25 March
2011
Well-equipped, sophisticated organized crime syndicates have killed
more
than 800 African rhinos in the past three years - just for their horns.
With
the most serious poaching upsurge in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya,
Africa’s top rhino experts recently met in South Africa to assess the status
of rhinos across the continent and to identify strategies to combat the
poaching crisis.
“Although good biological management and
anti-poaching efforts have led to
modest population gains for both species
of African rhino, we are still very
concerned about the increasing
involvement of organized criminal poaching
networks, and that, unless the
rapid escalation in poaching in recent years
can be halted, continental
rhino numbers could once again start to decline,”
says Dr Richard Emslie,
scientific officer for the IUCN Species Survival
Commission’s (SSC) African
Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG).
South Africa alone lost 333 rhinos last
year and so far this year has lost
more than 70. Most rhino horns leaving
Africa are destined for Southeast
Asian medicinal markets that are believed
to be driving the poaching
epidemic. In particular, Vietnamese nationals
have been repeatedly
implicated in rhino crimes in South
Africa.
Black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) currently number 4,840 (up from
4,240 in
2007), whilst white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) are more numerous,
with a
population of 20,150 (up from 17,500 in 2007). Population numbers are
increasing, however, with the rise in poaching, there is still cause for
concern due to inadequate funding to combat well-resourced organized
criminals.
Rhino experts urged greater cooperation between wildlife
investigators,
police and prosecutors; magistrates and judges to be more
sensitive to rhino
issues; and assistance in developing new tools and
technologies to detect
and intercept rhino poachers and horn traffickers.
While the number of
arrests has increased there is an urgent need for
improved conviction rates
and increased penalties for rhino-related crimes
in some countries.
The AfRSG commended recent initiatives to combat
poaching. These include the
establishment of a National Wildlife Crime
Reaction Unit in South Africa,
increasing protection throughout the rhinos’
range, DNA fingerprinting of
rhino horn, regional information sharing and
engaging with the authorities
in Vietnam. In addition, wildlife agencies are
working closely with private
and community rhino custodians, as well as
support organizations, to protect
rhinos.
“In South Africa, a large
number of rhinos live on private land. Rhino
management, including control
of rhino horn stockpiles and security, needs
to be improved and coordinated
among rhino holders,” says Simon Stuart,
Chair of the IUCN Species Survival
Commission. “This is essential if we are
going to face the poaching crisis
head on.”
In some countries, white rhinos are still hunted as trophies.
The group
noted that some professional hunters have demonstrated
questionable and
unethical behaviour, adding that improved management of the
allocation and
monitoring of hunting permit applications, especially in some
South African
provinces, needs urgent attention.
http://www.voanews.com/
Christian Care Director Forbes Matonga said supplementary feeding
schemes
were halted two years ago, leaving children far more vulnerable in
times of
food shortages like those now hitting Zimbabwe
Tatenda Gumbo
& Patience Rusere | Washington 24 March 2011
One in three
children in Zimbabwe suffers from chronic malnutrition,
according to a new
study by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the
country's public health
authorities, who have urged action to help
vulnerable women as well as
children.
The Situational Analysis on the Status of Women and Children’s
Rights
concluded that malnutrition could contribute to more than 12,000
deaths a
year in the country.
UNICEF says Zimbabwe's malnutrition
rates are similar to those of other
countries in the region but have climbed
sharply since 1994 to reach nearly
40 percent.
The report found that
the lack of access by many women and children to basic
social services and
protections has contributed to their vulnerability,
which has also been
increased by high levels of poverty and the HIV/AIDS
pandemic in
Zimbabwe.
Nutritionists say remedial nutrition programs must target
children in their
first three years or so. Without adequate nutrition a
child can fail to
thrive, affecting early development, encouraging disease
and eventually
reducing abilities in adulthood.
World Food Program
HIV/AIDS adviser and nutritionist Francesca Elderman told
VOA Studio 7
reporter Tatenda Gumbo that regional organizations are putting
together
nutritional supplement packages to relieve the crisis.
