Sunday Times, SA
Mugabe gives land to booted
squatters
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government will allocate new land to
thousands of
families who are being evicted for illegally occupying farms not
earmarked
for acquisition under the controversial land reform programme, the
state-run
Herald and radio said.
The Herald said the move has been
taken to "make way for a systematic land
redistribution
programme".
Government last week began evicting thousands of families who
have occupied
black-owned farms, conservancies, church land and white-owned
farms that
were not earmarked for acquisition under the country's land
reform
programme.
More than 12,000 occupants on unlisted farms were
removed last week, and the
evictions are continuing.
Invasions of
mainly white-owned farms started more than two years ago when
President
Robert Mugabe stepped up a controversial land reform programme
aimed at
correcting imbalances in ownership that dated from the
colonial
era.
Despite making up just one percent of the population of
Zimbabwe, whites
owned around 30 percent of the country's prime
farmland.
Under the reforms, an estimated 95 percent of all land owned by
some 4,500
white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe will be taken over, according
to the
Commercial Farmers' Union.
AFP
UTVINTERNET
TUESDAY 21/05/02 16:50:31
Mugabe sanctions
considered
European foreign ministers will this month consider extending
travel
sanctions on Robert Mugabe to include his wife and family, the
British
government said in the Lords today.
Tory peers complained that
the Zimbabwean president`s wife could still come
to London for
shopping.
Tory ex-minister Lord Blaker said at question time: ``The
sanctions which
were imposed by the EU on Mr Mugabe and his cronies in
respect of their
foreign travel and their foreign assets do not apply to the
spouses and
families of those people.
``Should not such an extension
be made to the scope of the sanctions? Or are
we content that Mrs Mugabe
could still come here and shop at Harrods?``
Junior Foreign Office
minister Baroness Amos replied: ``The current EU
sanctions do not apply to
spouses and children.
``This is clearly something that the General
Affairs Council will wish to
return to, and they will be discussing Zimbabwe
at their next meeting in
June.``
The minister later explained that
``international treaty obligations`` had
allowed Mr Mugabe to attend a recent
UN conference in New York and his
police chief to attend an Interpol meeting
in Lille, France.
Daily News
By Collin Chiwanza
5/21/02 8:31:53 AM (GMT
+2)
As the government forges ahead with its controversial
fast-track land
resettlement programme, there is growing evidence that most
of the resettled
people could be sitting on a health
time-bomb.
Most of the 264 000 families settled on farms
throughout the country
have neither schools, health care facilities nor clean
drinking water. These
families were hastily moved from their former homes,
where they had access
to well-equipped health care facilities and
schools.
Jonas Mungate, the headman of Sleamish Farm in Mazowe,
where about 29
families from Chiweshe, Rushinga and Muzarabani were resettled
said on
Friday he was very concerned that the farm has neither a school nor
a
clinic.
Mungate said: "We've held several meetings with the
local councillor
and discussed and identified a central place to build a
clinic and a school
but it appears that the
authorities are not
going to do anything for us."
He said he feared there could be an
outbreak of disease in the new
settlement. He said about 55 children from the
farm walk between five and
seven kilometres each day to school in Glendale,
and the parents have to
walk the same distance for medical care.
Although a temporary school has been set up at a neighbouring farm, it
only
offers primary education. As a result of the poor roads in most
resettlement
schemes, peer educators and community-based health workers
cannot easily
reach the resettled people.
The problems in the resettlement areas are
not confined to people but
also affect domestic animals such as cattle, as
there are no dip tanks.
Daily News
Economic slump recipe for uprising, warns
MDC
5/21/02 8:33:17 AM (GMT +2)
By Nyasha Nyakunu
Deputy News Editor
MORGAN Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, on Sunday
said a spontaneous
uprising by the masses was inevitable because of the
deteriorating harsh
economic conditions prevailing in the
country.
Tsvangirai, who brushed aside threats by President
Mugabe that he
would deal with the opposition party if it engages in any form
of violence,
said the uprising would not necessarily be organised by the
MDC.
"This mass action is already embedded in the feelings of the
people.
The mood in the people is totally uncompromising . . . it is defiant
and
Mugabe should not mislead himself.
"The uprising is not
going to come because the MDC has organised it
but it is going to arise as a
need to resolve a political crisis which he
has failed to resolve," he
said.
Speaking at the Zanu PF Youth League's national assembly
meeting in
Harare, Mugabe said the youths should never allow British stooges
to reverse
the gains of independence and warned the MDC against organising
mass
actions.
Mugabe, who is on record as saying his party has
degrees in violence,
said Zanu PF comprised of people who attended the school
of war and peace.
"They will be dealt with effectively and there won't
be any nonsense
about that anymore. If called upon by the demands of the
situation to do
something, we will do it effectively," said
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, however, scoffed at the threats as something
that the MDC
was now used to. "We have been living under threats from this
government for
the past two-and-a-half years since the MDC was launched and
we will not
take cognisance of one more threat.
"Those
threatening statements are inconsequential to the plight of
Zimbabweans. By
threatening to crush the MDC he is not responding to the
problems of mass
starvation, poverty and unemployment," Tsvangirai said.
The MDC
leader blamed Mugabe for scuttling the peace talks between the
opposition
party and Zanu PF. Hopes for the immediate resumption of
the
dialogue
collapsed after the MDC refused to accept fresh demands
from Zanu PF.
The talks were scheduled to resume on 13 May but
foundered after the
ruling party set certain preconditions.
The
Nigerian and South African facilitators to the dialogue left
Harare on
Thursday last week after failing to drag the two parties back to
the
negotiating table.
Zanu PF said it could not continue with talks in
view of the MDC's
pending court application challenging the results of the
disputed 9-11
presidential election.
Tsvangirai said it was not the
MDC's burden to resuscitate the
dialogue but that this was entirely up to
Mugabe himself.
"The burden is not on the MDC but is really
squarely on him because
instead of being at the forefront of a viable
economy, he is the one who is
at the forefront of the ruin of the economy
that he is supposed to be the
custodian of," he
said.
Daily News - letter
Reconciliation can never co-exist with
persecution
5/21/02 8:38:30 AM (GMT +2)
I AM absolutely
intrigued by President Mugabe's call for Zimbabweans to bury
their
differences and work together for peace and rebuild the country.
Some
gullible Zimbabweans have celebrated that call as a display of
the
magnanimity of our "Comrade President", who once again is prepared to
extend
a hand of reconciliation and embrace his enemies as he did in 1980 and
1987.
I submit that this is all a load of horse manure! If Mugabe has
seen the
light and is sincere (which he has never been in the last 22 years),
why
does he still refuse to meet face-to-face with his arch rival
Morgan
Tsvangirai and discuss with him the way forward concerning the
presidential
election he so unashamedly stole from MDC and the Zimbabwean
people?
Why is he persecuting civil servants viewed as MDC sympathisers
and denying
drought relief to those perceived to be in the opposition?
If
Zanu PF has repented from their grisly and callous acts of murder, rape
and
anarchy through rogue elements of the war veterans' association and
the
odious youth brigades, why don't they publicly acknowledge these
atrocities
and disband their militia?
If it has dawned on Mugabe that
despite political differences, those in the
opposition are Zimbabweans and
not "totemless" sellouts, dissidents and
terrorists, why does he still
persecute and arrest MDC and other activists?
Mugabe cannot be taken at face
value.
What he says cannot be accepted as gospel truth. During the
presidential
election run-up he called for peace whilst arming youth brigades
and
charging his sycophants to strike terror in the heart of the
opposition.
In 1980 he extended a hand of reconciliation to the whites
only to terrorise
them in 2001.
Was it reconciliation when he
swallowed PF Zapu lock, stock and barrel in
1987 after crushing all forms of
dissent?
If you believe Mugabe's call for nation building, reconciliation and
peace,
you might as well believe that Martians live at State House! I do not
think
Zimbabweans are that naive and gullible.
Mugabe should know that
we have very acute differences with him and his
murderous Zanu PF which we
are not prepared to bury. What we will bury are
our friends and relatives his
supporters murdered in pursuit of his quest to
remain at State
House.
This madness must stop - now!
