Hospitals are ordered not to treat opposition supporters

The Times

May 12, 2008

Beatings and torture intensify as Zimbabwe prepares to vote again

Hospitals are ordered not to treat opposition supporters as a human rights group reports more than 900 incidents and dozens of deaths

Dennis, a Movement for Democratic Change worker, lies in hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was taken from his housed, which was burned to the ground, and beaten with iron bars.

Jan Raath in Harare

Solomon was naked and lying on his back in the bath. He smiled in greeting. For a man in hospital he looked fine. Then he turned over to show his wounds.

In each buttock there was a dark hole into which you could put both fists. The edges of the holes were ragged frills of dead grey tissue.

At 4am a week ago, about 200 members of President Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) militia arrived at the peasant farmer’s village in Chiweshe, communal land north of Harare. Solomon, 33, and 60 others were rounded up as supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), handcuffed and forced to lie with their stomachs on the ground and with someone sitting on their backs.

Then they were beaten ferociously, in relay, with sticks about a metre long. Solomon was about to be beaten a second time when the police arrived and the mob scattered. His uncle came to fetch him and take him to hospital at midnight. “It was too dangerous to collect me in the day,” he said.

For the past week doctors at the private Avenues Clinic have been removing more and more dead tissue from his wounds. The necrosis is so serious that staff have not been able to dress the affected area: Solomon has to endure salt baths.

Since the beginning of April more than 900 people have been treated in hospital after “incidents of organised violence and torture”, the respected group Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said. The attacks followed the first round of presidential elections on March 29, when Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, beat President Mugabe, but not by enough to win outright. The group added that there had been “a dramatic escalation” of violence in the past two weeks and the figure of 900 was significantly less than the real figure of victims “as the violence is now on such a scale that it is impossible to document all cases”.

The group has confirmed 22 deaths but, it said, “at least double that number has been reported but are yet to be confirmed”. On one day alone hospitals in Harare had treated 30 fractures; supplies of plaster of Paris were exhausted.

Dennis, a teacher and MDC organiser from Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe communal area, hitherto regarded as one of the most fanatically pro-Mugabe areas, has been in hospital for two weeks, his left arm with three fractures and a shattered kneecap, all inflicted with an axe. He did not dare to go to his local hospital after hearing threats that it would be burnt down if MDC supporters were treated there.

Police spokesmen have either refused to comment or have declared that those who died did so of natural causes. The doctors’ organisation claims that senior police officers, including Augustine Chihuri, the commissioner-general, are complicit in the brutality.It said: “One nursing sister treating victims in a rural clinic was observed to be shaking so violently with fear she could not write.”

In one ward at the Avenues Clinic yesterday were two grey-bearded brothers in their late fifties, one of them with injuries similar to – and as severe as – Solomon’s, and turning septic. A third brother was in another ward. On Saturday their elder brother died at the clinic of his injuries. “In the run-off, I am going to vote MDC,” one brother said defiantly. “It’s dangerous but I don’t care. I want change.”

Down the corridor, Dennis said: “Being beaten like this and I go back and vote for him? What for? This time he [Mr Mugabe] is gone.”

Zim prisons chief feeds terror militia

by Nqobizitha Khumalo Monday 12 May 2008

ZANU PF party militias . . . terrorising and murdering opposition supporters

BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe prisons chief Paradzai Zimondi is funding and feeding ruling ZANU PF party militias terrorising and murdering opposition supporters in Mashonaland East province, a human rights group has said.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said Zimondi sheltered and fed the ZANU PF terror gangs at his piggery farm in Uzumba district in the province from where they unleashed violence against suspected members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

The group’s director Jestina Mukoko said: “We are aware of a high ranking officer Paradzai Zimondi who runs a piggery in Chidondo in Uzumba in Mashonaland East province who is feeding and funding the youths who are perpetrating the violence and are terrorising and beating villagers.”

Zimondi – who is among top security commanders loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s rule and who have publicly threatened to stage a military coup if the veteran leader was defeated in elections – was not immediately available for comment on the matter.

The ZPP and other human rights groups have long accused the army and other state security agencies of spearheading and directing a campaign of violence and murder by ZANU PF youths and war veterans that the MDC says has killed at least 24 of its members and displaced another 5 000, while 800 homesteads have been burnt down.

But this is the first time that a senior government security officer is being directly linked to political violence.

Mukoko, who was speaking at a workshop for journalists that ended in Bulawayo on Saturday, said her organisation had begun a campaign to name and shame all those involved in perpetrating violence against defenceless civilians.

“The masters of violence are ZANU PF, its supporters and state security agents and it is worrying and very sad for people to go to the extent of burning livestock and plucking out eyes of goats because the owner voted for the opposition, it is very sad,” said Mukoko.

Political violence broke out in many parts of Zimbabwe almost immediately it became clear that the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had defeated Mugabe and his ZANU PF party in the March polls.

The MDC, Western governments and human rights groups have accused Mugabe of unleashing ZANU PF militias and the army to beat and torture Zimbabweans into backing him in a second round presidential ballot.

The run-off presidential election is due to be held at a yet unknown date after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe but failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote needed to take power under the country's electoral laws.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon, the United States and Zimbabwe’s former colonial power Britain have urged African leaders to do more to pressure Mugabe to end violence in Zimbabwe which is also battling unprecedented economic recession and food shortages.

The Zimbabwe government denies authorising violence and instead says it is the MDC that has carried out political violence to tarnish Mugabe’s name. – ZimOnline.

Chief of Zimbabwe electoral commission: Government needs more time to prepare for runoff

Santa Barbara News Press

ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer

May 11, 2008 10:29 AM

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The presidential runoff pitting President Robert
Mugabe against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not be held in the
next few weeks as required by law, the head of the electoral commission said
in an interview published Sunday.

Tsvangirai had announced over the weekend that he would participate in a
runoff against Mugabe - but insisted the vote be held, as law requires,
within 21 days of the May 2 announcement of results from the first vote.

However, electoral commission chief George Chiweshe said government
officials need more time to prepare for the runoff.

''It was ambitious for the legislature to think 21 days would be enough,''
Chiweshe was quoted by the state-run Sunday Mail as saying.

Chiweshe confirmed the 21-day electoral law, but said there are legal
provisions to extend the period before the election is held. Government
officials have said the electoral commission has up to a year to hold the
second round.

''We want to make it clear we intend to hold the runoff at the earliest date
because the period set by the legislature shows that it should be held as
soon as possible,'' he was quoted as saying in the paper.

