Report accuses Zimbabwe of stealing diamond money

http://mg.co.za/

12 NOV 2012 15:14 - GILLIAN GOTORA

About $2-billion worth of diamonds have been stolen from Zimbabwe's eastern
diamond fields and have enriched President Robert Mugabe's ruling circle.

Zimbabwe's Marange fields have seen "the biggest plunder of diamonds since
Cecil Rhodes," the colonial magnate who exploited South Africa's Kimberley
diamonds a century ago, charged Partnership Africa Canada, a member of the
Kimberley Process, the world regulatory body on the diamond trade.

Zimbabwe's eastern Marange field – one of the world's biggest diamond
deposits – has been mined since 2006 and its vast earnings could have turned
around Zimbabwe's economy, battered by years of meltdown and political
turmoil, the group said. But funds from the diamond sales have not showed up
in the state treasury. Instead there is evidence that millions have gone to
Mugabe's cronies.

The report, released Monday to coincide with the Zimbabwe government's
conference on the diamond trade here in Victoria Falls, casts a shadow over
the Mugabe regime's effort to win international respectability for its gem
trade.

The report condemns the Mugabe government's control of the Marange diamond
fields which have made Zimbabwe a major player in the international diamond
trade.

"Marange's potential has been overshadowed by violence, smuggling,
corruption and most of all, lost opportunity," the PAC report said.

"The scale of illegality is mind-blowing" and has spread to "compromise most
of the diamond markets of the world," said the report.

The report describes the $2-billion lost to the Zimbabwe treasury as a
"conservative estimate".

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in his 2012 budget he had been promised
$600-million in diamond revenue for the national treasury to help re-finance
crumbling health, education and other public services. Biti said that only
one-fourth of that pledge has been received.

Mines minister Obert Mpofu, a Mugabe loyalist, insists Western economic
sanctions have prevented the government from getting good prices for the
diamonds on the international market. But Mpofu has repeatedly refused to
give exact figures on diamond revenues, said the PAC report.

Inner circle
Mpofu, the mines minister since 2009, amassed an unexplained personal
fortune and is linked to a "small and tight group of political and military
elites who have been in charge of Marange from the very beginning" and who
are personally benefiting from the diamond sales, the report alleged.

In 2010 leading industry insiders, including Filip van Loere, a Belgian
diamond expert working for the Mugabe government, forecast the country could
produce as much as 30-million to 40-million carats a year, worth about
$2-billion annually, the PAC report said. The diamonds are being mined and
sold but the funds are not reaching the Zimbabwean treasury, according to
the report.

Most of the diamond revenue is lost through a lack of transparency in
accounting for how many diamonds are mined, how much is earned from their
sales, the underpricing of gems on world markets, smuggling and a "high
level of collusion" by government officials.

Records show that 10-million carats of Marange diamonds were exported to
Dubai in late 2012 for $60-million, which the report said is an artificially
low price because the same stones were sold for double their original price
when they left Dubai for Surat, India – the world's biggest diamond cutting
center. It says the gems should have been valued at $1.2-billion.

The low valuation lost the Zimbabwe nation considerable money and
"underscores a price manipulation scheme perpetrated by Indian buyers and
their Zimbabwe allies, with whom they are believed to share the spoils," the
report said.

In addition, the report's researchers were unable to locate a 2.5-million
carat stockpile, valued at around $200-million, which mysteriously
disappeared in November 2011. It also charges that $300-million in diamond
sales never made it to the Zimbabwe treasury in 2011.

All this has been allowed to happen under the watch of the Kimberley
Process, which is supposed to prevent misuse of diamond funds.

"Calls for greater transparency have been dismissed within the Kimberley
Process," it said.

"The lack of transparency surrounding Zimbabwe's diamond revenue is matter
of critical public interest and amplifies concerns for some time that these
revenues are funding a parallel government" of police and military officers
and government officials loyal to Mugabe, many known to be building private
mansions and buying luxury cars costing far in excess of their income from
tax-funded salaries, said the report. – Sapa-AP

$2 billion 'theft' of Zimbabwe's diamonds

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Allies of President Robert Mugabe have carried out the "biggest single
plunder of diamonds" since the days of Cecil Rhodes, stealing Zimbabwean
gems worth $2 billion (£1.26 billion) over the last four years, according to
a new study.

By Peta Thornycroft, Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg
2:17PM GMT 12 Nov 2012

The revenues from Marange alluvial diamond field in eastern Zimbabwe, one of
the richest such reserves in the world, have enriched Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party, allowing it to build a war chest for the election expected next year.
Senior figures in the regime and the military hierarchy are also believed to
have profited, while funds owed to the state have simply disappeared.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Zimbabwe's Treasury have been lost
in both illegal and legal trades," reads the report by Partnership Africa
Canada, a campaign group.

In February last year, Tendai Biti, the finance minister, disclosed that
$300 million collected by the Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation
(ZMDC) and the Mineral Marketing Commission had not been handed over to the
state. Meanwhile, a stockpile of 2.5 million carats, conservatively valued
at $200 million, simply went missing.

The study concludes that most illicit revenue is raised through a
"sophisticated price manipulation scheme" whereby diamonds are sold for
knock-down prices within the legal monitoring system in Harare, then resold
in trade centres like Dubai and India for twice the original price, with
both the sellers and their Zimbabwean allies taking a cut. In all, some $2
billion has been lost to the state since 2008.

Chinese nationals and state-owned companies are the largest investors in
Marange. Many work in partnership with Zimbabwean military chiefs, who have
seats on the boards of diamond mining firms.

Mr Biti is expected to present the 2013 budget to parliament next week. He
will probably be forced to cut spending on social services because the
expected diamond revenues have not materialised.

US$2bln gem plunder claim 'totally false'

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

12/11/2012 00:00:00
by Gillian Gotora I AP

OFFICIALS have dismissed as “totally false” claims by a Canadian campaign
group that at least $2 billion worth of diamonds have been stolen from the
country’s Marange diamond fields with most of the money allegedly enriching
President Robert Mugabe's ruling circle.

THE Marange fields have seen "the biggest plunder of diamonds since Cecil
Rhodes," the colonial magnate who exploited South Africa's Kimberley
diamonds a century ago, charged Partnership Africa Canada, a member of the
Kimberley Process, the world regulatory body on the diamond trade.

Zimbabwe's eastern Marange field — one of the world's biggest diamond
deposits — has been mined since 2006 and its vast earnings could have turned
around Zimbabwe's economy, battered by years of meltdown and political
turmoil, the group said.

But funds from the diamond sales have not showed up in the state treasury.
Instead there is evidence that millions have gone to Mugabe's cronies.

The report, released Monday to coincide with the Zimbabwe government's
conference on the diamond trade here in Victoria Falls, casts a shadow over
the Mugabe regime's effort to win international respectability for its gem
trade. Government officials at the conference denied the report's
allegations as "totally false."

Mugabe pledged that Zimbabwe will soon have new law to ensure greater
transparency and accountability in order to boost the "international
reputation of our diamonds." Opening the conference, Mugabe said his
government is committed to observing "international laws on diamond mining,
storage and trading."

The report condemns the Mugabe government's control of the Marange diamond
fields which have made Zimbabwe a major player in the international diamond
trade.

"Marange's potential has been overshadowed by violence, smuggling,
corruption and most of all, lost opportunity," the PAC report said.

"The scale of illegality is mind-blowing," and has spread to "compromise
most of the diamond markets of the world," said the report.

