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MDC
to press ahead with intervention despite ZANU PF objections
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
19 May 2009
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC will press
ahead with referring all
outstanding issues in the Global Political
Agreement to SADC and the African
Union for arbitration, despite ZANU PF's
objections.
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party rejected the move by the MDC to
refer their
dispute to African leaders describing it as 'premature'.
Nicholas Goche, the
ZANU PF negotiator in the dialogue that led to the GPA,
told the Herald
newspaper the discussions between the principals have not
yet reached a
stage where there was need for arbitration.
But the MDC
has already sent out letters to SADC and the AU, officially
requesting them
to intervene. It is not known when these organisations will
respond.
Goche, a ZANU PF MP and Minister of Transport in the inclusive
government,
said the fact that Tsvangirai indicated that 95 percent of
issues had been
resolved, meant the discussions were close to
conclusion.
He is also quoted telling the Herald that the principals have not
yet
declared a deadlock and this meant some progress had been made during
their
meetings.
On Tuesday a highly placed MDC source said the three
principals to the GPA
in met again in Harare and agreed on all issues except
two - believed to be
that of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana, the central
bank governor and
attorney general.
The source told us the principals
have also tasked Arthur Mutambara to make
an announcement on the progress.
'Mutambara has been tasked to make that
announcement. He will also give
details of areas where there is a deadlock.
Where there is deadlock, the
principals are believed to have agreed to seek
SADC's help for
arbitration'. The source also said this announcement would
be made
Thursday. But no one is holding their breath as many deadlines and
promises
of announcements have come and gone in the past, with nothing
happening.
Simon Muchemwa, our Harare correspondent, said the
decision by the MDC to
seek SADC's help might have triggered concern in ZANU
PF circles as
evidenced by this recent flurry of activity in the
party.
'ZANU PF is now on overdrive berating the MDC for turning to SADC
and the
AU. Don't forget the announcement on Sunday by Tsvangirai to seek
regional
help came a few days after he said they had made progress in the
talks,'
Muchemwa said.
'The fact that Jacob Zuma, who is seen more
aligned to Tsvangirai than
Mugabe, has been asked to lead SADC efforts to
find a solution, looks to
have jolted ZANU PF into action. Its machinery,
the state media, has come
out guns blazing, castigating the MDC for
referring an issue still under
discussion,' Muchemwa added.
Lawyers
march in protest over harassment
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16656
May 19, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwean lawyers on Tuesday defied a police ban
and marched
through the streets of Harare to protest against government's
alleged
harassment of lawyers and journalists.
The march was staged
around lunch time in central Harare. The lawyers had
earlier met in a hotel
where a decision was taken to defy a police directive
to ban the
march.
Prominent human and media rights lawyers such as Beatrice Mtetwa
and Alec
Muchadehama took part in the lunchtime protest.
MDC
legislator and parliamentary chief whip Innocent Gonese joined in the
march
which started at the High Court, proceeded along Samora Machel Avenue
into
Fourth Street and then turned into Central Avenue where the protestors
gathered outside a new government complex which houses the offices of the
Ministry of Justice.
The lawyers staged their peaceful protest under
the watchful eye of
anti-riot police outside the government offices. For
about 15 minutes they
hoisted placards with messages denouncing violations
of lawyers and media
rights.
Some of the placards read, "Stop
Abductions Now" and "Rule of Law not Rule
by Law."
The police
officers cooperated with the lawyers and granted access to three
representatives into the government offices to present a
petition.
The Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa and his deputy Jessie
Majome were
not in their offices when the lawyers presented the
petition.
"The ministers were not in the office but out gallant sister
Irene Petras
slipped the petition under door for the minister to have sight
of the
petition upon arrival," said a representative of the lawyers Chris
Mhike.
Petras is the Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR).
Mhike said the march sought to highlight the continued harassment
of lawyers
in their line of duty.
"The march is a protest against the
violations of the lawyer's rights," said
Mhike.
The march by the
lawyers comes barely a week after the arrest of prominent
human rights
lawyer Muchadehama and two Zimbabwe Independent newspaper
journalists.
Muchadehama was charged with seeking to improperly
release a group of human
rights and political prisoners that he has been
representing. A clerk of the
High Court was also arrested on the same
charges.
The journalists were arrested for allegedly publishing
falsehoods after the
Zimbabwe Independent ran a story naming members of the
state security
agencies who were involved in the abduction of political and
human rights
activists last October.
Several other lawyers have been
threatened with arrest for carrying out
their official duties. A High Court
judge has in the past indicated that a
prominent Harare rights lawyer might
be charged for utterances that were
made against the High Court.
The
lawyer had said that the independence of the judiciary was highly
compromised after the court had denied bail to a group of human and
political activists facing charges of banditry and insurgency.
Two
lawyers from the ZLHR were arrested in February after they presented
themselves at the Harare Central police station. They intended to act on
behalf of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members who had been arrested for
staging a demonstration in Harare.
The lawyers, Rose Hanzi and
Tawanda Zhuwarara, were charged with inciting
violence. They were granted
bail and had been appearing in court on remand
but were on Friday summoned
to the Harare Central police station in
controversial
circumstances.
"We hope that the message we have been trying to get
across has got through
that the legal profession should be treated with the
respect it deserves,"
said Mhike after the march. "We should not be punished
for simply exercising
our duties."
In the petition left at the
Ministry of Justice, the lawyers said they
wanted the government to act on
the harassment.
"Your urgent attention to these issues will be sincerely
appreciated," reads
the statement by the Law Society of Zimbabwe in
part.
"Lawyers will be particularly grateful for an assurance from your
office and
the ZRP that the independence of the legal profession shall be
upheld in
Zimbabwe and that harassment of the legal profession shall stop
immediately."
WOZA
and MOZA take to the streets of Bulawayo to deliver demands to government
Press statement from Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) 18th May 2009
WOZA and MOZA take to the
streets of Bulawayo to deliver demands to government
Over 1,000 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA) marched
through the streets of Bulawayo today to articulate their demands to the
power-sharing government. They chose to protest today as the first 100 days in
office draws to a close. The protest started at four different locations,
converging on Mhlahlandlela Government Complex. There have been no arrests
reported at the time of this release.
The song sung by the peaceful
protesters rang out through the streets of Bulawayo - 'We are not scared to
reveal failures of this inclusive government, boboza (expose it').
Two
protests began earlier than scheduled as members were eager to start. On
arriving at the government complex, they handed over their list of demands and
placards to the guards at the gate before sitting down to await the arrival of
the rest of the participants. Bystanders were amazed to note the peaceful women
and men arriving in waves and join each other seated in at the complex. Many
followed the protestors to receive the newsletter outlining WOZA's demands and
to observe the spectacle. Five thousand copies of the newsletter were
distributed during the four processions; all were grabbed by eager bystanders,
not a single one remaining to litter the streets. People reading the list of
demands were heard to be debating the content as the demonstration went
by.
10 police officers came out of the Police Drill Hall as members sang
their songs at the complex but they just watched and then moved off, going about
their business. There were many police officers around the four starting points
but they did not take action other than to call or radio in that a protest was
underway. At one location, police officers were heard commenting that WOZA
should not have allowed the 100 days to elapse before demonstrating. A man in
plain clothes was overheard telling the civil servants at the gate, "these women
are helping you."
After the peaceful group had disbursed, a police vehicle
with two officers arrived and were seen leaving with placards and copies of the
newsletter left with the guards at the gate. Some placards read, 'restore the
rule of law', 'provide social welfare' and 'fix the education system'.
The
protest and the list of demands handed over to the government complex today
follows wide consultations with members in Bulawayo and across the country. WOZA
has been conducting meetings and workshops preparing members to hold the
power-sharing government accountable for the promises they make.
This has
been part of the Take the Step campaign, designed to encourage Zimbabweans to
continue with the civic participation that they demonstrated in March
2008.
As part of our campaigning we have been reminding people to look beyond
the words and promises - ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. As we march today,
government should get the message loud and clear - enough talking, more doing.
We have been patient for long enough.
Background
As part of discussions
on the first 100 days, WOZA members were asked what they thought the
power-sharing government should have prioritized in their first 100 days in
office.
To do this we asked their responses to this question:
If you were
President or Prime Minister or even Minister of Finance or Education and you had
20 days left what 20 things would you concentrate on first?
We then selected
the top five answers out of 20 and compiled the list of priorities. 6,520
members completed the petition and below is a summary of contributions.
100
Days of the Government of National Unity - an analysis of priorities
10
months have passed since the Global Political Agreement was signed.
They
promised to "build a democratic and just, inclusive society free of fear,
violence, patronage, corruption and to ensure a better life for all
Zimbabweans". They promised to "arrest the fall in living standards and reverse
the decline of our economy", and "an end to violence, respect for human rights
and freedoms of expression and assembly, economic and social justice, security
sector reform, constitutional reforms and national healing."
On 11 February
this year, Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister and a few days'
later ministers and deputy ministers were sworn in. Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said in his speech, "For too long our people's hopes for a bright and
prosperous future have been betrayed. Instead of hope their days have been
filled with starvation, disease and fear. A culture of entitlement and impunity
has brought our nation to the brink of a dark abyss. This must end today." He
promised "jobs for those who wish to work, food is available for those who are
hungry, and where we are united by our respect for the rights and dignity of our
fellow citizens. This is the debt we owe to our liberation heroes and our
democratic movement heroes who paid the ultimate price so we could all live
together free from fear, hunger, and poverty." He said he would restore a free
media, the rule of law and Zimbabwe's devastated agricultural sector.
He
promised to open a "new chapter for our country" and told us he had
three
priorities: 1.Democratisation 2. Ending the humanitarian crisis
3.