It took the commission more than a month to announce results from the
disputed March 29 presidential election. Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, maintains that he won the first
round outright and claims the official figures were fraudulent.

But the opposition leader, who has remained abroad since the vote because of
threats to his life, said Saturday in South Africa that he will take the
risk of returning to Zimbabwe to contest a runoff, despite the danger.

Mugabe has been accused of orchestrating violence against the opposition
since the first round, raising questions about whether a runoff would be
free or fair.

Twenty-two people have died and 900 have been tortured in postelection
violence, according to the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights.
The group said 40,000 farmworkers have been displaced in an effort to
prevent them from voting in the runoff.

Fifty-six opposition activists were arrested in Shamva, north of Harare,
opposition lawyer Alec Muchadehama said Sunday.

The opposition accused the electoral commission of being biased toward
Mugabe, and predicted that more opposition supporters would come under
attack to prevent them from voting during any further delay.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC, raised concerns about the
''deepening humanitarian crisis'' in Zimbabwe.

He disputed the electoral commission's claim that there were legal grounds
for delaying the runoff. ''They don't have the discretion to move the
date,'' he said.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF, meanwhile, already has launched its runoff
campaign.

On Sunday, presidential spokesman Patrick Chinamasa said the party will not
allow an opposition victory.

''Mugabe, at 84, do you believe he is fighting for himself? That's what the
people of Zimbabwe should understand,'' he told reporters in Harare. ''He is
fighting blatant attempts at recolonizing Zimbabwe.''

Chinamasa said the party's campaign would be based on ''land, empowerment,
freedom and sovereignty.''

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country gained independence from Britain
in 1980 and once was hailed for promoting racial reconciliation, and
bringing education and health care to the black majority.

But in recent years he has been accused of holding onto power through
elections that independent observers say were marred by fraud, intimidation
and rigging, and of overseeing his country's economic collapse.

Tsvangirai assured regional leaders that if he were to win the presidency,
he would respect Mugabe's place in Zimbabwe's history. Tsvangirai told
reporters in the Angolan capital Saturday that Mugabe would be treated as
the ''father of the nation'' in the interest of building peace and stability
in Zimbabwe.

That appeared to indicate a softening of his stance. Tsvangirai had told The
Associated Press in an interview last month that he believed the Zimbabwean
people would press for Mugabe to stand trial for crimes against humanity.

---

Associated Press writer Casimiro Siona in Luanda, Angola, contributed to
this report.

58 Morgan Tsvangirai supporters arrested

The Telegraph

By Charlotte Wilkins
Last Updated: 7:29PM BST 11/05/2008
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested 58 opposition activists in a farming town
northeast of the capital Harare, as the country awaits run-off presidential
elections.
The activists were held on Thursday on suspicion of torching homes of
members of the governing Zanu-PF in Shamva, the police said.

Seven people have reportedly been injured in the violence and four houses
and a tractor have been burnt.

An opposition lawyer had earlier revealed the arrests took place on Thursday
and the activists were still in police custody.

Violence has flared in Zimbabwe since parliamentary and presidential
elections on March 29.

Zimbabwean doctors, trade unions and teachers have described beatings and
intimidation of MDC supporters by government-backed militias and the
authorities have rounded up a number of high-profile opponents.

The government has in turn accused MDC activists of fomenting violence and
carrying out arson attacks.

News of the arrests comes amid expectation of the return of MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai for the campaign.

Mr Tsvangirai has been in South Africa since the first round because of
alleged threats to his life.

Zimbabwe opposition seeks peacekeepers for run-off

Reuters

Sun 11 May 2008, 15:34 GMT

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, May 11 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition group said on Sunday
it had stepped up efforts to secure regional peacekeepers for a run-off
presidential election against Robert Mugabe after weeks of violence that
intimidated voters.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai held talks late on
Saturday with Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to encourage
regional group SADC to send the peacekeepers, MDC spokesman George
Sibotshiwe told Reuters.

"He received a warm reception, and ... they discussed the way forward,"
Sibotshiwe said, but declined to give details.

Tsvangirai said on Saturday he would return home within two days to deal
Mugabe a "final knock-out" after almost three decades in power. He said he
wanted SADC peacekeepers to instil public confidence in the ballot and bring
an end to the crisis that followed Zimbabwe's disputed March 29 poll.

Santos heads SADC's security committee.

Angola's Angop news agency said Tsvangirai had told reporters that "should
he win the election ... the outgoing president would be granted an
honourable exit as ... Robert Mugabe was the father of the nation".

A former guerrilla leader, Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from
Britain in 1980. The West and rights groups accuse him of human rights
violations and wrecking the economy, but he is viewed as an independence
hero by many in Africa.

After weeks of equivocation, Tsvangirai said he would contest the run-off
even though he believes he won outright in the first round and accuses the
ruling ZANU-PF of vote-rigging. Official results show Tsvangirai won more
votes than Mugabe, but not enough to avoid a run-off.

Tsvangirai said he would only stand if international observers and media
were given full access to ensure the vote is fair. Zimbabwe's government
rejected any conditions for the run-off, but has previously allowed in SADC
election monitors.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which has the power to extend the
21-day period within which a run-off should legally be held, said it might
do so.

"It is very likely that we will extend the period. It was ambitious for the
legislature to think that 21 days would be enough," ZEC chairman George
Chiweshe told the state-owned Sunday Mail. The earliest possible date was
still the goal, he added.

HOPE FOR CHANGE

Voters had hoped the ballot might help end an economic meltdown that has
triggered chronic food and fuel shortages, 80 percent unemployment and
inflation of 165,000 percent.

The MDC, rights groups and Western nations have accused ZANU-PF of launching
a campaign of arrests and violence to ensure Mugabe wins a run-off. Sibotshe
said 32 MDC supporters had been killed since the polls. ZANU-PF denies the
charge and accuses the MDC of carrying out attacks.

State television said on Sunday police had arrested 58 MDC activists on
suspicion of torching homes of ruling party supporters.

Western powers have called on African states to do more to end the turmoil.
A flood of refugees and concerns about instability and violence have taken
their toll on the region.

South Africa's ruling ANC and its main allies on Sunday expressed "grave
concern at the worsening situation" in Zimbabwe. The ANC has taken a much
tougher stand on Zimbabwe than South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was
unseated as ANC president by Jacob Zuma last year.

