It was painful, says Mukoko

JAG -  stop press communique

dated 2 March 2009

Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

JAG Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799410.  If you are in
trouble or need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here
to help!

 SITUATION REPORT CHEGUTU

Here is an update on our situation (Blue Ranges Estates t/a Twyford Farm
- Chegutu - Catherine Jouineau - Meredith)

Jamaya Muduri and us are awaiting the judge decision on our spoliation
suit this week.

Muduri already owns 4 farms :

Railway Farm No5 (Shiloh Farm) in the district of Kadoma acquired in June
2003 that belonged to Mr. P. Rourke.

Railway Farm No8 (Hoffmarie Farm) in the district of Kadoma acquired in
2000 that belonged to Mr. P. Hoffman.

Brunswick Farm in Chegutu acquired in 2000 that belonged to Mr. P.
Sparks.

Mr. F. Pistorius farm.

He has ploughed about 3 ha for sugar beans but is yet to plant it and he
claimed that he had ploughed 30 ha in his affidavit. We have pictures of
the reality of it. He has broadcasted maize seeds claiming that he now
has a crop in the ground and deposited a complaint to the police in
Chegutu that our workers stopped his workers from planting. Not true of
course as our workers are under strict instructions from me not to lose
their calm under any circumstances. He has still got 9 cattle left on the
farm which he brought in without any visible vet permit or police
clearance papers. He told the police that we poisoned 2 of his cattle as
2 died of what visibly was tick born disease.

The police also came in on Saturday as his "workers" went to the police
and claimed that Mr. & Mrs. Prinsloo's son, Frick, had threatened them
with a gun in the morning. The police inspected the weapons and took away
his firearms licenses. Mr. Prinsloo Jr and Sr are both Professional
Hunters hence the weapons. It was not true of course that anyone of the
Prinsloos used their weapon in ANY way. None of our workers were there to
witness it. Unfortunately.

On Sunday, yesterday, Jamaya Muduri came and threatened to remove
everyone including workers from the farm by force. He indicated that he
would bring lorry loads of "war vets" to carry out the task of removing
everyone off the farm.

He is totally disregarding and ignoring our Provisional and Final Orders
HC 6953/06 (dated respectively 22nd Nov 2006 and Feb 2007) as well as the
BIPPA protecting this farm.

That's it. Let me know if you want anyone to interview or talk to me. I
want to make as much noise as possible on this.

Catherine Jouineau-Meredith

frenchie@blueranges.com

Former prisoners allege beatings in Harare

http://www.iol.co.za

    March 03 2009 at 08:41AM

By Stanley Gama

Harare - Human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who has been in custody
for the past three months facing charges of trying to topple President
Robert Mugabe from power, was released on bail on Monday, but will remain in
hospital to receive treatment.

At least 16 prisoners from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
and human rights workers were granted bail as Mugabe seemed to buckle under
pressure from the local and international community.

The release of the prisoners came a week after the principals to
Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal - Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
his deputy, Arthur Mutambara, resolved that all political prisoners who were
abducted by state security agents last year should be released on bail while
the state investigated claims that they wanted to topple the government.

Looking frail, Mukoko said she was happy to be free, but was worried
about her health.

"I will remain in hospital for a few more weeks," she said from her
hospital bed.

According affidavits produced in court, all the 16 were subjected to
prolonged and severe torture, which included beatings on the soles of their
feet, half-drowning, electric shocks, being hung upside down by their feet
and being locked in freezers for hours in an attempt to force them to
confess that they were engaged in banditry on behalf of the MDC.

One of those freed on bail, 72-year-old Fidelis Chiramba, said: "I was
severely tortured until I could no longer feel any pain. The abductors
treated me like an animal - I was forced to wear trousers of a two-year-old
boy although I am 72.

"They took me to a room where I was put in a deep freezer for hours. I
didn't know that ice is hot like fire.

"After spending hours in the freezer, the abductors then took me to
the bathroom tub and they poured hot water on my private parts. They wanted
me to make a confession, but I didn't not know anything about banditry and
up to now I don't understand why an old man like me was targeted."

The interview was abruptly stopped when police, hospital staff and
prison guards objected. Journalists had to flee from the hospital and a few
were questioned by police.

This article was originally published on page 7 of Cape Times on March
03, 2009

Tsvangirai to be sworn into Parliament today

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Nokuthula Sibanda Tuesday 03 March 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will today be sworn in
as a Member of Parliament (MP), his office announced.

Tsvangirai's spokesman James Maridadi also said the Prime Minister will make
his maiden speech to Parliament on Wednesday.

"Parliament will swear in the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday,"
Maridadi said. "He will make his maiden speech to Parliament on Wednesday."

Tsvangirai, the leader of the country's former main opposition MDC
formation, was sworn in as Prime Minister on February 11 after agreeing to
join a power-sharing government with veteran President Robert Mugabe and
Arthur Mutambara, who leads a smaller of the MDC.

Under the power-sharing deal, Mugabe retained his job and most of his
executive powers while Tsvangirai as Prime Minister also enjoys some
executive authority. Mutambara is a deputy prime minister.

According to the country's laws, Tsvangirai must be an MP in order to be
eligible to occupy the office of Prime Minister.

Tsvangirai, Mutambara and other top leaders in the unity government will
join Parliament as non-constituency members under a constitutional amendment
passed by the House last month.

Mugabe, who in the past had labelled Tsvangirai a Western puppet and vowed
never to allow the MDC leader to rule Zimbabwe, agreed to share power after
his ZANU PF party last year lost parliamentary elections to the two MDC
formations.

He also lost a parallel presidential ballot to Tsvangirai but the MDC leader
failed to secure the margin required to takeover the presidency.

Tsvangirai boycotted a subsequent second round presidential vote because of
state sponsored violence against his supporters. Mugabe went on to win the
ballot as sole candidate.

But Western governments and African election observers refused to accept his
victory and Mugabe eventually buckled under pressure, agreeing to form a
power-sharing government. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe legislature to closely monitor inclusive gov't

http://news.xinhuanet.com



www.chinaview.cn  2009-03-03 07:51:45

    HARARE, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's legislature will closely
monitor the operations of the inclusive government while reforms will be
made in Parliament to enable parliamentarians to fight corruption, the
Speaker of the House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo has said.

    In his keynote address at Transparency International Zimbabwe's
fifth Annual Corruption Conference at a local hotel on Sunday, Moyo said
Zimbabwe had, over the years, experienced shocking levels of corruption in
both the public and private sectors.

    He said the legislature was committed to fighting corruption while
also holding the Executive and Government departments accountable.

    Moyo said Parliament was working with civil society in train
lawmakers to sharpen their appreciation of the role of the legislature in
providing oversight over the executive through the portfolio committee
system.

     He said the committee system was one of the ways parliament would
use to fight corruption. "The legislature will soon roll out a program of
parliamentary reforms, (and) one of the key reforms will be in the use of
the committee system to detect and probe corruption."

