Mr Tsvangirai arrived at Harare airport aboard a regular South African Airways flight from Johannesburg around 1030 GMT after cancelling his homecoming a week ago when his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said it had learnt he was the target of a military intelligence assassination plot. The government dismissed the plot as a propaganda stunt.
Mr Tsvangirai, smiling and looking relaxed, left the airport in a convoy of cars to visit hospitals where victims of recent police and militia brutality had been taken.
He later told a press conference that President Mugabe was seeking to destroy the MDC leadership ahead of next month’s elections. He also said that beating people was not going to win him extra votes
Mr Tsvangirai said he left Zimbabwe April 8 to present regional leaders with information that Mugabe’s military planned attacks on the opposition.
He said then that he expected to be away only a few weeks, but instead embarked on an international tour designed to rally support for democracy in Zimbabwe.
"I’m sure that we have managed to ensure an African consensus about the crisis in Zimbabwe," he said, adding it was now time to turn his attention to rallying his supporters in Zimbabwe.
Mr Tsvangirai’s party says more than 30 of its supporters and activists have been killed since the first round of voting, and that attacks are increasingly targeting its top leaders.
Yahoo News
Sat May 24, 9:08 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected the
idea of a national unity government
Saturday and vowed to defeat veteran
President Robert Mugabe in an upcoming
presidential run-off poll.
"There is no government of national unity
on the table," he told reporters
at his first press conference since
arriving back in Harare after six weeks
abroad.
"There has been so
much speculation but I don't see how that (a government
of national unity)
is going to be implemented."
On defeating Mugabe in the June 27 run-off,
he said: "As sure as the sun
rises in the east and sets in the west, Mugabe
will not win in the second
round."
Story Highlights
# Tsvangirai has arrived in
Zimbabwe
# Police stand by as he passes
# Rejects Government of national
Unity
Majority leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrived in Harare on Saturday to begin campaigning ahead of a presidential run-off election scheduled for next month.
“It’s good to be back,” he told reporters as he walked through the airport.
Tsvangirai arrived at Harare airport aboard a regular South African Airways flight around 1030 GMT.
Police stood by as a convoy carrying the Movement for Democratic Change leader left the airport flanked by his security detail.
Mr Tsvangirai’s scheduled return last weekend was delayed amid allegations the army planned to assassinate him.
The ruling party rejected the MDC claims as a fantasy.
The presidential election run-off is scheduled to take place on 27 June despite warnings that election violence makes a fair second round impossible.
Opposition and human rights groups have said hundreds of opposition supporters have been beaten up and at least 40 killed since the first round on 29 March.
Morgan Tsvangirai rejected the idea of a national unity government Saturday and vowed to defeat veteran President Robert Mugabe in an upcoming presidential run-off poll.
“There is no government of national unity on the table,” he told reporters at his first press conference since arriving back in Harare after six weeks abroad.
“There has been so much speculation but I don’t see how that (a government of national unity) is going to be implemented.”
On th June 27 run-off, he said: “As sure as the sun rises in the east and
sets in the west, Mugabe will not win in the second round.”
*Update
contains report on Press Briefing at Harvest House
Contact the
writer of this story, Roy Chinamano at :
harare@zimbabwemetro.com
17:27 GMT, Saturday, 24 May 2008 18:27
UK
|
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will win Zimbabwe's 27 June run-off presidential poll, as he returned to Harare after weeks abroad. The Movement for Democratic Change leader accused the ruling Zanu-PF party of seeking to "decimate" opposition structures ahead of the vote. His first engagement was to visit supporters hurt in political violence. Mr Tsvangirai's return was delayed amid an alleged army plot to kill him, which the ruling party said was "fantasy". Polls on 29 March saw the country's veteran leader, Robert Mugabe, lose his parliamentary majority for the first time in two decades in power. The MDC leader says he gained the more than 50% of the presidential vote needed to win without a run-off, but official results - released after long delays - said he gained 47.9%, with Mr Mugabe taking 43.2%. Mr Tsvangirai said the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) would meet on Tuesday to discuss the possible deployment of peacekeepers and election monitors, amid fears that a Zanu-PF campaign of intimidation is making a fair second round impossible. He said they would be of little use if not in place by 1 June. He said he had been impressed by the supporters he met in hospital, and that he would win the run-off election. "I saw people with scars and bruises. They said 'president, we will finish him off on June 27'." "If Mugabe thinks he has beaten people into submission, then he will have a rude shock on the 27 of June," he said. Police assault Mr Tsvangirai also said the recent deaths of more than 40 people - many of them Zimbabwean - in anti-immigrant violence in South Africa could be "directly attributed" to "Mugabe's failed policies of intolerance and repression". There are believed to be between three and five million foreigners living in South Africa, most of them Zimbabweans fleeing poverty and violence at home. Correspondents say Mr Tsvangirai has been criticised for spending the last seven weeks abroad while hundreds of his supporters have been beaten up and at least 40 killed, according to human rights and opposition groups. Hospitals have been struggling to cope with admissions, the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says, as a result of what is widely perceived to be a government campaign of intimidation against MDC supporters.
