The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Election Rerun Or New Constitution First?



Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

OPINION
November 25, 2002
Posted to the web November 25, 2002

Phillip Pasirayi


As the obduracy of the Robert Mugabe-led government intensifies, long
winding queues for food and transport are the order of the day in most parts
of the country

The ruling Zanu PF party continues to distribute food on a political basis
with members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) being
barred from queues to receive food aid or buy mealie-meal. Marauding youths
man the queues and demand Zanu PF cards before any grain is issued to the
starving masses. In the case of Insiza constituency by-election, for
instance, Zanu PF distributed maize to starving masses and asked for votes
in return

There is disparity in the pro-democracy movement on what could be the
panacea to the country's swingeing economic and political crisis. The
opposition MDC believes an election rerun would be the first step whereas
students and members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) insist on
the need for a new democratic constitution

Constitutional law expert and NCA chairman, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, says to
insist on a presidential election rerun would be improper as this does not
take away the political and economic set up which promote despotism and
plutocracy

"The lesson to be learnt from the presidential poll is that until Zimbabwe
has a genuinely democratic constitution enshrining universally recognised
norms and institutions for the holding of an election, a free and fair
ballot will remain a mirage," he argues

Zimbabwe needs a new political culture that is supported by democratic
institutions that allow for the reproduction of society and a new
constitution is central to this

The composition of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, a body that is
appointed by government to run elections in Zimbabwe, leaves a lot to be
desired as has been pointed out. The members are handpicked by Mugabe and
are answerable to him. There is need for Zimbabweans to confront Mugabe with
the need for a new constitution that guarantees free and fair elections

Mugabe has a history of tilting the election process in his favour in all
the elections he has participated. Since the June 2000 parliamentary
elections members of the MDC have been raped, flogged and murdered by Zanu
PF loyalists and this political violence is sanctioned by Robert Mugabe who
has boasted of possessing "degrees in violence"

Journalists working for the independent media have been dragged before
courts of law on charges of writing "falsehoods" about the government and
Zanu PF officials. But nothing of the sort has happened to media
professionals working for the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation and Zimpapers, raising questions as to whether these journalists
are immune to the draconian media law, the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) Clearly, this piece of legislation is
aimed at gagging the independent press just like the Public Order and
Security Act (Posa), which seeks to stifle the activities of the opposition

Zimbabweans must realise that Mugabe's authoritarianism is protected by the
current undemocratic constitution that gives him absolute powers and has
been amended by Zanu PF no less than 20 times

The political crisis in Zimbabwe calls for a concerted effort and students,
workers and all Zimbabweans craving for change must find a common platform
from which to challenge Mugabe's illegitimacy. The demand for a new
constitution before any election is conducted must be the number one
priority for Zimbabweans

The agenda for a new constitution means an end to entry into parliament
through the back door as is the case with the likes of unelected junior
minister, Jonathan Moyo. It would also mean an end to corruption and the
restoration of people's rights to freedom of expression and assembly,
guaranteeing peoples' rights to support and belong to a political party or
organisation of their choice

Demanding a new constitution does not mean non-participation in elections.
This is what makes the agenda of an election rerun relevant but the question
that needs to be answered is whether an election rerun or new constitution
is more urgent

An election rerun under the present constitution will simply produce the
results of the March polls. The way forward is not to boycott the elections
as is suggested by the MDC. The opposition must participate fully in
elections and at the same time confront Mugabe over a new constitution

If the MDC boycotts elections, Zanu PF will go ahead and hold elections and,
like it has done before, form proxy opposition parties to participate in the
same elections to give them a false democratic flavour

There is need for the MDC leadership to wake up from its slumber and realise
that Zanu PF has the agenda of purging all opposition. Although people are
crying out for change, the opposition's leadership seems to be bankrupt of
ideas on how it can bring about change. People are tired of a leadership
that concentrates on self aggrandisement while the masses wallow in poverty.
This is a disease which seems to be fast catching up with some opposition
MPs

A new constitution must be the common platform and rallying point on which
Zimbabweans can chart their own future. This will emancipate the masses from
Zanu PF servitude, stamp out dictatorship and the systematic violence being
committed by the ruling party against its people

. Phillip Pasirayi is a Harare-based writer and the current information and
publicity secretary for the Zimbabwe National Students Union.
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Widespread Drought, Poverty Hinders School Enrolment



African Church Information Service

November 25, 2002
Posted to the web November 25, 2002

Gutu, Zimbabwe

The three young boys are resting in the shade of a small tree after a long
and hard day's work as farm labourers on Muungani farm in Gutu Province,
southern Zimbabwe.

Late as it is in the day, the sun still burns down, sapping the earth of its
moisture and baking the soil into a hard, barren crust*.

One of the youngsters, 10-year old Shebad Mazhangara, who has been working
on the farm for about a year now, explains that they do not go to school
because their parents cannot afford the school fees. Shebad says he works to
help his parents and seven siblings survive.

Shebad and his two friends, Timothy Shajactimwe (17) and Tatenda Matare (13)
each earn about Zim $1,000 a month. "That is nothing," says Leston Zhou from
the Lutheran Development Service (LDS), a member of Action by Churches
Together (ACT) International.

He adds, "that is not more than one US dollar". But Shebad and his friends
are adamant that they are grateful to be employed. The three youngsters live
in Gutu Province in the southern part of Zimbabwe, an area hit hardest by
the recent drought that has devastated the whole of southern Africa.

The majority of people in the province are subsistence farmers, cultivating
small plots of land. LDS and Christian Care (CC), also a member of ACT
International, are both helping people whose lives have been devastated by
the drought and factors such as the political instability in the country and
the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The three boys work alongside several adults on the farm, preparing the
fields for the coming season. "Last year's drought affected this year's
harvest," explains Farai Wadzanai, one of the older farm workers.

"We hope for rain," he says, looking up at the sky, adding that he no longer
has enough food to feed his family. Yet Farai insists on sending at least
two of his four children to school, finding the Z$24 per child in school
fees.

This is far too much on his salary as Farai only earns Zim $2000 a month -
an amount that does not stretch very far when a 20kg bag of ground maize
costs Zim $1800

To supplement his income, Farai resorts to borrowing from his employer or
asks his neighbours for help. The longer the drought lasts, the more he is
caught up in a cycle of poverty. The chief of Chingombe Village, Garal
Gonese, who works as a teacher, is worried about the impact of the drought
on the educational system.