    "This requires that the committee system be as open to the public
as possible and to encourage stakeholders to make representations to
parliament and that the proceedings of Parliament be open to the media,"
said Moyo.

     "One example of how parliament can help stop corruption is through
the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that all Government Departments
should be monitored for their full compliance with the recommendations and
instructions from the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the
financial management and accounting practices of government," he said.

    He said it was critical that parliament plays an active monitoring
role against the background of the expected increased inflows of financial
and humanitarian aid.

    Moyo said he hoped Parliament would appoint credible and
non-political members to the Anti-Corruption Commission, now that the
recently amended Constitution gives the legislature a big role in the
appointment of commissioners.

    The Speaker said he was convinced that unless corruption was
rooted out, Zimbabwe would not be able to turnaround the economy.

    He urged all sectors to join hands in the fight against the
scourge and appealed to state employees and senior government officers to
put the interests of the nation first by working for the good of the public.

Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Said To Confront President Mugabe Over Farm Seizures

http://www.voanews.com/

By Ntungamili Nkomo & Benedict Nhlapho
Washington/Johannesburg
02 March 2009

Yet another point of disagreement has emerged between Zimbabwean Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe a little more than
two weeks following the launch of the national unity government in which
they are partners: Mr. Mugabe's declaration on the weekend urging the
country's last white commercial farmers to get off the land.

Political sources said Mr. Tsvangirai took the president to task over his
declarations in their weekly meeting on Monday, before taking up other
business. They said Mr. Tsvangirai urged Mr. Mugabe to halt farm seizures,
arguing that they were counterproductive.

Mr. Mugabe made the statements in a speech to supporters at official
celebrations of his 85th birthday in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West province. He
vowed to continue his controversial land reform program which has seized
most white-owned commercial farms since it was launched in 2000, and
dismissed Southern African tribunal decisions backing some what farmers.

President Mugabe also said that nothing had changed in Zimbabwe despite the
launch of the unity government with Mr. Tsvangirai, founder of the Movement
for Democratic Change party which holds a parliamentary majority and now
controls a number of ministries.

The Commercial Farmers Union, which represents the 400 white farmers who
remain out of more than 4,000 before 2000, condemned the ongoing farm
seizures.

CFU President Trevor Gifford told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio
7 for Zimbabwe his union had received assurances from Mr. Tsvangirai's
office as to the cessation of farm takeovers, so it was troubled by Mr.
Mugabe's remarks to ZANU-PF loyalists.

Elsewhere, civil society leaders meeting recently in South Africa voiced
concern about the direction of the new unity government, saying the Southern
African Development Community and the African Union must hold all parties
accountable to the letter and the spirit of the power-sharing agreement,
reported correspondent Benedict Nhlapho.

SA considering availing credit lines to Harare: Motlanthe

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent Tuesday 03 March 2009

JOHANNESBURG - President Kgalema Motlanthe on Monday said South Africa
was considering availing credit lines to Harare, following last week's
appeal for financial aid by Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

"What they are really asking for are credit lines, and of course as
South Africa we have to consider that favourably because it means their
traders, their business people in terms of economic recovery will be buying
whatever they need from South Africa," Motlanthe told the media.

Tsvangirai appealed for $2 billion aid from the southern African
region and Motlanthe appears to support the idea because Africa's biggest
economy stands to benefit from its northern neighbour's economic recovery.

"That is one positive element of the response that is required," said
Motlanthe speaking on the sidelines of a conference outside Cape Town.

Southern African Development Community (SADC) finance ministers last
week recommended that the regional bloc holds an extraordinary summit to
consider an appeal for financial support by Zimbabwe, although Motlanthe
said they still have to come up with the actual figures.

Once a model African economy, Zimbabwe is in the grip of an
unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis marked by the world's highest
inflation of 231 million percent as of last July, acute shortages of
essential commodities and deepening poverty, amid a cholera epidemic that
has infected nearly 84 000 people and killed nearly 4 000 others.

A unity government formed by Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe
last month has raised hopes Zimbabwe could finally end years of decline to
regain its former status as a regional breadbasket.

But skepticism remains high whether the unity government that under a
September power-sharing agreement should last for about two years will be
able to survive the deep-seated acrimony between the tow political rivals.

Analysts say the success of the unity government depends on its
ability to convince the international community to provide aid and financial
support to rebuild Zimbabwe after nearly a decade of acute recession.

Western governments with the ability to bankroll Zimbabwe's recovery
have adopted a wait and see attitude, insisting on seeing tangible evidence
of genuine political and economic reform in Zimbabwe before they can commit
substantial financial and technical assistance. - ZimOnline

Doctors Fear High Risk of Drug-Resistant TB

By Stanley Kwenda

HARARE, Mar 3 (IPS) - Zimbabwe’s crumbling health system makes it almost impossible to detect and treat tuberculosis (TB), doctors say. As a result, they suspect the country has large numbers of unidentified cases of multi-drug resistant (MDR) as well as extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB.

International humanitarian relief organisation, Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), said Zimbabwe has the public health system of a country at war.

"It's like being asked to have a fist fight in the dark because you don't know what you are treating," said Dr Clemence Duri, head of the Harare city council's two infectious disease hospitals, Beatrice and Wilkins. He says the number of MDR and XDR cases in Zimbabwe is unknown because proper patient health records and statistics are not being kept.

"The truth is that we don't know the extent of the MDR TB, but it is likely that it is high, and it is also likely that we have many cases of XDR TB," Duri told IPS. "Most of the TB patients we see at the hospital have been infected at least twice."

A shortage of financial resources and health workers further exacerbates the situation. Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights (ZDHR) estimates 100,000 health professionals have left the country within the last nine years. To make matters worse, many nurses and doctors who have remained in the country are not working, as the strike over pay for health workers that began in August last year is still unresolved.

Many hospitals and clinics have had to close down, as a result, while those still in operation have little medicine available. "Right now, we are poorly resourced. Even if we want to carry out studies, we have no capacity, no computers or even test kits. We have nothing," Duri explained.

There is also a shortage of drugs to treat TB. As a result, government hospitals have started to refer patients to rural mission hospitals financially supported by international aid organisations.

According to 2007 health department statistics, the country's TB case detection rate is only 42 percent, a figure falling far short of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of detecting 70 percent of TB infections. In addition, Zimbabwe’s official treatment success rate is 68 percent, 17 percent lower than the WHO target of 85 percent.