President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party denies supporting violence and says the West is trying to demonise Zimbabwe. Last year, Mr Tsvangirai was treated in hospital after being assaulted by police. He has also been arrested several times and accused of treason. Mr Mugabe has accused the MDC of fomenting violence since the disputed first round election. The BBC's Will Ross in Johannesburg says voting in the first round was fairly free and fair by Zimbabwean standards. But, he says, it is not clear whether Robert Mugabe will risk allowing the second round to be free and fair, because that could see him being trounced as Zimbabwe's worsening economic situation is turning voters against him. Mr Tsvangirai has spent nearly two months abroad, mainly in South Africa, trying to drum up international support. |
Reuters
Sat
24 May 2008, 12:28 GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) -
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe
on Saturday for an
election run-off with President Robert Mugabe and said
the veteran leader
wanted to "decimate" MDC structures.
Tsvangirai arrived at Harare airport
aboard a regular South African Airways
flight around 1030 GMT after
cancelling his homecoming a week ago after his
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) said it had learnt he was the target of
a military intelligence
assassination plot.
The government dismissed the plot as a propaganda
stunt.
Tsvangirai said at a news conference that Mugabe and the ruling
ZANU-PF
party had launched a concerted campaign against the MDC, which has
seen 42
people killed and tens of thousands displaced.
"ZANU-PF wants
to decimate MDC structures," Tsvangirai said, adding that
many opposition
officials were in hiding.
He said he was confident of victory, although
conditions are not conducive
for a free and fair election and ZANU-PF was
trying to destroy his MDC
before the run-off.
"The conditions on the
ground for a run-off are not perfect, and will never
be perfect. But we are
saying with the support of SADC (Southern African
Development Community),
putting in election observers and peacekeepers, we
can instil confidence in
the people of Zimbabwe".
Tsvangirai has been travelling abroad since
April 8 on a diplomatic drive to
pressure Mugabe to surrender power
following a March 29 presidential poll,
which he says he won
outright.
But Zimbabwe's electoral commission says he did not get enough
votes for a
straight victory and must face Mugabe in a June 27
run-off.
PEACEKEEPERS
Tsvangirai said the regional SADC will hold
a meeting on the run-off vote
next Tuesday at which sending regional
peacekeepers to Zimbabwe will be
discussed.
"But I told them that by
the 1st of June they should put these people on the
ground otherwise we
don't need them. You can't have peacekeepers and
observers two weeks before
an election because they will not be of any
benefit. What we want is a
complete demilitarisation of the situation," he
added.
SADC, which is
due to monitor the run-off, said earlier this month that
conditions were
neither safe nor fair yet for a fresh vote.
Zimbabweans hope the run-off
will start recovery from an economic collapse
that has brought 165,000
percent inflation, 80 percent unemployment, chronic
food and fuel shortages
and has sent millions fleeing to nearby countries.
The MDC has vowed to
"bury" Mugabe in the run-off, ending his uninterrupted
rule since
independence from Britain in 1980.
But the 84-year-old veteran leader has
also vowed that he will win the June
27 poll because his ZANU-PF could not
afford to lose power to an opposition
backed by "white
imperialists."
Mugabe says the MDC enjoys the backing of Western powers
out to oust him
over his seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless
blacks. The MDC
denies the charge.
Mugabe's party lost control of
parliament on March 29 for the first time
since it came to power, and the
opposition says the former guerrilla leader
can only win the June 27 re-run
through violence and vote rigging.
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 24 May 2008
HARARE, May 24,
2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
called Saturday
for peacekeepers and election monitors from the 14-member
regional body SADC
to be deployed in Zimbabwe by the end of May.
Tsvangirai is to face
veteran President Robert Mugabe in a run-off election
on June 27 and has
asked the South African Development Community (SADC) to
assist in organising
a free and fair election.
