Washington Post
Villagers Suffered Zimbabwe's Worst Violence in 20 Years; New Vote
Set for
June 27
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 17,
2008; Page A13
CHAONA, Zimbabwe -- President Robert Mugabe's
post-election campaign of
violence has reached a level and intensity not
seen in Zimbabwe in 20 years,
according to human rights workers struggling
to track a surge of killings,
torture, beatings, false arrests and arson
attacks ahead of a presidential
runoff.
Election officials announced
Friday that the second round of voting would
take place June 27, nearly
three months after the original election in which
Mugabe, of the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF,
came in second, behind
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement
for Democratic
Change.
The opposition confirmed Friday that it would participate in the
runoff
despite the violence.
"We are going to defeat Robert Mugabe
and ZANU-PF any time, any place, any
how," spokesman Nelson Chamisa said,
speaking from Harare, the capital. "We
have to make sure we defeat the
dictatorship once and for all."
The most lethal attack so far happened
here in Chaona, a village 65 miles
north of Harare. Witnesses say that
dozens of armed men, led by ruling party
officials, rampaged through here
the night of May 5, battering seven
opposition activists to death. Large
splashes of dried blood were still
visible on the ground and on the sides of
buildings a week later.
One man said he was beaten as if he were "an
animal." The attackers stoned
another man, beat him with clubs, then left
him to die in a cornfield. One
group grabbed a 79-year-old widow, yanked up
her skirt, then lashed her bare
buttocks with barbed-wire whips as two dozen
terrified relatives looked on.
The woman, Martha Mucheto, said she cried in
pain and shame.
"If none of you confesses, we will hit this granny until
she's dead,"
Mucheto, a great-grandmother and former nurse's aide, recalled
hearing. She
spoke from a hospital bed in Harare.
Political violence
has been most severe in the rural areas that once were
Mugabe strongholds.
Analysts say that weakened support in these areas
contributed to Mugabe's
historic second-place finish in the March 29
election. The runoff is
necessary because neither candidate got a majority
of votes, according to
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
ZANU-PF also lost control of
parliament for the first time since the
country's founding in 1980. A surge
of opposition support in towns and
villages was key to that loss as
well.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the attacks are intended
to win
back support for the ruling party through terror.
"ZANU-PF is
really saying that act of betrayal, of ingratitude, will not go
unpunished,"
he said. "The idea is to teach the rest of the villagers a
lesson by
isolating an individual."
Human rights groups put the death toll from the
violence at 25 but say it
may be far higher. More than 1,000 people have
been injured, according to
official counts, and tens of thousands have fled
their homes.
"There has been violence before all of the elections but
nothing on the
scale of this," said Greg Powell, a Harare pediatrician and
official for the
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, one of
several groups
attempting to track the surge of violence. "It's just
terrorizing people."
Opposition officials initially reported that 11
party activists had been
killed in the Chaona attack, but several of those
believed dead were later
found alive with serious injuries in hospitals
across the region. Other
victims died of their injuries in the days after
the attack.
A series of interviews with victims, witnesses and human
rights activists
verified a death toll of seven. Dozens of others were
injured, some
critically.
Chaona, long a haven of opposition
activism, became a target because of one
polling district's vote against
Mugabe. There, Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai by
a ratio of 4 to 1.
More
than a month later, on May 5, ZANU-PF officials ordered the people of
Chaona
to attend a meeting in another village about six miles away,
villagers said.
They refused.
A few hours later, two large trucks arrived carrying about
50 men -- ruling
party youths and veterans of the 1970s guerrilla war in
Rhodesia, which
became Zimbabwe.
The men first surrounded the hut of
opposition activist Tapiwa Meda and
loudly demanded that if he didn't come
outside, they would burn down his
hut.
As his sister, Melody Meda,
watched, Tapiwa Meda opened the door and was
struck in the head with a large
stone. He screamed in pain, she said, and
staggered backward into the
hut.
The men dragged Tapiwa Meda outside and accused him of supporting
the
Movement for Democratic Change.
"They said he was the one who was
feeding people with MDC teachings," Melody
Meda recalled. "They said he was
the one who had influenced people not to go
for the ZANU-PF
meeting."
She watched as the men stripped her brother and beat him with
gun butts and
clubs.