HIV and TB Someone in the world is newly infected with tuberculosis (TB) bacilli every second; overall, one-third of the world's population is currently infected with the TB bacillus. TB is spread through the air when infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB germs, known as bacilli, into the air. A person needs only to inhale a small number of these to be infected. Left untreated, each person with active TB disease will infect on average between 10 and 15 people every year. But people infected with TB bacilli will not necessarily become sick with the disease. The immune system "walls off" the TB bacilli which, protected by a thick waxy coat, can lie dormant for years. HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress. HIV weakens the immune system; someone who is HIV-positive and infected with TB bacilli is many times more likely to become sick with TB. TB is a leading cause of death among people who are HIV-positive. In Africa, HIV is the single most important factor contributing to the increase in incidence of TB since 1990. Information adapted from WHO

To get the disease under control in the midst of a poorly functioning primary health care infrastructure, doctors have called on the national health department to swiftly implement TB awareness and education programmes. To reach as many people as possible, this needs to involve community members and take place within communities, Duri suggested.

National TB coordinator, Dr Charles Sandy, admitted at a recent National TB Capacity Building and Policy Dialogue Platform conference in Harare that a MDR-TB outbreak could soon surprise Zimbabwe. "The chances that TB is spreading fast in our population is high," he said.

Anecdotal evidence points to significant drug-resistance problems, Sandy explained: "We have cases of MDR and XDR TB for sure, but we have a challenge because our TB reference laboratory, which is supposed to diagnose the tests, is not (functioning)."

Sandy was referring to the country's only TB testing lab at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare - the country’s only laboratory that can carry out bacterial culture and drug sensitivity tests - which is currently dysfunctional because of outdated and broken diagnostic equipment.

Theoretically, TB can be diagnosed relatively easily through sputum smear tests that are then analysed in a laboratory. But with limited testing services available, many TB cases either go undiagnosed or are treated without accurate diagnosis. As a result, TB treatment in Zimbabwe currently relies on a doctor's ability to recognise the disease based on symptoms, or on guesswork.

The Zimbabwean health department has blamed international sanctions for its inability to receive donor money that could help to purchase much-needed modern medical equipment. This although Zimbabwe has received a $12 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

A nurse at Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital, who did not want to be named, told IPS that a Detect-TB research study funded by the UK-based Welfare Trust, which had been commenced last year in collaboration with the Biomedical Research Institute in London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has been suspended because of the outbreak of the cholera epidemic, which took up all of hospitals’ capacity.

Since August last year, more than 3,500 Zimbabweans have died of cholera, according to the United Nations. (END/2009)

Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS Population Obscured, Decimated By Cholera Epidemic

http://www.voanews.com/

By Patience Rusere
Washington
02 March 2009

The cholera epidemic ravaging Zimbabwe has commanded the attention of public
authorities and international relief organizations, but meanwhile a
less-visible tragedy is unfolding among those living with - and dying in
large numbers from - HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS advocates say resources have been concentrated on fighting the
cholera epidemic, draining funds away from programs supporting those living
with HIV/AIDS, who are highly vulnerable to the cholera bacterium which is
almost ubiquitous in the country.

Research suggests about 15% of Zimbabwe's population is HIV-positive.

Frenk Guni, technical director for HIV-AIDS with Management Systems
International in Washington, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that someone is dying from HIV/AIDS every three minutes in
Zimbabwe.

SA closes refugee camp in Pretoria

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent Tuesday 03 March 2009

JOHANNESBURG - A refugee camp housing hundreds of displaced foreign
nationals in Pretoria was closed on Monday and residents will be relocated
to a centre in Johannesburg, authorities said.

"A decision was taken in August last year to close the camp," said City of
Tshwane spokesperson Console Tleane.

The camp was holding 382 people, according to an audit done by the city
fathers last year and 282 were to be relocated to Rosettenville - a United
Nations managed centre in Johannesburg - while the remainder would be given
a stipend of R2 000 for individuals, and R4 000 per family to find
alternative accommodation

Tshwane metro council last week gave residents at the Klerksoord refugee
camp in Akasia an eviction order as they wanted to close down the camp and
relocate the refugees to Johannesburg.

The residents had reportedly vowed not to relocate, Tleane told reporters,
and city officials burnt the shacks after removing the people from the camp.

Foreign nationals were displaced from their communities when a violent wave
of xenophobic attacks broke out in Johannesburg's Alexandra township of the
poor before spreading across the country in May.

The violent attacks started on May 12 in Johannesburg's Alexandra township
before spreading to other townships in Diepsloot, Hillbrow, Jeppe,
Cleveland, Thokoza, Tembisa and provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, North West,
Mpumalanga and Western Cape leaving thousands of African immigrants without
shelter or food after their homes were looted and burnt down.

It is estimated that more than 30 000 foreign nationals mostly from
Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African countries were displaced in the
attacks in poor South African townships. - ZimOnline

ZTA chief strips waiter of his substandard shoes

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Andrew Moyo Tuesday 03 March 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe's controversial tourism chief Karikoga Kaseke stripped off
a waiter of his old and torn shoes because they were not fit to be worn by a
member of staff at the partly government owned Rainbow Towers hotel, one of
the country's top hotels.

Kaseke, chief executive of the  Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), narrated
during a meeting attended by staff from the government tourism agency and
new Tourism and Hospitality Minister Walter Mzembi how he was so disgusted
to see a waiter in ragged shoes held together by wire serving guests at the
five-star Rainbow Towers.

A ZimOnline correspondent sat in the meeting.

The ZTA chief, a volatile veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence,
told his audience of how he summoned the hapless waiter and ordered him to
remove his shoes on the spot because they did not measure up to standards
expected of the hotel.

When the waiter protested Kaseke said he forcibly removed the shoes from the
young man's feet in full view of other guests.

Leaving his bemused victim barefooted, Kaseke took the old shoes to hotel
management to protest about falling standards at their establishment.

"I removed the shoes from the waiter," Kaseke told Mzembi and the ZTA staff.

He said: "The shoe had no heel and was put together by wires. A five star
hotel uniform should reflect that it is for someone working for a five star.
In our hotels the uniforms are tattered, then look at the services, it
leaves a lot to be desired."

"A five star hotel in Zimbabwe should be the same as a five star hotel in
South Africa, the United States or the United Kingdom," said Kaseke, somehow
totally oblivious to the hurt and humiliation he caused the poor waiter
whose only crime is that his employers do not pay him enough to buy new
shoes with Zimbabwe's hyperinflationary environmnet.

Neither Mzembi nor any of the senior ZTA staff present reminded Kaseke that
his primitive methods of enforcing standards at hotels - rather than a poor
waiter's old shoes - were likely to turnoff more tourists who are in most
cases civilised people and likely to be offended by his unbecoming behavior.

Instead, the meeting tacitly approved of Kaseke's actions with everyone
voicing support for the ZTA chief's claims that standards were collapsing at
hotels and ignoring the way he had unfairly humiliated the waiter at Rainbow
Towers by seizing his shoes.

Apparently the shoes have not be returned to their owner with the ZTA
standards division reportedly holding onto them so they can show them to
management at other hotels as an example of how not to dress staff.