Christian Care, a
leading World Food Program distribution partner in
Zimbabwe, says the
suspension of supplementary feeding schemes could
increase
malnutrition.
Christian Care Director Forbes Matonga told reporter
Patience Rusere that
the program was abruptly halted two years ago, leaving
children far more
vulnerable in times of food shortages like those looming
in several
Zimbabwean provinces due to drought and rising costs which have
put basic
foodstuffs out of reach for many households.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Tens of thousands of Zimbabwe's
Anglicans are being forced to worship in
pubs, tents and private schools
while their churches stand empty, shuttered
by a controversial bishop loyal
to President Robert Mugabe.
By Peta Thornycroft, Harare and Aislinn Laing
in Johannesburg 6:29PM GMT 25
Mar 2011
About 40 per cent of the
country's Anglican churches are now in the hands of
Nolbert Kunonga, who was
unfrocked as Bishop of Harare in 2007 after he
split from the Anglican
province of Central Africa in protest at the
introduction of homosexual
priests.
When worshippers chose to follow the official church's
newly-appointed
Bishop of Harare, Chad Gandiya, they were chased out of
Harare's cathedral
and tear-gassed by police.
Many churches are now
only unlocked for services for a handful of stalwarts
of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party. Followers of Mr Kunonga have torn down the
cathedral's colonial
artefacts, broken up pews bearing memorial plaques,
taken over church
buildings including a ten-storey city centre office block
and rented out the
Bishop's residence.
Mr Kunonga, who swore Mr Mugabe into office in June
2008, was given a
white-owned farm north of Harare following the land
seizures in 2000.
Anglican bishops are now awaiting a ruling from the
Supreme Court which they
hope will restore church property. For now, they
are leading services in any
facility open to them.
Last Sunday, 150
worshippers packed into the Stewards lounge of the
Mashonaland Turf Club
above Zimbabwe's only racecourse.
They took communion among the bar
stools and sang hymns in the majority
Shona language accompanied by
drums.
One of the lay preachers, Mary Nyandoro, told the congregation:
"God expects
us to live a full life regardless of what we are going through,
like
worshipping in a pub. We built a house in which to worship but must now
pray
here."
In central Harare, 27 Zanu-PF supporters worshipped in
the 1,000-seater St
Mary and All Saints Cathedral and sang, unaccompanied,
"Onward Christian
soldiers" in English.
Bishop Gandiya said 30
churches in Harare alone were now out of bounds to
his flock, including
those with large congregations in the high-density
suburbs. "These
congregations are so determined to continue worshipping
within the Anglican
community that they have all found alternative places,"
he
said.
Julius Makoni, Bishop of the Manicaland diocese in eastern
Zimbabwe, said Mr
Kunonga has also taken over St John's Cathedral in
provincial capital,
Mutare. "We worship in the Mutare Sports Club," Bishop
Makoni said.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/
Posted: 25
March 2011
Amnesty International has today called on authorities in
Zimbabwe to end the
harassment of Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, the
two leaders of the
social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise, commonly
known as WOZA.
Since WOZA staged its ninth annual Valentine’s Day
peaceful protest in
Bulawayo, the police have returned repeatedly to the
homes of Jenni Williams
and Magodonga Mahlangu in an attempt to find them.
After questioning a human
rights lawyer about the whereabouts of Jenni and
Magodonga, one police
officer is reported to have said that the two women
must ‘prepare themselves
for a long detention.’
Despite this threat,
no reason has as yet been given for the search –
raising fears that the two
could be arbitrarily arrested and detained.
On 28 February, seven WOZA
and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (MOZA) members were
arrested in Bulawayo and
detained for two days. While in custody, the
activists were allegedly
tortured using a method known as falanga, in which
victims are beaten on the
soles of their feet. They were also repeatedly
asked for details of the
whereabouts of Jenni and Magodonga.
Amnesty International’s Country
Campaigns Manager, Kristyan Benedict said:
“Jenni and Magodonga are no
strangers to persecution by the police in
Zimbabwe. And given the recent
increase in systematic targeting of human
rights activists across the
country which has included numerous arrests,
unlawful detentions and even
alleged acts of torture, there’s even greater
reason to fear for the safety
of these women.