Tapiwa Meda eventually stopped screaming, his
sister said, and his attackers
tossed his body aside.
The next man to
die was Joseph Madziwamwenda, 29, a cousin of Meda's and
also an opposition
activist. Madziwamwenda's brother, Tendai Madziwamwenda,
watched as he was
dragged through a window of their house, then hit with
sticks for about 20
minutes. When Joseph Madziwamwenda was allowed to return
to the house, he
was already dying.
"Blood was coming out through the mouth," Tendai
Madziwamwenda said. "His
hands were in tatters. He died in my arms about an
hour after the attack."
At a third family homestead, the attackers found
Mucheto, the
great-grandmother who was whipped as the men demanded
confessions from her
relatives. One by one, opposition activists began
stepping forward to admit
their role in opposing Mugabe.
Most were
lashed repeatedly but then left alone. One of the activists, Aleck
Chiriseri, 35, drew particular wrath. As the attackers beat Chiriseri with
gun butts and sticks, they accused him of organizing political meetings in
the area. He soon was dead.
One of the most ruthless attacks was on
Funyisai Dofo, 28, who was returning
from working in the fields outside
Chaona, he said, when four men demanded
to know why he had not attended the
ruling party meeting. When Dofo
explained that he had been working, the men
accused him of supporting the
opposition and starting beating him with
sticks.
"They wanted me to confess that I had voted for the MDC during
the
elections," Dofo recalled. "All this time I was screaming for help. One
of
them had a pistol, so every time I try to scream for help he would
threaten
to shoot me. They were taking turns to beat me up. It was as if I
was an
animal."
Then one of the men announced he was going "to fix
Dofo once and for all."
The attacker stripped off Dofo's clothes, sat him on
a large rock, then
crushed his testicles with a stomp from a booted foot.
Dofo passed out.
He woke up in a cart. Somebody was wheeling him to the
hospital.
A few minutes after Dofo recounted his story, he turned to his
wife, Melody
Dofo, who was at the hospital with their daughter, Rufaro,
2.
"Listen, Melody," he said, "they have killed me for no reason, these
ZANU-PF
people. I am dying, but take care of our kid."
Funyisai Dofo
died an hour later.
africasia
HARARE, May 17 (AFP)
Authorities in Zimbabwe have rejected opposition and
international calls for
additional election observers for the second round
of presidential elections
due on June 27, state media said on
Saturday.
"The invitations we sent at the beginning are still valid.
There would be no
further invitations," Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, was
quoted as saying by The Herald newspaper.
Opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai made international election monitors one
of the
conditions of his participation in the run-off, as well as the
deployment of
regional peacekeepers.
No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the
first ballot and teams from
the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) and the African Union (AU)
were widely criticised for giving it a
largely clean bill of health.
For the first round of polling Zimbabwe
invited 47 teams of monitors from
regional organisations, as well as from
countries including China, Russia
and Iran with whom Mugabe enjoys
relatively good relations.
Western monitors from the European Union and
the Commonwealth have been
sidelined. They denounced as flawed the last
presidential election in 2002,
which saw Mugabe win a new term in
office.
An independent local monitoring agency, one of a handful of local
groups who
were authorised to observe the elections, said Friday that some
of its
observers were now too scared to monitor the upcoming poll due to
fears for
their security.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network
(ZESN) said dozens of its observers
had been assaulted by suspected Mugabe
supporters since the first round of
elections.
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has also demanded the
end of violence
in the run-up to the vote and a revamp of the electoral
commission, which it
accuses of bias towards the incumbent.
Violence has spiralled since the
first round of polls, with the MDC
reporting at least 32 activists killed.
They accuse Mugabe of orchestrating
a campaign of terror.
But Mugabe
on Friday countered, accusing the MDC of formenting terror in the
countryside.
The Zimbabwean
BY
MXOLISI NCUBE
BULAWAYO
Masquerading as MDC activists coming to feed
victims of Zanu (PF)
atrocities, small gangs of militia and police thugs
have moved into Bulawayo
to sniff out victims of Robert Mugabe’s
presidential run-off terror campaign
who have fled from the rural areas to
seek sanctuary and medical attention
in the city.
This is a markedly
different strategy to that employed in the rural areas,
where gangs number
several hundreds and carry out large-scale beatings and
burning of
property.
