Z$1bn note highlights a foe that Robert Mugabe cannot threaten with violence

The Times

May 31, 2008

A Zimbabwean with two new Z$5 billion bills ? worth a total of £10

Jan Raath in Harare

President Mugabe has so far seen off his foes with a combination of violence, bribery and treachery. But there is one problem that is impervious to his usual strongarm tactics: Zimbabwe's decrepit economy.

The currency crashed unstoppably through a new low this week, passing 1 billion Zimbabwean dollars to £1, after the weekly Zimbabwe Independent quoted officials in the government statistics department as saying that inflation for the first three weeks in May was 1,700,000 per cent.

A fortnight ago the Central Bank introduced a Z$1 billion banknote, as well as a new species of notes called “special agrocheques” with a top denomination of Z$50 billion.

Since in 2006 the Central Bank removed three zeros from the currency, it means that the new note equals the Weimar Republic's highest note of 50 trillion marks, issued at the peak of its hyperinflation in 1924.

A pint of beer at Harare's cricket ground is Z$800 million. A 13-amp plug on Tuesday cost me Z$1.3 billion. Photocopying a two-page document came to Z$269 million. The Z$10 million note, introduced at the beginning of the year to reduce the snaking queues outside the banks, will not buy so much as a banana.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe estimates that next month the average family of six will need Z$350 billion to provide the basics for survival. This month the basket was Z$100 billion. “It is madness,” said Jeremiah Mawbe, a minibus driver. “I will never get that kind of money.”

Banks are struggling with the sheer volume of digits. A businessman supplied the Central Bank with stationery three weeks ago and invoiced it for Z$6 trillion. The bank sent the invoice back and asked for it to be broken down into three different invoices of equal amounts. “They said their computer software couldn't deal with so many zeroes,” the businessman said.

Worse is to come. On Wednesday the Government, which has banned the official issue of inflation figures, announced a pre-election sweetener that included boosting a modest fund meant to provide the extremely poor with medical attention, “from the current Z$20 trillion to Z$1.5 quadrillion”.

In November the annual budget for the entire Government, including the army, air force and police, was Z$7 quadrillion.

President Mugabe has an economics degree from the University of London, but appears oblivious to the fact that it is the relentless printing of money that is driving up prices and plunging the currency. He continues to claim, with increasing desperation, that the situation is “all part of a well-calculated regime-change agenda by the British”.

As the run-off on June 27 between Mr Mugabe and the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, comes closer, the need for paper money for the bankrupt Government will increase to astronomic proportions.

It needs to pay for a second election in three months, not just for the election infrastructure but also the costs of provisioning and paying thousands more militia members to subjugate the voters.

“They're printing money so fast but it's getting to the point that it's not fast enough,” John Robertson, a local economist, said. Even the state-run daily Herald newspaper reported this week that shopkeepers were charging up to 30 per cent commission to anyone paying with the Z$50 billion note. “This is not real money,” a cashier was quoted as saying.

This is alarming news for Mr Mugabe, who depends on a system of patronage paid to a vast network, from the machete-wielding militias to the Joint Operational Command, the committee of senior army, intelligence and police officers that direct the strategy for Mr Mugabe's political survival — and their own.

“The money is becoming valueless,” Mr Robertson said. “It won't be long before people start saying they don't want it, and I think it will start with the army. I won't be surprised if the generals are already saying, ‘We don't want that rubbish'.”

In June last year, the former American Ambassador, Christopher Dell, enraged the Government by forecasting that inflation would reach 1.5 million per cent by the end of 2007.

“It destabilises everything,” he said. “By carrying out economically destructive policies, the Mugabe Government is committing regime change on itself. The regime is reaching endgame.”

At the time, inflation was 4,500 per cent and the Zimbabwean dollar was 400,000 to the £. His forecast may have been precipitate, but not necessarily inaccurate.

No amnesty for perpetrators of violence: Tsvangirai

Zim Online

by Wayne Mafaro  Saturday 31 May 2008

HARARE – Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai promised to prosecute
ruling ZANU PF party militia accused of committing political violence and
human rights abuses if elected president in next month’s second round
presidential election.

Tsvangirai starts as favourite to win the June 27 run-off election after
polling 47.8 percent of the vote against President Robert Mugabe’s 43.2
percent in a first round ballot on March 29.

In an address to parliamentarians and local councillors of his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, Tsvangirai said there would be no amnesty for
perpetrators of political violence, adding that those beating or murdering
others because they held a different political view were committing crime
and would be prosecuted.

“There will be no tolerance or amnesty for those who continue to injure,
rape and murder our citizens,” said Tsvangirai.

“We consider these criminal acts, not political acts. Criminal acts will be
prosecuted,” he added, in remarks likely to harden Mugabe and his allies
said to be reluctant to give up power partly because of fear of prosecution
for crimes committed while in government.

But the MDC leader also appeared to reach out to ZANU PF, calling for a
restoration of the party that has been in power since Zimbabwe's 1980
independence from Britain.

"Instead of focusing on what divides us, we must now try to heal our nation.
This means that we can even talk about restoring ZANU PF," said the
opposition leader who has in the past said he was willing to work with
progressive elements in ZANU PF in a future government.

Tsvangirai urged his party to seek out “those peaceful members of ZANU PF”
and to cooperate with them where there was convergence of ideas and policy.

He said: "In the spirit of moving the country forward, let us seek out those
peaceful members of ZANU PF whose eyes are open to the disastrous state of
our nation. Let us listen to their views. Let us invite them where we have
policy agreements."

The opposition leader however ruled out cooperation with the "violent hawks"
in ZANU PF, who he accuses of masterminding political violence and murder
against MDC supporters in a bid to intimidate them to vote for Mugabe in the
second presidential election.

The MDC says at least 50 of its members have been murdered and more than 25
000 displaced in the violence that began immediately it became clear that
the opposition party had defeated Mugabe’s government in the March
elections.