The report describes the $2 billion lost to the Zimbabwe treasury as a
"conservative estimate."
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in his 2012 budget he had been promised
$600 million in diamond revenue for the national treasury to help re-finance
crumbling health, education and other public services. Biti said that only
one-fourth of that pledge has been received.

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Transparency
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, a Mugabe loyalist, insists that Western economic
sanctions have prevented the government from getting good prices for the
diamonds on the international market. But Mpofu has repeatedly refused to
give exact figures on diamond revenues, said the PAC report.

Mpofu, the mines minister since 2009, amassed an unexplained personal
fortune and is linked to a "small and tight group of political and military
elites who have been in charge of Marange from the very beginning" and who
are personally benefiting from the diamond sales, the report alleged.

In 2010 leading industry insiders, including Filip van Loere, a Belgian
diamond expert working for the Mugabe government, forecast the country could
produce as much as 30 million to 40 million carats a year, worth about $2
billion annually, the PAC report said.

The diamonds are being mined and sold but the funds are not reaching the
Zimbabwean treasury, according to the report.
Most of the diamond revenue is lost through a lack of transparency in
accounting for how many diamonds are mined, how much is earned from their
sales, the underpricing of gems on world markets, smuggling and a "high
level of collusion" by government officials.

Records show that 10 million carats of Marange diamonds were exported to
Dubai in late 2012 for $600 million, which the report said is an
artificially low price because the same stones were sold for double their
original price when they left Dubai for Surat, India — the world's biggest
diamond cutting center. It says the gems should have been valued at $1.2
billion.

The low valuation lost the Zimbabwe nation considerable money and
"underscores a price manipulation scheme perpetrated by Indian buyers and
their Zimbabwe allies, with whom they are believed to share the spoils," the
report said.

In addition, the report's researchers were unable to locate a 2.5 million
carat stockpile, valued at around $200 million, which mysteriously
disappeared in November 2011. It also charges that $300 million in diamond
sales never made it to the Zimbabwe treasury in 2011.

The PAC's allegations are "totally false," said the chairman of one of the
state-run diamond mining companies in Marange. Goodwills Masimirembwa, chief
of Zimbabwe Mining Development Company, told The Associated Press that it
was the first time he heard charges of diamonds disappearing.

"No diamonds have ever gone missing," said Masimirembwa. "When we are
selling our diamonds all stakeholders, the police, revenue board and the
country's mineral marketing body come together. So are they saying all these
institutions are in collusion? Instead, let them come up with specific
allegations, then the police will investigate."

The watchdog report also criticized the Kimberley Process for allowing
Zimbabwe's diamonds to mined and sold in way that was not open to scrutiny.

"Calls for greater transparency have been dismissed within the Kimberley
Process," it said.
"The lack of transparency surrounding Zimbabwe's diamond revenue is matter
of critical public interest and amplifies concerns for some time that these
revenues are funding a parallel government" of police and military officers
and government officials loyal to Mugabe, many known to be building private
mansions and buying luxury cars costing far in excess of their income from
tax-funded salaries, said the report.

Key issues ignored at Vic Falls Diamond Conference

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
12 November, 2012

The Zimbabwe Diamond Conference began in Victoria Falls on Monday with top
politicians and diamond industry figures making speeches that praised
Zimbabwe’s efforts.

Local activists are attending the conference under the banner of the KP
Civil Society Coalition (CSC). KP stands for the Kimberley Process, an
international grouping of diamond producers whose aim is to stamp out blood
diamonds.
One activist spoke to SW Radio Africa and said there is a discrepancy
between what the politicians are saying and what happens on the ground in
Zimbabwe.

Shamiso Mtisi, from Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), told SW
Radio Africa that the morning session was dominated by speeches from Robert
Mugabe, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and former South African President Thabo
Mbeki.

Mpofu said he had invited Thabo Mbeki because of his international
reputation as a mediator in Syria and because of his role in initiating the
talks that led to creation of Zimbabwe’s unity government.

However, critics dismissed the invitation as an attempt to legitimise the
chaotic situation in Chiadzwa and lend credibility to a ZANU PF elite who
are depriving the country of much needed revenue by siphoning off the
diamond funds

According to Mtisi, the politicians and diamond industry officials all
touched on issues to do with accountability and transparency, praising the
country for improvements. But key issues that affect Zimbabweans and local
communities were ignored.

Mtisi said the CSC representatives wanted issues like environmental
pollution and the massive theft of diamonds to be discussed. They also want
local communities to benefit from diamond mining, not just the government
elite who manage it.

The conference is being hosted by Mines Minister Obert Mpofu who has been
quoted as saying he wanted to show that Zimbabwe “stands ready to give the
world full transparency on its achievements as a major diamond producer.”

But the event takes place against the backdrop of a report released Monday
by Partnership Africa Canada, which shows that diamond proceeds continue to
enrich only a few people, including Minister Mpofu himself and top military
and ZANU PF chefs.

The report says hundreds of millions of dollars have gone missing this year
alone and billions have been diverted since 2008. Finance Minister Tendai
Biti says only $46 million was submitted to the treasury this year, when
$600 million was expected.

Also attending are Kimberly Process chair¬person Gillian Milovanovic and the
KP monitor for Zimbabwe, Abbey Chikane. Earlier this month Chikane was
criticised for suggesting that “all diamond mines in Zimbabwe have reached
international standards and stand as a model for many diamond-producing
countries.”

This was dismissed as ‘misleading’ by Global Witness campaigner Mike Davis,
who explained that Chikane’s comments reflect the KP’s limited mandate.
Davis said the KP’s focus on technical issues ignores the political
ramifications of the Zim scenario, where diamond funds are said to be
funding the Mugabe regime ahead of the elections due next year.

Davis said Global Witness was not taking part in the conference because they
did not expect much to be resolved, in terms of the key issues that need
addressing in Chiadzwa.

The Vic falls diamond conference continues on Tuesday.

Cash-strapped Zimbabwe selling diamonds at give-away price

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za

NOV 12, 2012 | SAPA-AFP

Zimbabwe is selling its diamonds to few takers at give-away prices as most
foreign buyers shun the country isolated by its former western allies.

Chaim Even-Zohar, president of the Tel Aviv-based diamond consulting service
Tacy Limited, said that Zimbabwe has the potential to produce 8.0 to 10
percent of global gem production but was not benefiting fully as potential
buyers were worried about trading with Zimbabwe.

"Although you are totally KPCS-compliant, major companies are scared,
insurance companies are afraid of OFAC (the US Office of Foreign Assets
Control) and you sell your goods at 25 percent less in value," said
Even-Zohar referring to the international Kimberley Process Certification
Scheme.

Even-Zohar was addressing a conference organised by the government to try to
spruce up the country's tainted diamond industry.

"We want you to unlock the diamond wealth because we all need it. You are
not capturing the full value of your goods."

Zimbabwe's diamond sector has been blemished by allegations of graft, and
labour and human rights violations which occured when Harare deployed
security forces to drive away illegal miners from the eastern Marange
diamond fields.

Global watchdog Kimberley Process then suspended exports from there but
lifted the ban after government said it had pulled the security forces out
of the area.

Natural resource extraction watchdogs accuse President Robert Mugabe's party
of funneling profits to senior military and political leaders but on Monday
defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa denied the charges in an interview with
the state-owned Herald daily. He dared those making the accusations to
present the proof.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a member of the anti-Mugabe Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, complained in July that of the $600 million
diamond revenue expected this year, only $46 million had materialised.

The two day conference seeks to "manage perception of the Zimbabwean diamond
industry and lure more investors to the diamond industry," according to the
mines ministry.

