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Insight with Chenjerai Hove: Zimbabwe, the land of victims

Chengerai Hove

I RECENTLY watched the Clement Muchachi saga on television and in the
newspapers.

It was all sad and pathetic. Imagine, a man putting all his energies into
the struggle for freedom, and then when he falls out with the system, he is
left to live the remainder of his life like a heap of rubbish. But when he
dies, the desperate politicians of the ruling party decide that it is time
to make a grave side speech. They kidnap the corpse and make shameless
speeches about how the man was a shining example of how we should all live.
He died a pauper and everyone knows it.

“He was a simple man,” one politician said, giving the reason why he was
abandoned by even those who had benefited from his personal sacrifices. But
who ever said simple people had to be left to die as paupers, transported to
the clinic in a donkey cart and a wheelbarrow?

Zimbabwe is the land of victims and victimisers. This is confirmed in so
many ways, everyday. Once again, a corpse was kidnapped in order to create
an occasion for political speech-making. The philosophy seems to be:
anything which gives occasion for crude political speeches should be taken
as it comes regardless of how vulgar it may appear in the eyes of the
public.

In fact, the public eye is taken as a blind eye which does not even see when
sand has dropped into it. But the ruling party politicians do not know that
the people see and take time to think about obscene political gestures.

The people—ordinary citizens striving to live a decent life—are hoodwinked.
They are also kidnapped just like the corpse which is all of sudden being
taken by helicopter from place to place. But when the man was alive, only
well-wishers dared come near him to take him to hospital or donate what
little they could to his upkeep.

Viewers of this saga become victims. And those who tell lies to the people
also become victims of their own lies. I call it the violence of the
imagination. When the people are made to hear lies upon lies, it is a form
of violence and victimisation.

Young people are sent to kill innocent people going about their daily lives.
And we are told that there is no violence in the country. It is true that
those who are on the right side of violence will never believe that there is
any violence in the land. A politician who is shown the bruised back of a
political opponent stands up in front of the cameras and tells the whole
nation that there was no violence in the constituency. The reason is simple:
he was not at the receiving end of the torture and intimidation he unleashed
on his opponents.

When young people are made to kill for a few dollars, they become victims of
political folly and expediency. Those who send them to kill, become victims
of their own political foolishness.

These days, strangers in the villages are killed instead of being fed. The
politicians know that strangers bring new ideas to the village or the
township, so they instruct that they be killed. Some newspapers are banned
from certain areas. This goes against our traditional beliefs.
When we were growing up, we were told that a stranger is the one to whom you
give special attention. ‘Muenzi haapedzi dura, anodya achipfuura’ (A
stranger can never exhaust your granary since he will eat and go on his
way). We were told that you may disagree with a person, but not refuse to
listen to them. You listen first and then disagree. ‘Shoko harivhikwi’ (You
cannot shield yourself from words). Chapinda munzeve chawaridza bonde.’
(What has entered the ear spreads its mat there).

Political opponents are an essential ingredient of our political landscape.
If we kill all our opponents, we become like the man labouring to climb
Mount Kilimanjaro. When he gets to the top, he is faced with the boring task
of climbing down again since there is no longer any challenge. He might
actually fall to his death on his way down. Critics and political opponents
make our minds continue to think and work.

Unfortunately, the many years without opposition have made the ruling party
so lazy that its leaders have never engaged in serious political
self-criticism. That sort of life is artificial and should never be allowed
again. The ruling party leaders decided to make themselves victims of their
own political games.

Those who delete human conscience from their political schemes do, indeed,
make themselves victims of their own schemes. Our parents told us that human
life ought to be respected. They did not lay down conditions.

All these murders and this torture on our land! My goodness, have we become
so blind to the voices of our inner conscience? Have our hearts become
pieces of wood which do not respond to human compassion and love? All this
in the name of political gain—to perpetuate power in the hands of one clique
which seems to have forgotten its moral, public responsibility.

We are all under siege. The victims and the victimisers are all in one
basket. We become worse victims when we have killed political opponents and
go away thinking that we are great. The ugliest human faces are those that
celebrate the pain inflicted on others.
• Chenjerai Hove is a renowned Zimbabwean writer.
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Zim Standard

‘CIO behind abduction’—war vets

Thabo Kunene
BULAWAYO—Police in Bulawayo say they have not made any progress in their
search for Cain Nkala, the feared leader of the war veterans in
Matabeleland, who was abducted from his Magwegwe West home on Tuesday
evening.

The war veterans leader, who was much feared by opposition supporters in
Bulawayo, was abducted by about 10 men, all armed with Kalashnikov assault
rifles.

The identity of the gunmen is still unknown. A police source in Bulawayo
said it was too early to point a finger at any particular group or
individual. The spokesman said investigations were continuing. War veterans
in Bulawayo have, however, ruled out the involvement of the opposition or
white farmers in the abduction of their leader.

Some war veterans who fought on the side of Zipra during the independence
war, told The Standard that they strongly suspected the abduction of their
leader to be the work of state security operatives or other war veterans
loyal to a former cabinet minister.

The former minister, who commands much respect among township residents, has
also been linked to several kidnappings and mysterious deaths of supporters
of the Movement for Democratic Change in Bulawayo and to the attack by war
veterans on former Zanu PF chairman for Bulawayo province, Edson Ncube. The
former minister is said to be still bitter at the Ndebele people for voting
for the opposition during the parliamentary election last year.

He was one of the senior ruling party leaders to have lost his seat to the
MDC. One of his houses in the townships was used as a torture chamber for
opposition supporters abducted by war veterans.

“We have no doubt in our minds that the abduction of Cain Nkala was an
inside job.The opposition is not capable of launching such an operation,”
said a senior war veteran who is in the executive of the former guerrilla
fighters’ association. Some police sources told this reporter that the
abduction of Nkala was a sensitive issue which even the police had to handle
with care.

The police source also ruled out any involvement of outsiders in the
abduction. Nkala’s abduction comes a few days after the mysterious death of
one of his close colleagues in a suspicious car crash along the
Bulawayo-Harare road. The abduction also comes in the wake of serious
divisions within the war veteran body itself and among some ruling party
leaders in the region. Ruling party insiders say Nkala and some of his
colleagues in the war veterans association had fallen out of favour with the
party’s top brass over certain political issues in the region.

Some of Nkala’s colleagues, according to sources, had threatened to spill
the beans about certain issues which included the involvement of some top
officials in the abduction and killings of MDC members during last year’s
parliamentary election campaign.

Some war veterans were alleged to have asked senior politicians why former
Zipra guerrillas working for the party were not being pardoned for political
crimes committed against the opposition. The Zipra war veterans also wanted
the government to pardon Cain Nkala and nine other former Zipra fighters
facing charges of having kidnapped and possibly killed Patrick Nabanyama, a
polling agent for Bulawayo South member of parliament, David Coltart. Nkala
and his colleagues were to appear again in court in February.

According to sources, matters came to a head at one recent meeting where
Nkala was alleged to have made threats which did not go down well with
others at the meeting.

The meeting also exposed deep divisions between Zipra and Zanla war
veterans. Some war veterans allegedly wrote to a senior government official
in Harare asking him to consider pardoning Nkala and his colleagues for the
abduction of Nabanyama.

“We knew something like that was going to happen to Nkala after that
meeting. Things are not right in the party,” said another war veteran. Some
former Zipra guerrillas are understood to be planning to stop their support
for the ruling party because of the alleged unfair treatment of their
colleagues by the government.

Addressing war veterans on Thursday, Zanu PF’s provincial chairman for
Bulawayo, Jabulani Sibanda, said they knew the people who abducted the war
veterans leader.

“We got your message and we are interpreting it after which we will act,”
Sibanda, a former bodyguard to Joshua Nkomo told his former Zipra colleagues
at the meeting. He said they had searched for Nkala all over Bulawayo and
its surroundings but had found no trace of the captors. Some fear he could
be dead by now. The war veterans have described the abduction of Nkala as a
declaration of war on them by those responsible.

Home Affairs minister, John Nkomo, described the kidnapping as the work of
terrorists.
According to the minister, the kidnapping was in the fashion of the Selous
Scouts, the highly trained but notorious former Rhodesian government’s
counter terrorist unit. Nkala’s abduction, although he had no support among
the people here, has shocked the residents who now fear the escalation of
political violence in the country particularly in Matabeleland—the MDC
political powerbase.
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Zim Standard

Plans for rigging election begin

Farai Mutsaka
THE recently launched mobile registration exercise taking place in
resettlement areas and occupied farms is aimed at boosting Zanu PF’s chances
of winning the elections, its critics have said.

The Standard established last week that few people in the urban areas were
aware of the exercise and believe it to be part of a wider plan by the
ruling party to disenfranchise millions of potential voters.

The current voter registration blitz is concentrated on the resettlement
areas and occupied farms—the bastions of government power.

There is, however, very little of the exercise going on in urban areas where
the opposition derives most of its support.

The opposition also believes that a number of headmen are compiling names of
opposition supporters. It is not clear what the provincial registrars intend
to do with the names, but opposition supporters have complained that they
are having difficulty registering as voters.
The Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust sees this move as an attempt by
government to rig the election.

David Chimhini, the Zimcet executive director, said government was
attempting to disenfranchise those perceived to be sympathetic to the
opposition.

Said Chimhini: “It is public knowledge that the exercise is concentrated
around the farms. What happens to those displaced from the farms by the war
veterans?”

He added: “All these are deliberate mechanisms to deny people their right to
vote. You don’t ban election monitors in a democratic society. If it is only
the ruling party which decides who should be educated, then that is not
democracy. They are saying civil servants will do the educating, and we know
that they mean the CIO, war veterans, the police and the army—the people
whose loyalty lies with the ruling party. But then you can’t referee your
own game.
You need an outsider to do that. The system is being designed to rig
elections,” said Chimhini.
The registrar-general’s office refuted allegations that voter registration
was meant to facilitate rigging.

“The allegations that our office is being used to rig next year’s
presidential election is news to us because our office is very impartial in
all its activities. It is a public office created to serve the people
irrespective of their political persuasions. If there is anybody who has
been denied registration because of his political party affiliation, we
would be interested to know their details. Members of parliament, in
addition to the local leadership, were advised about the exercise and asked
to mobilise the people to take advantage and register as voters,” said the
registrar general’s office in response to queries from The Standard.

However, Giles Mutsekwa, MP for Mutare North, said he had received over 500
complains from supporters who had been frustrated by officials conducting
the exercise.

Mutsekwa, whose constituency is largely rural, said the exercise would
prejudice the opposition as it was concentrated in Zanu PF strongholds.

“The exercise is concentrated on the occupied farms. We will see a situation
where very few people are going to vote. Zanu PF starts rigging the election
from registration and this is part of that process. After covering the
resettlement areas, they will fast track the exercise to deny our supporters
a chance,” said Mutsekwa.

MDC secretary general, Welshman Ncube, said what government was planning
amounted to electoral fraud.

“The fact that Zanu PF wants to avoid the scrutiny of impartial local
monitors from civil society and the international community, clearly shows
that they want to cheat. They know for a fact that they cannot win a free
and fair election in Zimbabwe today and therefore they are doing everything
to ensure that the presidential election is conducted under total cover of
darkness. How can it be argued that a party that has killed over 50
opposition supporters, displaced over 200 000 farm workers, maimed thousands
of people, and continues to victimise innocent Zimbabweans, can run
elections without the full scrutiny of independent monitors?”

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Zim Standard

MDC South Africa fears death squads

Thabo Kunene
BULAWAYO—Members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in South
Africa say they are living in fear of hit squads from Zimbabwe. Members of
the death squads are reported to have been operating in South Africa since
last year. Some of the hit men include veterans of the independence war who
have, since last year, been waging a brutal campaign against MDC supporters
and white commercial farmers.

The MDC in Johannesburg has been heavily infiltrated by suspected operatives
of the Zimbabwe spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
which successfully destroyed the Liberty Party of Zimbabwe two years ago.
The Zimbabwean security agents have infiltrated the MDC in Johannesburg and
caused it to split into two tribal factions.The main faction of the party is
said to be led by the Ndebele from Matabeleland who make up 90% of
Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa.

The smaller faction of the MDC is led by Shona-speaking Zimbabweans who have
also complained of attacks by their fellow Ndebele countrymen and women.
Some MDC members were last week reported to have gone into hiding after
being allegedly raided in their homes by suspected Zimbabwean agents. MDC
sources in Johannesburg told The Standard that the Zimbabwean hit men have
been blamed for the recent mysterious deaths of 12 members of the opposition
party.

Before joining the MDC last year, the 12 men were members of the Liberty
Party of Zimbabwe. According to Gilbert Sibanda, one of the MDC members in
the Hillbrow area, three of the men died of suspected food poisoning, five
were allegedly shot dead and four were found dead in their flat after being
last seen in the company of suspicious characters.
“The situation is bad here. Some of us have stopped attending MDC meetings
in Johannesburg because of infiltration by Zimbabwean agents,” said Sibanda.
He told The Standard on the phone that he had to change his residence twice
for fear of being assassinated by suspected government operatives.

“We strongly believe that the CIO is using some of our colleagues to cause
splits while others have been given weapons,” added Sibanda. He said many
MDC supporters in Johannesburg had complained of being followed by
mysterious people and lived in fear for their lives. The reason why
government agents had managed to divide the MDC was because of mistrust
between the Shona and the Ndebele, he said. The Ndebele accuse the Shona of
being spies while the Shona say the Ndebele want to drive the Shonas out of
the party.

But how do the hit men manage to track Zimbabweans to their residences in
South Africa? This is the question many MDC members have been asking
themselves. A senior postal services official in Bulawayo told The Standard
that it was very easy for the government to obtain the residential addresses
of the MDC members in South Africa.

According to the source, government security operatives get the addresses
from letters the Zimbabweans write to their families back home. The source
said letters written by Zimbabweans who worked abroad were being opened by
postal workers who were part of the security services. Zimbabweans have, of
late, complained of their letters from abroad being opened by postal
services workers.