Stabilising the economy
SO WHERE ARE WE NOW? WOZA heard them talk and
reminded each other that
- actions speak louder than words. We continued to
encourage each other to Qhubeka/ Take the Step /Yendera Mberi. We continued to
demand respect for human rights and social justice through non-violent protest.
We waited to see what they would do during the first 100 days. We know that our
country has been destroyed and cannot be fixed overnight BUT we also cannot just
sit and watch and do nothing. The 100 days has come and gone. Now we have to
remind politicians we are impatient for a better life - we deserved it yesterday
and want it TODAY. We march today to demand concrete progress on the promises
made.
WOZA consulted members in Bulawayo on what they thought the
power-sharing government should have prioritised in their first 100 days in
office. They responded to this question:
If you were President or Prime
Minister or even Minister of Finance or Education and you had 20 days left what
20 things would you concentrate on first?
We then selected the top five
answers out of 20 and compiled this list of priorities. 6,520 members completed
the petition and below is a summary of contributions.
1. Fix the
education system:
. We want free or affordable better quality education,
with resources
for our children and teachers who are motivated by descent
salaries.
. Teachers still look at parents as their employer while the
real
employer, government, looks on helplessly.
2. Urgent reforms to
stabilize the economy:
. Reintroduce local currency as soon as possible
because not everyone
can access foreign currency and afford to use it. Find a
way to bring back a stable Zimbabwe dollar currency.
. Audit finances at
RBZ and Gono should be investigated for corruption
and either be fired or
resign.
3. Restore the healthcare system:
. We need affordable fees for
clinics and hospitals and enough
affordable medicines.
. Pregnancy no
longer means celebrating a birth but pain and suffering
due to high costs;
demands for bribes and bad service. Nurses and doctors must be told to treat
patients with respect. They must also earn a living wage that dignifies
them.
. Please allow people a dignified death - buy more storage fridges
and
clean up mortuaries.
4. Better quality, affordable and efficient
service delivery from ZESA, City Councils and Tel One:
. They keep
increasing their tariffs but at the same time they
decrease their service.
Make sure people are getting a clean supply of water. Reduce telephone tariffs
and improve service.
5. Create employment and opportunities:
. We want
jobs for all and those with jobs require a living wage that
enables them to
afford to get to work and eat three meals a day.
. Offer civil servants a
decent salary.
. Allow people to get trading licenses and tell police to
stop
treating vendors like criminals.
. Encourage informal and
cross-border trading by capacitating ordinary
people with self-help projects
and training so that they will be able to create more business on a small scale,
which will automatically boost industry.
6. Restore the rule of law:
.
Enforce the rule of law and respect for property rights.
. Police
corruption is steadily increasing; weed out corrupt police
officers. We
demand an end to the public looting of vendors' goods by police. Citizens need
to be protected against indiscriminate harassment.
Implement the deal points
about training of police.
. End the violence by police on citizens. There
is too much police
brutality.
. Withdraw trumped up charges against
prisoners.
. Repeal the sections in law (POSA sections) that violates
civil
rights immediately.
7. Basic commodities - food for all:
.
Food needs to be affordable and available. Reduce prices on a par
with
regional prices to stop profiteering
. Free and unhindered access to food
aid for those who cannot feed
themselves.
. Adequate food for
prisoners.
8. Fix transport infrastructure:
. Repair roads. Improve
transport for the easier movement of goods and
passengers.
. Make fuel
more affordable and accessible.
9. Housing:
. There needs to be
affordable housing for all - make rents reasonable
and build more
houses.
. A special compensation programme of housing for
Murambatsvina
victims.
10. Resuscitation of industry:
. Inject funds
into industry.
. Encourage investment to get our economy back on its
feet.
11. Provide social welfare:
. A decent pension for elderly, care
and support for orphans and the
disabled must be catered for.
12. Start a
national healing process:
. Make the President apologise to the
nation.
. There should be an investigation into human rights abuses and
crimes
against humanity and those guilty should be removed.
. We need
peace and an immediate end to violence. We need to feel safe
in our own
country and own homes.
13. Have media freedom:
. Fair and equal
coverage of all government officials. We want to hear
them speak on ZBC and
not have voice-overs telling us what they are saying.
We want the truth from
our media.
. We want more independent media - newspapers, radio and
television.
14. Write a new constitution followed by elections:
. Speed
up the process for a new people-driven constitution. No
president can hold
more than 2 terms of office.
15. Equality for all:
. Stop
discrimination. Equal allocation of resources to all provinces
and
people.
. Support gender equality programmes to gain women's participation
in
all aspects of life - business, leadership.
16. Improve international
relations:
. Restore international relations - not only East or West, but
all.
Make sure that we have good (and equitable) trade relationships with
regional and international countries.
. We would like to thank our
neighbours and the international
community for helping us in our time of
need. Please keep it up.
17. Re-establish agriculture and initiate a genuine
land-reform programme:
. Stop selective distribution of land. Stop illegal
invasions. Be
serious about agriculture because our country depends on
farming. Give land to productive people.
. Fair distribution of inputs.
Biased distribution means starvation.
. Compensation for those who had
their farms taken.
If I was the Minister of Home Affairs:
. Remove
Police Commissioner Chihuri who allows officers to abuse
peoples' rights and
loot their goods.
. Reduce the cost of passports.
. Allow people to
get birth certificates and identity documents at
regional offices and make it
easy for them.
Rights
lawyers and WOZA activists appear in court
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
19 May
2009
Two human rights lawyers, Tawanda Zhuwarara and Rose Hanzi, appeared in
court Tuesday to stand trial for allegedly participating in a demonstration
organized by the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). Hanzi told SW Radio Africa
that she was arraigned before the courts, together with her colleague and
eight WOZA activists. They were arrested on 10th February and charged under
the Criminal Law Act for participating in an illegal gathering that was bent
on breaching the peace.
The lawyers deny breaking the law and say they
were just returning to their
offices after a lunch break when they were
caught up in the arrests of the
WOZA activists. Last month their case failed
to start after some police
officers considered as the State's witnesses
failed to turn up in court. The
trial continues on May 28th.
The Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) say: "Regrettably, they were
caught in the
crossfire of further indiscriminate arrests carried out by the
ZRP arising
from a demonstration outside Parliament building in Harare by
WOZA. With the
complicity of Parliamentary staff, they were unlawfully
detained in the
Parliament Guard Room, until police details removed them to
Harare Central
police station."
The rights group said summoning the two ZLHR lawyers to
court is likely to
toughen tensions between partners in the inclusive
government. Last week the
MDC-T condemned the arrest of prominent human
rights lawyer Alec
Muchadehama.
Meanwhile, the ZLHR reports that last
Friday a Chipinge Magistrate, Samuel
Zuze, reserved judgment to 22nd May in
the case of jailed MDC MP for
Chipinge East, Mathias Mlambo, after defence
lawyers applied for bail
pending appeal. The MP was sentenced to 10 months
in jail for allegedly
'defeating and obstructing a police officer during the
discharge of his
duties'.
Zimbabwe central bank chief appeals for protection
2 hours ago
HARARE
(AFP) - Zimbabwe's embattled central bank chief Gideon Gono, who
reigned
over world-record hyperinflation, has urged Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
to defend him against political attacks.
Gono, a close ally of President
Robert Mugabe, was re-appointed as Reserve
Bank governor in December even
though his policies left the local currency
so worthless that it was
abandoned earlier this year.
In a 15-page letter to Tsvangirai, which was
obtained by AFP, Gono accused
Finance Minister Tendai Biti of defaming him
by blaming him for the collapse
of the once-vibrant economy.
"On
several occasions, the distinguished minister has accused me of killing
this
economy through printing money," Gono said in the letter.
"I have
suffered and continue to suffer abuse and ridicule at a time when
you as
prime minister have been telling the nation that by-gones are
by-gones and
that we need to move forward," he added.
Gono also asked that Tsvangirai
grant him "immunity/protection at law
against victimisation by ministers,
some of who may have been involved in
nefarious/regrettable activities
before."
Gono's post is one of the most contentious issues hampering
Zimbabwe's
three-month-old unity government. Mugabe unilaterally
re-appointed Gono to
his post after signing the unity pact but before the
joint government took
office.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe are also
disputing the appointment of the attorney
general, provincial governors and
permanent secretaries in ministries.
There was no immediate reaction from
the prime minister's office.
When Gono was first appointed in November
2003, inflation was at 619.50
percent. At the time of his re-appointment,
the rate was estimated in
multiples of billions.
Prices are now
dropping slightly, after the government abandoned the local
currency in
favour of the US dollar and the South African rand.
Gibson
Sibanda ministerial post becomes illegal
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
19 May
2009
The Zimbabwean constitution provides that a cabinet post should be
held by a
member of parliament and if the appointed minister is not an MP, a
parliamentary seat must be found within three months.
According to
the law Gibson Sibanda the Minister for State in the Deputy
Prime Ministers
Office and MDC-M Deputy President, needed a seat in
parliament by 19th May
or risk forfeiting his ministerial post.
But the MDC-M have no more
appointed seats, after using up both their
allocated non-constituency seats.
Two senatorial seats were given to
Welshman Ncube and Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga - the party's Secretary
General and Deputy. This was
in order for them to be eligible for
ministerial positions.
A
parliamentary seat was given to President Arthur Mutambara, who is now
Deputy Prime Minister. They had all lost in the general elections of last
year.
MDC-M Deputy President Sibanda had also failed to retain his
parliamentary
seat in Bulawayo's Nkulumane suburb, after losing to MDC-T
Thamsanqa
Mahlangu in the general elections.
It is understood the
Principals agreed to create an extra Senate seat just
to accommodate the
MDC-M Deputy President. But according to the rules of the
land, this
requires amending the Constitutional before the 19th May
deadline - when the
three month window period expires.