Among notable speakers are Kimberley Process chair, Gillian Milovanovic, an
American diplomat, former South African President Thabo Mbeki and
representatives from African Diamond Producers.

Prove That Diamonds Are Funding Army - Mnangagwa

http://www.thezimbabwemail.net

Staff Reporter 11 hours 26 minutes ago

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has challenged fellow Cabinet ministers
to present evidence showing that proceeds from Chiadzwa diamond fields were
used to fund army operations and parallel Government structures.
Some Cabinet Ministers, particularly from the MDC-T, have accused Zanu-PF
and the military of abusing money from Chiadzwa diamonds. However, Minister
Mnangagwa dismissed the claims in an interview with The Herald last Friday
and challenged anyone with such evidence to bring it to the fore.
"If they have that evidence they should present it," he said.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has on several occasions alleged that little
was being remitted from Chiadzwa, raising suspicion that the money was being
channelled elsewhere.
He further claimed that the Zimbabwe National Army was recruiting officers
illegally because treasury was facing liquidity challenges.
The recruitment made by the Zimbabwe National Army is covered by the
Ministry of Defence.
However, Minister Mnangagwa said the recruitment of officers by the ZNA was
guided by the Ministry's budget.
"When we do our recruitment we look at our budget and not what the Minister
of Finance says," said Minister Mnangagwa.
He said the Zimbabwe Defence Forces were playing a vital role in maintaining
peace and stability in the country.
"I would like to commend the ZDF for remaining vigilant and patriotic as
some elements are working tirelessly to reverse the gains of our hard won
independence.
"The defence of our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity
remains an aspect that is not negotiable," he said.
State Enterprises Minister Godern Moyo also claimed that Zanu-PF was running
a parallel Government using money from Chiadzwa. At most of its rallies
MDC-T leadership claimed that the military was controlling money from
Chiadzwa.
They alleged that there was no transparency in the manner in which money
from Chiadzwa was being administered.
Zimbabwe has not benefited much from its gemstones as a result of illegal
sanctions imposed by the West.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu said the US Office of
Foreign Assets Control had intercepted Zimbabwe's diamond money on several
occasions.
This had resulted in Government reviewing downwards this year's projected
revenue from Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Mugabe denies diamonds election funding claims

http://www.thezimbabwemail.net/

Staff Reporter 23 hours 40 minutes ago

BINDURA - Embattled Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has dismissed as
baseless and malicious claims by some sections that he funding for the
Presidential Well-Wishers Special Agricultural Inputs Scheme is derived from
diamond proceeds.
Mugabe, who was addressing loyalists at Chipadze Stadium to witness the
launch of the Mashonaland Central Community Share Ownership Trusts expressed
surprise that some people are claiming that money to procure agricultural
inputs was diverted from the sale of diamonds yet the funds were mobilised
by Zanu PF to support disadvantaged farmers.
He said the Zanu PF party cannot fold hands and watch the nation starve as
some parties in the inclusive government are not willing to fund agriculture
for political reasons.
Despite the country having attained independence over 30 years ago,
indigenous people have remained marginalised while foreign companies were
repatriating wealth to their mother countries.
Mugabe said contrary to what the country’s detractors would like the world
to believe, Zimbabwe has not nationalised its economy.
He left the crowd in stitches when he said his party is busy working to
ensure Zimbabweans get food while others are busy going after women.
The Mashonaland Central Community Share Ownership Trusts saw the Bindura
community getting US$10 million seed capital from Freda Rebecca Mine while
the Guruve community received US$1 million from Paza Buster Pvt Ltd.
Magobo Milling Company seeded US$100 000 to the Shamva community while
another milling company, Canterbury, chipped in with US$50 000.
Other areas that are set to benefit under the share trusts include Mt
Darwin, Rushinga, Mazoe and Mbire.
Communities in the areas will hold 10% equity in businesses exploiting
natural resources in their respective districts.
Just over US$1 billion worth of shareholding has been transferred by
foreign-owned firms to local communities since the adoption of the
empowerment drive, which has seen seven out of the eight rural provinces
benefitting.
Zanu PF has remained evasive on its source of funding that has seen
President Robert Mugabe splashing $20 million on agriculture inputs that he
intends to dole out to poor farmers ahead of next year’s elections.
The party has also spent over $14 million on 500 vehicles and $6,5 million
on a 5 000-seater conference centre that will host its annual conference
between December 4 and 9.
The projects, being implemented amid revelations that the inclusive
government is broke, have raised eyebrows.
Education minister David Coltart questioned the logic of Mugabe splashing
$20 million on inputs when his portfolio was only given $8 million in this
year‘s Budget.
Zanu PF claims the money is coming from well-wishers, including those who
benefited from the land reform programme and economic empowerment,
eventhough all sectors of the economy are struggling.
Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu PF spokesperson, yesterday insisted that the party’s
opponents had no right to question its source of funds.
He dismissed claims that Zanu PF was siphoning revenue from Chiadzwa diamond
mines that have failed to remit adequate money to Treasury this year.
“Can they (MDCs) prove that Zanu PF is using diamond revenue?” Gumbo charged
in an interview with NewsDay. We have been hearing about that several times.
It is sounding like a broken record. Who are they to demand to know where we
get our money from?
“Zanu PF is a big organisation and a well-established party. We get the
money from our supporters who have businesses and some have just benefited
from our empowerment programmes. (Finance minister Tendai) Biti is supposed
to fund agriculture and if he refuses, we cannot just fold our arms.”
Mugabe’s agriculture input scheme will benefit over 800 000.
At the launch of the scheme at the Zanu PF headquarters last weekend, the
veteran ruler blamed Biti for government’s failure to fund agriculture
without saying where the minister was supposed to get the money from.
Coltart said Mugabe must name the source of his funds to promote
transparency.
“The source of the inputs fund may be legitimate, but Zimbabweans will only
know that if the President is candid about its source. - NewsDay
Transparency!” the minister wrote on Facebook recently.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said Zanu PF was looting the country’s
diamond revenue to sponsor its election campaign.
Mwonzora’s party accuses Zanu PF of setting up parallel government
structures so that it can misuse diamond revenues at the expense of other
Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe capital's residents drink own waste

http://www.theafricareport.com/

Posted on Monday, 12 November 2012 14:38

Studies have revealed that residents of Zimbabwe's capital Harare literally
drink their waste.