“We’re urging the Zimbabwean authorities to put an end to
these dreadful
acts of repression immediately and to put a stop to shameful
attempts to
stop men and women demanding their human rights across
Zimbabwe.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Pindai Dube
Friday, 25 March 2011
12:49
BULAWAYO - As the bootlicking of President Robert Mugabe
reaches new levels
in Zanu PF, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has
described the
87-year-old as an elephant who will rule Zimbabwe
forever.
Addressing Zanu PF supporters at Stanley Square in Makokoba
high density
suburb on Saturday during the launch of party’s anti-sanctions
petition in
the Bulawayo province, Mnangagwa, who himself harbours ambitions
of becoming
president, said nobody will stop Mugabe from continuing with his
rule.
Mnangagwa, who in 2004 was accused of hatching a plan to side step
Mugabe in
what later became known as the Tsholotsho Declaration, has in the
past few
years gone on a crusade of praise singing the ageing
leader.
Top Zanu PF officials, have since independence fallen over each
other in
singing praises for Mugabe with some blasphemously calling him the
“only
other son of God” while more recently, the Minister of Information
Webster
Shamu said Mugabe was like “Cremora”.
Ironically, in the
later 90s Shamu led a futile campaign to dethrone Mugabe
from being leader
of Zanu PF. Due to the bootlicking, former Zimbabwe’s iron
lady of politics,
Margaret Dongo described the Zanu PF officials as “Mugabe’s
wives”, for
being scared of him.
And Mnangagwa, lived to this reputation while in
Bulawayo last Saturday.
“President Mugabe will continue ruling this
country. Nobody will stop him,
even if the GPA collapses he will continue
ruling. Zimbabweans you are
actually lucky to have a brave man like him,”
said Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa, who is also Zanu PF secretary for legal
affairs added that
“Mugabe is like an elephant and many western countries
especially Britain
are scared of him that’s why they slapped him with
sanctions”.
Last month, Mnangagwa said heads of foreign firms could be
forced to go on
radio to publicly denounce western sanctions imposed on
Mugabe and cronies,
or face losing 90% of their company
shareholding.
The US and EU have imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and
his inner circle
for human rights abuses, vote rigging, disregard of
property rights and
other issues.
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party has been
calling for the removal of the sanctions for
years now, blaming the West’s
restrictive measures for the country’s
destruction. Two weeks ago, Mugabe
launched a national anti-sanctions
petition which he said needs two million
signatures.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF youths caused chaos outside Stanley Square
during the
Saturday address by Mnangagwa, as they were blocking traffic and
demonstrating along Third Avenue extension, waving placards, denouncing the
sanctions.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Tony Hawkins Friday 25 March
2011
Two years after its inception Zimbabwe’s government of national
unity is on
the brink of collapse. Relations between President Robert Mugabe
and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have broken down irrevocably. So much
so in fact
that the president’s Zanu-PF party is reported to be planning
Tsvangirai’s
arrest on allegations of contempt of court.
This follows
his angry denunciation of the judiciary for its supreme court
ruling that
nullified the election of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
parliamentary
speaker Lovemore Moyo.
This is just the latest in a series of incidents,
including the arrest of
MDC energy minister Elton Mangoma two weeks ago on
allegations of
corruption, demonstrating that the two parties can no longer
work together.
Despite this, the SA mediators continue to claim that the
government of
national unity is still functional and will soon agree on a
“roadmap”
setting out the framework for fresh elections.
On the face
of it both main parties — Zanu-PF and the MDC — want elections
this year,
but because Tsvangirai’s party is insisting that elections can be
held only
once a new constitution and electoral reforms are in place, a 2011
poll is
unlikely.
The official line from the parliamentary committee responsible
for drafting
a new constitution is that the process will be complete by mid
year. But
politicians say that a draft agreed by the committee will be no
more than
the basis for negotiations that could take months, if not
years.