Food prices have shot up so dramatically over the last few months, that
parents are faced with a stark choice -to feed their children if they still
can, or send them to school, he explains. "A year ago a loaf of bread cost
Zim $45," says Gonese. "Now, it has gone up to Zim $140".

At Batanayi School, where Gonese teaches, 170 students of the original 540
have left school to find work. "They work for a meagre salary of between 100
to 300 Zimbabwean dollars a week on the fields or they go to the forest to
gather wild fruits to sell," says Gonese. "It is terrible".

One sees children everywhere trying to make ends meet. Along the main roads,
they cluster together selling laundry detergents. They consider themselves
lucky - in the mornings they attend school and then join their parents at
the selling points in the afternoon.

However, for Shebad and his friends', the future is a bleaker one. The loss
of education they are suffering now will inevitably have a severe impact on
their lives. Without an education their prospects will simply dwindle to a
few limited options later in life.

Reported by Rainer Lang - (*The farm where the three boys are eking out a
living had not seen rain in months when the writer,Rainer Lang, visited the
area)
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Bravo Ochieng!



Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

November 25, 2002
Posted to the web November 25, 2002

Peter Moyo


Viewers must have heaved a collective sigh of relief when Supa went for a
brief break and was replaced by David Ochieng

Ochieng was just what the doctor ordered as, despite a few initial stumbles,
he impressed. It is clear that he does not have an agenda of trying to
impress the Taliban PF by the manner in which he reads news items concerning
the opposition or those critical of the government

The manner in which he handled the interview with retired Chief
Superintendent Falvian Makwara is a case in point. Without interjecting he
allowed the former police officer to point out that criticisms of the
attorney-general's office were unfounded. This was in contradiction to
rocket science and propaganda minister, Johno's earlier utterances that the
AG's office had developed rotten apples in its midst

The AG himself, Andrew Chigovera, summed it all up: "These criticisms are
emanating from people with misconceptions over the role of the prosecutor
and lack of knowledge in the role of the AG's office." So two weeks later,
viewers in Victoria Falls are now wondering what happened to Dead BC's
transmission in the area. That is if the comments scrolled across the screen
during Newshour are anything to go by

It boggles the mind why it took the viewers two weeks to start complaining.
Maybe somebody at the Rocky Hill has been editing the complaints to make
them more palatable. Or is it that viewers were so relieved at getting a
break from the nauseating daily propaganda packaged as news that they saw no
need to complain to Dead BC which, stung by the lack of an outcry, decided
to pen complaints in-house?

It's certainly not easy to escape the Hondo Yeminda propaganda adverts on
radio. The adverts are flighted at the same time on all radio stations such
that if you tune to the other channel in anticipation of relief, you will
find the same advert playing. This usually happens just before and after the
news and at 30-minute intervals on all four stations. There simply is no way
of avoiding these nauseating and endlessly boring adverts

Can Dead BC reporters prove that retired judge, Justice Fergus Blackie, is a
member of the opposition? The reportage on Blackie's relaxed bail conditions
was laced with suggestions that Blackie was a member of the MDC as there was
talk of "the AG's office being lenient on opposition supporters". This is
obviously Johno's propaganda of the worst kind!

British foreign minister, Jack Straw's comments that the injustices of
yester year were partly responsible for the deteriorating situation in the
country predictably played into the hands of Dead BC which sought maximum
mileage from the comments

The Taliban PF station, clearly starved of anything good about its masters,
went to town over the issue, hailing it as a a diplomatic victory for
Zimbabwe. Never mind the context in which these comments were made which was
completely left out

That the much talked about winter maize crop is now being harvested must
surely be good news to Masvingo governor, Josaya Hungwe, who mooted the idea
of cultivating maize in the fallow land belonging to the giant Hippo Valley
Estates over six months ago

However, as residents of the ancient town will testify, this is definitely
not good news to Dead BC reporter, Johannes Nyamayedenga, who has excelled
in misinforming the nation about the crop. Right from the time politicians
thought about cultivating the maize up until now when it is being harvested,
Nyamayedenga has kept us regularly updated on the crop he has evidently
grown to love!

"He is known here in Masvingo as the ZBC winter maize reporter and we are
not sure what he will report on now that the crop is being harvested.
Possibly he will follow the recipients of the maize and find out whether the
maize, grown close to sugar cane is sweet or not," said a resident of
Masvingo

Only two weeks ago, Hungwe told Dead BC in Masvingo that the crop, which
experts say is enough to feed Zimbabwe only for one day, would feed the
nation for the next 10 months. The gullible winter maize reporter swallowed
it hook, line and sinker, and did not quiz the optimistic governor further.
The story was insulting to say the least, and proved the calibre of
reporters Dead BC has

Nyamayedenga, we think, could also make a follow up on the poorly
constructed bridges in Zaka East which he waxed lyrical about some weeks ago

Chump of the week It is once again the minister of agriculture, Joseph Made,
whose ministry is now synonymous with mass starvation and food shortages

On Tuesday's This Morning, the bungling minister announced that new farmers
needed to be patient as government was making frantic efforts to import
seeds and inputs

This is despite the fact that we are already well into the planting season
and farmers are justifiably worried. To compound matters, some of South
Africa's seed stocks have already been imported by Kenya and Tanzania

Once again, it appears that Made's comments are being made from some high
flying aircraft-certainly above the cloud cuckoo land in which he most
definitely lives!

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New Zealand Herald

'Infiltration' makes Zimbabwean group stop meeting

26.11.2002
By WAYNE THOMPSON
An Auckland support group for people who fled Zimbabwe has cancelled its
monthly meetings because they believed they were being gatecrashed by
Zimbabwe Government agents.

The meetings have been going for a year and in the past three months have
drawn about 100 people at a time.

But support group convenor Jenny McGladdery said the gatherings had been
cancelled because of "a security risk to our members".

President Robert Mugabe's agents had attacked and harassed Zimbabweans in
England, she said.

This could happen in New Zealand, and it also exposed family members in
Zimbabwe to violence.

Mrs McGladdery said she had sought protection from an Auckland police
threats assessment officer but an offer of a police presence at meetings
came too late to stop their cancellation.

The only comment police would make to the Herald was that no Zimbabweans had
complained about safety fears.