Constitutional lawyer Derek Matyszak
said failure to meet this deadline
means legally Sibanda is not lawfully
occupying a position as a minister. He
said there is a growing and worrying
trend by the political leadership to
amend the provisions of the Global
Political Agreements (GPA) in order to
accommodate individuals, without
following the law. He said this is what
happened when the Principals
unconstitutionally appointed extra cabinet
ministers, without parliament
amending the constitution.
Matyszak said the Principals are fully
entitled to amend the GPA but that
cannot automatically change the
constitution, otherwise there will be a
situation where ZANU PF and the MDC
formations are simply making up the
constitution as they go along. "The
Principals seem to be under the mistaken
apprehension that because the GPA
is part of the constitution that they can
just agree to alter the GPA and
that automatically alters the constitution -
and that is not legally
sustainable," said the lawyer.
Legal experts are increasingly worried
that the inclusive government is
falling into the ZANU PF trend of amending
the constitution willy-nilly and
now through the GPA backdoor. Matyszak said
the Sibanda saga is one of many
constitutional violations that have taken
place around the ministers. "In my
opinion all the extra ministers that were
appointed - you will be aware that
the GPA only provided for 31 ministers
and they appointed 41 - all those
extra ministers are not constitutional
appointments. So the fact that they
have not brought a constitutional
amendment to provide for Gibson Sibanda's
appointment is just an additional
illegality."
We were not able to reach the MDC-M leadership for
comment.
Meanwhile questions are being raised about what progress
parliament has made
since the formation of the unity government, despite
wrangling over
parliamentary vehicles. Both Houses are now adjourned until
16th June and
there have been no signs of attempts to remove repressive
legislation.
Traditionally Parliament has adjourned towards the end of
June.
The pressure group Veritas said that before its break last week,
the Senate
sat for less than half an hour on Tuesday and then adjourned.
The House of
Assembly sat on Tuesday for an hour and on Wednesday for two
hours and then
adjourned.
"In this session of Parliament the House of
Assembly has sat for 30
afternoons and the Senate 18 afternoons [these
included the day when
Parliamentarians were sworn in and the day that the
President formally
opened Parliament]. Some "working" sittings have been
for only half an hour
or less," said the group in a statement.
MPs
speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were told that Parliament
was
adjourning early to cut down on expenses. They were told there is no
money
and that the government is failing to pay for hotel accommodation and
transport expenses.
Elderly
woman beaten and detained by police as farm attacks continue
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
19 May 2009
The elderly mother of a commercial farmer has become
the latest victim of
violent attack, as the countrywide offensive to remove
the remaining farmers
off their land continues unabated.
Chinhoyi
farmer, Murray Pott's 80-year-old mother, was severely assaulted by
police
officials on Monday when they arrested her son for being on his land
'illegally'. Justice for Agriculture's (JAG) John Worsley-Worswick explained
on Tuesday that police are repeatedly breaking protocol for bringing farmers
before the courts, saying the exercise "simply requires a phone call and a
request to present yourself to court." Worsley-Worswick said this latest
attack is "clear police brutality and harassment," and part of ongoing
efforts to scupper the unity government. There was still no word on Tuesday
what condition Pott's mother was in, or whether police had released her to
seek medical attention.
The attack comes just days after a Banket
farmer was beaten on his farm last
Friday, by the son of a top political
official set on taking over the farm.
Patrick Stooks received serious facial
injuries after being repeatedly
punched and then hit in the face with the
butt of a shotgun. The official,
Philip Chamboko, who holds a political role
at the Zimbabwean embassy in
Tokyo, has been trying since last year to
remove the Stooks from their land.
Patrick and his wife Sue, were both
locked up for three days in deplorable
conditions last year, on trumped-up
charges relating to the invasion of
their land. The case was eventually
thrown out of court as the prosecution
witnesses admitted that the police
had forced their statements out of them.
Chamboko's son, Gideon and his
hired thugs, continued to live on the farm
but last Monday a High Court
ordered the illegal occupation of the land to
cease. On Friday Patrick came
under violent attack after he confronted
Chamboko, whose thugs vandalised
Patrick's farm equipment. The attack was in
full view of the Deputy Sheriff
of the High Court who was there to serve the
order papers on Chamboko and
his men, but unsurprisingly, the police have
taken no further
action.
The ongoing invasions of Zimbabwe's remaining commercial farms
have been
fully supported by police officials, acting on the direct orders
of the
Attorney General, Johannes Tomana. Police have repeatedly been
involved in
attacks against both farmers and their staff, while at the same
time, police
officials have refused to carry out the many court rulings
ordering land
invaders off stolen land. Instead, police have actively
ignored the flimsy
legal protection held by the country's remaining
commercial farmers, hauling
them before court for 'fast-track'
prosecution.
JAG's Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that the recent
actions by a
Supreme Court Judge have "paved the way for fast track
litigation to go
ahead." Earlier this month, Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku heard the case
of a commercial farmer, protected by last year's
SADC Tribunal ruling, which
was meant to guard against future land
invasions. Worsley-Worswick explained
that the Chief Justice "systematically
destroyed any argument raised by the
farmer in the case," and he expressed
fears that it is the start of a major
legal offensive against the
farmers.
Meanwhile as the farming community remains under siege,
thousands of farm
workers have been left jobless and penniless in a country
already plagued by
94% unemployment. Their plight is being completely
overlooked by the unity
government, which has done nothing to stop the land
invasions continuing.
More on the above story
Dear all
We are sending this e mail with the attached
photograph of Patrick Stooks (our son-in-law) not because we are looking for
sympathy, but because we feel strongly that people should know that all is far
from well in Zimbabwe in spite of the so called Unity Government.
The
background is that Patrick is still allowed by law to occupy and farm one piece
of land near Banket which is North of Harare
There is a man called Philip
Chamboko who has decided to take over this farm illegally. Chamboko represents
Zimbabwe in some political roll at their embassy in Tokyo and is presently on
leave in Zimbabwe ..
In his efforts to secure this productive farm he is in
league with the local police A\Inspector Mperekedzwa. Some of you will remember
that at the end of last November Patrick and Sue were locked up, in appalling
conditions, on a trumped up charge, for three days, at the Banket Police
Station. After nine court appearances the case was thrown out by the court when
witnesses for the prosecution said they had made their statements only because
the police were holding guns to their heads.
Chamboko’s men, one being his
son, continued to occupy part of the farm where they planted crops.
Last
Monday, 11th May, again after numerous court appearances the High Court of
Zimbabwe ruled that Chamboko was occupying the farm illegally and was to be
given two days notice to quit.
Yesterday,15th May, Patrick had a tractor and
trailer parked on part of the farm not occupied by Chamboko. Sue was in Harare .
The Chamboko gang proceeded to cut the valves off all four tyres on both the
tractor and trailer and ripped off the battery leads. Patrick’s manager, Sunday
Yola went to get Patrick from the farmhouse. On going to inspect the damage to
his farm equipment Chamboko approached Patrick in an aggressive manner, accused
him of lying to the court, and it was then that Patrick was grabbed from behind
by Gibson Chamboko, the son, and punched repeatedly and finally hit in the face
with the butt of a gun by Gibson Chamboko. They then ploughed up the garden of
Patrick ’s manager, Sunday Yola
This was witnessed by the Deputy Sheriff, who
had come to serve the writ of ejectment and of course Sunday.
There has also
been a Japanese man seen on the farm in the company of Chamboko, however the
Japanese Embassy in Harare say that they don’t know this man.
A neighbour
took Patrick to the Police Station to report the incident but when later queried
by a higher authority, the police denied any reports of an assault.
By this
time Sue had got back to the farm, and took Patrick to hospital where he had
X-rays and treatment to his injuries etc
The photograph was taken as evidence
– see attachment
Needless to say, knowing The Stooks, they are not taking
this lying down and are determined to see justice but are very aware that this
will not be easy.
The good news is that Patrick is getting better and was
even able to drink a vodka & coke this evening – always a good sign
!
Peta Thorneycroft who writes for the Telegraph from Zimbabwe is sending a
report to them so it might be in their “World News” in the next day or
two.
Maybe some of you can pass this on to any media contacts you know
Pat
and June.
JAG - farm situations communique - dated 18th May
2009
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799410. If you are in
trouble or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here
to
help!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Karori Farm, Headlands - Charles Lock
2. Update Karori Farm, Headlands
- Charles
Lock
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
situation on Karori farm in Headlands remains tense as Brigadier
Mujaji
continues to defy the Police. The soldiers remain on the farm in
an attempt
to take over. On Monday Mujaji dropped off wheat seed and
demanded that we
sow the seed in our freshly prepared tobacco lands using
our equipment and
irrigation. There are three High Court Orders
preventing Mujaji being on the
farm including a writ of arrest for
contempt of those orders, but the law
seems not to apply to the military
in Zimbabwe.
We refused to comply
with his demands and we were threatened with
violence and force if we did not
comply. He then shut down the whole farm
again trying to force the issue. We
still refused and eventually Mujaji
got a tractor from somewhere else and
sowed wheat illegally in our
tobacco land. We still refuse to comply with
this illegal behaviour and
have reported the matter many times to the
Police. They did arrive on
Sunday but did not stop his operations save to
tell the soldiers that
what they were doing was wrong. The matter is to be
dealt with at
Headlands Police station on Monday. We have all been
threatened by the
soldiers and Mujaji and it is not the first time he has
tried to use
violence and force, but we hope the government will uphold the
law and
put an end to
this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE
ON KARORI FARM AND CHARLES LOCK IN HEADLANDS
18TH MAY 2009
The
situation on the farm continues to worsen as the rule of law fails to
be
applied in any manner.
Briefly, Charles Lock is the only commercial
farmer to have been
acquitted of illegal occupation on his remaining portion
of 376 ha of
land which was allocated to him through the land reform
programme in
2003. He also has three High Court orders allowing him to be
there and a
Supreme court order and writ of arrest against Brigadier Mujaji
who
continues to defy the Police and the law. Lock has been left with
only
10% of his original land after he voluntarily gave up the
rest.
