The ZIMBABWE Situation
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Africa Day Statement from MDC President, Morgan
Tsvangirai
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 26 May 2008 05:40
My fellow
Zimbabweans
Today marks the 45th Anniversary of the founding of the
Organisation
of African Unity, now known as the African Union.
It
is a day that we must think of ourselves not just as Zimbabweans,
but as
Africans, with a common history of liberation and emancipation. It is
a day
that we must ask ourselves what is our role on the continent as
Africans?
For too long, Zimbabwe has been isolated, first from the
international
community and now from the African community, due to the
policies of
intolerance and repression imposed upon us by Robert Mugabe. For
too, long
we have suffered under the burden of economic hardship and poverty
as a
result of misguided policies.
For too long our potential to
contribute to the community of nations
has been wasted because of the
regime's wanton disregard for the rule of law
and disrespect for the dignity
of our people. These policies have now begun
to impact the region, with
horrific xenophobic attacks – Africans killing
Africans. Tragically, many
Zimbabweans who had to flee violence at home,
now face new violence in South
Africa. These poorest of the poor feel
betrayed, isolated and alone -- now
with nowhere to go.
We hope and pray that this madness will cease, and
that our country's
era of isolation will soon end. MDC's historic victory on
March 29th, will
result in a new era in Zimbabwe. An era where freedoms will
be restored, the
economy will be rebuilt and our peoples will be
healed.
Our victory again on June 27 will not only empower us to reach
our
full potential as citizens of this great nation, but will finally free
us to
realize our full potential as an equal nation of this great
continent.
Although the regime has tried to punish people for their
votes on 29
March, next month Zimbabweans will again join together and vote
for change.
By standing up to tyranny, by refusing to be silenced by
oppression, by
refusing to allow our futures and those of our children to be
betrayed once
again, the Zimbabwean people on 27 June will finally be
liberated once
again.
In the past eight weeks more and more African
countries have come to
stand alongside us in our fight for democratic
freedoms. Many of our African
brothers and sisters now acknowledge that what
has happened in Zimbabwe does
not resemble anything like the hope and
freedom first promised in 1980.
We all know that our election process
has been an embarrassment to
Africa. We appreciate the words of support and
commitment of our African
brothers and sisters to assist the Zimbabwean
people to hold an election on
27 June that peacefully and fairly represents
their will for change.
When we release ourselves from this oppression
at the end of June,
when the world realizes that our African brothers and
sisters assisted us
with this struggle, it will be a victory not only for
each and every peace
loving Zimbabwean, but for the continent as well. For
we will have shown the
world how Africans can overcome brutality, not with
guns and violence, but
with unity, courage and an unwavering belief in our
right to be free in a
democracy that we have built for ourselves.
My fellow Zimbabweans, the coming weeks will not be easy. Those who
fight
against freedom and democracy know that their days are numbered. They
know
that a new era of democratic governance is about to begin. We welcome
them
to change their ways and join our ranks.
The time is now to work
together to transform Zimbabwe into the
peaceful and prosperous nation we
dreamed of in 1980. We tasted freedom
then, and we will never stop
resisting oppression until we and our children
have freedom again.
My fellow Zimbabweans, the day that we take our rightful place as a
proud
member of the African family of nations is upon us.
May God Bless
Africa
I thank you.
Mugabe trying to destroy MDC structures, says
Tsvangirai
Business Day
26 May 2008
Cris
Chinaka
Reuters
HARARE
— Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe on
Saturday for
an election runoff with President Robert Mugabe and said the
veteran leader
wanted to “decimate” Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
structures.
Tsvangirai arrived in Harare after he postponed his
return for a week after
the MDC said it had learnt of a military
intelligence assassination plot.
The government dismissed the claim as
propaganda.
Tsvangirai told a news conference that Mugabe and the ruling
Zanu (PF) party
had launched a concerted campaign against the MDC, which has
resulted in 42
people killed and tens of thousands displaced.
“Zanu
(PF) wants to decimate MDC structures,” Tsvangirai said, adding that
many
MDC officials were in hiding.
He said he was confident of victory, though
the situation was not conducive
for a free and fair election. Southern
African Development Community
observers and peacekeepers would instill
confidence in Zimbabwe’s voters.
The MDC leader was cheered by party
officials at the news conference when he
vowed to “knock out” Mugabe in the
second round. “I was in the hospital
today, seeing people with scars,
wounds, all saying: ‘President, we will
finish him off, don’t let us
down’.”
Tsvangirai visited Alexandra in Johannesburg on Friday to urge
victims of
xenophobic violence to return home and vote. Rebuilding
Zimbabwe’s economy
required a political
solution.
Mugabe played the land card again yesterday. He
told a rally that
Zimbabweans in SA would be “given land if they returned
home”.
He accused US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee of political
interference
and threatened to expel him. According to Mugabe McGee had
publicly urged
Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe to lead the MDC to
victory.
Zimbabwe Opposition Condemns Death of Activist
VOA
By
Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
26 May
2008
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) has vowed to
win next month’s election run-off despite
escalated violence targeting its
partisans. This comes after one of its
treasury secretaries and others were
found dead after they were reportedly
abducted at gunpoint. The opposition
party described the deaths as a sad day
in the life of the party and vowed
to end the 28-year rule of incumbent
President Robert Mugabe in the
presidential run-off despite the ongoing
violence. The party is calling on
the international community to bring in
peacekeepers to end the violence
ahead of the run-off to ensure the
government does not maintain its grip on
power. From the capital, Harare MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa tells reporter
Peter Clottey that the MDC is sure
of total victory in the run-off.