Mrs McGladdery, aged 63, a retired physiotherapist, and her husband, Alan,
formed the Zimbabweans Support Charitable Trust after coming to New Zealand
two years ago.

She will continue to run a telephone advisory service and three depots to
distribute toys, linen, kitchenware and furniture to needy Zimbabweans.
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IOL

Mugabe row sinks EU's developing nation talks

      November 25 2002 at 06:11PM



Brussels - The European Union's tough stance on Zimbabwe scuppered a
conference of lawmakers from the wealthy 15-nation bloc and impoverished
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations, which was due to open on
Monday.

Representatives of the ACP group walked out of the meeting on economic
co-operation in protest at the European parliament's decision to bar two
Zimbabwean ministers from its premises where the meeting was to take place,
parliamentary officials said.

The two ministers are subject to a travel ban which the EU imposed earlier
this year on Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe and many of his top
officials amid allegations of human rights violations and vote-rigging in
the southern African country.

"The European parliament has taken a principled position which is binding.
Every effort has been made to reach a compromise but, unfortunately, to date
that has not been possible," said Glenys Kinnock, a member of the
parliament.

"We have temporarily suffered a set-back but remain determined to work in
the interests of millions of people in ACP countries who depend on our
engagement," said Kinnock, a British socialist who co-chairs the ACP-EU
joint parliamentary assembly.

The 78-nation APC had condemned the parliament's ban, noting that Belgium,
home to the EU institutions, had issued a travel visa to the ministers in
line with international practice.

Travel bans are generally waived to allow blacklisted officials to attend
certain international gatherings.

For example, the United States allows politicians normally forbidden to
enter the country to attend United Nations sessions in New York. Mugabe
himself attended an event organised by the UN in Rome recently despite the
EU visa ban.

"The ACP cannot accept this ban against the Zimbabwe ministers," the group's
Brussels-based spokesperson Hegel Goutier said on Sunday.

The two ministers sent by Zimbabwe were Deputy Minister for Finance and
Economic Development Christopher Kuruneri and Deputy Minister for Justice
Paul Mangwana.

European parliament officials said they hoped to salvage at least part of
the conference, including scheduled speeches from World Trade Organisation
chief Supachai Panitchpakdi and European Commissioner for Overseas Aid Poul
Nielsen.

Zimbabwe is currently facing its biggest economic and political crisis since
Mugabe led it to independence from Britain in 1980.

Half of Zimbabwe's 14-million population are at risk of starvation,
according to the United Nations' World Food Programme. The EU and other
Western countries accuse Mugabe of manipulating foreign relief aid to
enforce his grip on power.

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Daily News

      Anglicans distribute maize seed in Manicaland

      11/25/02 8:47:58 AM (GMT +2)


      Staff Reporter

      THE Anglican Diocese of Manicaland Mothers' Union is distributing
maize seed and fertiliser to widows and disadvantaged children in Manicaland
Province to ensure improved food security in the province.

      About 800 000 people out of the two million population of Manicaland
are in dire need of food aid because of a devastating drought that threatens
about seven million Zimbabweans.

      Ruth Bakare, the president of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland's
Mothers' Union said on Friday the distribution programme would benefit
people in Makoni, Tanda, Nerwande, Matsika, St Luke's Makoni, Nyanga,
Nyamaropa, Chipinge and Chimanimani.

      She said the church had received money from the Worldwide Mothers'
Union Relief Fund, a fund that gets money from Anglican churches throughout
the world.

      She could not disclose how much they received.

      "We applied for funding and our application was approved," she said.
"We bought seeds and fertiliser that we are now distributing to the most
needy people in our diocese. The drought was really bad last year and
poverty continues to cause untold suffering to the peasants."

      Bakare, the wife of Bishop Sebastian Bakare of the Anglican Diocese of
Manicaland, said the church would use its structures and community groups to
identify widows, orphaned children who headed their families and needy
members of society.

      "We are not looking at one's church but on a person's need," she said.
"The old grandmothers looking after orphans will receive assistance under
the programme."

      The programme which was launched last week at Nerwande, has been
seriously affected by shortage of diesel. Due to the limited funding they
received, they were distributing only 12kg of maize seed and 10kg packs of
fertiliser.

      "This donation is just exemplary. Our motto is: 'we are peace makers'
because there will be no peace in the country when people are hungry,"
Bakare said of the Mothers' Union.
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Shocking Standards In Crumbling Nrz Coaches



Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

November 25, 2002
Posted to the web November 25, 2002

Peter Moyo


When the national Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) launched its trendy 'Blue
Train' service two years ago, the country's long-suffering passengers felt
they were finally getting value for their money

The new coaches brought in unprecedented convenience to passengers at a
bargain: The entertainment channels, both in audio and video and clean
ablution facilities took train travel to dizzy heights

But before the paintwork has dried on the NRZ coaches, passengers who board
trains these days easily notice how things have fallen apart in the coaches,
which used to be favoured by many commuters shuttling between major cities
in the country, on business or personal errands

Indeed, standards in the NRZ passenger trains, once the envy of the region,
have plummeted to alarming levels thereby endangering the safety of
passengers

Before independence and in the late 80s, it was a pleasure to travel in NRZ
trains which were well furnished and maintained

But typical of the general decay that now characterises government
institutions and the country at large, the coaches are now not only a pale
shadow of their former selves but are fast becoming a health hazard

This reporter travelled in one of the coaches last week and witnessed the
collapsing standards at the parastatal's passengers trains. Even though the
coach was plastered with notices that prohibited the sale and intake of
liquour, NRZ security officials were the first to break the rule

Vendors freely sold liquor at every station throughout the journey and it
was not long before a group of drunken youths turned rowdy and started
singing and disturbing sleeping passengers. They also threw and broke empty
beer bottles, leaving the coach resembling a public bar

One passenger who spoke to The Standard after the trip said he had even
witnessed some NRZ security details drinking beer

"They even had the cheek to come and ask if I had beer to share. The worst
came when they got drunk-they started harassing people while checking for
tickets at random," said the passenger who only identified himself as Nhara

Apart from the problems caused by the drunken NRZ officials and youths,
passengers have to endure stinking toilets whose stench reminds one of the
rot that the NRZ has sunk into

