Movement for Democratic Change MP Roy Bennett on trial for 'treason'

November 10, 2009

Jan Raath in Harare

The trial on terrorism charges of Roy Bennett, a close aide of the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, began yesterday amid claims that the evidence against him was based solely on a confession of an associate made under torture.

Mr Bennett, 52, treasurer of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change and Deputy Agriculture Minister-designate, was arrested in February, hours before he was due to be sworn in, on charges of possession of weapons to commit acts of banditry, insurgency and terror which carry the death penalty.

It emerged in the Harare High Court that the evidence against Mr Bennett was based solely on a “confession” that mentioned him in an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Mugabe in 2006.

Peter Hitschmann, 52, an officially registered arms dealer, who is also a white Zimbabwean, wrote the statement after being tortured, Beatrice Mtetwa, a lawyer, said as the trial opened.

Mr Hitschmann has said previously that military intelligence interrogators burnt him on the buttocks with lighted cigarettes until he fainted from the pain. He went on trial in 2007 for treason and possession of weapons for an alleged plot to kill Mr Mugabe.

“It is unsworn and it is not even signed,” Ms Mtetwa said of the confession. “This evidence does not exist.” She asked the judge Chinembiri Bhunu, to censure Johannes Tomana, the Attorney-General, for citing demonstrable falsehoods as evidence.

She said that when Mr Hitschmann found out he was to be subpoenaed to give evidence against Mr Bennett he approached a senior human rights lawyer to appeal to Mr Tomana that he had no evidence he could give against Mr Bennett.

Within hours of having written to Mr Tomana the lawyer was arrested by police at his home for “attempting to defeat the course of justice,” and spent the night in a squalid police cell.

Mr Tsvangirai called on Mr Mugabe to stop the malicious prosecution. Another of Mr Tsvangirai’s constant demands over the past nine months since the inauguration of the coalition Government has been that Mr Mugabe swear in Mr Bennett as deputy minister, to no avail.

During the proceedings police brought into the court room boxes and sacks of what appeared to be ammunition and fuses, and at least one rifle — the munitions Mr Bennett was alleged to have been stockpiling.

It was in the same teak-panelled court room in 2004 that Mr Tsvangirai faced the death penalty for allegedly plotting to overthrow Mr Mugabe. After 21 months the judge ruled that it was an elaborately stage-managed conspiracy to have Mr Tsvangirai hanged legally.

State witness calls own evidence fiction

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24744

November 9, 2009

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - The high profile trial of MDC treasurer general and deputy minister
designate, Roy Bennett, finally opened in the High Court in Harare Monday
morning with both the state and the defence raising preliminary
issues.Bennett stands accused of possessing dangerous weapons in a bid to
dethrone President Robert Mugabe. The charges carry a death sentence or life
imprisonment.

During Monday's trial, both the state, led by Attorney General Johannes
Tomana and the defence counsel, led by Beatrice Mtetwa, filed applications
questioning each other's outlines.

The defence wants the state to strike off certain statements attributed to
the state's principal witness Peter Michael Hitshmann in Bennett's
indictment papers.

The defence is adamant evidence contained in Bennett's indictment papers and
attributed to statements by Hitshmann, a firearms dealer and alleged
accomplice of Bennett, should be struck off the indictment papers as the
latter has disowned it.

In an affidavit deposited with a Mutare Court on October 29, 2009, Hitshmann
said he had given evidence implicating Bennett in the case under duress.

He said he signed statements based on false confessions induced by torture
and abuse.

"As a result of the torture referred to above and involuntarily I made a
number of extracural statements, which were all false and cannot be
admissible in court," Hitshmann said.

"In these statements, I enter alia admitted to the conspiracy with which I
was being charged and suggested that Mr Roy Bennett was also involved in the
conspiracy.

"This was pure fiction and bore no relationship at all to any reality."

Hitshmann was acquitted of the charge of possessing weapons for purposes of
insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism but found guilty of possessing
dangerous weapons, namely six guns, being an FN rifle, AK 47, three Uzzi
sub-machine guns and one H & K sub-machine gun.

On the other hand, Tomana is adamant the defence should be compelled to
strike off its own outline and resubmit one which would be responding to
Hitshmann's claims that Bennett was an accomplice.

This was after the defence had instead submitted its outline questioning the
necessity of responding to the state papers when Hitshmann subsequently
placed an affidavit denying the same statements which the state based as its
outline.

During the trial, Mtetwa strongly protested Tomana's decision to proceed
with the matter based on evidence which had been disowned by the state's key
witness.

"I believe that when you have an affidavit statement from a witness saying,
'There is no such evidence I can give', an Attorney General should look into
that issue seriously," Mtetwa told the court.

"The Attorney General has a record of proceedings where an accused person
gave evidence on oath and was believed by the court.

"It is on that basis that we are saying he is not acting impartially. He is
not discharging his duties as expected of a lawyer.

"Clearly the state cannot apply to have the accused person gagged because it
does not like what is in the defence outline."

But Tomana insisted Bennett's case should not be treated lightly.

"This is a very serious matter which must be accorded the seriousness that
it demands particularly in the kind of environment that there is," Tomana
said.

"A criminal trial is not a game in which one side is entitled to claim the
benefit of an omission or mistake made by the other side and the position of
the judge in a criminal trial is not merely that of an umpire to see to it
that the rules of the game are followed.