"I have discussed with the chairman of SADC as
far as monitors and other
peacekeepers," he told a press
conference
"I am hoping that on Tuesday when they meet they will be able
to concretise
but I told them by the 1st of June you should put these people
on the ground
otherwise we don't need them.
"You can't have
peacekeepers and observers two weeks before an election they
will not be of
any benefit," he added.
No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the
first ballot and teams from
the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) and the African Union (AU)
were widely criticised for giving it a
largely clean bill of health.
The Sunday Times
May 25, 2008
Douglas Marle
ROBERT MUGABE flew to the Far East
last week for the kind of medical
treatment no longer available in his
run-down hospitals in Zimbabwe, leaving
loyalists in the ruling party to
wonder who was really in charge with just a
month to go before a run-off in
the country’s presidential election.
Sources close to the government said
the 84-year-old president travelled to
Singapore on Wednesday to undergo
tests for prostate cancer. He was due to
return home today.
Yesterday
the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, also returned to Harare,
the
capital, with the aim of defeating Mugabe in the election on June 27.
Tsvangirai had planned to arrive last weekend but pulled out after his party
announced he was on an army hit list.
For Mugabe – who has been in
power for 28 years but faces a fight for his
political life after losing the
first round to Tsvangirai in March – to
leave last week suggested the visit
was urgent. He is thought to have had
cancer for some time; observers said
the trip might indicate a deterioration
in his condition.
Sources
close to the government said the tests were being conducted by a top
Malaysian urologist who was also known to have provided “certain financial
services” for Mugabe.
In recent years the Far East has become a
favourite destination of the
president and his much younger wife, Grace, who
are banned from Europe and
America. Most of their assets were transferred to
the region after western
sanctions were imposed. Family members continue to
be educated there and
Mugabe has a close relationship with Mahathir Mohamad,
the former Malaysian
prime minister.
The man who has increasingly
taken charge of security in Zimbabwe is
Emmerson Mnangagwa, head of the
Joint Operations Command (JOC), who was
widely associated with a massacre of
20,000 Ndebele tribesmen in the 1980s.
Mnangagwa, whose reputed brutality
earned him the nickname “the Crocodile”,
made his way to power by becoming
indispensable to Mugabe. He and his
tightknit group of top military and
security officials in the JOC are
directing the current violent course of
events.
They are running Mugabe’s campaign and masterminding the violence
being
unleashed against Tsvangirai’s supporters.
Tsvangirai’s arrival
at Harare airport signalled his determination to
contest the run-off despite
concerns that it will be rigged. “I feel quite
safe,” he said as he left
South Africa, where he had spent much of the past
weeks lobbying regional
leaders.
Police were out in force along the road into the city. The
56-year-old
opposition leader has survived three assassination attempts and
was taken to
hospital last year after a brutal police assault at a prayer
rally.
Back in Zimbabwe, he first visited victims of the violence in
hospital and
then attacked Mugabe, saying the president wanted to destroy
opposition
structures before the run-off. He rejected any idea of a
government of
national unity.
The violence has grown worse by the
day. Last week there were reports of
villagers in opposition areas having
their hands crushed in wooden bowls
used for pounding maize so that they
cannot vote. At least 48 people have
been killed and hundreds injured since
Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party lost the
elections.
Hospitals are
inundated by the victims of violence and there are shortages
of basic
medical materials. “We have come across injured women in hospital
who have
no idea who is taking care of their babies and children,” a
hospital worker
said.
Mnangagwa and his prime organisers – General Constantine Chiwenga,
the
commander of the Zimbabwe defence force, and police commissioner
Augustine
Chihuri – are leaving little to chance. They are said to be even
more afraid
than Mugabe of the consequences of the president’s loss of
power. They might
well face trial, whereas Mugabe could be granted
immunity.
A highly structured organisation involving the army, air force
and prison
services, as well as officers of the feared Central Intelligence
Organisation, has been put in place to campaign against Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to enforce support for Mugabe and to
intimidate the rural electorate who deserted him in the first
round.
With nearly 50 known murders of MDC activists, hundreds of
beatings and
thousands displaced from their homes, some Zanu-PF officials
are wondering
whether the whole enterprise might not be counterproductive
when polling day
comes.
Undeterred, Mnangagwa and his henchmen
pressed on last week, dismantling a
network of local agents from the
Zimbabwe electoral commission and
recruiting trusted military figures to
replace them on polling day.