Kaseke is not new to controversy. The ZTA chief was last year accused of
beating up a waiter at Meikles Hotel in Harare for allegedly rendering poor
service.

He has been accused of more serious offences such as two years ago when a
17-year old Harare girl claimed Kaseke had raped her at a city hotel. Kaseke
has denied the charges.

Kaseke was in 2005 forced to resign as permanent secretary in the Ministry
of Transport and Communications after he was accused of impregnating a
15-year old orphan, Nyasha Sonia Ndanga. - ZimOnline

Makoni, Mandaza do battle over funds

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=12696

March 2, 2009

HARARE (Financial Gazette) - A bruising fight between presidential hopeful
in the March 2008 elections, Simba Makoni, and academic, Ibbo Mandaza, for
the control of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) has sucked in the Swedish
government after it emerged that the Swedes funded the project to the tune
of over US$25,000 in a bid to unseat President Robert Mugabe.

The latest revelations could spark a diplomatic furor between Harare and
Stockholm at a time Zimbabwe is re-engaging the international community to
get its economy back on track. The law only allows political parties to get
funding through Parliament and not from foreign donors to avoid interference
in the country's domestic affairs.

Mandaza, the project's national coordinator, and Makoni crossed swords last
year over the allocation of resources and the alleged failure by the former
finance minister to transform MKD into a fully-fledged political party.

MKD's provincial executives then passed a vote of no confidence in Makoni,
demoting him to an ordinary card-carrying member while instituting
investigations into how resources donated to the movement were used.

Issues came to a head when Makoni allegedly took away all printing business
from Mandaza's company, SAPPHO, and awarded the contract to ART Corporation.

Sensing this was going have an immediate financial impact on his printing
business, Mandaza wrote to Makoni on October 30 2008 urging him to come
clean on the donations he may have received as the movement's presidential
candidate.

Mandaza tried to play down the Swedish Embassy's role in capacitating MKD
saying the money from the Swedes came through a contract between his
company, Southern African Political Economic Series (SAPES), and the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

This was after Makoni had reportedly queried and threatened to fire Mandaza
over SIDA's donation, prompting the latter to engage AMG Global Chartered
Accountants to draw up an income and expenditure statement which exonerated
Mandaza from any wrongdoing.

"Notwithstanding what you have been told by our mutual friend at the
Embassy, please note that the Agreement is between SIDA and SAPES Trust; and
obviously, it is was an arrangement that took into account during that
period, the fact that Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn was being run from SAPES premises
at 26 Deary Avenue, Belgravia.

The Financial Gazette discovered that the mutual friend being referred to
was Sweden's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander.

Documents seen by this newspaper show that SAPES Trust contributed immensely
to the birth of the MKD, providing offices and secretarial services from
January 3 2008 to mid-April 2008, attending to the movement's concerns,
printing posters and fliers among other duties to the tune of US$30 096.50

In the documents, Mandaza said: "Of great significance here is the fact that
all the US$25,385 was spent on work directly related to Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn,
against a budget provided to SIDA on 6 March 2008. In fact, such expenditure
exceeded the budget by US$14,364.43 including the US$9,996, an amount MKD
refused to pay SAPPHO Printing for the pre-printing work for the job
subsequently completed at ART Corporation.

"Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn might have had enormous logistical problems were it not
for the support rendered by the SAPES Trust, a task no doubt greatly
facilitated and aided by the SIDA contribution. This was a period during
which most estate agents and even hotels and public places were afraid to be
associated with the movement that was challenging Zanu-PF. In the final
analysis, only SAPES Trust and Rainbow Tourism Group provided space for
meetings and those press briefings by Simba Makoni. Likewise, SIDA was one
of the very few international organisations and the Swedish Embassy in
Harare that gave Mavambo/ Kusile/Dawn both moral and material support."

SAPES is said to have contributed at least US$30 096.50 plus US$12 364 which
was said to be a deficit for the printing costs at SAPPHO.

Contacted for comment, Rylander said he had nothing to do with the issue,
but pressed further, he opened up a little.

Although he denied having direct links with the MKD, he agreed supporting
SAPES.

"There are no direct links with the Mavambo project. There was cooperation
between us and SAPES and we don't have any complaints in the manner in which
they have handled our funding. We can't be seen as an embassy to support
political movements," he said.

Mandaza could not be reached for comment.

However, Makoni referred all questions to the movement's head of
communications Godfrey Chanetsa who is aligned to him.

Chanetsa said: "Makoni has referred you to me because he probably doesn't
have a comment at the moment.  I am aware of the intense debate over that
subject between those mentioned in the documents you may have, but this is
costing us as a movement.

"My function was to help campaign and as for the resources, Makoni and
Mandaza should know where they got them, but I am sure they were legitimate
and we complied with the country's laws. Major political parties supposedly
get funding from Parliament and that's the law. This whole thing is costing
us. I don't think that we agreed that after the presidential election we
waste a lot of time and energy throwing dirty linen in public."

In South Africa, few comforts await children fleeing Zimbabwe

http://www.unicef.org

By Yvonne Duncan

MUSINA, South Africa, 2 March 2009 - Gift Dube (not his real name) was 11
when his father abandoned the family and his mother died. Six years later,
he is still on his own in the South African border town of Musina, where
thousands of Zimbabweans have joined him as economic crises and a cholera
outbreak force a massive migration from their country.

Gift has managed to eke out a bare existence, roaming the streets of the
town with a band of unaccompanied children. He yearns for an easier life and
a night without hunger.

"All I want is to eat some nice food and to go to school," he says. "I also
miss my mother."

Unaccompanied children left to cope

The journey to South Africa is fraught with all the dangers of illegal
border crossing. Many children, especially girls, are at the mercy of bus
operators, truck drivers and traffickers who smuggle them into the country.

UNICEF's community-based partners say children as young as five years of age
make the journey. They are usually in the company of teenaged friends or
family members, but sometimes they get separated and are left to cope on
their own. Those who arrive unaccompanied typically have no form of
documentation, making it difficult for them to obtain asylum.

Arriving children gather at the Musina 'showgrounds', a dusty space in the
centre of town, along with thousands of other asylum seekers. They camp out
in the open air, exposed to the weather and without water or sanitation
facilities. Here, they wait for the formal recognition by South African
authorities that will allow them to stay in the country.

Asylum is by no means guaranteed, however. Many children, fearing
deportation, avoid the local authorities altogether.

Child protection at Musina

UNICEF estimates that between 1,000 and 2,000 children in Musina need
assistance, and the organization has stationed a child protection specialist
here to aid unaccompanied minors.

"UNICEF is particularly concerned about the protection of girls," says
UNICEF South Africa Chief of Child Protection Stephen Blight. "Many are at
high risk of abuse, particularly those who are without family care or whose
lack of documentation makes them vulnerable to exploitation."