A government owned newspaper at the weekend described pollution levels at
Harare's water source – Lake Chivero – as comparable to a "sewage pond".
It said recent tests on water samples detected about 2mg/l (two milligrammes
in every litre of water) of phosphates or human and animal waste, exceeding
the 0,5mg/l recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"Investigations showed that levels of phosphate in Harare's raw water have
increased since 1979, a year after the authorities converted Lake Chivero
into receptacle of Harare's sewage effluent," the Sunday Mail reported.
"In 1979, the phosphate levels were an average 0,05 mg/l but in 1991 the
figure had increased to 0,18 mg/l.
"The levels were 0,0132mg/l in 1995 before increasing to 1,62mg/l in 2009
and reduced slight to 1,38mg/l in 2010. But the fact remains, the phosphate
levels are too high."
But Harare spokesperson Leslie Gwindi maintained that the capital city's
water was safe and met WHO guidelines.
"People must feel free to drink our water as it is one of the safest,
inasmuch as internationally accepted guidelines are concerned," he said.′′
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe said its analysis of Harare's tap
water had shown that it was safe for domestic consumption.
Harare has in recent years experienced serious outbreaks of water borne
diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
The city was the epicenter of the cholera epidemic that killed over 4000
people country and left 98 000 infected in 2008.
A typhoid outbreak left hundreds hospitalised early this year.
Revelations that the city's water source is heavily polluted with human
waste came hard on the heels of warnings by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe
(CCZ) that bottled water sold in the country did not meet standards.
Many Zimbabweans now resort to bottled water because of an increasing
shortage of clean water supplied by urban councils.
A CCZ survey revealed that some of the firms were drawing their water from
dams, rivers and boreholes for resale.′′
"Asking the water suppliers, they all indicated that they sourced their
water from boreholes, sadly no one can vouch for that and that leaves
consumers vulnerable to drinking unsafe, untreated water sourced from
potentially unhygienic conditions," CCZ said in a statement.′′
In Harare, the CCZ said there were suspicions that firms were drawing water
from the Harare City Council tapes.
"There are concerns as to the cleanliness of the water, the tanks used to
move the water and the cleanliness of the processes the water undergoes
before its final destination — the consumer," CCZ said.
′′The organisation said the shortages of clean, safe water have reached
"seismic" levels.′′
Harare requires 1 200 megalitres of water a day in winter and close to 1 400
megalitres in summer, but the capacity but can only supply between 600 to
700 megalitres a day.′′
Early this year Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said only 30 percent of
residents have access to safe drinking water every day.
′′"Only 30 percent have access to safe water for between three and five days
per week.
"Twenty percent have access to between one and two days per week; 10 percent
rely on boreholes and unprotected wells; 40 percent of the population lacks
adequate sanitation," he said.

WOZA activists arrested over water protest in Bulawayo

http://www.swradioafrica.com

WOZA marching in Bulawayo

By Tichaona Sibanda
12 November 2012

On Monday police in Bulawayo arrested 79 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) for staging a peaceful demonstration against the water crisis in the city.

All the activists were released after police realized the holding cells at police stations were without running water, a scenario that could have made the situation even worse.

Bulawayo, with an estimated population of 1.5 million residents, has been facing an acute water shortage that has forced city fathers to adopt a 72-hour water shedding schedule. Residents have accused council officials of going beyond the three days of water shedding.

During their demonstration WOZA activists targeted Tower Block, where most city council staff work, as an attempt to persuade them to stop the water disconnections and to also pressure them to stick to the water load shedding timetables.

WOZA member claiming he has a right to clean water

Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme told us the activists carried placards with messages that were critical of council in the way they’ve dealt with the water crisis. WOZA said many of them have not had water for weeks, and whenever it is available it is dirty and undrinkable.

Residents fear another cholera outbreak is imminent if the water supply situation does not improve soon. Close to 100 companies have shut down in Bulawayo since 2010, creating another 20,000 unemployed people. Many of the closures have been due to the lack of water.

The few companies that are operating have downsized operations, while mulling over their option in relocating to other cities, citing the crippling water shortages. Some suburbs have gone for weeks without water after the local authority introduced a tight water rationing regime following the decommissioning of dams.

Last month Mayor Patrick Thaba-Moyo told journalists that as a result of the worsening situation, there were plans to start importing water from other towns.

‘What I can tell you is that the water situation in this city is now getting worse as our remaining three supply dams are getting dry. If we don’t receive rains in the next coming month there will be disaster in this city,’ Moyo warned.

Harare Council confiscates residents’ properties

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
12 November, 2012

Several poor families from Harare’s high-density suburbs, who had defaulted
on paying their rates to the City Council, suffered the tragedy of losing
their property last week after it was attached to settle the debt.

The unfortunate residents were from Rugare and Kuwadzana, where residents
say service delivery is extremely poor. Many have had no water for months,
rubbish goes uncollected, there is open sewage in the streets, no lighting
and plenty of potholes.

A messenger of the court took all sorts of household goods from the
defaulting residents, including televisions, refrigerators, sofas and ans.
Other residents, who also received the warning letters, are living in fear
and struggling to find money to pay the council.

According to The Standard newspaper, one of the families that received a
final demand letter last week managed to get an extension until Friday to
pay $100. But the messenger of court came on Thursday and attached their
household goods.

Another victim was a 50-year-old widow who has two unemployed sons. Their
only income is the Widows’ Pension from her late husband’s policy at the
National Railways of Zimbabwe, which pays her about $13 per month, after
bank charges.

The Standard report said some of the summons had been signed by Mayor
Muchadeyi Masunda, but he denied having authorised the attachments. The
local councillors also expressed no knowledge of any council resolution to
attach residents’ property.

Simbarashe Moyo from the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) told
SW Radio Africa that they were shocked city officials would make such “an
anti-people move”, knowing the circumstances of most families living in the
high-density areas.

Moyo said the fact that the Mayor and local officials knew nothing of this
decision to attach residents property shows that there is a conspiracy at
City Hall to tarnish the image of elected officials.

“There are unelected bureaucrats at the Town Hall who know that the council
is run by a majority of elected officials in the MDC and want to tarnish
their image and ruin their chances in the elections that we will have in
about six months,” Moyo explained.

He said these unelected officials are believed to be making decisions
outside the council, and the Mayor needs to put a stop to this.

Police band refuses to play national anthem in Mugabe’s absence

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
12 November 2012

The Zimbabwe Republic Police band on Monday caused a stir when they refused
to play the national anthem because of President Robert Mugabe’s absence in
Harare.

The band even refused to comply with a request from Sylvester Nguni, the
Minister of State in Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s office. The Vice
President was pencilled in as the guest of honour, but failed to attend due
to other commitments.

The incident took place at the Harare International Conference Centre during
a medium term plan conference, organised by the Ministry of Economic
Planning and Investment Promotion.

A source who witnessed the drama said the permanent secretary in the
Economic Planning Ministry, Desire Sibanda, had asked quests (including
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai), to stand for the national anthem.

‘For about five minutes people waited and Sibanda asked the police to play
the anthem and again they refused. One of their leaders then went to whisper
to Sibanda that it cannot be played in the absence of Mugabe.

‘Nguni, who was representing Mujuru, advised the police that he was standing
in for the Vice-President and therefore had to play the anthem but again
they refused,’ the source said.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the incident, in front of
international guests, was an embarrassment to the inclusive government.

‘There were many guests from the international community and what they
witnessed was a bad public relations stunt by the police band. If it is a
government event, regardless of Mugabe’s presence or not, it is a
requirement for the national anthem to be played,’ Muchemwa explained.

Grain reserves severely depleted: GMB

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

11/11/2012 00:00:00
by NewZiana

ZIMBABWE’S strategic grain reserve is severely depleted with stocks
currently at 184,000 metric tonnes against the ideal 500,000 metric tonnes,
the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has said.

The strategic reserve is the country's buffer in times of drought.

GMB chairman Charles Chikaura said Sunday the reserves held 183,698 metric
tonnes as at the beginning of November compared to 425,219 metric tonnes
held at the same time last year.

"Farmers continue to deliver maize to depots and the current strategic grain
reserve stock is 183,698 metric tonnes as at Nov 1, 2012," Chikaura said in
an update for the 2012/13 summer crop season.

Chikaura said the government continued to support maize purchases for
reserves with US$54.2 million having been availed to pay farmers who
delivered grain during the 2011/12 season.

The government has made available a further US$23.1 million to purchase
grain during the 2012/13 marketing season.
"We urge farmers to continue making deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board
to ensure food security until the next harvest season," Chikaura said.

The government has said more maize would be imported to cater for areas that
were affected by drought in the last season.
Meanwhile, Chikaura said the GMB had entered into an agreement with seed
houses for the distribution and sale of inputs ahead of the summer cropping
season.