"The duty of the court is to make an assessment for the sake of public
order."

After listening to both submissions, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu deferred his
ruling on the admissibility of Hitchmann's evidence to Wednesday morning.

Should the court rule in the defence's favour, the state will be left with
skeletal evidence as all other witnesses the majority of whom are state
security agents and police officers are basing their testimony on Hitshmann's
implication Bennett's as his accomplice.

Mtetwa was being assisted by Harrison Nkomo and Trust Maanda while Tomana
was assisted by Florence Ziyambi, the director of public prosecutions and
Chris Mutangadura, a legal officer in the Attorney General's office.

Bennett's lawyers want AG investigated

http://www.zimonline.co.za

     

            by Tendai Maronga Monday 09 November 2009

HARARE - Lawyers representing MDC treasurer-general and deputy agriculture
minister-designate Roy Bennett on Monday made an application to have
Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana investigated for his conduct in
handling the MDC official's terrorism indictment process.

Bennett, who is accused of possessing weapons for the purposes of committing
banditry, insurgency and terrorism - charges he denies - is currently on a
US$5 000 bail.

Lead defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa of Mtetwa and Nyambirai told the court
that the AG's conduct was not worthy of a chief law officer and therefore he
should be investigated.

The state wants to bring arms dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann to testify
against Bennett, but the defence said it has since established that what he
wants to say is different from what is recorded in his witness account.

Tomana had maintained that the evidence by Hitschmann be made to stand
despite an affidavit he signed claiming that he would not be able to testify
in the Bennett case.

"The failure by the AG to address this issue shows that he has no clue how
he is going to get the evidence from Hitschmann. This is not a game; it is a
serious matter that involves somebody's life. We want the evidence by
Hitschmann to be struck off as it will not help the state case," said
Mtetwa.

She said it was in the public domain that Hitschmann was not going to give a
testimony against Bennett and on that basis they were now applying for the
court to refer the AG and his team of officers to the Law Society of
Zimbabwe (LSZ) for investigation.

"It is conduct that is not worthy an AG to proceed with a case when there is
an affidavit that is against what is in the state papers. When the AG
appears before the court he is just like any other law officer. So we are
applying to this court to refer such officers to the LSZ and direct that an
investigation be carried out to show that they handled themselves
impartially," said Mtetwa.

She argued that an accused person could, in terms of the law, properly ask
for the court to refer "dishonourable law officers" to the LSZ.

"An AG is an AG for all of us. He is an AG for Roy Bennett and for anybody
who is in Zimbabwe. The administration of justice would be put into
disrepute if the evidence of Mr Hitschmann is allowed to stand," added
Mtetwa who was assisted by human rights lawyer Trust Maanda.

Earlier on Tomana had made an application to have the defence outline struck
off and a fresh one prepared as it purported to seek to quash the indictment
and the state case.

"Besides attempting to be a plea of not guilty, the defence outline is an
application to have the state case struck off. The document also challenges
the evidence of state witnesses. This is a serious matter which must be
accorded the seriousness it deserves," said Tomana who was flanked by law
officers Florence Ziyambi and Chris Mutangadura.

Tomana also accused the defence team of using "temperament language" in
their defence outline and therefore it should not be considered.

High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu reserved his ruling to Wednesday
where he will consider all the applications made by both teams.

Smartly dressed in blue suit, a striped shirt and a matching tie, Bennett
sat quietly following proceedings.

Bennett is a former white farmer who was named by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai for the post of deputy agriculture minister in the country's
power-sharing government.

President Robert Mugabe has refused to swear in Bennett to his ministerial
post citing the charges against him.

Bennett was arrested a few hours before ministers for the power-sharing
government were sworn in last February accused of banditry and terrorism -
charges Tsvangirai has repeatedly said are politically motivated and are
undermining the unity government.

He was released on bail in March only to be rearrested last month and his
detention at Mutare remand prison threw Zimbabwe's fragile coalition
government in turmoil. - ZimOnline

Plot to frame Biti is exposed as Raid went ahead before evidence was planted

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

     
      Written by CHIEF REPORTER
      Monday, 09 November 2009 16:40
      HARARE - The military top brass, working in cahoots with Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono, have attempted to frame Finance Minister
Tendai Biti (Pictured) for treason, authoritative MDC, government and
intelligence sources have confirmed.