At the close of a weekend summit in Johannesburg, the ANC alliance called
"for an end to all violence and harassment of the civilian population. We
urge the leadership and the people of Zimbabwe assisted by SADC to work
together to find a lasting solution to this crisis." (Writing by Caroline
Drees; Editing by Charles Dick)

Zanu-PF rejects MDC run-off election demands

SABC

May 11, 2008, 17:15

In a development set to compound Zimbabwe's political stalemate, the ruling
Zanu-PF says conditions demanded by Movement for Democratic Change leader
(MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the run-off presidential election, will
not be considered. This comes as the ruling party launched a direct attack
on Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa for his apparent failure to criticise
western enforced sanctions on the country's leadership.

Tsvangirai said he would only stand if international observers and media
were given full access to ensure the vote is fair. Zimbabwe's government
rejected any conditions for the run-off, but has previously allowed in SADC
election monitors.

Tsvangirai said yesterday he would return home within two days to deal
Mugabe a "final knock-out" after almost three decades in power. He said he
wanted SADC peacekeepers to instil public confidence in the ballot and bring
an end to the crisis that followed Zimbabwe's disputed March 29 poll.

State television said today police had arrested 58 MDC activists on
suspicion of torching homes of ruling party supporters.

ANC very concerned at Zimbabwe situation
The ANC and its main allies today expressed "grave concern at the worsening
situation" in Zimbabwe. The ANC has taken a much tougher stand on Zimbabwe
than South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was unseated as ANC president
by Jacob Zuma last year.

At a weekend meeting between the ANC and its alliance partners, Cosatu and
the SACP, the Tripartite Alliance described Tsvangirai's decision to take
part in his country's presidential run-off election as a positive move. The
post-election impasse in Zimbabwe featured high on the agenda of the
weekend's meeting between the ANC and its alliance partners, Cosatu and the
SACP.

The alliance also called "for an end to all violence and harassment of the
civilian population. We urge the leadership and the people of Zimbabwe
assisted by SADC to work together to find a lasting solution to this
crisis."

Yesterday, Tsvangirai said in Pretoria that he would return to Zimbabwe to
contest the poll. However, SACP leader, Blade Nzimande, says they're still
concerned about the escalating violence in Zimbabwe. He says it's likely to
affect the conditions for a free and fair poll. - additional reporting by
Reuters

Zimbabwe braces for new elections amid violence

Yahoo News

by Godfrey Marawanyika 29 minutes ago

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe braced Sunday for the return home of the country's
opposition leader, who has vowed to face veteran president Robert Mugabe in
a runoff election despite the risk of further violence.

Morgan Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, is
expected in Harare in the next few days after leaving the country in early
April amid spiralling post-election violence directed at his party.

Zimbabwean doctors, trade unions and teachers have reported beatings and
intimidation by government-backed militias since the first ballot on March
29 and the authorities have rounded up a number of high-profile opponents.

Sunday brought news that 58 opposition activists in a farming town northeast
of Harare had been arrested on charges of public violence, according to
local police.

Tsvangirai, who is threatened by treason accusations in his homeland, will
seek security assurances from the 14-member regional body, the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), before flying back, his spokesman
said.

"We cannot anticipate what the regime is going to do, but we are going back
to Zimbabwe," spokesman George Sibotshiwe told AFP.

Before Saturday, Tsvangirai had refused to say whether he would take part in
the runoff -- even though failure to do so would have handed victory to
Mugabe.

He warned that his decision to take on Mugabe, who has been in power since
the country's independence from Britain in 1980, risked provoking "more
violence, more gloom, more betrayal."

He set a series of conditions for his participation in the poll, including
the presence of international peacekeepers, election monitors, free media
and an end to violence to ensure a fair vote.

Sibotshiwe said that the opposition had met with Angola's president on
Saturday to urge him to send regional SADC peacekeepers for the as yet
unscheduled second round.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, believed to be close to Mugabe, is the
head of the security committee of the 14-member Southern African Development
Community (SADC) which has the ability to deploy peacekeepers in the region.

The White House gave strong backing to the idea of election and UN human
rights monitors in Zimbabwe for the poll, which Tsvangirai wants before May
23 in accordance with Zimbabwean law.

"If this is going to be a successful runoff, obviously that's the first
thing that has to happen: opposition leaders and their supporters must be
able to freely campaign free of violence," White House spokesman Gordon
Johndroe said Saturday.

The ruling government was quick to dismiss the idea of outside interference
in the election on Saturday and few observers believe the conditions will or
could be be met.

No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the first ballot and a team from
the SADC was widely criticised for giving it a largely clean bill of health.

Tsvangirai also had strong criticism for Zimbabwe's electoral commission
(ZEC) and said that failure to hold the second round of voting by May 23, as
required under Zimbabwean law, risked rendering the election process
illegitimate.

Results from the first round were delayed by the ZEC for five weeks and no
date has been given for the second-round runoff despite the legal
requirement for it to take place within 21 days of the first-round results
being announced.

Zimbabwe's top electoral official told a state newspaper Sunday that it was
"very likely" the runoff poll would be delayed.

First-round results were published on May 2 -- showing Tsvangirai beat
Mugabe by 47.9 to 43.2 percent -- but ZEC officials have hinted that a
second round could take up to a year to organise.

Once seen as a post-colonial success story, Zimbabwe has been in economic
meltdown since 2000 when Mugabe embarked on a programme of land reforms
which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.

Violence has spiralled since the first round of polls, leading Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change party to accuse Mugabe of orchestrating a
campaign of terror to ensure his reelection through intimidation.

The MDC's Sibotshiwe reported Sunday that 32 activists had been killed and
another 30 were unaccounted for.

The government has in turn accused MDC activists of fomenting violence and
carrying out arson attacks.

Aid groups warn of rural “genocide”

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)

Date: 09 May 2008

Relief workers, struggling to reach areas hit by ZANU-PF violence, say
conditions rapidly deteriorating.

By Yamikani Mwando in Bulawayo (ZCR No. 145, 09-May-08)

Humanitarian agencies in crisis-torn Zimbabwe have been forced to scale down
operations in the areas where the need is greatest because of post-election
violence triggered by the electoral defeat of ZANU-PF.

Frontline workers say they are failing to access areas affected by the
violence. Although thousands of Zimbabweans have fled from their rural
homes, those who have stayed behind are in dire need of aid, including food,
but relief workers cannot reach them.

