http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Britain is
meeting with one of Robert Mugabe's top lieutenants as it hosts
an
international coalition to ensure Zimbabwe holds a clean election later
this
year.
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent11:34AM GMT 26
Mar 2013
The Friends of Zimbabwe group is made up of the country's major
aid donors
and seeks to use its leverage to control the worst potential
excesses of
Robert Mugabe's regime. A new constitution adopted last week
paves the way
for the first presidential and parliamentary elections since
the disputed
poll in 2008 led to the establishment of a power sharing
government between
Mr Mugable and his main rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The new constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms
in office,
boosts parliament's powers but abolishes the post of prime
minister, now
held by Mr Tsvangirai.
Officials said the Friend of
Zimbabwe meeting would seek to draw up a joint
plan that ensures the
elections are free and fair.
"The Friends of Zimbabwe meeting on 26 March
will provide a unique
opportunity for donors to hear from all political
parties in Zimbabwe and to
present a unified voice emphasising the
importance of free and fair polls, "
an official said.
The talks will
include the most senior Mugabe ally to visit Britain in more
than a decade.
Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party has boasted that the presence of
Patrick
Chinamasa, the interior minister, is a victory over the Foreign
Office,
claiming Whitehall has been forced to drop its "hostile" policy
towards
Harare.
His meeting is "an indication that Britain realises that its
foreign policy
on Zimbabwe is collapsing and they want to embark on a new
path," a party
spokesman said.
The Friends of Zimabwe group includes
EU Member States, Australia, Canada,
Japan, Norway, the US, the European
Commission (EC), the EU Council
Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the World Bank, the
African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United
Nations.
The European Union announced on Monday it was immediately
suspending
measures "against 81 individuals and eight entities", commending
the people
of Zimbabwe for "a peaceful, successful and credible vote" to
approve a new
constitution on March 16.
EU officials confirmed Mugabe
was among 10 Zimbabweans still targeted by the
decade-old European Union
measures.
The sanctions were originally imposed in 2002 on the grounds of
political
violence, human rights abuses and the failure to hold free and
fair
elections.
Zanu-PF party immediately dismissed the partial
lifting of sanctions as a
"non-event".
"We are looking for the total
and unequivocal lifting of sanctions which
were not justified in the first
place," party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said.
Monday's removal of dozens of
names from the blacklist was the largest since
a policy U-turn last July,
when on Britain's suggestion the 27-nation bloc
pledged to lift sanctions
should the country hold a "credible" vote on a new
constitution.
In
February, 21 Zimbabweans out of 112 on the EU blacklist, and one of 11
firms, were removed after Harare announced a firm intention to hold the
vote.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga Moyo
26 March
2013
The UK-based pressure group, Zimbabwe Vigil, on Tuesday braved the
icy
British weather to demonstrate outside a venue hosting a meeting between
the
international community and a Zimbabwean delegation discussing
cooperation
ahead of this year’s elections.
The ZimVigil has met
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday,
since 2002 to protest
the human rights abuses by the ZANU PF regime.
On Tuesday the group’s
protest was particularly aimed at ZANU PF’s Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, who is attending the meeting together with the
MDC’s Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Elton Mangoma of the MDC-T.
Rose Benton,
ZimVigil coordinator, said their message to Chinamasa was a
demand for ZANU
PF to end human rights abuses, torture and killings of
Zimbabweans.
Benton said: “We have always said that as ZimVigil we
will always target any
member of ZANU PF who came to the UK once the
sanctions were lifted and that’s
what we were doing.
“We were also
there to alert the international donors and the Foreign and
Commonwealth
Office that Zimbabweans are not happy with what is happening.
“We were
asking the donor community and Britain not to give money to Mugabe
unless
there is rule of law in Zimbabwe and international observers are
allowed to
monitor free and fair elections,” Benton said.
Benton added that ZimVigil
members feel that the lifting of most of the
targeted sanctions, announced
by the European Union on Monday, was not based
on any real political change
in Zimbabwe but “has a lot to do with the EU
wanting to lay its hands on
Zimbabwe’s diamonds.”
Benton said it was too early for the international
community to start giving
funds to Zimbabwe and urged donors to attach
conditions such as
accountability, respect for the rule of law and the
holding of credible
elections, among other demands.
Although the
ZimVigil group did not meet Chinamasa or any member of the
Zimbabwe
delegation, Benton said the head of the FCO Zimbabwe desk had asked
to meet
the group.
“We will be arranging a meeting with the FCO to express our
feelings about
what is happening in Zimbabwe and what the British government
is doing. It
is wrong for the international community to pretend that all is
well in
Zimbabwe when it clearly is not,” she said
Benton said the
recent March 16th constitutional referendum, on which the
international
community was basing its actions, was a sham and said there
was no democracy
in telling people how to vote in any poll.
The London meeting was
organised by a group called the Friends of Zimbabwe
and was attended by
representatives of major development partners and
several foreign ministers
from all over the world.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 10:03
HARARE -
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) chief executive
Ngonidzashe Gumbo
will remain in custody despite being granted bail by
Harare magistrate Don
Ndirowei yesterday.
Ndirowei had freed Gumbo on $1 000 bail but
prosecutor Michael Reza appealed
against the decision and invoked Section
121 of the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Act.
Gumbo will remain in
custody until April 8 if the State manages to
successfully push through its
appeal.
Section 121 automatically overrides a magistrate’s bail ruling
and gives the
State seven working days within which to file an
appeal.
Ndirowei had said there were no reasons for Gumbo’s continued
incarceration.
The court heard that Gumbo, on behalf of Zacc, approached
the Home Affairs
ministry seeking accommodation after the body’s former
landlord served an
eviction notice.
He managed to get premises in
Harare’s Mount Pleasant suburb.
According to court papers, government
deposited $1,7 million into a Zacc
bank account after Gumbo had allegedly
requested for $1 680 million for the
purchase of the premises.
It is
the State’s case that Gumbo allegedly instructed Zacc officials Sukai
Tongogara, Christopher Chisango, Edwin Mubataripi and Gibson Mangwiro to
form a shelf company called Property Mortgage in which they were directors
with equal shares.
According to court papers, the $1 680 million was
deposited into a CBZ bank
account for a company called Perpetual Properties,
where Gumbo’s daughter
was an administrator and in charge of the
transactions.
The court heard the property was bought for $1,2 million
and a balance of
$435 500 remained after Perpetual Real Estate Agents
deducted their $44 500
commission.
Another $160 000 was used to buy a
property owned by Poptechnologies where
Gumbo and one Popatlal Samir are
directors, while a further $100 000 was
given to a person only identified Da
Silva, according to the prosecution.
Samir received $95 000 and Gumbo
allegedly allocated himself $80 000 for
“renovations”, according to the
prosecution.
He is yet to respond to the allegations. - Helen Kadirire
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
26.03.13
by Tarisai Jangara
The Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission is regrouping to find ways to
address the probe
of government ministers alleged to be involved in corrupt
practices.
This was after ZACC investigators were reportedly
blocked by armed police
from conducting searches at National Indigenization
and Economic Empowerment
Board and Zimbabwe Mining development Corporation
offices.
ZACC was targeting Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere,
Transport
Minister Nicholas Goche and Obert Mpofu, the Minister of Mines
before the
commission was blocked by the High Court last week.
“We
did not challenge the High Court order ruling because we wanted to
regroup
and discuss as commissioners what to do next,” ZACC spokesperson,
Goodwill
Shana, told reporters today at a press conference.
Desperate
attempt
ZACC has been the subject of attack by state media with Zanu (PF)
Tsholotsho
MP Jonathan Moyo accusing the anti-graft body’s commissioners of
corruption
and receiving covert funding from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon
Gono.
However, Shana yesterday denied the allegation
saying ZACC was not receiving
money from anywhere except the
Treasury.
“It is a desperate attempt to cast aspersions on the image of
ZACC,” Shana
said.
Shana denied that ZACC secured search warrants
from the High Court to
“pursue under-hand and malicious investigations
against certain
organisations”.
“ZACC wants to put it on record that
it exhausted all prescribed procedures
and avenues for obtaining search
warrants, including the police and
magistrate courts,” he said.
Shana
said they approached the High Court after all channels failed, which
was
unusual looking at recent history. He said the High Court judge who
issued
the search warrant believed it had legal merit to grant it.
Shana added:
“As ZACC, we are not prompted by political considerations but
by reasonable
suspicion that a crime has been committed.” Shana said ZACC
commissioners
were appointed by President Robert Mugabe after he was
satisfied they met
the criteria.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Nomalanga Moyo
25
March 2013
The High Court has reserved judgement to Wednesday on a bid
for freedom by
four workers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office.
They were
arrested last week on charges of impersonating a police
officer.
On Monday defence lawyers for the four, who are still in remand
prison,
appealed to the High Court to set aside an earlier bail refusal by a
lower
court.
Thabani Mpofu, Felix Matsinde, Mehluli Tshuma, and
Warship Dumba were
refused bail by Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa on the
grounds that were likely
to interfere with police investigations or abscond
if released.
The four were arrested together with their lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa, during a
raid on the Prime Minister’s offices in Avondale on March
17th. They were
charged with possessing dockets on senior government
officials, including
police chief Augustine Chihuri.
The defence team
wants the High Court to set aside magistrate Gofa’s ruling,
and argue that
their clients are suitable candidates for bail.
Defence lawyer Chris
Mhike said the court will decide on the bail appeal
after the presiding
judge indicated that he needed time to study submissions
by both the defence
and prosecution.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai raised the issue of the arrest of
his staff during the
principals’ weekly Monday meetings, attended by
President Robert Mugabe and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
According to Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, “the
PM is disturbed
by the serious allegations against his office and by what
appears to be a
deliberate strategy by the police to attack one arm of the
executive arm of
government.
