---

Zimbabwe: The land issue revisited

http://mg.co.za/

03 MAY 2013 00:00 - INYASHA CHIVARA

Zim is reconsidering compensating white commercial farmers whose farms were
seized during the chaotic 2000 land reform process, the M&G has learnt.

The issue of the over 4 500 farms seized without compensation is turning out
to be a pertinent matter in Zimbabwe's re-engagement efforts with Western
countries after a 12-year political standoff.

Diplomatic sources with knowledge of two meetings held in Harare between
Mugabe and two senior United States officials in recent week's stated that
Mugabe had said Zimbabwe was willing to reopen talks about compensation but
money promised by the British and Americans in 1979 was critical to any
settlement.

In recent weeks, Harare has hosted two prominent American black civil-rights
leaders, Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson. The sources said the men, who both
held closed-door meetings with Mugabe, discussed land and other issues.

Young, a former American ambassador to the United Nations, was in the
country two weeks ago as a special envoy of the US state department. During
a discussion hosted by a local political and economic institute, the Sapes
Trust, Young spoke of the need to "find ways of re-engaging with Zimbabwe".

Negotiations
Ibbo Mandaza, an academic and director of the Sapes Trust, hinted that there
were ongoing negotiations about compensation for white farmers. Mandaza said
the issue of compensation was "very much alive" and that they "are engaged
in these efforts to see to it some of these issues are addressed and
resolved".

Mandaza, who was one of the negotiators during the 1979 Lancaster House
negotiations that helped to broker a land-reform compensation deal, said the
US had pledged $750-million at the time and the British government
$1-billion, to be paid in tranches over 10 years.

"The commitment was never put on paper but it's contained in the minutes of
the negotiations. It was taken for granted that they will pay but this was
never followed up after independence. Takavarairwa [we relaxed]," he said.

Young said his greatest concern was why Britain and the US government
"reneged on funding the land issue. When nothing was done, Zimbabwe did what
it could under the circumstances", but there was still an opportunity to
"forgive each other".

The president of the Commercial Farmers' Union, Charles Taffs, also
confirmed that negotiations were under way about compensation. He said his
organisation was currently engaged in talks with the government and Western
capitals over compensation issues for former farmers.

"We have been in touch with every­one and we want to see all the disputes
resolved because [they] keep this conflict going on forever," Taffs said.

"If the British government and the American government pledged to pay
compensations for land reforms, surely they should honour their
obligations," he said.

"The country needs to move forward, we can't keep wasting time. The country
has been held back for too long."

Taffs estimated that the compensation figure would now be about $6-billion,
up from $1.75-billion taking into consideration interest accrued over the
years.

Jesse Jackson meets Mugabe
This week Jackson held a two-hour meeting with Mugabe. After the meeting,
Jackson spoke of the need to remove sanctions and emphasised that the land
issue was a source of tension. "Some focus on land was not honoured and
[this has] been a source of struggle," he said.

The American embassy in Harare did not respond to questions from the M&G and
the Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo could not be reached by the time of
going to press.

Jameson Timba, the secretary for international relations of the Movement for
Democratic Change, said, although Young's visit was "critical in Zimbabwe's
re-engagement efforts" and compensation was a necessity, there was also a
need to "address the current challenges that the country is facing.

"We need to deal with the issue of security of tenure, productivity and
multiple farm ownership," Timba said.

---

Dead ZANU PF officials removed from US sanctions list

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Violet Gonda
03 May 2013

Five dead ZANU PF senior officials are among the latest group of individuals
to be removed from the United States targeted sanction list.

Eight people in total and one entity, Calgary farm in Mazowe, have been
removed from the list as part of the USA’s ‘action for action’ approach to
acknowledge “progress” in Zimbabwe, although critics have described the
developments as a “non-event” since all but three people removed are dead.

In a statement issued by the US Treasury Department Thursday, the delisted
deceased include:
- Former army general Solomon Mujuru who died in a mysterious fire in 2011.
Surprisingly Mujuru was listed twice but under different names. The other
one being his Chimurenga/liberation name – Rex Nhongo. Both names have now
been removed from the targeted measures.

- Stan Mudenge the Education Minister who died late last year after a long
illness;
- Former Mashonaland East governor David Karimanzira who died in 2011,
- Ex-Harare Mayor Solomon Tawengwa,
- The first female Deputy Commissioner-General Barbara Mandizha, who died in
2010 after succumbing to cancer.

The three surviving ZANU PF members who are now off the list of designated
people are former Manicaland Governor Tinaye Chigudu, ZANU PF Politiburo
member and deputy treasurer Khantibhal Patel, and former Mines Minister
Edward Chindori-Chininga.

Reports show that Calgary Farm was acquired by Chindori-Chininga, who is
currently a Parliamentary portfolio committee member on Mines and Energy. We
were not able reach him for comment.

Western countries imposed targeted measures on members of ZANU PF and
various companies over a decade ago, accusing the former ruling party of
land and human violations, and vote rigging. ZANU PF in turn blames the
economic country on the “illegal sanctions.”

---

Lack of information hampers voter registration campaign

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
3 May 2013

Voters right across the country have expressed disappointment at the voter
registration exercise, which has so far deprived thousands of them of an
opportunity to register.

Since the campaign was launched by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
on Monday many would be voters have raised fears of being disenfranchised
during this year’s general elections.

There was a recent Cabinet directive to the Registrar-General’s office,
ordering the removal of all bottlenecks associated with voter registration.
This was to ensure every citizen above 18 years was afforded an opportunity
to register and vote. But this has not happened.

Questions have always been raised about the quality of the voters roll, with
many allegations that it is in shambles. The Registrar General Tobaiwa
Mudede disclosed on Friday that close to a million dead voters have been
deleted from the roll.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) stepped in on Friday and called
for the relaxation of registration requirements, chief among these being the
acceptable proof of residence in urban areas and the need for endorsement by
the chief in rural areas.

‘ZESN is of the view that such requirements might result in the exclusion of
potential voters should their lessors or chiefs fail or refuse to avail
proof of residence or endorsement,’ ZESN said in a statement.

Mudede has long been accused of deliberately disenfranchising perceived
opponents of President Robert Mugabe, by blocking them from acquiring
identity cards.

Issuing national ID’s is the duty of Mudede’s office. But current estimates
suggest that thousands of youths reaching maturity are unable to register as
voters because they do not have identity cards.

Lack of information has also been attributed to the slow start of the voter
registration campaign, with suggestions this could be a deliberate plot to
ensure supporters from other political parties are excluded from the
process.