“They are scared to do that in the cities,” say political
analysts, “as any
such attempt would be strongly resisted by the urban
populations, who
unwaveringly support the MDC in massive numbers.”Mugabe’s
thugs were
deployed in the country's rural areas about two months ago, to
unleash a
reign of terror on supporters of the MDC in an operation
code-named
“Mavhotera papi”. The campaign is aimed at displacing 500,000
voters in
order to ensure that Mugabe wins the run-off.But last week the
thugs made
sporadic visits to the cities, where they have been asking
residents about
the whereabouts of MDC supporters.
The gangs, most of who
are members of the country's security forces drive
around in Mazda B2500
vehicles, which are boldly marked CAM in red at the
rear. They claim to have
been sent from Harare to feed victims of the
violence.
Residents
who spoke to The Zimbabwean on Sunday in Zimbabwe’s second city on
Thursday
said that they were now living in fear, after some of them had been
"interviewed" by the terror gangs."They came here on Monday morning and
asked me if I knew of any MDC supporters in the area. When I told them that
I did not, they asked if I had seen anyone who had fled from the rural areas
and where such people could have gone. They then took me in their vehicle to
Nkulumane complex, where they offered to pay me large sums of money if I
told them about the people they were looking for, saying that they were MDC
people sent from Harare to look for victims of violence and MDC supporters
in the city, so that they could assist them,” said a frightened Tapera
Chuma, of Gwabalanda suburb.
“They ended up getting harsh and
accused me of hiding their colleagues from
them and promised to come back
for me if they found out that I lied to
them," he added.Security sources
confirmed this week that the gangs, who
travel in groups of about six people
per vehicle, are, in fact, state agents
sent to identify the opposition's
supporters and pick them up for torture at
secret locations around the
country.
"They are senior police officers who have been sent to arrest MDC
supporters
for torture at different locations outside the city," said a
source.
This new development has been carefully orchestrated to avoid
large-scale
beatings such as those continuing in the rural areas, which have
largely
remained sealed off to the media and medical personnel, said the
source. The
cities pose a different problem for the military junta as any
wholesale
violence is likely to spark a major uprising – as all the cities
are MDC
strongholds. Furthermore, media and diplomatic attention would
immediately
be focussed on any such activity.
Several reports
have been received in the past week of sporadic forays into
urban areas to
kidnap individual MDC activists.
The Zimbabwean
BY STAFF
REPORTER
HARARE
“How can we have so many victims of violence characterised
by serious bodily
harm with no arrests to match the magnitude of the crime?”
ask the leaders
of the Zimbabwe Liberation Veterans Forum, Happyson Nenji
(Webster Gwauya)
and Wilfred Mhanda (Dzinashe Machingura), who both have
impeccable
liberation war credentials.
“This yawning gap can at
best only be accounted for by the serious
dereliction of duty and monumental
incompetence on the part of the police
and at worst their wilful and
unpardonable complicity in crime,” they said
in a statement this week.The
statement continues: “The spokesperson of the
Zimbabwe National Army has
denied the ZNA’s involvement in the ongoing
retributive campaign of violence
against defenceless civilians prevalent in
the communal areas. The former
first lady Grace Mugabe spoke against
violence in some remote area followed
by Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of the
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces
General Constantine Chiwenga.
“We however wish to draw to the
attention of the two ladies that the victims
of violence are at their
doorsteps under their very noses here in Harare not
only in the remote areas
that they visited. Should they be serious about
showing empathy to victims
of violence we kindly draw their attention to the
wards at the Avenues
Clinic, Parirenyatwa Hospital, the church groups, and
the MDC headquarters,
Harvest House all in Harare where they would come face
to face with
multitudes of victims with broken limbs, broken ribs,
lacerations and soft
tissue injuries all over their bodies.
With so many victims of
violence spread across the country’s hospitals, we
ask how many perpetrators
have been brought to book for their misdeeds?”The
two respected war veterans
said there was overwhelming evidence of the
involvement of the Army itself
in the violence, as well as their partners in
crime - the police and the
CIO. They said evidence pointed at senior
commissioned officers who were
directing terror operations against
defenceless civilians.They conclude that
“this is an operation conceived and
ordered and executed by the Joint
Operations Command itself. Clearly they
should stop insulting the nation’s
intelligence through perfunctory reflex
denials”.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 16 May 2008 11:09
With state-sponsored violence spiralling out of control, what are
the
police – who are supposed to maintain law and order – doing about
it?