“The Prime Minister sees the arrests as
not only an attempt to harass him
and his office but is an extension of the
clampdown on civil society. The
actions by the police do not inspire
confidence at all that Zimbabwe is
going to have a free and fair election,
Tamborinyoka said.
Tamborinyoka told SW Radio Africa that the Principals
will be holding a
meeting with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri
to discuss the
recent actions by the police.
Many Zimbabweans have
expressed concern over the disregard for the rule of
law by those who are
expected to enforce the law. But it seems unlikely such
a meeting will
change anything.
Last week the police ignored a High Court order granting
bail to Beatrice
Mtetwa, an acclaimed human rights defender who was arrested
while carrying
out her duties as a lawyer. Mtetwa’s week-long incarceration
finally ended
Monday, after her legal team lodged another High Court appeal
to secure her
release.
Since the beginning of this year state
security agents have embarked on a
nationwide crackdown on civil society and
individuals suspected of being
anti-ZANU PF.
The onslaught has seen
the police confiscating radios from rural communities
in an attempt to stop
people listening on shortwave to radio stations such
as SW Radio Africa.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
26/03/2013 00:00:00
by
Joseph Mashizha
HIGH Court judge Joseph Musakwa on Tuesday recused
himself from hearing the
case of four MDC-T officials charged with
impersonating the police and
possessing classified documents covered by the
Official Secrets Act.
The four – Thabani Mpofu, Warship Dumba, Felix Matsinde
and Mehluli Tshuma –
were arrested on March 16 in coordinated police raids
at several addresses
in Harare.
Lawyers for the four men who are
seeking their release on bail met Justice
Musakwa in the judges’ chambers at
the Harare High Court.
“The judge told us that he cannot proceed with the
matter because he once
worked with three of the accused while he was the
director of prosecution in
the Attorney General’s office, so we are now
trying to look for another
judge ,”lawyer Alec Muchadehama said after the
meeting.
Chris Mhike, another member of the defence team, was hopeful
another judge
would be found on Tuesday to hear the case.
Mpofu, Dumba,
Matsinde and Tshuma are charged with accessing secret
government documents
and investigating senior government officials including
police chief
Augustine Chihuri, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Local
Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo for alleged corruption.
Mpofu, a former
prosecutor, is also accused of possessing a gun without a
licence.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Jonga
Kandemiiri
25.03.2013
WASHINGTON DC — President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
on Monday discussed the arrest of human
rights activists and the detention
of staff from the prime minister’s office
and agreed this was tarnishing the
image of the country,
according.
According to Mr. Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka,
the two leaders
also discussed the behaviour of police officers in the
country, which the
prime minister had said is of concern.
President
Mugabe is now expected to meet with Police Commissioner-General
Augustine
Chihuri to discuss the issue.
Mr. Tsvangirai is said to have confronted
President Mugabe during their
Monday principals meeting and told him that he
was unhappy with the arrests
of three members from his research department,
the arrest of rights
activists and others ahead of polls expected later this
year.
Tamborinyoka said the leaders also discussed and agreed that the
Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission be allowed to operate as it is mandated
by the
law.
The leaders are said to have also agreed that the Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC) must be allowed to work with
the Southern
African Development Community in making sure that all the
outstanding issues
are solved.
Tamborinyoka said JOMIC is expected to
present a report Tuesday to the
Cabinet to outline their
operations.
The three principals are said to have also tasked Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa and Constitution and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga
to work together and come up with a time-frame for
the general elections.
He said there were no dates for the elections yet,
contrary to what was
recently announced by Chinamasa that the country will
hold elections by June
29 this year.
http://mg.co.za
26 MAR 2013 07:46 - SAPA-AP
Zimbabwe's top
human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says her arrest was a
ploy to intimidate
activists ahead of elections in the country.
Mtetwa was released by a
court after eight days in jail for allegedly
obstructing justice. The
alleged intimidation of activists and pro-democracy
groups come ahead of
elections expected in July.
A visibly tired Mtetwa walked from the High
Court in Harare in the company
of two colleagues and her lawyer after her
release papers took several hours
to complete. She told reporters she
believed she had been targeted by
police.
"It is a personal attack on
all human rights lawyers but I was just made the
first example. There will
be many more arrests to follow as we near
elections," Mtetwa
said.
"The police were all out to get me. They wanted me to feel their
might and
power because I call myself a human rights lawyer and I felt
it."
Mtetwa was arrested on March 17 along with four officials from Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party.
The officials are accused of
illegally compiling information on high level
corruption and are schedule to
appeal for bail on Tuesday. Mtetwa was
accused of shouting at police
officers who were conducting a search at
Tsvangirai's staff offices when she
demanded to see a search warrant.
'Illegal, unlawful and
undemocratic'
Mtetwa and the four officials denied any wrongdoing. She said
she merely
told the police that "what they were doing is illegal, unlawful
and
undemocratic".
High Court Judge Joseph Musakwa ruled early on
Monday that Mtetwa was
following professional legal procedures when she
demanded to see a search
warrant from police at the offices of the four
officials.
"She was entitled to be appraised of the legality of the
search," Musakwa
said.
After her release, Mtetwa said she was not
well-treated while in police
custody. She was not allowed to take a bath and
was denied access to her
lawyers and family. But she said she would not give
up the fight for human
rights.
"I will not be cowed," Mtetwa said.
"There has to be mutual respect between
police and lawyers because we will
all be doing our job."
'Deeply concerned'
Critics cited Mtetwa's
prolonged jailing as the start of a fresh wave of
political intimidation
against President Robert Mugabe's opponents by
loyalist police and judicial
officials ahead of elections.
The European Union (EU) said in a statement
on Monday that Europe's
governments were "deeply concerned" by Mtetwa's
arrest and the onslaught
against civic groups as Zimbabwe prepares for
elections to end the shaky and
dispute-ridden coalition
government.
The European bloc conceded that a referendum vote on March 16
on a new
constitution was "credible" and reflected the free will of about
three-million voters who cast their ballots and overwhelmingly accepted the
reformed constitution, EU spokesperson Carl Skau said on Monday.
As a
result the EU suspended with immediate effect travel and banking bans
on 81
leaders of Mugabe's party.
But Mugabe, his wife, military, police and
security chiefs and several
others key loyalists remained on the ban
list.
The restrictions were imposed in 2002 to protest the human rights
record,
violence, corruption and allegations of vote-rigging by Mugabe's
party in
past elections.
Regional mediators forged the coalition
government between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai after the disputed and violent
elections in 2008.
Intimidation
So far this year, four rights and
advocacy groups have been raided by police
searching for alleged subversive
materials relating to their activities
campaigning for free elections and an
end to political intimidation and
human rights abuses that have dominated
past elections.
Mtetwa was scheduled to act as lead defence attorney in
the trial, resuming
on Monday, of 29 supporters of Tsvangirai's party
charged in the murder of a
police inspector in an impoverished township
suburb in western Harare.
Most of those suspects were denied bail for
more than a year. Defending
them, Mtetwa noted that six police officers
charged in the assault and
murder of a theft suspect received bail within a
month of their detention.
The officers are still to go to trial in that
case, which was opened nine
months ago.
Swaziland-born Mtetwa moved
to Zimbabwe in 1983. She represented key leaders
in Tsvangirai's party,
including its treasurer Roy Bennett, now in
self-imposed exile after
repeated threats.
She has also defended journalists and prominent rights
workers, some of whom
were tortured, according to evidence in court, and
held incommunicado
without charge for several weeks late in
2008.
Obstructing justice
Last week police ignored a High Court order
to free Mtetwa and on Wednesday
the lower Harare Magistrate's Court ordered
her held in custody to reappear
in that court on April 3.
Charges of
obstructing justice carry a maximum of two years imprisonment.
The judge
said Mtetwa should not have been denied bail because of her
"professional
standing". He said the police officers conducting the search
could have
"easily subdued her because she is a woman" if they felt she was
hindering
them from doing their job.
"She is a lawyer of many years, with a
forceful, combative and at times
aggressive personality but she remains
professional and dignified" when
doing her job, the judge
said.
Mtetwa is a recipient of an array of awards from international
jurists'
groups, including the American Bar Association over a distinguished
career
of three decades.
Mtetwa is known for her feisty and outspoken
style and for quickly
responding to calls for representation around the
clock by activists and
journalists held by police.
Media freedom
groups said her detention, the first time she was jailed, left
independent
reporters and rights campaigners fearful of being left without
her
voice.
The state's Sunday Mail criticised Mtetwa for thinking she was
"untouchable"
and said her "stage-managed antics in and outside the courts"
earned her
"dubious awards" from lawyers groups worldwide.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 10:00
HARARE - The murder
trial of 29 Harare residents accused of killing police
inspector Petros
Mutedza in May 2011 has been deferred to next week Tuesday.
The case was
expected to proceed yesterday.
“The transcribed record is not yet ready.
They said it would be ready by
tomorrow (today),” said Gift Mtisi, who is
part of the legal team
representing the 29 residents from Harare’s Glen View
suburb.
Mtisi said they would need the transcribed record for easy
reference when
applying for discharge.
The lead counsel Beatrice
Mtetwa was not readily available yesterday, as she
was separately appearing
in court following her arrest on charges of
obstructing or defeating course
of justice last week.
High Court judge Joseph Musakwa however, freed her
on bail meaning she will
be available when the Glen View trial returns to
court.
Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba closed the state case on March 11,
prompting
defence lawyers to give notice that they would apply for the case
against
the 29 to be dropped.
Out of the 29 suspects, only five
remain in remand prison after their bail
bid was turned down by judge
Chinembiri Bhunu, who ruled that they were a
flight risk and that the state
had a strong case against them.