‘ZESN notes with concern the failure to publicize the process in the public
media before commencement of the registration exercise.

‘Therefore there is lack of adequate information regarding the registration
centres, registration dates and the requirements for registration, which has
seen a considerable number of people being turned away at the point of
registration, while others are not even aware that such an exercise is
on-going,’ said ZESN, an electoral group that promotes democratic processes.

---

Million voters struck off voters' roll: Mudede

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

02/05/2013 00:00:00
     by Staff Reporter

CLOSE to a million dead voters have been deleted from the roll of voters,
Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede said on Thursday.

“The total voter population as at May 1, 2013, is 5, 677,881,” Mudede told
reporters.
“Deceased voters from 1985 to 2010 stand at 692,422 while deceased voters
from 2010 to date are at 277,198 which gives us a total of 969,620 deceased
voters.”

When an individual dies, a burial order and then a death certificate are
issued and registry officials are required to remove those individuals from
the roll, but political parties have argued that this was not happening.

Mudede said a major challenge was maintaining records for rural voters.
Here, relatives of the dead usually go ahead with burials without notifying
district registry officials.

Last month, it was revealed that the former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian
Smith had only just been removed from the voters’ roll six years after his
death.

The incident highlighted concerns by political parties who say the roll was
not properly maintained and opened the possibility of so-called “ghost
voters”.

Last week, the Registrar General’s office deployed teams around the country
to conduct mobile voter registrations as the country prepares for elections
due later this year.

The government has scrapped fees on identity documents to help new voters
register.

---

Mudzi West villagers face worsening intimidation by ZANU PF

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
3 May 2013

Villagers in the Zhuwawo village of Mudzi West have reported worsening
levels of intimidation by a notorious ZANU PF member, who is known for his
violent attacks against perceived opponents of his party.

George Katsande, the son of Mudzi West MP Acquilinah Katsande, most recently
threatened the Sabhuku of the village on Wednesday saying: “We will deal
with you.” The threats were made at a ZANU PF meeting at Dendera Business
Centre.

SW Radio Africa’s correspondent Lionel Saungweme reported that the Sabhuku
was being accused of having a village “full of MDC-T supporters.” The
village head, called Miss Kungwengwe, “immediately collapsed and is being
treated at All Souls Mission Hospital in Mutoko.”

“What is suspected to have made her collapse is the fact that her son,
Gregory Zhuwawo, was murdered by ZANU PF supporters in the year 2000. I
think the threats from Katsande resuscitated those memories, because threats
by George Katsande are not idle or empty,” Saungweme reported.

Katsande is alleged to have been involved in the murder of MDC-T driver
Tafadza Meza in 2008. Meza died after he was dragged behind a moving car
that he had been tied to. Katsande is also alleged to have been involved in
the murder of MDC-T supporter Lawyer Jakara.

MDC-T members also allege that Katsande was involved in the 26 May 2012
murder of Cephas Magura.

“He is therefore a notorious and feared character in the area. Even ZANU PF
supporters fear Katsande because he is said to be well protected by his
mother, Mudzi West MP Aquilina Katsande. The MP is alleged to guarantee her
son immunity from prosecution,” Saungweme reported.

According to a dossier supplied to SW Radio Africa last year that lists the
brutality of ZANU PF and its members, Aquilina Katsande orchestrated a reign
of terror in 2008, which has left the Mudzi area terrified of her and her
son. The dossier documents how Katsande “moved around the entire Mudzi
district hunting for her victims. She was present when most heart wrenching
punishments were meted out on MDC activists in her constituency.” Most of
her victims either died instantly or a few days later. She has never been
brought to book and remains a sitting member of parliament.

More details about the Katsande’s reign of terror in Mudzi can be read here:

http://www.swradioafrica.com/political-violence-perpetrators-and-their-crimes/

---

Zanu PF trying to rig the elections through the voters roll

http://www.mdc.co.zw

Friday 03 May 2013

The MDC is greatly outraged at the attempts by the Registrar General's
Office  to rig the upcoming general elections in Zimbabwe  through the
blatant manipulation of the ongoing  voter registration exercise.

The Registrar General's office has denied the MDC any information regarding
the voter registration centers throughout the country while making that
information available  to Zanu PF. In those rare cases where the information
regarding the voter registration centers has become  known to the MDC,
partisan officials of the Registrar General's office have embarked on
systematic delays  in commencing the voter registration process thus
frustrating the prospective voters in most centers.

Although the mobile voter registration exercise was supposed to target
prospective voters mostly  in the rural wards, the Registrar General's
Office has  completely ignored most rural wards in this exercise.

In most of these chosen wards MDC members are  systematically kept in the
dark regarding the actual dates,venues and times for  the voter registration
exercise.

Most people in rural areas are being denied the chance to register because
they can not afford to pay the exorbitant fees being demanded.

For example people are being asked to fork out  US$5 to secure national
registration cards  which would enable them to register as voters while the
so called  “aliens” are being  turned away, or asked to pay a staggering
US$40.00 in order to get new registration cards.

Contrary to what was announced as the cabinet resolution prospective voters
in rural areas are being asked to produce letters from traditional leaders
as proof of residence. Most of these traditional leaders have been
intimidated by Zanu PF to deny these letters to known MDC supporters.
Resultantly thousands of people have been turned away from the voter
registration centers.

Thousands of MDC supporters have had their names deliberately deleted from
the voters roll while some have had their names posted to voters’ rolls of
other constituencies. This deliberate confusion is meant to deny the people
registered on the voters’ roll the chance to vote. In some provinces,
government vehicles are being abused to ferry known Zanu PF members to
registration centers  while those who are perceived to be MDC members are
turned away.

The MDC position is that the Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, who is
notorious for rigging elections for Zanu PF should have nothing to do with
the mobile voter registering exercise and that as provided in the GPA the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission(ZEC) should assume responsibility for this
vital process.

The MDC  can not accept a voter registration exercise designed to
disenfranchise the some people in Zimbabwe. The clandestine manner in which
the current mobile voter registration process is being conducted is totally
unacceptable.

It is clear that the current exercise can not produce a credible voters’
roll meaning that it is incapable of resulting in a free and fair election.
MDC reiterates its position that it is ready for free and fair elections at
any time. However, no elections must be called on the basis of the current
voters roll.

We totally reject the current voters roll as currently constituted. We
demand complete and transparent  audit of the voters roll with the
participation of all the stakeholders.

Zimbabweans are ready for a new dispensation, an era of genuine
transformation and will turn out in their numbers to register to vote
despite attempts to frustrate them. Change is nigh. No weapon designed to
drain our  people shall prosper any more for the wheels of change are on
course.