A visit to the toilet only takes the brave or the very desperate. When this
reporter summoned enough bravado to visit the dreadful place, it was clear
that whoever was charged with cleaning them had since abandoned his or her
duties

Said an irate man who saw the mess in the toilets: "They don't even clean
these toilets and how can you eat food when there is such a strong smell of
urine filling the whole coach? You can't even go to the toilets because of
the stench. Your consolation would be the next stop where you can go out and
relieve yourself. However, you run the risk of missing the train." The
disgruntled man said he travelled in the train every week to and from
Bulawayo on business in an effort to cut down on high transport fares
charged by buses

The appalling state of affairs was also reflected on the clothes worn by
train officials. Their dust coats, which were originally white, had turned
brown due to an accumulation of dirt and resembled those worn by prisoners

"Imagine these same workers are supposed to serve us coffee in the morning.
They seem not to mind about what their dirty clothing does to our appetite,"
said another passenger as he pointed to one passing official

Delays of up to six hours, attributed by NRZ officials to power cuts, are
now a common feature with a debilitating effect on the passengers. "There is
usually a power failure between Chegutu and Kadoma, forcing us to wait for
more than four hours. Sometimes a train scheduled to arrive in Bulawayo at
7am only arrives at 2pm," added the passenger

Frequent travellers told The Standard the last time they watched television
was some eight months ago

"Gone are the days when it used to be pleasurable to board a train because
there would be movies on board throughout the journey. Now we have to endure
the long journey in our solitude. They no longer serve coffee as they used
to do," said a passenger

When contacted for comment, an NRZ official, who preferred to have written
questions sent to them, directed The Standard to NRZ headquarters in
Bulawayo. Up until yesterday the Bulawayo office had not responded to
questions sent a fortnight ago.
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Daily News

Letters

      Zanu PF's brutality last kicks of a dying horse

      11/25/02 8:56:45 AM (GMT +2)



      ON 27 October 2002, we witnessed an act of extraordinary selfishness
at Chitungwiza Community Hall, where mealie-meal was only being sold to card
holders of President Mugabe's party, Zanu PF.

      Members of the opposition like myself were turned away, threatened and
harassed by youths from the controversial Border Gezi National Youth
Training Centre. If we continue to treat each other in this manner, then we
are headed for a disaster of epic proportions.

      Mugabe and his followers are not behaving like normal human beings
because they no longer have the interests of the people at heart. Zimbabwe
is not made up of Zanu PF supporters alone. We are a multi-party state, all
equal before God.

      In these difficult and trying times every one of us is within their
rights to choose a political party that they like. There should not be food
for a particular political party to the dtriment of another. We all need
food regardless of colour, race, creed or political affiliation. Judging
from the way things are going, this country is fast becoming like the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is a lot of wickedness out there.
May everlasting God help us. We are living dangerously in this country. How
long shall the wicked have power over the underprivileged? We have had
enough of this government.

      We have witnessed rampant mass murder and corruption. Soon a scenario
where all the scarce commodities will be sold only to Zanu PF card holders
will prevail. That would be tragic.

      Had it not been because of existing laws which permit the Grain
Marketing Board to enjoy a monopoly as the sole importer of maize, the truth
is that my political party, the Movement for Democratic Change would have
been able to demonstrate that it has the means to source maize for all
Zimbabweans.

      Whatever tactics may be employed by Mugabe, we all know that they are
the last kicks of a dying horse. He just won't relinquish power and make way
for Morgan Tsvangirai because he is afraid of the consequences of all his
malicious deeds.

      But God is for us all. He is most definitely watching, as this drama
of social upheaval is unfolding. Change is certain. Let's all keep the faith
and maintain our stance.

      We are sick and tired of the government. Its incompetence has promoted
a thriving black market for almost everything in this country. The ruling
elite has been allowed to amass an obscene amount of wealth for itself,
encouraging nationwide starvation and further widening the gap between the
rich and the poor.

      M Munyaradzi
      Dzivaresekwa

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Daily News

Leader Page

      Hot-headedness caused Gwisai's demise

      11/25/02 8:49:28 AM (GMT +2)



      This world has never been short of political extremists. Some might
prefer to call them mavericks. But as they say, a rose by any other name
would still smell just as sweet. And you could write the same epitaph to the
political career of just about every one of them: "Here lie the remains of a
political maverick".

      The United States of America had its Joseph McCarthy, whose morbid
fear of communism was what may have been responsible for a more cautious and
rational approach by successive US administrations in their dealings with
the now disintegrated Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, China.

      Britain's Tories had their Enock Powell, whose extreme anti-immigrants
and racist views may well have created a United Kingdom which was, at
official level at least, a lot less intolerant of immigrants than Germany,
for instance.

      Some might even say that Zanu PF's Edgar Tekere's fall-out with
President Mugabe was mainly because of his perceived extreme racism, which
his boss viewed as counter-productive to his drive to win white support at
that crucial time.

      Now the MDC has Munyaradzi Gwisai, its MP for the Highfield
constituency, whose views are so extreme and so much at variance with
general party policy everyone has been wondering what that party had seen in
him to persuade its leadership to select him to stand on the MDC ticket in
the 2000 general elections. In fact, many people have been heard wondering
aloud whether he had not been planted by Zanu PF.

      In particular, his open and fierce support for the government's
chaotic and disastrous so-called land reform programme, which is contrary to
the MDC's advocacy of a fair, well-planned and lawfully executed land
resettlement exercise - all in the name of his little-known International
Socialist Organisation (ISO) - has baffled everyone, including people
outside the opposition party itself. It is also, in the main, his unbridled
espousal of what he says are the tenets of the ISO which has seen him tread
on so many toes and rub the MDC leadership the wrong way. Which is why he
has now received his marching orders.

      Considering his many clashes with the party's leadership, it would not
be surprising if there were some in the party whose patience with the party'
s leaders was wearing wafer-thin. There are those who had even started to
accuse the MDC leadership of being weak and afraid of stamping its
authority. There can be no doubt whatsoever in anyone's mind that, had the
party leadership taken any such precipitate action against Gwisai, they
would have played right into the hands of their detractors who would have
been quick to label them high-handed, dictatorial and undemocratic.

      But as Gwisai's expulsion on Saturday amply demonstrated, the party
was merely biding its time and, in the process, giving the man enough rope
to hang himself, a mission which he accomplished magnificently when he
defiantly walked out on the party's vice-president, Gibson Sibanda, and
other top MDC officials during a disciplinary hearing two weeks ago.