The activists are being charged with
murder or alternatively public violence
as defined in Sections 47 and 36 of
the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act. -
Tendai Kamhungira
http://www.theparliament.com
By
Martin Banks - 26th March 2013
"The ball is now in Mugabe’s
court"
Geoffrey Van Orden
Senior UK MEP Geoffrey Van Orden has given a
guarded welcome to the EU's
decision to suspend sanctions against 81
officials and eight firms in
Zimbabwe.
The decision followed a
"peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a
new constitution earlier
this month.
From the 91 originally banned, sanctions will remain in force
against 10
people - including Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe - and two
firms.
The EU imposed sanctions, including a travel ban, in 2002 in
response to
alleged human rights abuses and political violence under
Mugabe's rule.
Mugabe, who has shared power with prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirai since
disputed elections in 2008, said the sanctions should be
unconditionally
removed
Mugabe, 89, and his rival, prime minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, 61, have been
sharing power since disputed elections
marred by violence in 2008.
Reaction to the move was swift with Van
Orden, chair of parliament's
'friends of Zimbabwe' group, saying, "We
recognise that there has been some
movement in the right direction and this
needs to be reinforced.
"The referendum was just a first step. The really
important event will be
the elections later in the year.
"Our concern
now is that all the processes connected with the elections
should be carried
out fairly and correctly and that campaigning is free from
violence and
intimidation.
"A reduction in the restrictive measures is just about
acceptable provided
they can be quickly re-imposed if there is any sign of
violence,
intimidation or manipulation of the electoral process. My
understanding is
that this is exactly what has been agreed.
"The
changes meet the wishes of other African countries and will signal to
ZANU-PF insiders and to army and police chiefs that they have nothing to
fear from real democratic change."
"The ball is now in Mugabe's
court," added the MEP, who has been personally
banned by Mugabe from
entering Zimbabwe.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
26/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZANU PF on Tuesday accused the European Union of
trying to “divide the party
and cause confusion amongst our officials” after
sanctions were scrapped on
81 officials to leave just 10 – including
President Robert Mugabe – who are
seen as responsible for human rights
abuses.
The EU announced a rollback of the sanctions imposed in 2002
following a
“credible” referendum on a new constitution on March 16 which
passed without
violence that has accompanied elections in the
past.
But while sanctions were lifted on some of Mugabe’s top loyalists
including
Vice President Joice Mujuru, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo,
Mugabe’s
name remained stuck on the blacklist along with those of his wife
Grace,
Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa as well as heads of the
army
and police.
In a statement on Tuesday, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare
Gumbo slammed the EU for
what he said were “desperate attempts” to drive a
wedge between the party’s
top leadership.
He again called for the
scrapping of the travel and financial sanctions
against the 10 individuals
as well as two companies – the state-owned
diamond miner, the Zimbabwe
Mining Development Cooperation and arms procure,
the Zimbabwe Defence
Industries.
“As long as there remains a single person on the sanctions
list, and
particularly if that person is President Robert Mugabe who is the
heart and
soul of our nation and who represents everything that is good
about
Zimbabwe, we will continue to be appalled by the EU and its
half-hearted
efforts,” Gumbo said.
“Let’s put it this way: an assault
on President Mugabe is an assault on the
entirety of Zimbabwe and we are not
accustomed to taking assaults very
kindly. The EU fools itself if it thinks
Zanu PF is amused by its latest
gesture. Quite the opposite!”
Gumbo
insisted that Zanu PF would overcome alleged attempts to divide it
because
it is a “50-year-old organisation which knows much better than to be
divided
by our detractors, people who have spent the better part of their
lives
trying to dislodge us from power through foul means”.
According to the
EU, President Mugabe, the First Lady, Presidential Affairs
Minister Didymus
Mutasa, war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda, Central
Intelligence
Organisation director Happyton Bonyongwe, Police Commissioner
General
Augustine Chihuri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General
Constantine
Chiwenga, Air Marshall Perence Shiri, Army Commander Lt General
Phillip
Valerio Sibanda and Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba will
remain
banned from travelling to Europe and will be denied access to the
financial
systems of those countries.
Prisons chief Retired Major General
Paradzai Zimondi had sanctions lifted.
Zanu PF said the sanctions on the army
chiefs were a plot to “encumber the
security sector... to weaken our
country”, adding: “It’s an unacceptable
affront to our independence and
sovereignty. It is also very much in line
with the MDC-T’s call for security
sector reforms and confirms our long held
view that the sanctions are
intended partly as punishment for embarking on
the land reform and partly as
an attempt to bolster MDC-T’s chances of
winning in the next
election.”
The EU says the sanctions will be reviewed further after
elections expected
mid-year.
http://www.news24.com/
2013-03-26 09:33
Washington - The
United States is reviewing its sanctions on Zimbabwe but
has made no
decision yet to follow the European Union in easing an assets
freeze and
travel visa ban, a top official said on Monday.
Washington congratulated
the Harare government for holding a "peaceful and
credible constitutional
referendum" earlier this month, State Department
spokesperson Patrick
Ventrell said.
It was "an important first step in the nation's
development of democracy",
he said of the March 16 vote called to approve a
new constitution.
But the United States is still waiting to see if it can
"serve as a
precedent for upcoming presidential elections".
"So we're
going to continue to review our sanctions, but we want to get the
democratic
process back on track in Zimbabwe."
The European Union on Monday lifted
sanctions against 81 people and eight
entities in Zimbabwe following the
March referendum.
However, President Robert Mugabe and a handful of
others remained on the EU
blacklist, a European diplomat
confirmed.
The United States began imposing targeted sanctions on
Zimbabwe in 2001,
which include financial sanctions and travel bans on a
list of firms and
individuals, including Mugabe.
Former US secretary
of state Hillary Clinton said in August during a visit
to South Africa that
Washington would reward efforts by Zimbabwe's leaders
to pave the way toward
free elections, saying the United States is prepared
to "match action for
action".
- AFP
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet
Gonda
26 March 2013
Finance Minister Tendai Biti described as
‘absolute nonsense’ and ‘lies’
reports saying principals and cabinet
ministers in the inclusive government
would receive hefty exit packages at
the end of the current coalition
arrangement in June.
The weekly
Zimbabwe Independent newspaper revealed last week that President
Robert
Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and
his deputies Arthur Mutambara and Thoko Khupe would receive golden
handshakes running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The papers
said 35 cabinet ministers and 18 deputy ministers would each get
US$30 000,
residential stands in affluent suburbs, three luxury cars
including Mercedes
Benz and top-of-the-range SUVs before leaving office.
But the finance
minister categorically denied this: “It’s total undiluted
nonsense. There is
nothing like that. Nothing like that.”
Biti told SW Radio Africa this
matter has not been discussed in cabinet,
reiterating: “It’s absolute
nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. The President
stays in the State House that is
owned by the State. The Prime Minister
stays in a residence which is owned
by the State. I don’t know about other
officials, but the State House is a
State house and a private residence is a
private residence. If there are
agreements to buy back I don’t know about
those but the fact of the matter
is that there is no exit package that is
going to be paid to anyone. That is
absolutely nonsense.”
He said it is surprising that no journalist has
ever asked him about this
issue of ‘golden handshakes’ even though he gives
monthly meetings and press
briefings on the state of the economy.
“I
have seen a recent tendency of just writing articles without
substantiation.
The other day I was complaining about an article that said
the ‘government
is raiding companies for electoral funds’, which is absolute
nonsense as
well. We issued two bonds, voluntarily to two companies – Old
Mutual and
NSSA and that’s all. You just get tired,” the Finance Minister
added.
The news of the exit packages has been slammed by many
Zimbabweans, with
some writing on social networks saying the inclusive
government, which has
constantly said is broke and has no money to fund the
elections and is
struggling to provide basic services, had betrayed the
people.
MDC-99 President Job Sikhala, who was the first to expose this
story earlier
this month, said he stands by his story and challenged the
authorities to
arrest him if this is a lie.
Biti insisted that the
allegations are ‘lies and perjury’ adding: “I am a
Christian and a lawyer
and I will not put my career at risk. This is
absolute nonsense.”
But
Sikhala said what he revealed was the truth and that President Mugabe
approved a cabinet motion by the Minister of Water Resources, Sipepa Nkomo,
to have exit packages.
“This is only Tendai Biti’s shameless dispense
of the truth when he knows
that cabinet ministers have already received the
exit packages.”
Sikhala added: “If it is a lie I challenge him to put in
place an
independent commission of enquiry into these allegations and if
they come
out clean I will celebrate this.”
Sikhala claims some
ministers have shown him transactions of money they
allegedly received from
the ministry of finance, “so Tendai Biti must be
ashamed of himself if he
defends such kind of greediness. I am really
surprised with him because he
is the last person I expected to defend this.”
The MDC-99 leader said the
government should have challenged the Zimbabwe
Independent newspaper if the
story was false.
Some government ministers, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, denied they
had received payments. They said they were due to
receive housing
allowances, especially to help ministers who lived outside
Harare, but that
the scheme did not materialise because the government has
no money.
“The law obliges me to pay housing allowances for ministers and
MPs but I
have not been able to pay those,” confirmed Biti.
The
sources said initially some ministers were staying in hotels but the
Ministry of Finance failed to pay the hotel bills. It was then the cabinet
decided to rent flats and the government was expected to pay rent for the
ministers who lived outside Harare.
This did not work and some
ministers were evicted after the government again
failed to make the rent
payments, resulting in government reinstating
housing allowances for all
ministers, as in the Zimbabwe-dollar days. “But
no-one is receiving this
allowance and a scheme to apply for CBZ commercial
loans, with the
government as guarantors, has also failed to materialise,”
revealed one of
the ministers.