He said the seed was available at the parastatal's depots around the
country.
"While the government is yet to come up with a programme for the summer
season, we believe there are arrangements to come up with one before the end
of the season," he said.

President Robert Mugabe has launched a US$20 million inputs scheme to
benefit disadvantaged farmers across the country.

Zhing Zhongs Being Smuggled Into Zim

http://www.radiovop.com

Bulawayo, November 11, 2012-- The leader of the smaller faction of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Welshman Ncube, said ‘Zhing Zhongs’
are flooding Zimbabwe market because of corruption at the border posts where
importers are evading duty.
“We have people now selling these ...Chinese products here for US$1 per two
items because there are not paying duty...”said Ncube, who is also Industry
and Trade Minister.

Ncube told a Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) conference
held here over the weekend that it was a surprise that Zimbabwe was
receiving a large number of Chinese nationals despite stringent visa
restrictions against China.

Chinese nationals have been making spirited attempts to make their presence
felt in Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe extended an open invitation
for them to invest in the country as part of his 'Look East' policy after
being snubbed by America and Europe.

The Minister also said it was no secret that the reason for so many road
blocks on Zimbabwe's roads was that police want bribes.

"Even in government we know about this, because we talk about it every week
and it is clear that road blocks are meant for bribes,” he said.

Early this year clashes between traffic police and commuter omnibus
operators erupted in Harare over roadblocks. Police claimed they were
enforcing traffic laws while operators claim they are being fleeced in broad
daylight.

Speaking at the same occasion, Education Minister, David Coltart, urged
Zimbabwean parents to prioritise payment of school fees over beer and cell
phones.

“Parents must spend less time talking over the cell phones and drinking beer
and make sure fees are paid because as the government we have no enough
money to fund education, and I am very serious about this,” Coltart said.

He also said the unity government should invest more in education than in
the Defence Ministry.

Zimbabwe’s education system has been among the best in Africa, although for
the past decade it has suffered due to decline public funding. In 2008 the
country’s education system was also hit due by combination of low salaries,
poor attendance by both teachers and students, and transport problems.

The 2008 education crisis crippled schools across the country crippling most
schools' operations. Teachers embarked on crippling strikes with
examinations failed to be marked on time.

Political violence flares up in Mutoko

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

Monday, 12 November 2012 13:05
HARARE - Political violence has flared up again in Mutoko, a volatile Zanu
PF stronghold.

A mainstream MDC official in the area is now destitute after suspected Zanu
PF activists petrol-bombed his homestead on Saturday, in signs that tensions
are escalating ahead of elections to be held no later than June next year.

David Chamanga Chihwayi, the MDC organising secretary for ward 17 in Mutoko
East, said the assailants were led by a well-known local Zanu PF activist
nicknamed Gogo.

Chihwayi said he lost 300kg of maize, all his clothes, including school
uniforms for his two children, food stuffs and $300 which he kept in his
bedroom.

He said he was sleeping when he was awakened by an unusual sound and upon
investigating, discovered his grass-thatched kitchen was on fire.

When he went out to alert his neighbours he heard a bursting gun-like sound
followed by ball of fire on his asbestos-roofed bedroom.

His son was sleeping in the bedroom and escaped.

“I was sleeping with my son at around 12 midnight as my wife had attended a
funeral in the village — when I heard a bursting sound outside.

“When I checked I saw light but I thought it was a car approaching our
village so I woke up to investigate only to discover my kitchen was on fire.

“I rushed out to alert my neighbour but just as I got out there was another
gun-like sound which was followed by fire on my bedroom.

“We failed to put out the fire and all my grain, foodstuffs, clothes and
money were destroyed,” narrated Chihwayi, adding he was lucky to be alive.

He said he suspected Zanu PF was behind the attack.

“I know it is Zanu PF because their district chairperson had told me I was
not going to survive the next day and that he was going to burn my garden.

“He said my crime is that I had demanded my two goats they forcibly took in
2008. I have made a report to the police but they told me to bring him
(Gogo) to the station,” said Chihwayi.

MDC chairperson for Mashonaland East Province Piniel Denga said the police
inaction confirmed the selective application of the law.

“The family is stranded as we speak and we have reported the matter to
Nyamakosi Police Station.

“However, they have told the victim to bring the suspect to the station.

“It is really ridiculous, but we are also writing a formal complaint to
Joint Monitoring and implementation Committee (Jomic).

“We will then take it from there,” said Denga.

Mashonaland East police spokesperson inspector Bulisani Bhebe could not be
reached for confirmation as calls to his phone were not going through. -
Mugove Tafirenyika

Nango to engage AU over members’ arrests

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

Monday, 12 November 2012 13:06
BULAWAYO - Chairperson of the National Association of Non-Governmental
Organisations (Nango) says his organisation is approaching the African Union
(AU) over continuous police crackdown on its members.

Addressing a press conference in Bulawayo last week, Effort Ncube said Nango
is worried that police have become partisan and are arresting its members
every week.

“This is why we have been calling for security reforms before any elections
are held in Zimbabwe.

“We are engaging Sadc right now over police behaviour and if this crackdown
continues on our members we will go to African Union.

“These raids, harassment and unlawful detention of our members should not be
tolerated anymore said,” Ncube.

Ncube’s sentiments come after police officers from the Law and Order Section
at Harare Central Police Station on Wednesday arrested three staff members
of local NGO — Counseling Services Unit (CSU) on allegations of providing
material which was used to paint mainstream MDC graffiti at an information
centre belonging to Zanu PF politburo member, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, in Mpopoma
high density suburb in Bulawayo.

The arrested three CSU senior employees, Fidelis Mudimu, Zachariah Godi, and
Tafadzwa Geza appeared in a Bulawayo court on Thursday after being
transferred from Harare and were granted bail.

Speaking at the same meeting, Christian Alliance executive director, Useni
Sibanda said churches are very worried with the way police have become
partisan and arresting NGO members.

“As churches and civic society organisations we have completely lost
confidence in Zimbabwe’s police. They are partisan and have embarked on a
sudden crack down on members of NGOs,” said Sibanda.

Sibanda said churches will engage the two co-Home Affairs ministers over the
continuous crackdown on NGOs.

Christian Alliance is a coalition of several church organisations which
include the Zimbabwe Pastors Fellowship and Churches in Bulawayo.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe’s bodyguard Themba Moyo and
mainstream MDC Bulawayo deputy organising secretary, Tsepiso Mpofu were
briefly detained for allegedly spraying the same graffiti at Ndlovu’s
information centre.

The graffiti sprayed at Ndlovu’s office read “MDC Kwese Kwese.”

‘Join forces to topple Mugabe’

http://www.thezimbabwemail.net

Daily News 5 hours 32 minutes ago

HARARE - Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have told MDC factions to unite or kiss
goodbye to any chances of ousting President Robert Mugabe in next year’s
presidential election.
A divided opposition has come to Mugabe’s rescue in previous elections and
chances are he will be a beneficiary of split votes again in the next
election, likely to be his last because of advanced age and reports of
ill-health.

Zimbabwe will be voting in a tense election that Mugabe wants in March and
signs are that the MDC factions and other parties are unlikely to join
forces because of personal differences.

That division must come to an end, people in the Diaspora told
representatives of the MDC factions at a meeting in Cape Town last week.

Douglas Mwonzora, spokesperson for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party
and Qhubani Moyo, policy chief for Welshman Ncube’s MDC, were told by an
uncompromising diaspora that a fragmented opposition would preserve Mugabe’s
rule.

The public meeting was convened by pro-democracy group Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition as an update on the constitutional reform exercise.