      The plot is widely seen as either a stalling tactic or retaliation for
Biti's probe into US$45m missing from the central bank,
      Biti's investigation uncovered scandal at the RBZ, including the
revelation that, between December and August, Gono siphoned off US$45m from
the RBZ. The money had been a statutory reserve meant to provide financial
cover to banks in trouble.
      Gono claims the money was used to bankroll the troubled airline, Air
Zimbabwe, to pay presidential scholarships and to finance diplomatic
missions. This was at a time, however, when the RBZ had failed to provide
funding for salaries for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, pensions,
communications and courier services.
      Biti presented a full report on this plunder to Mugabe last week.
Another report has been sent to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
      Biti confirmed to ****The Zimbabwean on Tuesday**** that US$45m had
indeed been "stolen" from the RBZ.
      "It's economic kleptocracy," he said.
      An investigation by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) technical
team also corroborated Biti's findings, and said Gono had stolen US$45.5m
from the RBZ.
      "The RBZ has used foreign reserve assets to fund its operating
expenses, withdrawals of foreign currency amounts and debt service, as well
as payments on behalf of the government," the damning IMF report stated.
"The total value of fund outflows is reported to have been US$45.5 million
between end-December 2008 and end-August. The RBZ also accumulated US$40.3
million in arrears on operating expenses during the first nine months of
2009."
      Guns blazing
      Gono came out guns blazing, and co-ordinated a response to what he saw
as Biti's continued effort to embarrass him.
      In a desperate bid to forestall the exposure, there was a contrived
plot, hatched by the Joint Operations Command, which continues to meet
illegally, and Gono, to frame Biti, our source said.
      The Zimbabwean on Tuesday heard that the plot against Biti involved 20
AK-47 rifles, reportedly missing from the highly-secured Pomona army
barracks in Borrowdale.
      Authoritative sources said this week the operation was botched after
armed police hurriedly raided Biti's Chisipite home two weeks ago, before
the weapons had been planted. The search uncovered nothing.
      There was now a manhunt for the 12 soldiers who have disappeared with
the weapons without planting them at Biti's home.
      It was believed some low-key MDC officials received cash inducements
in exchange for information on Biti's properties.
      "The long history of Zanu (PF) planting weapons and pressing charges
of treason are age-old, tired tactics of the Zanu (PF) dictatorship, but
they must know that this is a serious attack on our movement and we will not
back down," Biti said then.
      Now MDC Transport Manager, Pascal Gwezere, has been abducted and
jailed in connection with the missing weapons.
      Sources, however, say it is close to impossible to steal anything from
the high-security One Engineers Support Regiment Armoury, from where the 20
Ak-47 rifles are said to have been stolen.
      Tensions
      Biti vowed that no amount of harassment or threats would make him back
down.
      "The real loss that this country has suffered is 10 years of economic
mismanagement, economic chicanery and economic kleptocracy," he said. "It
will take us 10 years to achieve the GDP that we had in 1996 and this is at
a cost of anything between US$15bn and US$45bn."
      Over the past few years, Biti has been jailed and beaten by President
Mugabe's security forces. But despite still trying to deal with the trauma
of those experiences, he has resolutely effected central bank reforms and
has been credited with ending hyperinflation and reining in Gono, accused of
wrecking the economy through quasi-fiscal activities.
      The latest spat comes amid heightened tensions between Gono and Biti.
The central bank chief has claimed his boss was stalling the distribution of
US$510m received from the International Monetary Fund in August.
      Gono has tried to claim credit for winning the funds, which form part
of a global scheme that the IMF offered to all of its members, but the IMF
has said the funds are under the control of the Finance Ministry.
      Biti is insisting that the funds will only be distributed once the
national budget, expected to be presented this month, has been approved by
parliament.
      The MDC insists it wants the RBZ governor, a close ally of President
Mugabe, replaced by an impartial candidate. This was one of the issues
central to the ongoing talks that saw the MDC disengaging from government on
October 16.
      And Biti has consistently rebutted attacks by Gono, including
accusations earlier this year that Honey and Blankenberg, the leading Harare
legal firm in which the Minister of Finance, is a senior partner, had
externalised more than US$1m in foreign currency, allegedly in contravention
of exchange control regulations.
      Many of Gono's critics in the banking sector were hounded out of the
country after similar allegations were levelled against them by Gono. Biti
and his law firm rubbished the allegations and challenged Gono to prove it.
      Gono's office last week requested written questions, which had been
e-mailed but had not been responded to.

China expresses interest in upgrading Zimbabwe's transport network

http://news.xinhuanet.com

     

      www.chinaview.cn  2009-11-10 07:40:53

          By Gretinah Machingura

          HARARE, Nov. 9 (Xinhua)-- Chinese companies have expressed
interest in dualizing the trunk road linking Zimbabwe and its northern
neighbor Zambia, as well in rehabilitating a stretch of the railway line
along the same route, a senior government official said on Monday.

          Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructure
Development Tichaona Mudzingwa told Xinhua in an interview on Monday that
the railway project could also stretch to Zambia.

          "The Chinese have expressed interest in constructing the trunk
road that is Harare-Chinhoyi-Chirundu. They have also expressed interest in
the railway from Harare to Chinhoyi and if possible over the Zambezi to
Zambia," the deputy minister said.

          The road plays a crucial role in facilitating trade among Southern
African Development Community (SADC) countries.

          It completes the link between South Africa and countries in North,
Central and West Africa.

          Mudzingwa said South African, Canadian and Australian companies
are also keen to develop the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road.

          He said the Zimbabwe government is keen to have the dualization of
the road completed before the start of the World Cup Soccer tournament in
South Africa in June next year.

          Mudzingwa said the road would be divided into three segments, with
each of the three countries developing a section.

          The foreign companies would develop the road, estimated to cost in
excess of 2. 4 billion U.S. dollars, jointly with local companies, he said.

          "Naturally, it is not going to be all foreign companies involved.
There is an element of local companies which are involved in road
construction which are also going to partner those countries, those which
are interested in dualization."

          "We are very much interested that as many local companies as
possible get involved in this dualization. It is an advantage to them
because there is also going to be technology transfer, which we need so
much," Mudzingwa said.

          Chinese companies are also interested in upgrading Zimbabwe's
airports, telecommunications, mining and the Information Technology sector,
among other projects, he said.

MDC activist dies of torture wounds

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

     
      Written by Mxolisi Ncube
      Monday, 09 November 2009 17:51
      JOHANNESBURG - A tortured MDC activist died recently from the injuries
that he sustained when he was tortured by state security agents and other
supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party after the elections
last year.