Meanwhile, Sikhala accused political opponents of ‘petrol
bombing’ his
shopping complex in Chitungwiza early Tuesday morning. He said
ZESA officers
were called to the scene and confirmed that it was not an
electrical fault
that destroyed his shop. He said children could not have
been “playing with
fire at 1 am at my complex when we know that even at that
time witches would
have retired to bed. So this was no accident.”
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By
Alex Bell
26 March 2013
Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba has
described as ‘bittersweet’ a decision
by the highest African court, which
found the Zimbabwe government
responsible for the torture he suffered in
2003.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights made this
decision last
year after it was filed by Shumba in 2004. But the decision
was only
finalised in January and communicated to the Zimbabwe government
and Shumba
in the past week. The court has now given Zimbabwe 90 days to act
on the
decision, including launching an investigation into the torture that
Shumba
was subjected to.
The lawyer was arrested by the police and
CIO officials in Zimbabwe in 2003,
while attending to a client. During his
detention he was kicked, beaten and
severely tortured and ill-treated for
several hours. He was threatened with
death, electrocuted, burned with
chemicals and suffered other serious
abuses.
Following this torture
he was then forced to flee to South Africa where,
almost ten years later, he
still lives and works as an advocate in the High
Court. He told SW Radio
Africa on Tuesday that the fact that his case took
almost a decade to reach
this point was “concerning.”
“It was really a long, long process fraught
with a lot of disappointments,
characterised by despair. I almost withdrew
the case from the African
Commission and I think it is not a good thing for
our African jurisprudence
to have a case drag on for so long,” Shumba
explained.
He continued: “If you consider the fact that I am a lawyer and
I have had to
pester them (the court) at every opportunity at every moment I
could get,
try and juxtapose that to a situation where someone with no
knowledge of the
law ventures to approach the commission… It is really a
disappointment. As
many people have said, justice delayed is justice
denied.”
He said the system at the Commission needs to be improved,
warning that
without key changes “it can only work to discourage prospective
applicants
or complaints before the commission.” He said that, as the
highest judicial
authority in Africa, the court needs to set a standard for
the rule of law
and fighting impunity.
But Shumba also welcomed the
decision, calling it a progressive one that
sets an important precedent in
Africa. He said that in a specific Zimbabwean
context, it also sets a vital
precedent ahead of elections.
“It is fortuitous that the ruling has come
while human rights defenders in
Zimbabwe are being harassed, including
Beatrice Mtetwa, Okay Machisa,
Jestina Mukoko and others. The pronouncement
made in this ruling from the
African Union’s highest judicial body is that
what the Zimbabwe government
is doing is illegal in terms of African
charter. And that is an important
precedent,” Shumba said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Guthrie Munyuki, Senior Assistant
Editor
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 09:55
HARARE - Munyaradzi Gwisai, leader of
the International Socialist
Organisation (Iso), has warned his colleagues
who pushed for a ‘‘No’’ vote
in the just-ended referendum against forming a
political party.
The former Highfield legislator’s warning comes against
corridor talk and
suspicion that National Constitutional Assembly chairman,
Lovemore Madhuku,
could form a party.
Madhuku, a public law lecturer
at the University of Zimbabwe, has been
advocating for a people-driven
constitution for the last 13 years.
“To rush into forming a new party on
the basis of the disparate ‘‘No’’ vote,
and one led by the middle classes,
even if formed after the elections, will
not take working people far,” said
Gwisai in his organisation’s latest
dispatch which reacts to the recently
concluded referendum.
“Its ideological character as well as un-democratic
DNA will be no different
from the MDC. It will merely be a popular front in
which radical trade
unions, activists, students and socialists will be used
to build another
broad church, which will eventually be dominated by
capitalists and their
middle class lackeys.
“Working people need to
look hard and learn the hard lessons from how the
MDC was hijacked by the
rich. Rushing to form a political party from the
disparate groups that made
up the ‘Vote No’ groups would inevitably lead to
another MDC
disaster”.
Madhuku has not ruled out forming a party although he
maintains he has
unfinished business with Zanu PF and MDC formations who
campaigned for a
‘‘Yes’’ vote.
In the constitutional referendum, the
‘‘Yes’’ vote polled 3 079 966 votes,
representing 93 percent of the ballot
while ‘‘No’’ vote scored 179 489, or
5,4 percent.
This paved way for
a new constitution to replace the overly amended and
defective Lancaster
House Constitution that has been in use since
independence.
Gwisai
said pro-democracy groups, in the event that they think of forming a
party,
must strive to build a movement, from the bottom to the top.
“That kind
of movement is not formed overnight in a hotel conference room or
an NGO
board-room. It can only be formed in the anvil of real concrete
struggles in
which the true colours of activists, leaders and organisations
are revealed,
tried and tested.
“The agenda of the ruling classes is clear. As publicly
admitted by the
likes of MDC’s Eric Matinenga and Mugabe’s George Charamba,
another elite
government of national unity beckons post-elections, with
elections only
useful for determining the share-out of power. The Copac
Constitution
already accommodates this: a neoliberal property regime, and an
accommodating political framework, with two vice presidents, an unlimited
size of Cabinet and bloated Parliament to give enough positions to the
leaders of all parties,” said Gwisai.
Among those who see Madhuku
forming a party or view that as his only
alternative to remain relevant in
the current discourse, is Nathaniel
Manheru a columnist suspected to be
President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman,
Charamba.
“The votes NCA
attracted may have been too small to dent the ‘‘Yes’’ vote.
But they were
numerically big enough to launch a movement, a party…
Numerically bigger
when you consider two points. While the two main parties
got loyalty votes,
Madhuku got the thinking vote.
Potentially that makes his numbers very
many, magnified. He commanded a
leadership stratum, actual and potential and
that augments the quality of
his numbers.
“I said potentially because
the same strength is also the same weakness. It
is easy to become another
Enoch Dumbutshena and his elitist Forum party (or
another Makoni)…You looked
at the geographic spread of the NCA vote, and you
were struck by the
national spread, of course with an indicative
concentration in Manicaland,
Madhuku’s province…But Madhuku has some
following in cities, themselves
locales for politics of the futures…” wrote
Manheru on March
23.
Madhuku formed the NCA together with former ally Morgan Tsvangirai in
a bid
to usher in a new constitution.
But with Tsvangirai siding with
Mugabe in the just- ended referendum,
Madhuku’s aspirations were severely
dented, leaving speculators pointing
towards his next move widely believed
to be a political party which they say
could be launched after elections
expected later this year.
Don’t miss Thursday’s edition for Gwisai’s full
interview.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com
Gibbs
Dube
25.03.2013
WASHINGTON — Green Fuel (Pvt) Limited’s $600 million
Chisumbanje plant in
Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province remains closed despite
spirited efforts by
Vice President Joice Mujuru for the ethanol entity to
re-open Monday.
According to Claris Madhuku, a member of the Chisumbanje
district ethanol
plant implementation committee, thousands of retrenched
workers and local
people converged at the plant this morning hoping to
witness the resumption
of operations following its closure more than 18
months ago.
Madhuku said Vice President Mujuru appears to have been
merely politicking
last Tuesday when she told retrenched workers and locals
that the plant will
re-open Monday.
He told VOA Studio 7 Mujuru’s
remarks that the plant is a Zanu-PF project
have divided the local community
along political lines with former ruling
party youths already recruiting
their members for Green Fuel jobs.
Officials in Mujuru’s office
declined to comment. The plant was shut down
following a land dispute
between green fuel and villagers, prices of ethanol
and the introduction of
mandatory ethanol blending in the country, among
other issues.
The
Chisumbanje plant is currently holding more than 80 million litres of
ethanol.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 00:06
From Tendai
Mugabe in CHISUMBANJE
GREEN Fuel resumed operations at its ethanol plant
here yesterday, raising
prospects that the country could soon start the
mandatory blending of fuel
that has been on the cards for
sometime.
There was jubilation as workers who had become restive after
being sent on
forced leave following the closure of the plant last year,
were relieved to
get their jobs back.
The resumption of operations
follows a directive by Vice President Joice
Mujuru who toured the plant and
its sugar estates last week.
Ethanol production is expected to start
after the Easter holidays as the
firm is still recalling the
workers.
When The Herald visited the plant yesterday, some of the employees
were
gathering outside the plant as their names were being called.
Said
Green Fuel production manager Engineer David Muwandi: “We have started
with
recalling our employees and after that we will do some refresher
courses
because most of them have not been doing this job for a long time.
We have
projected to start actual production on April 4.”
Eng Muwandi said they
were expecting to have all workers reporting for duty
by the end of the
week.
He said Green Fuel wanted to procure spares and chemicals used in
ethanol
production.
The plant, Eng Muwandi said, produces an average of
150 000 litres of
ethanol daily.
“We are in the process of upgrading
our machinery and soon we will be
producing between 200 000 litres and 250
000 litres daily,” he said.
Green Fuel assistant general manager Mr Raphael
Zuze said the re-opening of
the plant was a process that took some time
since it was closed for a long
time.
“It is a process and we are still
mobilising our workers,” he said. “Those
who harvest the sugar cane should
come first before the plant starts to run.
We are still attending to
logistical and administrative issues.”
Green Fuel workers welcomed the
re-opening of the ethanol plant.
Mr Thulani Sibanda, who works as a
supervisor, said the re-opening of the
ethanol plant would not only benefit
Green Fuel employees, but the nation at
large.
“If this plant is running,
the country can reduce its fuel import bill by 10
percent,” he said. “This
is a welcome development that we all cherish not
only as Green Fuel
employees but as Zimbabweans.”
Another employee, Mr Stanely Chieza, said
the re-opening of the ethanol
plant brought relief to workers who have gone
for almost a year without
salaries.
“We are happy that this plant has
re-opened,” he said. “As workers, we are
now assured that we can decently
look after our families.”