“The security situation in the country
is very disturbing in the sense that
we are beginning to see a new
phenomenon a new trend of attacks and
assaults. People are being kidnapped
at night. People are being abducted,
and then they are found a couple of
days later dead or in a very bad state
by way of losing some organs of their
bodies. So, the situation is really
dire, especially after we found three of
our activists’ dead. We also just
today we received information that our
provincial treasurer for Mashonaland
East was abducted at gunpoint and has
been found dead. We have a lot of
other members who have been abducted
across the whole country and we cannot
account for their whereabouts,”
Chamisa pointed out.
He concurs that the ruling ZANU-PF party intends
destroying the opposition
party ahead of the election run-off.
“This
is carnage of the worst kind. That is what the president (Morgan
Tsvangirai)
was suggesting that the situation is so dire in terms of
consequences and in
terms of cost on human lives. We as politicians are not
so special as to as
why they want to eliminate us. We don’t deserve that.
And politics should
not be about the destruction of life. It has to be about
preservation and
construction of life. That is what the civilized life is
about. And that is
why we are calling for peacekeepers from the region, from
the AU (African
Union) and the international community to come in and make
sure this run-off
is a peaceful run-off,” he said.
Chamisa insisted the MDC is ready to end
President Mugabe’s 28-year rule in
the run-off.
“We are going to win
this election run-off. Any other outcome that does not
concern the MDC
victory does not reflect the wish of the people. The people
have spoken. We
have won the election, and we are going to win the election
again to let the
government know that our victory was not a fluke at all. In
fact it was the
consummation of the sentiments in the country,” Chamisa
noted.
On
Sunday at a campaign rally in Harare, President Mugabe reportedly accused
U.S. ambassador James McGee of political interference and threatened to
expel him from his country. Opposition spokesman Chamisa says the threat is
ridiculous and smacks the face of modern diplomacy.
“Mugabe is very
desperate, and he has also lost control of his tracts, and I
also suppose
his mind. There is no coordination in his government, and what
he says is
something that is out of sync with modern diplomatic process and
how it is
handled. Clearly Mugabe is not speaking on behalf of Zimbabwe; he
is
speaking as a desperate tyrant. That is the last kick of a dying horse,”
he
said.
Zimbabwe - hunting down
priests
ACN News: Monday, 26th May 2008 – ZIMBABWE
By John Newton and Eva-Maria Kolmann
MANY Catholic priests
are hiding for fear of their lives, because they are
being hunted down by
soldiers in Zimbabwe – a leading Catholic charity was
told this
week.
A priest, who must remain anonymous to protect his safety, informed
Aid to
the Church in Need of serious and ongoing human rights abuses
following
March’s elections in Zimbabwe.
He told ACN how people who
voted against Robert Mugabe’s party ZANU PF have
been kidnapped, tortured,
maimed and raped by soldiers – particularly in
rural areas.
“Many
Catholic priests and lay people are on the wanted lists of these
soldiers
and militia groups”, he said, “and many of them are forced to
remain in
hiding following death threats.”
Reprisals come after the Catholic Church
joined with other denominations on
8th May to speak out about the country’s
deteriorating human rights
situation, including the “organised violence” in
areas that did not vote for
ZANU PF.
Following the message in which
the priest called on all Catholics around the
world to pray for the people
of Zimbabwe, ACN called for solidarity with the
people of Zimbabwe and for
increased aid, especially for the local Church,
which is supporting
democracy.
ACN recently paid out an emergency grant of $30,000 for
Zimbabwe, and is set
to contribute more than $250,000 in aid over the course
of 2008.
The priest particularly asked prayers for those “who are
persecuting us,
because we have exercised our democratic
rights”
“Overwhelmed” with the victims of the political violence,
hospitals lack
even basic painkillers to treat the injured and
maimed.
For several months they have been unable to care properly for
patients
because of a shortage of medicines caused the country’s economic
crisis.
Speaking to ACN, the priest described how many streets are full
of people
living rough, because their houses have been looted and burned
down after
they voted for Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Although living on the streets they still face the threat of
further
reprisals.
“It is to be feared”, he said, “that the situation
will only get still worse
ahead of the run-off vote on 27th
June.”
Food is being withheld from those who did not vote for ZANU PF,
the priest
told ACN, and despite their best efforts Catholic dioceses are
unable obtain
any food for the hungry.
Inflation is running at more
than 160,000 percent, and food has been in
short supply for several months.
Last October MDC spokesman, Nelson Chamisa,
said “bread is as scarce than
gold”.
Attacks on civilians have been taking place since it emerged that
Morgan
Tsvangirai (MDC) had beaten Robert Mugabe (ZANU PF) in the 29th March
presidential elections.
The results gave Tsvangirai 47.9 percent of
the vote and Mugabe 43.2
percent, so although the MDC won, it failed to win
the majority necessary to
avoid a run-off election.
At least five
election officials were arrested last month for undercounting
votes cast for
Robert Mugabe.
While the government has launched an investigation into
the violence, MDC
said it was a “sham investigation” to deflect
international attention from
brutality by ZANU PF’s
supporters.
Morgan Tsvangirai delayed returning from South Africa to
begin campaigning
for the June 27th run-off because of claims of a plot to
assassinate him.
A report on post-election violence by Christian
human-rights organisation
the Solidarity Peace Trust, published in
Johannesburg on May 21st, contained
up to fifty eye-witness accounts of
orchestrated beatings, torture and the
destruction of homes and
shops.
Editor’s Notes:
Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the
Church in Need supports the faithful
wherever they are persecuted, oppressed
or in pastoral need. ACN is a
Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to
the world through prayer,
information and action.
Founded in 1947 by
Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named
“An Outstanding
Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in
about 145 countries
throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every
year including providing
transport for clergy and lay Church workers,
construction of church
buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to
train seminarians. Since
the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to
the Church in Need Child’s
Bibles have been distributed
worldwide.