ZANU PF denies orchestrating violence and instead blames the MDC of carrying
out violence in a bid to tarnish Mugabe’s name.

Looking ahead to a post-election transition, Tsvangirai said his government
would launch wide-ranging reforms on the economic, political, security and
judicial fronts in effort to get Zimbabwe working again.

The civil service, judiciary, army and police would all be reformed but the
opposition leader ruled out a purge of senor officials who served Mugabe’s
government.

Tsvangirai also promised to set up a Land Commission to tackle the divisive
issue of land ownership and redistribution.

Meanwhile MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told ZimOnline that about 20 heavily
armed men and dressed in Zimbabwe army uniform beat up his parents and
siblings in rural Gutu South constituency as punishment for having voted for
the MDC in March.

The armed men – who said they were looking for Chamisa and want to kill
him – proceeded to beat other villagers in the area for electing MDC foreign
affairs secretary Elphius Mukonoweshuro as their Member of Parliament.

“They said they wanted my heart and want to kill me. They beat up my
80-year-old grandmother and then went on to attack the whole village, from
ward to ward,” said Chamisa.

Even Chamisa’s younger brother still attending primary school was forced to
lie prostrate on the ground and heavily beaten, before the gangsters
ransacked the Chamisa homestead and took away radios and other electronic
gadgets. – ZimOnline.

Army raids Chamisa ’s home

Counting votes - and bodies

Leader
The Guardian,
Saturday May 31 2008

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, claimed yesterday that
Robert Mugabe's party no longer ruled the country. This is technically true.
The Movement for Democratic Change won a majority of seats in parliament
after the first round of elections on March 29. But a bitter, and probably
bloody, month of campaigning lies ahead before Mr Tsvangirai can really put
his claim to the test in the presidential runoff.

Mr Tsvangirai called for "peaceful members" of Zanu-PF to participate in
talks over a national unity government. The offer was instantly dismissed by
the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, who likened the MDC's political
platform to "a declaration of war". In the meantime, a real war is being
waged on MDC supporters. Bands of soldiers, war veterans and Zanu-PF
activists have been terrorising outlying rural areas which voted against the
party and Mr Mugabe in the first round. They have razed villages and beaten,
tortured, abducted and murdered MDC activists. The body of one was found
this week with his eyes gouged and his tongue cut out. At least 50 people
have been killed, 1,600 treated in hospital and 50,000 forced from their
homes.

This campaign is targeted against specific areas and people: those most at
risk are second- and third-tier MDC activists, people with no international
profile living in areas cut off from the global information village. It is
premeditated violence, designed to instil the fear of God into the rural
heartlands of the country which deserted Mr Mugabe in the first round. By
the time the runoff is held on June 27 the roving bands of killers will have
melted into the night, but the memory of them will linger on - or at least
that is the intention.

These are tried and tested tactics of intimidation. And they have worked
before in taming unruly provinces. A brigade of soldiers trained by the
North Koreans put down a rebellion in Matabeleland at the cost of 20,000
lives between 1982 and 1985. It was called the gukurahundi (the rain which
washes away the chaff before the spring rains). A similar, though lesser,
downfall is washing away opposition support in three provinces of
Mashonaland in northern Zimbabwe. The question that must be preying on Mr
Mugabe's mind is: will it work again?

He can not be sure. Here the narrative switches from atrocities that should
be referred to an international court, to a parallel world of cold,
political calculation. Mr Mugabe needs to find 200,000 votes. He has already
dealt with 50,000 of them, by forcing MDC supporters from the villages where
they can cast their votes, and he is guessing that the reign of terror in
the north will account for the rest. The MDC is also doing its sums. Mr
Tsvangirai won the first round by a six-point margin or 160,000 votes. Add
to that the vote gained by Simba Makoni, the Zanu-PF renegade supported by
one faction of the MDC, and a further 170,000 votes will be gained. More
votes can be culled, the MDC claim, from higher turnout, and voters
returning home from abroad. But their real hope is that the campaign of
violence will backfire against its perpetrators, and will harden the resolve
to get rid of a dictator in the dying days of his regime.

This may be just another example of misplaced optimism. No one will know
until the ballot takes place. In the meantime, the fate of thousands of
Zimbabweans lies in the hands of the Southern African Development Community,
who have this week been deciding how many observers to send. There are 9,000
polling stations to monitor, theoretically entailing a force of 18,000
observers. This is unlikely, as the SADC only mustered 200 people for the
first round. But if the SADC is going to send in a substantial force, it
needs to be dispatched now. Wait any longer and calm will have returned to
Mashonaland. But it will be the peace of the grave.

Zanu-PF finds scapegoats for losing elections

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com

May 31, 2008

MUTARE - The Zanu-PF leadership in Manicaland Province has accused the
police force and parastatals for being responsible for the party’s dismal
performance in the March 29 elections.

Some government institutions also came under fire from the Zanu PF
leadership.  They say parastatals and key government institutions withheld
their services in the period leading to the crucial elections, resulting in
voters “turning against” Zanu PF.

President Mugabe’s party lost 18 of the 26 seats in Manicaland during the
March 29 polls. The MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai received more votes than
President Robert Mugabe in the province.

Six Cabinet Ministers fell by the wayside during the poll. They are Oppah
Muchinguri, Mike Nyambuya, Patrick Chinamasa, Joseph Made, Munacho Mutezo
and Chris Mushowe.

At a meeting to review Zanu-PF ‘s performance in the election and to
strategize for the presidential run – off several party members blamed
parastatals and government institutions for their party’s dismal
performance.

Parastatals and government institutions that came under fire include the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA),
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), the Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) and the Mutare City Council.

Interestingly, the organizations are led and manned by individuals believed
to be Zanu PF activists.