Green Fuel is now waiting for the issuance of a
licence that would enable it
to sell anhydrous ethanol to all licensed oil
companies in Zimbabwe.
Government recently gazetted regulations making it
mandatory for all
licensed oil companies to sell petrol blended with a
minimum of five percent
of locally produced ethanol.
Energy and Power
Development Deputy Minister Cde Hubert Nyanhongo said
yesterday that
consultations with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority
to expedite
issuance of a license to Green Fuel had begun.
“I have talked to
officials from Zera and all I can say at the moment is
that we are making
progress to ensure a licence is issued,” he said.
“We want to adhere to the
instruction given by the Presidency.”
VP Mujuru ordered company officials
to open the plant while the Government
re-aligns the fuel blending
policy.
Green Fuel closed its plant in February 2012 after stocking up the
maximum
10 million litres of ethanol that its storage facilities allow.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
26 March
2013
The eagerly awaited and perhaps the most competitive primary
elections in
the history of the MDC-T, since its formation 14 years ago, are
set to be
held in mid-April, party sources said on Tuesday.
SW Radio
Africa is reliably informed the party’s election directorate on
Tuesday
began vetting the list of candidates who submitted their CV’s
wishing to
contest the urban and rural council, senatorial and parliamenatry
elections.
The party’s national council is expected to convene
Wednesday next week to
deliberate on the names, after which they will
release a full list of
candidates to contest the primaries.
The
party’s national organizing secretary, Nelson Chamisa, revealed earlier
this
year that they had an overwhelming response from people who wanted to
stand
on the party’s ticket for elections, expected any time between June
and
October.
Chamisa said the list contained a “rich menu” of candidates who
include
lawyers, journalists, bankers, economists, the old and young. One of
the
lawyers who have confirmed submitting his CV’s is Arnold Tsunga, who is
challenging the sitting MDC-T MP and cabinet minister Giles Mutsekwa, for
the Chikanga-Dangamvura constituency in Mutare.
“We have a rich menu
and an excellent combination of young and dynamic,
tried and tested leaders,
experienced senior citizens and skilled
Zimbabweans who want to be MDC
candidates come elections,” said Chamisa.
Piniel Denga, the party’s
provincial chairman for Mashonaland East, told us
they received 300
applications for 180 council seats, while 21 candidates
submitted their CV’s
for the 5 senatorial seats in the province. 70 aspiring
candidates will be
vying to win the right to represent the party from the 17
parliamentary
seats in the province.
‘We have a strong field of candidates, so those
who are spreading the word
that the MDC is going to impose candidates must
be ashamed of their lies,’
said Denga, adding the province was now busy
urging people to register and
vote.
Theresa Makone, co-Home Affairs
Minister, said that to register to vote you
need to be 18 years old, a
citizen of Zimbabwe, resident in the ward or
constituency and possess one of
the following:
A Zimbabwe national metal or a polythene ID.
A legible
green national registration waiting pass document.
A valid Zimbabwe
passport.
Makone used her Facebook page to explain the process and said
she got the
information from the Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede. She
emphasized that
anyone wishing to register had to appear in person before
the registrar and
you needed documentary proof of where you
lived.
‘Confirmation of proof of residence can be done by a landlord,
parent or
friend staying with the claimant. The persons confirming you, must
do a
written statement accompanied by their house card, electricity bill,
water
bill, rates bill, or similar document in their name.
‘You can
also take a sworn statement by your employer confirming your claim
of
residence and hospital bills, envelopes with post markings reflecting
claimant’s address and any other information and or document sufficient
enough to enable the Registrar to ascertain the claimant’s address,’ Makone
added.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
by Richard Muponde 10 hours 30 minutes
ago
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara was yesterday
given another lease of
political life after the Supreme Court indefinitely
postponed judgment in
his appeal against an order declaring him an
illegitimate leader of the MDC.
Two years ago, Bulawayo High Court
judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha
declared Mutambara an illegitimate MDC
leader, in an order which was meant
to put an end to the long-running legal
wrangle over control of the party
between him and his predecessor Welshman
Ncube.
Justice Kamocha’s order was to stand pending the outcome of a
Harare case in
which Joubert Mudzumwe and 13 others were challenging Ncube’s
ascendancy to
the party’s helm at a congress held in January
2011.
Mutambara appealed against the order and the matter was heard
yesterday by
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku sitting as a panel with
Justice Vernanda
Ziyambi and High Court judge Justice Martin
Makonese.
Judgment was postponed indefinitely after the judges heard
arguments from
Advocate Adrian de Bourbon instructed by Josphat Tshuma for
Ncube and
Advocate Lewis Uriri instructed by Alec Muchadehama for
Mutambara.
Ncube’s camp wanted the appeal to be thrown out, arguing that
it had not
been properly brought before the Supreme Court as Mutambara did
not seek
leave to appeal from the judge.
However, Mutambara’s
lawyers argued that the matter did not need a leave to
appeal because
Justice Kamocha had given a final order.
They said the appeal should be
upheld and a declaration be made so that
Ncube and Mutambara would know
their positions.
The wrangle followed an application by MDC
secretary-general Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga seeking to bar Mutambara
from “masquerading” as party
president or as one of the coalition
government’s three principals.
Justice Kamocha ordered the robotics
professor to stop acting as a principal
in the inclusive government and as
MDC president in any fora in the country
or internationally.
He also
ordered him to pay the costs of the lawsuit.
In January 2011, Ncube took
over from Mutambara as party leader at a
congress held at City Sports Centre
in Harare.
Mutambara initially endorsed Ncube’s ascendancy in a speech he
gave at the
congress.
He made a U-turn after he was asked to step
down as Deputy Prime Minister
and make way for the new party leader.-
NewsDay
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Obert
Pepukai
25.03.2013
WASHINGTON — War veterans and their wives Monday
besieged Governor Titus
Maluleke’s offices at the Benjamin Burombo building
in Masvingo for the
second day running demanding, among other things, to be
allocated sugar cane
plots in the lowveld.
The former freedom
fighters also demanded that some youths arrested in
Bikita while mining
illegally should not be prosecuted.
Over a 100 war veterans gathered at
the governor’s offices early Monday
morning. Their wives joined them after
similar action Friday.
The former freedom fighters are demanding sugar
cane plots in the lowveld
arguing they also want to get into the lucrative
industry.
The war veteran leaders were then invited into a private
meeting with the
governor while their colleagues waited
outside.
Details of the meeting were not immediately available. War
veterans
spokesman Kid Muzenda said they have lost patience with
Maluluke.
Maluleke as governor chairs the Masvingo land committee which
is responsible
mainly for allocating land to the people.
At least 150
people are said to have been allocated pieces of land in the
lucrative
region but the former freedom fighters claim they have been
shunned.
They are demanding Maluleke should speedily allocate them
their share before
crucial elections expected later this year. The governor
refused to talk to
the press.
The war veterans are also demanding
that a group of about 100 youths
arrested during a police clampdown on
illegal miners in Bikita be released
from detention without charges being
preferred against them.
It is alleged that some senior Zanu-PF officials,
among them politburo
members, are involved in the illegal mining of
tantalite, a mineral
discovered recently near Bikita Minerals
Mine.
The discovery of tantalite in the area has seen hundreds flocking
to the
district to for illegal mining activities.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
BY MOSES MATENGA 2013-03-25
12:57:00
THE Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai yesterday said Zanu PF was wasting its time
pushing for elections
before key electoral reforms were put in
place.
“The election will be determined by processes and fundamental
reforms. It’s
a waste of time to talk of elections without reforms. Without
reforms, it’s
an empty discourse,” MDC-T national organising secretary
Nelson Chamisa
said.
“The good thing is Sadc is superintending this
whole process and we are a
creature of a negotiated process and elections
are supposed to be a process.
Why should elections be a Zanu PF
affair?”
Zanu PF has made it clear it will push for elections by the end
of June,
while the MDC-T says elections could be held as late as
October.
Last week, Justice and Legal Affairs minister and Zanu PF
non-constituency
senator Patrick Chinamasa said he would not allow for
elections to be held
after June 29 this year.
Chamisa told NewsDay
yesterday his party had also unearthed fresh evidence
of a Zanu PF “plot” to
rig the forthcoming harmonised elections.
The plot, he said, involved
using Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede’s office
to bar suspected supporters
of the two MDC formations from registering as
voters.
Chamisa said his
party had raised the matter with the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
(Zec).
The Welshman Ncube-led MDC formation also made the same
allegations
recently, saying some of its members were being frustrated from
registering
as voters.
Ncube also alleged that sometimes his
supporters were being made to wait for
up to four days to register, while
suspected Zanu PF supporters, in
organised groups, were smoothly
registered.
“We are disturbed by reports we have received from across the
whole country
of problems being encountered by people who want to register
and are
suspected to be from the MDC,” Chamisa said.
“It’s a matter
that has been brought up with high offices and our leader
(Tsvangirai). We
have also alerted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of the
complaints coming
from the people on the ground. It’s a plot which is
difficult to
understand,” he said.
Chamisa added that his party was still pushing for
a clean-up of the Zec
secretariat to get rid of what he termed Zanu PF and
State security agents
sympathetic to President Robert Mugabe.
This is
despite recent statements by Tsvangirai that the Zec secretariat was
clean.
In a separate interview yesterday, MDC spokesperson Kurauone
Chihwayi said
his party members had experienced similar difficulties when
they went to
register as voters at Makombe Building in Harare.
The
building houses Mudede’s offices.
“What we know is that preferential
treatment is given to uniformed forces
and Central Intelligence Organisation
operatives and we understand they are
being lectured and coerced to vote for
Zanu PF. In the last week they were
addressed in camps and told to remember
the hand that feeds them. It’s
unfortunate and that won’t help them to win
because people know what they
want. Zanu PF has run out of ideas and it’s
known,” Chihwayi said.