For more information please contact the Sydney office of ACN
on (02)
9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to
the Church in
Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org
Humanitarian Intervention >
State Sovereignty?
http://commentary.co.za
Last week’s Economist included an interesting
article on the new wave of
thinking within diplomatic circles on the topic of forceful humanitarian
intervention. With the disasters of difference machinations arising in Zimbabwe
and Myanmar recently, the question has never been more pertinent.
The gist of the argument rests on the premise that,
in special circumstance, forcing military and humanitarian assistance upon a
state can be more important than that state’s own wishes. The classic case would
be the Kosovo War, which was never sanctioned by the UN’s Security Council, but
was carried out by NATO anyway, with great strategic success. The question,
then, is whether states should be obligated to intervene in similar
circumstances of dire humanitarian crises, like Genocide and Civil War,
regardless of what that state’s own opinions are?
I’m slightly conflicted about this. The realist in me
screams that violating a state’s authority by using the brute collective force
of the UN is akin to schoolyard bullying. Hell it doesn’t even prescribe to the
old-school methods of state sovereignty. I don’t think Hobbes ever envisioned an
entire global military force impeding upon a single state. On the other hand,
the idea is sound from a humanitarian perspective. Forcing horrid little
Communist fiefdoms and dictatorships to be subjected to international
intervention can create a lot of good in the world for obvious reasons. I don’t
think anyone would agree that Zimbabwe would be better off without a UN
presence.
But there are two major problems to this argument of
prying open the closed doors of insular yet chaos-ridden states. Firstly, and
perhaps less importantly, is the question of just where do we draw the line? The
Iraq War was justified under similar criteria, yet was hardly a clear-cut case
at the best of times. That’s not to say it wasn’t justifed. Saddam Hussein’s
self-imposed genocide upon his own people should - in the right context - be
cause enough for international intervention. Kosovo was a success story for
NATO, and provides impetus for the case of intervention, while Iraq is perhaps
pushing the line.
I believe the criteria can be identified by the UN,
and that it should be recognised. I just have no idea on what few points those
will be, knowing full well that the general assembly and SC will prune away any
and all important factors demanding intervention.
Secondly, and more importantly, is the problem that
that world just isn’t ready to walk the walk. For all the bleating about human
rights and sanctity of life and law and such rosy and warm rhetoric, the
international community and the UN is neither capable nor prepared in any moral
or physical capacity to actually enforce the values they preach down upon other
nations. It’s America and Britain, ironically, who are the only ones who
actually act on some semblance of moral imperative while the rest of the world
wails about the illegitimacy of their actions and the lack of due
process.
The UN isn’t ready to take so much responsibility
into their hands, nor do I think they will ever be. The international community
is too weak-willed to put their money where their mouth is, and the best we can
hope for is a quasi-benevolent unilateral interventionist state or states who
will act on their behalf. A UN-mandated obligation to pro-actively countermand
the sovereignty of states in times of dire crisis is a great sentiment, but will
remain just that. Much, I believe, like most of the UN’s policies.
John
Africa (or stand up for Zimbabwe)
Day
Famagusta Gazette
|
Robert Mugabe, who lost in the first
round back in March |
By
Roderic Pratt 26.MAY.08
As Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
joined many of his compatriots returning from sanctuary-gone-sour in
neighbouring South Africa to the lion’s den called home, celebrations went ahead
to mark Sunday’s Africa Day.
The reason for the politician’s risky return
home was to campaign for the presidential election run-off on June 27.
After six weeks out of the country he is seeking to warn the world that
opposition supporters face a concerted campaign of state-sponsored violence
ahead of the ballot to sap their resolve and ensure the re-election of President
Robert Mugabe, who lost in the first round back in March. The rest, as they say,
is history.
But so too is the delusion of safety for many of the four
million Zimbabweans who have fled their country, most to South Africa.
Those Zimbabweans making the journey home from there have been doing so
out of fear for their lives after the widespread violence against immigrant
workers in South Africa.
Sadly, that fear hangs over them and Tsvangirai
now back on home soil, making the celebration of unity ring hollow on the day
Africans are called upon to remember the 1963 formation of the then Organisation
of African Unity, now the African Union.
Although celebrations, concerts
and other events were staged around the continent and beyond, notably with an
important gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square scheduled for Monday, this
year’s collection of events has been dubbed “ Stand Up for Zimbabwe” Day, by
activists in line with an idea from the Treatment Action Campaign
(TAC).
In line with that, the group organised a march in Pretoria,
culminating in the presentation of a petition for South African President Thabo
Mbeki, calling on the government to take stronger action on
Zimbabwe.
Many blame the discredited Mbeki, not only for effectively
campaigning for turning a blind eye to the crisis in Zimbabwe, but also for the
resulting chaos on the ground in his own country, where the responsibility for
violence against immigrants has been laid at his feet for the complete political
failure over dealing with Zimbabwe.
The immigrant flow is now being
reversed, confirming that Mbeki’s actions have merely added to the woes of
Zimbabweans and caused division in South Africa.
That reached the point
on Africa Day itself, where the continent’s biggest-selling newspaper, the
Sunday Times from Johannesburg, called on Mbeki to resign for failing the nation
during the two-week spate of anti-immigrant violence, which necessitated the
deployment of the army.
Mbeki has already been ousted from the helm of
the ANC, and together with his brutal associate in Zimbabwe – incumbent Mugabe –
they make a sad presentation of African Union of the worst kind.
“He has
shown himelf to be not only uncaring but utterly incompetent,” said the
Johannesburg weekly of Mbeki. And as the fear of greater violence emanates from
his political compact with Mugabe, with 50 immigrants killed and 20,000 made
homeless, what else lies in store before they are both dethroned and exposed for
what they are, were or have become.
They provide little conviction for
the rest of a continent seeking to celebrate Africa Day, and represent a
disgrace to the continent.