The super-charged meeting was held at the government complex, which houses
the offices of the provincial governor, the provincial administrator, the
Central Intelligence Organisation and other key government department.

During the meeting Esau Mupfumi, a wealthy businessman and Zanu-PF central
committee member said, “We have discovered that some parastatals are now
working with foreign forces to unseat President Mugabe. We should all go to
the run- off knowing what we fought for. We are now giving leaders of these
parastatals up to Wednesday to mend things. We want to find ways of
improving service delivery.”

Mupfumi lost the Mutare senatorial seat in the election.

Power utility, Zesa, was accused of sabotaging Zanu-PF because of its high
bills and incessant power cuts. Zimbabwe has experienced serious power
shortages and black-outs going back to long before the March elections.
“To us this is sabotage,” said Cecilia Gambe, a Zanu-PF official in Mutare,
“How can electricity be switched off in critical areas like hospitals?”

Gambe said by switching off electricity at places such as Dangamvura Clinic
which houses a maternity wing Zesa was sabotaging Zanu-PF.

Other Zanu PF members blamed ZINWA for Mutezo’s defeat in Chimanimani. The
officials said ZINWA’s poor billing and poor service delivery affected
Mutezo and President Mugabe during the elections.

The police force was accused of sympathizing with the MDC and supplying them
with key and sensitive information during the campaign. The GMB was blamed
for not availing enough maize meal to use for campaigning.

The Mutare City Council, which is run by a commission appointed by local
Government minister, Ignatius Chombo, was accused of failing to provide a
proper service delivery to residents and also corruption.

Another target for assassination

http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk

As the prospect of election defeat looms for Mugabe, his men target their
former comrade-in-arms

The threats against the life of Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai may have declined recently, partly due to world-wide warnings
that he was in danger. But now another figure, less well known
internationally, is looming large in the cross-hairs of Zimbabwe's
experienced state assassins.

He is former Zanu-PF politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, who left the party in
February this year when it officially adopted Robert Mugabe as its
presidential candidate. Dabengwa now allies himself closely with failed
candidate Simba Makoni, who has declared his support for Tsvangirai in the
run-off election on June 27.

The reason why the military junta now sustaining Mugabe in power wants
Dabengwa dead is this:  as former intelligence supremo with the Zimbabwe
People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), he still retains support amongst army
officers and security personel, particularly those from the Matabeleland
region.

Junta leaders forese the following scenario: in the event, widely
anticipated, that Tsvangirai wins the run-off, they will mount a coup to
save their lives and their fortunes. Dabengwa is one of the few men who
could stop them.

A high-ranking source within the military establishment, who has had sight
of recent Junta minutes, told me this week: "As a former head of ZIPRA,
Dabwenga still commands loyalty amongst officers, security operatives, and
those who come from Matabeleland. So the junta have decided he must be
eliminated before the election."

Other sources confirm this plan - but reveal that, even in the Byzantine
world of Zimbabwean power politics, they are going about it in an odd way.
They are clearly letting Dabwenga know their intentions.

One told me: "Junior members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
have been told to follow him, block his journeys, harrass him, visit his
home at all hours, and generally threaten him. The idea is to gauge his
strengths, see how he reacts to pressure, and identify those he runs to when
he is in trouble."

It is understood that if Dabengwa appears relatively powerless he can be
taken out with no risk. But if his support is as real and strong as some
analysts believe, the assassination plot will be abandoned, and instead
attempts will be made to lure the man back to Zanu-PF with offers of a top
job.

A close associate of Dabengwa told me: "We have seen their strange
movements, we know what they're up to. We should warn them that Mugabe is
playing with fire. Touch Mr. Dabengwa, and Zimbabwe will never be the same
again."

Posted on Saturday, 31 May 2008 at 07:26

Artists’ political satire trial opens

Zim Online

by Tafirei Shumba  Saturday 31 May 2008

HARARE – A Zimbabwe magistrate’s court began this week hearing the case of
two artists charged with performing a political satire without approval from
President Robert Mugabe’s government.

The artists, Silvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani, appeared before
magistrate Gloria Takundwa on Thursday in the first known trail of artists
in post-independence Zimbabwe for breaching the colonial era Censorship and
Entertainment Control Act (1967).

The artists are accused of performing unlawfully the satire The Final Push –
depicting Zimbabwe’s worsening political crisis – without approval of the
state censorship board as required by law.

The trial opened with three state witnesses – two of the arresting police
officers and the secretary to the Censorship Board – giving testimonies led
by the state prosecution team.

The court heard that the artists had last year applied for approval to stage
the satire from the Censorship Board – a department in the Ministry of Home
Affairs – who refused to grant the artists a certificate authorising the
performance.

Under cross examination by the defence council led by Harare lawyer Philip
Nyakutombwa, the secretary to the Censorship Board, Isaac Chiranganyika,
told the court that the accused pair had acted outside the law by performing
the satire without state authority.

Chiranganyika told the court: “So many plays are denied the authority to
perform by my board for so many different reasons and there was nothing
strange about the prohibition of The Final Push.”

Chiranganyika would not furnish the court the reasons for denying the
artists permission to perform the play whose title is taken from the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party’s failed protest march
in 2003 against President Robert Mugabe’s style of rule.

The protest failed after Mugabe poured armed soldiers onto the streets to
prevent opposition supporters from taking to the streets.

The defence lawyer claimed in court that Chiranganyika had in fact verbally
approved the play on behalf of the Censorship Board and also pointed out
that the fact that the artists had made numerous attempts to seek the board’s
permission to stage the performance showed they had conducted themselves
with the expected diligence.

The defence immediately applied for discharge of the artists arguing that
there was no prima facie case against them.

The magistrate postponed the matter to June 10 when she will make a ruling
on the defence application for discharge. – ZimOnline

Zimbabwe: Violence escalates as world focuses on South Africa

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com

30th May 2008 23:35 GMT

By David Baxter

MUTARE – While the world’s attention is currently on the xenophobic violence
in South Africa, politically motivated attacks on supporters of the
opposition north of the Limpopo have increased dramatically.