Bankrolling their entire operation was
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe. At the same time, he
cannily let it be known in Harare
that he had warned Mugabe at the outset
about the cost of a run-off,
estimated at US$60m.
He also warned that
a run-off could further destroy national unity and that
Mugabe would
probably lose again.
Even if the “securocrats” manage to beat and rig
their way toa Mugabe
victory, how long will their politically weakened and
sick candidate be able
to hang on in office; and who will take charge when
he goes?
One man thinks he has the answer: Mnangagwa. One report last
week said he
had developed a “vice-like grip” on government. It was an apt
description
for “the Crocodile”.
The latest report produced by Solidarity Peace Trust is titled ‘Punishing Dissent, Silencing Citizens’ and can be downloaded in either pdf or msword format from their website here. The Executive Summary is reproduced below.
Executive Summary
The 2008 Harmonised Election in Zimbabwe was arguably the most historic of the post-independence elections, as for the first time in the last 28 years the ruling party lost its parliamentary majority and the President lost the first round of the Presidential election. This result represented the culmination of a decade of political and civic opposition to a former liberation party whose legitimacy has been greatly eroded by nearly three decades of intolerant rule. At a national level it is a clear message that despite the extremely harsh and repressive political environment in which elections have been conducted in Zimbabwe, the people of the country found the “resources of hope” required to say no to continued authoritarian rule. For the former liberation movements in the region this is also a message of the capacity of once venerated liberation parties to degenerate into unpopular cleptocracies. However it is the violence that has been unleashed by the Mugabe regime on Zimbabwean citizens that has demonstrated the hollowness of Mugabe’s anti-colonial message, with the real targets of his party’s onslaught being the impoverished and battered citizens of the country. The conduct of ZANU PF since the March 29th elections has encapsulated the degeneracy of the Mugabe legacy, and the security threat that this regime now poses to Zimbabweans and the region. The report that follows is a narrative of hope, thwarted by a leader and political party who view the source of their legitimacy not as the electoral process, but the combination of a selective imposition of a liberation legacy and the brutal deployment of political compliance.
The election took place within the context of the SADC mediation process led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, which provided limited electoral reforms and engendered a more free and fair electoral environment. The mediation’s intention was to get political parties in Zimbabwe to agree on processes that would lead to a generally acceptable election. However, the mediation ended in early 2008 with key issues, such as a new constitution, undecided and the unilateral decision by President Mugabe to set the date for the election on March 29th 2008. Nevertheless one of the electoral reforms agree on in the mediation process, namely the requirement to post all election results outside polling stations in the presence of candidates and election agents, was to provide the opposition with a key mechanism to track election results.
After over a month of delay before the release of the election results the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) finally announced that the combined MDC won a majority of 109 seats in Parliament against ZANU PF’s 97 seats, thus defeating the ruling party’s majority in the House of Assembly for the first time in the post-independence period. The more controversial Presidential count gave 47.9% of the vote to Morgan Tsvangirai, 43.2% to Mugabe, 8.3% to Makoni and 0.6% to Langton Towungana. However the less than 50% plus one victory for Morgan Tsvangirai means that there will have to be a re-run of the Presidential election. This will take place on the 26th June 2008.
After the enormous controversy surrounding the delay and the final count of the election the most shocking development of this election has been the state-sponsored brutality that followed the ZANU PF parliamentary and first round Presidential defeat. As the report makes clear the violence that has been inflicted on the Zimbabwean citizenry was carefully planned by a combination of army, police and CIO officials at a meeting in Nkayi in mid April. This followed the threat of violence made by both Mugabe and the security chiefs in the pre-election period, threatening retribution against the people of Zimbabwe in the event of a ZANU PF electoral loss. In the words of the brigadier at the Nkayi meeting, “if we lose through the ballot we will go back to the bush.”
The Report makes it clear that ZANU PF has embarked on a systematic programme of retributive violence in response to its electoral defeat. The major features of this violence are:
www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 24th may 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
They say that
a picture speaks a thousand words and if that is true then a
deafening roar
filled the African sky this week. We have seen images so
dreadful that they
are haunting our thoughts and are etched into our
memories. From The
Zimbabwean newspaper comes the picture of a victim of
political violence. A
22 year old woman beaten so badly that her buttocks
have been reduced to
cavernous holes." A mess of raw flesh" is the
description used by Peter
Oborne, the shocked writer who met Memory, the
young mother of two who was
beaten in the playground of her childhood school
along with others accused
of being MDC supporters.