      Following the March presidential election, widely regarded as having
been massively rigged to give President Mugabe an undeserved victory, the
MDC leadership launched an appeal against the results. At the same time the
party also agreed to enter into talks with the ruling party, facilitated by
South Africa and Nigeria, aimed at finding political common ground and
mapping the country's way forward.

      But Gwisai, grandstanding as he is wont to do, openly censured the
party for making those two moves and threatened to resign over the matter,
angering both the party president, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Highfield
residents, who unanimously called for his expulsion at a huge rally
addressed by Tsvangirai at Zimbabwe Grounds.

      Even the party's late secretary for publicity and information,
Learnmore Jongwe, threw down the gauntlet at Gwisai's feet, challenging him
to "be man enough to resign from the party" but Gwisai would not pick it up.
Now that he has been thrown out of the party he has only his hot-headedness
to blame. In fact, he should be grateful for the MDC leadership's tolerance.
Had he been in Zanu PF, he would long have been consigned to the political
wilderness.
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Daily News

Leader Page

      Are the UK and US moving against Zimbabwe?

      11/25/02 8:52:39 AM (GMT +2)



      AMID speculation about the possible actions of the Britain and the
United States, Zimbabwe's petrol pumps have run dry, deepening the crisis
already caused by the famine and threatening emergency food deliveries.

      The country's oil supplies ran out after the fuel deal it struck with
Libya broke down. Libyan sources were keen to play down the significance of
the interruption to fuel supplies. The country's ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Mohammad Azzabi, attempted to reassure the local Press that:
      "As with any commercial transactions the world over, hiccups are bound
to occur here and there, but that does not constitute a collapse of our
commitment to Zimbabwe."

      But the Zimbabwean Sunday Mirror reports that a high-level British
delegation had flown to Libya to pressure Muammar Gaddafi into cutting off
Zimbabwe's oil supply. The paper quotes "a highly-placed source based in
Tripoli" who said that the British government had used a carrot-and-stick
approach. The carrot that Britain had dangled in front of the Libyan leader
was that the UK would help to free the man found guilty of bombing Pan Am
flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988.

      It has also been asserted that Libya pulled out of the oil deal
because the Zimbabwean National Oil Company, Noczim, had not paid them but
had attempted to buy oil from Kuwait on a cash basis. However, the
suggestion that Britain is behind Libya's decision to halt oil supplies to
Zimbabwe gains some credibility from events in Washington, where
oppositionists recently met with US officials. Mark Bellamy, Deputy
Assistant of State for African Affairs, was reported as saying, "We may have
to be prepared to take some very intrusive, interventionist measures to
ensure aid delivery to Zimbabwe . . . The dilemmas in the next six months
may bring us face to face with Zimbabwe's sovereignty."

      Bellamy made these remarks at a meeting at the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies in Washington, at which Zimbabwean opposition
leaders from Matabeleland reported that President Mugabe's Zanu PF
government was preventing food aid reaching opponents of the regime.

      Johnson Mnkandla, a magistrate from Bulawayo, told the meeting: "Food
has been politicised. Chiefs have been politicised. The distribution
structure that exists does not benefit the Zimbabwe people, only supporters
of the government. In some ways, we would be better off without
international food aid."

      The US government, Bellamy said, was "considering all approaches" to
the situation in Zimbabwe. Drawing a direct comparison with Iraq, Bellamy
said that Mugabe was "holding his people hostage the way Saddam Hussein is
holding his people hostage."

      In August this year the Bush administration made clear that it was
taking steps to bring down Mugabe's regime. US Assistant Secretary of State
for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner declared that the Mugabe government
was illegitimate and irrational.

      Kansteiner said that the US was putting pressure on neighbouring
countries to "correct that situation," and was providing oppositionists with
finance and training. The Washington meeting bears out Kansteiner's words.

      At the time of Kansteiner's remarks, the World Socialist Web Site
suggested that the Bush administration was offering the Blair Labour
government in Britain a quid pro quo deal for its support over Iraq. These
latest developments tend to confirm this supposition and suggest that the UK
and US are now working in close conjunction to effect regime change in
Zimbabwe.

      Entitled Famine and Political Violence in Matabeleland, the Washington
meeting was chaired by former secretary to the British High Commission in
Zimbabwe, David Troup. Aid experts have suggested that the Bush
administration may be considering airdrops of food into Matabeleland. The US
and UK used this method to supply the Kurds in northern Iraq where they
established a no-fly zone for Iraqi aircraft as a pretext for regular
British and American bombing raids.

      Whatever form the intervention takes, it will represent an implicit
threat to the whole of Africa. The increasingly belligerent attitude of the
Bush administration towards Zimbabwe follows its attempts to establish much
greater control over the oil reserves of West Africa. The conclusion that
Africa faces a new wave of imperial expansion is inescapable. It is a threat
that Mugabe and other African nationalist leaders are incapable of averting.
Mugabe is concerned only to defend his own position of power and privilege.

      His political thuggery and manipulation of food aid have only served
to provide a pretext for intervention. Representing the interests of a
narrow bourgeois elite who used the war against colonial rule for their own
ends, Mugabe is incapable of uniting the oppressed masses of Zimbabwe or the
rest of Africa against this new colonial enterprise. Instead he has created
conditions of such political confusion that US or British intervention will
be welcomed by many who hope it will mean salvation from hunger and
oppression.

      The US and UK are blaming Mugabe for the situation in Zimbabwe, but
they have done nothing to alleviate the hunger in these other countries
where Mugabe cannot be held responsible. Instead the imperialist powers are
using starvation, for which they are largely responsible, as a means of
tightening their grip on Africa.

      The present famines are the direct result of International Monetary
Fund policies that have left African governments unable to buy food that is
in plentiful supply outside the regions immediately hit by drought and wars,
which have been fomented by the West.
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Daily News

      Zanu PF supporters abduct teacher

      11/25/02 8:45:59 AM (GMT +2)


      From Sandra Mujokoro in Bulawayo

      VICTOR Ndlovu, a teacher at St Joseph's School in the Kezi area of
Matobo District, is living in fear after he was recently allegedly abducted
and assaulted by suspected Zanu PF supporters, who held him for five days.