Sometimes, when parcels are sent, only the letters attached to them get to
their destinations. Foreign bank drafts and cheques sent by Zimbabweans to
their relatives back home, have sometimes gone missing. Recently, a postman
in Bulawayo was arrested after he was found with 12 000 letters he was
supposed to have delivered. A few months ago, residents of Nkulumane found a
plastic containing letters dumped in the bush.

Postal services regulations forbid the opening of letters but this has not
been respected at all. The Standard spoke to the MDC vice-president, Gibson
Sibanda, about the alleged harassment of their members in South Africa and
the divisions which have allegedly rocked the party in Johannesburg.

The MDC vice-president denied there were divisions within the MDC. “These
are stories created by the government to discredit our party. Zimbabweans
should not believe what they read from the local government controlled
papers,” said Gibson Sibanda. The postal services employees sympathetic to
the MDC have warned Zimbabweans not to include their residential addresses
when sending letters to their families back home.
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Zim Standard

$219 MILLION FOR VIP CARS—But Stanley Botsh seeks Zimoco’s disqualification

Cornelius Nduna
THE cash-strapped government has set aside $219 million to buy luxury cars
for government ministers and their deputies, the speaker of parliament and
judges, investigations by The Standard reveal.

But the deal is facing problems.

Documents at hand show that an order for 38 Mercedes Benz sedans has already
been placed with Daimler Chrysler in Germany, while another for 18 Toyota
Camry 220 SEis and three Peugeot 406s is yet to be made at a total cost of
$219 250 000.

In a letter to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe dated 24 August 2001, the-then
acting secretary for finance and economic development, E T Chigudu,
described the vehicle purchases as a high priority.

“The government wishes to procure vehicles for senior government officials
with a total worth of $219 250 000 (see attachment). This is to confirm that
this procurement is a government priority...” reads part of the letter.

Government purchase order number V3218 dated 28 September, from the Central
Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) to luxury vehicle supplier, Zimoco,
lists a total of 38 vehicles to be imported from Germany.

The order is for 32 Mercedes Benz E240s, two S320s and four E200s, which all
cost $136 530 960, a figure more than a third of the 2002 budget allocation
to the ministry of mines and energy.

But the supply of the vehicles from German auto manufacturer Daimler
Chrysler is now in doubt following an urgent High Court application by
Girton Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd which is contesting the Government-Zimoco deal
which did not go to tender.

Girton had initially been awarded the tender to supply the vehicles in July
this year. But in a twist of events, the ministry of transport and
communication decided to place the order with Zimoco which had lost the
tender.

In its application that cites the minister of transport and communication,
the chairman of the Zimbabwe government tender board, the acting director of
CMED and Zimoco, Girton argues that it had already secured the vehicles from
South Africa and stands to lose out if Zimoco is allowed to make the
delivery.

Sources at the CMED said there had been a lot of connivance in the award of
the order outside tender procedures between top officials in the transport
ministry, the tender board, CMED and vehicle suppliers.

They cited the Reserve Bank’s refusal to give Girton a letter of credit
after the company had won the tender.

It also emerged that if government had bought the vehicles through Girton,
it would have saved $80 million to $90 million dollars. Girton had been
awarded the tender on the strength that it offered the lowest prices.

The vehicles ordered by Girton from South Africa are now in a warehouse
where they are attracting storage charges, according to papers filed at the
High Court on Friday.

Contacted for comment Girton managing director, Stan Botsh, refused to
comment saying since the matter was before a court it would be subjudice to
comment.

In the initial tender, only Girton, Croco Motors and Southern Region Trading
were the companies that met the required specifications.

Tender adjudication documents show that Zimoco had failed to provide a tax
clearance certificate, a prerequisite for any government tender. The failure
by Zimoco to provide the tax clearance certificate means the company should
have been disqualified.

Although Girton is seeking a nullification of the order to Zimoco, a letter
dated 31 October from Zimoco’s managing director to CMED acting director
shows that 25 of the vehicles are ready for delivery.

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Daily News

Hill accused of ruining UZ

11/10/01 7:41:36 AM (GMT +2)


Staff Reporter

PROFESSOR Graham Hill, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe's
alleged oppressive manner and incompetence have been blamed for running down
the country's most prestigious institution of higher learning.

Innocent Mupara, the expelled UZ Students' Executive Council president, in a
notice filed in the High Court opposing Hill's application for a peace order
against him, said the Vice Chancellor was failing to run the university.

"The library is obsolete, there are no lecturers and experiments are not
being properly carried out," Mupara said, through his lawyer Jacob
Mafume of Kantor and Immerman.

"Money disappears in mafia-style corruption, the hostels are in a mess and
the food given to students is deplorable."

Mupara said the problems facing students were well-documented.

He said: "Female students have turned to prostitution and male students to
thieving. In fact, it is a miracle that the place has not folded up."

Pointing out that during his tenure, Hill has suspended every student
leader, Mupara said he feared the Vice Chancellor was taking the issues at
hand personally.

Mupara said: "It is not enough that he has ensured a premature end to my
education, but he wants to ban me from talking to other students. What next?
Will he then ask the Court to put me in a protected village?"

Hill last month applied for a peace order barring Mupara from entering the
university or communicating with staff and students, both on and off campus.

He claimed Mupara had disciplinary problems and that his bad behaviour
tarnished the university's image.

Mupara denied tarnishing the university's image, saying: "It is Hill who has
tarnished the image of students. Earlier this year his security guards and
the riot police butchered a student to death."

Batanai Hadzizi, 21, a first year student, was killed and several students
injured in April when riot police and the university's security guards
brutally quelled riots over payout increments.

Mupara said his problems with Hill began when he was elected a student
leader.

He said the Vice Chancellor believed he was an MDC member, whose campaign
for the top post had been funded by the opposition party.

He denied harassing staff saying, instead, it was he who had been harassed
by State security agents and Hill.

"The concept of freedom eludes Hill. His aim is to destroy my life so that
his name would forever be a monument of my destruction."

In September, he said, the UZ security guards confronted him on campus.
He said the security guards wanted to drag him into their security room on
campus.

"The same guards killed a student by assaulting him with baton sticks and I
feared I might suffer the same fate. After I resisted they fabricated
allegations against me."

Mupara said he paid an admission of guilt fine of $600 at Avondale police
station, which has jurisdiction over the university, because the police
officers had threatened to lock him up.

He said he also feared that he would be handed over to State agents, who
would then torture him.
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Daily News - Leader

Church leader being used in Zanu PF propaganda

11/10/01 8:31:06 AM (GMT +2)



IT IS so saddening to note how certain church leaders are being used by
politicians to give credence to the violent and economically disastrous fast
track land resettlement programme.

This is nothing new though. The same happened in Russia and other countries
where communists took over power. Subversion, and infiltration of all civic
and cultural organisations, including churches were part of Marxist -
Leninist strategies.

Communists only use churches and church leaders for propaganda purposes.

They themselves are materialists who do not believe in God. In 1905 Lenin
said: "Religion is the opium of the people. It is a kind of spiritual gin in
which slaves of capital drown their claim to any decent human life".

Shortly after the Russian revolution the state confiscated all church
properties and used the buildings as schools, theatres, granaries and as
places of political indoctrination. Those Christians who stood up against
communist tyranny were tortured and executed.