Pictures and reports such as these are not new
in Zimbabwe. They have become
a part of our lives - a tragic record of a
country that has lost its way and
is crying out for help. Then came the
other images that shocked us even
more.
The picture of a man burning
alive on a road in a South African town is a
sight too cruel for words. He
was the victim of an attack against
foreigners. Then came pictures of mobs
of men armed with sticks, throwing
rocks, beating people and chasing away
their own neighbours. Now the
pictures are of many thousands of frightened,
homeless people taking shelter
in police stations and churches and reports
that the violence against
foreigners has spread to other South African
cities.
For the last eight years South Africa has been a place of safety
for
Zimbabweans - an oasis of sanity and an orderly, law abiding, normal way
of
life. Even though the South African government chose not to speak out
about
events in Zimbabwe, ordinary people opened their homes and hearts to
us;
they could not have been more caring, supportive and compassionate to us
and
our plight.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans are living in
exile in South Africa.
They have left home not because they wanted to but
because they had to. Many
left here with wounds, injuries and physical
scars, others with memories of
extreme trauma but always it has been the
great kindness and support of our
neighbours that has helped heal the
wounds, restore dignity and begin the
process of healing.
The
eruption of violence against foreigners, many of whom are Zimbabweans,
has
left us in deep shock here. How can it be, that without warning and when
Zimbabweans need support and refuge more than ever before, this can be
happening across the border. Our temporary sanctuary, the place where we
felt safe and could find food, friendship and compassion has suddenly gone.
Which way now for our poor people? Too frightened to stay, too frightened to
go.
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.
Monsters and Critics
May 24, 2008, 12:31 GMT
Johannesburg - Over
2,000 people marched through central Johannesburg
Saturday in protest over
the recent spate of xenophobic attacks that have
claimed the lives of at
least 44 mostly African migrants.
Waving placards reading 'We are all
Zimbabweans' and 'Xenophobia hurts like
apartheid' the diverse crowd of
South Africans and immigrants wound its way
through the central business
district to a church that shelters hundreds of
illegal Zimbabwean
migrants.
Immigrants from Kenya, Cameroon, Mozambique and Angola marched
under the
flags of their country.
Zimbabweans were also present in
large number among the protestors, some of
whom wore t-shirts marked
'amakwerekwere' (foreigner) - a term used
derogatorily in South
Africa.
The protest was organized by a coalition of non-governmental
organizations
on the eve of Africa Day, a day on which Africans celebrate
continental
solidarity but which looks set to be overshadowed this year by
the violence.
Nearly two weeks of attacks aimed mainly at driving African
migrants out of
poor communities continued Saturday in a township near
George in the Western
Cape. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse rioting
residents, who
attacked and looted foreign-owned shops.
East of
Johannesburg, a man was shot dead by one of the soldiers deployed to
help
police restore calm to the townships around the city, which have seen
the
worst of the violence.
The defence department said the soldier shot the
man in Springs Friday night
after the man pointed a firearm at him during a
police raid.
Earlier this week, President Thabo Mbeki gave the green
light for the army
to be deployed to assist the police in fighting mobs that
have have turned
on migrants living in their midst, accusing them of taking
jobs and public
housing.
Since a speech decrying xenophobia a week
ago Mbeki has been remarkably
quiet on the crisis, which has shattered South
Africa's tolerant image.
'Where are you Mr President?' a banner carried
by one protestor in
Johannesburg read.
Acting Foreign Affairs
Minister Zola Skweyiya said Saturday he was worried
that the attacks could
fuel tensions between South Africans and other
Africans.
People scatter as a South African police officer raises a shotgun outside the Central Methodist Church which houses hundreds of foreign immigrants, after South Africans attempted to attack them in Johannesburg, South Africa, 24 May 2008. Thousands of protesters marched in downtown Johannesburg to protest the recent attacks against foreigners that left over 40 people dead, hundreds seriously injured and some 15,000 displaced. EPA/JON HRUSA
May 24, 2008, 15:59 GMT
SABC
May 24, 2008,
18:15
Zimbabweans working on farms around Musina in Limpopo have vowed
not to go
back home despite the incidents of xenophobic attacks in South
Africa.
It is estimated that 90% of the work force in the Musina area are
foreign
nationals. Most Zimbabweans enter South Africa through the
Beitbridge border
post. The majority of them feel it is better to remain in
South Africa than
to go back home to starve.