While Zimbabwe burns
Boston Globe
May 26, 2008
WHEN South Africa
chaired the UN Security Council last month, it resisted
discussing the
crisis in Zimbabwe on the grounds that it was strictly a
domestic problem.
The rioting in South Africa this week over the millions of
illegal
immigrants living in the country shows that the troubles there
threaten
regional stability.
South Africa, the largest economy on the continent,
has long been a magnet
for immigrants, much like the United States in the
Americas. But the
dictatorial misrule of Zimbabwe's president, Robert
Mugabe, has forced
millions of his countrymen to flee over the last decade.
Between 1 million
and 3 million are living in South Africa, the largest
immigrant group there.
Unlike the United States, the South African economy
cannot provide jobs for
a vast number of its own people, let alone
immigrants. Casual labor in the
informal sector is still better than almost
anything available in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, reacting to internal pressure,
finally allowed a reasonably free
election in March. But the Election
Commission, apparently shocked by the
results, delayed reporting them for
five weeks. The commission said that
Morgan Tsvangirai, the chief opposition
leader, gained a plurality of the
vote but not enough to avoid a runoff with
Mugabe, scheduled for June 27.
Given the delay in reporting the vote and
informal tallies by independent
observers, it is clear that Tsvangirai won a
majority.
In advance of the runoff, Mugabe has unleashed his security
forces to harass
the opposition. The private International Crisis Group, in
a report last
week, predicted the runoff would be rigged in favor of the
incumbent unless
a deal was brokered for Mugabe to resign and for leaders of
his party to
join a coalition under Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai is in
South Africa, fearful of assassination if he returns home.
South African
President Thabo Mbeki, according to the crisis group, dislikes
the
opposition leader and wants one of Mugabe's associates to become
president.
Tsvangirai, however, is the popular vote leader and ought to lead
Zimbabwe
without having to endure the perils of an unnecessary runoff
campaign.
In South Africa, the army intervened to stop the violence
against
immigrants. Elsewhere in the region, other nations are ready to help
negotiate a transfer of power in Zimbabwe, but a mediation effort requires
leadership from the dominant nation.
The need for regional stability
and the plight of Zimbabweans, at home and
abroad, require Mugabe to step
down. This is South Africa's greatest test as
a regional power since the
fall of the apartheid government in 1994.
Millions are suffering because of
Mbeki's unwillingness to lead.
Zimbabwe steel firm draws interest
Business Report
May 26,
2008
ArcelorMittal South Africa, Africa's largest steel maker, will
consider
buying Zimbabwe Iron and Steel if the state puts it up for sale,
adding a
million tons of steelmaking capacity to the company's current 7
million
tons.
"We would be interested, but it's early days," chief
executive Nonkululeko
Nyembezi-Heita said at the weekend as the company
opened a steel reinforcing
bar plant in Maputo.
"The Zimbabweans
haven't made clear what their intentions are."
ArcelorMittal is
expanding production in southern Africa, where the economy
is growing at a
faster rate than in developed countries.
Extensive refurbishment work
would be necessary at the Zimbabwean plant,
which was not producing
"anywhere near its full capacity", finance director
Kobus Verster
said.
The stock fell 0.81 percent to R237.50. - Bloomberg
Zim inflation a million percent
News24
21/05/2008 16:52 -
(SA)
Harare - Weary Zimbabweans are facing a new wave of massive
price increases
that put many basic goods out of their
reach.
Independent finance houses said in an assessment Tuesday that
annual
inflation rose this month to 1 063 572% based on prices of a basket
of basic
foodstuffs. As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack
of locally
produced coffee beans cost just short of 1bn Zimbabwe dollars. A
decade ago,
that sum would have bought 60 new cars.
A loaf of bread
cost 200m Zimbabwe dollars - enough for 12 new cars a decade
ago. Fresh
price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board
announced up
to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for
wheat and the
corn meal staple.
The economy was on shop clerk Jessica Rukuni's mind as
she left the public
swimming pool in downtown Harare's central park with
three disappointed
children. She found the new admission price of 100m
Zimbabwe dollars - 30 US
cents - out of reach.
The divorcee's income
is the equivalent of about one US dollar a day. Her
family has one basic
meal a day.
One kilogram of chicken more than doubled to 1nb local
dollars Tuesday and
rental for a two-bedroom apartment rose from this
month's end to 22bn
Zimbabwe dollars - eight times the May
price.
Inflation will reach 5m%
The state Rent Board, where unfair
or inflated rental hikes are reported,
has had no working telephones for
several months, a telephone operator at
the Ministry of Housing
said.
In the economic meltdown, manufacturing industries, running at
below 30% of
their capacity, reported growing absenteeism by workers facing
soaring
commuter bus fares.
Economic analysts say unless the rate of
inflation is slowed, annual
inflation will likely reach about 5m percent by
October.
Zimbabwe's official annual inflation was given by the government
as 165 000%
in February, already by far the highest in the
world.
"The crunch is going to come when local money is eroded to the
point it is
no longer acceptable" in commercial activities or as earnings,
especially by
longtime ruler pres. Robert Mugabe's loyalists, said
independent Harare
economist John Robertson.
Already, more
transactions are being done in US dollars, both openly and in
secret.
Robertson said sectors of the economy - phone services, the
supply chain,
maintenance of equipment or manufacturing - may collapse one
at a time, but
a country continues to exist even in chaos or
anarchy.
"In the end, a country must fall into line with international
financial
standards to balance its books" as experience in once-inflationary
Latin
American countries has shown, he said.
He said that meant
re-engaging with international financial institutions,
lenders, donors and
investors traditionally dominated globally by Western
countries, the main
source of hard currency.
Mugabe has severed ties with the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank
and other financial organisations. But
Mugabe's "Look East" policy to
attract trade and investment from China and
Asia has yielded a fraction of
what is needed to halt inflation.