Attacks on supporters of the MDC have increased in the past two weeks in
most areas of Manicaland Province, where the opposition party performed very
well in the March 29 polls.

The MDC says the violence is calculated at displacing their supporters ahead
of a crucial presidential run –off to be held on June 27. The opposition
party said hundreds of its supporters in the province were now staying in
the mountains while those chosen to become Members of Parliament last month
are on the run fearing arrests by police.

“Violence against our supporters has stepped up over the past two weeks,”
Patrick Chitaka, the MDC’s provincial chairman in Manicaland, said. “The
strategy is becoming very clear. They are pursuing a scotched earth policy
to wipe out all villages where we were voted in large numbers.”

The opposition party now controls Parliament in Zimbabwe and threatens to
end President Mugabe’s 28-year unfettered hold to power in an election run
off next month.

But Chitaka said the ongoing wave of violence was not conducive for a free
and fair poll. He said in the last weeks over 20 supporters of the MDC in
the province have been abducted and tortured by Zanu PF militants with the
help of soldiers and police officers.

“As we speak a lot of our supporters are living in the mountains and in the
open,” Chitaka said. “Even our honorable MPs are all on the police wanted
list. They are now either on the run or they are in hiding.”

This, Chitaka said, was making it difficult for the MDC to effectively
campaign for the presidential run –off. Trevor Saruwaka, MP elect for Mutasa
Central, was arrested two weeks ago at Penhalonga police station after he
had gone to report cases of violence against MDC supporters.

He was released yesterday but was said to be in hiding in Mutare. The
violence is mainly concentrated in Makoni, Buhera, Chipinge, Nyanga and
Mutasa, Chitaka said. Chitaka said the violence in Buhera was being
masterminded by Joseph Chinotimba and a senior police officer based at
Muzokomba station.

In Mutasa a top soldier only identified as colonel Masamvu was said to be
behind the disturbances. Most of the victims have suffered broken hands and
legs, Chitaka said.

The escalating violence ahead of the crucial presidential run–off appears to
be failing to catch the eyes of the international community and media which
is now engrossed with the xenophobic violence in South Africa which has
claimed close to 50 Africans. The majority of the affected are Zimbabwean.

Report: South African President Wrote Bush Should Not Interfere in Zimbabwe

VOA

By Scott Stearns
White House
30 May 2008

A former White House speechwriter says South African President Thabo Mbeki
is warning U.S. President George Bush to stay out of the political crisis in
Zimbabwe. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Zimbabwe's
longtime ruler Robert Mugabe is facing a runoff next month to extend his 28
years in power.

Former White House speechwriter Michael Gerson says South African President
Mbeki wrote a letter last month, addressed to President Bush, accusing him
of taking sides against Zimbabwean President Mugabe, and of disrespecting
the views of the Zimbabwean people.

In a column for The Washington Post, Gerson quotes an unidentified U.S.
official, who says the letter said the U.S. should not interfere in
Zimbabwe's political crisis, that it is an African issue.

Senior Bush administration officials have frequently expressed their
disappointment with President Mbeki's efforts as a mediator in neighboring
Zimbabwe. While confirming receipt of the Mbeki letter, U.S. officials would
not publicly discuss its contents, saying it was a private communication.

Asked if President Bush still has confidence in the South African leader,
National Security Council Spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Washington
continues to hope that President Mbeki will play a positive role in the
region.

President Mbeki has long been seen as a major ally of President Mugabe, in
part because he backed South Africa's African National Congress in its fight
against apartheid.

But Mr. Mugabe's party lost March elections to the main opposition party of
Morgan Tsvangirai. Mr. Tsvangirai failed to get more than 50 percent of the
vote, so the two men will face off in a runoff election June 27.

Since the March election, Mr. Tsvangirai has rejected President Mbeki as a
mediator.

Even before that vote, President Bush said the South African leader could
have done more. In a February roundtable with reporters, Mr. Bush said there
has been little progress since he embraced President Mbeki as an honest
broker in Zimbabwe five years ago.

"I was hoping that the South African government would have been more
proactive in its intercession to help the people of Zimbabwe," he said.
"That's not anti-anybody. It's pro-people and that has yet to happen."

Mr. Tsvangirai is promising sweeping economic and political reforms, saying
President Mugabe has made Zimbabwe an unmitigated embarrassment for Africa.

President Mugabe says Mr. Tsvanigari and his allies are stooges of former
colonial power Britain. Mr. Mugabe's wife Grace told a rally that her
husband will never leave office unless he is replaced by someone from his
own party.

Poor health now Mugabe’s worst enemy

McGee unfazed by Mugabe’s threats

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com

May 31, 2008

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - United States ambassador James McGee has said he is unfazed by
President Robert Mugabe’s threats to expel him from Zimbabwe for alleged
interference in the domestic affairs of the troubled country.

Mugabe threatened to expel McGee last weekend at the launch of his Zanu-PF
party’s campaign for the presidential run-off election scheduled for next
month. Mugabe, who lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in presidential
elections held on March 29, accused the US ambassador of meddling in
Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs.

McGee had openly criticised political violence by state security agents and
Zanu-PF militia after visiting victims of political violence at some
hospitals in the Mashonaland Central province.

But a spokesperson for the US embassy in Harare yesterday told The Zimbabwe
Times that McGee would not back down and would continue to monitor any
rights abuses by the government.
“Ambassador McGee is doing his job and will continue to do his job despite
any threats. His priority will continue to be promoting free and fair
elections here, while calling attention to the violence perpetrated by the
governing regime,” he said. “Ambassador McGee and the Embassy will continue
to report on the violence which has not abated.”