Yes - Together we can complete the change!!

---

Generals ‘a threat’ to credible polls - Analysts

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/

by Njabulo Ncube 12 hours 46 minutes ago

A LOCAL think-tank says credible polls are impossible without wide-sweeping
security sector restructuring, as securocrats continue to block reform in
contravention of a Sadc resolution.

In its latest report, the Zimbabwe Democratic Institute (ZDI) has implored
the facilitator to the Zimbabwean crisis, South African President Jacob
Zuma, to ensure that the military stayed out of politics as the country
heads to general elections.
“The failures to implement security sector reforms have the potential to
block a possible democratic transition as the country prepares for the first
election after the formation of the unity government,” reads part of the
report.

“Premium attention is, therefore, required to rein the military and other
security of the State to subordinate them to democratic civilian leaders.

“Our critical postulation is that politics is not the security apparatuses’
area of competence.”

Top security officials have often been accused of engaging in partisan
politics, openly campaigning for Zanu PF and observers say this tilts the
political field against the party’s opponents.

This week, the MDC-T called for the resignation of police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri after he rebuffed an invite to meet
with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, insinuating that he did not meet
malcontents. Mugabe has publicly refused to tinker with the security sector,
stating publicly that it would be tantamount to effecting regime change.

Some top military officials have also publicly stated they will not salute
Tsvangrai even if he were to overwhelmingly win the next elections. ZDI
claimed the country’s security sector was fully in charge and had the
capacity to control the use of violence and they have done so consistently
to influence the political and electoral direction of the country for the
past three decades.

“ZDI argues that the political situation is still too fragile to hold a
credible election at the moment, let alone any time before practical
security sector reforms,” the think tank continued, saying if the status quo
remained unchanged, there could be a repeat of the 2008 political violence.

Trevor Maisiri, a Zimbabwean political analyst with the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group, concurred with the ZDI assertion that security
sector reform was of paramount importance if Zimbabwe wanted elections whose
outcome would be universally acceptable.

Maisiri said the case of security sector interference in politics has long
been a “thorn in the flesh” in ensuring a political environment
non-supportive of credible or free and fair elections.

“Zanu PF and the security sector have never been separated in the political
landscape since independence from Britain in 1980,” he said.

“Even during the liberation struggle, the political wing and military wing
were integrated. Even though good governance calls for their separation,
Zanu PF is unwilling because this will be a new terrain for them.

“In fact, the security wing has always provided political security in Zanu
PF since the war, so they do not want to lose that now,” he said. - NewsDay

---

Zimbabwe PM’s youth leader in jail for Mugabe lame donkey slur at election rally

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, May 4, 1:57 AM

HARARE, Zimbabwe — A lawyer for a youth leader in the Zimbabwe prime
minister’s party says he is in jail for referring to the nation’s longtime
ruler as “a limping donkey” at an election campaign rally.

Attorney Charles Kwaramba said Friday the youth wing head  is charged with
insulting President Robert Mugabe, 89, under sweeping security laws.

In the local Shona language the phrase “dhongi rinokamina” is used to depict
a lame draught animal that is no longer of any use and must be put out to
pasture.

Youth leader Solomon Madzore faces a penalty of a fine or several months of
imprisonment.

Legal charges for insulting Mugabe are common in Zimbabwe.

The prime minister’s party says the arrest is to stifle its campaigning for
younger voters in elections scheduled this year.

---

PM Tsvangirai meets Gabon, Nigeria Presidents

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday took his diplomatic offensive to Central and West Africa, where he met Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba and Nigerian leader President Goodluck Jonathan as part of his tour to press for Africa’s support for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

The Prime Minister is on a tour to meet with guarantors of the GPA in both SADC and the African Union to press for the full implementation of agreed reforms and a summit to set the ground rules for a credible plebiscite in Zimbabwe.

PM Tsvangirai met the Gabon Prime Minister before he met with President Ondimba, who chairs the confederation of Central African States.

After the PM’s presentation in Libreville, the Gabon leader said Zimbabweans should be allowed to express themselves in a credible poll.

He said all African leaders would need to remain seized with the problems in Zimbabwe until they were resolved through an election whose results would not be contestable.

On the same day, PM Tsvangirai proceeded to Abuja, where he held a 45-minute meeting with President Jonathan.

PM Tsvangirai reiterated his concern over Zanu PF’s lack of political will to ensure that true reforms agreed to four years ago are implemented and allowed to take root well before the election.

The Premier said he was aware of a plot to tamper with the voters’ roll by disenfranchising some Zimbabweans and ensuring that first time voters are frustrated from registering in their large numbers.

President Jonathan said he would remain on the side of the people of Zimbabwe who deserved a chance to democratically elect their leaders without let or hindrance.

He said it was necessary to ensure that the tragic drama of 2008 was not allowed to repeat itself.

Zimbabwe, he said, should not be allowed to slide back and “Africa will not allow it”.

PM Tsvangirai proceeds to Abidjan and then Botswana before returning home on Sunday.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Principal Director of Communications and
Spokesperson
Office of the Prime Minister

---

ZINASU lodges urgent High Court application

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Nomalanga Moyo
03 may 2013

Aspiring student representatives lodged an urgent chamber application before
the High Court on Friday after they were disqualified by University of
Zimbabwe authorities from contesting polls to choose the institution’s
student leaders.

The hopefuls, who are students at the UZ, were fielded by national student
body ZINASU, to contest the presidency of the Students Representative
Council (SRC).

As reported by SW Radio Africa Thursday, the polls to choose a new SRC
leadership at the UZ had been slated for Tuesday, but were postponed last
minute, allegedly in an attempt to ‘rig’ the vote in favour of a ZANU PF
aligned candidate.

The disgruntled students on Friday approached the High Court, through their
civil rights lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara, in a bid to have the polls postponed
until the issue of their disqualification has been resolved.

Zhuwarara told SW Radio Africa that the students’ urgent bid challenges the
new regulations relating to poll eligibility issued by the university
authorities, after his clients had already qualified and had started
campaigning.

“We feel that the authorities should have taken into account that the
election process was already well under way, and therefore their actions
were arbitrary and illegal, Zhuwarara said.

The lawyer, who was waiting for the court’s decision at the time of the
interview, said he was hopeful that the court would hear their case Monday,
before the SRC elections are held on Tuesday.

ZINASU secretary-general Tryvine Musokeri told us Thursday that the
last-minute decision followed a meeting on Monday between the ZANU PF
students union, ZICOSU, and Robert Mugabe.

The ZICOSU candidate for the SRC, Charles Munganasa, promised Mugabe that he
was going to ‘liberate’ the UZ and win over students to ZANU PF. ZICOSU was
reportedly feted with food and drinks as well as party regalia to use on
their campaign.

Musokeri said there was a prevailing mood of fear amongst ZINASU members at
the UZ, with female students being the worst affected.

“There has been a lot of harassment and intimidation by security agents,
directed at the female students who had joined the race. Unfortunately, the
arrest and detention of one female colleague last week has scared them off,
and a number of them have since withdrawn from the race,” Musokeri said.

At least three of the young women were searched last week and had their
campaign posters ripped up by security officials. One of the women was
arrested and detained at Avondale Police Station, all because she tried to
photograph the harassment the women were been subjected to.

---

Zimbabweans Say Indigenization Share Trusts Not Empowering Locals

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Loirdham Moyo
03.05.2013

MUTARE — At least 50 community share ownership trusts, each worth about $10
million have so far been set up by the government in conjunction with
foreign-owned mining companies since the launch of the controversial
indigenization program but youths in Mutare, under the Manicaland Business
Action Group (MBAG), charge the schemes have failed to benefit local people
whose lives remain largely unchanged.

MBAG spokesman Charles Samuriwo said while share ownership schemes are a
good concept to empower locals, so far they failed as they concentrate on
small communities in which minerals are mined.

In Manicaland, for example, he says the discovery of diamonds in the rich
alluvial Marange diamond fields, the province has not benefited from the
share ownership scheme launched by President Robert Mugabe.

He adds the community ownership trust in Manicaland is a mystery to people
in the province.

He suggests there should be a Manicaland community ownership trust and not
Marange community ownership trust.  The scheme, he says, must be a vehicle
for development spread throughout the province, cutting across all sectors
of the economy for the benefit of all people of Manicaland.

Samuriwo adds his organization, most of whose members are Zanu-PF youths, is
yet to meet someone who has benefited from the Marange community ownership
trust, claiming other provinces are doing much better with schools, roads
and clinics repaired with money being set aside for women and youth
programs.

The organisation’s chairperson Charles Tavazadza concurs with Samuriwo,
adding the MBAG is advocating for a community ownership trust that responds
to the needs of the whole province and not a select few communities.

Clay Masekesa of Chigodora Village, which falls under the Marange Zimunya
community share ownership trust, says he has not seen any improvement since
the launch of the trust last year by President Mugabe.

---

Edna Machirori awarded IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Violet Gonda
03 May 2013

Zimbabwe’s first black female newspaper editor and daily news columnist,
Edna Machirori, has been awarded this year’s International Women’s Media
Foundation (IWMF) Lifetime Achievement Award, a recognition that has been
hailed by female journalists who work under the tough male dominated
environment in Zimbabwe.

The Foundation, which honours women journalists from around the world each
year, also announced the names of three journalists who won the 2013 Courage
in Journalism Awards which went to reporters working under difficult
conditions in Afghanistan, Syria and Cambodia.

An ecstatic Machirori, who has been working in the media field for more than
40 years, told SW Radio Africa she is “very humbled” by the recognition.
“They say a prophet is without honour in his own country and I am very
touched that it is foreigners who have seen it fit to give me this award.”

The IWMF said as a woman journalist in post-colonial Zimbabwe, Machirori
rose through the ranks of several newspapers, including The Chronicle and
The Financial Gazette, in spite of a deeply patriarchal culture.

“As one of the first women in Zimbabwean media and as the first black female
editor of a newspaper in Zimbabwe, Machirori represented unprecedented
achievement for women finding their place in a post-colonial landscape. She
has acted as a mentor to other women throughout her career and has faced
down critics of her incisive reporting.

“Machirori started her work in journalism in 1963 as a cadet reporter for
the African Daily News, a nationalist newspaper based in Harare (then
Salisbury, under colonial rule), after sending the paper “letters to the
editor” while she was in high school. During her early years with the
African Daily News, Machirori was the only woman on the staff at any level.
Later, she occupied editing positions at The Chronicle and The Financial
Gazette,” the IWMF said in a statement Friday.

Machirori was news editor when in 1988 The Chronicle published the
Willowgate scandal, an investigation into corruption among high-level
members of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Daily News Features editor Thelma Chikwanha said this is a befitting award
for Machirori, who has held the torch for female journalists who find it
tough to rise through the ranks in a male dominated newsroom. “I am very
proud of her achievement. She is the very first female editor in this
country to edit a title on her own.

“I am so encouraged as it is difficult to work in the media especially as a
woman…There is still a feeling that there are certain positions for men and
certain positions which are meant for women. Women will either hold
positions like Features Editor, Deputy News Editor or Community Affairs
Editor,” Chikwanha said.

She said it has not been an easy road for Machirori, who for many years
worked under people she had groomed in the newsroom. Chikwanha said
Machirori’s IWMF recognition gives journalists hope that even though they
are not honoured back home in Zimbabwe their work is still appreciated
elsewhere.

Machirori will be travelling to the US for the award ceremony in October.
She is the second Zimbabwean to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award,
following journalist Peta Thornycroft in 2007. Studio 7’s Sandra Nyaira is a
recipient of the 2002 Courage in Journalism Award.

---

Panic grips Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/

BY OBEY MANAYITI 12 hours 56 minutes ago

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday read the riot act against members of his
party involved in bitter factional fighting that has ripped apart Zanu PF as
they jostle to succeed the 89-year-old veteran politician ahead of crucial
elections later this year.

The Zanu PF leader also spoke strongly against architects of the infamous
2008 Bhora Musango campaign that led to his party losing general elections
the same year to the MDCs.

Speaking at the burial of Matadziseyi Tangwena in Tsatse village, Tangwena
area in Nyanga, Mugabe said his party needed to be organised before the
forthcoming elections. Matadziseyi was the wife of the late Chief Rekayi
Tangwena.

“Organise, organise, organise, organise! You should organise yourselves
well. This business of continuously insulting each other and forming little
factions should stop. We don’t want that. No, no, no I have rejected it.
This is not what (Chief Rekayi) Tangwena died for,” Mugabe said.

The veteran Zanu PF leader added: “No to strikers who deliberately shoot
off-target whenstaring at the goalmouth and then claim to be part of the
team they would be deceiving. We will have no option, but to expel such
sellouts.”

Mugabe’s threats came as Zanu PF infighting deepened amid reports that
several provincial executives will be purged as the battle to succeed Mugabe
rages on.