Their commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, has, in the past, promised
“zero
tolerance for election violence”. But in reality he is busy forcing
policemen to use postal ballots which are “supervised” by his trusted
lieutenants to ensure Mugabe wins the run-off presidential election.His
officers are not only turning a blind eye to the dastardly events taking
place in the rural areas, they are aiding and abetting the perpetrators of
the violence and setting up roadblocks to prevent help reaching the
victims.
A case in point is the harassment of several diplomats who
had gone to see
for themselves just what was going on.On several occasions
government
spokesmen have challenged statements made by human rights
defenders and
foreign governments, saying they could not speak with
authority because they
were not on the ground. These diplomats went out into
the rural areas – onto
the ground – to ascertain the facts at first
hand.
First, the police tried to stop them entering hospitals and
then harassed
them at a roadblock as they were returning to the capital. If
the victims
had been Zanu (PF) we doubt that the police would have behaved
in this
manner. Surely they would have wanted the whole world to see
evidence of MDC
violence?
We can conclude nothing else than that this
action by the military junta
proves that it has something terrible to
hide.
Morgan Tsvangirai has issued a statement condemning the
violence. Robert
Mugabe has lost his voice.
Should we conclude from this
that the rumours are true about him being held
hostage by his own security
chiefs?The behaviour of the junta shows that
they are cowards, frightened of
elections, frightened of change, frightened
of justice, haunted by the
horrors they have committed. But they cannot stem
the tide. The people of
Zimbabwe are now wiser. They do not want violent
political parties to make
their lives a misery. Why would anybody in his
right mind vote for Mugabe
today?
It would be a vote for oppression, a vote for iron control by
a moribund
bunch of thieves who have not a single idea, nor intention, of
solving the
problems that beset ordinary Zimbabweans. Their sole purpose is
to save
their skins and keep their snouts in the feeding trough for as long
as
possible. Come the presidential run-off date, the people of Zimbabwe are
determined to deliver a knock-out blow once and for all, sending this
corrupt bunch packing – hopefully to the International Court of Justice in
The Hague.
We applaud the courage of the many policemen who have vowed,
publicly and
privately, not to give in to the intimidatory pressure from
Chihuri and
others to vote for Mugabe.
Despite what they are
being told, they know that their jobs are secure as
long as they do not
commit atrocities against the people. An MDC government
will have nothing
against them – as long as their hands are not
bloodied.
The Zimbabwean
Saturday, 17 May 2008 06:28
The Joint Operations
Command Centres countrywide have reported in with
"options" to the
failed campaign of violence to subjugate and displace
the
population.
There will now be a two pronged campaign prepared and
executed to
improve
the image of Robert Mugabe and
Zanu(pf)
1."Lure" back the people's vote. Eliminate duties on basic
commodities.
Offer free medical care to "all children." This will
be followed by
other
plans.
2. Manipulate opinion through
every means available to ensure that
Zanu(PF)
are
seen to
be suffering from violence. "Hospitals" and clinics will be
identified
countrywide at "neutral venues" out of sight to be set up
as
"treatment" centres for Zanu(PF) victims of violence. This will be
promoted
widely, locally and internationally to give the impression
that the
MDC are
the perpetrators. The state media will be used to
shift the blame.
The
government will make a statement condemning
violence at the
appropriate time
once this plan is in
place.
. Zanu(PF) are very concerned about the opinion of SADCC and The
UN.
. A CID-led team will be set up on Monday (19th) to
"investigate"
violence by the MDC.
. ZRP have now been
"stood down" from election duty.
. "Lectures" being carried out
throughout the Security Forces on voter
education.
how
to vote for RGM.
. The Postal Vote exercise will get underway now that
the date of the
re-run has been announced.
. Over 90% of
the ZRP voted MDC on the 29th. Many abstained.
. Top commanders
(Zanu(PF) Loyalists) appear to be cock a hoop.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 16 May 2008 12:57
MARONDERA, A ZIMBABWEAN war veteran, who stood as an independent
parliamentary candidate during the March 29 elections, is facing attempted
murder charges after he allegedly shot at a group of marauding ZANU-PF
youths, who wanted to evict him from his farm.
The ex-freedom
fighter, Abel Marimo, appeared at the Marondera Magistrates
Courts on Friday
and was granted a Z$1 billion bail (about 2US$). He was
also ordered to
report once every week at the Marondera Police Station until
the case is
finalised.
According to the police, Marimo shot Johannes Marangano in the
hand. This
happened as the ZANU-PF youths allegedly tried to force him off
the farm.
A mobilised group of ZANU-PF youths, who included the complainant,
allegedly
accompanied Marimo to his farm in Irava, with the intention of
evicting him.
When they reached the farm, the police allege, the accused
closed the main
gate of the farmhouse, thereby blocking the youths from
entering the
premises.
"The accused (Marimo) then removed a 45 Norinco
Pistol from his pocket and
fired three shots at the crowd. The second bullet
fired by the accused hit
the complainant on the left palm, thereby
inflicting some injuries," reads
part of the charge sheet.
The matter
was reported to the police leading to Marimo's arrest.
Marimo is denying the
charges, according to his lawyer David Dhumbura of
Coglan, Welsh and Guest,
claiming that he only shot into the air.
He said since his decision to
contest the elections under independent
presidential candidate Simba
Makoni's patronage, his life has been in
danger.---CAJ
News.
Afrique en ligne
A Zimbabwean court, presided over by Magistrate Rose Dube,
Thursday ruled
that the embittered two members of Women Of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) arrested
last week for protesting, must "go on trial" while setting
23 June as the
trial date, WOZA revealed in a press communique received by
PANA.
Police in Bulawayo on 5 May arrested Trust Moyo and Cynthia Ncube
for taking
part in a demonstration organised by WOZA, which called for an
"end to the
recent spate of politically motivated violence in
Zimbabwe."
The two were detained and later charged with "distributing
materials likely
to cause a breach of the peace" by the police.
At
the start of the case, the defence lawyer argued the materials displayed
by
the two were not 'obscene, threatening, abusive or insulting' and
therefore
the charges should "be dropped."
The magistrate however maintained that
since the accused persons did not
deny carrying the materials, a trial was
necessary to decide whether the
messages were obscene, insulting or
not.
The materials in question are a banner stating 'we want bread and
roses' and
a newsletter that ran a sentence; "we immediately call on Robert
Mugabe to
hand over power to the winner of the presidential election, Morgan
Tsvangirai."
Dakar - 16/05/2008
World Net Daily
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Election violence now threatens even
children
Posted:
May 16, 2008
9:50 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Families are
hiding their children and making plans to smuggle food across
the border
just so they can keep eating as the chaos leading up to the
runoff election
between Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and challenger
Morgan Tsvangirai
escalates quickly, according to a U.S.-based Christian
organization that is
working there.
Mugabe has exercised near-absolute authority in the
southern African nation
since its independence in 1980, but earlier this
year, Tsvangirai collected
a reported 47 percent of the vote to Mugabe's 43
percent in an election,
sparking widespread violence attributed to those who
soon may be forced from
power. Since no one, however, got 50 percent or
more, a runoff is being set
up in June.
As WND reported earlier, In
Touch Mission International already has appealed
to the free world for
prayers for the violence expected for the faithful in
Zimbabwe caught in the
crossfire as strongman Mugabe struggles to retain
power.
Now the
coordinator for South Africa for Christ the King Community Church of
Mt.
Vernon, Wash., is telling first-hand of the struggles.
CTK is a small
group-based Christian movement that was launched in the
Pacific Northwest
about 10 years ago and has expanded its ministry rapidly
across the U.S. and
around the world. A coordinator for its African
ministries, whose name is
being withheld because of his activities, told WND
this week that the
approaching runoff election has people terrified.
"The violence is
affecting everyone. The economy, with inflation now being
168,000 percent,
leaves very little chance of members affording food and
sustenance," he
said. "In this, I have one of our attendees, who has family
in South Africa
'front' financial assistance for us in Zim," he reported. "I
give the funds
to his family here in SA and he then gives material aid or
money to our
attendees in Zim.
"It is virtually impossible to transfer money to Zim,
as the Zim government
is keeping a very close vigil over any foreign funds
entering the country.
The option I am exercising is virtually the only one
available at this
state," he said.
CTK founder Dave Browning
visited Africa in August 2007, and ordained a man
living in South Africa as
a pastor for the church. But he was from Zimbabwe.
"It came upon my heart
to ask this pastor to return to Zimbabwe to spread
the CTK vision there. He
subsequently returned to Zimbabwe and discussed
this with his tribal elders,
who approved that he could speak to the people.
CTK was born in Zimbabwe,"
the coordinator told WND.
"Simultaneously, I also made contact with
various people I knew in Zimbabwe
and they started gathering in small
groups. Since then, we have formed 11
small groups across Zimbabwe, with
three in Harare, two in Bulawayo and the
rest spread across Zim," he
said.
The current violence, however, is affecting everyone in the nation,
he said.
It's being blamed on the ZANU-PF government assembled by Mugabe.
South
Africa news sources call it "Operation Mavhoterapapi," or "Who did you
vote
for?"
South Africa's IRIN news agency said this was launched
after the March 29
election in which Mugabe's ZANU-PF government also lost
its parliamentary
majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.
It reports several dozen people have been killed in the strategy
that
delivers violence, assault and death to individuals in regions where
the
vote favored the MDC movement.
CTK's coordinator confirmed that
the church groups are making preparations
for further violence.
"Due
to my connections … I receive first-hand information on the situation
in
Zim. In our view, whoever wins the runoff election … we have no doubt
that
it is going to result in chaos in any case," he said. "To this end, I
have
members in SA on standby, to take in some of our attendees from Zim,
should
the situation warrant it. I cannot leave them destitute and would
rather
house them temporarily until the situation stabilizes."
"We do ask for
lots and lots and lots of prayers, please!!!!" he told WND.
"My heart is
breaking to see this happening to our people in one of the most
beautiful
countries in Africa."
In Touch Missions founder Bill Bathman
earlier had identified Christians as
the targets of the ZANU-PF
persecution.
"Pastors have been arrested and imprisoned for 'subversive
prayers.' Church
buildings have been raided by police and bulldozed.
Civilians have been
beaten in the streets and judges in their chambers," he
said. "We need your
prayers."
The danger has been pushed to the
extreme level," he warned.
At issue is the future of the nation that once
served as a breadbasket for
Africa, producing vast food supplies for export.
But the confiscation of
most of the farms from their longtime owners, with
the government awarding
them to "veterans," has left the nation's
agriculture industry in ruins and
the nation is unable even to feed its own
people, giving the government the
power of life or death over supporters or
antagonists by simply not allowing
food into some areas.
"The
elections in Zimbabwe March 29 resulted in a landslide victory for
Morgan
Tsvangirai (pronounced Shang-ga-rye) and his Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC) and have brought on an unresolved crisis. Marxist President
Robert
Mugabe, who came to power in 1980, was soundly defeated after 28
years of
communist misrule. But Mugabe (84) refuses to step down. His reign
of terror
has seen the average life expectancy almost cut in half, from 57
to 34
years…. We need your prayers," Bathman's appeal confirmed.
The CTK
coordinator also reported he's working to protect children during
the chaos.
One effort has included reaching out to the South African embassy
in
Zimbabwe to arrange protection for two children who were visiting their
father in Harare.
"We are extremely concerned, given the current
developments in Zimbabwe and
fear for the safety of these children, should
the situation turn of the
worse, which we pray doesn't happen," he
said.
Bloggers report assaults and murders in the name of voting
correctly in the
runoff election, as well as assaults and
beatings.
Sites such as This is Zimbabwe have document myriad cases of
physical
attacks, confiscation or destruction of property, including the
burning of
livestock and bulldozing of entire residential
areas.
Amnesty International also has reported Mugabe's supporters are
forcibly
recruiting youths to carry out attacks against opposition
members.
An In Touch missionary who has worked in Zimbabwe periodically
over recent
years also talked with WND about the situation, but on the
condition his
name not be used.
He said his recent work has been to
try to arrange food and other
necessities for the people of Zimbabwe who
have been cut off from
international food supplies by their own government,
which has allowed
rampant inflation to reduce whatever income they had
sometimes to only
pennies of month.
He said Christians, especially,
were targeted because of their work in
helping those the government had
decided should be cut off.