In
the fastest shrinking economy outside a conventional war zone, much of
the
nation's crucial savings have been used up in government borrowing and
spending without corresponding productive income.
"It is as though a
starving man has eaten his left foot and starts eating
his right foot to
survive in the short term," Robertson said.
- Sapa-AP
Migrants and Asylum seekers. where to get help in
Johannesburg
The Zimbabwean
Monday, 26 May 2008 05:43
Where to get
help:
Organisation
Address
Telephone
Services
Bienvenue Shelter
Terrace Road Bertrams
011 624 2915 / 079 304 5194 Emmanuel
- Shelter for refugee women and
children
- Counselling
- Legal services
Black
Sash
Kgotso House
Cnr Sauer and Anderson streets
Johannesburg
011 834 8361/5
- Legal protection
-
Counselling
- Referrals
Christians for Peace in
Africa
www.christiansforpeaceinafrica.co.za
christiansforpeaceinafrica@yahoo.comThis
e-mail address is being
protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled
to view it This e-mail
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info@christiansforpeaceinafrica.co.zaThis
e-mail address is being
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address is being protected from spam bots, you need
JavaScript enabled to
view it
011 888 6927 / 072 262 5302
- Assistance with applications
- Counselling
-
Guidance
City of Johannesburg Migrants' Helpdesk
CJ Cronje
Building
Cnr Loveday and Plein streets
Braamfontein
011 376 8685
- Counselling
- Assistance with legal
papers
- Guidance
- Crisis intervention
-
Referrals
Consortium of Refugees and Migrants in South
Africa
University of the Witwatersrand
Office 5B
South West Engineering Building
Braamfontein
011 717
4047
- Co-ordinating the work of NGOs specifically involved with
migrants
in South Africa
Group of Refugees without
Voice
Moving to new premises
011 333 1305
- Human
rights
- Assistance with legal papers
- Training
-
Language interpretation
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‘Disappointed’ Mbeki shares
dictators’ disdain
Business Day
Monday, 26 May 2008
Bryan
Rostron
DICTATORS
come in all shapes and sizes. The most common denominator, apart
from an
absolute lust for power, is that they despise their own people.
However,
when they are African dictators, even democratically elected, they
still
instinctively bow to an unwritten postcolonial code: the right of
African
tyrants to harass, kill and exploit their own people. This goes to
the heart
of the unravelling crisis in Zimbabwe — and the question of
whether the
shipment of arms from China has found its way to Harare.
The International
Transport Workers’ Federation insists they haven’t;
Zimbabwean officials
that they have.
But if these arms have indeed been furtively delivered,
it only
demonstrates, once again, the triumph of African leaders over their
own
people.
Originally, the turning back of the Chinese freighter
marked a moment of
historic importance. The about-turn was forced by union
solidarity across
several southern African countries — against their own
governments. SA’s
government was particularly pusillanimous, despite clear
legislation that
would have allowed it to take a humanitarian
stand.
Instead, in an action reminiscent of British dock workers refusing
to unload
South African goods during apartheid, it became clear that unions
here — as
well as affiliates in Mozambique, Namibia and Angola — would
refuse to
handle this lethal shipment. Yet now Zimbabwean officials claim
the arms
were transferred through Angola, while other reports suggest the
Mozambican
government may have smuggled them to Harare. Crucially, both
scenarios
emphasise the greatest secrecy,
to hide this act from their own
people.
The South African government has long given President Robert
Mugabe succour
as he has fixed elections and reduced the majority of his
people to penury.
Three years ago, when the rigging of a Zimbabwean election
was almost as
blatant as the current fiasco, Foreign Affairs Minister
Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma announced that the prospects for a free and fair poll
looked
excellent and lambasted the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(Cosatu)
for talking of a union blockade of Zimbabwe.
What
undoubtedly rattled the cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki, involved in a
tussle with the left of his own party and Cosatu, is that the main
opposition to Mugabe (and the key founders of the Movement for Democratic
Change) were leading trade unionists. You can see that Mbeki and his
acolytes would not find the trade union-inspired upending of a nationalist
government an enticing prospect.
Yet this is precisely what
happened at
the African National Congress (ANC) conference last December.
Mbeki was
resoundingly defeated in his attempt to stay on for a third term
as party
president. If there’s one link that binds that disparate alliance
that led
to the victory of Jacob Zuma, it is that the majority within the
ANC had
come to feel that their own president and his coterie viewed them
with
patrician disdain. Indeed, if there’s a link between Mugabe and Mbeki
it is
this evident disdain.
In a poem they are both sure to know, The
Solution, Bertolt Brecht asks: is
it not easier “to dissolve the people/ And
elect another one?”
It is the common complaint of dictators that their
own people are unworthy
of them. As the tide in the Second World War turned
against Hitler, the
fuhrer began to rant against the German people. Benito
Mussolini’s contempt
for Italians has been well documented. When heavy
losses of Italian troops
was reported to him, Mussolini approvingly replied
that the Italians need to
suffer in order to learn to obey. Judging by his
actions, it’s a sentiment
ruthlessly shared by Mugabe.
But what
of our own president? Mbeki’s biographer wrote in The Dream
Deferred of an
interview in which the president spoke “with more passion
than he usually
allows” about his shock on returning from exile in 1990.
Mbeki discovered,
in short, that black South Africans were a tremendous
disappointment to
him.
In the book, Mark Gevisser quotes Mbeki as saying: “These South
Africans are
not quite African, they’re European.” Gevisser continues: “The
bleak picture
he painted of a decultured South African society was one not
only of
dislocation but amorality too.” Mbeki also talked of “a slave
mentality”,
even among the black intelligentsia.
While apartheid
wrought incalculable damage, physical and psychological, the
internal fight
against apartheid was probably more decisive than the efforts
of exiles. Yet
clearly, to Mbeki, local blacks proved a great let down.