In 1937 alone, 1 340 protestants and Catholic churches as well as 61 Moslem
mosques were closed. The Russian Orthodox Church was allowed to exist for
propaganda purposes. It had to pay for this favour by actively supporting
communist policies and programmes.

In Zimbabwe some gullible church leaders are reported to have voiced their
support for the on-going fast track land resettlement programme before the
Commonwealth ministers who visited Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission.

Now, don't get me wrong. Land redistribution in Zimbabwe to rectify the
imbalances of the past is long over due. The skewed and unfair land
situation in Zimbabwe has to be changed. I have yet to meet a Zimbabwean
black or white who does not believe in the rightness of land reform. Those
who say there are Zimbabweans who are against land reform are liars like
their father the devil.

What many are objecting to is the way the whole thing is being carried out.

The fast track exercise has very little to do with land reform. It has
everything to do with keeping the discredited Zanu PF party in power.

If they so much want people to have land why didn't they start the fast
track resettlement exercise 21 years ago when we became an independent
sovereign state?

The truth is that Zanu PF saw itself losing power to the young and energetic
MDC. They therefore, cunningly turned the people's real need for land into
their major election campaign platform. As part of their strategy they
created a false war, the so called Third Chimurenga, between black
Zimbabweans on one side and whites as well as the entire international
community on the other side.

The war in Zimbabwe is not about land. It s a war of internal conquest
against the people of Zimbabwe who are fed up with the corrupt Zanu PF
government and are determined to kick it out at the polls.

Some of us insist that the land imbalance could have been dealt with in a
firm but humane way without violence and lawlessness. There was totally no
need for the state to teach our children to hate their countrymen. Jesus
Christ taught us to love our enemies. The Bin Ladens of this world train
their followers to "strike fear into their hearts".

I therefore, question the sincerity and Christian commitment of so-called
pastors, prophets, bishops and reverends who publicly condone plain acts of
savagery and even try to use the Bible to support their perverted theology.

I was astounded by the heretical nonsense written by Rev Chifamba He wrote
in the Herald of 26 October 2001 commending Rev Wutawunashe's pro-Zanu PF
stance on the land issue. He said:"If we don't seek God in our third
Chimurenga, this war will be difficult to finish. Remember in a war
situation, it is diifficult to talk of democracy and non-violence but we
hold our fists against the enemy who are white commercial farmers, Britain
and Americans as they have proved..... As I see it this is the appropriate
time for our today's politicians to use our black reverends and the church
of Jesus Christ to fight the enemy using the word of God".

Another so-called pastor, Godwin Mwanza, wrote in the Herald of 4 November
praising Rev Murombedzi Kuchera for "fully backing the land reform process".

He also castigated the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) for writing a
pastoral letter criticising the government for "allegedly instigating
violence in the country and allowing war veterans to take the law into their
own hands." He went on to castigate the ZCC for receiving money from
overseas or conducting voter education and training of election monitors for
the presidential election. He said: "Funds from most of these Western
organisations, especially from countries hostile to Zimbabwe, are not mere
handouts. They always come with strings attached. The ZCC is expected to
make noise about the perceived lawlessness, land reforms and presidential
election."

I am inclined to disbelieve that this unholy gibberish was written by
born-again children of the Lord Jesus Christ. They sound more like the
overkill type of propaganda from the pen of Professor Jonathan Moyo, the
Zanu PF propaganda chief.

What is so strange or sinister about the ZCC receiving donor funds for its
charitable work in Zimbabwe? Maybe some of these pastors were not yet born
when the ZCC (then the Christian Council of Rhodesia) received donor funds
from overseas to feed and educate the families of many of our present Zanu
PF leaders when they were detained or imprisoned during the real Chimurenga,
not this fake one.

During those dangerous days they also spoke openly against Ian Smith's
violence and abuse of power. Should they then stop preaching the truth now
just because the violence and abuse of power is being perpetrated by a black
regime. God forbid.

I would very much like to know which institution Rev Mwanza and Pastor
Chifamba received their theological training from.

Our problem today is that any deluded idiot can proclaim himself to be a
pastor, minister, reverend or even bishop without going through the
discipline of recognised theological formation and being ordained by an
assembly of believers as is the Biblical norm. Such pastors are only out to
make a living like any vakomana vemaprojects or madhila (men of business
projects or dealers).

Such church leaders are open to being used by unscrupulous politicians in
their propaganda campaigns, for a consideration, of course.

This reminds me of my very enterprising niece. She said to me one day:
"Sekuru I am tired of being poor. You know the Bible. You are a good speaker
and many people like you. Why don't you start your own church so that we can
also make money like others are doing?"

I explained to her that being a pastor was a special calling from God and I
was not one of those called to lead a church. I later heard that she got
married to a "pastor" who divorced his wife for her and were now in America
raising funds for a church her husband had founded and some women's
"projects" she had started.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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Daily News


Probe Mnangagwa: Judge

11/10/01 7:09:03 AM (GMT +2)


Pedzisai Ruhanya

HIGH Court judge, Justice David Bartlett, yesterday ordered an urgent
investigation into the conduct of Emmerson Mnangagwa when he was the
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

Mnangagwa is now the Speaker of Parliament.

Bartlett issued the order after he had ruled that the former minister erred
when he prematurely released George Tanyanyiwa Chikanga, a hardcore armed
robber, in March last year.

Bartlett ordered Andrew Chigovera, the Attorney-General (AG), and David
Mangota, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, to investigate Mnangagwa and the circumstances
leading to the release of Chikanga as well as other releases effected during
his term of office.

Bartlett said: "A second recommendation I need to make is that Mangota and
Chigovera urgently and thoroughly examine all the files relating to
successful early release petitions for a period of several years prior to 15
February 2000 and for the period after 15 February 2000 until Mnangagwa
became the Speaker of Parliament.

"This is because Mnangagwa's stated position is that he did not read the
file relating to the release but relied on his officials and that
effectively they misled him through careless or corrupt conduct.

"If that is true, then it is certainly possible, indeed even likely, that
the same events may have occurred in regard to other early releases,"
Bartlett said.

He said other criminals who have committed serious offences may have been
improperly released by President Mugabe on the basis of Cabinet minutes that
have no proper foundation.

"The circumstances leading to the early release of Chikanga raise serious
questions as to the propriety of the conduct of one or more persons within
the ministry. It would appear probable that there was at best negligence and
at worst dishonesty or corruption, in regard to the early release of
Chikanga," he said.

Bartlett said because Chikanga was unlawfully released, he would be failing
in his duty if he did not make recommendations designed to find out how that
happened and ensure that it does not recur.

Chikanga was released before serving his sentence of 35 years on armed
robbery charges after his mother convinced Mnangagwa and his officials that
her son had hypertension and was the sole breadwinner.

An investigation ordered by the judge revealed that Chikanga did not suffer
from hypertension.

In his affidavit to the court two weeks ago, Mnangagwa said the release was
made in error by his late permanent secretary Augustine Chikumira and his
personal assistant a Mr Nyathi who is also late.

Bartlett said: "There is also the involvement of Mnangagwa himself.
Mnangagwa at least tacitly accepts his own negligence."

The judge said he had known Chikumira for 18 years in his different
capacities as a regional prosecutor, director of public prosecutions and
permanent secretary. He said he held Chikumira in high esteem.