Veterans of the 1970s war of liberation and ruling party militias have been
accused of placing roadblocks and imposing curfews in rural areas that were
previously seen as ZANU-PF strongholds but where residents voted for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, in the country’s
parliamentary and presidential elections in March.

Faith-based groups that have been at the forefront of relief work, feeding
hungry families in rural areas since independence in 1980, complain their
efforts are being hampered by marauding vigilantes. The violence grew worse
after it emerged, even before the official announcement of the presidential
election result, that President Robert Mugabe had lost the poll to his
long-time rival, the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai.

Last month, a joint statement by the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference
warned that the continued violence was placing the country on the verge of
genocide.

They said that ‘if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their
predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that
experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and
elsewhere’.

The concerns continued this month with the Catholic International
Cooperation for Development and Solidarity, CIDSE, and the Ecumenical
Zimbabwe Network, EZN, reporting in a joint statement that efforts to reach
impoverished rural areas that have been hard hit by the violence were
proving to be near-impossible.

‘Our partners cannot carry out food security assessments in the post-harvest
season and are unable to plan properly the appropriate support to the most
vulnerable sectors of the population in this coming year,’ read the
statement.

CIDSE brings together Catholic relief agencies from across the world and has
a wide presence in developing countries and those in transition, while EZN
groups local faith-based organisations involved in humanitarian assistance
across the country.

In the border town of Plumtree, where Zimbabwe shares a frontier with
Botswana, there are reports of huge masses of villagers illegally crossing
the border to seek refuge as they flee political violence. In the rural
areas of Zimbabwe, homes have been burnt down and fathers beaten up in front
of their children by ruling party supporters and war veterans.

‘Hundreds of people are fleeing the violence,’ a priest working with rural
communities in Plumtree told IWPR, ‘and though we have tried to assist, it
is becoming increasingly difficult.’ He said that faith-based organisations
were being accused by ZANU-PF officials and supporters of harbouring
opposition activists.

Ever since the emergence of a powerful political opposition that threatened
Mugabe's decades-old stranglehold on power, ZANU-PF has accused aid groups
of working in cahoots with the opposition in efforts to topple the
president, an accusation they deny.

Last Sunday, May 4, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, CCJP,
long accused by the authorities of being an arm of the opposition, raised
concerns about the situation in the rural areas and the continuing
politically-motivated violence, saying this made it impossible to hold a
presidential run-off.

The CCJP said the people had been ‘traumatised’ by post-election violence
and were therefore not ready for another ballot.

‘It is possible people who voted and fled the rural violence will not be too
keen to cast their vote this time around,’ a CCJP official in Bulawayo told
IWPR.

‘They are likely to stay home because of their experiences after the March
29 elections. And this will obviously be a victory for ZANU-PF.’

Bright Matonga, deputy minister of information and publicity, recently told
the media that ZANU-PF would not give in to conditions set by the MDC for
its participation in the presidential run-off. The MDC's conditions for
participation would include the presence of observers from the Southern
African Development Community, the United Nations and other international
organisations.

Amid such a hard-line stance from ZANU-PF, rural voters could well be
subjected to more violence, analysts say. This would also compound efforts
by aid agencies to assess food security in the affected areas, leaving rural
communities facing widespread starvation.

The worsening humanitarian crisis in the rural areas appears to be happening
outside international media scrutiny after the bulk of foreign journalists
who had been accredited to cover the March 29 elections left the country
soon after the polls, when their temporary work permits expired.

The Zimbabwean authorities are accused of deliberately limiting the number
of days foreign journalists can stay in the country as part of its concerted
efforts to make sure that international media coverage of the post-election
period is limited.

Yamikani Mwando is the pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.

Horror story that seems to have no end

From The Sunday Tribune (SA), 11 May

Harare - It feels as if this story will never end. That we will never sleep
again, that the tension will never ease, that the cruelty will know no
bounds. That evil will prevail. The communication problems are so bad that
it feels as if we will never get the story out and never get it right
either. In communal areas telecommunications are as they were in the former
Southern Rhodesia. And that is where most of the violence is happening. So
how do we get information? With the utmost difficulty. Are we exaggerating?
No we are not. That is, those of us who are accountable and write for
mainstream media. Do we get information wrong? Yes, sometimes. The police
won't speak to us, except, occasionally if they answer the landlines at
Police General Headquarters in Harare. Then they deny everything, or say
they don't have any information, but mostly they are unavailable. Their
cellphones? Occasionally we might get through if we hit redial 25 times and
the call stays live for longer than 10 seconds. Police won't, or can't,
confirm or deny anything on their cellphones or landlines. Hospital phones
go unanswered, too, or staff won't say anything, or there is no one
available, or if there is, they certainly don't want to speak to
journalists. The informal network of information between the rural areas and
towns is largely broken, as there are so few buses travelling and because it
is too expensive for people to go "kumusha" (home).

Rather like the Stasi in the old German Democratic Republic, there is an
enormous network of informers countrywide. Many are not evil, just doing
something, anything, to earn a little. So we have to be careful when we look
for the evidence we need, and we ask questions carefully, nonchalantly, as
if we are not really interested. We will stop at a roadside shop, looking
for a cold drink. Stupid, really, since there is nothing in any of these
shops. Nothing to sell. Nothing to buy. Mostly the roadblocks are just that,
a time-wasting stop, where the police couldn't care less who we are or what
we are doing and wave us through. But just in case, we have to be ready with
a bunch of half-truths. We get caught because we are at the wrong place at
the wrong time, not because the CIO are smart. If they wanted to, they could
catch all of us all the time. Somebody at the top decides it is time to
catch the journalists, so there is a spurt. Like last Monday, when they went
around from lodge to lodge looking for journalists. They had two names.
Derek Watts (Carte Blanche) and Kate Adie, (BBC). Both had been in Harare
about 2002 or 2003 as we recall. Sometimes journalists get caught because
they relax, lulled into forgetting that Zimbabwe is, more or less a police
state. At first glance it looks okay. Nice, even. Orderly. Not nearly as
dirty as Johannesburg. Polite people, not starving. Well-spoken. Police
quite smart. Army, too, although a lot are hitch-hiking these days. No guns
going off, no bombs, no sharp shooters, no military parades, no military
aircraft and the only choppers are those flying President Robert Mugabe
around, or the smaller one carrying super-rich Billy Rautenbach. So no
frightening overhead noise.