To help protect these children, UNICEF is strengthening documentation and
registration procedures for them. It is also working closely with Save the
Children to ensure that 13 drop-in centres established in and around Musina
are child-friendly and equipped with caregivers,

In addition, UNICEF is working to address congestion in schools such as
Bonwa-Udi Primary, which has enrolled about 100 displaced Zimbabwean
children seeking an opportunity to continue their education. UNICEF is
providing mobile classrooms to help accommodate them.

In the end, the aim of these and other efforts is to help realize some
measure of hope for vulnerable children like Gift.

The MDC versus the secret criminal cabal

http://www.politicsweb.co.za

Eddie Cross
02 March 2009

Eddie Cross writes that the battle continues within the Zimbabwean corridors
of power

The Movement for Democratic Change has been inside the tent for 10 days - it
was only Friday the week before last when the Ministers were finally sworn
in and they started work last Monday. By now they have found their new cars
(that did not take long!) and their offices - some do not even now have a
permanent office or support staff, but they are operating.

As is to be expected, some of the Ministers hit the ground running, others
were more hesitant and unsure of themselves. Some mistakes have been made
and some progress achieved - not as much as we may have wanted, but some.
Certainly the atmosphere has improved a bit although Robert Mugabe does his
best to knock us all down from time to time.

There have been some notable achievements in this short space of time. The
Ministry of Finance has affected some reforms and the public service has
received hard currency allowances. More will be paid this week. Teachers are
back at work and I think most medical establishments are also working - to
varying degrees, but they are open. Food supplies in the commercial markets
are more or less in free supply and as a result prices have started to
decline - some by a significant margin.

In areas receiving food aid there has been a notable reduction in political
interference and a sharp increase in food distribution. In fact in February
a remarkable 75 per cent of the total population will have received food
from the aid agencies. I think this is the highest percentage of a national
population in receipt of food aid anywhere and at any time - not even
Ethiopia during the famine in that country, reached this level of need
across the whole country.

There has been a serious explosion at the only functioning fertilizer plant
in the country at Sable Chemicals - this uses 30 per cent of our national
power consumption and as a result we have had no power cuts for a week. It's
not because the MDC Minister concerned has waved a magic wand - it's just
that we have more electricity to go around now that the plant is out of
action. I have argued for some time that we should have in fact closed the
plant down and used the electricity for other purposes.

Water supplies have gone back to the urban councils where they belong and
the Councils are slowly picking up the pieces and trying to rectify matters.
Water supplies in Harare are now up to 50 per cent of needs - from 30 per
cent and quite a bit of investment is taking place. Sewerage and solid waste
disposal is still a problem and will be for a long time but a team of
consultants is visiting all towns and cities to investigate what needs to be
done and is making recommendations to the Councils.

We have made some progress in the field of media reform - the Zanu PF
Minister has been tasked with this responsibility and as a start, to stop
political interference with the State controlled media. After an encouraging
start the State media resumed its delinquent practices and more action is
now required - perhaps a bit of surgery.

It is tragic that in those areas where the SADC has responsibility, only
very patchy progress has been made. Although they signed the Global
Political Agreement on the 15th September last year and then supported the
adoption of constitutional reform in February with the President signing the
new legislation into law on the 15th, the old regime shows little sign that
they intend either to honor their part of this deal or to work with us on
the many urgent problems that need to be addressed.

The National Security Council Act is yet to be signed into law, the basic
tenants of the GPA are yet to find expression in the way the State operates
and every possible obstacle is being put in the way of progress. The
abductees remain mostly in detention or missing, farm invasions have
intensified and segments of the administration are simply refusing to reform
or to act when instructed to do so by the new Ministers.

At the same time, a secret criminal cabal has been established - working
downwards from the Presidents Office to remote police stations and army
barracks. The paymaster is Gono and the principle role players are senior
Cabinet Ministers assisted by a number of senior civil servants. It is
difficult to determine just what they want to achieve but it would appear
that they have a number of objectives.

They want to prevent any substantive aid coming to the country in the belief
that this will then discredit the MDC in the eyes of the majority. They want
to try and force us to quit the transitional government by holding our
people in detention on false charges and allegations, they want to frustrate
any new reforms that might usher in a period of media freedom and a more
open society. They want to skew the upcoming debate on the constitution and
electoral reform; they want to protect their key players in the
administration and to sustain their activities by using state resources.

This past week we saw an open challenge to the authority of the Prime
Minister when the administration unilaterally announced the appointment of
Permanent Secretaries to head ministries. Tsvangirai immediately repudiated
the action and rescinded the appointments. A subdued Mugabe conceded they
had exceeded their mandate and violated the GPA by doing so. The Prime
Minster will now handle all those appointments properly today. On Friday we
obtained information of an attempt to shift responsibility for the telephone
system from the MDC Minister responsible to a Zanu PF Minister. This was
confronted and prevented.

Despite the fact that all farm invasions are illegal after the signing of
the GPA and despite instructions to the contrary by the Prime Minister, the
President stated that they would continue and the Chief Magistrate ordered
the Courts to ignore binding legal agreements in regional Courts. Farmers
with cows in milk, fruit on trees and crops in the ground have been told to
leave their farms and homes at 24 hours notice. If they refused they were
jailed and in many cases beaten. Private assets and homes are being occupied
illegally and assets looted. Clearly this criminal activity will have to be
addressed - but who is the policeman in all this - surely SADC and in
particular, the South African government.

So here we are. There is still no action on the key issues that the SADC
leadership said should be resolved by the new government: Governors are not
yet appointed, the Attorney General and the Reserve Bank Governor - all
appointed in violation of the GPA - have not had their positions reviewed
and agreed; the National Security Council is yet to be constituted and begin
operations. The Prime Minister is yet to be allowed to function in
accordance with the GPA and the new constitutional provisions. Illegal
detentions have continued and the farm invasions intensified.

On top of all this, regional governments are yet to come to the assistance
of the new administration. When approached for help they disingenuously
argued that we 'Must settle our debts and they will give us help to do so!'.
We owe over US$5 billion to our creditors - have done little or nothing to
settle these debts for over 15 years and now - as we take over a bankrupt
and devastated State, regional governments sit on their hands!

Eddie Cross is MP for Bulawayo South and the MDC's Policy Co-ordinator. This
article first appeared on his website http://www.eddiecross.africanherd.com/

Time for an African Solution or Sanctions?

http://www.nehandaradio.com

03 March 2009

By George B.N. Ayittey, Ph.D.

Brutal repression in Zimbabwe has now sunk to low levels of moral depravity.
On March 11, opposition activists gathering for a prayer meeting to discuss
the country's mounting woes were savagely assaulted and beaten. One activist
was shot to death. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition MDC, was
brutally clubbed and hospitalized with a cracked skull, a swollen eyelid and
puffed face.  Even the passports of opposition activists, such Arthur
Mutumbura, Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinjeh, were seized by police to prevent
them from traveling outside the country.