Bartlett said there were no letters in the court record relating to the
wrongful early release papers which are signed by Chikumira.

"It is of course also necessary for a minister to place reliance on his
officials but it is a basic tenet of our system of government that ministers
are responsible for their actions," he said.

Bartlett noted that the file of papers provided by the ministry shows
correspondence by Mnangagwa and Nyathi in regard to the wrongful release.

He said there is also incorrect information in the memorandum signed by
Mnangagwa stating that a sub-committee of the ministry had recommended the
release on medical grounds.

Bartlett said that Febbie Chikanga, George's mother, stated that it was
through her personal approach to Mnangagwa and the letter he gave her to
give Nyathi, which led to the release of George. He said that if Febbie
Chikanga's version was correct then Mnangagwa's role "may go beyond the
carelessness he attributes to his conduct".

"There is an obvious need for such an investigation at the very least to
endeavour to ensure that the President, the Cabinet and ministers are not
wrongfully advised in regard to the early release of dangerous criminals. In
view of the fact that such an investigation would of necessity encompass
Mnangagwa's role in the matter, it is, in my view, important that it should
be thorough, fair, transparent and conducted through the AG's office at the
highest level," Bartlett said.

He said the deaths of Chikumira and Nyathi should not stop the inquiry.
Bartlett said it was of fundamental importance that the President has
accurate and reliable information on which to exercise his prerogative of
mercy.

"The President cannot do that if ministers do not read their files and
simply rely on what their officials put in front of them," he ruled.
He said that from Mnangagwa's affidavit, he did not look at the file.

If he had done so, Mnangagwa would have known that there was no petition, no
detailed examination of the case, no medical examination and no
recommendation for the release.

"The decision reached and the approval made was based on a mixture of no
information, hardly the basis for an accurate and considered decision," he
said.

Bartlett made the order after he sentenced Chikanga to 16 years in jail for
an armed robbery case at First Bank in September last year.

He said the decision to release Chikanga, should be reversed. He, however,
said Chikanga should serve six-and-half years in that case after it emerged
that he had appealed to the Supreme Court in 1993 which reduced his term
from 35 to 24 years.

He said Chikanga would remain in prison and should also face another charge
of armed robbery involving $7 million. He committed the armed robbery on 26
September 2000 after his premature release.

He described as unprocedural, a decision by Chigovera to deposit
$732 000 found in Chikanga's possession when he was arrested, in his
mother's account at Ki
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The Sunday Times (UK)
 
November 11 2001 AFRICA
Line

STN112805 ©
Mounting tension: Mugabe is presiding over deepening political crisis and economic ruin with 75% of Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty and the number of beggars in Harare rising
Photograph: Rob Cooper

Mugabe's war vets raid opposition HQ

R W Johnson, Johannesburg

DOZENS of Zimbabwean war veterans loyal to President Robert Mugabe invaded the headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) yesterday amid signs of growing tension ahead of next spring's elections.

In what was clearly a pre-planned action, about 60 of the so-called veterans stormed the six-storey building on Nelson Mandela Avenue, the main street in the capital, Harare.

They then threw a ring around it, stopping anybody from approaching or the 20 staff inside from escaping. The police were summoned, but it took them an hour to arrive, despite their headquarters being only minutes away.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, who was not present, said his staff had been harassed and intimidated. "The war vets are blaming us because one of their number was abducted last week," he said. "We know nothing of this.

"The MDC had many of its members abducted and killed but we have never retaliated. The really shameful thing is that party headquarters can be invaded by force and that the police should do nothing. Naturally, none of the war vets who did this are being charged."

Isaac Maposa, chief executive of the MDC, said the war veterans may also have been responding to an opinion poll last week showing Mugabe trailing Tsvangirai 47%-53%. "If the world stands by and lets Mugabe get away with this, we are effectively being told that nobody cares about democracy in Zimbabwe," he said.

President Robert Mugabe
Photograph: Christine Nesbitt
STN112804

The move came in the week when Geoff Nyarota, editor of The Daily News, Zimbabwe's leading independent newspaper, was arrested on a financial technicality and held overnight. Nyarota, 50, a diabetic who has suffered heart trouble, was kept in a filthy cell crowded with street criminals.

It was the third time that he had been detained as part of what he described as clumsy attempts to put pressure on his newspaper. He was with Wilfred Mbanga, 54, who helped Nyarota to launch The Daily News nearly three years ago.

After his release Nyarota laughed as he described the scene in court. "They kept us standing around for 10Å hours before they charged us, and then we had that nightmare night," he said. "But when we got to court the state simply had no case. It was all just harassment, plain and simple."

Both men were fined £125 and made to surrender their passports. They must report to the police once a week. However, Nyarota was allowed to travel to New York this month to receive an award for courageous journalism.

Mugabe's government is meanwhile employing other methods to try to maintain its grip on power, despite increasing signs that its policies are pushing Zimbabwe towards complete economic collapse.

The president banned international election observers and announced plans for a state-owned media empire, comprising radio and television stations and eight newspapers, to blanket the country in propaganda. Legislation has also been introduced to prevent the many hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who have fled abroad - most of whom are believed to be sympathetic to the opposition - from voting next spring.

In its latest budget, the government also announced an increase of 142.6% in spending on the feared Central Intelligence Organisation - a figure way in excess of inflation, which is running at 80%.

This was despite an admission by Simba Makoni, the finance minister, that 75% of his countrymen were living in "abject poverty". He also appealed for food aid to avert starvation. The numbers of beggars on the streets of Harare, many of them children, is growing.

Sources within the CIO interpreted the increase in the organisation's budget as a sign of the president's weakness. "He's throwing money at us because the worse it looks for Mugabe the more he feels he needs us," one senior officer said.

"We can read the writing on the wall. There's a lot of document shredding going on. Guys who have done things that would get them into trouble if Tsvangirai wins are destroying evidence. Most of the army have managed not to get a partisan reputation - people reckon that's the smart thing to do."

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Zim Standard

Mass Media board fired

Staff Writer
INFORMATION minister, Jonathan Moyo, has dissolved the board of the Zimbabwe
Mass Media Trust (ZMMT) and replaced it with a pro-Zanu PF body to spearhead
its billion-dollar propaganda blitz for next year’s presidential election.

Moyo announced the dissolution of the board, chaired by Harare lawyer Honour
Mkushi, on Friday at the Sheraton Harare hotel, during a marathon meeting
with staffers of the Zimbabwe Inter Africa News Agency (Ziana) and the
Community Newspapers Group (CNG).

At the same meeting, Moyo confirmed the formation of a 24-hour news radio
station, a television station, eight provincial newspapers, and a wire news
agency under a new government media house called New Ziana.

The ZMMT board is expected to formally accept its dissolution on 19 November
when Mkushi returns from an overseas trip. It was not immediately clear who
is on the new board which is presently operating in the shadows but whose
activities are to be formalised by 1 December.

Sources who attended Friday’s meeting yesterday told The Standard that Moyo,
who co-chaired the protracted meeting together with his permanent secretary,
George Charamba, had informed staffers that there would be no place for
editorial independence at New Ziana.