No one is having fun. Not even the people in the restaurants. Not even
children at birthday parties. There is an agonising limbo. And we reporters
are struggling to tell this story when the action happens so far from town.
We also depend on unnamed heroes and heroines. Every night we know that
people are being assaulted, or tortured or beaten. We don't really expect
many fatalities, because Zanu PF learned the hard way that body counts are
bad for business. We more or less know who is doing the violence, as the
victims we visit can usually name their assailants. We know the weapons -
logs, poles, metal from dismantled windmills, planks, rope, bicycle chains,
nails, everyday objects. Huts are burned down. I interviewed someone who was
in his house and 35 of his neighbours' houses were also burned during a few
hours before midnight 10 days ago in one village north-east of Harare. On
Tuesday I got an SMS about what sounded like a massacre. Eleven dead. At
first I sigh. Oh God. What to do? Who to call? They won't all be lying in
some field waiting for me to inspect their bodies and pick over their wounds
to discover how they died. They will be scattered. Maybe picked up by cops.
Maybe picked up by relatives. Maybe under a tree, a small heap hidden by
tall grass. So far I can only name six and that is thanks to contacts and
heroic sources and some hearsay which, on examination, I now know was true
all the time. There won't be political funerals. Most will be buried quickly
and quietly among the huts in the bush, because people are poor and fearful.
So what should I say about the 11 dead? Say six dead, but reports of five
more?

The tension will get worse, so will shopping, finding stuff to keep one
going, fuel, the internet, electricity and water cuts and enough batteries
to keep everything else going. Colleagues come in from London, Los Angeles,
Brussels, Toronto and Melbourne. Some have been coming in and out for years
without accreditation. They get the story going again as they report
Zimbabwe with fresh eyes. Where are South African journalists? What happened
since the end of apartheid? Did all the heroes become managing directors?
Thanks e.TV for trying. Thanks to the the few who did come. Is this
generation of South African journalists flaky or leaderless? Or worried
about legality when it never bothered them during the apartheid era? Never
worried them when foreign journalists sneaked in to South Africa to make
documentaries about Steve Biko. Actually, folks, you don't need
accreditation any longer, as of January 11, its not a crime to be a
journalist, even if you are foreign. So why don't you come up north and tell
the story? Please.

Zimbabwe teachers on frontline of violence

africasia

HARARE, May 11 (AFP)

With a trembling voice and seeking frequent reassurances her identity will
be kept secret, the female Zimbabwean teacher recalls the moment she
realised that her name was on a wanted list.

"I was in class when I was told that an MP (from President Robert Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF party) had come to the school, gone to the headmaster's
office and asked for me by my married name," said the teacher who uses her
maiden name at work.

"The headmaster convinced him there was no one by that name at the school
and he went away. But when I was told afterwards, I decided I had to flee.

"I am so scared to go back, I don't know what to do right now," says the
married mother-of-one from Harare, where she is in now hiding.

Zimbabwean teachers have been on the frontline of violence since elections
in the country in March, causing many to flee or go into hiding and casting
the country's education system into chaos.

"There are many of us running away," she added.

Teachers stand accused of having helped to turn the tide against Mugabe, the
veteran president who lost the first-round of presidential voting and whose
ZANU-PF party was defeated in simultaneous parliamentary elections.

After its formation nearly a decade ago, the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change identified teachers as the perfect messengers for the
party, not least because of their work with voter education programmes.

Furthermore, many served as polling and returning officers for the March 29
elections when Mugabe suffered his first electoral reverse since
independence from Britain in 1980.

Some have since been arrested and fined for electoral fraud while others
have been the target of physical assaults.

"The situation has gotten out of hand," said Peter Mabande, chief executive
officer of the country's largest union of teachers, the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association (ZIMTA).

"It's bad in several rural areas in terms of threats to teachers, verbal
abuse, and some are being physically molested."

Takavafira Zhou, head of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said:
"What is happening is that you have systematic targeting of teachers, and as
result three-quarters of teachers have not gone back to their places of
work" since the school term started on April 29.

-- 'You get beaten by childen you taught a few years ago' --

Since schools reopened for the mid-year trimester last week, little learning
has been taking place in several rural districts and some schools are being
used as bases for local government-backed militias, unions and opposition
members say.

Another teacher, a 35-year-old man who also asked to remain anonymous, told
AFP he had fled the eastern province of Manicaland last weekend after being
hunted by armed men.

"I am so terrified. Wherever I am, I am not feeling safe at all," he said.

"I need to go far away, perhaps out of this country is where I think I will
feel safe."

A nephew who was mistaken for him during a tussle with his assailants is in
a "serious" condition in hospital, he said.

Mabande of ZIMTA underlined that "beatings are so common that a number of
teachers have decided to withdraw from rural areas."

"You get beaten by children you taught a few years ago. You can't get more
humiliated than that," he said of the school leavers who have been drafted
into militias which are terrorising villagers.

Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere admitted there had been violence which
he said "has been over-exaggerated here and there" but said the situation
was coming under control.

"There are unruly elements who took the law into their own hands. It's been
perpetrated by both sides -- the MDC and ZANU-PF -- its happening," he said.

"We are taking measures and things seem to be falling under control," said
Chigwedere, adding that his ministry had been addressing problems in
affected communities.

"Some members of the communities are joining these agitators and we are
making them aware that they have everything to lose."

As polling officers, teachers are suspected to have deliberately overstated
or understated figures in favour of or against one of the two main
contenders.

"Teachers are perceived to have given voter education which ran contrary to
the information residents had -- that you are to vote freely and for a
candidate of your choice," said Mabande.

He urged the government to "act fast to restore order and a normal learning
environment".

"The total impact is that the quality of education and even the numbers of
children going to school is going to be affected," he said, adding that the
violence was exacerbating the problem of teachers leaving Zimbabwe.

With a literacy rate of about 97 percent two years ago, Zimbabwe has been
rated one of the most literate nations in Africa.

"What we are seeing is a complete paralysis of the education system," said
Zhou.

"This is going to affect literacy rates."

'World must take stand on Mugabe'

Sydney Morning Herald

Morgan Tsvangirai
May 6, 2008

The world's democracies have dragged their feet, but there is still time to
thwart Robert Mugabe's despotism.

Lest history fail to record the dismal response of the international
community on Zimbabwe, let us reprise the signposts of a descent into
darkness. Firstly, just days after the March 29 poll, the Southern African
Development Community observed, ridiculously, that the elections had been
free and fair, with some caveats. The United States and the European Union
then began voicing some concerns over delays in announcing vote returns.