      Gift Nhidza (32), a former security officer in the MDC, died two weeks
ago in Odzi - a politically-volatile area in the country's eastern province
of Manicaland.
      Nhidza, popularly known as "Children", lived as a political refugee in
Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church during the past year, after fleeing
several attempts on his life by Mugabe's supporters. He returned home last
month, after his already failing health had taken a turn for the worse.
      Nhidza, also a former soldier, sustained horrific injuries when he was
brutalised by Zanu (PF) torture gangs in 2008, allegedly at the instigation
of then minister of transport, Christopher Mushohwe.

      The MDC activist, whose worst injury was the seven fractures sustained
on his right leg, walked with the aid of crutches. He also sustained three
fractures on his left leg and several others on each of his arms while being
beaten with iron bars at a torture base in Odzi.

      After the torture he was left for dead, dumped on the road inside
Spiro farm so that he would be crushed by trucks in a stage-managed road
accident. But he woke up in time to roll into the bush, from where he was
taken in a wheelbarrow by his younger brother.

      His spinal cord was also damaged in three different parts as a result
of the beating and was admitted to a private hospital in Mutare for seven
months, but fled when the CIO made attempts to visit him in hospital.

      Nhidza was being accused, in part, of having been deployed by the MDC
in South Africa to train bandits that would later be used to topple Mugabe,
an allegation that the octogenarian ruler has always preferred against his
opponents in a bid to decimate the opposition.

      "He died a couple of weeks ago and we are told that he has since been
buried in his home area," said Solomon Chikohwero, Chairman of the MDC
Veterans Activists Association (MDC VAA), of which Nhidza was a member.

      "People like Nhidza cannot just go unnoticed because they are some of
the heroes that contributed a lot in Zimbabwe's on-going fight for
democracy."

Zimbabwe Women Activists Warn of Continuing Hardships without Reform

Battle over ZAPU properties begins

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24760

November 10, 2009

By Ray Matikinye

BULAWAYO - The legal battle to recover properties seized by the government
of Zimbabwe from PF-ZAPU soon after independence in 1980 has begun with the
party's legal experts working on the issue of repossessing all properties
confiscated.

Government in 1982 seized 25 farms and 31 companies belonging to PF-ZAPU
after accusing its late leader, Joshua Nkomo of planning to topple then
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe's government following the alleged discovery of
arms caches on some of the party's properties.

The seizure heightened tensions between the two major political parties
culminating in the unleashing of a crack Korean trained elite Five Brigade
which has been accused of massacring an estimated 20 000 civilians in ZAPU's
strongholds of Matabeleland and the Midlands.

"Now that ZAPU has pulled out of the Unity Accord and is on its own, it is
common cause that ZAPU must be handed back what belonged to it,"  ZAPU's
director of communications and marketing, Methuseli Moyo says.

In 2003 government said it had returned Castle Arms Motel in Bulawayo,
Woolglen Farm in Umguza, Nest Egg and Hampton Farms in Gweru in the spirit
of promoting unity after the signing of the Unity Accord. But some of the
former ZIPRA cadres who contributed their demobilization payments towards
the purchase of some of the properties questioned the motive behind
government's actions 16 years after the Unity Accord was signed.

Moyo said government had not returned any properties to ZAPU. He said the
only properties that were handed back were those belonging to Nitram, a
ZIPRA war veterans' investment company, which was established to cater for
disadvantaged cadres and their families.

"Zipra investments were under Nitram administration and the newly appointed
Nitram management board is administering the properties. Nitram properties
were never incorporated into unified Zanu-PF assets," Moyo said

Dr Joshua Nkomo signed a unity agreement in December 1987 which amalgamated
his PF-ZAPU party with Zanu-PF. Moyo could not produce the whole list of
seized properties, including farms, hotels, buildings and other assets such
as vehicles and farm equipment, saying the party's legal team was in the
process of verifying the inventory of the seized ZAPU assets. The party's
lawyers were also in the process of verifying who currently holds the title
to these properties.

"The matter of title deeds is being handled by our lawyers and we are not
privileged to reveal specific details on the matter at the moment," Moyo
said adding that the party's legal team would also determine the amount of
revenue that could have accrued ZAPU from the seized properties when the
appropriate time comes.

"What is important for now is to get our properties back and the rest of the
issues will follow. We presume in certain cases the Government may have
improved our properties, thereby adding value and there would be no need to
demand compensation in such cases." Moyo said.

ZAPU does not know who has been receiving rentals for private businesses
operating from its seized properties although the party is anxious to
establish that as well. While the party is operating from rented offices,
the original asset list before the seizure of PF-ZAPU properties included
the multi-storey Magnate House in the city of Bulawayo.

The building currently houses the Matabeleland headquarters of the Central
Intelligence Organisation, while the former Lido Hotel is occupied by the
police as Queens Park Police Station.

Moyo declined to give the names of some of the people occupying and
benefiting from ZAPU properties.

"All I can say is that a lot of high profile people will lose when the case
is brought before the courts and finalized,' Moyo said.

Nobody wants to assist us: White farmers

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Cuthbert Nzou Tuesday 10 November 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe's few remaining white farmers said on Monday that they had
sought without success help from Agriculture Minister Joseph Made and his
lands counterpart Herbert Murerwa to end fresh farm invasions by military
officers and supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.