Moyo said while the diaspora was unequivocal in its demand that they must
find a “common formula” to unseat Mugabe, he doubted the coalition would
come into existence.

“They (diaspora) said why don’t you unite against the common enemy. Our
position, we want to build a party that can stand on its own in the next
election because there are fundamental differences with the MDC-T,” Moyo
told the Daily News yesterday.

The MDC split on October 25, 2005 over differences on the participation in a
Senate election.

Observers however say the MDC was inexorably heading towards a split
anyway — plagued by tribal mistrust and competing political ambitions.

In the run-up to the 2008 poll, the two parties attempted to close ranks and
back Tsvangirai as presidential candidate, but Ncube alleges the mainstream
MDC kept on shifting goal posts until the talks collapsed.

“We tried unity the last time, but it did not work,” Moyo said. “Now they
are exhibiting certain colours that epitomise what we are fighting against
in Zanu PF,” said Moyo.

The smaller MDC says Tsvangirai’s party has mastered violence which was
evident in the run-up to the third MDC congress in Bulawayo last year. The
party is yet to take firm action against those involved in the violence.

Moyo, however, said the MDC was still open to talks.

“However, in the process of building a strong party to stand on its own, if
we stumble against other Zimbabweans who share a common idea with us, we
will not close our ears to conversation,” he said.

Mwonzora said his party was also open to reunification talks.

“The position of the MDC has always been that it is willing to work with all
progressive forces for the fulfilment of the objectives of the democratic
struggle,” Mwonzora said.

“It is not the MDC that has stood in the way of unity of progressive
forces.”

Asked about allegations that the MDC was aping Zanu PF in violence, he
retorted: “We will never force anyone to unite with us. They have spoken a
lot against us to the extent that they lose focus on the fact that the enemy
is Zanu PF.”

Zimbabwe has a diverse political organizations, 20 or so, from left to
right, whose common factor is opposition to Mugabe.

Political analysts say the failure by the Zanu PF opposition, which has
failed to work together or back one candidate for the past three and half
years, increases the chances of Mugabe winning the forthcoming election.

While the spotlight is on Tsvangirai’s challenge to Mugabe in the looming
election in Zimbabwe, there are other 20 candidates waiting in the wings.

Most of them, dismissed by many political analysts as presidential
no-hopers, are running low-level campaigns far from the limelight.

Most of the candidates have failed to refute charges that they are there
with Mugabe’s blessing to split the opposition vote or bolster an image of
multiparty democracy.

The few pre-election polls show that only Tsvangirai, a former trade
unionist and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has a real
chance of unseating Mugabe in the forthcoming watershed election.

While the diaspora wants all the opposition leaders to rally behind
Tsvangirai, egos are the biggest stumbling block to the coalition.

Tsvangirai and Ncube are both ambitious men who belong to the same
generation of political gladiators who have broken with a more hard-line
“old guard.”

“People should accept that just as much as we cannot have a coalition with
Zanu PF, we are so different in parties and we are equally different from
the MDC-T and we should just accept that. It’s as plain as that,” Ncube
said.

“It’s like a marriage; if a marriage is broken down, it’s broken down. You
can’t say there are children. It’s bad, it’s bad, accept it. Often the
children are better off than being caught up in a tumultuous, abusive and
violent marriage. So you don’t serve the interests of the children. If
something is dead, it’s dead. Accept it.”

Ncube says the larger MDC has been discredited by violence, corruption and
nepotism and their failed tactics of boycotting elections.

In his remarkable 32-year rule of the Southern African country, Mugabe has
won more than a dozen, mostly controversial, national elections that also
include legislative polls due to a fragmented and disorganised opposition.
He also survived a 2008 electoral defeat by Tsvangirai, after seeing off
public anger spawned by a flagging economy and vast Western backing for his
ouster.

The two MDC s suffered badly in 2008 after losing close to two dozen
parliamentary seats because of split votes. - Daily News

Coup Comments Cause Row in Coalition Govt

http://allafrica.com/

BY VICTOR CHIPATO, 12 NOVEMBER 2012

Cape Town — Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said it will
engage the international community about comments made by Zanu-PF Politburo
member and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to a BBC reporter.

In October, Chinamasa told Andrew Harding of the BBC that the military would
not accept an MDC-T victory in the coming elections.

Last week, at a meeting held in Cape Town by the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, an umbrella grouping of civil society organisations, and the
University of the Western Cape, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's party (MDC-T) said they would take the matter to the African
Union and the United Nations if necessary.

Douglas Mwonzora, who is also a co-chairperson of the country's
constitution-making process, described the comments as a threat "to subvert
the will of the people of Zimbabwe" in their quest to elect their leaders
democratically.

"We are going to fight in the international arena, we are also going to
fight it politically and legally," Mwonzora said.

Qhubani Moyo, director of Policy and Research in the rival MDC-N party, led
by Welshman Ncube, also blasted Chinamasa's comments.

"Chinamasa's pronouncements are clearly a sign of the panic that is there
within the Zanu-PF," Moyo told the meeting.

Previously, members of Zimbabwe's security sector have issued similar
statements saying that they will not salute Prime Minister Tsvangirai if he
wins presidential elections because he has no liberation war credentials.

However, Mwonzora said that the country's draft constitution covers the
conduct of members of the army, the police and correctional services, who
are expected to be non-partisan and professional.

Zanu-PF's Constitution Select Committee co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul
Mangwana was also expected to address the Cape Town meeting, but he did not
attend.

COPAC divided over Mugabe's threat to seize draft charter

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

COPAC is fiercely divided over President Robert Mugabe's threats to take
charge of the draft charter, which faces some fresh hurdles ahead of the
referendum.
12.11.12

by Jeffrey Moyo

In separate interviews with The Zimbabwean, COPAC co-chairpersons, Douglas
Mwonzora and Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana sharply differed on moves by President
Mugabe to seize the draft charter from parliament.

"I represent the position of my party. The draft charter has always been in
the hands of government principals, which means they are in control, they
are in charge and they fund the processes, but I'm not aware if there could
be MPs who are planning to revolt against the President for taking charge of
the COPAC draft," said Mangwana.

But Mwonzora maintained the position of parliament's prerogative to handle
the contested constitutional draft, saying it was a parliament driven
process.

"The issue of the new constitutional draft charter is now a parliamentary
process, where the Executive must play a minimum role. Mugabe's move to take
charge of the draft charter cannot be tolerated," said Mwonzora.

He said legislators made their position clear against principals'
involvement in the constitution making process.

"The MPs made their position clear in Victoria Falls that they will not
accept usurpation of their powers by Mugabe and if he makes that move,
legislators won't be amused by it," said Mwonzora.

At the Second All Stakeholders conference last month, President Mugabe took
aim at Mwonzora and Mangwana, accusing the two of overzealousness in the way
they handled the constitution making process, reminding them that as
Principals, he (Mugabe) and other GNU partners were responsible for
attending to outstanding hurdles facing the new constitutional charter.

Following his attempts to persuade PM Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara to aid him seize control of the constitution-making
process, Mugabe's actions triggered a revolt within Copac by leaders of the
two MDC formations angered by efforts to sabotage the process.

Ncube, still excluded from discussions on the constitution-making process
despite a Sadc resolution to include him and not Mutambara, has been
lobbying behind the scenes to form an alliance to oppose the original
principals.

Ncube and his allies are arguing the constitution-making process cannot be
taken over by government or cabinet like Mugabe wants because it is a
parliamentary process under Article VI of the Global Political Agreement..