Yet the world failed to move.

After these first volleys, weeks of continued global indifference were taken
to new highs as the Zimbabwe High Court refused to properly consider a
petition by the Movement for Democratic Change and failed to order the
release of the still-embargoed results.

Again, the world said nothing.

By the third week of April, South African President Thabo Mbeki was
surmising that all parties must keep talking. This was despite the fact that
the ruling Zanu-PF, by all independent counts the loser in the elections,
still held all government offices and infrastructure, and had begun
intimidating Zimbabweans considered to be against them.

Still, the world nodded and remained unmoved.

By now the silence from global governments and bodies like the SADC and the
United Nations had become unbearable. Admonitions and threats from many
governments, and even the most liberal-minded communities in the US and the
EU, ring hollow. Words have not been followed by action.

Now we have discussion of multilateral sanctions. But where is the movement?

So far we have had circular motion trying to disguise itself as forward
progress from the international community. It's a downward spiral that takes
us further from the light of democracy.

The MDC has professed a non-violent approach to healing Zimbabwe since our
foundation in 1999. Despite the intimidation and the violence dished out to
our members and supporters, including me personally, we see no solution in
simply finding bigger sticks. That is fighting the wrong fight.

The MDC, in something of a rarity among African opposition groups, has no
army. While Robert Mugabe and his thugs trash the country and trample on
justice, we cannot play the same brutish game and call ourselves democrats.
We have relied on and trusted the democratic process and invested our belief
in the international community being there to uphold those same values. Yet
this has not happened.

While gaining plaudits is not on our agenda, we might justifiably have
expected the international community of liberal and democratic nations to
act on their professed values and support a colleague in need of assistance.

The MDC and the many democrats in Zimbabwe have understood there is an
obligation to liberty that would be acted on by those in possession of it.

We appear to be wrong.

For Zimbabwe to be the proud and successful country it can be, and has been
before, we need the world community. As a country, even a democratic one, we
will stand only by propping against those who can help us re-establish a
free Zimbabwe.

Today, we look out at our peers and hear the frustration, the anger they
feel. They are emotions we feel too. But we see their reluctance to act and
we bear the consequences.

And we are not alone. The implications of a failure to act in Zimbabwe are
that despots everywhere will be encouraged and democrats will be
disillusioned. While it is true that liberty is its own reward, those
fighting at the coalface of democracy should expect more return on their
investment. They should be able to hope.

What we call for is a means to remove the defeated Mugabe. But, more than
this, we need to find the way to break down his corrupted regime and banish
those who have benefited from it and now close ranks about their leader.

This is a job for the UN, above all. The UN has the wherewithal and the
legitimacy of multilateral compulsion to effect forward movement in Zimbabwe
today.

President Mugabe and his minions must be isolated, physically if need be,
and a new Zimbabwe defended as it emerges from the ruins.

This means freezing the assets of the regime, blocking transactions, closing
down networks, putting a spanner in the machinery of coercion, protecting
the innocent, and in every way marginalising the rotten infrastructure of
the formerly ruling Zanu-PF until it can no longer survive.

It may seem odd that we are calling for what sounds like a peacekeeping
operation in Zimbabwe, but this is in effect what we seek. For Zimbabwe is
under attack from within. It is being eaten away by the forces of the former
government, and what peace there is needs to be nurtured and developed.
There is no hope for Zimbabwe otherwise.

There are implications for the international community, too, should Zimbabwe
fall. The international community is today being beaten by the wily old
master of lies, Robert Mugabe. So far, democracy's finely balanced gains in
Zimbabwe are only highlighting the defeatism of the international community.
That is a situation that needs to be reversed immediately.

Morgan Tsvangirai is the leader of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic
Change. He wrote this comment exclusively for Fairfax Media.

South Africa Calls For End To Violence In Zimbabwe

nasdaq

JOHANNESBURG (AFP)--South Africa's ruling ANC and its alliance parties
Sunday called for an end to all violence and harassment of civilians in
Zimbabwe in the aftermath of March 29 elections.

"We call for an end to all violence and harassment of the civilian
population, " the alliance said in a statement after their two-day meeting
in Midrand, outside Johannesburg.

"We urge the leadership and the people of Zimbabwe assisted by SADC
(Southern African Development Community) to work together to find a lasting
solution to this crisis," it added

The meeting, attended by senior members of the African National Congress
(ANC) , the South African Communist Party and labour federation COSATU, was
organised to forge a better working relationship between the partners.

The meeting also "expressed grave concern at the worsening situation in that
country, including the arrest of the president and secretary general of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions," it said.

Participants pleged to "mobilise solidarity for the Zimbabwean people in our
country and the region."

They also pledged to tackle the rising cost of food and fuel, as well as
unemployment, poverty and inequality, crime, and the country's electricity
crisis. They said they would work together for the 2009 elections in South
Africa.

The meeting reaffirmed its support for the president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma,
a presidential hopeful who is facing corruption charges.

"We will not only be accompanying him to court but to the Union Buildings as
the next president of South Africa," the text said.

Zuma goes on trial in August on 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money
laundering and racketeering.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  05-11-080749ET