The fight for the control of Manicaland province recently took a new twist
with reports that a recent petition to Mugabe against party secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa contained forged signatures.

The fights in Zanu PF have so far resulted in the dissolution of the Killian
Sibanda-led Bulawayo provincial executive and the appointment of a new one
led by Callistus Ndlovu.

The squabbles also prompted Zanu PF to dispatch a team to probe problems in
Manicaland where officials led by women’s league boss Oppah Muchinguri and
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa wrote the petition accusing Mutasa of
fanning divisions and dictatorial tendencies.

The fights were pitting two main factions, one loyal to Vice President Joice
Mujuru and another sympathetic to Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

In Manicaland, provincial chairman Mike Madiro, a perceived Mnangagwa ally,
was recently suspended and the axe could soon fall on more provincial
executives. Party sources have been quoted as saying the next target was the
John Mafa-led executive in Mashonaland West, followed by the Lovemore Matuke
executive in Masvingo and the Dickson Mafios-led Mashonaland central
executive.

Turning to elections, Mugabe said Zimbabweans should embrace the peaceful
environment that prevailed during the constitutional referendum.

“We should not be people who fight because of different totems or different
political parties. If people refuse to buy your ideologies you don’t use
force. Let’s vote peacefully.

“On primary elections, let’s vote peacefully. In all parties there is
fighting, we can’t have all of you to represent the party during elections,
it’s only one who represents the party. We heard that some leaders are using
money. We don’t want vote buying, you can’t buy people, they are not
clothes.”

Mugabe, who was assisted to cross into Mozambique to lead the 1970s war of
liberation by the late national hero Chief Tangwena, described Matadziseyi
as a loving mother. He said she was the spirit medium which guided the
freedom fighters during the Chimurenga War. At the burial, he chronicled how
he was welcomed and assisted by the Tangwenas in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Mugabe promised hundreds of villagers at the burial that an agriculture
college was on the cards in that remote area. He said Agriculture minister
Joseph Made was currently working on the modalities. Family members
described the death of Matadziseyi as a loss to the whole community.

They also dispelled rumours that she died a neglected woman, adding that
they were content with the State assisted funeral accorded to her by Zanu
PF. - NewsDay

---

MDC-T’s internal process to select election candidates begins

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
3 May 2013

MDC-T voters on Friday began their internal process to choose the makeup of
their team to contest the harmonized elections, due this year.

At stake are 210 parliamentary, 60 senatorial and 1,968 council seats for
over 4,000 candidates who were approved by the party to contest the primary
elections.

Nelson Chamisa, the party’s national organizing secretary, told SW Radio
Africa that the internal exercise kicked off with the validation and
verification of the electoral colleges.

‘This exercise involves all the candidates, party leaders, members and
supporters to come in and inspect their voters roll and electoral colleges.

‘This is for the purposes of ensuring that only those that are supposed to
participate will vote for the candidates of their choice,’ Chamisa said.

He said as a party they valued the participation of the local communities to
increase the accountability of MPs in their constituencies, adding that the
MDC-T could reap electoral dividends by entrusting candidate selection to
voters.

On the actual primaries, Chamisa said they might start next week at the end
of the verification process, which he said could spill over into the coming
week.

‘I cannot give a date yet on when primaries will be held. It will be
determined by the process of the verification and validation of electoral
colleges, but once that is done, we will roll out our primaries,’ Chamisa
said.

ZANU PF’s PF politburo were reportedly meeting on Friday to finalize primary
elections guidelines and other related electoral issues.

The weekly Independent newspaper said that the deeply divided party will
finalize primary election guidelines, which have been postponed since
February.

‘Politburo insiders say the proposed rules and guidelines for primaries were
delayed because of the constitution-making process and also that they were
not favorable to the factional designs of sitting bigwig MPs facing ouster
by ambitious “Young Turks” pushing to replace them,’ the paper said on
Friday.

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Zanu PF trying to rig the elections through the voters roll

http://www.mdc.co.zw

Friday 03 May 2013

The MDC is greatly outraged at the attempts by the Registrar General's
Office  to rig the upcoming general elections in Zimbabwe  through the
blatant manipulation of the ongoing  voter registration exercise.

The Registrar General's office has denied the MDC any information regarding
the voter registration centers throughout the country while making that
information available  to Zanu PF. In those rare cases where the information
regarding the voter registration centers has become  known to the MDC,
partisan officials of the Registrar General's office have embarked on
systematic delays  in commencing the voter registration process thus
frustrating the prospective voters in most centers.

Although the mobile voter registration exercise was supposed to target
prospective voters mostly  in the rural wards, the Registrar General's
Office has  completely ignored most rural wards in this exercise.

In most of these chosen wards MDC members are  systematically kept in the
dark regarding the actual dates,venues and times for  the voter registration
exercise.

Most people in rural areas are being denied the chance to register because
they can not afford to pay the exorbitant fees being demanded.

For example people are being asked to fork out  US$5 to secure national
registration cards  which would enable them to register as voters while the
so called  “aliens” are being  turned away, or asked to pay a staggering
US$40.00 in order to get new registration cards.

Contrary to what was announced as the cabinet resolution prospective voters
in rural areas are being asked to produce letters from traditional leaders
as proof of residence. Most of these traditional leaders have been
intimidated by Zanu PF to deny these letters to known MDC supporters.
Resultantly thousands of people have been turned away from the voter
registration centers.

Thousands of MDC supporters have had their names deliberately deleted from
the voters roll while some have had their names posted to voters’ rolls of
other constituencies. This deliberate confusion is meant to deny the people
registered on the voters’ roll the chance to vote. In some provinces,
government vehicles are being abused to ferry known Zanu PF members to
registration centers  while those who are perceived to be MDC members are
turned away.

The MDC position is that the Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, who is
notorious for rigging elections for Zanu PF should have nothing to do with
the mobile voter registering exercise and that as provided in the GPA the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission(ZEC) should assume responsibility for this
vital process.

The MDC  can not accept a voter registration exercise designed to
disenfranchise the some people in Zimbabwe. The clandestine manner in which
the current mobile voter registration process is being conducted is totally
unacceptable.

It is clear that the current exercise can not produce a credible voters’
roll meaning that it is incapable of resulting in a free and fair election.
MDC reiterates its position that it is ready for free and fair elections at
any time. However, no elections must be called on the basis of the current
voters roll.

We totally reject the current voters roll as currently constituted. We
demand complete and transparent  audit of the voters roll with the
participation of all the stakeholders.