The wave of attacks on
immigrants left over 40 people dead and 20 000 more
displaced. Five hundred
people have been arrested since.
Earlier, authorities at the Lebombo
border post in Komatipoort in Mpumalanga
confirmed that the influx of people
through the border from South Africa has
increased dramatically since early
this morning. Officials from Home Affairs
have been deployed at the border
to assist as Mozambican nationals are
fleeing xenophobic attacks in South
Africa. The Lebombo border control
coordinator, Mbongiseni Msongweni, says
they have attended to a large number
of Mozambicans without
documentation.
africasia
JOHANNESBURG, May 24 (AFP)
South African President Thabo Mbeki said Saturday
that anti-immigrant
violence that has raged for nearly two weeks was a
"humiliating disgrace for
our nation."
"Today we are faced with a
disgrace... a humiliating disgrace for our nation
where you have a handful
of people, a minority in our community, that
decides to commit crime against
fellow Africans," he said during a speech in
the Eastern Cape region, state
SABC radio reported.
He added: "That's something we have to act against
very firmly, and stop."
The Red Cross in South Africa said Saturday it
was caring for 25,000
displaced people following nearly two weeks of
anti-immigrant violence amid
emerging evidence of a humanitarian crisis.
IOL
May 24 2008 at
04:58PM
The South African government failed to act on a warning
from African
ambassadors last month about impending xenophobic
attacks.
This emerged on Friday after a briefing with Safety and
Security
Minister Charles Nqakula and African ambassadors to South
Africa.
By Friday, the violence had spread to the Western Cape,
KwaZulu Natal,
Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga. At least 43 people have
been killed and
more than 23 000 displaced.
Police had their
hands full trying to staunch looting in Cape Town.
The group of
African ambassadors said a warning letter had been sent
to the department of
foreign affairs in April.
But on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister Aziz Pahad described
the violent attacks as "a totally unexpected
phenomenon". And Nqakula has
reportedly admitted the government had been
"caught off-guard".
At Friday's meeting, the ambassadors initially
appeared sceptical of
government assurances that the violence was under
control, that protection
of refugee concentrations would be stepped up and
that
intelligence-gathering would be increased to prevent further
attacks.
Xenophobic pamphlets warning foreigners to leave SA or be
killed
indicated a degree of organisation that some diplomats appeared to
find
disturbing.
At a time when the country's top three
politicians are abroad, the SA
government on Friday made its first public
apology.
"We are very much concerned and apologise for all the
inconveniences
that the incidents have caused," said Deputy President
Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, speaking from Abuja in Nigeria.
Mozambique declared a state of emergency to help its citizens fleeing
the
attacks. About 10 000 Mozambicans had returned home by Friday.
The
country's two most senior leaders - President Thabo Mbeki and ANC
President
Jacob Zuma - have yet to visit any of the violence-affected areas.
Mbeki, who was expected back on Friday night following an African
Union
meeting in Tanzania, condemned the attacks in a statement released on
Monday
- the day a photograph of a foreigner being burnt alive was flashed
across
the world.
On Wednesday, Mbeki authorised the deployment of the SA
National
Defence Force to help the police combat and prevent further
attacks.
Zuma was also expected home on Friday after a three-day
trip to
France.
Gauteng's worst-hit area, Ekurhuleni, is
sheltering up to 13 000
displaced people. They have experienced some of the
past week's worst
violence in 10 informal settlements.
Ekurhuleni municipal spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said most were
sleeping in
the metro's city halls and in 100 tents, each sleeping 10
people, which had
been set up outside the Primrose police station.
Policing efforts
would be stepped up at the weekend, he said. "Lots of
people are at home and
anything can happen."
This week's attacks have also affected
operations at DRDGold, where a
third of the workforce is foreign and two of
its miners were killed as
violence erupted in the Ramaphosa informal
settlement in Ekurhuleni.
On Wednesday, 58 percent of workers did
not report for work at ERPM in
Boksburg, but by Friday the situation was 85
percent normal, spokesperson
James Duncan said.
ERPM mine was
housing nearly 500 foreign workers in a place of
safety. - Additional
reporting by Sapa and AFP
This article was originally published on
page 1 of The Star on May 24,
2008
OhMyNews
Mbeki not competent to deal with issues facing the
country
Kgobalale Peter Moruthane
Published
2008-05-25 03:13 (KST)
"Citizens from other countries on
the African continent and beyond are
as human as we are and deserve to be
treated with respect and dignity," said
South African President Thabo Mbeki
on Monday. "South Africa is not and will
never be an island separate from
the rest of the continent."