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Business Report

Different kind of coke smuggler lives off collapsing Zimbabwean dollar

Jonathan Rosenthal
November 11 2001 at 07:53AM

Livingstone - As the sun sets on Victoria Falls the smugglers descend on the
Zambian border post. Women, some with children on their backs, try to dodge
police to smuggle Coca-Cola and other drinks from Zimbabwe.


Zambians cross the border on bicycles, pushing wheelbarrows or carrying
sacks to buy soft drinks or beer in Zimbabwe. There, a collapsing currency
has cut the cost to as little as 25 percent of Zambia's prices.


Later they queue to cross home, rushing past police in large groups each
time the border gate is opened to admit a vehicle, to avoid paying import
tax.


"The drinks are much cheaper here and Zambians like to drink," says Moses
Dube, a Zimbabwean taxi driver who makes extra money trading the currency on
the informal market.


A bike-load of bottled Coke sold on the streets of Livingstone can earn a
trader about US$4 a day, nearly five times the $0,82 the average Zambian
earns each day.


With 73 percent of Zambians living below the national poverty line,
according to the World Bank, the queues to cross the border are growing.


The border post, a short walk from the foot of Africa's mightiest waterfall
and a few hundred metres from Victoria Falls, is a place where one of
Africa's best performing currencies meets one of its worst, and where
Zambia's free market meets Zimbabwe's government-imposed price controls.


The Zambian kwacha has gained about 15 percent this year, boosted by foreign
investment and rising copper exports. Zimbabwe's currency has declined to a
seventh of its value in informal trade since President Robert Mugabe
encouraged his supporters to occupy white-owned farms nearly two years ago.


A bottle of Coca-Cola produced under licence by Zimbabwe's United Bottlers
sells in Victoria Falls for about Z$25. Across the border a bottle of Coke
retails for about 25 Zambian kwacha.


Pickings used to be even richer for the traders before a food crisis forced
Zimbabwe to halt the trade in essential items, such as sugar and cooking
oil, a month ago.


Before then, traders would regularly pack supermarkets in Zimbabwe, forcing
them to close their doors to ease the crush, profiting from price controls
imposed by Mugabe's government.


"Sometimes Jay's [a supermarket] had to close three times in a day," said
Lindsey Lees May, who works on a wildlife ranch 25km from Victoria Falls.
"The Zambians used to come in their hundreds."


The order to end the trade in food came as the disruption of the farm
invasions threatened about 500 000 people living in Zimbabwe with
starvation, according to the United Nations World Food Programme. -
Bloomberg

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News24

11/11/2001 08:36  - (SA)

Diplomats accused of meddling

Harare - Some Western diplomats in Zimbabwe have been accused of interfering
in local politics by funding a leading opposition party ahead of next year's
presidential elections, a state-run paper reported on Saturday.

"Some diplomatic missions and donor organisations have intensified their
interference in local politics in support of the opposition MDC (Movement
for Democratic Change)," the Herald said.

Citing diplomatic sources, the paper made particular mention of the
ambassadors of Denmark and Sweden, accusing them of having held talks with
the MDC officials recently over an alleged rift in the main opposition
party.

The paper also said the International Labour Organisation and the
International Republican Institute (IRI) of the US had shown particular
interests in Zimbabwe's presidential polls.

Some foreign relief agencies were also accused of distributing aid on
partisan grounds, with particular mention made of Help, a German aid agency
said to have given out aid through MDC structures in a district in the east
of Zimbabwe.

A Dutch non-governmental organsiation, SNV, was accused of distributing
flyers blaming the governing Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic
Front (Zanu-PF) of "destroying" Zimbabwe.

In April, the Zimbabwe government warned non-governmental organisations
allegedly engaged in partisan politics, saying it could not guarantee their
security.

Foreign Affairs senior secretary Willard Chiwewe said that all diplomats
accredited to Zimbabwe will continue to receive "full protection of the
law", provided they do not indulge in partisan politics.

"However, those diplomats who, for whatever reason ... seek to further the
interests of one political party against another ... may not hope to receive
assistance from the minister of foreign affairs," Chiwewe warned. - Sapa-AFP




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From The Sunday Times (UK), 11 November

Mugabe's war vets raid opposition HQ

Johannesburg - Dozens of Zimbabwean war veterans loyal to President Robert Mugabe invaded the headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) yesterday amid signs of growing tension ahead of next spring's elections. In what was clearly a pre-planned action, about 60 of the so-called veterans stormed the six-storey building on Nelson Mandela Avenue, the main street in the capital, Harare. They then threw a ring around it, stopping anybody from approaching or the 20 staff inside from escaping. The police were summoned, but it took them an hour to arrive, despite their headquarters being only minutes away. Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, who was not present, said his staff had been harassed and intimidated. "The war vets are blaming us because one of their number was abducted last week," he said. "We know nothing of this. The MDC had many of its members abducted and killed but we have never retaliated. The really shameful thing is that party headquarters can be invaded by force and that the police should do nothing. Naturally, none of the war vets who did this are being charged." Isaac Maposa, chief executive of the MDC, said the war veterans may also have been responding to an opinion poll last week showing Mugabe trailing Tsvangirai 47%-53%. "If the world stands by and lets Mugabe get away with this, we are effectively being told that nobody cares about democracy in Zimbabwe," he said.

The move came in the week when Geoff Nyarota, editor of The Daily News, Zimbabwe's leading independent newspaper, was arrested on a financial technicality and held overnight. Nyarota, 50, a diabetic who has suffered heart trouble, was kept in a filthy cell crowded with street criminals. It was the third time that he had been detained as part of what he described as clumsy attempts to put pressure on his newspaper. He was with Wilfred Mbanga, 54, who helped Nyarota to launch The Daily News nearly three years ago. After his release Nyarota laughed as he described the scene in court. "They kept us standing around for 10 hours before they charged us, and then we had that nightmare night," he said. "But when we got to court the state simply had no case. It was all just harassment, plain and simple." Both men were fined £125 and made to surrender their passports. They must report to the police once a week. However, Nyarota was allowed to travel to New York this month to receive an award for courageous journalism.

Mugabe's government is meanwhile employing other methods to try to maintain its grip on power, despite increasing signs that its policies are pushing Zimbabwe towards complete economic collapse. The president banned international election observers and announced plans for a state-owned media empire, comprising radio and television stations and eight newspapers, to blanket the country in propaganda. Legislation has also been introduced to prevent the many hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who have fled abroad - most of whom are believed to be sympathetic to the opposition - from voting next spring. In its latest budget, the government also announced an increase of 142.6% in spending on the feared Central Intelligence Organisation - a figure way in excess of inflation, which is running at 80%. This was despite an admission by Simba Makoni, the finance minister, that 75% of his countrymen were living in "abject poverty". He also appealed for food aid to avert starvation. The number of beggars on the streets of Harare, many of them children, is growing. Sources within the CIO interpreted the increase in the organisation's budget as a sign of the president's weakness. "He's throwing money at us because the worse it looks for Mugabe the more he feels he needs us," one senior officer said. "We can read the writing on the wall. There's a lot of document shredding going on. Guys who have done things that would get them into trouble if Tsvangirai wins are destroying evidence. Most of the army have managed not to get a partisan reputation - people reckon that's the smart thing to do."