      The abductors accused him of being an MDC sympathiser.

      Ndlovu said he was coming from school on 5 November when a white
Peugeot vehicle, carrying three men, pulled over and offered him a lift."As
soon as I got into the vehicle, they blindfolded me and drove me to a bush
where they demanded my MDC party membership card. "I told them I did not
have one, but they started assaulting me.

      "They kept me in a house, but I don't know exactly where it was. They
occasionally gave me some water and some food," Ndlovu said.

      "On the fifth day, they blindfolded me again and bundled me into a car
and dumped me at Shangani, along the Harare-Bulawayo highway." Ndlovu said
he had never met his abductors before, but had been visited by some strange
people a month earlier. They warned him about his alleged membership of the
MDC.

      For a week after the incident, he said, he could not walk because his
feet were swollen from the severe beatings. He has not been to his school
since the incident occurred, and is scared the assailants might kill him.
Ndlovu has, however, not reported the matter to the police because he does
not believe they would be willing to help.

      His wife is a teacher at the same school.
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Daily News

      Health hazard looms in Gwanda after refuse tractors break down

      11/25/02 8:39:55 AM (GMT +2)


      From Our Bulawayo Correspondent

      A health hazard is looming in Gwanda, where all three refuse removal
tractors have broken down, prompting council to hire a truck which is
failing to cope with the accumulating pile of rubbish.

      Council sources said at the weekend that the tractors used to haul
refuse-carrying trailers have been in disrepair for almost a month, and the
financially strained council was struggling to pay for the services of a
private company, which charges $15 000 per hour.

      Petros Mukwena, the councillor who represents Gwanda municipality's
Ward 9 (Spitzkop), said the breakdown of the tractors was also threatening
the jobs of several workers in the refuse collection department.

      He said the employees were still on full pay, but judging by its
precarious financial position, the council would not be able to sustain
their salaries as well as pay $15 000 per hour for the services of the
private company. "The tractors cannot be repaired because of the shortage of
spare parts.
      "The tractors were imported from the European Union (EU) through a
World Bank loan facility about four years ago.

      "The mother company closed down soon after supplying one particular
model of tractors to the municipality. "There are no spares as we speak, and
the council cannot access spares because the EU is no longer willing to
assist. "Council is currently relying on a hired truck which charges $15 000
per hour to clear the whole town, whose population is estimated at no less
than 25 000," said Mukwena It has also been established that a deal reached
between the council and a French company for the supply of a
self-compacting, high- capacity refuse removal truck has fallen through.

      The European Union has suspended most forms of assistance to Zimbabwe
over the government's fast-track land seizures and widespread lawlessness.

      The breakdown of the refuse collection vehicles will deal a heavy blow
to the Gwanda municipality's effort to improve its service in the area of
refuse disposal.

      The council recently completed upgrading some of its water
reticulation and refuse removal services to cope with the increasing
population.Meanwhile property worth millions of dollars was burnt to ashes
in Spitzkop suburb after the municiaplity's fire services failed to put out
a fire because there was no water.

      Councillor Mukwena said the fire team brought a hose but found all the
fire hose points dry. Said Mukwena: "There are problems and one of them is
that the council's fire tender broke down last week. "So the fire services
depend on local fire hose points. But in that incident, there was no water
in the whole suburb at that time.

      "The Zimbabwe National Water Authority should take the blame because
it has failed to build a booster station in the suburb. There is low
pressure and the suburb only gets water from about 11pm every day.

      "The breakdown of the fire engine worsened the situation because even
neighbours, who could easily have put out the fire, failed to do so
      because there was no water." Gwanda Executive Mayor, Rido Mpofu, was
not available to comment on the two developments.
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Militia Invade Journalism School



Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

November 25, 2002
Posted to the web November 25, 2002

Our Own Staff


Government's determination to infiltrate all vital sectors of society has
intensified, with reports that graduates from the notorious Border Gezi
training institute will be given first priority for training by the
country's main journalism school at the Harare Polytechnic, The Standard has
established

In its on-going propaganda campaign, the government, led by the department
of information and publicity, has made clear its intention to ensure that
all Zimbabweans are provided with "patriotic" news, a euphemism for pro-Zanu
PF news

But the latest move in the concerted onslaught against independent voices by
infiltrating the media at its entry point-the department of mass
communication at Harare Poly-is bound to unnerve many in the industry that
is seen as the last bastion against Zanu PF authoritarianism

The Standard is reliably informed that with effect from next year, priority
at the journalism school will be given to the youth militia, notoriously
known as 'Green Bombers' because of the reign of terror they unleash on
innocent civilians. Prospective candidates who go through the normal
channels of a series of rigorous interviews will only be used to make up for
any space, if at all, left by the militia

The youths will also get first priority in any of the courses offered at
technical and polytechnical colleges

The ministry of higher education and technology has already communicated
this new recruitment policy to all polytechnics, teachers colleges and
technology centres in the country through a memo signed by T C Mudzi, the
director for manpower development

Reads part of the memo: "A decision has been made to give first priority to
students from the national service training centres wishing to enrol at the
tertiary level. This is with immediate effect and all institutions are
required to comply

"The institutions as before will continue to advertise and interview their
applicants for enrolment. However, no admission letters should be sent until
a list of candidates from the national service centres with the requisite
qualifications has been received from Head Office, after which admission
letters will be sent to all candidates including those selected from your
interviews. The final enrolment will thus comprise of students from Head
Office and the selection from the institution level." While all divisions in
the colleges will be affected, sources told The Standard that the government
had keen interest in enforcing the policy at the Division of Mass
Communication where journalists were trained

Sources said at a time when government was keen on scrutinising the
operations of the independently owned press, flooding the militia in the
journalism fraternity could help them destroy the media which have
highlighted ills bedevilling Mugabe's government

The journalism department at the Harare Polytechnic has been in the
forefront in the training of journalists with the majority of its graduates
being absorbed in both the public and private media

"They have developed an interest in the department so from next year the
majority of students in that department will be from the national service.
The department is seen as strategic as this would eventually see government
planting its own people in various newsrooms

"The concern is on the quality of journalists who will be produced by the
department and whether they will be acceptable to the market. The modicum of
credibility the department used to enjoy among employers will suffer greatly
because of this decision," said a college official who refused to be named