'No regrets' for Mugabe opponents

11:01 GMT, Saturday, 10 May 2008 12:01 UK

As Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe fights to maintain his grip on power, there are fears of a new wave of violence against his opponents. Orla Guerin reports from Zimbabwe, despite a ban on the BBC. Mugabe's opponents fear renewed violence against them It was the shoes that caught my eye. The man wearing them had served me lunch. He was friendly and polite. His shirt and trousers were spotlessly clean and freshly pressed. But when he brought my bill, his footwear gave him away. I could see his toes poking out through a large hole between the sole and the top of the shoe. The bill came to $20 (£10) - in Zimbabwe dollars that is more than four billion. The Zimbabwean currency has become so worthless, that you can find it littering the streets For the waiter, that probably would have been about three months' take-home pay. Wondering how many billions it would take to buy new shoes, I left a large tip. When he saw the amount, he raised his hand to his heart in thanks. The Zimbabwean currency has become so worthless, that you can find it littering the streets. Five-hundred-thousand-dollar notes lie in the dirt. Nobody bothers to pick them up. A friend in Zimbabwe went shopping for a few gifts this week. When she selected them, in the morning, the bill came to Z$17bn. Three hours later, when she came back to pick them up, the price had risen to Z$21bn. Dying regime? During my stay I met a tour guide, who had worked abroad for years. He came home in 2005, when the economy was already in freefall. "Why come back then?" I asked. "To help bring about change," he said. He told me, as did many Zimbabweans, that the Mugabe era was coming to an end, though he was not sure how. "Our old man is on the way out," he said. "It's the last kick of a dying horse." He spoke firmly but quietly, with a quick glance over his shoulder to see who was about. We talked over dinner, a three-course meal - soup, chicken and dessert. He ate slowly and carefully. "An ordinary man could spend a year without eating a meal like this," he said. The same man told me the churches are a lot fuller these days, not because a suffering nation is finding consolation in religion, but because church groups can sometimes help people find food, or arrange decent burial. Many in Zimbabwe cannot afford the cost of dying. At a small cemetery, where the grasses grew higher than the tombstones, we met a group of young men digging a grave. They were not gravediggers, this was a do-it-yourself funeral. "We are burying our sister," one told me. "She had been sick for a while." The deceased was 37 years old. Dying in your 30s is typical these days. Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is among the lowest in the world. Police checkpoints Travelling through the country can be an eerie experience. We had the open road all to ourselves for hours. The only distraction along the way was the occasional roadblock, usually manned by relaxed police. Some voters may be too scared to vote in a new election With BBC News banned in Zimbabwe, we were running the risk of arrest. But we managed to pass unnoticed, and many ordinary Zimbabweans ran the much greater risk of agreeing to speak to us and tell us their stories. They could expect harsh treatment from the authorities if they were caught. At a remote rural homestead, we were welcomed by a village elder who was no stranger to President Mugabe's wrath. In the past, supporting the opposition MDC had cost him dearly. His home was burned down and his wife was beaten. The fields around the homestead were full of withered corn and the grain stores were empty, but our host wanted to kill a chicken and prepare a meal for us. We thanked him, but said we could not accept. Later that night we found the dead chicken in the back of our truck. Some of those we met were putting their hope in the international community. "They won't let this continue," one man said. "They'll send in the UN." Poll fears But Robert Mugabe knows there will be no-one coming to stop the beatings and the killings by his henchmen. If a second round of voting comes, many may be too afraid to go back to the polls. We are ready to sacrifice our lives to make things better for our children Opposition supporter in hiding "Sadly it won't be possible to vote again," one opposition supporter told me, sounding weary. Others may be unable to risk coming out of hiding. I met an MDC activist who was on the run, following a brutal beating. We spoke for just a few minutes. He was too afraid to stay longer. He had had no contact with family or friends for more than six weeks. "If they hear my voice on the radio," he said, "they'll know I'm alive." I asked what he thought would happen, if he was caught again. "It won't be torture then," he said. "It will definitely be death. "But if needs be, we are ready to sacrifice our lives to make things better for our children. I have no regrets."

MDC activists arrested for allegedly burning chief cop’s farm

Zim Online

by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri and Tendai Maronga Monday 12 May
2008

HARARE – Zimbabwe police have arrested more than 50 opposition activists for
allegedly burning down a farm belonging to Police Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri.

Police in Mashonaland Central province where the farm is located confirmed
arresting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
activists over the past week following the arson case last Monday.

“We have arrested 56 MDC supporters for violence and arson in Shamva. They
will appear in court soon,” said a police official, who spoke to ZimOnline
by phone from the provincial capital, Bindura.

Harare lawyer Alec Muchadehama, who represents the MDC, confirmed the
arrests, adding that the opposition supporters were being held in police
custody.

Muchadehama said: “We were told that the magistrate for the area is on leave
so a relief will come either on Tuesday or Thursday next week.”

Scores of opposition activists have been arrested in the aftermath of
Zimbabwe's March 29 general elections in which President Robert Mugabe’s
ruling ZANU PF party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in
28 years when it garnered 97 seats compared to 110 won by the MDC and other
minor opposition candidates.

The MDC accuses the police of applying the law selectively targeting
opposition supporters for arrest while turning a blind eye on ZANU PF
activists who according to the MDC have committed the most violence since
the elections.

The MDC says at least 24 of its supporters have been murdered while another
5 000 have been displaced in politically motivated violence, which the
opposition party has described as a war being waged by state security forces
and ZANU PF militants against Zimbabweans. – ZimOnline

Zimbabwe Vigil Diary - 10th May 2008

Free Palestine, Free Burma, Free Tibet . . . .. Free Zimbabwe. It was a
crowded agenda facing the passing public in London on a sunny Saturday.

With Palestinian supporters flocking to a rally in Trafalgar Square, it was
the drumming, singing and dancing which drew attention to us.  Some people
question whether the singing and dancing is appropriate and we explain it is
part of our culture.  Just because we are singing doesn't mean we are happy
at the awful situation at home.

The anger of the Palestinians, the determination of the Tibetans and the
anxiety of the Burmese are shared by our anger, determination and anxiety.

We are increasingly contacted by people in other troubled parts of the
world.  Two Congolese exiles dropped by the Vigil and were keen to work with
us.  More support from the DRC came by email: "We are Congolese people. We
support you against Mugabe. Africa is suffering with men like Mugabe,
 Kabila".  We are also in regular contact with Dr Tayeb, an activist for the
suffering people in Cabinda.  We met him during our protest in Lisbon last
December.

We were pleased to have with us the musician John Law, a stalwart of the
Zimbabwean rock scene of the 1980s and 1990s. His latest CD features
tributes to Zimbabwe.

A welcome feature this week was the sadza and stew brought by supporters of
our partner organisation, Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe. Last
Sunday, ROHR activists held a protest outside the Catholic Cathedral in
Birmingham and were given an audience with Archbishop Nichols who expressed
his support. They are planning another protest in Slough, we will keep you
informed as plans firm up.

Patson Muzuwa addressed the Vigil about the work of our coalition partner,
the Zimbabwe Association (ZA), a support group for Zimbabwean refugees and
asylum seekers. ZA has opened a women's weekly drop-in centre in Finsbury
Park, North London on Fridays (see 'For Your Diary' below for details).

Vigil supporters Sue and Francesca Toft have interceded with the TUC over
the detention of the President and Secretary General of the Zimbabwean
Congress of Trade Unions, Lovemore Matambo and Wellington Chibhebhe.
Lovemore's niece, Mercy Mwakipesile, is a regular attender at the Vigil.
The TUC has written to the Zimbabwean Ambassador in London expressing its
deep concern.

For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.