The US called on Mugabe’s government to level the electoral playing field
and allow international election observers to monitor the crucial
presidential elections.
“As we have said before the real story is the campaign of violence being
conducted by Zanu-PF and the Mugabe regime in a desperate attempt to reverse
the stated desire of Zimbabweans for change,” he said.

“A government that is willing to attack its own citizens for exercising the
right to vote violates the most basic tenets of democracy. We call on the
Government of Zimbabwe to end the violence and create conditions which make
a truly free and fair runoff possible so that the true will of the people of
Zimbabwe can be ascertained.”

US ambassadors have since 2000 been a thorn in the flesh of President Mugabe’s
government for openly criticizing the Harare administration’s human rights
abuses and misrule.

On several occasions Mugabe threatened to expel McGee’s predecessor,
Christopher Dell, for alleged diplomatic transgressions after he visited
victims of political violence which was blamed on state security agents.

Zimbabweans go to the polls once again at the end of next month after
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the March elections but not by a big enough
margin to avoid a run off.

‘Without church donations, we would be dead’ say a Zimbabwean family

The Sunday Times
March 30, 2008

Christina Lamb Nkulumane township, Bulawayo
THE large television set on the sideboard, the tan leather-look armchairs,
the embroidered tea cloth, the school pictures of girls in neatly pressed
uniforms and the framed photograph on the wall of a smiling young man all
indicate that this was once a comfortable life.

The television has not worked for several years. The armchairs are leaking
stuffing, the girls have died of Aids-related illnesses hastened by hunger,
the young man is in prison in South Africa after being caught border jumping
and the family cannot remember when they could last afford tea.

Nine small children squat on the floor, their eyes dull with hunger and two
broken plastic dolls between them. One cup of sadza, maize porridge, had to
serve as breakfast, lunch and dinner. All but one are orphans being brought
up by their 50-year-old grandmother Esnat. Her own child, 14-year-old
Precious, lies sluggishly on the floor barely looking up at the visitors
that her mother has scrubbed the floors for. Three-year-old Blessing still
has not walked a step and looks half his age.

Eagerly, they take the coloured pencils proffered but can do nothing with
them – the only paper was used long ago in the lavatory.

The youngest spend most mornings locked up in the three-roomed house in
Nkulumane township while Esnat goes to her job, sweeping the streets. For
this she earns Z$100m a month, which sounds a lot until you convert it and
realise that it is less than £1. Of this Z$80m goes in rent. The Z$20m left
is only enough for a single loaf. “The children are hungry the whole time,”
said Esnat. “If it wasn’t for donations from the church, we would be dead.”
The family’s decline mirrors that of their country, once the most affluent
in sub-Saharan Africa. Ten years ago they led an agreeable existence with
evenings spent around the television, eating sadza and greens with
occasional meat and drinking tea with sugar. Then one night Esnat’s husband
never came home – ashamed, she says, that he had lost his job.

Her three daughters, who had completed school and married, fell ill one by
one and died, leaving their children orphaned. Her sons left the country,
promising to send back money. They lost touch, although she has heard that
her eldest is in prison and seriously ill.

Like many other women in the township, Esnat was left as the only provider
for her orphaned grandchildren. As their shoes fell apart, they started
going to school barefoot, then not at all as she struggled to find the fees
of Z$90m (90p) a term. She has sold what she could. “I would sell the TV,
but with constant power cuts, who would buy?” she said.

“In all these houses I go into, you can see the remains of a life that once
was,” said Thabani Nkiwani, the local priest, who distributes powdered milk
for the babies and maize. “It’s like the country. Once we had good schools
and roads and farms. It’s all signs of ‘once upon a time’.”

As he spoke, a government official was on the radio inciting people to vote
for the ruling Zanu-PF. “We have brought you democracy, mass
industrialisation, land . . .” he droned. “Vote R G Mugabe for principled,
consistent and fearless leadership.”

Esnat shook her head. Yesterday she voted for Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as she had in the past
two elections. Some of her neighbours in the township were excited, holding
out their palms and mouthing “chinja” (change) in the hope that after 28
years, President Robert Mugabe would finally be ousted.

“It’s the first time in my life I have worn an MDC T-shirt without fear,”
said one 25-year-old man. But Esnat believes that Mugabe will leave State
House only in a coffin, just as he has vowed. “Even hope has become a
luxury,” she said.

The demise of Esnat’s family illustrates the challenge ahead for whoever
emerges victorious from the polls. Over the past eight years Zimbabwe has
endured an economic collapse of almost unprecedented scale. GDP has shrunk
every year since 1999 and is now 40% smaller than it was then.

According to a study by Todd Moss, senior fellow at the Center for Global
Development in Washington, this decline is far worse than in countries that
have suffered full-scale civil war such as the Democratic Republic of Congo,
where the economy contracted by 19%, and Sierra Leone, where it fell by 25%.

Zimbabwe has the world’s highest inflation at 150,000% and the lowest life
expectancy - Esnat is already 16 years older than the average of 34 for
women. The freshly dug graves and “coffins for sale” signs are testament to
the 3,000 a week dying of Aids. As a result Zimbabwe has the world’s highest
proportion of orphans – more than 1m, or one in every 11 of the population.

Like Esnat, 90% of Zimbabweans find themselves living below the poverty
line, compared with 35% in 1996. Yet, as Moss points out, this collapse has
been caused not by war or natural disaster but by the deliberate acts of its
own leaders, desperate to stay in power.

The government’s ill-advised programme of farm seizures has left the country
that once fed the region with almost half the population now dependent on
food aid. Far from distributing land to the landless, Mugabe gave most of it
to his cronies.

In the cities, many have been forced to swap walls and roofs for cardboard
and plastic sheeting. These are the victims of Operation Murambatsvina in
2005, a so-called “urban beautification programme” in which the homes of at
least 700,000 people were bulldozed.