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (Zuj) said the move could signal the end
of professional products from the Harare Poly school of journalism

Said Luke Tamborinyoka, Zuj secretary-general: "This is a worrying
development that seems to confirm that Zimbabwe is being militarised as a
country. We have seen these militia being introduced in the nursing and
teaching fields and now they are being thrown into the journalism field,
which we had hoped would never be a colony

"Apparently the profession is now slowly being colonised before our eyes. It
is curious why anyone would introduce the militia at the Polytechnic when it
could have been easier to introduce journalism as a subject at the Border
Gezi Training Centre." Tamborinyoka said journalism was a sensitive
profession whose training should not be politicised

"If Zanu PF or the MDC want to introduce their own breed of journalists then
they should offer journalism as a course at Border Gezi or Harvest House.
What is happening is a clever way of infiltrating the media for these
militia might be coming from Hardwicke House (where the CIO are housed), or
Munhumutapa Building However we doubt whether these militia would be
employable in any serious newsroom," he said

Government has of late been on a warpath against the privately owned media,
which it accuses of working in cahoots with foreign governments to unseat
President Mugabe's regime.
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BBC

Monday, 25 November, 2002, 16:08 GMT
ICC heads for Zimbabwe
England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb
England's Tim Lamb is among the delegation
An International Cricket Council delegation is set to begin a three-day inspection tour which will decide whether Zimbabwe can stage matches during next year's World Cup.

The 10-man delegation, headed by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, arrives on Tuesday to review security arrangements for the teams scheduled to play in Harare and Bulawayo.

  ICC delegation
Malcolm Speed, ICC chief executive
Malcolm Gray, ICC president
James Sutherland, Australian Cricket Board
SK Nair, Indian Cricket Board
Tim Lamb, England and Wales Cricket Board
Ian Frykberg, Golbal Cricket Corporation
Hans Mulder, Dutch Cricket Board
Laurie Peters, Namibian Cricket Board
Chishty Mujahid, Pakistan Cricket Board
Vince Hogg, Zimbabwe Cricket Union
Tim May, Federation of International Cricket Associations

"The Zimbabwe Cricket Union is a full member of the ICC and has the right to host these games.

"Nevertheless, it is clear that in some countries there are genuine safety and security concerns that need to be addressed," said Speed.

Although South Africa is hosting the World Cup, six first round group matches are due to be played in Zimbabwe and two in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Zimbabwe was expelled from the Commonwealth earlier this year and Australia subsequently cancelled their scheduled tour.

Tensions in the country have remained high because of the Zimbabwean government's controversial land reform programme.

But the Pakistan team are currently on tour in Zimbabwe and the first two one-day internationals passed without incident.

"The political issues surrounding Zimbabwe are matters for politicians," said ICC president Malcolm Gray.

"Each ICC member scheduled to play in Zimbabwe has committed to playing there subject to satisfactory of any safety and security concerns. It is these issues that the delegation will focus on."

The ICC is keen to avoid a repeat of the situation during the 1996 World Cup when Australia and West Indies refused to travel to Sri Lanka because of safety concerns, choosing instead to forfeit the matches.

Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 11:23 AM
Subject: International Cricket: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

Hamburgers, beer, teargas and riot police

VOA Sports
24 Nov 2002, 20:14 UTC

This is what's predicted during the Zimbabwe/Pakistan One Day games due to start in Harare on 27 November. Fear is beginning to permeate the Zimbabwean cricket fraternity as rumours of violence surface on the streets.

Calls for a boycott of the cricket tour have been getting louder and louder with many Zimbabweans criticising Heath Streak, the Zimbabwe Cricket Captain's recent comments when he declared that "There are no problems in Zimbabwe. Security is fine."

Tell that to the thousands of torture victims and displaced farmers and farm workers, say local activists.

Ironically, President Robert Mugabe, the man blamed for the violence and poverty that has engulfed Zimbabwe, is the Patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.

Zimbabweans have few opportunities to vent their frustration and to show the world just how desperate the situation is in Zimbabwe. So, it looks like all hell will break loose at Harare Sports Club when the Pakistan and Zimbabwean cricket teams take to the field.

Perhaps it's just as well that many cricket supporters have opted for satellite television in a bid to reject the state-controlled propaganda. At least they can watch the games from the safety of their homes.

Ends

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ZIMBABWE: US embassy awaits action on staff "beatings"

JOHANNESBURG, 25 November (IRIN) - The United States embassy in Zimbabwe said on Monday it had no plans to reduce its presence in the country despite growing tension with the government.

The latest incident came last week when US ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan was "summoned" to explain why embassy employees had travelled outside the capital without permission.

On 15 November two US embassy employees, a UN field worker and a Zimbabwean citizen, were reportedly detained and interrogated on a farm north of Harare by a group of men who identified themselves as "war veterans".

One of the US employees, a Zimbabwean, and the accompanying Zimbabwean citizen were beaten, and the assailants stole official and personal items, a US embassy statement said. The group had gone to assess the conditions of displaced farm workers.

The US government immediately protested the incident and called for swift action to identify and arrest the perpetrators. But the government in turn said the group had violated a government order given to all diplomats to seek permission before travelling more than 40 km outside Harare.

"Up until the meeting between Ambassador Sullivan and officials from the department of foreign affairs on 21 November, we were unaware that such an order existed. However, we have not and need not apologise for conducting normal activities in fulfilment of our diplomatic and humanitarian mission," US embassy spokesman Bruce Wharton told IRIN.

Wharton said the government had not responded to the request for an investigation into the 15 November incident.

The United States is also seeking answers from the government on the shooting of a US citizen in the eastern town of Mutare last week.

Asked if the embassy was reassessing its diplomatic mission in the country, Wharton said there were "no plans to reduce the US presence in Zimbabwe".

"We make a clear distinction between the government and the people of Zimbabwe. We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to all Zimbabweans who need it," Wharton said.

Relations between the two countries has soured in recent weeks following comments by US State Department official Mark Bellamy last month that America might have to take "very intrusive interventionist measures" to ensure food aid was delivered.

Opposition groups and aid agencies have accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of only allowing government-controlled emergency food aid to reach his own supporters.