The barbarous atrocities against opposition activists drew worldwide
condemnation - even from Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, who described
Zimbabwe as a "sinking Titanic," which millions were abandoning. Further, he
assailed South Africa's ineffective policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward
Zimbabwe, saying it has not produced results.

The crisis in Zimbabwe demands an urgent resolution. The economy has
virtually collapsed. Inflation is running at 1,700 percent. There are
rampant shortages of nearly all essential necessities. Unemployment rages at
70 percent and HIV/AIDS ravages the population.  More distressing, the
ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe is stone-deaf, hopelessly
blind, and clueless. Impervious to reason, appeals and even international
condemnation, it does not see the failures of its own policies, preferring
to blame the West and colonialism for Zimbabwe's woes. Meanwhile, his
daughter, Bona, is studying at the London School of Economics, according to
the Guardian Unlimited (March 26, 2007).

Even more disconcerting is the impotence of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), the regional organization, the African Union (AU) and the
international community to effect real change and bring relief to the
suffering people of Zimbabwe.  Namibia gives the dodge by claiming it is an
"internal matter." "Quiet diplomacy" by President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa has been a miserable fiasco. And "smart sanctions" by the U.S. and
the European Union, imposed after fraudulent elections in 2001, have failed
to dislodge the Mugabe regime or bring change. Now, the international and
African community is divided over what to do next.

Past efforts to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis failed because they appealed to
the good sense of the Mugabe regime to initiate change. But the depth of the
crisis in Zimbabwe is such that the government of Robert Mugabe alone cannot
solve it; nor can the MDC or any single individual or political party.
Hence, it must take the collective action of all Zimbabweans. As such a
mechanism must be established that permits this. Fortunately for Zimbabwe,
it does not have to re-invent the wheel. Such a mechanism, known as the
"Sovereign National Conference" (SNC) already exists in Africa itself and
derived from Africa's own indigenous institution of village meeting.

When a crisis erupts in an African village, the chief and the elders would
summon a village meeting and put the issue before the people. The village
assembly or meeting is a common feature of traditional African political
systems. It is called asetena kese by the Ashanti of Ghana, ama ala by the
Igbo of Nigeria, guurti by the Somali, pitso by the Xhosa of South African,
ndaba by the Zulu and kgotla by the Tswana of Botswana. At the village
assembly the issue is debated by the people until a consensus is reached.
During the debate, the chief makes no effort to manipulate the outcome or
sway public opinion. Nor are there bazooka-wielding rogues, intimidating or
instructing people on what to say.

People express their ideas openly and freely without fear of arrest. Those
who cared participate in the decision-making process. No one is locked out.
Once a decision is reached, it is binding on all, including the chief.

In the early 1990s, this indigenous African institution was revived by
pro-democracy forces in the form of "sovereign national conferences" to
chart a new political future in Benin, Cape Verde Islands, Congo, Malawi,
Mali, South Africa, and Zambia.  Benin's nine-day "national conference"
began on Feb 19, 1990, with 488 delegates, representing various political,
religious, trade union, and other groups encompassing the broad spectrum of
Beninois society. The conference, whose chairman was Father Isidore de
Souza, held "sovereign power" and its decisions were binding on all,
including the government. It stripped President Matthieu Kerekou of power,
scheduled multiparty elections that ended 17 years of autocratic Marxist
rule.

Congo's national conference had more delegates (1,500) and lasted longer
three months. But when it was over in June 1991, the 12-year old government
of General Denis Sassou-Nguesso had been dismantled. The constitution was
rewritten and the nation's first free elections were scheduled for June
1992. Before the conference, Congo was among Africa's most avowedly
Marxist-Leninist states. A Western business executive said, "The remarkable
thing is that the revolution occurred without a single shot being fired . .
. (and) if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere" (The New York Times,
25 June 1991, A8).

In South Africa, the vehicle used to make that difficult but peaceful
transition to a multiracial democratic society was the Convention for a
Democratic South Africa (CODESA). It began deliberations in July 1991, with
228 delegates drawn from about 25 political parties and various
anti-apartheid groups. The de Klerk government made no effort to "control"
the composition of CODESA. Political parties were not excluded; not even
ultra right-wing political groups, although they chose to boycott its
deliberations.

CODESA strove to reach a "working consensus" on an interim constitution and
set a date for the March 1994 elections. It established the composition of
an interim or transitional government that would rule until the elections
were held. More important, CODESA was "sovereign." Its decisions were
binding on the de Klerk government. President Frederick de Klerk could not
abrogate any decision made by CODESA -- just as the African chief could not
disregard any decision arrived at the village meeting.

At a joint Councilors Meeting between Inkatha Freedom Party and the
Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, leader of the AD, said on March 15, 2002:

"Perhaps the most significant interaction, until now, took place during the
eight months of the "Natal KwaZulu Indaba," back in 1986.
The Indaba foreshadowed the negotiations of the 1990's in important ways. It
brought to the same table South Africans from every group and background; it
was premised on a need to overcome the racial divides and inequalities of
Apartheid without resorting to violence; it considered and adopted a set of
proposals that were inspired by many of the same values and principles now
enshrined in our democratic constitution . . . And so the Indaba inaugurated
the principles and articles of the Indaba Constitution, which prefigured
many of the details in the Republic of South African Constitution" (IFP
website: www.ifp.org.za)

Clearly, the vehicle exists -- in Africa itself -- for peaceful transition
to democratic rule or resolution of political crisis. This vehicle worked in
Benin, South Africa and Zambia and will work in Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast,
Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the other African countries where de facto
political apartheid reigns. This is the vehicle all stake-holders in
Zimbabwe must insist on for Zimbabweans to solve their own internal problem.
It is the same vehicle all outside Zimbabwe - from SADC, the AU to the UN
and the U.S. Congress - must insist on for peaceful change in Zimbabwe.

President Kufuor of Ghana, in his capacity as the new AU Chairman, should
enjoin all member states to insist on the convocation of a SNC, not just ask
Mugabe and opposition activists to "talk to one another." African sanctions
should be imposed if the Mugabe regime fails to comply. Such sanctions may
include the blockade of land-locked Zimbabwe by SADC member countries and a
cut-off of electricity by South Africa.

AU Commission Chairman, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare, the former president of
Mali, is fed up with the old policy of "non-interference in the internal
affairs of member states." He wants this policy replaced with
"non-indifference." At the January meeting of the AU Executive Council in
Addis Ababa, he warned that: "We have to assume our principle of
non-indifference [defined as] courteous and united interference [in member
countries]. If we cannot tell the truth, we are heading for disaster" (New
African, March 2007; p.11).

Indeed, the alternate scenario is horrific. If nothing is done in Zimbabwe,
there will be a complete meltdown and implosion -- as was the case in
Liberia (1991), Somalia (1993), Rwanda (1994), Burundi (1993), Zaire (1996),
Sierra Leone (1999), Ivory Coast (2000) and Togo (2005). And the cost of
rebuilding and putting Zimbabwe back together will be enormous. Thus it is a
question of act now or pay a much higher price later.