Over the past week Brigadier Mujaji brought wheat seed to the farm
and
told his soldiers who he has stationed on the farm to force Lock to
plant
the seed in his freshly prepared tobacco lands using
Lock's
equipment and tractors. Lock and his workers refused to comply with
this
banditry and extortion at gun point. Mujaji then shut down the
entire
farm yet again preventing any grading of tobacco, seedbed
preparation,
harvesting of maize and other important tasks. This is the
third such
shut down this year. His forced shut down in March caused
over
US$100,000 of tobacco to be thrown away. Lock and his workers
still
refused to comply. The workers and drivers were then threatened by
the
soldiers and Mujaji with violence should they fail to comply. It is
not
the first time Mujaji has used violence on the farm. He uses his
right
hand man, Sgt Mukoni, to carry out these tasks together with
other
members of the ZNA. Twice Lock and his workers have been
violently
evicted at gun point, totally illegally, by these same
people.
The workers and Lock still refused to comply with Mujaji and so
he
borrowed a tractor and sowed his seed in a freshly ploughed tobacco
land
due to be planted with tobacco on September 1st. The soldiers have
now
made it clear that if Lock and his workers do not use their pipes
to
irrigate the wheat Mujaji will forcefully take them and Lock will
live,
or not live to regret his decision. After a poor rainy season there
even
is no water for winter wheat and Mujaji has been given land in
other
areas in the past.
After much effort to get the police to act
the member in charge of
Headlands visited on Sunday afternoon, but no one has
been arrested and
Mujaji's soldiers are still there causing mayhem on the
farm.
According to Lock it is quite unbelievably that the state of
lawlessness
can descend to such levels where no one has any protection other
than
through the barrel of a gun.
Half
of prisoners die of starvation in Zimbabwe jails
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
More than half of the
prisoners in Zimbabwe's maximum security jail have
died of starvation or
disease in the last year, it emerged yesterday.
By Peta Thornycroft in
Harare
Published: 6:00AM BST 19 May 2009
The death rate inside
Chikurubi prison, about 12 miles east of Harare,
compares with the worst
jails in history, according to the Standard, an
independent weekly
newspaper.
Of the 1,300 inmates, at least 700 have died in revolting
conditions. Six
were found dead in their filthy cells yesterday alone. About
the same number
died last weekend.
Some 100 bodies, many of them
mutilated by rats, are stacked up in the
prison mortuary. If they are
unclaimed, they will be buried as paupers in
prison grounds.
The
collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and of the state itself has crippled the
prison system, leaving thousands of inmates with scarcely any food. Any
provision of medical care has also collapsed, leaving prisoners to die of
starvation and disease.
Chikurubi packs about 30 inmates into cells
designed for only 10. An
off-duty warder confirmed the figure of 700 dead
and said the mortality rate
in other prisons was probably
similar.
"It's the same at all the rest of the prisons around the
country," he said.
"We often find six died at a time. A lot have Aids, but
die quickly because
they don't have enough food."
Since Zimbabwe's
new coalition government took office in February, the
International
Committee of the Red Cross has begun improving prison
conditions, installing
a borehole in Chikurubi two months ago.
The death rate has recently
fallen, but prisoners still succumb almost every
day. Between November and
January, 327 deaths were recorded at Chikurubi -
almost a quarter of all the
inmates.
Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, the commissioner of prisons, is
in President
Robert Mugabe's inner circle. "He has never been to see what is
going on in
Chikurubi" said the warder. "He doesn't care."
Top lawyer's arrest shows how far Zimbabwe must still
travel
http://www.businessday.co.za
19
May 2009
NICOLE FRITZ
WHEN I travel in southern Africa meeting human
rights lawyers and civil
society activists, whose work often earns them the
enmity of their
governments, I play a rather perverse, fatalistic game with
myself -
weighing up which country, if it had to happen, I would prefer to
be
arrested and detained in.
It would have to be Zimbabwe
because, despite the almost total collapse of
the rule of law in that
country, there are few lawyers anywhere in the world
more implacable in
their quest to see justice done.
One of the finest, Alec Muchadehama, was
recently arrested and detained. His
wrongdoing, apparently, was only that he
had secured the release earlier of
three high-profile political prisoners -
two senior Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) officials, Gandhi Mudzingwa
and Chris Dlamini, and journalist
Andrison
Manyere.
Muchadehama is a lawyer accustomed to having to locate
his clients by going
from one set of police holding cells to another,
circling the perimeter
calling their names, hoping he might hear them
answer, because the police
routinely deny that they have his clients in
custody.
In every recent major incident of violence directed at Zanu
(PF)'s political
opponents, Muchadehama has struggled to the front lines,
putting his own
safety at risk so that he might give legal defence - whether
it was to the
MDC and civil society leadership brutalised by police in March
2007 or to
the scores rounded up at MDC headquarters several weeks later,
many detained
and tortured for several weeks.
Last year, when a
number of Zimbabwean lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors
fled to SA,
persecuted in the post-election period for being perceived to be
defending
the MDC or censuring the Zanu (PF)-aligned militias, Muchadehama -
one of
the primary targets - stayed put in Zimbabwe, traversing the country,
often
with a security tail, as he went to the aid of those assaulted and
tortured
and the families of individuals who had simply disappeared.
This
isn't the first time that Muchadehama has been arrested.
In May 2007, in
remarkably similar circumstances, Muchadehama and his law
partner, Andrew
Makoni, were arrested and their offices raided - a tactic
intended to
intimidate and stop them defending MDC members detained on
trumped-up
charges of terrorism.
The Law Society of Zimbabwe bravely protested
about their arrests, earning
several prominent lawyers, including society
president Beatrice Mtetwa,
savage beatings at the hands of the police.
Still, it showed that if
Muchadehama and Makoni are exceptionally brave
lawyers, they find a number
of like-minded peers in the Zimbabwean legal
profession.
Two years later, and despite a new transitional
government, Muchadehama
finds himself in the same situation - arrested in
retaliation for defending
people facing spurious charges of
terrorism.
For those watching developments in Zimbabwe, praying that
the country is now
finally on its way, Muchadehama's arrest will be hoped to
be an aberration;
the desperate shuddering of an old structure making way
for a new.
It is far more encouraging to focus on what has been
gained: that food and
basic commodities are now more easily available to
Zimbabweans; that cholera
is being curbed. But these humanitarian
accomplishments are not the making
of any semblance of a democratic
state.
It is said that democracies are nations of laws, not men. In
Zimbabwe, the
outlines of democracy will not even begin to show until men
such as
Muchadehama can practise law, can defend those who are accused of
political
crimes, without the fear that they themselves will be arrested and
harassed.
n Fritz is the director of the Southern Africa Litigation
Centre.
GPA
demands a genuine commitment towards achieving freedom of expression in
Zimbabwe
Focusing on Clauses 19.1(d) and (e)
Sokwanele’s ZIG Watch
project has been documenting violations of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) signed between Zimbabwe’s three main political parties. Through this
article, Sokwanele aims to familiarise our readership with sub-clauses 19.1(d)
and (e). These are two of five sub-clauses falling under Article XIX of the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed on 15 September 2008. Article XIX sets
out to recognise the importance of the right to freedom of expression and the
role of the media in a multi-party democracy.
Article XIX, Clause 19.1 (d) that steps be taken to ensure that the public
media provides balanced and fair coverage to all political
parties for their legitimate political activities [and] Clause (e) that
the public and private media shall refrain from using abusive language
that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred or
that unfairly undermines political parties and other
organisations. To this end, the inclusive government shall ensure that
appropriate measures are taken to achieve this objective.
Accountability and Responsibility
Under the GPA, the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity has been
allocated to Zanu PF. The new Minister of Information is Webster Shamu who has
been described as “instrumental in helping to turn the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation into a centre of hate speech and blatant propaganda.”
Responsibility for ensuring compliance with the GPA also rests with the
Deputy Minister of Information, Jameson Timba from the MDC-Tsvangirai party.
It’s a massive task: according to Freedom House’s latest report on global press
freedom, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea are the three worst countries
for Press Freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Zimbabwe disgracefully ranks among the ten worst countries in the world.
The GPA commitment to free expression in the context of Zimbabwe’s
law
Article XIX begins commendably in that it recognises: “the importance of the
right of freedom of expression and the role of the media in a multi-party
democracy”. However, it is important to note that sub-clause (a) of Article XIX
states that applications for re-registration and registration will be processed
“by the appropriate authorities” in terms of both the Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA) as well as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
In 2000, Capital Radio won the right in the Supreme Court to open the
country’s first independent radio station. However, this was shut down at
gunpoint after just six days. In response to the legal challenge to its
broadcasting monopoly, the (Mugabe) regime enacted the Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA), which brought about the establishment of the
regulatory board, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which has not
licensed a single private station.
The Access to Information and Privacy Protection Act (AIPPA)
was signed by President Mugabe in February 2002. The main provisions of the law
give the government extensive powers to control the media and suppress free
speech by requiring the registration of journalists and prohibiting the “abuse
of free expression.” AIPPA, along with the draconian Public Order and Security
Act (POSA), have both been used to harass and intimidate journalists. Section 15
of POSA and Section 80 of AIPPA criminalise the publication of “inaccurate”
information, and both laws have been used to intimidate, arrest, and prosecute
journalists. The interpretation of what is or is not “accurate” is invariably
politically motivated and designed to favour Zanu-PF advantage.