It is this
very disdain that many in the ANC have picked up. The alliance
against Mbeki
includes spurned internal United Democratic Front leaders,
trade unionists
who gathered strength in the dying days of apartheid, and
the overwhelming
majority of the party rank and file. Together, last
December, they
decisively rejected Mbeki’s condescension. You can’t fool all
the people all
the time.
Rostron is a freelance writer.
Skills from Zimbabwe needed —
evaluators
Business Day
Monday, 26 May 2008
Sue
Blaine
Education
Correspondent
JUST short of 60% of the foreign qualifications evaluations
done by the
South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) between January
and September
last year were for skilled Zimbabweans seeking work in SA, the
authority
said last week.
This is just the tip of the iceberg — a
lot of the Zimbabweans in SA (it is
estimated that there are up to
3-million) are in the country illegally and
are thus
undocumented.
“A lot of illegal Zimbabweans are teachers, a lot of
them are engineers;
they also come out of the government side of the
laboratories, lab
technicians, and a lot of them are medical staff and
nurses,” said Roy
Bennett, national treasurer of Zimbabwe’s opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Of the 17086 evaluations
SAQA did between January and September last year,
9756 (57%) were for
Zimbabweans wanting to use their evaluations to get work
permits, said Nadia
Coetzee, co-ordinator of the authority’s Centre for the
Evaluation of
Educational Qualifications.
The applicants had a broad range of
skills, from artisans to people with
doctorates, said Coetzee. “We tend to
see a sharp increase in the
applications for evaluation of foreign
qualifications from countries in
conflict situations and economic crisis, as
is the case with Zimbabwe.
“We see a broad range of qualified people
coming (from Zimbabwe) with very
high levels of education and training.
There are many artisans, but an
equally good representation of degrees and
(high-level technical)
qualifications. Many qualified teachers and engineers
are coming into SA.
Considering our country’s dramatic shortage in these
fields, these migrants
could be extremely valuable in helping us meet the
skills crisis and
transfer skills to our own people,” she
said.
Now many of these people, who could have made a positive
contribution to SA’s
regeneration, are flooding back across the Zimbabwean
border, having been
chased out by South Africans who blame them and other
foreigners for social
ills such as the high crime and unemployment
rates.
“A lot of them are working in the tourism and catering
industry,” Bennett
said. “Just ask your next waiter and he’ll probably be
Zimbabwean. Very few
of them are working in their profession, but if (SA’s)
system was more
friendly they could have been put to good use.”
A cause for hope, a time for celebration?
Pretoria News
May 26, 2008
Edition 1
The Africa that we celebrate today has changed for the
better in fundamental
ways over the past 40 years. However, it is still
haunted by symptoms of its
colonial and post-colonial past.
Four
decades after the leaders of African independent states established the
Organisation of African Unity - which was later to become the African Union
(AU) - on May 25 1963, we celebrate an Africa of great political promise and
growth potential, a rich mosaic of social and cultural diversity.
But
we also know an Africa where the horsemen of the apocalypse continue to
stalk the continent in the form of poverty, war, conflict, disease and
corruption.
The third wave of democracy that has swept over much of
the developing world
since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was
responsible for setting in
motion important changes across the African
landscape.
A vast majority of countries have opened their political
systems or have
acceded to some form of multiparty rule.
This helps
explain why many countries have not been averse to participating
in the
African Peer Review Mechanism, the innovative instrument of the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).
The advent of Nepad and
the African Union in 2001 and 2002 respectively
certainly created a new
ideological climate of participation and governance
and a fresh opportunity
to engage Africans in a collective moral enterprise.
As the
socio-economic blueprint of the AU, Nepad addresses critical deficits
with
regard to infrastructure, investment and resource mobilisation.
The AU
has also evolved a peace and security architecture the efficacy of
which is
being tested by the persistence of low and high-intensity
conflicts.
To add to Africa's dizzying array of challenges, its
importance has grown in
international affairs over the past decade or
so.
This has, in the main, been driven by growing commodity demand,
especially
by China, India and the US, and a belated recognition by the EU
of the need
for closer strategic ties with Africa.
In addition, the
US has proposed its highly controversial Africa Command,
the sub-text of
which is to enhance its security and economic interests.
This could stoke a
resource-based Cold War in Africa. But encouragingly,
economic growth
reached nearly 6% last year, the highest in 20 years.
This was
underpinned by improvements in macro-economic management and
windfall export
prices for crude oil, metals and minerals. This growth
performance will, of
course, mean very little if key problems are not
tackled. These include lack
of diversification in production and exports,
inefficient public
infrastructure and unreliable energy supplies.
Crucially, African
countries must increase financing for research and
development to encourage
innovation and productivity. But the stumbling
blocks to progress come in
the shape of authoritarian governments. Zimbabwe
is a dramatic case in
point.
An invigorated pluralism based on popular participation in
politics comes up
against a distinguishing feature of African states where
many are incapable
of meeting even basic social service
functions.
Indeed, pervasive corruption, cronyism and abuse of resources
have
undermined the very substance and neutrality of public
power.
This is compounded by the prevalence of rentier activities as
the mainstay
of the economy. Ruling elites are given to resource grabbing,
whether in the
collusive expropriation of land, special concessions for
natural resource
extraction, or modalities for privatising state-owned
enterprises.
Alongside the ambiguities of rentier groups, there is an
extensive zone of
economic activity that does not form part of the state
domain and is largely
informal. The informal sector thus absorbs a large
percentage of the labour
force - up to 80% now in Zimbabwe, 70% in Zambia,
45% in Nigeria, 60% in
Ethiopia and more than 50% in South
Africa.
The impact of poor governance practices, non-delivering state
institutions
and fragile civil societies has been felt most severely in the
economic and
social arenas. Much of African society is characterised by low
levels of
human development, widespread poverty, extreme inequality and
chronic
disease.