From The Star (SA), 10 November

Zim war vets besiege MDC offices in Harare

Harare - A group of about 100 Zimbabwean war veterans raided the offices of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in central Harare on Saturday, allegedly seeking an abducted colleague. MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube said the "rowdy war veterans and Zanu PF hoodlums" assaulted party members around the offices. The violent group... closed off both entrances to the building and assaulted all who dared come out, in full view of the police who lifted no finger to protect us," Ncube said. Party members and other workers who occupy some of the offices and shops in the same building were trapped inside for more than two hours as the veterans tried to force their way into the offices. Scores of slogan-chanting war veterans kept a vigil outside. Several cars, including that of MDC legislator Learnmore Jongwe, were vandalised. The group marched away after more than two hours. "The group claimed to be looking for the abducted Cain Nkala," said Ncube. Nkala, a provincial chair of the war veterans' movement in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city in the southwest of the country, went missing on Monday night. "Attempts to blame the MDC are an electoral ploy aimed at whipping up emotions and to give the pretext for the war veterans to increase violence against the MDC," Ncube said. An MDC election agent in Bulawayo, Patrick Nabanyama, went missing during last year's parliamentary elections and has not been found since. The party, which is two years old and has posed the most credible challenge so far to Mugabe's hold on power, called for an end to lawlessness in Zimbabwe. "The MDC once again implores the Zanu PF leadership to return the country to the rule of law," said Ncube.

From The Zimbabwe Standard, 11 November

"CIO behind abduction" - war vets

Bulawayo - Police in Bulawayo say they have not made any progress in their search for Cain Nkala, the feared leader of the war veterans in Matabeleland, who was abducted from his Magwegwe West home on Tuesday evening. The war veterans leader, who was much feared by opposition supporters in Bulawayo, was abducted by about 10 men, all armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. The identity of the gunmen is still unknown. A police source in Bulawayo said it was too early to point a finger at any particular group or individual. The spokesman said investigations were continuing. War veterans in Bulawayo have, however, ruled out the involvement of the opposition or white farmers in the abduction of their leader. Some war veterans who fought on the side of Zipra during the independence war, told The Standard that they strongly suspected the abduction of their leader to be the work of state security operatives or other war veterans loyal to a former cabinet minister. The former minister, who commands much respect among township residents, has also been linked to several kidnappings and mysterious deaths of supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change in Bulawayo and to the attack by war veterans on former Zanu PF chairman for Bulawayo province, Edson Ncube. The former minister is said to be still bitter at the Ndebele people for voting for the opposition during the parliamentary election last year. He was one of the senior ruling party leaders to have lost his seat to the MDC. One of his houses in the townships was used as a torture chamber for opposition supporters abducted by war veterans.

"We have no doubt in our minds that the abduction of Cain Nkala was an inside job. The opposition is not capable of launching such an operation," said a senior war veteran who is in the executive of the former guerrilla fighters’ association. Some police sources told this reporter that the abduction of Nkala was a sensitive issue which even the police had to handle with care. The police source also ruled out any involvement of outsiders in the abduction. Nkala’s abduction comes a few days after the mysterious death of one of his close colleagues in a suspicious car crash along the Bulawayo-Harare road. The abduction also comes in the wake of serious divisions within the war veteran body itself and among some ruling party leaders in the region. Ruling party insiders say Nkala and some of his colleagues in the war veterans association had fallen out of favour with the party’s top brass over certain political issues in the region. Some of Nkala’s colleagues, according to sources, had threatened to spill the beans about certain issues which included the involvement of some top officials in the abduction and killings of MDC members during last year’s parliamentary election campaign. Some war veterans were alleged to have asked senior politicians why former Zipra guerrillas working for the party were not being pardoned for political crimes committed against the opposition. The Zipra war veterans also wanted the government to pardon Cain Nkala and nine other former Zipra fighters facing charges of having kidnapped and possibly killed Patrick Nabanyama, a polling agent for Bulawayo South member of parliament, David Coltart.

Nkala and his colleagues were to appear again in court in February. According to sources, matters came to a head at one recent meeting where Nkala was alleged to have made threats which did not go down well with others at the meeting. The meeting also exposed deep divisions between Zipra and Zanla war veterans. Some war veterans allegedly wrote to a senior government official in Harare asking him to consider pardoning Nkala and his colleagues for the abduction of Nabanyama. "We knew something like that was going to happen to Nkala after that meeting. Things are not right in the party," said another war veteran. Some former Zipra guerrillas are understood to be planning to stop their support for the ruling party because of the alleged unfair treatment of their colleagues by the government. Addressing war veterans on Thursday, Zanu PF’s provincial chairman for Bulawayo, Jabulani Sibanda, said they knew the people who abducted the war veterans leader. "We got your message and we are interpreting it after which we will act," Sibanda, a former bodyguard to Joshua Nkomo told his former Zipra colleagues at the meeting. He said they had searched for Nkala all over Bulawayo and its surroundings but had found no trace of the captors. Some fear he could be dead by now. The war veterans have described the abduction of Nkala as a declaration of war on them by those responsible. Home Affairs minister, John Nkomo, described the kidnapping as the work of terrorists. According to the minister, the kidnapping was in the fashion of the Selous Scouts, the highly trained but notorious former Rhodesian government’s counter terrorist unit. Nkala’s abduction, although he had no support among the people here, has shocked the residents who now fear the escalation of political violence in the country, particularly in Matabeleland - the MDC political powerbase.

From The Sunday Times (SA), 11 November

Mogae blasts Mugabe over land grabs

Botswana's President Festus Mogae has launched a scathing attack on his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, for his failure to deal with the land resettlement programme in his country in a peaceful way. In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Mogae criticised Mugabe and his country's war veterans for dragging the entire Southern African economy down with their approach. Mogae said several interventions by regional leaders seeking the restoration of law and order in Zimbabwe had fallen on deaf ears. "On every visit to Zimbabwe we tried to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation - be it in multilateral or bilateral talks - and so far we do not think we are winning," he said.

Mogae said regional leaders were becoming frustrated with the situation in Zimbabwe because it was affecting their economies. "The reality is that the region cannot afford to have its second largest economy sinking because of this situation. While we support land reform in Zimbabwe completely, we feel the implementation of the strategy is incorrect." Mogae singled out war veterans and the Harare administration's failure to deal with the violent occupation of white farms as potential obstacles to peace and stability in the region. "Certainly the involvement of the so-called war veterans has added to the violent nature that this programme has assumed," he said. While equally blaming commercial farmers for refusing to relinquish land voluntarily, Mogae argued that the programme would have been successful had it followed the correct structural and legal reform frameworks, instead of turning into violence: "Land reform needed to be done in Zimbabwe. But now it is just a question of doing the right thing in a wrong way."

Mogae's harsh criticism of the Harare administration highlights the growing frustration among Southern African Development Community leaders at Mugabe's refusal to abide by agreements. Two months ago, Mugabe outsmarted a community delegation looking into land problems in his country - giving five heads of state an undertaking that he would stick to orderly land reforms, and then refusing to quash violent invasions soon afterwards. The delegation had gone to Harare to look for guarantees to cement an agreement reached in Abuja, Nigeria, a week earlier. Mogae's outburst this week comes as most regional leaders prefer to keep their frustrations quiet so as not to anger Mugabe. "Even the good things that are coming out of Zimbabwe are overshadowed by these acts of lawlessness," Mogae said. "The [Abuja] agreement provides a good framework for the restoration of law and order."