AIPPA also created a Media and Information Commission (MIC) which mainly
functioned to restrict freedom of expression by overseeing, among other things,
journalist accreditation. In January this year, for example, the MIC imposed
prohibitive fees on local journalists who worked for the foreign media. Under
the new terms they would be required to pay US$1,000 in application fees, and a
further US$3,000 upon accreditation. The move was widely condemned and
interpreted as an unsubtle attempt to limit the number of journalists in
Zimbabwe reporting through media outlets that truly endorsed the principles of
‘freedom of expression’. Journalists working without accreditation face up to
two years imprisonment in Zimbabwe’s hell-hole prisons.
Ongoing restrictions, censorship and refusal to accept MDC
advertisements
On 2 March, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) stated they were
“extremely disturbed” by the actions of the state-owned Herald newspaper after
its editor refused to publish in its entirety a communiqué drafted by civil
society organisations. The communiqué, scheduled for the 27 February edition of
the Herald, announced the establishment of a Civil Society Monitoring Mechanism
on the implementation of the GPA. The two paragraphs censored by the editor
read: “Deeply concerned at the continued assault on the fundamental rights and
freedoms of the people of Zimbabwe, in particular human rights defenders and
legitimate political activists” and “In solidarity with our colleagues and
others who remain unjustly incarcerated at various prisons, remand facilities
and hospitals around Zimbabwe.” This refusal also violates Article 19.1 (d).
Later in the month, despite the fact that state-run Zimpapers, which
publishes both the Herald (Harare) and the Chronicle (Bulawayo) remained cash
strapped and had failed to pay employees their salaries for two months,
management refused to publish a 12-page MDC supplement. This was a
congratulatory advertisement on the appointment of MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. The refusal breached Article 19.1 (d). State-owned
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings has also continued to shun MDC activities.
Conversely, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) noted mid March that
Zanu PF functionaries continued to enjoy unfettered publicity from the public
media.
Breaching 19.1 (d) of the GPA by inciting hostility and political
intolerance
On 12 February, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that MDC-T
Secretary-General Tendai Biti, who is Minister of Finance in the transitional
government, was suing President Mugbe’s spokesman, George Charamba, Zimpapers
and two journalists working for the Herald for defamation. Biti claimed in court
papers that the Herald had published articles implying he was “a power-hungry
politician”, that he was placing “self-interest above that of the Zimbabwean
nation” and that he was scuttling the formation of the transitional government
for selfish and personal interests.
During the inauguration of President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai,
state radio persistently referred to Mugabe as “comrade” and to Tsvangirai as
“mister”, deliberately implying he was not a supporter of the struggle for
independence - a contentious allegation in Zimbabwe, one regularly touted by
Zanu PF.
In March, ten days after the controversial car crash which killed Prime
Minister Tsvangirai’s wife, Susan, and injured him, the Herald attempted to
implicate the Commercial Farmers’ Union in the crash. For example, the article
noted that on the day of the accident, white commercial farmers were at the
scene before the Prime Minister’s own close people knew what had happened, and
that they had filmed and photographed the wreckage. Irresponsible reporting of
this nature breaches Article 19.1 (e).
Despite the fact that the GPA states under Article XIX: “Concerned that the
failure to issue licences under the Broadcasting Services Act to alternative
broadcasters might have given rise to external radio stations broadcasting into
Zimbabwe”, the country’s prohibitive licencing regulations have not been
repealed. As a consequence, Zimbabwe Community Radio announced in February that
they would start broadcasting from the United Arab Emirates because they did not
have a licence and the Broadcasting Act of Zimbabwe (BAZ) had never given them a
platform to apply.
In a very telling move which thoroughly undermines the spirit of Article XIX
of the GPA, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings reshuffled its news production team
towards the end of March. Zanu PF loyalists were given managerial positions
while suspected MDC sympathisers and experienced journalists were sidelined. For
example, a senior army official was appointed as General Manager for Finance and
Administration and the ZBC’s Editor-in-Chief and chief propagandist was promoted
to General Manager of News and Current Affairs. A little known policeman was
appointed Assistant News Editor.
How sincere is the desire for media reform in Zimbabwe?
In February this year, Robert Mugabe described Western donor demands to
reform the media as “nonsense”. Webster Shamu has very recently dismissed
criticisms against the press in Zimbabwe - in a statement on 18 May, Shamu
said:
The Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity notes with satisfaction the
great editorial balance and sensitivity with which the public media has tackled
issues since the launch of the inclusive Government in February early this
year.
In spite of real resource constraints and the often overbearing and
conflicting expectations on them from certain quarters, these editors and
management in the public media have held their own, exhibiting
exceptional professionalism which has shown by way of
well-ranked, fair, balanced and deeply sensitive
coverage and presentation of news… (our
emphasis)
The Minister’s comments came as a response to an MDC-T’s position that
objected to “the continued partial and unequal reporting by the State media”.
Shamu declared: “The Ministry decries and dismisses as invalid and cynical
weekend criticism levelled against the public media by one of the parties to the
inclusive Government”. Minister Shamu went further and made unnecessarily
inflammatory remarks about the MDC-T party, describing their criticism as
“selfish and narcissistic, and calculated to
intimidate and chill editors into doing editorial bidding of
the concerned party (MDC-T) or its publicity-craving
officials“.
It is with concern that we note that the Minister in charge of upholding the
freedom of expression principles agreed to within the GPA, appears to be unable
to uphold them himself in his personal rhetoric. We have to ask: if Shamu cannot
stop himself from “using abusive
language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred or
that unfairly undermines political parties and other organisations (Article XIX,
Clause e)”, how likely is it that he will do all he can to ensure that the
public media refrains from these sorts of tactics?
Is he sincerely committed to
reforms?
A media conference held in Kariba earlier this month suggests that Minister
Shamu is a reluctant participant in a reform. Organised by the government, the
conference was widely criticised because major stakeholders were ignored, exiled
media organisations were not invited, and because some of those responsible for
crafting and using oppressive legislation were selected as keynote speakers.
Media stakeholders, seeing the list of speakers and topics, were suspicious that
the conference was a superficial gesture ultimately designed to sustain the
status quo:
The first presentation will be by Patrick Chinamasa (if he comes) on the
“Global Political Agreement and the Freedom of Expression” followed by
Tsholotsho MP, Jonathan Moyo, who will speak on “Media Policy-making in Zimbabwe
- a historical perspective” and then Attorney-General Johannes Tomana who will
speak on “Freedom of Expression and the Rights of the State”.
Despite the fact the conference agenda was revised after strong objections,
the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) boycotted the conference following the
re-arrest and detention of journalist Shadreck Manyere, along with Chris
Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa. According to MAZ, government should walk the talk
when it comes to media reform as the continued arrest and harassment of
journalists “speaks volumes about the absence of press freedom in Zimbabwe.”
A glimmer of hope or a false dawn?
Deputy Minister Jameson Timba, in an interview with Lance Guma of SW Radio
Africa, spoke positively about the Kariba conference after it had closed:
I believe that there is so much commitment within the inclusive government
for repealing and or amending any legislation that has affected peoples’ basic
freedoms. With respect to AIPPA there was a specific unanimous recommendation at
Kariba that AIPPA be repealed and be replaced by Freedom of Information Act and
the Media Practitioners Act.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa was less positive saying:
The conference completely missed the point by attempting to be a public bus
open to all views, including the absurd, to be discussed, except genuine reform
[...] Media reforms cannot start on or be built on lies that we have regulatory
bodies when in fact we have bodies that play a secretarial role to the decisions
of politicians.
Timba acknowledges that there are problems, referring to individuals who had
“their own agendas” with regards the process, who were creating “teething
problems” in the formative stages of the coalition government. However, what
Timba lightly refers to as ‘teething problems’ are in fact extremely serious
miscarriages of justice that violate human rights across the board including,
for example, the continuing arrest of journalists.
Shortly before the Kariba conference began the editor of The Chronicle,
Brezhnev Malaba and a reporter, Nduduzo Tshuma, were arrested in connection with
a story about a grain scam. Shortly after the conference, the Zimbabwe
Independent news editor Vincent Kahiya and news editor Constantine Chimakure
were both arrested in connection with a story that identified CIO agents and
police who were allegedly involved in abducting activists - information already
in the public domain. Alec Muchadehama, the human rights lawyer representing
detained journalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere was also very recently
arrested.
The public media’s own coverage of the Kariba conference raises serious
questions about whether expression is truly heading towards freedom, or whether
political agendas are being cranked out via the printing presses and airwaves.
The State controlled broadcasting service, ZBC, claimed that media analysts had
“hailed” the Kariba recommendations, and then proceeded to extensively cite
comment from Ceaser Zvayi who argued that it was sanctions crippling the media
and not repressive legislation. Zvayi is thoroughly discredited as a proponent
of free expression. He was recently forced to leave a lecturing post in Botswana
after students campaigned to have his contract terminated when they learned of
his close ties to the Zanu PF regime; he is known for calling for the alienation
of opposition parties and for celebrating violent crackdowns against the
opposition.) The State controlled Herald newspaper consolidated the sanctions
view - a position touted by Zanu PF party - by also choosing to focus on
sanctions as the main problem confronting the industry when discussing the
conference.
It’s hardly surprising, with journalists still being arrested, statements
issued by the Minister in charge that deny the reality on the ground, overtly
partisan reporting from the State controlled media, that many media
stakeholders, Zimbabweans and the International community are so skeptical about
the government’s commitment to media reform in accordance with the Global
Political Agreement. We need substantive measurable evidence of this before we
can believe it is true. In the meanwhile, Sokwanele continues to log breaches of
the agreement including ongoing breaches of the commitment to Freedom of
Expression in Zimbabwe.
Full references to all sources cited available on our website
here.
This entry was posted by Sokwanele on
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 8:19 p
Zimbabwe can become a Peaceful and Prosperous Country – New
Report
MEDIA RELEASE 19 May 2009
Cape Town – The
Zimbabwe Papers, a major report released today by eight of Africa’s most
respected think-tanks, examines the causes of Zimbabwe’s social and economic
problems and offers a blueprint for urgent and practical reform that will enable
the country to become a thriving, peaceful and prosperous
country.