Zimbabweans are ready for a new dispensation, an era of genuine
transformation and will turn out in their numbers to register to vote
despite attempts to frustrate them. Change is nigh. No weapon designed to
drain our  people shall prosper any more for the wheels of change are on
course.

Yes - Together we can complete the change!!

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Zimbabwe Wall of Shame: Nicholas Goche

A comprehensive dossier exposes Zanu PF Shamva North MP, Nicholas Tasunungurwa Goche, as having led violent and murderous campaigns in his constituency that led to the deaths of dozens of opposition activists and serious injury to hundreds.

The transport minister’s trail of brutality “stretches as far back as the 2000 parliamentary elections when scores of perceived opposition activists were butchered in and around the Shamva Gold mine areas.” Goche and his gangs used so-called ‘pungwe’ (re-education) sessions to carry out these attacks.

After MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 2008 presidential election the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a grouping of all the state security agencies, responded with the brutal Operation Mavhotera Papi (where did you vote).

The figures are hard to confirm but its estimated nearly 500 perceived MDC-T supporters were killed, while tens of thousands were tortured and maimed. Goche meanwhile was busy playing his part in Shamva.

On the 11th May 2008 his mob descended on Elias Kahari Madzivanzira’s homestead. “They accused the family of being MDC supporters and they started randomly beating up everyone in sight and destroying whatever they could lay their hands on,” witness statements in the dossier say.

Elias was struck on the head with an axe and witnesses said his head split in two and he died on the spot. His wife Erica was also beaten up but survived. The perpetrators are well known in the local resettlement area and were seen in the company of Goche during the day, drinking beer and singing Mugabe’s praises.

Five days later on the 16th of May Goche addressed a campaign meeting at Chidembo School in the morning where he instructed all youths in the area to “guard their land jealously” against what he called “the whites re-invasion.” He told them to wipe out all MDC supporters in the area.

In his speech that day Goche mentioned Edson Zaya as a “known sell out in the area” and the mob captured him at Chidembo Shopping centre in Shamva. Zaya was heavily assaulted for more than an hour and was badly injured. He died shortly after the assault on the same day.

On the 27th of May Goche’s gang of ZANU PF youths dragged Kidwell Zvavamwe from his bed during the night. They assaulted him badly and he died from the injuries a week later. Kidwell’s wife Lucia Mukaru said that the youths barred her husband from seeking medical help.

In other incidents the youths;

“Dragged Roy Barwa from his hut with a wire tied around his neck like a leash and his face covered with a red cloth, which they said represented death. They destroyed his homestead burning all what was inside the huts. His entire family was assaulted, including the children and the mother.”

The mob was also responsible for the abduction of Florence Muponya from her home. They also beat up her husband before burning all the huts, kraals and a car. Showing the impunity with which Goche and his gang operated, the incident was reported to the police but Goche ordered the police to arrest his victims instead.

Muponya and her family were made to face political violence charges before the court in Bindura. The charges were subsequently thrown out.

It is remarkable given this background that Goche is one of ZANU PF’s key negotiators of the Global Political agreement (GPA), and in fact he was part of the team that crafted the GPA that shaped the coalition government.

In March this year, Goche was in the news when High Court Judge, Justice Charles Hungwe granted the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission permission to search his ministerial offices and those of Mines minister Obert Mpofu and Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere.

The commission also pounced on the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) and Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) offices which fall under Kasukuwere and Goche respectively. It was only Justice George Chiweshe who blocked the searches.

Chiweshe is a key Mugabe ally who as past chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission withheld presidential election results for weeks in March 2008, amid reports the period was used to manipulate and massage the figures that denied Morgan Tsvangirai an outright victory over a shocked Mugabe.

The Zimbabwe Wall of Shame is constantly updated with new information. If you have any extra details or testimonies that need investigating or publishing contact this journalist via email lance@nehandaradio.com or follow him on twitter @LanceGuma

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The poverty of Zimbabwe’s political discourse

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

03/05/2013 00:00:00
     by Prof Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu

THE poverty of the Zimbabwean political debate is that of focusing on
individuals rather than structures, processes, and issues. While individuals
play a significant role in making of politics and its articulation, the
Zimbabwean political debate, puts President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai too much at the centre of the political discourse as
though there would be no Zimbabwe without these two political gladiators.
The unintended consequence of this ‘individualisation’ of the political
discourse is that electoral contests become reducible to choosing between
personalities rather than well-articulated projects. Manifestoes become
nothing in this individualised conception of politics.

Consequently, political actors do not make their home-work of coming up with
well-thought-out programmes to market to the electorate as part of
soliciting for votes. Those who try to write and contribute to political
debates generates to simple railing against some specific political actors
rather than engaging in articulation of issues at stake.

The excellent and important New Zimbabwe.com platform has been turned into a
place of exchanging insults and other obscenities that do not help in the
process to imagining a better Zimbabwe. The other unintended consequence of
this type of approach to the political discourse on Zimbabwe is that as a
people, we miss engagement with the big picture of the context within which
the Zimbabwe question features. It would seem even those who claim to
present academic analysis remain locked in inflexible partisan orientation
that make them fail to provide refreshing analysis of the core problems
haunting our beautiful nation.

The fundamental question which is skirted by many is what constitutes the
Zimbabwe problem? Are elections a panacea to this problem? What happens
after elections? The dominant but simplistic response has been that either
President Mugabe or Prime Minister Tsvangirai is the problem. Some have even
labeled Tsvangirai a security threat that needs the intervention of the
military in Zimbabwean politics! Some entertain an equally shallow analysis
that if Mugabe is removed from the political scene, the Zimbabwe problem
would be solved. All this is a consequence of the poverty of the Zimbabwean
political discourse.

I think there are five core issues that must pre-occupy us as we reflect on
another election. These are coloniality, tyranny, puppetry, national
question, and the contested meaning of democracy.  Let us briefly articulate
each of them.

Coloniality and the myth of African liberation
The Zimbabwean liberation forces managed to roll back direct administrative
colonialism but failed to extricate Zimbabwe from coloniality. Coloniality
cascades from colonialism but survives colonialism. The term neo-colonialism
that is preferred by those influenced by Marxist thought does not fully
capture the essence of coloniality as it emphasises only the economic
dimension. Coloniality is best understood as a global power matrix that lies
at the centre of the current racially hierarchised, patriarchal,
Western-centric, Euro-American-centric, hetero-normative, Christian-centric,
capitalist, modern and colonial world order that emerged in 1492.

The year 1492 is an important date for the making of the Global South
because it marks the year Christopher Columbus claimed to have discovered
the so-called New World, inaugurating imperial expansion across the world.
Decolonisation has not yet succeeded in decolonising the modern global
system.

What simply happened is that the Westphalian sovereignty order that came
into being in 1648 that excluded Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean from enjoyment of sovereignty, underwent a paradigm shift into the
current post-1945 United Nations sovereignty system that embrace
juridical-political decolonisation of Africa.

Practically, what happened was that the anti-systemic/anti-colonial
political formations were disciplined by forces of coloniality into
reformist movements that became available for accommodation into the lowest
echelons of the modern global system. Coloniality works to discipline and
dilute revolutionary force and content of liberation movements.
Consequently, those who originally fought for liberation and freedom end up
celebration emancipation which is articulated in terms of democracy and
human rights.

The reality is that in the current modern global system, Africans remain a
people, whose being is articulated in terms of lacks and deficits – lacking
history, lacking civilization, lacking development, lacking good governance,
lacking democracy, lacking human rights, and lacking ethical leadership.
This discourse cannot die as long as the modern global system remains
underpinned by coloniality and resistant to decolonisation.

Within this modern world system, humanity remains hierarchised racially with
whites at the top and blacks at the bottom. States remain hierarchized with
the USA at the top and African states at the bottom of the global power
hierarchy.

Zimbabwe is caught-up in coloniality just like all other ‘postcolonial’
states. The quest for a new Zimbabwe becomes part of a global South’s
decolonization struggle to end all forms of coloniality. Coloniality is more
dangerous than colonialism because one cannot see it. It operates as an
invisible force embedded in institutions as well as carried by those
discourses like democracy, human rights and development that appear to be
progressive.

As we approach another election, the question of coloniality cannot be
ignored. It’s a global question with indirect and direct local implications.
The crisis is that the so-called African nationalists have simply reproduced
coloniality and this is manifested in their readiness to inherit
institutions left behind by colonialists. Coloniality has destroyed African
spirit to innovate and invent new institutions. It has destroyed the ability
to dream in African terms and to imagine beyond parameters set by
coloniality.

Tyranny and African human security
The post-colonial African states including Zimbabwe are modeled on
Westphalian template albeit modified by colonial political engineers like
Cecil John Rhodes. They are a product of Euro-American modernity that
produced the nation-state as a superior form of human organization. African
boundaries are a product of Berlin consensus of 1884-5. The OAU only
accepted their inviolability in 1963.

The African leaders manning the postcolonial states occupy an invidious
position similar to African chiefs under indirect rule. They run local
economies on behalf of the world capitalist system rather than in trust for
African people. Those who try to deviate from the coloniality script face
consequences of assassination, coup d’état and sanctions. Those who comply
face the wrath of the people. They are in a cul-de-sac. They are in a
coloniality straitjacket. Thus instead of delivering services to the people
they deliver violence and tyranny as a form of governance.

One finds African leaders unashamedly and deliberately identifying black
citizens as their worst enemies. This is why they use spy agents to unroll
surveillance on society.  Police, army and prisons are there to deal with
those considered to be anti-status quo. Any one speaking the language of
change is labeled an enemy of the state as the party, state, nation and
presidency are conflated into a singular leviathan. The leaders become
comfortable in practicing what Fanon termed ‘repetition without change.’

The fundamental issue is to reflect on the nature of change that Zimbabweans
envisage as we approach elections. Is it possible to reap real, genuine and
quality decolonial change, without defeating coloniality? How can we
transcend the habit of ‘repetition without change’? These are not simple
questions requiring one answer. The electorate must play its role. Those who
aspire to lead Zimbabwe must be pressured to come up with clear visions and
plans for the country.

Puppetry and the West
Ever since the dawn of juridical-political independence, the Euro-American
world has managed to continue to influence and shape African affairs through
the use of puppets.  Those African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Steven Bantu
Biko, Herbert Chitepo, Jaison Moyo, Thomas Sankara, Chris Hani, Patrice
Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral and a few others, who refused puppetry, were quickly
eliminated physically. All those who survived to this day had proven to be
usable as puppets in one way or another.

One finds African leaders competing among themselves for puppetry and those
who lose the competition turn around and call the West names. If the West is
on one leader’s side, it becomes a partner. When ditched by the West, the
African leader rails against the West while behind the scenes negotiating
for Western favour. Once the African leader has been rehabilitated, puppetry
is normalised as engagement with the rest of the world.

Puppetry is an important tool of coloniality that Zimbabweans must be aware
of as we approach elections. What must be noted is that those who are quick
to call others puppets are often those who have been outwitted in the same
game of puppetry. So we must be very vigilant as to try to transcend this
problem. Puppetry can be avoided by a people who are genuinely nationalistic
and patriotic.

The national question
The idea of Zimbabwe is a recent one. It emerged in the 1960s.  It was meant
to be a nodal point around which a singular identity of a people of diverse
ethnic backgrounds had to crystallize into one postcolonial nation.But at
the very time that nationalism was emerging ethnicity began to spoil the
national project.Without genuine nationalists, it became hard for the
project of imagination of a singular postcolonial nation to be
sustained.While claiming the noble spirit of nationalism, the political
actors still thought and behaved in terms of being Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika,
Ndebele, Kalanga, Ndau and other identities.

At a minimum, a problematic Shona and Ndebele identity emerged during the
nationalist period undercutting the broader vision of imagining a pan-ethnic
Zimbabwean identity. ZAPU and ZANU played an active role through their
Departments of Commissariat to preach disunity as they articulated separate
identity for their political formations and its military wings. Young
recruits were exposed to lessons that taught them to hate those who belonged
to other political formations. Belonging to a particular nationalist
formation was elevated as an identity above that of the formative Zimbabwean
identity.

Armed with this background, one cannot be surprised why two years into
political independence; Zanu PF became engaged in a violent project of
eliminating Ndebele-speaking people under the pretext of fighting against
dissidents, most of which were manufactured by Zanu PF. The Fanonian
‘pitfalls of national consciousness,’ were beginning to devour the little
that was emerging as a pan-ethnic Zimbabwean formation.

The most important point as we gesture towards another election is to know
that a pan-ethnic Zimbabwe needs to be created.  While Zanu PF inherited the
state from Ian Smith, its mammoth task was to create a nation called
Zimbabwe. It could not inherit that because colonialists never made it part
of their project to create nations in Africa. They created tribes. Zanu PF
engaged in de-racialisation process but never attempted de-tribalisation of
society.