“What we know is that at Makombe Building, some of
our members only got
registered after four days without explanation. Zanu PF
people were
registered fast and smoothly and this is clearly meant to
frustrate our
supporters.”
Concerted efforts to reach Zanu PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo and Zec
chairperson Justice Rita Makarau were
fruitless yesterday. Mudede too could
not be reached.
Recently, the
Sadc Troika recommended urgent security sector reforms in
Zimbabwe to enable
the holding of free and fair elections.
Mugabe has, however, remained
defiant, saying there will not be any security
sector reforms. - NewsDay
http://www.voazimbabwe.com
Chris
Gande
25.03.2013
WASHINGTON — Zimbabwe has frozen processing of
transfers and filling of
vacant posts setting a collision course with the
country’s 230,000 workers.
This means that even teachers who want to
further their education will be
affected by the move. The government said
this was because of budgetary
constraints.
Relations between
government and civil servants have remained frosty
following the public
service’s failure to meet the workers’ demands on a
salary
increase.
The latest announcement worsened the relations between the
government and
its workers who say their working conditions will be
worsened.
In a letter addressed to heads of ministries recently, Public
Service
Commission secretary Pretty Sunguro said government would no longer
allow
any working conditions adjustments within the civil
service.
“Please be advised that at its meeting of February 26, 2013 the
public
service commission directed that there shall be no more creation of
new
posts, filling of vacant posts and processing of performance
advancements
services due to budgetary constraints,” the State-run Herald
quoted her as
saying.
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association secretary
general, Richard Gundane said
they are not happy that the announcement was
made in the media without them
knowing anything.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 00:00
Government has
enacted new laws imposing stiffer penalties of up to 11 years
for poaching
protected animals, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority has
said.
ZPWMA public relations manager Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo said the
new laws
would affect criminals who kill any protected animals gazetted by
the
Ministry Environment and
Natural Resources
Management.
“Any person who is convicted for unlawful killing of a
rhinoceros or
elephant is expected to be sentenced to nine years for a first
offender or
eleven years for a second or subsequent offender,” she
said.
The new penalties are contained in the General Laws Amendment Act
of 2011,
amending the Parks and Wildlife Act.
Ms Washaya-Moyo said the
new laws would help curb rampant poaching of rhinos
and
elephants.
Zimbabweans are known to target rhinos and elephants for
markets in Far East
countries fronted by wealthy international criminal
syndicates.
Financial challenges have crippled ZPWMA efforts to curtail
poaching.
Zimbabwe is currently stuck with over 50 tonnes of ivory which
the country
has been prohibited to sell under the Convention on
International Trade in
Endangered Species.
It had been hoped that
permission to sell the ivory stockpile worth over
US$10 million
would
boost capacity of the authority to fund its conservation
activities.
CITES, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand last week noted
that reliable
techniques on wildlife trade tracking and forensic methods
were needed to
combat organised wildlife crimes, together with stronger
punishments. - New
Ziana.
http://ewn.co.za
Eyewitness News | 4 hours
ago
HARARE - Zimbabwe is considering new restrictions on foreign
journalists in
the wake of the referendum vote on a new
Constitution.
Authorities were riled by footage of Mbare township
residents attacking a
BBC team just before the March referendum.
The
Information Ministry said the incident was “stage-managed”.
The ministry
said some journalists want to show Zimbabwe as a country full
of
violence.
The BBC team claimed it was attacked as it covered Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) campaigners putting up posters in the area, a day
before the
vote.
The official line is that residents had concerns
about the environment and
that is why they were objecting to the
posters.
Authorities now say international journalists abused freedom of
the press.
The official Herald newspapers said talks were being held to
determine what
position should be taken on the foreign press ahead of
elections.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 10:32
HARARE -
Zambians are scared that Zimbabwe’s forthcoming polls will
compromise the
smooth-running of a global tourism event being co-hosted by
the two
countries, according to United States ambassador to Zambia Mark
Storella.
Both Zimbabwe and Zambia are hyping the United Nations
World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) as a catalyst to winning back tourists,
but poor
preparations by Harare and elections that are likely to turn
violent have
kept Zambia on the edge.
Storella told journalists that
he learnt of the concerns through his
“associations” in Zambia who are
keenly following Zimbabwe’s road to
watershed elections to be held most
likely before end of July.
“According to my contacts Zambians are
concerned about peace during
elections. They want the elections to be
peaceful for UNWTO. As we know
problems in Zimbabwe mean problems in Zambia.
It affects visitors’ flow and
reduces economic activity,” Storella
said.
Speaking to Zimbabwean female journalists visiting Zambia on a US
programme,
Storella said Zambians drew “some comfort” from the peaceful
referendum held
in Zimbabwe on March 16.
“Just as referendum went on
peacefully, Zambians are optimistic that all
goes well during the election
as well,” he said.
But a recent crackdown on civil society and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
staff by police has renewed
concerns.
Zambia and Zimbabwe will co-host the 20th UNWTO General
Assembly from August
24 to 29, probably a month after Zimbabwe’s
election.
Successive elections in Zimbabwe since 2000 have been blighted
by violence,
with the 2008 poll seen as one of the bloodiest. Stakes are
higher this year
given that this could be 89-year-old President Robert
Mugabe’s last election
and his campaigners are not leaving anything to
chance.
The MDC party led by Tsvangirai claims it lost more than 200 of
its
supporters during the 2008 disputed elections which led to the formation
of
a “unity” government.
Funding for the tourism indaba has also been
problematic.
While Zimbabwe is struggling to fund the tourism indaba amid
discord in the
coalition government, the US — a key player in global tourism
— is happy
with progress made thus in Zambia.
According to Storella,
the Zambian government was doing its best to pool
resources towards UNWTO
preparations.
“Though infrastructure is still not enough to support the
conference, Zambia
is making a big effort and I am sure it is going to do a
great job,” he
said.
Just like Zambia, Zimbabwe has so far passed two
inspection examinations by
the UNWTO inspectorate but without any financial
assistance from Finance
minister Tendai Biti.
Tourism minister Walter
Mzembi, a Zanu PF appointee, accuses MDC secretary
general Biti of
neglecting the country’s preparations for the tourism
extravaganza to spite
Mugabe.
Mzembi said although his ministry had a budget of $11,9 million,
only $6
million was pledged by Biti.
Treasury is yet to release a
cent despite the pledge, according to Mzembi.
UNWTO officials have since
assisted Zimbabwe in drafting a Tourism Master
Plan (TMP) expected to double
tourist arrivals and increase the sector’s
economic contribution by
2015.
The TMP is expected to adopt a fast-track strategy that would see
arrivals
grow to five million in 2015 from the current 2, 2
million.
During this period, the sector should subsequently create 150
000 new jobs
and reach 450 000 jobs compared to the current 300 000,
according to the
master plan. - Wendy Muperi
Human rights lawyer and Tsvangirai supporters held after vote for
constitution that paves the way for elections later this
year
Ben
Freeth in Chegutu
The
Guardian, UK guardian.co.uk
A Zimbabwean shows his support for the draft
constitution. Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
Elections are in the air in Zimbabwe. A referendum on
the new constitution was held this weekend and the general election is due
before the end of October. But the signs all suggest that the upcoming vote will
take place under conditions not dissimilar to 2008, when elections were
characterised by widespread intimidation and political violence.
Yesterday the office of the prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai,
was raided by police, who arrested four officials - apparently for impersonating
officers. A prominent human right lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, was also arrested for "defeating the course of justice".
I
was in Chegutu, near Harare, recently. An elderly church pastor had held a
meeting at his local church to discuss the constitution. Three policeman barged
in and arrested the pastor and some of his parishioners under the notorious
public order and security act, as they had been having a meeting of more than
three people without getting police clearance, as required.
Gift
Konjana and Pastor Bere described their ordeal of sleeping on the concrete
in a dark and over-crowded cell, sharing dirty blankets and a toilet, an often
overflowing hole in the ground, in the corner of the room. It is an experience
that many Zimbabweans know only too well.
After a couple of nights inside the magistrate gave Konjana bail, but he
was immediately re-arrested without charge. Konjana went on hunger strike,
saying that he would not eat until he had been charged. They finally let him out
the next day.
Several days later 14 people in Movement of
Democratic Change T-shirts were on their way to a meeting with Tsvangirai. Under the
long standing security laws, used selectively prior to each election, such
meetings need to be cleared by the police at least four days before, and this
one had been. Unfortunately, though, they stopped their bus in Chegutu to get
some lunch. Police accused them of congregating illegally and they were arrested
and put in the cells, where they spent the next week.
At
the same time a witch hunt has begun for anyone with
wind-up short wave radios. In Lupane, in the south of the
country, police have asked children at school whether their parents have these
radios. Zanu-PF retains control of the airwaves and is determined to crack down
on anyone listening to broadcasts from outside the country.
One
of our employees told me about his parents-in-law a few weeks ago. They had
refused to go to a Zanu-PF rally up in Mount Darwin, in the north of Zimbabwe.
The next thing they knew a group of youth arrived and burnt their house down.
They lost everything that they owned. I thought back to when the same thing
happened to us and a number of our workers on the farm.
In
Headlands at the end of last month, Shepherd Masiri, a
well-known MDC activist, was out campaigning when his house
was petrol bombed and burnt to the ground. In it his 12-year-old son
Christpowers Masiri was sleeping; and like so many victims over the last
four decades, he was burnt to death.
When I saw pictures of his charred body lying on the burnt floor of his ruined
home, I could only think of my own son, born at the same time, who managed to
survive despite our
house being burnt down. "It could have been him," I kept thinking. "How many more and going to
suffer the same fate in 2013?"