[ENDS]

IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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From The Times (UK), 25 November

The true cost of a by-election vote

From Jan Raath in Harare

The wealthy owner of a milling company linked to a blackmarket in meal is tipped to be the ruling Zanu PF party’s candidate in a by-election caused by the death in prison of a popular opposition MP. David Mutasa is likely to contest the Harare township of Kuwadzana. Its former MP, Learnmore Jongwe, of the Movement for Democratic Change, died last month. Mr Mutasa is already campaigning hard. Last week he was offering 10kg of mealiemeal, a loaf of bread and a cabbage at controlled prices. The catch is that purchase is possible only on production of a Zanu PF party card. A black market in maize meal, Zimbabweans’ staple diet, was described last week by Physicians for Human Rights, a group of independent Danish doctors: imported grain is stored by the state-controlled cereal monopoly, whose premises are controlled by secret police and youth militias; the grain is allocated to selected milling companies controlled by Zanu PF businessmen. It is then sold only to party card-holders. The strategy is being used to withhold food from urban areas in much the same way he is starving opposition supporters in the rural areas.
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From the Observer (UK), 24 November

How a perfect English gent in a rural idyll profits from a bloody African war

Antony Barnett and Paul Harris

To people in the peaceful Wiltshire village of Brigmerston, their new neighbour seems like a perfect English gentleman: a tall, wealthy, bespectacled former Army officer. But an Observer investigation has uncovered evidence that behind the doors of a luxury house on the edge of the village, Andrew Smith runs a business empire which has made a fortune from a bloody African civil war that has claimed millions of lives. Smith, 49, a former captain of the Royal Engineers, who runs his firm Avient from his home, faces claims that one of his companies was involved in mercenary-style operations deep in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also faces allegations that he has been trading with a notorious arms dealer, Ukrainian-born Leonid Minin. A United Nations report has accused Smith of organising bombing raids in the DRC on behalf of President Joseph Kabila to suppress rebel forces. It is alleged that three years ago Avient received $30,000 a month for recruiting crew from Ukraine to fly in Russian-made Antonovs behind enemy lines in 1999 and 2000. One Avient contract signed by Kabila stated: 'The crew will be advised that they will be operating along and behind the enemy lines in support of ground troops and against invading forces. It is specifically agreed that the crew...will undertake airdropping missions.' The affair has clear overtones of dogs-of-war style mercenary activity. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb has asked the British authorities to investigate the claims to see if there are grounds for a criminal prosecution. 'I want to know how a British citizen with a company operating from Wiltshire can be involved in such military activities without breaking any law,' he said.

Smith, who is contesting the UN claims, ran his African business through his Avient company registered in Zimbabwe. In this way Smith would have been able to avoid breaching the European Union arms embargo against the DRC put in place in 1993. Any investigation is likely to study closely UN claims that Smith has a relationship with Minin, a senior member of a Russian organised crime syndicate, who is under investigation in five countries for crimes from gun running to art theft. Two years ago Minin was arrested in an Italian police raid on a hotel in northern Italy where he was found with 58 grams of cocaine, four prostitutes and $500,000 worth of African diamonds. Police also discovered a green briefcase stuffed with 1,500 pages of documents detailing numerous arms deals, including illegal sales to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Observer has obtained bank records found in Minin's briefcase which detail payments made by one of Minin's associate companies. These documents reveal that on 22 June 1999 Avient received a $100,500 payment from Engineering & Technical, a British Virgin Islands firm run by Minin's business associate Valery Cherny.

The UN also accuses Smith of brokering the sale of six attack helicopters to the DRC government in April this year. Smith strongly denies this allegation. However, he did admit in an interview with The Observer to shipping military cargo to the Congolese government on behalf of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe three years ago. Smith said: 'We have worked with the governments of Zimbabwe and the DRC who are official organised governments of countries. We certainly don't work for any rebel groups or any terrorists.' Smith played down his role in the alleged bombing raids, saying the Congo 'military hierarchy' controlled the air crews and directed operations. He denied his company was a private military company involved in any bombing raids, stressing that it was principally a cargo-carrying business dealing mainly with commodities like food and computers. But Smith has admitted to 'ferrying troops and people from place to place' and leasing Russian-made transport aircraft to the Zimbabwean government for use in Congo.

He said: 'I am not denying that we carried military equipment for the end-user governments, which is a perfectly legal operation to do. We are talking about three years ago. I did check everything with the British High Commissioner at the time. We have never been involved in the sale of goods at all, nor have we carried any military hardware out of the EC, so we have not broken any UN or EU embargoes.' Smith also denied any relationship with Minin. He said: 'I have never met the guy, spoken to him or communicated with him.' Smith's claims that he received the approval of the British High Commission could be embarrassing for the Government as there has been an arms embargo against the DRC since 1993. Lamb is to raise the matter in the House of Commons. 'If it's true that the High Commission OK'd such deals, I want to know why,' said Lamb. The disclosures that a former British soldier is helping military operations in central Africa will embarrass the Government. In the 1998 'arms for Africa' affair it emerged that Sandline International, run by former British colonel Tim Spicer, had supplied weapons to Sierra Leone despite a UN arms embargo. Spicer avoided prosecution after it was revealed the British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone had approved Sandline's plans. Smith's involvement in military operations in Congo is also likely to be a setback for government plans to license mercenary companies. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claims such firms could be used in UN peace-keeping operations and other government-sponsored activities in trouble spots.

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ABC Australia

Monday, November  25, 2002. Posted: 10:27:02 (AEDT)

Lightning kills nine in Zimbabwe
Nine people attending a church service near the Zimbabwean capital Harare
were killed on Sunday local time when they were struck by a bolt of
lightning, state radio says.

Thirty-five others attending the service in the Harare suburb of Chitungwiza
were hospitalised with burns, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation says.

The dead and injured were members of the Johanne Mazowe Chishanu sect, which
normally conducts meetings in the open air, often under trees.
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Business Day

EU vows to bar Zimbabwean pair

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
BRUSSELS The European Union (EU) vowed yesterday to keep two Zimbabwean
ministers out of parliamentary talks with African, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) states.
Weekend talks failed to settle differences and a last-ditch attempt to
bridge the divide was set for early today, hours ahead of the opening of the
four-day EU-ACP meeting.

The European parliament wants to keep State Enterprises Minister Paul
Mangwana and Deputy Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri off the premises because
of an EU travel ban. SA delegates want the Zimbabweans to attend.
Sapa-AP-AFP
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