FOR THE RECORD: 165 signed the register.

FOR YOUR DIARY:
·  Fridays, 10.30 am - 4 pm.  Zimbabwe Association's Women's Weekly
Drop-in Centre at The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton
Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Come and share a traditional
lunch of sadza, nyama and relish. Nearest underground: Finsbury Park. For
more information, contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open
Tuesdays and Thursdays).
·  Saturday, 24th May 2008, 2 - 6 pm. Next Glasgow Vigil. Venue:
Argyle Street Precinct. For more information contact: Ancilla Chifamba,
07770 291 150 and Patrick Dzimba, 07990 724 137.

Vigil Co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.

How to invest in Zimbabwe

Mail and Guardian

Maya Fisher-French

11 May 2008 06:00

Want to buy property or shares in Zimbabwe? Just bring along a
bag of fertiliser or some cooking oil.

Maybe it's not quite that easy. But liberalisation of the
economy has started and, as a country on its knees desperate for food and
"strategic" goods, Zimbabwe has introduced a barter system in return for
assets.

Last week the Zimbabwean reserve bank governor issued a monetary
policy statement introducing a barter system for essential "strategic
imports", by means of which items can be imported in exchange for domestic
assets, such as shares and real estate. Strategic imports include
fertilisers, water treatment chemicals, grain, agricultural equipment, fuel,
cement, cooking oil, salt, yeast, animal feed and drugs.

It is a neat solution for a country that does not have the
foreign exchange to pay for goods it needs. The mechanics of the system have
not been revealed yet, but it will probably be managed by the state.

But will anyone want Zimbabwean assets as opposed to cold,
hard-currency cash? Some clever investors might jump at the opportunity.
John Legat, portfolio manager of Imara's Zimbawbe fund, says that if Mugabe
is ousted, Zimbabwe will turn around -- and fast.

"The turnaround will be very quick. You can't wait for changes
to happen ... [If you do] you won't miss the first 10%, you will lose the
first 100% return," says Legat.

In the past few years the Zimbabwean stock market has not done
badly considering the country's political and economic meltdown. Roelfe
Horne of Investec Asset Management says the reason for this is that shares
are the only asset that will keep up with the hyperinflation in the country.

Legat says the stock market has not lost value in US-dollar
terms -- quite an accomplishment considering that GDP has halved. But
returns are very erratic for foreigners because the Zimbabwean dollar is
extremely volatile.

However, if you don't have any fertiliser lying around, how do
you get a piece of the action, considering the exchange controls both in
South Africa and Zimbabwe? The trick is first to buy shares in companies
listed in both Zimbabwe and South Africa -- for example, Old Mutual or PPC.
You can buy the shares locally and send them to a broker in Zimbabwe who
will sell them and buy a portfolio of local shares.

Low risk

There are low-risk Zimbabwean shares to be bought: many major
Zimbabwean companies have interests across several different sectors,
because exchange controls have prevented them from expanding abroad. A
similar situation existed in South Africa in the 1990s, when Anglo American
owned a bank and other companies not related to its core business. So buying
shares in a few of these major companies will give you a diversified
exposure to the Zimbabwean economy.

"You don't have to be very clever: just buy some of the larger
companies and buy on weakness rather than chase in this environment," says
Legat. If you have a lot of money you want to punt, the Imara Zimbabwe fund
has a minimum investment of US$100 000 and is aimed at private investors
rather than institutions. When this fund was launched a year ago the take-up
was so great it had to turn away new inflows within the first two weeks.

Tortured or killed for not voting “correctly”

Aid to the Church in Need

Posted by Press release on 12/5/2008, 8:13 am
Board Administrator

      ACN News, 12/05/2008 - ZIMBABWE

      ZIMBABWE: Tortured or killed for not voting “correctly”
      By John Newton and John Pontifex

      CHURCH leaders have released a statement condemning revenge attacks
against people who failed to vote for Robert Mugabe in the elections –
abducting, wounding and even murdering their victims.
      In a strongly-worded document, sent to Catholic charity Aid to the
Church in Need, Catholic and Protestant leaders spoke out against the
organised violence “unleashed” against people “accused of campaigning or
voting for the ‘wrong’ political party”.
      The statement, issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches,
described a crisis sparked by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s failure to
release the results of the 29th
      March presidential elections.
      Expressing “deep concern” about the country’s deteriorating human
rights situation, the statement continues: “People are being abducted,
tortured and humiliated…and ordered to attend mass meetings where they are
told they voted for the ‘wrong’ candidate… and in some cases, people are
murdered.”
      Those attacked were warned against voting for “the ‘wrong’ candidate”
again in the forth-coming run-off Presidential elections.
      The statement went on to say that, “Victims of organized torture who
are ferried to hospital find little solace as the hospitals have no drugs or
medicines to treat them.”
      The Church leaders add: “The deterioration in the humanitarian
situation is plummeting at a frightful pace. The cost of living has gone
beyond the reach of the majority of our people. There is widespread famine
in most parts of the countryside.”
      The statement comes on the heels of ACN’s emergency grant of $30,000
announced on Thursday (8th May) and intended to help needy children in the
archdiocese of Bulawayo, in south-west Zimbabwe.
      Only a few days ago, Aid to the Church in Need, which helps suffering
Christians, received information from a source in Zimbabwe, describing a
situation spiralling out of control.
      The source, who for safety reasons remains anonymous, said, “The army
has started to beat people… Some 11 people have been killed, many have been
maimed and wounded, and hundreds of houses have been burnt.”
      The army brutally attacked and injured civilians in areas which did
not vote for Robert Mugabe’s party ZANU PF.
      Reports claim that four villages near Chiweshe in the Mashonaland
Central Province were targeted on Monday (5th May), leaving 11 people dead
and more than 20 others seriously injured.
      ACN’s source in Zimbabwe said, “People live now in fear, and they are
terrorized and questioned, ‘For whom did you vote?’ Suddenly secret voting
is not allowed. People are beaten and told, in the next elections vote
‘correctly’”.
      According to ACN’s source Zimbabwe feels that it has been abandoned by
the rest of the world: “While people here are suffering and are being
humiliated the outside world keeps quiet.”

      Editor’s Notes:

      Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the
faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is
a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer,
information and action.

      Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II
named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work
in about 145 countries throughout the world.

      The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including
providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of
church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train
seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the
Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

      For more information, contact please contact the Sydney office of ACN
on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the
Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

Hackers target Herald website