The
draft constitution was voted on this weekend. Although there are those in civic
society who have expressed grave concerns about the document, both MDC and
Zanu-PF – including the war veterans – campaigned for a yes vote. Although there
are some better things in the constitution, I have yet to understand why MDC
supported it. President Robert Mugabe approves
the draft constitution essentially because, firstly, his powers remain little
diminished but secondly because it allows him to continue to take land without
any legal process. Property rights remain insecure and the door is open for the
grabbing of white-owned mines, banks and businesses which will create further
job losses and will continue to stifle investment.
In
the classic Orwellian tradition, the draft constitution goes against
international law on a few fundamental issues. The most critical area of concern
is that the bill of "rights" allows a wrong. Just like the Animal Farm
inscription on the barn door which said that "all animals are equal but some are
more equal than it others", it asserts that "discrimination is unfair…unless it
is found to be fair."
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
26.03.13
by
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
The developments on Zimbabwe are a
typical comedy of errors. On 25 March
2013, whilst the country's top human
rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was
literally walking from the ordeal of a
week-long detention, the European
Union was swapping a stick for a carrot
against the very government that
tormented her by removing all sanctions
against the government.
On the face of it, particularly to someone
who had no background on how and
why the EU made this decision, they would
think the decision was irrational.
This article provides basic insight on
current international developments on
Zimbabwe and the rationale behind the
developments.
The European Union on 25 March 2013 made a decision to
suspend most of the
sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, under the Cotonou
agreement, with the
exception of the measures against President Mugabe and
those very close to
him. Please read the decision here. You can also access
a fact-sheet on how
sanctions are imposed including how they are adopted,
what they can include,
where they apply and the legal remedies available
here.
The sanctions decision comes in the wake of Zimbabwe’s
constitutional
referendum which was held on 16 March 2013. According to the
international
community, the referendum appears to have passed peacefully
and credibly –
although they pointed out some areas of longer-term
concern.
The international community’s attention will now focus on the
period during
the build-up to elections, which are due any time between 29
July and 27
September. The current decision is a follow up to the previous
roll over in
July 2012, where a peaceful and credible referendum was agreed
as a key
benchmark upon which the EU would suspend the measures.
The
March 25 decision did not include the President and those who are
involved
in planning and decision making and are in strategic control of the
apparatus of violence
The sanctions against Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) will
also stay until one month after the
elections, upon which they will lapse,
unless the EU is of the opinion that
either the elections were not free and
fair or that ZMDC sponsored violence
in the course of the elections, the key
being the malignant influence of
diamonds on the course and outcome of the
elections.
We carried out a
quick random survey on the EU decision and our informants
have largely
welcomed the EU decision but for different reasons. Some feel
that sanctions
had given the Zimbabwe government an excuse not to institute
necessary
reforms while some stated that sanctions fueled resident Mugabe’s
rhetoric.
Ordinary Zimbabwe’s views are diffusive rather than formulaic.
Others felt
the sanctions caused the economic collapse while others feel
that they
should have remained since there have been little or no meaningful
reforms.
Against the backdrop of the EU decision, the international
group known as
Friends of Zimbabwe are also currently meeting in London to
discuss the
international response to Zimbabwe’s constitutional referendum
and
preparations for its elections. This group also known as the fishmongers
is
an informal annual meeting of major international donors to Zimbabwe
which
attracts all major Western countries that have an interest on
Zimbabwe.
Representatives from all three parties of Zimbabwe’s Inclusive
Government
(Elton Mangoma of MDC-T, Patrick Chinamasa of ZANU-PF and
Priscila
Mishihairabwi-Mushonga of MDC-N) as well as SADC representatives
are
attending the meeting as part of discussions. We have also been
attending
some of the meetings and will keep you up to date on any decisions
made
which are open for public sharing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Ongoing abuses and alleged
intimidation by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has
prompted many to question the
easing of sanctions
David Smith, Africa correspondent
The
Guardian, Tuesday 26 March 2013 17.42 GMT
A Zimbabwean policeman
confiscates a banner from protesters as they
demonstrate against the
detention of lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. Photograph: AP
A leading human rights
lawyer spends eight days in jail; the prime
minister's office is raided, six
of his staff arrested and three computers
allegedly go missing; civil
society groups warn of rising political violence
and intimidation tactics.
Plus ça change in Zimbabwe.
Yet thousands of miles away that is not,
apparently, how things look from
Brussels. On Monday the European Union
dropped most of its sanctions against
the southern African country, the most
far-reaching olive branch for more
than a decade.
This was in effect
a reward for a "peaceful, successful and credible"
referendum on a new
constitution and designed to encourage further progress.
The EU dropped its
targeted measures against 81 officials and eight firms in
Zimbabwe. Only 10
people, including President Robert Mugabe and his wife
Grace, and two
companies, including the state-run Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation
(ZMDC), remain on the sanctions list, restricted by
asset freezes and travel
bans.
The move comes after years of declining political violence and slow
economic
recovery under a power-sharing agreement that followed the
violently
disputed 2008 election. Since then, with the world's gaze diverted
by the
Arab spring and African coups, Zimbabwe has dropped down the list of
crises
requiring urgent attention and begun to woo tourists again. Now the
incident-free referendum and easing of sanctions appears to put the seal on
the notion that the country has more or less "normalised".
Yet the
unfortunate coincidence of the referendum with the arrest of lawyer
Beatrice
Mtetwa, finally released on Monday, and six members of prime
minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's staff, suggests that in Zimbabwe "normal" is
still a long way
from ordinary. Mtetwa warned: "It is a personal attack on
all human rights
lawyers but I was just made the first example. There will
be many more
arrests to follow as we near elections."
Hardliners in Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party are accused of ongoing abuses. Four
rights and advocacy groups have
been raided by police searching for alleged
subversive materials so far this
year. Activist Okay Machisa was locked in
police cells for almost a month
only for the charges to be dropped.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) alleged recently that one
of its members lost his 12-year-son
to a house fire started by "known
Zanu-PF thugs".
Analysts predict a
rise in intimidation tactics before elections this year.
"It looks
somewhat incongruous to lift sanctions in the context of some of
the
violations that are continuing," said Piers Pigou, Southern Africa
project
director of the International Crisis Group. "It's another episode of
bad
timing from the EU. They said, 'If you have a good referendum process,
we'll
reward you'. They could have put it in a broader context with
qualifiers.
They've been clumsy in the way they've handled this. It's part
of a broader
pattern of clumsiness."
Emily Armistead, a lead campaigner on conflict
diamonds at Global Witness,
said: "It's a relief that the EU has at least
maintained sanctions against
state-owned diamond miner ZMDC. Our research
shows the company is involved
in off-budget financing of the army and secret
police, organisations linked
to violence and intimidation in previous
elections. We remain concerned,
though, that relaxing sanctions reflects the
EU's keenness to see the
Zimbabwe problem 'solved' before free and fair
elections have taken place,
so that it can turn its attention
elsewhere.
"Now is a critical time for EU governments to do all they can
to support
Zimbabwe's full democratic transition."
However, the
relaxation of sanctions is welcome news to those who believe
they have long
been counter-productive, gifting Mugabe and Zanu-PF an excuse
for the
country's economic troubles and a rallying point to whip up
anti-western
sentiment. From this perspective, Mugabe has just lost a major
propaganda
tool.
David Coltart, the education minister and member of an MDC faction,
said:
"My view is that sanctions have outlived their purpose and were being
cynically manipulated for political ends. There are elements of hardliners
in government who don't want sanctions lifted. Often we see that when
sanctions are about to be lifted some appalling action is taken, which may
help explain the arrest of Beatrice Mtetwa. It happens too often to be a
coincidence."
The new constitution was endorsed by Zanu-PF and the
MDC, so serious
violence was never likely during the referendum. The
elections, which Mugabe
wants in June, are likely to be a different story.
"Although things have
improved dramatically in the last four years, there
are still terrible
things happening in the country and there are still
hardliners doing all
they can to derail the process," warned
Coltart.
"The lifting of sanctions should be seen as a calculated step to
help the
moderates in both the MDC and Zanu-PF to chart a peaceful course
amid these
ongoing human rights violations."
Few believe the
elections will be as disastrous as in 2008 when some 253
people died,
according to an MDC count. The new constitution will be in
place and Zanu-PF
is seen as less united. But its hardliners may have become
more adept at
using intimidation without spilling blood. And it is still
hard to imagine a
scenario in which Mugabe, who has ruled for 33 years,
accepts defeat and
leaves the stage gracefully. As Pigou noted: "We are far
from out of the
woods."
http://www.guardian.co.uk
With crucial clauses not taking effect for 10 years, document
recognises
that nothing will change with the president
around
Simon Allison for Daily Maverick, part of the Guardian Africa
Network
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 March 2013 16.22 GMT
It
was, by all accounts, the most fair and trouble-free vote in recent
memory.
As Zimbabweans went to polling stations last Saturday to approve a
new
constitution – which they did, by a 95% margin – reports of intimidation
and
foul play were few and far between, at least by Zimbabwe's admittedly
low
standards: a beaten up journalist here, an arrested activist there.
"Transparent, orderly and professional," was how the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) observer mission characterised the referendum,
and it was right, for the most part.
This was not a surprise. That
the referendum would be a success was never in
doubt once both major parties
– Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for
Democratic Change faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai – agreed to campaign to
approve the draft constitution.
For once, those old enemies found themselves
in agreement, making
intimidation or coercion on a significant scale
unnecessary, ballot-stuffing
and vote-rigging redundant. There was nothing
at stake, so nothing to fight
about: an important point to remember for
those who think that this
referendum might be the model for the presidential
elections planned for
later this year. It is not.