Over the past decade, average
incomes in Zimbabwe have declined by more than two-thirds and life expectancy
has fallen by 20 years. The cause is clear: policies implemented by Zimbabwe’s
government. As Temba Nolutshungu of The Free Market Foundation, Commissioner of
The Zimbabwe Papers, points out:
“Zimbabwe has turned from
Africa’s breadbasket into a basket case in less than a generation and we, as
Africans, must recognise that the reason for this is the Government’s failed
policies. Once we understand the reason,
we can implement solutions – which are clearly laid out in this policy-makers’
manual.”
The Zimbabwe Papers addresses the main problems facing the people of
Zimbabwe, from the constant threat of violence, to the crumbling health care
system, to one of the worst cases of hyperinflation in world history. It describes the main policy errors that have
led to these problems and emphasises the need to take urgent action to reverse
them.
The top priority is
simultaneously to provide reliable money and reduce government expenditure.
Transactions are now being conducted in US dollars and South African rands,
which has greatly increased business activity and stabilised prices.
Re-establishing a local currency would require adopting a currency board or
pegging the currency to a major stable currency.
Other urgent actions
advocated by The Zimbabwe Papers include:
·
Ending
the arbitrary violence inflicted by the military and police on Zimbabwean
citizens.
·
Reducing
and simplifying taxes and tariffs in order to reduce corruption, improve the
climate for entrepreneurs and increase government
revenue
·
Reducing
the burden of regulations, which currently prohibit entrepreneurs from creating
formal businesses, drive economic activity underground and reduce government
revenue
·
Supporting the rule of law – essential for a peaceful, well functioning
liberal democracy
Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI: The
Centre for Policy & Education, Ghana, another Commissioner of the Zimbabwe
Papers says, “Zimbabweans have been persecuted by continuous state violence and
destabilising, destructive economic policies that made the country one of the
least hospitable business environments on earth. Zimbabweans must be able to live and work in
an environment conducive to entrepreneurship; that means, sound money,
simplified regulations, and low taxes. Only then will Zimbabwe get back to
work.”
The Commissioners of the
Zimbabwe Papers conclude, “We believe that Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF leadership must
look in the mirror and accept that most of their problems are the result of
their own misguided policies. If Zimbabwe is to reverse course and become a
thriving economy once again, it must stop blaming outside forces and focus on
reforming its domestic situation.”
“At some point, the dominance
of Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF will evaporate and make way for sustainable
reform. When this opportunity comes,
Zimbabweans will have to move quickly to rediscover the rule of law, constrain
government, and grant their citizens important economic and political
rights. The Zimbabwe Papers provides
Zimbabwean reformers with a plan for their renewal and the brave Zimbabwean
citizens, who dared to stand up against illegitimate, immoral leadership, the
information they need to put their country back on a path to peace and
prosperity.”
ENDS
The Zimbabwe Papers: A Positive Agenda
for Zimbabwean Renewal:
Click here to
download:
http://www.freemarketfoundation.com/DynamicData/Event_4.pdf
For more information or to arrange interviews with the South African
Commissioner of The Zimbabwe Papers, Free Market Foundation director
Temba Nolutshungu:
Contact Gail Day at (011) 884 0270.
E-mail: fmf@mweb.co.za
Zimbabwe Banks Find Transition to Foreign Currency Difficult
http://www.voanews.com
By Ish
Mafundikwa
Harare
19 May 2009
Since January, Zimbabwe
has exclusively used foreign currency after
abandoning the worthless
Zimbabwe dollar. However this has created big
problems for the banking
sector.
In January the Zimbabwe government conceded that the Zimbabwe
dollar was
worthless and approved the use of hard currency such as the U.S.
dollar and
the South African rand.
A bank manager who spoke to VOA on
condition of anonymity says the
transition from the Zimbabwe dollar to hard
currency has not been easy. One
of the problems caused by the change is
that banks are now very quiet.
"What's happening now is unlike the
previous situation where a person would
come to the bank every day. Now we
are having people coming to the bank once
a month because, one, the salary
is not that much and secondly, the charges
that are in the banking sector
now, the guy would rather take his money out
once," the manager
said.
A few months ago, bank employees could not cope with demand as
endless lines
developed outside the banks each day. While not having to line
up daily for
their money is great news for ordinary Zimbabweans, times are
not so good
for bank employees as there isn't enough work to keep them busy
in the
banks.
"What most of the banks have done is they have put
staff on various forms of
leave some unpaid, some half paid, some three
quarter paid. My bank we have
probably been operating on half the staff now,
that's basically how we have
managed to work around it," the bank manager
said.
The banker said banks are relying more on company rather than
private
accounts but that is also a problem as the governor of the central
bank has
used peoples' money without consulting them. Some of that money has
yet to
be returned to its rightful owners.
"One of the biggest issues
we are having to deal with as banks is the
confidence in the system. Last
year the central bank said to the banks, all
forex balances are going to be
operating under the reserve bank. So they
opened what they call mirror
accounts in the reserve bank and what we did as
banks is transfer all funds
to the reserve bank. Those accounts are still
there, those balances are
still growing," the banker said.
The banker added that some companies,
rather than deposit their money in the
banks, will as far as possible, deal
in cash or keep their money in offshore
accounts where they know it is
safe.
For private account holders though, the banker said, the banks are
working
on making it possible to withdraw money from automatic teller
machines and
making cards available to their clients. He also said at the
moment only big
international banks can offer loans while smaller banks have
to wait until
more money is deposited in the banks.
As for the
Zimbabwe dollar, the government has announced that it won't be
back for at
least another year. The banker told VOA that his bank has not
had any
transactions in local currency since the end of January this year.
Banned
BBC and CNN welcome back to Zimbabwe, says Mugabe's Spokesperson
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
By
MISA
Zimbabwe has told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and
Cable News
Network (CNN) that their journalists are welcome in the country,
George
Charamba, President Mugabe's spokesperson and Ministry of Information
Permanent Secretary has said.
The BBC was banned from
Zimbabwe in July 2001, five months after the
organisation's Harare
correspondent Joseph Winter had been expelled.
In comments carried by the
state-run Sunday Mail newspaper on 17 May 2009,
Charamba said CNN was never
banned from the southern African country which
is coming out of a
decade-long economic and political crisis.
Charamba said: "We would want to
remind CNN that they are not banned from
this country. Nothing was given
either orally or in writing, stating that
they had been banned. It is just
that they took a solidarity boycott with
the BBC after we had said the
latter was representing political interests.
"We have taken the decision that
they must be engaged: Overtures have been
made to both media organisations,
and the BBC have said they'll be coming
over while CNN's coverage would be
from South Africa."
Zimbabwe's three-month old unity government has raised
hopes for media
freedom after President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
committed themselves to allow foreign journalists in the
country as well as
grant newspapers publishing licences.
A new media law
is set to be passed before the end of the year, lifting
restrictions on the
operations of newspapers and journalists.
Charamba also announced a new
initiative being spearheaded by the Ministry
of Information, Media and
Publicity to position information attaches in
South Africa, Malaysia, China,
Britain and the United States. The attaches
would be responsible for
devising programmes to market Zimbabwe as a tourist
destination.
"The
country needs to shed the negative image of the past," Charamba said.
"The
negative (image of the country) has been because of the political
situation
and this has been dealt with through the inclusive government. If
we sort
out our image mess back home, that will reflect outwardly."
He said Zimbabwe
had "rediscovered itself". "We are working in unison. We
are also
piggybacking our image via our natural attractions, as this has
been
identified as critical for the quick turnaround of our economy."
Charamba
took criticism from MPs last week who said state media coverage
remained
slanted in favour of President Mugabe's Zanu PF party.
In response, Charamba
said: "We are aware that the times have changed. This
(inclusive government)
is a collaborative effort, comprising three political
parties. Hence, the
demand on the State media is that they reflect the ethos
that is
dominant.
"Interestingly, I am always accosted by the parties over how they
are
covered. For ZBC, the problem is we have limited cameras and the (main)
news
bulletin is an hour long. But certainly, we would need to consider
whether
there is scope for more bulletins.
"At the same time we have a
broadcaster who wants to find their feet in the
new environment; the poor
editors are being buffeted by politicians who want
their stories aired. And
rightly so; if an event were held, one would
certainly want it covered. We
will keep on improving in order to balance the
coverage."
Meanwhile
Charamba claimed criminals were "finding convenient refuge in
journalism"
after he was tackled by MPs on the arrest of freelance
photographer Andrew
[Adrisson] Manyere and former TV news anchor Jestina
Mukoko on banditry and
terrorism charges.
"I asked for the name of the media house that employs
Manyere: I got no
answer! I asked for the name of the institution where he
trained: Again, I
got no answer!" he said. "There is a general misconception
that whosoever
wields a notebook, pen and camera is a journalist. This makes
it seem as
though there are no entry requirements (for the profession) when
they
exist."
Charamba said Mukoko left journalism for civic society
endeavours, yet she
was still being identified as a journalist. "Is it based
on historical
affiliation or current pursuits?" he queried - MISA
Zimbabwe's Unity
Government Struggles to Move Ahead
By Peta Thornycroft Harare 19 May
2009
|
|
Zimbabwe's unity government is struggling to win financial support from
western countries because very little progress is being made to resolve key
outstanding issues, including those involving the Movement for Democratic
Change, that prevent the government from meeting benchmarks set by
countries.
|
Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as Zimbabwe's prime
minister at the State House in Harare, 11 Feb
2009 |
Despite the inclusion of the Movement for
Democratic Change in the unity government in January, the prosecution of MDC
legislators on what human rights lawyers say are trumped up charges continues.
Others are awaiting trial.