The two projects of reconciliation aimed at allaying white fears and unity
that was meant to deal with tribalism never succeeded. Very little efforts
were invested in the project of unity, as Zanu PF like all schizophrenic
postcolonial states quickly embraced violence as a tool of nation-building.
Whoever will win the elections must prioritise the project of
nation-building. Zimbabwe is still work-in-progress.

Democracy with social content
The last important issue to consider as we approach elections is what we
mean as Zimbabweans by democracy.  Zimbabwe needs a democracy with social
content. This is a democracy that is in synch with decoloniality. A
democracy that does not only speak about what has been termed ‘first
generation rights’ reducible to political and civil rights, but incorporates
the important issues of social and economic justice. What is needed is a
context sensitive democracy that is usable to advance transitional justice
and is not antagonistic to the unfinished decolonization project.

Let me end by saying all these considerations needs to be taken seriously as
we imagine another Zimbabwe where the ontological density of Zimbabweans
would be restored. Despite all the problems that Zimbabwe has faced, I must
say that it ranks much higher in the scale of decoloniality. We must build
on the progress made to deliver a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.

Ideally, the election moment is a time when people regain their power and
those who have been in power lose it if they don’t work hard to appeal for
votes through clear crafted promises. Let us put both for decoloniality and
democracy as complimentary liberatory projects.

Professor Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Head of Archie Mafeje Research
Institute (AMRI) at the University of South Africa, but the views expressed
in this article are personal. He can be contacted by email:
sjndlovugatsheni@gmail.com

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Road Trip Day Three

http://zimbabweelection.com/

02/05/2013 By zimbabweelection

Our correspondent arrives in Harare, and takes in the changes since he was
last in the capital five years ago.

Here are his thoughts on Day Three on the contrasts and contradictions the
city offers.

For anyone like me, whose memory of Zimbabwe is battling the hyperinflation
and living life with bundles of Zimbabwe dollars carried in a backpack, the
ATMs now are a shock. I trotted up to a Barclays, inserted my foreign ATM
card, and out came crisp $100 bills. I’ve never in my life seen an ATM that
dispenses only $100 notes, and in such staggering quantities. The withdrawal
options began at $100, and went up to $2,500. That would have been two
months of my living budget when I last lived here.

Driving down the street, I passed a shiny Jaguar and Land Rover dealer, then
another brand new BMW showcase. Even for what’s left of the middle class,
life has improved from the dark days of 2008. Grocery stores are full of
food. Service stations have petrol. On the grounds of the Harare
International Festival of the Arts, it’s clear that the country’s artists
and creators have also managed, miraculously, to regroup and produce
beautiful works.

Further from the urban core, it’s less clear to me. Certainly life is better
than five years ago, when sewers overflowed into the streets and cholera
threatened everyone. The shops in Chitungwiza are also fully stocked and
everyone everywhere looks better: less hungry, less stressed.

But it’s still not good. Scraps of spare land — behind parking lots, around
homes, along the street — are planted with mealies now being harvested.
Anyone who can access borehole water does. Electricity is on more often for
many, not at all for many others. Sewers are closed, but old pit latrines
sit open, hidden among the tall grasses and urban farming. Unemployment is
still stratospheric. The diaspora remains scattered around the world, so
almost every family is coping with separation or loss.

Yet things are undeniably better. And no one I’ve talked to credits the
government with this change. They credit the US dollar.

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Arrest Theresa Makone ?

http://www.cathybuckle.com/

May 3, 2013, 1:31 pm

Reports that the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai himself were involved in high
level talks with the military really annoyed Zanu PF. Then we heard that
Giles Mutsekwa the MDC’s shadow Minister of Defence had also been meeting
with top generals and that made them even angrier. It was however a
policeman, albeit the top police man, Augustine Chihuri who gave the party’s
response despite the fact that Chihuri is supposed to be non-partisan.
Meanwhile, responding to the MDC charge that the police were partisan
Sekeramayi said “the security chiefs were in office by merit” which hardly
answers the charge of partisanship! Nevertheless, it was Police Chief
Augustine Chihuri this week who categorically denied ever having had
meetings with the opposition. “It was lies peddled by the media,” he said.
Never one to disguise his contempt for the opposition, Chihuri went on to
comment that, “Generals are too busy to engage confused malcontents…
individuals whose sole purpose is to create confusion within the rank and
file of the defence and security forces.”  Chihuri carefully omitted to say
what the generals were ‘too busy’ doing – looking after their stolen farms,
perhaps? His use of the word ‘malcontents’ to describe the MDC has a
curiously old-fashioned ring, rather like a Victorian factory owner
referring to his workers who have dared to ask for higher wages!

What is noticeable is that the police themselves are ‘too busy’ arresting
people for such spurious charges as “impersonating public officials” The 19
people in question were actually MDC Harare residents, going door-to-door
campaigning for their political party which is an accepted practice in a
parliamentary democracy; the 19 are still in gaol, having been refused bail.
Theresa Makone is another one, an MDC official who apparently faces arrest
for “shouting at the police officer in charge at Hatcliffe police station’.
It seems the police demand unquestioning, even grovelling respect from the
public but there is little evidence of what they have done to deserve such
respect. On May 1st, traditionally celebrated as Workers Day, the police
arrived at the rally and demanded to speak to the organisers who, the police
claimed, had failed to ask for police permission to hold the meeting.
Curiously, the police then went away for three hours and when they returned
the Workers’ meeting was all over. Perhaps, someone had advised them to
tread carefully if they wanted to avoid a full-scale riot with all the
foreigners in town. And there do seem to be a great many foreign visitors in
Zimbabwe at the moment; one wonders what they make of the police behaviour.
Two Civil Rights heroes, Dr Andrew Young and the Reverend Jesse Jackson from
the US are in the country trying to offer a solution to Zimbabwe’s problems
and an EU delegation is also present. It’s worth noting that the EU, of
which Britain is a member, gave Zimbabwe aid worth $131 million, while USAID
has donated $32 million to peasant farming. So while Zanu PF ministers are
ranting on about western interference as usual, they seem quite happy to
accept western money.

Words do have a nasty habit of coming back to bite you, that’s particularly
true in a country like Zimbabwe where the stranger in the bottle store is
just as likely to be a CIO agent. The Police Chief does not have to worry
about that of course but his verbal abuse of the MDC is an open
advertisement of his pro-government sympathies. The MDC’s Youth Leader has
again been arrested for a speech ‘insulting’ Mugabe and a Zanu PF Minister
has been accused of ‘hate speech’. The message of all this is very clear:
take care what you say in Zimbabwe. You never know who’s listening.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson.

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