The writer, a native of Ghana, is a Distinguished Economist at American
University and President of the Free Africa Foundation, both in Washington,
DC. His latest book is Africa Unchained by Palgrave/MacMillan.

Should I return home? A medical professional reflects

http://www.nehandaradio.com

03 March 2009

I have followed the events back home with keen interest and hope. A new
government has been unveiled and efforts seem to be underway to address the
humanitarian challenges that Zimbabwe is facing particularly the cholera
outbreak.

I remember Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai saying that he would put
incentives to attract medical professionals who have left the country in
their thousands. As a medical laboratory scientist I instantly started
weighing the option of packing my bags and returning, unfortunately it seems
there is not much to convince me that going back to Zimbabwe would be the
best decision.

There are many things that a professional has to consider before he or she
decides to join or in this case rejoin an entity. When I left Zimbabwe there
were circumstances that had driven me to leave my country of birth, have
these changed? Let me examine them.

I left the government of Zimbabwe in November 2005. My salary then was about
US$40. At that time it was enough to buy my groceries, transport me to work
and nothing more. Indeed we were some of the highly paid civil servants then
because despite the shortages of basic commodities one dollar could buy 2
litres of cooking oil.

When I look at the situation today, all civil servants were given $US100 as
vouchers but 2 litres of cooking oil is about $4, which means that in 2005 I
was actually getting more than which I would get if I decide to go back.
Further to this; I am getting a lot more in my current employment. So, which
would be better to stay or go. As for me; I might choose to go back because
money is not everything but is there a guarantee that if I go back home I
will not die a pauper?

The prime reason that drove me from the civil service was the unprofessional
and political nature that it was taking. In October 2005 Dr Obadiah Moyo who
was the CEO of Chitungwiza hospital tried to force the laboratory to concoct
results so that we could corroborate his allegations of a dysentery outbreak
simply because Mugabe wanted the then Mayor of Chitungwiza out.

I understand Dr Obadiah Moyo is still the CEO of Chitungwiza hospital and I
ask: will professionalism return if the health delivery system remains in
the management of all these ZANU PF apologists and zealots?

I examine the behaviour and composition of the Health Professions Council in
particular the Zimbabwe Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientist Council.
This is a body that must regulate my profession and do so in a transparent
and professional manner but how many bear the scars of its political nature.

Imagine a body that charges registration fees that is thrice the salary the
same government is giving to a scientist. Where do they think one would get
such money? I fought a long and protracted battle to secure a certificate of
good standing which sucked even the Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights all
because I did not subscribe to its partisan behavior. The same people still
occupy these offices; how will I work with them knowing fully their
orientations and ruthlessness.

These are just my circumstances but some are common across the professions.
So in as much as we are patriotic and feel for our people; it still remains
suicidal to return to Zimbabwe unless of course some real reforms are done
to the whole service delivery system. Will this happen? I wait.

JAG open letter forum - No. 606 - Dated 2nd March 2009

JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM - No. 606 - Dated 2nd March 2009

Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the subject
line.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.   Cathy Buckle - vacate those farms

2.   Tim Curtin - Racism

3.   Telling It Like It Is.

4.   Lance Stringham - Canada

5.   Looking for Zim farmer.

6.   David Nash

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. .   Cathy Buckle - vacate those farms

Dear JAG,

I am writing this letter on the 9th anniversary of the commencement of
farm seizures in Zimbabwe. I am also writing this letter on the day
when Mr Mugabe's 85th birthday party is being held in Chinhoyi.

It is hot and humid day during which I have been forced to fill and carry
buckets of water into my urban home so as to flush toilets, wash
dishes and bath. Taps have been dry in the whole town for a couple of
days and none have been spared including schools, hospitals, an
orphanage, old age home, residences and businesses.

Television coverage of the birthday party began when Mr Mugabe's speech
was already well underway in the afternoon. A long, pale, slate coloured
tent adorned with sweeping sashes of golden yellow cloth stood in the
fields of the Chinhoyi University. A red carpet lay in an avenue through
the rough cut grass. Dignitaries and officials sat in the tent flicking
paper fans while everyone else sat on the ground a respectable distance
away in the baking sun.

Wearing a dark suit and tie and leaning on a red, fabric covered podium
Mr Mugabe spoke at length and in Shona about the 2008 elections. Suddenly
straightening up 40 minutes later Mr Mugabe said: "I want to say this in
English." A murmured titter of life ran through the crowd. Mr Mugabe said
that there were farms in Mashonaland East, West, Central and in other
areas around the country which had been properly designated in accordance
with the Land Acquisition Act and were now to be taken.

"Let not the original owners of the farms refuse to vacate those farms,"
he said. "They must vacate those farms," he repeated his words three
times.

This then was Mr Mugabe's 85th birthday present to the starving people
of Zimbabwe, seven million of whom are receiving international food aid.
While more than half the population of the country eat donated food, the
remaining commercial farmers are ordered to vacate land because of the
colour of their skin. As for the SADC land tribunal ruling protecting
Zimbabwean farmers, Mr Mugabe said: "that's nonsense, absolute nonsense;
we have courts here that can determine the rights of our people."

As deep purple clouds turned black over my home town and thunder rumbled
I abandoned the birthday speech for a few minutes to rush outside with
tins, buckets and plastic baths to catch rain water. Water for cooking,
cleaning and washing.

When I came back inside live coverage showed the birthday cake being cut.
It apparently weighed 85 kilograms and was being served by waiters
wearing white gloves. Their uniforms were white too, trimmed in navy blue
at shoulder, collar and cuff. Other reports told of extravagant menus,
lavish foodstuffs and imported drinks for the 85th birthday event. It is
all so remote and removed from the hunger, disease, poverty and water
collection of our daily lives that we, or they, may as well be in another
country.

Until next week, thanks for reading and for the overwhelming support
for my new book, love cathy.

©Copyright cathy buckle www.cathybuckle.com

To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter or for information on my new
book "Innocent Victims" or other books, please write
to:  cbuckle@mango.zw

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Tim Curtin - Racism

Dear JAG

I think you guys miss a trick by not emphasising sufficiently the racism
in the Mugabe 'land reform'. I and my fellow cretins at UCRN in
1957-1966, now UZ, were comrades in arms with Mugabe Sithole and Nkomo
against the 'racism' of Ian Smith - but even under him half the
agricultural land was reserved for black Zimbabweans. Now a white
Zimbabwean with no family links to the original Pioneers is not allowed
to farm for the sole reason that he/she is white. It is this inherent
racism that merits an appeal to the UN. Mugabe and his henchmen Mutasa,
Mudenge, Shamuyarira, et al., all darlings of us immoral white liberals,
were then and are now racists worthy of Adolf Hitler. But I do recognize
that the white Western media (Guardian, Independent in UK, NYT in USA)
think that black racism is OK.