But lawyers say that no perpetrators of
violence against the MDC have been charged and that there is no investigation
into last October's kidnapping of eighteen MDC and humanitarian workers. Seven
MDC supporters remain missing.
Western governments say it is this type of
activity that is against the rule of law and needs to end.
Last November,
the Southern African Development Community, SADC, instructed the Zimbabwean
leaders to settle disputes over the allocation of governor positions after the
unity government was sworn in.
Nothing has been achieved on that level
yet after many meetings of principals. Nor, despite the global political
agreement signed by the parties last September, have top civil servant jobs been
re-allocated based on the outcome of elections in March 2008.
|
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 10 May
2009 |
All the top civil servants are known supporters of
Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF.
Farmers say commitment to the rule of law as
demanded by the political agreement is ignored by ZANU-PF in its continued
attempts to fast track prosecutions aimed at forcing white farmers from their
land, even though most have existing court orders allowing them to
remain.
Most say they failed to meet the mid May deadline for planting
wheat because of ongoing disruptions and prosecutions.
The independent
Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project says in its latest report that the public
media continues to be partisan towards ZANU-PF.
Earlier this week Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai urged SADC and the African Union to bring an end to
what he typified a deadlock over these issues. The two organizations are
guarantors of the global political agreement between the parties.
But
experts say it requires the agreement of at least two of three parties to the
agreement to declare a deadlock before the African organizations would
arbitrate.
Eldred Masunungure a political scientist at the University of
Zimbabwe tells VOA that without progress on the outstanding issues the unity is
"dysfunctional" and will be unable to move the country forward. He said that Mr.
Tsvangirai appeared to believe, after many meetings with Mr Mugabe, that "quiet
diplomacy was more useful than megaphone diplomacy."
Masunungure added
that the MDC's national council has been insisting that Mr. Tsvangirai become
more militant and aggressive in his dealings with Mr Mugabe.
Western
governments have been providing direct humanitarian assistance to Zimbabweans,
but have not given any assistance to the government for its programs. They are
looking for progress on resolving the outstanding issues and meeting other
benchmarks, mostly involving governance. Western diplomats say they are not
encouraged by progress so far.
Although the World Bank has given a grant
of $22 million and the International Monetary Fund is now in Zimbabwe for
consultations, arrears have to be paid before any substantial loans will
emerge.
So far neither SADC chairman, South African president Jacob Zuma,
nor the AU have responded to Mr. Tsvangirai's call on Sunday for the two
organisations to exercise their commitments as guarantors of the agreement.
Platinum miners maintain output
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Tuesday
19 May 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's platinum producers
maintained output and even
extended operations last year, defying political
uncertainty in the country
following an inconclusive presidential election,
metals refiner Johnson
Matthey (JM) said on Monday.
JM said supplies
from Zimbabwe and other producers increased by 5 000 ounces
to reached 295
000 ounces last year, a boon for Zimbabwe which has
increasingly depended on
mining for hard cash earnings but saw gold
production tumble over the same
period.
"Zimbabwean platinum production increased despite a very
difficult political
and operating environment," JM said in its Platinum 2009
report.
Zimbabwe witnessed some of its worst ever political violence
during the run
up to a second round presidential ballot called up last June
after President
Robert Mugabe lost a presidential election the previous
March to then
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who however failed to
achieve the margin
required to take power and avoid a second round run-off
vote.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the June ballot citing state-sponsored
attacks
against his supporters and in the process, leaving Mugabe to win as
sole
candidate.
But the election was universally condemned, with
African countries that had
refrained from criticising Mugabe in the past
also denouncing the
violence-marred election - a situation that forced the
Zimbabwean leader to
open negotiations to share power with Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, who
heads a smaller opposition party.
The unity
government has promised to revive the economy but its success
hinges on its
ability to raise financial support from rich Western countries
that have
however said they will not immediately help until they are
convinced Mugabe
is committed to genuinely share power with his former
opposition
foes.
There is huge potential for mining to grow further and provide
desperately
needed revenue for the unity government.
But a
controversial law limiting foreign ownership of mines to 49 percent
enacted
by Mugabe several months before agreeing to share power is acting as
a huge
disincentive to foreign firms with financial resource to develop
Zimbabwe's
platinum resources - the second largest in the world after South
Africa.
In addition to platinum, Zimbabwe also has huge deposits of
gold, diamonds,
nickel and coal. - ZimOnline
Sweden pledges to normalize EU, Zimbabwe relations
http://news.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2009-05-19
06:15:27
HARARE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Sweden has pledged to work
for the
restoration of normal relations between Zimbabwe and the European
Union (EU)
during its tenure of the EU presidency, Swedish Ambassador to
Zimbabwe Sten
Rylander said on Monday.
The diplomat said
Sweden, which will assume the EU presidency in
July, would prioritize
re-engagement with Zimbabwe, among other issues,
local media New Ziana
reported.
The relations between Zimbabwe and the EU soured in
2000 following
policy differences, resulting in the bloc's imposing
sanctions, which have
seriously hurt the economy.
"We (EU)
have already started formal dialogue with Zimbabwe on how
to normalize
relations," Rylander said. He, however, said the "success in
restoration of
normal relations will depend on the willingness of all
players in the Global
Political Agreement (GPA)to address outstanding
substantive
issues."
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF and the two opposition MDC
formations
signed the GPA in September last year, which paved way for the
establishment
of a coalition government in February.
But
since formation, some issues remain unresolved, including the
appointment of
provincial governors, ambassadors, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Governor and
the Attorney General.
Rylander said once normal relations were
restored, Sweden would
increase its assistance to Zimbabwe. "Once
outstanding issues in the GPA
have been resolved there will be direct
engagement with the government for
funding of economic programs. At the
moment we are only assisting aid
organizations," he said.
The Scandinavian country was supporting local organizations to the
tune of
20 million U.S. dollars per year. Bilateral and multilateral donor
organizations have pledged to assist Zimbabwe's economic recovery program
but on indications of what they called genuine power sharing by the
inclusive government as well as strict adherence to the provisions of the
GPA.
The coalition government has drawn up a Short Term
Economic
Recovery Program that required at least 8.3 billion dollars to
implement.
Victims
of diamond massacres buried in Chitungwiza mass graves
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
19
May 2009
The bodies of 85 people killed by the army during the Marange
diamond
massacres were allegedly buried in 37 shallow graves in Chitungwiza
around
Easter this year. Journalist and blogger Denford Magora says he has
reliable
information that some of the dead include victims of the violent
June 27th
one-man presidential run-off. A source within the local town
council
confirmed that some time in April a tipper truck arrived in
Chitungwiza's
Unit L cemetery. This was accompanied by a truckload of
prisoners who were
all handed gloves and surgical masks, as well as picks
and shovels. The
prisoners were then ordered to offload the bodies in piles
of two or
sometimes three, in each shallow grave.
In December last year
we reported how government completely denied any
massacres or deaths in
Marange. But their own District Administrator for
Mutare had appealed to the
City Council for land to bury over 83 people.
Deputy Mayor Admire Mukovera
exposed the issue after he confirmed receiving
the phone call making the
request. At the time he was told 78 people had
been killed in the diamond
fields, while five had died from cholera. The
Deputy Mayor also told us the
bodies were piling up in mortuaries at Mutare
General and Sakubva District
hospitals. In the end the Mutare City Council,
which is run by the MDC,
turned down the request insisting government had to
issue a public statement
first and also notify the relatives of the
deceased.
After failing to
bury the bodies in Mutare it's alleged the authorities
tried to bury them in
Marondera, where again the local council officials
refused. Furious MDC
activists are still trying to find out how the council
in Chitungwiza
eventually agreed to the burials. Newsreel challenged (MDC)
Mayor Israel
Marange on the issue, but he claimed he was not aware of any
bodies that had
come from Chiadzwa. Pressed further on the matter he
referred us to town
clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa (from ZANU PF) whom he said
handles the
administration side of council and might 'know things which have
not reached
us yet.' Earlier we spoke to a local councillor who confirmed
the burials.
He said given more time he could supply us with the specific
details of the
burial lots and where the people came from.
Magora meanwhile visited the
cemetery and told us the gloves and masks used
by the prisoners to offload
the bodies were dumped in another shallow hole,
'which nobody has bothered
to cover' and these were still there on Monday.
Residents in the area
complained that within two days of the burial the
whole neighbourhood was
filled with the stench of rotting human flesh. They
are also said to be
angry with the mayor for allowing the bodies to be
buried there.
More
outrageously it is believed the ZANU PF regime is moving swiftly to
build a
tarred road over the shallow graves. With the new graves sandwiched
by real
graves on each side, a tarred road will look like an access road in
the
middle of the cemetery. On Monday evening Magora said he saw mounds of
gravel and sand piled up on the road side, confirming suspicions the road
might be built as early as next week.
Several MDC activists remain
unaccounted for up to today, following
abductions late last year. There is a
real concern that if they were killed,
they might have been buried in these
graves.
The issue of mass graves will once again invoke tragic memories of
the
Gukurahundi Massacres in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions. It was
there
that Mugabe dispatched the North Korean trained 5th Brigade to butcher
perceived dissidents and their supporters. Most of the estimated 20 000
victims were shot or bayoneted in public executions and sometimes made to
dig their own graves in front of family members. For example in March 1983
near Lupane close to 117 young men and women were machine-gunned to their
deaths. Such cruel ferocity was repeated in the Marange diamond fields last
year as government security forces claimed they were cracking down on
illegal diamond miners. They used helicopter gun ships, horses and dogs in
their operations and shot fleeing women and children in the back.