Cyclical drought, famine and food shortages add
another layer of human
insecurity.
It is especially the trauma of
poverty that haunts the continent, with
nearly 50% of its 840 million people
living below the breadline. The
HIV/Aids pandemic has become the crucible
that will, in many ways, determine
Africa's future, since it is cutting a
swathe of human destruction across an
already thinly stretched social
fabric.
There is a host of regimes that still resort to state-sponsored
and
sanctioned brutality because of growing opposition to their autocratic
rule.
Zimbabwe, again, is probably the most egregious recent
case.
There are also increasing levels of crime and lawlessness that make
the
African environment even more volatile and insecure: witness the tragic
consequences of xenophobic outrage in South Africa and levels of banditry in
Somalia. Trans-border organised syndicates have also found safe havens in
many countries; indeed, it is said that Guinea-Bissau is fast becoming
Africa's first narco-state with the growing influx of Colombian drug
lords.
Other West African coastal countries such as Guinea, Senegal,
Nigeria, Togo
and Ghana have also increasingly become transit points for
drugs destined
for Europe.
In such settings, it becomes difficult to
develop cultures that observe
basic human rights and civil liberties, let
alone the kinds of institutions
that can sustain them.
Civic,
political and media freedoms are trampled on with impunity, while
enforcement and oversight mechanisms are weak, if not
non-existent.
The narrative would not be complete without mentioning the
influence of
militaries and defence establishments which continue to shape
the nature of
politics in Africa. Defence expenditures - even in
cash-strapped countries -
still outweigh other social concerns and represent
a huge drain on public
resources.
Armies and rebel militias have been
the primary beneficiaries in some
resource wars that have been waged across
Africa, from Liberia and Sierra
Leone to the DRC, thereby further fuelling
ethnic conflict and communal
violence.
Development and governance in
Africa are, therefore, no more amenable to
quick fixes than the intractable
problems of tyranny, war, poverty and
famine.
Africa Day therefore
invites a solemn commitment from Africans not only to
address its daunting
challenges, but also to seize its manifold
opportunities.
Making this
an African century must not prove to be a false dawn, lest the
curse of
Cassandra befalls us all.
Dr Garth le Pere is executive director of the
Institute for Global Dialogue
Crackdown on the agitators
IOL
Lee Rondganger and
Sapa
May 26 2008 at 07:05AM
Two weeks after xenophobic
attacks hit Gauteng, police have launched
an intelligence-driven offensive
to root out the culprits they believe are
responsible for the
violence.
In the early hours of on Sunday morning, police, along
with colleagues
from the Joburg and Ekurhuleni metro police, raided scores
of houses across
Tembisa, hunting down suspected agitators.
Just after midnight in Tembisa, witnesses said a convoy of police
vehicles
snaked its way through the township in search of instigators.
When
arriving at a suspected troublemaker's home, police first knocked
and, after
receiving no response, kicked their way in.
At house after house
they rounded up suspects, confiscating weapons as
they went
along.
Working on intelligence gained from
operatives working in the
hotspots, officers went after a list of identified
instigators who have had
a hand in the wave of attacks on
immigrants.
The police operation comes after law enforcement
agencies were
criticised for their lack of intelligence, which could have
warned of the
pending violence.
During the raid, police
confiscated dozens of weapons that have been
used to commit the orgy of
violence that has left at least 50 people dead,
hundreds injured and
displaced more than 15 000 people.
National police spokesperson
Captain Dennis Adriao said: "We are
definitely looking at preventive
measures to stop the violence, and our
officers are out in full force across
all the hotspots. We will be using any
means necessary in terms of the law
to deal with the perpetrators."
Since the start of the violence,
police have arrested 700 people for a
range of offences, including murder,
damage to property and public violence.
Also on Sunday morning,
police arrested 41 people for public violence
at the Madelakufa informal
settlement in Tembisa.
The suspects were rounded up after a looting
mob began destroying
shacks believed to be owned by foreigners.
Police swiftly moved into the area with dozens of armoured vehicles
and
vans, and chased the mob through the narrow alleyways of the
settlement.
Officers broke down doors and dragged out
suspects.
In Ivory Park, a few kilometres away, police had their
hands full as
they tried to quell a spike in violence that spilt into that
area.
A marauding mob were running riot, going to suspected
foreigners'
homes and burning down shacks and looting them. After a running
battle with
the mob, police were able to arrest 25 suspects.
The violence that began in Alexandra, north of Joburg, 15 days ago has
spread to seven of the nine provinces in recent days.
Western
Cape police have had to deal with an upsurge of xenophobic
riots over the
past week, while violence has been reported in Durban,
Limpopo, Mpumalanga
and North West.
At the weekend, police arrested three people in
Mpumalanga, 47 in the
Western Cape, 57 in Gauteng, 12 in North West and
seven in Limpopo.
Since the violence erupted, thousands of
Mozambicans and Zimbabweans
have fled the country.
At least 1
000 buses have been hired by Zimbabwe's Movement for
Democratic Change to
transport affected countrymen home.
A total of 26 434 Mozambicans
had returned to the country, national
disaster management director Joao
Ribeiro said.
The Mozambican government has provided transport and
accommodation for
the displacees.
This article was
originally published on page 1 of The Star on May 26,
2008
'Things are better without foreigners'
IOL
Xolani
Mbanjwa
May 26 2008 at 07:11AM
Residents of Itireleng
informal settlement, north of Pretoria, believe
they are better off now that
the foreigners are gone.
In February, Itireleng exploded with
xenophobic violence - a sign of
things to come.
Hundreds of
Somalis, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans were attacked and
chased out of the
township.
And since then, according to local residents, crime
levels have
decreased.