The majority of the about 4 000 white commercial farmers were expelled from
the land under Mugabe's chaotic and often bloody land reforms blamed for
plunging Zimbabwe into food shortages but which the veteran leader says were
necessary to ensure blacks also had access to arable land that they were
denied by previous white-led governments.

Deon Theron, president of the mainly white Commercial Framers Union (CFU),
said in a press statement that fresh disturbances on farms and invasions
would have a "catastrophic impact" on the nation's ability to produce enough
food in the 2009/10 season.

"We have written to various ministries, including the minister of
agriculture and the minister of lands, seeking dialogue to stabilise the
situation and protect our livestock, but have not even received a reply," he
said.

Efforts to get a comment from Murerwa were fruitless yesterday. Made
declined to comment.

Theron said his union was "deeply" concerned about the increased onslaught
against white farmers, employees and livestock.

"Many of our members and their employees have been assaulted, had their
belongings seized and stolen, and been forced to watch as their homes and
worker villages have been burnt to the ground," Theron alleged.

"Police reaction has been limited, slow and frequently biased against our
members. In the majority of cases there has been no response at all because
the deliberately orchestrated violence has been classified as political,"
the CFU leader said.

He said over 150 productive farmers have been targeted and prosecuted by the
Attorney General's office for refusing to vacate their farms.

"We see dairy farmers, tobacco farmers, wheat farmers, maize farmers - in
fact every category of farmer throughout the country being victimised and
prosecuted currently in the magistrates' courts," he said.

"In addition to these illegal prosecutions, we have beneficiaries of 'offer
letters' taking the law into their own hands and farming operations continue
to be violently disrupted."

He said summer cropping was in danger if farm disruptions were not ended.

"The summer cropping season is upon us and the situation is extremely
serious. As commercial farmers we are being prevented from producing crops,
and the highly productive farms that have been acquired by the government
are producing either very little or nothing," Theron explained.

Theron added: "Zimbabwe has been warned continuously that the beneficiaries
of international food aid should be those that are most deserving, notably
regions affected by severe drought conditions, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis,
global warming and other natural disasters.

"Justifying massive shipments of food aid to countries whose governments
destroy their population's ability to feed themselves is proving to be
increasingly difficult."

Once a net food exporter Zimbabwe has avoided mass starvation over the past
decade of Mugabe's land reforms only because international relief agencies
were quick to chip in with food handouts.

Chaos in agriculture because of the farm seizures also hit hard Zimbabwe's
once impressive manufacturing sector that had depended on a robust farming
sector for orders and inputs.

Many industries were either forced to drastically scale down operations or
close shop altogether in a country where inflation is estimated at more than
80 percent. - ZimOnline

Zim's GMB issues grain bills

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Cuthbert Nzou Tuesday 10 November 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe on Monday issued 90-day grain bills to raise US$2,5
million to buy grain to feed the nation.

The bills were issued by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), a traditionally
incompetent and perennially loss-making government-owned company that is
charged with the responsibility of maintaining the country's strategic grain
reserves.

"GMB intends to raise funds through a grain bills issue to finance the
purchase of grain," read the bill whose interest would be calculated on
tender basis and coupon based.

"CBZ Bank Limited, as the financial advisor, hereby invites investors
including, but not limited to, pension and provident funds, insurance
companies, life mutuals, commercial banks and other interested institutions
as well as individuals in Zimbabwe to subscribe for the grain bills
amounting to US$2,5 million. Applications must be in multiples of US$1 000."

GMB has failed to pay farmers for grain delivered to its depots throughout
the country due to a liquidity crunch.

The parastatal's deputy general manager for marketing Zvidzai Makwenda was
recently quoted admitting the GMB was broke and could not pay farmers.

He said the GMB was forced to borrow from the market although no loan has
been secured.

The cash-strapped GMB has also failed to pay workers their salaries earlier
in the year.

GMB recently announced a maize floor price of US$265 per tonne in a bid to
lure farmers through competitive prices. Farmers now opt for private buyers
since GMB cannot afford to pay them.

The government also owes farmers millions of United States dollars for grain
they sold to GMB last year. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Upbeat on Resolution of Issues Troubling Power-Sharing

http://www.voanews.com

      By Ntungamili Nkomo & Jonga Kandemirii
      Washington
      09 November 2009

With his formation of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change party set to
re-engage with its ZANU-PF partner in governance and start attending cabinet
meetings again this week, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is voicing
optimism that the so-called outstanding issues troubling the government can
be resolved over the next several weeks.

A deal worked out last Thursday at a Southern African Development Community
mini-summit in Maputo, Mozambique, set a 30 day period for "dialogue"
between Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF to
resolve various contentious issues left unresolved when the government was
formed in February or which have arisen since.

Such issues range from the tenure of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono to
what the MDC calls the politically motivated prosecution of many of its
members of Parliament.

However, although the Tsvangirai MDC agreed to resume attendance of cabinet
meetings, the regular Tuesday session was put off to Wednesday because
President Mugabe is traveling.

Addressing thousands of MDC supporters Sunday in Chitungwiza, a Harare
satellite town, Mr. Tsvangirai said he could assure party supporters all
issues would be settled in the 30-day period set by SADC mediators - though
their language was somewhat ambiguous.

Sources said negotiators from the three parties in the unity government -
the third is the smaller MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara - will meet this week to prepare the ground for further
negotiations by the governing principals.

Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that his party is indeed optimistic all the
outstanding issues will be resolved soon - but added that if not, then new
elections will be the alternative.

Political analyst George Mkhwanazi cautioned Mr. Tsvangirai against too much
optimism, noting that Mr. Mugabe has not been known for his willingness to
compromise.

National Constitutional Assembly Director Ernest Mudzengi also voiced doubt
in an interview with VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemirii as to whether
the outstanding issues can be resolved in 30 days - unless SADC leaders
heavily pressure Mr. Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

 from VOA's Studio 7

Zim, SA set to seal trade pact

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent Tuesday 10 November 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe and South Africa are set to sign a Bilateral Investment
Protection Agreement (BIPA) later this month, a Cabinet minister said at the
launch of the country's six-year economic blue print on Monday.

"The issue of signing BIPAs is one of the things to be done," Economic
Planning Minister Elton Mangoma said at the launch of the country's medium
term economic blueprint for the period 2010-2015.

"The BIPA between Zimbabwe and South Africa will be signed on November 27,"
he said without revealing the venue for the inking of the long stalled
agreement.

Signing of the agreement between the countries that are each other's biggest
trading partner on the continent in addition to being strong political
allies has on several occasions been postponed on the eleventh hour,
apparently after Harare objected to a clause in the accord referring to land
investments.

The Economic Planning Minister also ruled out the return of the local
currency that was shelved early this year in preference of a basket of
foreign currencies that include the United States dollar, South African
rand, British Pound and Botswana pula.

"It must be clear that the way we are planning our economy is to have a
strong currency which is not the Zimbabwe dollar. The Zimbabwe dollar will
bring its own problems and we don't want those problems," he said.

Mangoma said the major focus of the 2010 to 2015 economic blueprint that
replaces the Short Term Economic Recovery Programme (STERP) that was
launched in March is to bring economic growth as well to reduce poverty.

He added that the country needed to improve its investment climate to
attract investors.

"We want investors everywhere to feel secure, we believe from our side the
document is good and we believe they (South Africans) feel the same," he
said without elaborating whether Zimbabwe had accepted the demand by the
South Africans to have protection of land and related property rights
included in the agreement.

He said he hopes to sign and implement bilateral trade agreements with other
countries which will improve investor confidence and to raise money through
auctioning mineral concessions and implement the "use it or lose it" on the
mineral concessions.

President Robert Mugabe's chaotic and often violent programme to seize
white-owned farm land for redistribution to landless blacks also saw several
farms owned by foreigners and protected under bilateral trade agreements
between Zimbabwe and other countries seized without compensation.

The seizure of private land has raised questions about Zimbabwe's commitment
to uphold property rights as well as agreements entered with other
countries. - ZimOnline

Zim's state dictatorial despite GNU: COSATU

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent Tuesday 10 November 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe state actors continue to exercise dictatorial authority
over workers and pro-democracy groups despite formation of a unity
government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, South Africa's COSATU labour movement said on Monday.

In a statement following the arrest of several top Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Union (ZCTU) officials, COSATU said the detention of the unionists was
an "outrageous attack on the trade union movement and democracy".

COSATU, which is part of South Africa's ruling tripartite that is led by the
ANC and includes the South African Communist Party, has led criticism
against Mugabe and frequently accuses Pretoria and other regional
governments of failure to take tougher action against the Zimbabwean
strongman.

The South African union said the arrest of ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo
and other union officials was confirmation that: "state forces in Zimbabwe,
regardless of the existence of a 'government of national unity', are still
brutally imposing their dictatorship over those who are struggling for
democracy and workers' rights."?

Zimbabwe police on Sunday arrested Matombo and four other ZCTU officials for
holding a meeting with union leaders in the resort town of Victoria Falls
that the police say was not sanctioned.

Matombo and his co-accused were detained overnight at Victoria Falls police
station before being transferred to Hwangwe on Monday morning. There were
indications that they might appear in court on Tuesday.

The government's draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA) requires
Zimbabweans to notify police first before holding public political meetings
and demonstrations. However professional and other special interest groups
such as the ZCTU are not required to notify police of meetings to discuss
issues specific to their work or field.

But the police have been accused by human rights groups of using the POSA
willy-nilly to bar meetings of any group perceived as unsympathetic to
Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.

The arrest of the ZCTU officials come barely two weeks after police arrested
two top members of the national association of non-governmental
organisations also in Victoria Falls where they were attending a meeting of
directors of NGOs working in the country.

The POSA is among a raft of repressive laws that Zimbabwe's unity government
must repeal or drastically amend to open up democratic space and create a
level political field ahead of fresh elections.

Tsvangirai says Mugabe is dragging his feet on democratic reforms including
the drafting of a new constitution that must precede fresh elections, a
charge the veteran leader denies. - ZimOnline.

Improvement in press freedom depends on national unity government's ability to function properly

Harare residents hail MDC newsletters

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

     
      Written by Tichaona Nyamutenha
      Monday, 09 November 2009 17:46
      HARARE - Residents, disgusted by daily dosages of sickeningly crude
propaganda from the state media, jostle each week to get a copy of the Prime
Minister's newsletter and the MDC's "The Changing Times".
      Long and sometimes disjointed queues of residents waiting anxiously
for the arrival of the newsletters have become a common sight at Harvest
House over the past few weeks.
      Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, whose tight control of the fiscus
allegedly angered those who had unfettered access to state coffers for
nearly three decades has been the prime target of blatant and shameful
attacks by the state media.
      A student from the University of Zimbabwe, who asked to remain
anonymous for fear of victimization, applauded the party's media technocrats
for crafting colourful and informative newsletters.
      "The state media's anti-Tsvangirai rhetoric has been rendered
meaningless by these newsletters which are also published in the vernacular.
This is the reason why they have become popular even in the rural areas.
Luke Tamborinyoka and Andrew Chadwick are doing a wonderful job," he said.
      Tamborinyoka, an accomplished journalist and former news editor of the
Daily News, is the MDC's national director of information. Chadwick is the
head of communications in the Prime Minister's office.
      "We are sick and tired of being reminded every day, by the state
media, that Robert Mugabe is the head of state and government and commander
in chief of the Defence forces. Some of us cannot afford to install
satellite dishes to escape ZBC propaganda.
      These newsletters, distributed free of charge, have become our only
source of news", said a Harare resident.
      Pro-democracy activist, Sydney Shumba said: "The MDC newsletters are a
wonderful development for the democratisation agenda - the need for
information has since ceased to a luxury but a necessity."
      Limon Mbwera, a party activist who distributes the newsletters in
Chitungwiza said: "The overwhelming demand for the Prime Minister's
newsletter demonstrates the ever-rising popularity of our leader Morgan
Tsvangirayi. No amount of propaganda by the Herald and ZBC will bring him
down."

Zanu-PF does not reap where it sowed

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=24775

November 10, 2009
John Robertson

WHATEVER a man sows, that shall he also reaps. This biblical principle has
guided mankind for thousands of years. However, if the man is a Zimbabwean
and if he is a member of Zanu-PF, he has a good chance of getting the party's
permission to reap what was sown by others.

This process started almost thirty years ago with things like allocations of
scarce foreign exchange, but about ten years ago Zanu-PF moved to a higher
plane when it started to allocate free to party members land that others had
bought, cleared and cultivated. This was supposed to be a reward for loyalty
as well as a guaranteed shortcut to a comfortable life. After all, that is
what the dispossessed farmers had enjoyed, so it seemed a very safe bet.

However, repeating the evicted farmers' cropping sequences turned out to be
really hard work, as did the tending of the orchards or coffee trees, sugar
cane, livestock or whatever else came with the gift from the party. For
these and other reasons, land reform appears now to have entered its death
throes.  The country's growing season has just started, but with few
exceptions, most of the confiscated land has been clearly abandoned.

Flying in the face of the evidence, the party defiantly claims that land
reform has been not only a glorious success, but also the most important
anti-colonial event in history. But now that very nearly all the food
consumed by Zimbabweans has to be imported, these claims are being
ridiculed.

But even though the hopes of acquiring riches by farming have fallen flat,
Zanu-PF's members still like the idea of enjoying benefits from the hard
work of others. With little else to offer, the party is trying to keep alive
hopes that loyalty still leads to riches. But the party still needs to bait
the hook.

So Zanu-PF is activating another plan. Now, lucky Zanu-PF members are being
invited to claim rich rewards by accepting the party's help to acquire
ownership of company shares.

The party's help is needed because the shares in question are not being
willingly offered for sale. The current owners are specially unwilling as
the forced transfers will deprive them of their controlling interests.

Accused of having started their Zimbabwean companies without even being
invited, and of having successfully taken up every possible business
opportunity, the owners of these businesses are also accused of being too
reluctant to share their growing fortunes with indigenous Zimbabweans.

Zanu-PF defines this conduct as gravely unjust. It also refuses to accept
that all the businesses in operation amount to only perhaps two or three
percent of those that could exist in a country as big as Zimbabwe. As it is
much easier to help party members to muscle their way into companies than to
persuade them to start new ones, the easiest solution is forced share
transfers.

So last year the President signed into law the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act. This empowers government to force these companies to sell
51 percent of their shares to indigenous people. The regulations needed to
initiate, enforce and administer the share transfer procedures are now to be
formalised as Statutory Instruments in the Government Gazette.

If the funds needed for a specific sale are beyond the means of the
intending purchasers, the Act empowers the authorities to levy a special tax
on the targeted company to raise the funds. Also, business licences are to
be granted to the founders of new companies on condition that they can
satisfy the authorities of their intentions to relinquish 51 percent of
their shares within an acceptable period.

The first waves of opportunists started visiting the more highly prized
businesses while the Indigenisation Bill was still making its way through
Parliament in 2007. But they did not get far because they could offer no
more than the hope that, as identifiable, known individuals, they would
appear less threatening than the unknown individuals who might come later.

Now, armed with Statutory Instruments, new opportunists will bring threats
rather than promises. An extremely well-known relationship will become
glaringly obvious yet again: the kind of people who line up to claim
ownership of assets confiscated from others tend to have a very limited
appetite for hard work.

Once the forced share ownership transfers have taken place, the new
shareholders, with their controlling interests in the companies, will have
the power to displace the current directors. No doubt Zanu-PF will supply
them with lists of candidates for the posts and they will be expected to
ensure that the top jobs go to the selected political appointees at the next
AGM.

What does this mean for companies that come under the control of people who
never had the ability to build such enterprises, but who gain control
through political patronage? In all probability, they will fail. The
business founders, having lost control, will soon leave and they will take
their expertise with them.

And what of the many new business enterprises that might have made the most
of new technologies, expanding markets, improving services and Zimbabwe's
eager, well-educated work force? Well, most of them will never start, not on
Zimbabwean soil.

Even indigenous Zimbabweans with the needed talents will not be happy to tie
their futures to a country that can so easily legislate the right to reap
where one has not sown. Successful Zimbabweans could all too soon become the
only choice left when the parasitic political hierarchy gets impatient for
another raid on the assets of others.

Zanu-PF has been planting, but so far it has planted nothing but deceit,
contempt and hatred. The harvest is not far off now, but because the party
is unlikely to have built up immunity to these toxins, it will succumb to
its own venom, just as so many others like it have done in the past.

The dictators' syndromes that afflict Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

     
      Written by MARY REVESAI
      Monday, 09 November 2009 18:28
      In an essay featured on a website that deals with the various
syndromes afflicting the world's dictators, Alemayehu Mariam, professor of
political science at California State University, tackles the one known as
"the grammar of dictators".

      He describes how ruthless despots have difficulty dealing with reality
and thus create their own "convenient world of illusions."
      Writes Alemayehu: "Dictators see a world around them that is not
pretty, so they manufacture their own. Where there is widespread famine,
they see 'pockets of severe malnutrition" and where they are confronted with
overwhelming evidence of bombed out villages in the form of satellite
photos, they claim there is not a shred of evidence".
      Big man syndrome
      The political scientist says dictators insist there is not a shred of
evidence of human rights abuses where documented facts show thousands of
citizens have been swept off the street and jailed without evidence of
criminal wrong doing. Other contributors to the website tackle topics such
as the "narcissism syndrome" in which the afflicted authoritarians believe
they are the centre of the universe and everything revolves around them The
"Being there syndrome" the "Pinochet syndrome" the "Big man syndrome" and
the "Aging African dictator syndrome". Other maladies featured include the
syndromes of corruption, power, wealth and democracy.
      The Big man syndrome is said to afflict mainly "African dictators who
will do anything to extend their prolonged political existence." Zimbabwean
president Robert Mugabe is identified by name along with Libya's Muammar
Gadaffi, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and the late Omar Bongo of Gabon as belonging
to this category. This quartet has clocked a combined 139 years as heads of
state in their countries.
      "Despite their pomposity and protracted absolute rule, African
dictators could not deliver economic development and stability," says
another writer, Abdi Guled. He laments the fact that Africa has been failed
by "ruthless eccentric leaders with an insatiable passion for
self-gratification, and with an orgy of self-enrichment."
      A Zimbabwean would be hard pressed not to say "all of the above" when
faced with a multiple choice question to identify the conditions that seem
to spark Mugabe's warped, intransigent, cold-hearted, incomprehensible and
callous actions and pronouncements. All these traits confirm an undeniable
truth, that dictators rule by fear.
      The guilty fleeing
      Mugabe has done many things that induce incredulity but which, from
his point of view, are supposed to show bravado. Anyone who has listened to
the Zimbabwean leader's convoluted and uncompromising rhetoric knows,
however, that something is amiss, that it is simply a case of the guilty
fleeing when no one is pursuing them, to paraphrase the Bible.
      This has been demonstrated most vividly through Mugabe's
self-deceiving belief that he can hide the truth about his repressive and
tyrannical governance by muzzling the local media and banning foreign news
organisations from reporting from Zimbabwe.
      He is livid that those Zimbabweans who have been prevented from
operating radio stations or publishing newspapers from within the country
have been able to do so from countries with more civilised systems of
government. Most importantly this isolationist paranoia has given rise to a
penchant for deportations in a bid to keep "nosey do-gooders" who feel
compassion for the suffering populace out of the country.
      As an unmistakable sign of a dictator's fear, Mugabe does not just
want certain people barred from entering or expelled from the country - he
wants them denounced, mocked and humiliated. United Nations torture expert,
Manfred Nowak, who was deported more than a week ago, is the latest victim
but by no means the last. He intended to undertake a weeklong fact-finding
mission but was deported to South Africa after being detained at the
airport.
      It was claimed the government could not host him because it was
receiving a delegation of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
foreign ministers. But that is the lamest excuse that could be given as this
did not then justify the shabby and heavy-handed manner in which the UN
envoy was treated. Moreover, if being otherwise engaged was the real reason
the government could not fit in Nowak's schedule, he should have been
allowed to meet other stakeholders.
      The Pinochet Syndrome
      Lately Mugabe seems to have displayed unusual symptoms of the Pinochet
Syndrome named after former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet. This
syndrome involves attempts to gain impunity for atrocities perpetrated
during a term of office by using poor health or old age as excuses. This did
not spare Pinochet from prosecution for human rights abuses perpetrated by
the military junta he headed after Allende's overthrow in 1974.
      It seems that despite being 85-years-old, Mugabe does not use age or
health to draw attention away from his culpability for the horrors that have
happened in Zimbabwe under his marathon rule. He prefers to use the sort of
bravado he displayed recently when threatening to sue Western governments
that have imposed targeted sanctions on him and his inner circle for
plotting to bring down his government.
      What government is he referring to? Surely not the government of
national unity now in place. Or was this outburst the clearest confirmation
yet that Mugabe still regards Zanu (PF) as the sole ruling party despites
its defeat in last year's parliamentary poles and his own failure to win a
fresh mandate in the last presidential election?