Since then there have been several
xenophobic attacks on foreigners in
the country. Many people are saying that
Mbeki does not have power to stop
it.
On Thursday, Limpopo
became the fourth province in which attacks were
reported. Mozambicans
living in the area of Mohlaletse in the Sekhukhune
regions were attacked on
that night. Two of them are being treated at Jane
Furze
Hospital.
Around the country, some 43 people have lost their lives
and more than
20,000 have been evacuated from their shacks or homes since
the start of
this phase of xenophobic attacks several weeks
ago.
Speaking at an African day event at Sandton Convention Center
in
Johannesburg, Zolo Skweyiya of the office of foreign affairs said this
behavior had tarnished the good name of South Africa internationally.
Skweyiya said he is afraid that these attacks will end up causing tension
between South Africa and nearby countries.
Foreign Affairs
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma called the violence
embarrassing to the
government. Dlamini-Zuma believes the attacks are caused
by a mobilized
group of people whose intentions are to steal rather than
plough. She is
promising that her department will deal with this matter
carefully and very
seriously.
Opposition parties and others have said Mbeki is not
competent to deal
with the issues worrying the country. Buti Manamela,
secretary general of
the Young Communist Party, said Mbeki had failed to
deal with the issue of
HIV/AIDS and failed to mediate the political crisis
in Zimbabwe. There's
nothing to suggest that he won't now fail to deal with
the xenophobia.
SABC
May 24, 2008,
07:15
Secretary General of the Young Communist League, Buti Manamela has
reiterated the position of the SA Communist Party that President Thabo Mbeki
should step down. Earlier this month ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa and
leading National Executive Committee (NEC) member Tokyo Sexwale also called
for the President to step down.
Manamela says President Mbeki has
failed the country in dealing with
HIV/Aids challenges as well as
overlooking the crisis in Zimbabwe. He was
addressing the party's 86th
anniversary fund raising gala dinner in Phokeng
in the Rustenburg area in
North West last night.
The dinner, which was held under the theme True to
our History, was attended
by amongst others Phosa, the Congress of SA Trade
Unions (Cosatu) Acting
President Sdumo Dlamini and ANC Youth League
President, Julious Malema.
During his address Manamela also said
President Thabo Mbeki should release
himself from his position before next
year's national general elections.
Meanwhile, Manamela has urged the law
enforcement agencies to bring to book
the perpetrators of ongoing xenophobic
attacks that had claimed 43 lives
across the country.
The Zimbabwean
Thursday, 22 May
2008 08:48
BY CHENGETAI MUPARA
HARARE – On May 17 at around
midnight my mother, Reverend Winnet
Mupara of the United Methodist Church's
Chitakatira Circuit and brother
Guyson Mupara (27) were savagely attacked by
vigilantes loyal Mugabe's Zanu
(PF) at their house in
Chitakatira.
This group was acting on the express instructions of
Zanu (PF) and my
cousin, Grace Mvududu, who stood as a Zanu (PF) candidate
for Councillor in
Gombakomba (near Mutare) and lost to the MDC.
The
group was let into the house when one of them knocked on the door
and stated
that she was Mrs. Marange, wife of the priest of the neighbouring
parish;
that she had stayed out late and would like a place to sleep before
continuing her journey the following morning. My mother opened the door to
what she believed to be a wife of a colleague who needed help. To her
disbelief the woman was leading a group of young men and women in military
uniform.
The group informed my mother and brother that they had
information
from their leader Grace, to the effect that: 1. They were
staunch supporters
of the MDC; 2. the group had reason to believe that MDC
paraphernalia
(cards, t-shirts, fliers and other campaign materials) were
kept in the
house. 3; that my mother frequently preached MDC-friendly gospel
and/or
sermons to her congregation; and 4. that her son (Chengetai Mupara)
was a
known member of the MDC and is now living in the UK.
My
mother and brother were requested to surrender all the MDC
materials in
their custody. My brother and brother could not produce any of
the items
because they did not have any of it. They invited the group to
search for
these items anywhere in the house; they found nothing.
My mother and
brother were taken out of the house and immersed in cold
water. There were
then forced to sit down and lashed with makeshift whips
made of metal wires
and wood planks. They were lashed on the back, under the
feet and on the
buttocks. They suffered severe bodily injuries namely, loss
of skin and loss
of flesh and gapping wounds on legs, back and buttocks. My
mother lost
fingernails.