Qobo
Mayisa
Bulawayo
Daily News
War vets order Old Mutare farmer to leave his
property
5/21/02 8:30:31 AM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Mutare
ABOUT 40 war veterans on Sunday besieged
Grange Farm in Old Mutare and
ordered the owner, Brian James, to vacate the
property with immediate
effect.
This comes at a time
when the government is evicting illegal settlers
on commercial farms that
have not been listed for compulsory acquisition.
The war veterans allegedly
lit a bonfire and barred workers from feeding
hundreds of chickens on the
farm, saying they were to be left to starve and
die.
Initially,
the farm was listed for designation under President Mugabe'
s controversial
land reform programme, but James successfully contested the
acquisition. He
obtained an eviction order against the illegal occupiers in
November
2000.
James said following the order, the war veterans were
evicted, but 12
days later they returned and occupied the part suitable for
crop-growing.
He said: "Twelve days after eviction, the war
veterans came back and
occupied the arable portion of my farm. We alerted the
police, but no action
was taken. I suspect the governor is aware of this new
development."
Oppah Muchinguri, the Manicaland Governor, yesterday
refused to talk
to The Daily News. Muchinguri has not been co-operative with
The Daily News
following a story published in in the newspaper last month in
which she
lashed out at Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government,
Public
Works and National Housing.
The governor accused Chombo
of blocking the Mutare City Council's
resolution to repossess an undeveloped
stand in the city belonging to
Saviour Kasukuwere, the MP for Mount Darwin
South.
Muchinguri said then: "You want me to be at loggerheads with
members
of the party? Why did you quote me verbatim? "Chombo telephoned me
asking me
what I was trying to achieve by that. I am going to sue you. We
will meet in
court."
However, John Nkomo, the Minister of Home
Affairs, said he would
investigate the fresh invasion of James' farm. "I will
look into it,'' said
Nkomo.
James said he proposed to the Land Task
Force in Manicaland that he
would surrender a portion of his farm for
resettlement and offered to assist
the poultry project on the
farm.
James said: "A hearing on my proposal is scheduled for today
at the
Administrative Court in Harare." He said after the fresh invasion,
three
armed policemen arrived at his farm but immediately left saying they
were
going back to ask for assistance from Muchinguri.
"The
police ran scared. Muchinguri never turned up and besides we
never expected
her to," James said. "We have negotiated with the war
veterans and the police
at Penhalonga. For our safety, we agreed to move off
the farm and manage it
from Mutare city centre.
"Inspector Waita from Penhalonga police
station has assured us that
there would be no looting of property until our
matter has been solved by
the responsible authorities."
The police
in Mutare refused to comment.
Daily News
Mugabe's threats just reckless talk, says NCA,
MDC
5/21/02 8:26:02 AM (GMT +2)
By Collin
Chiwanza
THE National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) have dismissed as reckless and careless
recent
statements by President Mugabe accusing the NCA of receiving British
funding
on behalf of the MDC.
Mugabe told Zanu PF youths
and war veterans on Saturday his government
would deal "effectively" with the
MDC if it organised mass protests.
Lovemore Madhuku, the NCA
chairperson, said Mugabe's statements
clearly showed he was being misinformed
by his intelligence staff.
Madhuku said: "If the President believes
what he said recently, then
it is clear that he is being misinformed and that
his intelligence system
has totally collapsed. For the record, it is not true
that we are a conduit
for the MDC. The NCA is an organisation pursuing a
genuine agenda of
constitutional reforms."
Madhuku said the NCA
was a legitimate civic body which accepts
financial assistance from anyone
who supports the agenda for constitutional
reforms.
"If the
President thought in making his statement, he would encourage
his thugs to
descend on the NCA, we are not intimidated at all and we will
not be
distracted from our agenda," Madhuku said.
He urged NCA members to
prepare for another peaceful mass
demonstration in the next few weeks.
Learnmore Jongwe, the MDC information
and publicity secretary, said his party
and members of the public were now
tired of hearing unfounded allegations
that they were getting funds from
Britain through the NCA.
He
challenged the government to expose the evidence of such foreign
funding and
to take the appropriate legal action.