Ndlovu
decries ZAPU pull-out from unity
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=16627
May 19, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Former information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has
dismissed
Saturday's decision by some senior politicians from the Zimbabwe
African
People's Union Patriotic Front (PF-Zapu) to pull out of the 1987
unity
accord with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Ndlovu, who was
a central committee member in the Joshua Nkomo-led PF Zapu,
says the Dumiso
Dabengwa-led ZAPU had no authority to unilaterally declare
the withdrawal of
the country's oldest party from a 21-year-old unity pact.
Ndlovu further
accused the new ZAPU leadership of "pursuing politics of
tribalism" saying
history would judge them harshly for their actions.
"Under what authority
do they purport to pull out of the unity accord?"
Ndlovu said.
He was
speaking to The Zimbabwe Times on Monday following a decision
Saturday by a
ZAPU congress to formalise its pull-out from the unity accord.
During the
congress, Dabengwa, former Home Affairs minister in President
Mugabe's
government, was retained as the interim leader of ZAPU.
Said Ndlovu,
"Anyone is free to pull out. No one is tied to one position. We
have a free
country where people can do whatever they want without any
interference.
"What we do not want is for somebody to interfere with
other leaders."
Ndlovu, now 72, also accused the press of allegedly
fanning hostilities
among ZAPU leaders to seek editorial
mileage.
"Our differences with our colleagues are not hostile," he said.
"Most of the
alleged hostilities are a creation of the press which wants to
sell its
papers.
"We are not fighting. We agree on certain issues and
disagree on some."
Turning to the ZAPU issue, Ndlovu accused his
erstwhile comrades of pursuing
politics of division at the expense of
developmental issues.
The pull-out was occasioned by, among other
reasons, continued
disillusionment on the current leadership of PF ZAPU, now
occupying key
government positions, to influence development in Matebeleland
region, a
stronghold of PF ZAPU.
But Ndlovu dismissed the assertions
saying PF-Zapu leaders had not been
sitting idle.
He said the PF-Zapu
leaders in government, led by Vice President and former
deputy to Nkomo,
Joseph Msika, had not abandoned the interests of the party.
"Our
participation in the unity government has seen that the revolutionary
policies of PF ZAPU are not lost," said Ndlovu, who was PF-Zapu's secretary
for elections in independent Zimbabwe's first elections in
1980.
Ndlovu, who was also one of the negotiators for the unity accord,
said
PF-Zapu leaders were still not satisfied and would continue to fight to
make
sure some of the resolutions of the accord were met.
"We are
also not satisfied with the adoption of some of the issues that we
set
ourselves to achieve as a unity government," said Ndlovu.
"We are still
pursuing them. These issues will not be achieved by us making
noise.
"Being in senior government positions does not make the
PF-Zapu leaders
hamstrung in terms of pursuing the issues. We are still
fighting to have the
issues implemented."
He accused the critics of
deliberately turning a blind eye on several
developmental initiatives by the
PF-Zapu leaders in Matebeleland such as the
building of the Joshua Mqabuko
Nkomo Polytechnic in Gwanda, the University
of Lupane and agricultural
initiatives that have supplied cattle to
inhabitants of the perennially dry
western regions of Zimbabwe.
He said PF-Zapu was not a regional party as
is generally portrayed by some
sections of society.
Ndlovu said he
agreed with the Dabengwa led group that the unity accord was
occasioned by a
desire by the party to end bloodshed in Matebeleland and
Midlands
regions.
An estimated 20 000 mostly PF-Zapu supporters perished at the
hands of
President Mugabe's notorious Five Brigade army during the period
now known
as the Gukurahundi era.
The former minister dismissed
claims that PF-Zapu was swallowed by Zanu-PF.
"Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu
swallowed each other," he declared.
"We married our constitutions to come
out with one constitution."
Zim govt invites Africa Commission to visit
MISA-Zimbabwe
Communiqué
19 May 2009
Government extends invitation for African
Commission to visit Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean government has extended
an invitation to the African
Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR)
to visit Zimbabwe on a
promotional visit to assess and assist with progress
towards the
implementation of fundamental legislative and policy reforms in
compliance
with the African Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights.
The Permanent Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs, and
head of the
government delegation to the 45th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR,
underway in
Banjul, The Gambia, David Mangota, said the visit should be a
promotional
one as opposed to calls by civil society for the Commission to
conduct a
fact finding mission to assess the situation in
Zimbabwe.
The Commission's Chairperson Justice Sanji Mmasenono
Monageng thanked the
Zimbabwean delegation for the invitation saying it had
been noted.
A promotional visit is designed to assess progress on the
ground as well as
assist on how best to proceed with reforms to comply with
provisions of the
African Charter and other regional and international human
rights
instruments as opposed to a fact finding mission which is undertaken
to
investigate specific human rights violations.
In his pitch for
a promotional visit, Mangota alluded to the all
stakeholders' media
conference facilitated and convened by the Ministry of
Information and
Publicity in Zimbabwe 's resort town of Kariba , the
Short-Term Economic
Recovery Programme (STERP) and plans to establish an
independent Human
Rights Commission as evidence of government's commitment
to undertake
fundamental reforms.
On the alleged abduction and detention of the
director of the Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP) Jestina Mukoko, who is also a
former television news anchor
with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, he
described Mukoko as a "common
criminal" who was being charged with a
criminal offence and not in her
capacity as a human rights
defender.
In a statement on 13 May 2009, the NGO Forum which met in
the Gambian
capital ahead of the ACHPR session, called for a fact finding
mission
comprising the Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders,
Freedom of
Expression, Rights of Women, and Refugees as well as the Chairman
of the
Working Group on Torture.
The statement was delivered by the
Executive Director of the African Centre
for Democracy and Human Rights
Studies Hannah Forster on behalf of the NGO
Forum (ACDHRS).
The
Ngo Forum, however, welcomed the formation of the unity government and
the
ensuing efforts to return to normalcy in both Zimbabwe and Kenya, but
noted
that respect for freedom of the press continued to be a challenge in
Africa
with the constant formulation of draconian laws, harassment,
intimidation,
killings and arbitrary detention particularly in countries
such as Angola,
Lesotho, Swaziland, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
"We urge the Special
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in Africa to
investigate the
discrimination of the media, the existence of redundant
laws, especially
electoral laws in the aforementioned countries," said
Forster.
The concerns of the NGO Forum were reiterated by
MISA-Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Zimbabwe
NGO-Forum in their respective
statements to the Commission. (visit MISA
Statement to the 45th Ordinary
Session of the African Commission on Human
and Peoples Rights-
www.misazim.co.zw, www.misa.org)
For more
information please contact:
The Assistant Programmes
Officer
Koliwe Nyoni
The State of Media Freedom in Zimbabwe
Wilf Mbanga, Editor and Publisher of The Zimbabwean,
will be speaking on the UCT campus in Cape Town this Thursday May 21st on The
State of Media Freedom in Zimbabwe.
A panel of speakers, including Ray
Mungoshi (former Editor of The Herald
(Zimbabwe)) will debate and discuss
issues surrounding media freedom in Zimbabwe.
Please join us between 6
and 8 pm in Beattie Lecture Theatre 114 on UCT Upper Campus for what promises to
be a lively and thought-provoking engagement.
As seating is limited
please confirm attendance to Tinashe Makwande of UCT Radio on 0822105964, or
email tinashe.makwande@gmail.com
A
larger venue on the campus will be used if necessary.
Venue
Date: 21 May 2009
Location: UCT Upper Campus,
Cape Town
More info: Beattie Lecture Theatre 114 on UCT Upper
Campus
Contact: Tinashe Makwande
Company name: UCT
Radio
Telephone number: 0822105964
Email address tinashe.makwande@gmail.com
Comment from a correspondent
Outrageous bill
Dear Sir
What started off as a joke of a
bill is now turning out to be a nightmare
for me.
Last month I
received an internet bill from Telone, out of the blues they
told me that I
owed them US$4633.74c....All along we had been paying a
modest fixed monthly
charge. When I complained about the bill I was told to
write a letter to a
certain Mr. Mutakura. I hand posted the bill to the man
himself on April 24
and he assured me that my bill and the tariffs were
being reviewed
downwards. He promised to write to me informing me what I
owed
Telone.
Today I got the current internet bill, there has been no downward
review on
the bill, instead I now owe Telone US$4818.25c. Will somebody
kindly tell me
what is going on....most people in Zimbabwe are earning
US$100 per
month....if I pay US$50 per month it would take me 4 years to pay
a bill
accumulated over 4 months!! What started off as a"sick joke" is now
turning
out to be a source of stress for me. Has anyone out there received
such an
outrageous and unrealistic bill like mine? Who is in charge at
Telone?? Why
are they so scared of the internet? This is an infringement on
my
rights.....if I lived in the free world I would have sued Telone... are
these some of the fruits of the so called unity government?
Alois
Kachere (you can publish my name if this letter is worth any space on
your
wonderful site.)
Money
talks
Written by Dr Madsen Pirie |
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 06:02
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In this case money tells us a little about Robert Mugabe and a lot about
centrally planned economies. The hundred trillion dollar note is literally not
worth the paper it's printed on, and the city authorities in Harare had to put
up notices in the loos forbidding people to use banknotes in the toilets (since
they are cheaper than tissue, albeit still, by comparison, 'hard' currency).
The quantitative easing practised by the Mugabe regime made money worthless,
except to collectors such as myself. They have now abandoned the currency
entirely, with the result that a market in foodstuffs and other goods has begin
to re-emerge, provided you pay in anything other than barrowloads of the local
money.
Gresham's Law famously says that bad money drives out good, meaning that
people pay in the devalued coin and hoard the good stuff. But this only applies
where 'legal tender' applies. If you cannot be forced to take the bad stuff,
Gresham's Law is reversed, and good money drives out bad (because no-one will
take it unless they are forced to). In Zimbabwe, the moment they allowed people
to trade in other currencies, the local money was abandoned. Perversely, it
gained in value as a collector's item and a reminder of the follies into which
socialism can
lead… | |