Best

Tim

P.S. See my paper on Zim land at www.timcurtin.com

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Telling It Like It Is.

Dear JAG,

As I write this letter Roy Bennett has been locked up inside prison for
14 days now. And Jestina Mukoko for 87 days. There are over 40 political
detainees in Zimbabwe, all of them abducted by shadowy security agents
with dark glasses from the infamous Law and Order Section of the ZRP.

Most of the political detainees have been beaten and tortured.  Including
two year old Nigel Mutemagawu. Nigel became the world's youngest
political prisoner when he was abducted in October last year. It was all
his Mom and Dad's fault really for having the temerity to belong to
the MDC. Nigel was beaten and tortured for his sins and held for over
seventy days in Harare's maximum security jail before finally being
released. And Nigel wasn't released on compassionate grounds. He
was let out because he'd already told them everything he
knew. Jestina Mukoko and Gandhi Mudzingwa, both desperately ill after
their torture sessions, have finally been allowed medical treatment. But
as I write they are shackled to their hospital beds with leg irons and
chains like wild animals. Others are not so fortunate. Last week a High
Court Judge ordered that Chris Dhlamini, Mapfumo Garutsa, Anderson
Manyere and Regis Mujeyi be taken to hospital immediately but the High
Court order has been ignored.

What sort of people just ignore High Court rulings?  What sort of people
order two year old children to be beaten and tortured? Here are a couple
of clues -

i) The personal vehicle of General Constantine Chiwengwa - the Commander
of Zimbabwean Defence Forces- was used to move Roy Bennett from the
Goromonzi torture centre to Mutare Prison after he was abducted.

 ii) The same General Chiwengwa and Air Vice Marshall Perence Shiri of
Gukurahundi fame were attending a recent field day on how to grow big
cabbages (both are Zimbabwe land barons tasked with achieving food self
sufficiency) when they got the news that Roy had just been appointed
Ministry of Agriculture. Shiri was overhead to say that he would make
sure that Roy would never get to parliament.

iii) Judge Ziyambi, the High Court Judge who allowed Roy bail and then
promptly threw him back in jail for another 7 days, has a landlord and
his name is Augustine Chihuri, the Commissioner of Police. I'm
guessing that Augustine has found a novel way of collecting rent.

iv) Patrick Chinamasa - the evil bastard who had Roy jailed after he was
shoved to the ground by Roy in a scuffle in Parliament - put a bizarre
offer on the table this week. He said he would ensure the release of Roy
and the other political prisoners in return for a blanket amnesty for any
and all crimes committed by ZANU PF members between 1980 and 2009. I am
hugely proud to say that Roy told them to stick their offer where the sun
don't shine.

Together with Gideon Gono- the Reserve Bank Governor, Willie Zimonde- the
Head of Prison Services, General Sibanda - Head of the
Army,  Emmerson Munangwagwa - new Minister of Defence, Nicholas
Goche- evil bastard, Perence, Constantine, Augustine and Patrick make up
the Junta a.k.a. the JOC that persuaded Bob to not step down after losing
the March elections. They have everything to lose and nothing to gain
from a successful Government of National Unity.

This week President Motlanthe of South Africa and Ban Ki Moon of the
United Nations added their voices to the international clamour demanding
the immediate release of the political detainees. But it will take more
than just voices to bring the Junta to heel.

Through kind donations received, the Free Roy and Jestina Fund has been
able to provide material relief to the political prisoners and their
families. They have been able to help keep the Mutare Vigil going outside
the prison where Roy is being held. And we're not going to stop
until we've got Vigils going outside every stinking Prison where
poor bastards are being beaten and tortured for their political
beliefs.  Account Name - Friends of Roy Bennett. Account Number
-1589406079. Sort Code -158952. Bank - Nedbank. Swift Code -
NEDSZAJJ.

For those wanting to donate from the UK, please keep an eye out for our
website soon to be launched. The website will give details of our UK
account.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.  Lance Stringham - Canada

Dear JAG,

Is it not inconsistent of  Morgan Tsvangarai to complain about the recent
assaults on what remains of the Zimbabwean commercial farming sector? BBC
coverage had him saying that `as long as these matters (implicitly
farm invasions inter alia) remain unresolved it will be impossible for
the transitional government to move forward.`

Yet the agreement between the MDC and ZANU PF, if my copy of it is
correct, explicitly endorses Mugabe's land grab:
`.recognising and accepting that the Land Question has been
at the core of the contestation in Zimbabwe.acknowledging that
compulsory acquisition and distribution of land has taken place under a
land reform programme since 2000 accepting the irreversibility of
the said land acquisition and re-distribution.' And
demanding compensation from the UK into the bargain.

Mr Tsvangarai and his associates have also called upon the international
community for swift financial assistance. Whilst any sensible person must
have great sympathy for the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, or at least
those ordinary Zimbabweans who have not supported Mugabe and hence heaped
misfortune on themselves, it is difficult to see why any sensible nation
should wish to give money to a country in which both sides of the
political divide have publicly endorsed the destruction of the means of
production for political  ends.    Except, perhaps, for  South Africa
which seem to regard the shoe-horning of the MDC into Mugabe's
dictatorship as a vindication of nine years of 'quiet diplomacy'.

Food for thought, perhaps, in the unlikely event that there is
insufficient food to go around at Mugabe's birthday party.

Lance Stringham

Canada

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Looking for Zim farmer.

Dear JAG,

I am trying to track down some family friends (David and Deena Banks)
who, the last time I checked, were farmers from Ruwa, near Harare,
Zimbabwe.

My family has lost touch with them, and I am trying several avenues to
see if I can track them down. Graham and Judy Hatty suggested you may
be able to help.

Are you able to assist? Do you know any forums or resources by which I
can try and track these people down, to see if they're still alive, and
if so, ok?

Cheers

Mal

Mal Cumpston
GPO Box 3143
Canberra City ACT
Australia
+61 411 52 66 82
mal0750@yahoo.com.au

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. David Nash

Dear JAG,
I would like to thank you for the e-mails i have received over the past
months but i need you to remove me from your mailing list as i am soon to
take up a position in Kenya where i will not have regular access to my
e-mails.

I would like to wish you and all the people of Zimbabwe of all races
colours and creeds a brighter future and deliverance from the nightmare
you seem to be enduring at present. I lived in Zambia during the 1980s
which was struggling at that time and Zim was a bolt hole to run to for a
quick fix of civilization and luxury - Zim seemed like a haven, a land of
plenty for all.

It's almost unbelievable that things could sink so low so quickly.
Good luck and God bless

David Nash

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for Agriculture.

Zimbabwe: will unity prevail? with Lucia Matibenga MP