And now Zimbabwe has a nice, shiny new
constitution that's worth taking a
closer look at. Of course, there are some
good points. "The constitution is
particularly strong where it puts the
aspirations of ordinary Zimbabweans at
the centre of government," writes
Petina Gappah on Comment is Free. "A
strengthened bill of rights obliges the
state to put the empowerment of
women and girls ahead of regressive cultural
practices; makes significant
inroads into the death penalty; forbids all
forms of torture; guarantees
freedom of expression and belief; and imposes
obligations on the state to
take steps to ensure access to shelter, health
education, food and legal
aid."
So far, so good. But then things
start to unravel as it becomes clear that
this document was written in the
spirit of bitter compromise. On the vexed
issue of land ownership, only
"indigenous" peoples are entitled to
compensation for appropriated land. It
will be up to the new constitutional
court to decide who falls into this
category, but it's unlikely to be broad
enough to include white farmers
booted off their farms or narrow enough to
signal a bonanza for Zimbabwe's
1,200-strong San population. It's "a not
particularly subtle code for
black," says Gappah.
The constitutional court is a bit of a problem in
its own right. In South
Africa, the constitutional court functions as the
prime guardian of the
constitution, and in practice has been one of the most
effective bulwarks
against the expansion of government powers and the
passage of bad law. In
Zimbabwe, the constitutional court will be drawn from
the ranks of the
existing supreme court, which has been thoroughly
discredited as an
independent judicial body. No judges can come from
anywhere else for the
next decade, the new constitution says – guaranteeing
that Zimbabwe's top
judicial organ will continue to be a mouthpiece for
Zanu-PF policy until
then.
Then there's the constitution's most
exciting clause: the introduction of
term limits. Each president is allowed
a maximum of two five-year terms, but
this does not apply retrospectively,
meaning that – if he is re-elected –
Mugabe is constitutionally entitled to
another decade in office. And if he
should die, or resign, within that
10-year period, then his party would be
allowed to appoint a successor
rather than go back to the electorate.
The number of these special
clauses which expire in 10 years is telling.
They were inserted at the
insistence of Zanu-PF negotiators, and they offer
the greatest clue yet into
the party's plans for Mugabe's succession. The
likely scenario is that
Zanu-PF will ride the wave of Mugabe's still great
popularity to earn
another win in the upcoming elections (or, at the very
least, get enough
genuine votes to ensure that not too much dodgy business
is needed to get
him across the line). Once he's installed in office, the
party can manage
the issue of succession at its leisure. And if Mugabe
doesn't want to be
succeeded, then he's got 10 years in which to pop off and
leave the party
firmly in control. Given that he's 89 now, this is not an
unlikely
scenario.
So why did the MDC, which has been fighting for so long to get
rid of Mugabe
and Zanu-PF, agree to these provisions? The obvious answer is
that it feels
confident it can win the upcoming elections; and, by being so
cooperative
during the constitutional negotiations, that it has guaranteed
that SADC
will step in if Zanu-PF tries to fiddle the vote. But perhaps
there's more
to it. Perhaps the MDC, like the Zanu-PF wannabe leaders
jockeying for
position, knows that nothing will really change until Mugabe
passes over
power or passes on – and, until that happens, this constitution
is the best
way to keep things relatively stable.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The Election Resource Centre has produced a comprehensive analysis of the Referendum entitles "Miracle Votes". The report highlights the fact that 3,316,082 people reportedly voted - the highest voter turnout in the history of Zimbabwe - as people did not have to register to vote.
Harare is awash with allegations that the ballot boxes were somehow stuffed with ballots as there were very few reports of long queues anywhere on polling day.
The full report follows: This report is an attempt to interrogate and analyse the voter behavior that influenced the relatively 'high voter turnout' in this poll. What could have driven Zimbabweans to come out and vote in such unprecedented large numbers, what is the comparative analysis? Could the numbers have been tampered with? And what does this mean for the coming crucial elections in Zimbabwe?
The Increased Voter Turnout
The March 2013 referendum witnessed an increased voter turnout by all standards in Zimbabwe since 1980, and all the subsequent elections that have taken place since then. The table below depicts the voter turnout in all of Zimbabwe’s elections since 1980.
VOTER TURNOUT IN ZIMBABWE: From 1980 to 2008
Further, it is also evident that, compared to the February 2000 referendum, the March 2013 recorded a significantly higher voter turnout. The February 2000 referendum had a total voter turnout of 1 312 738 whilst the March 2013 recorded a voter turnout of 3 316 082. The table below depicts the 2000 Referendum results
2000 REFERENDUM RESULTS
A comparative analysis of the March 2008 Elections and the 2013 Referendum is also made, which shows that there has been a significant increase of people who voted in the referendum than those who participated in March 2008. The table below shows the numbers of the people who voted in March 2008 and those who cast their vote in March 2013.
It also depicts the numerical increase that each of the 10 provinces registered for the referendum as well as the percentage increase. Harare recorded the highest percentage increase followed by Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Masvingo, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and the province with the least percentage increase was Matabeleland South.
The graph below illustrates the pattern of voting in the ended referendum, which shows Harare had the largest voter turnout followed by the three Mashonaland Provinces. The Southern regions, comprising Bulawayo, Matebeleland North and Matebeleland South had the lowest voter turnout.
The graph below illustrates that there was an increased voter turnout for the March 2013 Referendum when compared to the March 2008 Election.
The chart below depicts the voter numerical increases of the provinces in terms of voter turnout when compared to the March 2008 elections.
3.0 Unpacking the Miracle Votes:
The Implications ers than questions, with various suggestions being made to explain the rise in the voter turnout. The reasons The requirements for casting a vote in a referendum were not as stringent as those in an election. Voters were only required to use their mplete voting. -T. ms that were widely used especially by the s spearheaded by both civil society and GPA. and they believe that since The recent flurry of votes in the just ended referendum has left more answhave varied from vote rigging to an increased interest in the electoral process. In this section, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) unpacks some of the reasons which could have led to the comparatively high voter turnout.
• Relaxed voting requirements: national IDs in the absence of a voter’s roll which enabled a number of unregistered, but ineligible voters to cast their votes. This included almost 3 generations of voter grandaunts who turned 18 years between 2008 and 2013.
• The Voting procedure was less complex as compared to an actual election, exemplified by the average 3 minutes that voters took to co
• The relatively prevailing peaceful political engagements could have revitalized confidence in the electoral processes.
• Political party canvassing manifested in the tussle for numbers between the two main political parties ZANU PF and MDC
• The utilization of social media as a platform for public debate increased the interest in the Referendum. The social media platforyoung people included facebook and twitter.
• A new generation of first time voters that voted.
• Effectiveness of voter awareness programmethe main political formations who are party to the
• The swirling desire to end the transitional period, it might be that most Zimbabweans have grown weary of the tripartite governance framework and they believe that since the constitutional reform exercise was one of the major obstacles, ensuring its passage would expedite the conduct of elections, hence the end of the coalition government.
3.1 The Fears…
There are fears from other sections of the society such as the National Constitutional campaigned for a no vote that the referendum result could U PF, to drive out ). There was consensus amongst ll walks of life that this constitution is a good document for women in electoral processes. Assembly (NCA) and those whohave been rigged and that the high voter turnout was manipulated through ballot staffing. This thinking is motivated by the belief that ZANU PF was using the referendum as a test case for the forthcoming General elections slated for this year, and that the results reflect on ZANU PFs test run of its rigging machinery and its coercive machinery of systematically driving out its supporters especially in the rural areas to vote en’masse.
Whilst we cannot be able to authenticate claims of rigging, this high voter turnout could be attributed to the coercive capacities of the political parties, especially ZANtheir supporters in a systematic manner to vote in a block. There were reports of voters being given cards before voting in the rural areas as well as registering their names with party officials before voting. Such coercive and intimidatory practices could be replicated in the next elections.
3.2 Where the “Yes” could have come from?
• Core supporters of the three parties in the GPA.
• Forced voters.
• Women (who constitute the majority of voters)
There was consensus amongst women from all walks of life that this constitution is a good document for women hence the massive mobilization by women’s groups and women politicians to endorse the draft.
• The youth vote, although more still needs to be done to ensure that young people participate in electoral processes.
3.3 Where the “No” could have come from?
• Core members of the National Constitutional Assembly anPTUZ and MDC-99).
• Some MDC members whose voting was not polluted by group action and party opinion leaders. They retained their freedom of choice.
• There was a clique in ZANU PF which found expression through Jonathan Moyo, which at some point vehemently opposed the completioexercise. There is no telling that this clique could have made a sudden about turn to endorse this draft given how vigorously they campaigned for the disbandment of COPAC and the holding of elections under the Lancaster House Constitution.
• Some ZANU PF members who at some point were told about the ‘toxic’ issues in the proposed constitution. For instance, those who once were told that the COPAC draft would allow gay LGBTI rights (gay and lesbian rights) – at some point ZANU PF embarked on a campaign against the draft which spread to most areas like Gokwe Chireya. However, following their ultimate agreement ZANU PF could have failed to effectively reach some of its members who already had embarked on a campaign against the draft to re-orient them on the party’s new position.
Conclusion
The results of the just ended referendum show a trend of increased voter turnout in the poll.
Political Parties in the country will analyse and interpret the results in an attempt to prepare for the forthcoming elections. It is most likely that the voter turnout in the referendum could be a mirror of the next elections. On the whole there was a marked increased voter turnout in Harare and the three Mashonaland Provinces. The referendum was also characterized by a low voter turnout in Bulawayo, Matebeleland South and North provinces. Against this background it is clear that stakeholders charged with electoral management and voter mobilization that a deliberate strategy be employed to target these provinces which had a low voter turnout. The need to increase voter mobilization around the country, especially targeting the youth and first time voters, remains urgent.