Loveless marriage
All of this means that the loveless
marriage will have to survive another
year of worsening tensions or that the
MDC will have to agree to a poll
which it knows will be rigged against
it.
Mugabe wants elections soon because he senses a window of opportunity
in the
West’s growing preoccupation with the Middle East. He is also
benefiting
from the diamond windfall of at least US$100m/month, which his
party is
better placed to exploit than the MDC, and the improved economic
outlook
largely pegged to booming world commodity prices and interest from
Brazil,
Russia, India and China (Bric) in Zimbabwe’s mineral and land
resources.
Mugabe believes, probably rightly, that the West’s influence
over Zimbabwe
will continue to diminish and that by hitching its wagon to
the West, the
MDC has blundered tactically.
Though the MDC would be
favourite to win a reasonably free and fair
election, there is little doubt
that it has lost ground over the past year,
in part because it has failed to
deliver on many of its promises, but also
because again and again it has
been seen to be outwitted by the president .
Like him or loathe him,
Mugabe is a consummate politician and astute
tactician, especially in
comparison with the popular, but indecisive
Tsvangirai whose flip-flop
management style is the despair of some of his
top aides.
Odds
against Tsvangirai
To be fair to Tsvangirai, the odds are heavily
weighted against him. His
advisers who negotiated the so-called Global
Political Agreement bestowed
him with the position of prime minister, with
responsibility but little
power. The real power lies with the ZANU PF
politburo, the military, the
police and the bench — all of which are
ZANU-PF-dominated.
In this situation, Tsvangirai’s increasing frustration
is understandable,
especially as African political leaders look north. They
will be fearfully
watching events in North Africa and will be disinclined to
be seen to be
supporting a trade union populist like Tsvangirai against a
founding father,
liberation hero and one of their own.
The good news
for Zimbabweans is that so long as the commodity boom
continues, the
economy, which grew 8% last year, will continue its recovery.
Finance
minister Tendai Biti forecasts 9,3% growth in 2011 with modest
inflation of
4,5%. However, because investment is constrained by political
uncertainty,
not least ZANU-PF’s indigenisation plan (where it has been
mooted that 51%
of all businesses in Zimbabwe be held by Zimbabweans)
hanging over foreign
business like the sword of Damocles, this upturn could
run out of
steam.
What business needs is early elections that result in a popularly
elected
and internationally recognised government. Ironically, though,
business
leaders have set their face against elections in 2011, arguing that
the
process would be flawed, violent and unlikely to throw up a clear- cut
winner. So business says it prefers the devil it knows — a dysfunctional
coalition government — to the unknown.
This is all very well for the
time being but continuing economic momentum
depends on world prices and some
take-up of spare capacity. There are very
real limits to growth, especially
infrastructural bottlenecks and
particularly electricity.
The new
normal
Then there is the $7bn foreign debt overhang, $5bn of it in
arrears. There
is little prospect of securing a debt-restructuring deal with
Zimbabwe’s
creditors until a new government is in place.
So though
growth rates of 8% or 9% may sound impressive, in truth the
economy is doing
little more than tread water. Jobs are still being shed as
firms come to
grips with “the new normal” of dollarisation.
The finance ministry is
unable to finance more than a third of departmental
spending bids, and
crucial strategic decisions are on hold while investors
wait for the
politicians to sort out their differences.
Zimbabwe is a country that has
long been failed by its politicians, as well
as by regional and Western
leaders. It is crying out for leadership, which
neither the 87- year-old
president nor Tsvangirai seems able to provide,
suggesting that the status
quo will drag on for some time yet.
There is no shortage of theories of
what it will take to break the log jam,
ranging from Mugabe’s health to
Tsvangirai’s dismissal by the military,
tantamount to a coup.
The
South Africans like to believe that they can manage a “soft landing”,
but if
truth be told a smooth transition is more likely to be achieved
despite
Pretoria than because of it. – This article was first published by
the
Financial Mail
* Tony Hawkins is professor of economics at the
University of Zimbabwe
has said.