When the Pretoria News team visited the
informal settlement recently,
locals said they could finally sleep with
their doors open again.
Politicians say a "third force" is behind
the recent surge in
xenophobic attacks in other informal settlements, but
Itireleng residents
said they were responsible for their own
actions.
They wanted foreigners out. But
they admitted there were criminal
elements who took advantage of the
situation.
Willy Racheku, who is unemployed, said they had grown
tired of living
with foreigners in filthy conditions. They called a
community meeting in
February to address various problems, including
crime.
"At that meeting we told foreigners they're not welcome in
Itireleng
anymore.
"The community took a decision and you can't
say that all residents of
Itireleng are criminals who incited violence
because they reached a decision
together."
After the meeting,
some foreigners left. Others refused, because they
had nowhere to
go.
Local resident Michael Meso said: "It was then that we
forcefully
drove them out."
Several foreigners were severely
beaten. Homes and shops belonging to
foreigners were looted and
torched.
About 11 locals were arrested for public violence, but
released on
warning a week later. They were cheered by the crowd at the
Atteridgeville
magistrate's court.
It is estimated that more
than 700 foreigners lived in Itireleng. Not
one is left.
The
residents have many grievances related to the foreigners.
Locals
accused residents of the neighbouring suburbs of Laudium and
Erasmia of
employing foreigners.
They also accused foreigners of accepting low
pay and thereby
"undermining" the government's efforts to implement minimum
wages. Some
apparently get paid R20 a day as domestic workers.
One woman said: "South Africans are used to the minimum wages now of
at
least R1 200 a month for domestic workers and when foreigners accept low
pay, they get the jobs and we are left with nothing.
"Those who
hire them are also to blame because they know there are
minimum wages that
have been set and should be followed."
Peter Morapedi, the head of
the community policing sector forum, said:
"We ran them (foreigners) out in
two days. We told them we don't want them
back. We never want to see them
here.
"We blame the government for allowing so many illegal
immigrants to
cross into this country.
"The government should
now have refugee camps for these people because
we don't want them here
anymore.
"Crime has never been so low in Itireleng. Cellphone and
cable theft,
house robberies and break-ins, rapes, gunshots at night and
especially at
the weekends are no more."
Morapedi has a logbook
where crimes are recorded. In the past week,
the only problem was a shebeen
brawl.
Foreigners, mostly Zimbabweans, first settled in Itireleng
in 2000.
Morapedi said: "We allowed them to stay with us because of
what was
happening in Zimbabwe. But in 2004 there were so many foreigners we
thought
they were outnumbering us."
Residents said another
reason that foreigners had to leave was that
the government ignored their
pleas for services.
"Every time we meet council officials they tell
us there is no budget
for roads, clinics, schools and all sorts of things
because there are so
many people who live in bad conditions in Itireleng.
The government doesn't
know that as many as 10 foreigners would share one
shack," said Meso.
Residents also accused police for not doing
enough to protect them.
Police spokesperson Captain Thomas Mufamadi
said: "All I can say is
that we have dealt with the xenophobic issue in
Itireleng.
"If people have any complaints, they should approach the
police
station."
Residents also accused "corrupt" Home Affairs
officials of "selling"
documents.
Foreigners were accused of
falsifying South African identity documents
by replacing pictures in stolen
ID books with their own.
Residents said the government should have
established refugee camps
for all foreigners instead of allowing them to
live with locals in informal
settlements.
Morapedi said: "Many
illegal and legal immigrants stay in informal
settlements.
"But
we are poor and unemployed and trying to survive with what we
have, through
grants and informal jobs. Foreigners are competing with us for
the same
things.
"Killing foreigners is bad and we never had loss of life in
Itireleng,
but it seems to us who live in these conditions that foreigners
are more
important to the government than its own people.
"That's why you see these attacks happening in informal
settlements."
The Itireleng locals have now warned that they are
considering chasing
foreigners from Laudium and Erasmia, where they have
sought refuge.
They said women who worked as domestic workers in
Laudium, Erasmia and
surrounding areas had been mugged on their way to and
from work.
"We will also drive them out of Laudium and Erasmia
because since
they've been there crime has shot up in that
area.
"We have found foreigners who enter here illegally at night
and we
call the police to come and take them away," said
Morapedi.
Residents are so determined to keep foreigners out of the
area that
they have established an office where foreigners, who were driven
out of the
area, have to report to before visiting their relatives, mostly
South
African wives and children, who were allowed to remain in their
shacks.
A South African woman married to a Mozambican said life was
difficult
without her husband.
"It's difficult to get him home
and it is not safe for him to be at
home. But since so many people have been
killed, I am grateful that nothing
happened to him during the violence," she
said.
Another said: "We sleep peacefully now. In the past we would
have
sleepless nights with gunshots in the middle of the night and
especially at
the weekends. Now the situation is normal."
This article was originally published on page 4 of Pretoria News on
May 26,
2008
Xenophobic attacks in
limpopo
Dispatch online
2008/05/26
Eleven
people were arrested after foreign nationals were attacked in
Limpopo,
police said on Friday.
Spokeswoman Superintendent Ronel Otto said a group
of people attacked homes
rented by foreign nationals in the Mohlalaetsi area
on Thursday night.
“They broke down the doors and entered the rooms,
demanding money.” A
28-year-old man from Mozambique was assaulted and
stabbed in the shoulder.
She said the mob took television sets, DVD
machines and set fire to three
rooms; two vehicles were also
damaged.
The injured man was taken to hospital for treatment.
A
total of 81 foreign nationals, 34 from Zimbabwe, 24 from Ethiopia and 23
from Mozambique were given shelter at the police station, she
said.
The eleven people arrested would be charged with murder, armed
robbery and
malicious damage to property.
Sapa /mm/jr 05/23/08 13-52
F1- Sapa