On threats to deal with the
MDC violently, Jongwe said: "Mugabe's
threats do not affect us because he is
threatening to deal with people who
will travel on the path of violence. As
the MDC we have no intention
whatsoever to engage in violence. If we are to
take the decision to carry
out any protests, we will do that in a non-violent
manner."
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC national youth chairperson, said
party youths
would defy the threats of violence by Mugabe as they were meant
to stifle
dissenting voices.
Chamisa said: "These are the sort
of threats that can only come from
an illegitimate leader. "All legitimate
leaders never threaten their own
people, instead they concentrate on bread
and butter issues affecting their
people, not vain threats such as those made
by Mugabe."
Chamisa said it was surprising to note that most of the
Zanu PF youths
were very old and could only have been real youths during the
liberation
struggle.
Chamisa said: "Statements such as those coming
from Mugabe were last
heard during the Smith regime, and where is Smith
today?"
Daily News
Farmer pleads guilty to culpable homicide
5/21/02 8:25:24 AM (GMT +2)
Court Reporter
PHILIP
Bezuidenhout, the Odzi farmer charged with the murder of Febian
Mapenzauswa,
who had been settled on his farm, yesterday pleaded guilty to a
lesser charge
of culpable homicide.
Bezuidenhout knocked down Mapenzauswa
with his motor vehicle. Public
prosecutor Benhilda Manyowa, however, rejected
the plea, saying the State
would lead evidence to prove the murder which
carries a stiffer penalty.
Bezuidenhout has pleaded not guilty to
murder. He denied intending to
kill or injure Mapenzauswa, saying it was a
traffic accident and he
regretted the death.
Manyowa proceeded to
call Godfrey Gola, an agricultural extension
officer and member of the Mutasa
district land distribution committee, to
testify against the farmer, after
High Court judge, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo,
ruled that she could not call
Doctor Eric Sidney to testify yesterday.
Sidney conducted the
post-mortem on the deceased. Hlatshwayo agreed
with Bezuidenhout's counsel,
Advocate Eric Matinenga, who said he had not
anticipated the State would call
Sidney to the witness stand yesterday.
Gola said Bezuidenhout drove
past Mapenzauswa and his friend Tapera
Makombe, and Anna Mary Sithole, whom
he was allocating land at the farm
under the fast-track land resettlement
scheme on 14 July 2001.
Bezuidenhout, Gola said, drove by pointing
threateningly at them and
raised his clenched fist at the group on his way
back. Gola said he heard a
woman screaming that they were in danger and
noticed Bezuidenhout's vehicle
speeding towards them.
Gola said
Bezuidenhout's vehicle flung Mapenzauswa into the air and
sped off leaving
him lying in a pool of blood on the tarmac.
The State is alleging
Bezuidenhout of Tara Farm, struck with the
intent to kill Mapenzauswa with a
motor vehicle thereby killing him.
According to the State, Bezuidenhout drove
his car at high speed directly at
Mapenzauswa's stationary car. The farmer is
accused of leaving his lane and
driving on the verge of the road.
Mapenzauswa, who had come out of his
vehicle to avoid the impact, was,
however, struck by Bezuidenhout's car. He
was pronounced dead on arrival at
Mutare's Seventh Avenue Surgical Unit.
He died of internal
bleeding. Bezuidenhout, in his defence outline,
said prior to the fateful day
invaders occupied his farm and there was
growing tension between them and his
workers.
On the day, some of the workers were attacked by the
settlers and a
report was made at Odzi police station, but no arrests were
made. When he
went to Odzi police station later that day to follow up on the
report made
earlier, he came across a suspicious motor vehicle he had seen
earlier on
his farm on the verge of the Mutare-Harare Highway.
He decided to investigate. He was driving at 70km an hour. The
car's
occupants fled in different directions resulting in Mapenzauswa being
struck
by his vehicle.
Manyowa, who plans to call 15 witnesses,
yesterday produced the
post-mortem report, photographs and a sketch-plan of
the crime scene as
exhibits.
She also produced a report by the
Vehicle Inspection Department and a
statement recorded by the police from
Bezuidenhout which was confirmed as
true and accurate by a magistrates'
court.
Matinenga said he would challenge some of the observations
indicated
in the sketch-plan. The trial continues today.