Where it was once common to see lines of uniformed children carrying book
bags heading off to school every morning, the education system that was once
the envy of Africa has “virtually collapsed”, according to Takavafira Zhou,
president of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe. Salaries of just
Z$400m (£4) a month have seen the number of teachers more than halved from
150,000 to 70,000.

In the shops, the shelves are almost all empty. Price controls imposed last
summer forced most of the remaining manufacturers out of business.

If Mugabe remains in power, he has promised the “indigenisation” of
business, forcing companies to hand over 51% to partners of the government’s
choosing. Last week he said that he would seize 400 British-owned companies.

“Another five years of Zanu-PF rule will completely destroy Zimbabwe,” said
David Coltart, an opposition MP from Bulawayo who was running for the Senate
in yesterday’s elections.

Simply removing Mugabe will not be the end of the problem, however. Over the
years the president has created a network of patronage, handing out assets
to ruling party officials, judges, police commanders, military officers and
bishops. “We need to end the Zanu-isation,” Tsvangirai said last week.

His party has produced a “road map” designed to turn things around in 100
days. “Somebody has to do it,” Tsvangirai said. “We know it won’t be easy
but we have a plan and international help will be an indispensable part.”

Critical to this is the return of some of the 4m Zimbabweans who have left
the country, among them the brightest and best. Many in the business sector
and international community would be more comfortable with a victory for
Simba Makoni, the former finance minister, than for Tsvangirai, a former
trade unionist. “Without a deep analysis of how this economy has been eroded
. . . it will be difficult to have a timetable,” Makoni told the Zimbabwe
Independent last week.

Over the past year conferences in London, Brussels and Johannesburg have
estimated that an initial rescue package of US$10 billion would be needed.
Britain would be expected to take a lead. One of the biggest challenges
would be how to get the farms working again. If their land is not returned
to them, 4,000 white farmers will require compensation.

If Mugabe stays on, many will leave the country. “I’m just waiting to see
what happens in the elections,” said Costa, a waiter. “My wife has already
gone to Johannesburg.”

Everyone is agreed that as long as Mugabe is in power the situation will
only worsen. “One thing he cannot rig against is old age and the economy,”
said a Harare businessman. “It’s these which will bring him down. If not
today, surely this year.”

- Cheques to help Zimbabwean orphans can be made out to Children Alone Trust
UK and sent to Roz Jenkins, 7 Churchfields Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2
7NH

A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com

30th May 2008

Dear Friends.
People here in the UK often ask me why Mugabe and Zanu PF continue to hold
elections when they have absolutely no intention of abiding by the results.
It's a question Zimbabweans ask themselves too. The answer seems to be that
Mugabe feels a compulsion to convince the world that he is a democrat
despite all the signs to the contrary.

This week alone we have enough evidence to show Africa and the world - if
they care to see - that Mugabe and Zanu PF are prepared to use every
possible weapon in their considerable armoury to silence dissenting voices.
50 dead MDC activists are testimony to that. A truck full of newspapers
critical of his regime is burned to ashes, journalists are arrested and
imprisoned, the violence against the opposition continues with increasing
ferocity, soldiers openly fire at innocent citizens going about their
business at a shopping centre, five elected opposition MP's languish in
gaol, churches are invaded by mobs of gun-toting police and a theatre
performance is stopped because, say the police, you must have our permission
for dramatic performances. If there is no law prohibiting it then the police
will simply make one up, that's how it works in Zimbabwe under Zanu PF. The
will of the people means nothing to a government that is determined to stay
in power at all costs.

It was none other than the First Lady herself who said as much this week at
one of the Zanu PF campaign rallies. Speaking to her husband's supporters in
Shamva on Thursday she said, ' Even if people vote for MDC Morgan Tsvangirai
will never set foot inside State House...Even if Baba loses he will only
leave State House for someone inside Zanu PF' Interesting that Grace Mugabe
has suddenly become so politically vocal.

It was surely no coincidence either that on the same day, Simba Makoni who
came third in the recent poll with 7% of the vote was saying that the
situation in Zimbabwe was too violent to hold the so-called run-off on June
29th. 'It bodes ill for a free and fair election' he said. Makoni is calling
for a Government of National Unity in which he no doubt hopes for a
position, Prime Minister Makoni, perhaps? It is noticeable that Makoni
refuses to endorse either Tsvangirai or Mugabe. Waiting for the winner
before he declares his allegiance? Once again we see not the will of the
Zimbabwean people prevailing, but naked ambition and self-interest.

In their desperation to cling on to power, Zanu PF resort to bribery and
downright lies, their contempt for the Zimbabwean people is revealed in
their every crazed utterance. Samuel Mumbengwegwi announced on May 28th -
one month before the Presidential run-off - that there would be free
education, free health care, free social welfare, free bus fares and free
maize seed and fertilizer. This at a time when the government itself admits
to inflation of 1.7 million %! Mumbengwegwi carefully omits to say how long
this period of government magnanimity will last or how it will be paid for
or, even more to the point, who the recipients will be. Not anyone voting
for the opposition, you can be sure of that. The Herald dutifully reports
Mumbengwegwi's remarks and adds that it is all intended 'to cushion its
citizens from illegal sanctions-induced hardships....It is all part of the
government's relentless efforts to safeguard its citizens from hunger,
poverty and disease.'

Not content with blaming the MDC for the violence, Zanu PF apologists blame
the 'British Backed' opposition for sanctions and the collapse of the
economy. With mind-boggling hypocrisy, Mugabe declares 'We want to warn the
MDC that they should stop immediately this barbaric campaign of burning and
destroying people's homes.' Just one glance at the gang of Zanu thugs who
accompanied Mugabe to the Shamva rally is enough to show any sane observer
who are the real perpetrators of the barbarous attacks. It seems Mr Mugabe
has lost touch with reality; he lives in his own world and believes his own
propaganda.