The article deals with the constitution-making process and mandates Copac to
take charge of the process until it is debated in parliament and subjected
to a referendum.

Mugabe has been trying to rope in Tsvangirai and Mutambara to assist him in
his agenda.

Zanu PF changes were fiercely resisted at the stakeholders' conference last
month.

Last month Eric Matinenga, Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs resisted the principals' move to take charge of the final draft of
the constitutional making process.

"I am sure the principals will meet to discuss, but I hope they do not meet
to interfere with the process," he said.

"I sincerely hope when they do meet, it will be within the parameters of
Article VI. We are simply saying we should adhere to the constitution - we
have made rules and we must abide by those rules in letter and spirit."

However, an undeterred Mugabe has persisted that principals will have the
final say in the constitution making process.

But on Monday this week, Jameson Timba, Minister of State in the Prime
Minister's Office said the PM was of the view that the current constitution
making process was a parliamentary driven process.

"The PM has stated his position on several occasions that the current
constitution-making process is a parliamentary- driven process," said Timba.

MDC-T Senator uses social media to lure younger voters

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
12 November 2012

The MDC-T in Harare has launched a new social media campaign that not only
urges the youths to register, but solicits their votes in next year’s
crucial elections.

The campaign, the brainchild of the deputy Minister of Justice Senator Obert
Gutu, has taken social media to a new level, expanding beyond Facebook and
Twitter and into the world of Whatsapp.

Gutu told SW Radio Africa on Monday they have a plan to reach out to 3.5
million Harare residents by employing online tactics. He said at stake are
votes from citizens, particularly younger ones, who may not watch television
or read the paper but spend plenty of time on the social web.

A political analyst said the MDC-T strategy to use online tactics is an
attempt to stay young and relevant by embracing social media and
incorporating cutting-edge technology into its campaign.

The same technology was used by US President Barack Obama four years ago
when he captured the youth vote that propelled him into the White House.

‘My main thrust now is micro-politicking; to reach out to the youths through
facebook, twitter and whatsaap. We have to deliberately target these youths
because they are technology savvy.

‘In my capacity as MDC Harare provincial spokesperson, this is my special
appeal to all the youths in the 24 constituencies in Harare. Please ensure
that you are registered to vote and also that on the voting day, you are in
the queue first thing in the morning and that you vote for Morgan Tsvangirai
and his MDC Real Change team,’ Gutu said.

The deputy minister said preliminary results from the latest ZimStat
population census show that metropolitan Harare, (Harare, Ruwa, Norton and
Chitungwiza) has a population of about 3.5 million. Out of this number Gutu
said 65 percent of them are below the age of 40 and can be categorised as
youths.

‘There are two million people from 18 years of age to 40 who are eligible to
vote in Harare metropolitan. Already I’ve started mobilising these numbers
to register and the response on my facebook page has been phenomenal,’
according to Gutu.

‘We want to make sure that we get the word out in a way that young people
are connecting. And a lot of the younger generation is not sitting behind
their computer nowadays; a lot of our young people are not sitting in front
of a TV.

‘But they may be holding on that iPhone or that Blackberry or that Android
and so let’s put it out in a way that they will connect to us especially our
pleas for them to register and vote,’ the deputy minister added.

Catholic priest who exposed Zim massacre

Sunday Independent November 11, 2012

Mugabe who was behind killing of about 20 000 shunned his funeral

Peta Thornycroft

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe once called former Archbishop Henry
Karlen a “sanctimonious prelate," after he and other Catholic bishops had
protested about the massacres by Mugabe’s troops of thousands of
opposition supporters in Zimbabwe shortly after independence.
Unsurprisingly, Mugabe, an occasional Catholic, did not show up for Karlen's
funeral in Bulawayo last week, as Swiss born Karlen, was the first to gather
information about a notorious brigade of soldiers sent to the Matabeleland
and Midlands provinces to kill mostly Ndebele-speaking people who were
supporters of liberation war hero, Joshua Nkomo.
Karlen died aged 90 in a Bulawayo hospital after a short illness.
Karlen had seen his predecessor and dozens of Catholic missionaries murdered
in the Rhodesian civil war and was devastated when he learned, two years
after 1980 independence, that another, more secret war had begun.
Reports filtered in to him from colleagues at rural churches, hospitals and
mission stations in the two Matabeleland provinces, of which Bulawayo was
the capital, about the slaughter of opposition supporters loyal to the
flamboyant struggle leader, Nkomo, also widely known at that time as 'Father
Zimbabwe.'
Karlen knew who was doing the killing.
It was a new, North Korean-trained brigade, formed outside of the Zimbabwe
National Army, which was ordered into Matabeleland by Mugabe and two cabinet
ministers, Sidney Sekeramayi, in charge of defence, and Emmerson Mnangagwa,
who held the security portfolio.
Shaken but courageous Catholic clergy, and medical staff from a key mission
hospital, St Lukes, along the road to Victoria Falls, reported to Karlen
about this new war, which was in many ways even more devastating than the
war to end white rule.
He made notes of what he was told and his ghastly file grew with each
harrowing account.
Like many at that time, Karlen presumed Mugabe did not know what was going
on and that if he did know, he would stop it.
So he tried to contact the prime minister, as he then was, but his calls
were not returned.
In anguish Karlen decided, in February 1983, to call Garfield Todd, the
former liberal prime minster of what was then called Southern Rhodesia. Todd
had lived most of his life in Matabeleland and had many close friends and
colleagues in the new Zimbabwe government.
He was reviled by most whites, and his movements were restricted by Ian
Smith during the civil war, but Todd, the man who had a non-racial vision
for Rhodesia, was honoured by Mugabe after independence, and made a senator.
(Mugabe revoked Todd's Zimbabwe citizenship in 2001.)
Karlen told Todd that “the state was perpetrating atrocities….that people
were being terrorised, starved, and butchered, and their property
destroyed,” his daughter Judith Todd recalled in her 2007 post-independence
history, ‘“Through the Darkness”.
Karlen asked Todd to secure an appointment for him with Mugabe.
Garfield Todd was aghast at what he heard. At Todd’s request Karlen sent his
file to Judith in Harare who read it and forwarded it to senior members of
Mugabe’s government.
In March 1983, Karlen and Mike Auret, director of the Catholic Commission
for Justice and Peace met Mugabe for several hours ahead of the Bishop’s
Conference and handed him a report largely based on Karlen's notes.
In his report to Mugabe on the atrocities Karlen wrote: "Your own soldiers
are saying, 'We are sent by Mugabe to kill.’'"
The bishops then issued a strongly worded pastoral letter headlined, “Peace
is still possible,” which estimated that "tens of hundreds” had been
killed.
This was a difficult moment for the bishops. Some senior Catholic clergy had
opposed white minority rule, and came to know and respect Mugabe when he
went into exile in Mozambique to become president of Zanu, and commander of
its military wing.
Karlen and his colleagues had celebrated when the civil war ended and had
gone out of their way to support the new government. The shock of learning
about state-ordered massacres and the torture of Nkomo's supporters
profoundly affected Karlen and his fellow bishops.
News of the atrocities broke in The Star and other newspapers of its group
in South Africa and in the Guardian in London later in 1983.
With increasing domestic and international outrage at what many believed was
a genocide against Nkomo’s supporters, and following statements by
Zimbabwe's Bishops Conference, Mugabe retaliated by issuing the words
“sanctimonious prelates” to describe Karlen and his colleagues.
But he did appoint a commission of inquiry into the deaths, estimated by
Mugabe's officials at “1500 people.'” The commission was chaired by Harare
lawyer, Simplicius Chihambakwe, still in practice in Harare,
Karlen was relieved that the commission had been formed and went to give
evidence using the mass of information he had collected.
The commission completed its work in 1984 but Mugabe withheld its findings.
The Legal Resources Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, went to
court seeking its release, but its application was refused.
With no public document available, the Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace and the Legal Resources Foundation began a long and difficult
investigation into the appalling events in Matabeleland, and the origins of
the enmity between Mugabe’s wartime forces and those loyal to Nkomo.
Karlen's file and his memory were a starting point for the investigators.
Mugabe’s intelligence agents hindered their work at every level, and the
investigators were also hampered by lack of resources and fear among
survivors about coming forward to give information. And many eye witnesses
to the horrors had fled to South Africa during the height of the slaughter.
Eventually the two organisations produced a long, detailed report called
“Breaking the Silence - Building true peace" which estimated that about 20
000 people had been killed in Matabeleland and in parts of the Midlands
province from late 1982 until Nkomo, by then exhausted, went into an
inclusive government with Mugabe in 1987.
When Auret released the report in 1997 only Karlen and a second bishop
endorsed its publication for general distribution.
For the rest of his life Karlen, who became Archbishop in 1994, would say he
could never understand why the new government chose to murder its citizens.
Henry Karlen was born in Torbel,Switzerland in 1922, joined the Mariannhill
Missionaries at 20 and was ordained in 1947. Four years later he was sent on
his first mission to St Peter’s Seminary in Kwa Zulu Natal and became Bishop
of Umtata in 1968. He moved to his new position, Bishop of Bulawayo in 1974
and retired as Archbishop in 1998.
In 2007 Karlen was given the freedom of the City of Bulawayo by a Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) city government, then still in opposition to
Mugabe’s ZanuPF nationally but now working with it in a very uneasy
coalition government..
Thousands turned up at his funeral including three MDC cabinet ministers,
Moses Mzila, Gordon Moyo, and David Coltart. Mzila, a liberation war
veteran who was jailed by the Rhodesian administration was arrested last
year for attending a memorial service for the victims of the 1980s
massacres which Mugabe once called a "moment of madness."
As a child, Gordon Moyo watched one of Mugabe's inner circle burn down his
parents' home. Education minister David Coltart, a lawyer by profession, was
a director of the operational arm of the Legal Resources Foundation in
Bulawayo and one of the main movers and authors of the “Breaking the
Silence” report.
Retired Archbishop Karlen was buried at Bulawayo's Athlone Cemetery.
Independent Foreign Service

