| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
It comes as reports from Zimbabwe say the government intends to remove voting rights from most Zimbabweans living abroad.
Geoff Nyarota and Wilf Mbanga, a former director of the company which publishes the paper, appeared at a Harare Magistrates court on Friday where they were given $10,000 Zimbabwe dollars bail.
 Nothing whatsoever will make me change the policy of my
newspaper  |
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Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota
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The Daily News is fiercely critical of the government and in January, its printing press was destroyed by a bomb.
But Mr Nyarota appeared unintimidated by his spell in custody.
"Nothing whatsoever will make me change the policy of my newspaper," he said
"This was just a minor irritation."
Earlier this week, a government newspaper, The Herald, said that The Daily News might be shut down because its publishers had broken investment and foreign exchange control regulations.
Mr Nyarota and three colleagues were arrested in August after publishing a story which alleged that some police officers were involved in the looting of white-owned farms.
Election rules
New rules are to be introduced before next year's presidential election which would limit the use of postal votes to diplomatic staff and soldiers serving outside Zimbabwe, said The Herald on Friday.
 There are fears that next year's poll may not be free
and fair |
In addition, Zimbabwean expatriates would be barred from using a return visit as a pretext for casting their ballot at home.
Political analysts say the government believes most of the hundreds-of-thousands of Zimbabweans living abroad support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
About 30,000 white Zimbabweans, and as many as a million farm workers and their families from other African countries, who have dual nationality, have already had their voting rights affected.
They are required to either renounce their right to a foreign passport, or forego their Zimbabwean citizenship.
Monitors
On Thursday the government said that it would only allow civil servants to monitor presidential elections, due early next year.
In last year's parliamentary elections, foreigners were banned but local civic organisation trained thousands of Zimbabweans.
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There are fears that next year's poll may not be free
and fair |
Mr Chinamasa said that some of these organisations were funded by foreigners and therefore did not have Zimbabwe's interests at heart.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change immediately cried foul, saying this was preparing the ground to rig the elections.
The European Union has threatened to impose sanctions if it is not allowed to monitor the poll.
It appears that Mr Mugabe will face his toughest ever challenge in the poll from the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai.
An opinion poll published on Thursday said that a majority of voters will vote against President Robert Mugabe in the poll, although 20% were undecided.
The poll published in the Financial Gazette said that 52.9% of decided voters backed Mr Tsvangirai, against 47.1% for Mr Mugabe.
The poll was conducted by Target research agency in August and September in a nationally representative sample of more than 3,000 voters.
The Oppenheimers control two of Africa's richest companies - the Anglo American Corporation and De Beers - and own 2.4 million acres of farmland in Zimbabwe - approximately the size of Belgium.
The family is resisting government calls to hand over a large proportion of its landholdings.
But Zimbabwe vice-president Joseph Msika has visited Oppenheimer ranches to tell them that an interim agreement has been reached.
Negotiations
Family spokesman Clifford Elphick told the BBC's World Business Report that it was not their understanding that land is going to be seized
"There is a process of discussion between Nicky Oppenheimer and the Zimbabwean government," he said.
We don't believe the seizure of land is imminent or on the
agenda |
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Oppenheimer spokesman Clifford Elphick
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In September 2000 President Robert Mugabe made a rare concession on his controversial land reforms by telling Anglo American that it could keep its properties.
Now there are reports that deputy chairman Nicky Oppenheimer is under pressure to give up farms.
"A compromise is that Nicky would give his management instructions to remove cattle from some areas so crops could be planted whilst the rain was falling," Mr Elphick said.
Different solutions?
The family would then reclaim its land, but the government wants it to remain under the control of black farmers.
The problem revolves around the question of what land the family is prepared to make available to the government.
The government says it wants a total of 65,000 hectares of land by the end of the year, claiming that Anglo American's possessions amount to the size of Belgium.
"We are running a very successful business with 20,000 head of cattle on that property. It is a question of making sure the business remains viable."
"At the same time we have to make land available to the invaders, if you want to call them that - the war veterans - which would suit their needs and the sort of agriculture they want to practice," Mr Elphick said.
There is a danger that Zimbabwe is making an example of the Oppenheimer dynasty because they are so powerful.
"I hope that isn't the case because we are looking for a compromise," Mr Elphick explained.
Mr Mugabe has authorised the seizure of more than 4,500 white-owned farms as part of his often-violent drive to redistribute land he says was stolen by British settlers more than 100 years ago.
Aid agencies have warned of impending severe food shortages in Zimbabwe - citing a combination of drought and the farm invasions.
Commercial farmers say Mr Mugabe has failed to honour a deal under which his government agreed to end farm invasions in return for pledges of financial help from former colonial power Britain.
From ZWNEWS, 9 November
No monitors, no recognition
US officials, declaring that free and fair elections cannot be held under current conditions in Zimbabwe, have warned that a refusal by President Robert Mugabe to permit independent monitoring of next year's presidential elections, "could make it difficult" for the people of Zimbabwe and the international community to view next year's presidential election as legitimate. Senior officials in the US Administration, speaking to ZWNEWS, also said they were deeply disturbed at the latest attempts by the Mugabe government to shut down The Daily News, the country's largest independent newspaper. Its editor was arrested on Thursday for the third time since May.
The US Administration called on the Zimbabwe government to drop proposed laws, announced this week, which would ban international monitors and observers from the presidential poll, scheduled for next March. An opinion poll published this week by Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette, an independent weekly, suggested Mugabe is trailing in popularity some five points behind opposition Movement for Democratic Change challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.
"The political environment in Zimbabwe today is marked by a significant deterioration in respect for the rule of law and the judiciary, government-sponsored political intimidation and violence, harassment of the independent press, and clear determination to ignore the concerns of the international community," a top US official said. "Consequently, the United States is forced to conclude that the current conditions in Zimbabwe do not allow for a free and fair electoral process as outlined in the norms and standards for elections in the Southern African Development Community. Zimbabwe adopted these norms and standards on March 25, 2001.''The comments marked the most explicit warning yet from the United States that Washington may refuse to recognise Mugabe if he announces he's won an election from which foreign monitors were banned.
The proposal to ban foreign monitors, along with continuing state-sponsored political violence and intimidation, "suggests that the government of Zimbabwe lacks commitment to a free and fair electoral process," the official added. "The United States once again calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to re-establish the rule of law, ease its campaign of political violence and intimidation, and allow international election monitors immediate and unfettered access."From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 November
Weapons dealer 'runs business from Berkshire'
A former captain of the Rhodesian rugby team who now lives in Berkshire was yesterday named as the main arms supplier to Zimbabwe. Using parliamentary privilege, Paul Farrelly (Lab, Newcastle under Lyme) singled out John Bredenkamp, a United Kingdom resident. Until now there had not been much reference to him in the British press, other than in the sports pages. In a debate on the Export Control Bill, Mr Farrelly said: "It's a little known fact that the main arms supplier to Zimbabwe is a UK resident, who runs his huge business empire from the Royal County of Berkshire - genteel Ascot and Windsor to be precise." Urging MPs to back the Bill, which puts stricter controls on arms exports, Mr Farrelly added: "With a fortune estimated at £400 million he's got deep pockets, expensive libel lawyers and a dangerous reputation. "He's also extremely clever, very careful and doesn't readily leave end-user certificates [for arms] just lying around. So it's safer for the press to chronicle his handling of sports stars, through his sports agency Masters International, than his handling of arms. But Mr Bredenkamp has long had form of a very distinctly unsporting kind and is exactly the sort of person based here who this Bill should tackle."
Mr Farrelly said Mr Bredenkamp had been a "key figure in sanctions-busting so long ago for Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian Prime Minister, and when the regime changed, he quite simply changed his allegiance". Mr Farrelly described Mr Bredenkamp as a potential successor to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Although he had residency in this country, he was not a holder of a British passport. "Mr Bredenkamp appears to break no UK laws, nor embargoes, nor restrictions - however formal or informal - by ostensibly keeping all his African arms dealing activities offshore." Mr Farrelly said he hoped the Bill would allow the Department of Trade and Industry to investigate the workings of people such as Mr Bredenkamp. However, Nigel Griffiths, the export controls minister, said he could not comment on specific cases. But he added: "You did raise an important principle which I think the House will want to have the Government's views on record about. I can assure you and the House that the Bill gives us the power to control UK citizens and anyone operating in the UK who traffic and broker in arms to arms-embargoed destinations, such as Zimbabwe. They will be indeed caught," he added.
Comment from The Independent (UK), 8 November
We must impose targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe
All those who wish Zimbabwe well have cause to be concerned about the worsening situation in that country, where the wide-scale harassment of opponents and white farmers in the past two years has exacerbated problems caused by the government's mismanagement of the economy. Whatever hope there once was that Robert Mugabe's government would respect the vital Abuja agreement it entered into with the Commonwealth seven weeks ago no longer exists. Instead, prospects for this blighted land have worsened rather than improved. President Mugabe, who last week gave the clearest indication yet that he intends to remain in office until his death, has blatantly violated the Abuja agreement. His government continues to harass opposition members and his cadre of war veterans continue to occupy farmers' land, while Mr Mugabe himself has refused to allow election observers from the European Union or other concerned bodies into the country ahead of next year's presidential election. That he is intent on confrontation became even more apparent last week when his Foreign Minister summoned the ambassadors of Britain, Spain and Belgium to his office to harangue them on the European Union's threat to impose sanctions. In another alarming development, Mr Mugabe has now ordered Zimbabwe's only independent daily, The Daily News, to close.
There is no doubt that land redistribution is important in Zimbabwe, which is why we welcomed Britain's undertaking in the Abuja agreement to help finance orderly reform. However, as has long been suspected, it is now clear that President Mugabe merely uses land inequity to win the support of the disillusioned black masses to shore up his decadent regime. President Mugabe has plunged his nation into crisis. It is believed that as many as 75 per cent of Zimbabweans are living in terrible poverty, with many facing the threat of starvation. Inflation is running at a calamitous 83 per cent and there has been a 40 per cent fall in agricultural output predicted for this year. It is imperative that the international community acts quickly to impose targeted sanctions on President Mugabe and his ministers. They should be banned from travel abroad, their foreign assets frozen and Zimbabwean Airways denied foreign landing rights. Perhaps that, at last, might help drive some sense into Mr Mugabe.