The Bright One, none other than the Deputy Minister for (mis) Information
goes one better. He blames the MDC for the xenophobic attacks in South
Africa too. 'I am talking from an informed position,' he claims, ' the MDC
is recruiting thugs to target Zimbabweans to force them to return home and
vote for Morgan Tsvangirai.' So now we know; the Third Force that Mbeki is
always blaming for the attacks is none other than the MDC! If that's the
case then we can neatly pin the blame on the UK and the US who, according to
Mugabe are funding the opposition. That all fits in very nicely with the
anti-imperialist rhetoric so beloved of Mbeki and Mugabe but it does nothing
to allay the suffering of the ordinary people in either country. Constant
talk of imperialist plots to undermine 'his' revolution does not fill empty
stomachs or give the Zimbabwean people the change they voted for a month
ago. Whether these are the death throes of the old regime or the birth pangs
of a new order is the question no one can answer.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH.

Gukurahundi memorial website launched

http://zimbabwemetro.com

By Sakhile Malaba ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ May 30, 2008
The london based Mthwakazi Action Group on Genocide in Matabeleland and
Midlands (MAGGEMM) has launched a new website in honour of those who died or
disappeared during the Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe in the 1980s.

Rorisang Masiane, the Executive Director of the Mthwakazi Action Group on
Genocide in Matabeleland and Midlands (MAGGEMM) today announced the launch
of the group’s new website, www.maggemm.org.

“What we are launching today is not just the website but also the re-birth
of MAGGEMM,” says Rorisang Masiane. “Even though we have been around for a
number of years now, this is the first time we are making a proper web
presence to internationalise our work. We want to be the main voice for
those who have to deal with the trauma of Gukurahundi alone and almost
forgotten.”

The group ’s mission in statement is to “To promote open dialogue on
Gukurahundi, for truth and justice on behalf of the victims and also
organise commemorative events to keep the memory of those who died or
disappeared alive.”

The group has held two demonstrations this year outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
in London.

In October 1980 Robert Mugabe, then Prime Minister, signed an agreement with
North Korean President Kim Il Sung to have the North Korean military train a
brigade for the Zimbabwean army. This was soon after Mugabe had announced
the need for a militia to “combat malcontents.” Mugabe announced the brigade
would be called “Gukurahundi”(Shona: “the early rain which washes away the
chaff before the spring rains”).

The Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade, led by Perence Shiri and directed by current
President Mugabe’s election agent Emmerson Mnagagwa, killed suspected
members and supporters of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union in the Ndebele
provinces of Matabeleland and the Midlands from 1982 to the late 1980s. Most
reliable accounts believe that about 20000 civilians were killed.

Most of the dead were shot in public executions, often after being forced to
dig their own graves in front of family and fellow villagers. The largest
number of dead in a single killing involved the deliberate shooting of 62
young men and women on the banks of the Cewale River, Lupane, on 5 March
1983. Seven survived with gunshot wounds, the other 55 died. Another way 5
Brigade killed large groups of people was to burn them alive in huts. They
did this in Tsholotsho and also in Lupane.

They would routinely round up dozens, or even hundreds, of civilians and
march them at gun point to a central place, like a school or bore-hole.
There they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU-PF, at the same
time being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public
executions.

Those killed could be ex-ZIPRAs, ZAPU officials, or anybody chosen at
random.When Prime Minister Robert Mugabe was directly asked the question if
he knew what was going on in Matebeleland by British Investigative
Journalist, Jeremy Paxman of ‘Panorama’ Programme fame. He vehemently denied
it, and called it ‘antique western sabotage tactics’.

Contact the writer of this story, Sakhile Malaba at : zimmetro[at]gmail.com

ACDP calls on SADC to condemn the disregard of democracy by Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF as revealed by his wife

The Zimbabwean

Saturday, 31 May 2008 04:31
ACDP calls on SADC to condemn the disregard of democracy by Robert
Mugabe and ZANU-PF as revealed by his wife Grace.
Rev Kenneth Meshoe, MP and President of the ACDP says the ACDP is very
concerned that Grace Mugabe's views represent the position of her husband
and that of ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe, because they undermine the democratic
election process.
"For her, on behalf of ZANU-PF, to say they will not accept any loss
that might be the wish of the people of Zimbabwe, exposes a flawed mentality
that expects liberation movements to be in power for ever.
The ACDP calls on SADC leaders, particularly President Mbeki as
appointed mediator, to take note of the threats and makes it clear to Robert
Mugabe and his ZANU PF leadership, that such assertions are completely
unacceptable for a country whose people are yearning for freedom, justice
and a true democracy."

SA youth bodies launch campaign against xenophobia

Zim Online

by Own Correspondent Saturday 31 May 2008

JOHANNESBURG – South African youth bodies on Friday launched a campaign
against xenophobia following the recent wave of violent attacks on foreign
immigrants that left over 50 foreigners dead and 25 000 others displaced
across the country.

Mobs of South African men armed with machetes, axes, spears and guns
attacked and killed immigrants an unprecedented wave of xenophobic violence
over the past three weeks that shocked South Africa’s leadership and
unsettled foreign investors.

Speaking to the media in Johannesburg the African National Congress Youth
League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema apologised to victims of the violent
attacks and assured them that they were welcome in South Africa.

"Those who took part in this violence do not represent us as South Africans
. . . they are criminals who wanted to steal from you," he said.

Many of the immigrants chased out of their homes have taken refuge in police
stations, churches and government offices across Johannesburg where the Red
Cross, Medicine Sans Frontiers and several other aid groups are providing
assistance.

The ANCYL leader acknowledged the role played by foreigners in the fight
against apartheid and for this reason it would be ungrateful for South
African not to welcome foreign nationals.

"The ANC understands that you played an important role in the liberation of
this country."

Malema said the youth bodies had committed themselves to restore peace and
called on youths to unite against the "senseless" violence adding that the
criminal elements responsible for attacking innocent people should be
arrested and prosecuted.