From ZWNEWS, 11 November 

The struggle for standards

Although President Robert Mugabe has packed Zimbabwe’s highest courts with judges sympathetic to his ruling Zanu PF party, in lower courts many magistrates continue to struggle to uphold the country’s long-cherished tradition of judicial independence. Magistrates brave violent demonstrations by Zanu PF supporters, risk being transferred or even fired for ordering the release of members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and incur the wrath of Mugabe’s government ministers. Magistrates have acquitted critics of Mugabe on grounds that were unlawfully arrested or that state prosecutors have produced insufficient evidence to convict them. The Amani Trust, a Zimbabwe human rights organisation, says 480 people have been arrested or detained unlawfully since the beginning of the year.

For example, Masvingo Magistrate Shortgame Masaiona in August ordered the trial of dozens of soldiers who rampaged through bars in the town beating up people they suspected of MDC sympathies. Masaiona was immediately placed on a transfer list. In April, Karoi Magistrate Skumbuzo Nyathi was cautioned by Deputy Justice Minister Paul Mangwana after ordering a group of Zanu PF local councillors to conduct council business with transparency. Nyathi later granted bail of Zimbabwe Z$100 each to groups of workers on white-owned farms who were accused of violence after government supporters invaded their employers’ properties. Hundreds of Zanu PF supporters demonstrated against Nyathi, and he was transferred to Kadoma.

In a notable judgement in June, Bindura Magistrate Tito Gweshuro convicted 17 Zanu PF supporters of political violence and sentenced them to 36 months in jail. "This is a welcome development. It shows the impartiality of the lower courts," said MDC Chief Whip in Parliament, Innocent Gonese. In another politically sensitive case, a magistrate granted bail to a white farmer accused of running over and killing a farm invader. "Magistrates are many compared with judges and have appeared to make individual decisions,’’ commented Gabriel Shumba, a lawyer with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum.

Recently, the Attorney-General’s office has made rare concessions and declined to prosecute MDC supporters accused of political violence, acknowledging there is insufficient evidence against them. Four men arrested Oct. 26 on charges of beating up people and attacking Mugabe supporters who chanted Zanu PF slogans during door-to-door campaigning in Kuwadzana were released for lack of evidence. "We went there (Harare Central Police Station) and the officers of the AG agreed there is no evidence to prosecute the four," said the men’s lawyer, Edmund Chvinge. "The police just rounded up people indiscriminately." Nine MDC supporters who later appeared in court on the same charges of political violence were granted Z$1 000 bail by a magistrate.

In contrast, the hand-picked Supreme Court has duly delivered a key judgement sought by Mugabe, that the invasions of white-owned farms by government supporters were legal. The judgement followed the forced retirement in March of the white former Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay after months of vilification of judges. Mugabe installed Godfrey Chidyausiku, ex-chairman of the government-appointed Constitutional Commission, and a Zanu PF sympathiser to replace Gubbay. Other new judges include Rita Makarau, a former Zanu PF MP, Ben Hlatshwayo, a former member of Constitutional Commission, war veteran Charles Hungwe, and former army officer George Chiweshe. "They have called on judges to resign or face removal by force," Gubbay, in his first public comments on the crisis, told a gathering of senior British judges and lawyers in London on Nov. 5. He accused the Mugabe government of showing a "blatant and contemptuous disrespect" for the judiciary.

From The Sunday Independent (SA), 11 November

Mugabe turns up the heat as elections loom

Harare - After a brief lull to allow a visit by Commonwealth ministers a fortnight ago, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has intensified his strategy to harass all perceived opponents to win the presidential elections scheduled for next year. Mugabe's supporters renewed their attacks on farms this week and raided the offices of opposition parties. His government also approved new electoral laws that ban foreign election monitors and disenfranchise thousands of Zimbabweans living abroad. Police also arrested two top journalists of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily, on fraud charges this week. Civic groups were also told they would no longer be allowed to engage in voter education programmes.

Geoffrey Nyarota, the editor-in-chief of the Daily News, and Wilf Mbanga, a director of the publication, were released on bail on Friday. They had spent Thursday night in jail while police drew up charges of allegedly misleading the Zimbabwe Investment Centre on the shareholding structure of the Daily News's holding company. In the rural areas the ruling party-inspired terror campaign is spreading. Reports this week said many rural areas were now "no-go areas" for non-Zanu PF members. "One thing that is certain is that Zimbabweans will have to learn to live with these tough conditions until the presidential elections next year. There is no way Mugabe will allow freedom," said Masipula Sithole, a political scientist. Analysts believe Mugabe will use his campaign of violence to remain in power. Against that backdrop analysts say the only option left for Zimbabwean civic groups is to lobby the international community to declare that it would reject the outcome of elections held under the present conditions.

"It is stupidity for anyone to believe that the opposition can win elections in Zimbabwe held under the present constitutional dispensation," said Lovemore Madhuku, a law professor at the University of Zimbabwe. About 250 civic groups, under the banner of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee (CZC), have begun lobbying for the creation of acceptable conditions under which "free and fair elections can be held". Brian Kagoro, the executive director of the CZC, said the body would start mobilising for mass action soon to push Mugabe into implementing their demands. The CZC wants the government to establish an independent electoral commission to run the elections, in place of the body that was hand-picked by Mugabe. Meanwhile, in Washington, the United States State Department has called for the release of Nyarota and Mbanga. The arrests "reflect a regrettable trend in Zimbabwe, framed by the deterioration in the rule of law and state-sponsored violence directed against the political opposition", spokesperson Richard Boucher said.

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The Times of India


Botswana's President criticises Zimbabwe over land reform




OHANNESBURG: Botswana's President Festus Mogae has accused Zimbabwe's
leaders of using "incorrect" methods to redistribute white-owned land to the
black majority and failing to grasp how serious the situation is.

In an interview published in South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, Mogae
said he fully backed the Zimbabwean government's plan to rectify
long-standing post-colonial inequities, he deplored the methods.

President Robert Mugabe's government has been supported by youth activists
led by veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war, who have occupied many
mainly white-owned farms, seized land and intimidated the farm labourers.

Violence has been frequent for more than a year.

"Certainly the involvement of the so-called war veterans has added to the
violent nature that this programme has assumed," Mogae said, expressing
fears for the whole southern African region.

"On every visit to Zimbabwe, we (regional heads of state) have tried to
impress on them the seriousness of the situation -- be it in multilateral or
bilateral talks -- and so far we don't think we are winning," he added.

"The reality is that the region cannot afford to have its second-largest
economy sinking because of this situation," he said.

"While we support land reform in Zimbabwe completely, we feel the
implementation of the strategy is incorrect..."

Mogae was also critical of white land-owners for their reluctance
voluntarily to turn over farmland for use by the landless black majority,
but he said the land reform programme launched in July 2000 would have been
more successful if it had remained within a legal framework.
( AFP )




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