Daily News
Teachers forced to pay for victory party
5/21/02 10:45:15 AM (GMT +2)
From Brian Mangwende in
Mutare
TEACHERS at eight schools in Buhera District have received
letters
from the Zanu PF ward councillor, identified only as J Nyawo,
demanding they
pay $500 each to finance the ruling party's victory
celebrations.
The festivities are to be held soon by the
party's Gukurahundi Youth
Group to mark President Mugabe's disputed victory
in March's presidential
election.
The letter reads in part: "Each
school is required to submit a list of
teachers, starting with the
headmaster, and a donation of $500 per head as
attached and signed
thereafter. Remember that we have eight schools, to
include both primary and
secondary.
"This letter serves to inform you that it is high time
you should
support your young age group who eagerly participated during the
just-ended
presidential election and are helping to celebrate and you will
also be part
and parcel of the celebrations. Please attach a list of names of
your school
and the amount therein requested to pay."
Contacted
for comment yesterday, Winnie Chirimamhunga, the regional
director in the
Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture for Manicaland,
asked for a copy of
the letter in question.
She said: "Send me a copy of the letter and
I will investigate." A
teacher in Buhera, who refused to be identified, said:
"We're still being
victimised by the Zanu PF youth brigades."
Early this month, The Daily News carried a story quoting Takavafira
Zhou, the
president of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ),
saying Zanu
PF youths and war veterans had forced 107 503 teachers
throughout the country
to pay a protection fee to them.
Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ's
secretary-general, said last week the
union stood by its story and stressed
that the teachers were forced to pay
the protection fee to war veterans and
Zanu PF youths.
His remarks came after an official denial of the
story by the
government and Zanu PF. Majongwe said teachers in rural schools
were victims
of extortion and have been forced to make contributions towards
the 21st
February Movement, which marks Mugabe's birthday. This reporter, who
broke
the story, was arrested over the article and briefly detained at
Mutare
Central police station.
The reporter was released without
charge after spending some time in
police custody.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe police charge editor over ''false''
story
HARARE, May 21 - Police have charged the editor of
Zimbabwe's only private
daily newspaper in a crackdown on journalists accused
of publishing false
stories aimed at tarnishing the image of President Robert
Mugabe's
government.
Daily News editor-in-chief Geoffrey
Nyarota was arrested and and
charged on Monday for publishing a false story
last month saying that ruling
ZANU-PF supporters beheaded a woman in the
northern district of Magunje, his
lawyer said on Tuesday.
''He was
arrested and charged yesterday over the Magunje story before
police released
him,'' lawyer Lawrence Chibwe told Reuters.
Chief police spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena
confirmed Nyarota's arrest on
Tuesday, adding: ''He will appear in court
once we have completed our
investigations.''
The Daily News published an unverified story on
April 23 citing a man
who claimed his wife had been beheaded by ruling
ZANU-PF party militants
while his two children watched.
Several
international newspapers carried the story. But the Daily
News later said it
had doubts about the alleged murder after failing to
locate the woman's
grave. The paper apologised to Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
Nyarota, winner
of the 2002 UNESCO world press freedom award, has
been arrested twice in the
last two months under a tough new media law that
punishes ''abuse of
journalistic privilege by publishing falsehoods.''
Eleven journalists
have been arrested since Mugabe signed the Access
to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act into law soon after his
controversial re-election
in March.
Last week three journalists, including a former government
spokesman,
were arrested for publishing two allegedly false stories,
including
accusations that some policemen were demanding sex from prostitutes
caught
soliciting on the streets.
Under the Act, journalists can
face fines of up to Z$100,000 ($1,818)
or up to two years in jail if they are
found guilty of publishing
''falsehoods.''
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court
ruled last Friday that a challenge brought
by journalists working for foreign
organisations in the country against the
media bill did not need to be heard
urgently, meaning the hearing could be
delayed for months.
Mugabe's
government has been accused of cracking down on journalists
since March 9-11
presidential elections which were rejected as fraudulent by
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change and major Western countries.
Business Day
Six MDC activists charged under new Zimbabwean
law
Sapa-AP
HARARE Police charged six opposition activists yesterday
on allegations that
they plotted against the government, their lawyer
said.
The activists, arrested on Sunday in the provincial town of Chinhoyi,
115km
northwest of Harare, were charged under a subversion clause in new
security
laws that carried a penalty of up to 20 years in jail without the
option of
a fine, lawyer Tapiwa Muchineripi said.
In a separate incident,
four white farmers, detained on Saturday near
Chinhoyi, were also charged
under the same clause, the Commercial Farmers
Union said.
It was the first
time charges of subversion by "coercing or attempting to
coerce the
government" have been used since the laws were passed in January.
Coercion
includes threats against the state or the actual use of "violence,
boycotts,
civil disobedience or resistance". Muchineripi said Silas
Matamisa, the
provincial chairman of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), his deputy
and four others were released yesterday to be summoned to
court at a later
date.
They were accused of plotting against the government with unidentified
white
farmers in their district at a secret meeting on the outskirts of
Chinhoyi
on April 24.
The four farmers, whose alleged crimes were
evidently not linked to those of
the opposition officials, were also freed to
be summoned to court later, the
union said. The farmers denied holding an
illegal or subversive meeting in
the Lion's Den area on April 6 as alleged by
police.
The charges came a day after the opposition announced plans for a
campaign
of civil disobedience and mass action to unseat long-time ruler
President
Robert Mugabe, declared the winner in a disputed presidential
election in
March.
The opposition and independent human rights groups
blame ruling party
militants backed by the state for most of the political
violence that has
wracked the nation since March 2000.
The opposition has
demanded a rerun of the polls, citing the disquiet of
many international
observers over intimidation and alleged vote rigging.
Mugabe vowed on
Saturday to crush protests or mass action to oust him by
opponents supported
by Britain, the former colonial power, and whites. "If
called upon by the
demands of the situation to do something, we will do it
effectively," he
said.
Zimbabwe is becoming increasingly volatile as famine looms due to
farm
disruptions in Mugabe's programme to seize white-owned land and
erratic
rains. United Nations food agencies estimate 3-million Zimbabweans
will face
starvation by next month.
Three journalists were arrested last
week for reporting that the government
had imported Israeli anti-riot
equipment in anticipation of worsening food
shortages and civil
unrest.
Israel confirmed the sale of water cannon, chemical additives and
other riot
control equipment.
May 21 2002 12:00:00:000AM Angus Shaw
Business Day 1st Edition
Tuesday
21 May 2002
From The Daily News (SA), 20
May
Zim pupils turn to SA after exam
ban
South African private schools are being inundated with requests
for help from parents of Zimbabwean schoolchildren who have been banned from
writing foreign exams. The Zimbabwean Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture
told schools at the end of March that they would no longer be allowed to enter
for foreign exams such as GCSE and Advanced Subsidiary and that all schools
would have to enter their candidates for examinations offered by the Zimbabwe
School Examinations Council. About 2 500 pupils have been affected by the change
in regulations, which has come into effect more than halfway through their
course. Since April, private schools in South Africa have received daily calls
from parents hoping their children will be able to complete their exams
here.
The southern African representative for Cambridge Examinations,
Ray Howarth, confirmed the last Cambridge A level examinations would be
delivered to Zimbabwe in June due to the changed laws. Howarth said the
restriction meant pupils would not be able to write the November exams. Parents
who could afford it were approaching schools in neighbouring countries as they
had been caught off-guard. Although only a few South African private schools
offered the British O and A level exams, others had offered to help in other
ways. Kearsney College marketing director Colleen Ross said her school had told
the British Council it was willing to set up the school as an exam centre and
pupils could register and write exams through the council. "We have the
facilities and quite a few teachers who have experience with the GCSE exams. We
have also offered to accommodate pupils."
Although acknowledging that it had received a substantial
number of queries from Zimbabwean candidates, the British Council exams manager
Shamima Jooma said the council's involvement in the matter had not yet been
confirmed. Sources said the council was being cautious because it was a
politically sensitive matter. Michaelhouse rector Guy Pearson said his school
had also received a number of queries and that several pupils had already been
interviewed. Hilton College director of development Iain McMillan said the
college had offered places to pupils who wanted to come to South Africa.