Even prayer meetings were considered "unlawful
political meetings" and those
participating would be beaten or jailed, he
reported.
Pretoria News
May 17, 2008 Edition
1
Sapa-DPA
Zimbabweans are bracing for a bruising six-week
presidential run-off
campaign pitting President Robert Mugabe and Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, following the official
announcement of the
run-off election date.
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) chairman George Chiweshe yesterday said
the election would
be held on June 27, as stipulated in a special Government
Gazette.
Mugabe (84), leader since independence in 1980, and former
national trade
union leader Tsvangirai (56), will square off again after
neither achieved
more than 50% of the vote needed for outright victory in
the first round of
voting conducted on March 29.
Tsvangirai, who had
been calling for the run-off to be held by May 23,
confirmed yesterday he
would take part in the election, although the poll
was "not on the basis of
law".
He was speaking in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was
attending a
conference of Liberal International, a global federation of
liberal and
democratic political parties.
Tsvangirai accused
Zimbabwe's rulers of "changing the goalposts to suit
themselves".
By
law a run-off should be held within 21 days of the official results being
announced on May 2.
The results gave Tsvangirai 47.9% of the ballot,
to 43.2% for Mugabe.
Chiweshe told the state-run Herald newspaper that it
had not been possible
to observe the 21-day rule because the first election
had depleted
resources.
"So we need more time to prepare for the
run-off."
The MDC has accused the ZEC of abetting what it calls Mugabe's
attempts to
buy time to secure victory in a run-off through violence.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 16 May
2008 10:27
BULAWAYO - A top police officer faces possible
arrest on contempt of
court charges after he led Zanu (PF) militias to beat
up a messenger of
court who was going to deliver to him, a court ruling
ordering him to move
out of a sugar state he invaded in
January.
Zimbabwe Republic Police assistant Commissioner,
Edmore Veterai is
resisting to move out of N & B Sugar Estates in
Chiredzi despite Friday’s
court ruling. Masvingo Magistrate, Phineas Mapiye
on Friday issued a court
ruling, ordering the assistant police commissioner
to move out of the
Chiredzi sugar estate.
The farm is owned by
Digby and Jessie Nesbitt who have sought the
court’s intervention to force
Veterai off their land. They are represented
by Rodney Makausi of
Chihambakwe and Makonese Ncube legal practitioners.
Sources told The
Zimbabwean on Sunday that a messenger of court sent
to deliver a court order
against Veterai on Monday was forced to flee the
Zanu (PF) youth militias
led by the top police officer.
The messenger of court – whose name the
paper could not independently
verify – was also reportedly beaten by the
Zanu (PF) militias, according to
authoritative sources in Chiredzi.“The
messenger of court did arrive and was
meant to give Veterai the court papers
but he was forced to flee after being
beaten by the militias who angered by
the court order,’ said a source.
Veterai could not be reached for
comment on the matter. The lawyer
representing the white farmers confirmed
the development.The government has
given out contrasting signals on the fate
of the remaining white commercial
farmers.Some government ministers have
called for their outright removal
while some have lobbied that the few white
remaining white commercial
farmers remain on their land.
Since the
seizure of white commercial farms by landless war veterans
and Zanu (PF)
militia, yearly food shortages set in forcing the country to
rely on food
imports and food handouts from international food agencies. The
beneficiaries of the chaotic land reform have failed to produce adequate
food for the nation due to either lack of farming expertise or farming
inputs.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 16 May 2008 11:33
Anglican Church
HARARE - Continuous disruption of church services by the police and
the
army, who have disregarded four High Court orders, is causing deep
concern
in the Anglican Church, says Bishop Sebastian Bakare.
The Bishop has
taken the unusual step of issuing a statement
condemning the actions by
police and highlighting their abuses.
“These (High Court) orders do
not give any right to the police to
interfere in the civil disputes in the
Church affairs before the Court.
Regrettably, all the Court orders are being
disregarded by some individuals
who give “orders from above”.“The police are
supposed to be the custodians
of the law, but what we are experiencing as
the Diocese of Harare proves
that the have become a law unto themselves by
accepting orders from above,”
he said.“Police are supposed to uphold,
protect the people of Zimbabwe and
their properties without fear or favour
and not to disobey court orders.