This torture happened in the presence of my mother's
granddaughter and
my cousin's daughter, who has mental health problems. Both
girls are below
the age of 10. The group stopped the beatings after two
hours and left
without making any arrangements for their victims to be
treated.
My mother and brother were taken away for treatment following
the
intervention of church members and leaders 10 hours later. Fortunately,
the
injuries are not life threatening, but we continue to monitor the
situation.
Blood is thicker than water. I implore my cousin Grace to
think long
and hard about what she has done to her own family in the name of
Zanu (PF)
and relations between us and you, your children and the rest of
our family
going forward? We cannot continue to have a situation of sister
turning on
sister, brother turning on brother, child turning on parent. For
what?
Inflation is now over 165,000% and rising; Life expectancy of 37
and
34 for men and women respectively and decreasing; Unemployment is 90%
and
rising; Sporadic essential services, inconsistent water and electricity
supply; Collapsed education and health delivery systems; No rule of law and
respect of human rights in general.
I remind my cousin Grace and
her Zanu (PF) colleagues, that there is
no good enough reason, least of all
political; to attack anyone, never mind
family, in Zimbabwe today. Our
nation is at crossroad. We are staring into
abyss.
This is not the
Zimbabwe we all want. The Zimbabwe we all love needs
change now more than
ever before. And yes, I say with no regret, shame,
apologies, fear or favour
that a vote for Morgan Tsvangirai on June 27, 2008
is a vote for the
Zimbabwe we want. We shall overcome!
We will bury the
confused cockroach regime
BY TS
HARARE - I was there at the
MDC rally of MDC last Sunday. It was
fantastic, ecstatic and the morale was
high amongst supporters. People are
just excited to vote for President
Morgan Tsvangirai again. I am one of
those people, who has vowed to campaign
vigorously for President Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The regime is on the
loosing end now. It is now ponderous, confused
and does not know what next
step to take besides abusing the army personnel
to campaign for it. It no
longer trusts its MP's. The regime is on its way
out. It’s going to be a
walkover for the confused former president of
Zimbabwe. We are excited to
think that we are going to vote again, and vote
this regime out for
good.
All those people like Chinamasa, Didymus Mutasa and Jabulani
Sibanda;
we will definitely try them, come hell, come thunder. There are no
two ways
about it. We will purge you Didymus, you are a thief, a liar and a
thug.
As for Jabulani Sibanda, you are killing people from Mashonaland,
where I come from. You are going to stand in the dock for it. You have
teamed up with those thugs. In fact, we want the regime to be brought to
book for its Gukurahundi atrocities. You will face it Jabulani.Rember that
people have vowed to go again and vote in millions for M.D.C.
Inflation is hovering at 700 000 % – a world record for sure. There is
no
food, the economy is now crippled, and you say Mugabe will win? This will
be
a miracle indeed and a world record, of course, if this regime wins under
such conditions. People are just excited again to remove this confused
cockroach regime and ready to throw it in the Hall of Fame for blood sucking
dictators, such as Idi Amin, Charles Taylor, Bokassa and others.
We
are just more than happy to go to polls again to just cast our
votes and you
will see what will happen to the dictator once it knows that
it has
lost.
xinhua
www.chinaview.cn
2008-05-24 20:41:35
HARARE, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chief Sogwala of
Lower Gweru in the
southern Zimbabwe Midlands Province has called on
traditional leaders to
mobilize their subjects and overwhelmingly vote for
Robert Mugabe in the
presidential run-off set for June 27.
He said voting for the incumbent president was the only way of
defending the
country from its erstwhile colonizer, Britain, which he said
is threatening
to reverse the gains of the country's independence, according
to The Herald
newspaper on Saturday.
He said chiefs and headmen had a duty to
safeguard and maintain
the fruits and gains of independence through
mobilizing their subjects to
vote against opposition MDC-T presidential
candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, whom
he said was a British-sponsored regime
change agent.
"After threats of the recolonisation of our
country by Britain
through their sponsored MDC-T almost became a reality in
the March29
harmonized polls, chiefs and headmen now have a big task ahead
of them of
mobilizing people to vote resoundingly for Mugabe. He has a track
record of
fighting imperialist forces and he actively participated in the
liberation
struggle of our country," Chief Sogwala was quoted as
saying.