Speaking at the same occasion, Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade national
chair Pat Lebenya-Ntanzi said the campaign was a way to voice the youth’s
concerns and wondered at the amount of self-hatred that Africans have.

"We've been indoctrinated to hate ourselves and anything that looks like
us," she said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) youth leader in Gauteng Khume Ramulitho condemned
the “barbaric actions” and urged people to embrace humanity to others
(ubuntu) and confront challenges as one. He called on the youth to work on
the reintegration of foreign nationals into their communities and urged
government to create more employment opportunities to empower people.

The youth bodies said they would petition parliament for a week of debate on
the xenophobia.

The violent attacks on foreigners started on May 12 in Johannesburg’s
Alexandra township of the poor before spreading to other townships in
Diepsloot, Hillbrow, Jeppe, Cleveland, Thokoza and Tembisa leaving thousands
of African immigrants without shelter or food after their homes were looted
and burnt down.

The violence also spread to the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, North West,
Mpumalanga and Western Cape.  – ZimOnline

Life goes on amid xenophobic misery

Mail and Guardian

Nosimilo Ndlovu | Johannesburg, South Africa

31 May 2008 08:07

      Primrose, a middle-class suburb in the east of Johannesburg, was
one of the areas hardest hit by the xenophobic attacks that began three
weeks ago.

      The neighbourhood's Primula Street -- usually quiet and calm -- 
was packed with thousands of refugees seeking shelter from the violence.
Some of them slept on the streets, meaning residents had to find alternative
routes to get to and from work.

      Three weeks later, life is slowly returning to normal.

      Normal means conforming to a standard; a usual, typical or
expected way of living or being. To most South Africans this means waking up
taking a warm shower or bath followed by a hot breakfast before rushing off
to work.

      For the displaced foreigners living at Primrose Park next to the
Primrose police station, however, normal means waking up in a 4mx5m white
tent next to nine or 10 other people and queuing for bread and tea among
thousands.

      Men stand outside their tents, washing themselves using buckets
of water in full view of everyone. In the past, children could run and play
on the park's lawns; now fatigued youths sleep on the sun-baked ground
outside the tents to keep warm.

      Pregnant women, mothers with sick children, and the elderly
queue outside the Primrose Methodist church, where a makeshift clinic has
been set up. Every 30 minutes the clinic lets in at least another three to
five people.

      Skhumbuzo Ndiweni, a mother of four from Zimbabwe, has a small
table piled with snacks, sweets, cigarettes, candles, matches and other
essentials near the park entrance. She wakes up early every morning to set
up her table, and starts selling from 6am.

      "I used to have a tuck shop where I sold some of the things you
see here. After the attacks I was left with nothing except the clothes on my
back. I took my last R200 and bought some stock. I set up this table and
started selling immediately," she says.

       Children buy packets of chips and sweets; men purchase
cigarettes and matches. However, Ndiweni says business has not been good. "I
used to make so much more money, back at my tuck shop, but here people have
no money, so I do not make nearly enough to live."

      Next to Ndiweni, two men are selling snacks, cigarettes and
fruits. They also run a few community pay phones. Volunteers from the
community and foreigners living in the camp use the phones to call their
employers, friends and family in their home countries.

      Dereio Arthur (21), a Mozambican, says he also used to run a
business in an informal settlement where violence erupted. He has since
moved his business to Primrose Park.

      Elsa Mussoho (28), also Mozambican, plaits Arthur's hair while
he serves his customers. She had a salon that was destroyed and now
continues to work with what she has left. "I do at least four people a day.
Without any electricity I can only plait hair. I cannot relax or treat
people's hair."

      The traders say they will continue doing business no matter
where they go. "I love selling," Ndiweni says, her face lighting up. Mussoho
agrees: "I want to find a room that I can rent so I can continue my
business. I love what I do."

      The Primrose Superspar, located 100m from one of the informal
settlements where the attacks started, saw thousands of people sleeping
outside its doors when the attacks began. "People ran here as they felt
safer around here. Women with children came screaming in fear to hide out
here. As the day went on, more and more people came, men and women fleeing
the attacks," says a store manager who asks not to be identified.

      For days, scores of people slept on the streets of Primrose and
outside businesses like the Superspar where they felt safer. Some businesses
had to close completely for a few days as customers were too scared to come
into the area, or because their employees could not come to work, fearing
their homes would be burnt in their absence.

      Hundreds of residents have been helping the foreigners, buying
food and donating clothes to those living at Primrose Park.

      "The community has been taking such great care of us. People
come in and clean every morning, the toilets are cleaned every day and we
get three meals a day. The clothes I am wearing now and all the clothes I
have was given to me by people from the community who come in here every
day. I know the South Africans are good people, I love them and I know they
love us," says Ndiweni.

      At Pick n Pay, residents buy cans of cooldrink and bread to
donate to the refugees. A teacher and two students from Bishop Bavin School
queue to pay for loaves of bread and tinned food that they will donate.
Since the beginning of the attacks, the school has been providing food,
clothes and blankets -- as well as "girl stuff", such as sanitary towels.

      King David High School in Linksfield donated R3 500-worth of
sandwiches along with short notes of encouragement written by its students.
The school also helped collect toys, clothing, blankets and tinned food from
the community, which it donated to displaced people living at the Primrose
City Hall.

       Stephanie Frerk, a coordinator working with the Primrose
Methodist church, says that buses have since Monday been arriving to pick up
those who are keen to return to their home countries. "We are seeing the
numbers [of displaced] starting to drop this week as more buses come to take
people home."

      Jerry Mbambo, from Mozambique, has sent his wife home, but he is
staying. "This is something that will pass," he says. "We shouldn't get
disheartened by it."

      Ndiweni agrees: "Things may go wrong sometimes, but later on
they do come right."