This Godless behaviour displayed by the
police officers of pulling up people
who are in prayer and worship is not a
true reflection of levels of
lawlessness in Zimbabwe or in the force - but
in individual police officers.
“What we are experiencing in the Diocese
of Harare CPCA indicates that
Police do not only refuse to obey court orders
but also show their
unacceptable bias,” Bishop Bakare added.On May 4, Holy
Communion Services
were disrupted through out the Diocese except for a few
isolated churches in
rural areas areas.
Then on May 10 and 11
parishioners in Kuwadzana, Highfield,
Borrowdale, Waterfalls and Glenview
were either beaten by police or
harassed, interrogated , arrested and held
in custody overnight without
charges.
Referring to the activities
of his defrocked predecessor Nolbert
Kunonga, Bakare commented: “The recent
press statement in The Herald
(5/5/2008) indicating that the ex-bishop,
Kunonga, had been given the sole
custodianship of the Diocesan properties is
not true but a gross
misrepresentation of the legal position and a
distortion of the truth.“The
Diocese of Harare has a legal right and has the
permission of the High Court
to have access to and use of the Anglican
properties and premises of the
Diocese.” Meanwhile, the Anglican flock of
the Dioceses of Harare (CPCA)
continues to be harassed by a few priests who
are no longer Anglicans or
members of the Diocese, including Kunonga
assisted by the Police.
SABC
May 17,
2008, 07:15
By Manelisi Dubase
The US government has expressed concern
about reports that weapons being
shipped from China to Zimbabwe via South
Africa were eventually off-loaded
in Angola.
Speaking in Washington,
State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said
the US intends to
investigate the reports. NGO's here are already linking
the latest spate of
violence in Zimbabwe to the arrival of the weapons.
Weekend reports about
the shipment coincided with the announcement of a date
for a run-off
presidential vote.
The US says the international community should ensure
that the election is
not stolen by President Mugabe. Spokesperson for the US
State Department,
Sean McCormack says: “It will be up to us, as well as, in
particular,
friends and neighbors of Zimbabwe in the region to keep the
pressure on the
ZEC and officials in Zimbabwe to create the atmosphere that
will allow for a
free and fair runoff. That means not having these kinds of
incidents where
those who are trying to peacefully express political views
are intimidated."
It's a message at the centre of diplomatic efforts by
US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. Last week she spoke to several
leaders in the region about
the deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile the US ambassador in Harare, James McGee says a June
27 run-off is
impossible under the present conditions. McGee says
politically-inspired
violence in the country is now out of control.
The Zimbabwean
Saturday, 17 May 2008
06:11
AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
STATEMENT ON ZIMBABWE
IN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
16 May 2008
By Cheryllyn Dudley, MP (ACDP
Whip)
"The following is not just news headlines, it is the reported
reaction
of four international ambassadors - and retired South African army
generals,
investigating post election violence in Zimbabwe… "Shocking levels
of state
sponsored terror…" "Extreme brutality..." - "Murder…" - "…a
horrifying
picture" - "…absolutely urgent the world sees what's going on." -
"…violence
has to stop."
24 people have been murdered and a
thousand hospitalised in what
Doctors for Human Rights say is unprecedented
brutality and callousness.
Reporters have said President Mbeki was "shaken"
by these reports…is he
shaken enough to say what needs to be said?
In response to a previous ACDP statement in this House, the Hon Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms van der Merwe, assured us that government
"would be vigilant". So when will enough people have been beaten, tortured
and murdered before vigilance leads to official condemnation?
SADC
says Zimbabwe's political environment is not secure or fair for a
run-off
vote for the Presidency. The ACDP agrees, however, every extra night
thousands more Zimbabweans are violated. The run-off vote must be held
without delay… and South Africa and SADC can – and must induce
this!
As more and more people seek asylum in South Africa every day
enormous
pressure is being placed on over crowded and under resourced
communities.
Last night on TV, we saw foreigners fleeing to police stations
because of
xenophobic violence in Alexandra – and now in Diepsloot…yes
President Mbeki
denounced the "brutality" but…why is brutality wrong in
South Africa, but
condoned in Zimbabwe? "
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For
further information contact:
Cheryllyn Dudley, MP and Whip
ACDP Parliament
082 890 65 20