Political risks to watch in Zimbabwe

http://www.ottawacitizen.com

By Cris Chinaka, Reuters November 12, 2012 12:43 PM

HARARE — Fears of election violence have cast a shadow over Zimbabwe’s
economy as the destitute country with a history of deadly chaos at the
ballot box heads into a new round of polls that could come as early as next
year under a power-sharing deal.

Under the deal that entrenched President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF signed with
rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), elections were planned for next year, after the adoption of a new
constitution, electoral and media reforms.

But fighting between the rivals was slowing the process. Mugabe, 88 and in
power since independence from Britain in 1980, wants the polls in March but
many say this is unrealistic.

Fresh violence could knock a struggling economy, crushed by hyperinflation
about four years ago, off its recovery path while the push from ZANU-PF
forcing foreign firms to turn over majority stakes to local blacks was
tarnishing the image of a country already seen as a highly risky place for
investment.

SLOWING GROWTH

The government has reduced its 2012 growth forecast to 4 percent due to a
poor harvest and lack of foreign investment, the second cut in its economic
outlook in four months.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who says the way in which elections are run
will have a major impact on the economy, has slashed growth expectations
twice this year from an initial forecast of 9.4 percent.

What to watch:

- Growth forecasts for 2013 and any policy shifts or concessions to boost
the vital mining sector.

FIGHT OVER CONSTITUTION

The row over a new constitution drafted by an inter-party parliamentary
committee is still raging after a larger national conference held last month
failed to resolve differences.

ZANU-PF wants to overhaul provisions limiting presidential powers while
strengthening those of parliament. The final charter is likely to be a
compromise, since neither party commands the two-thirds parliamentary
majority needed to pass the new supreme law.

What to watch:

- Compromises by Mugabe and Tsvangirai to break the impasse and when the
draft will be put to a national referendum.

ELECTION VIOLENCE

Tsvangirai is complaining his MDC supporters are being targeted by ZANU-PF
militants and said he might quit the unity government if the violence
continues.

Analysts say Tsvangirai is unlikely to leave the coalition, but is
strategically raising the issue to force Mugabe to allow in more
international observers before the next poll.

What to watch:

- Whether there is co-ordinated, widespread political violence and how the
Southern African Development Community reacts.

MUGABE SUCCESSION

Mugabe says he wants to contest another election and refuses to designate a
preferred successor.

ZANU-PF officials, many of whom now consider Mugabe a liability, fear the
party could implode if he dies in office without settling the succession
issue.

What to watch:

- Whether Mugabe clips the wings of potential successors in an attempt to
keep his grip on power.

PRESSURE ON BANKS

The central bank has increased minimum capital requirements for banks to up
to $100 million, a move that could hold back a Mugabe drive to force foreign
banks to sell majority shares to locals and force small, locally-owned banks
to merge.

Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has given foreign banks up to a year
to sell their shares to Zimbabweans. The central bank also gave banks until
the end of Sept. 30 to submit plans on how they intend to meet the new
capital thresholds.

What to watch:

- Bank mergers as they bid to pool capital and meet new requirements.

- Central bank measures to compel major banks to buy government debt.

The MDC Today - Issue 467

http://www.mdc.co.zw

Monday, 12 November 2012

The High Court trial of the 29 MDC members who are facing forged charges of
murdering a police officer in Glen View, Harare in May last year continued
today.Clever Ntini, the police investigating officer in trial continued to
be cross examined by the defence lawyers.

Ntini continued to give conflicting evidence and failed again to name his
informers who pointed to the arrest of the 29 MDC members.Today, the trial
closed with Ntini falsely linking the MDC Youth Assembly chairperson to the
killing of the police officer. The trial resumes tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the police band was today an embarrassment to itself when it
refused to play the national anthem at the launch of the First Annual Medium
Plan (MTP) in Harare.

After the introductions had been done, the permanent secretary in Ministry
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Desire Sibanda, a request was
made for the police band to play the national anthem but they refused.

Addressing the delegates later, the Minister of Economic Planning and
Investment Promotion, Hon. Tapiwa Mashakada said the attitude of the police
band was embarrassment to the nation and a disgrace and it affects moral
fabric of this country.

Manicaland Provincial vice chairperson Hon Shuah Mudiwa urged MDC members to
focus more on the party’s activities ahead of the referendum on the new
Constitution and the elections to be held next year.

He said this while addressing thousands of party supporters at a provincial
rally held at Bere Business Centre, Ward 9 in Buhera North on Saturday. “Let’s
all focus on MDC. Our talks should be about MDC and nothing else. We should
be aware of giving Zanu PF unnecessary publicity they do not deserve when we
constantly mention them even when it’s negative campaign,” he said.

Hon Mudiwa urged people to be brave and courageous and not to be deterred by
Zanu PF’s vain threats since change was inevitable.“Change is inevitable.
The time for change is now. So no matter what Zanu PF says or does, it won’t
stop change from coming. There is no need for anyone to be afraid of Zanu
PF,” said Hon Mudiwa.

My voice is in: My vote is YES!!!

Reap what you sow: Greed & corruption in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields