VOA
By James Butty
Washington, D.C.
02 November 2006
The US-based Human
Rights Watch organization will today (Thursday) honor a
Zimbabwean lawyer
for his role in the fight against human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe. Today's
award comes a few days after Human Rights Watch released a
report accusing
the Zimbabwean government of using violent repression
against civil society
organizations in the past three years. Tiseke
Kasambala is a researcher in
the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. She
explains to VOA English to
Africa reporter James Butty why lawyer Arnold
Tsunga is receiving one of the
organization's highest awards today.
"We are honoring Arnold Tsunga who
is a prominent human rights lawyer in
Zimbabwe. He's executive director of
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and
he and his colleagues at Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights have been at the
forefront of defending those who
have no voice against President Mugabe's
regime, those who have been abused
and victimized. For instance, the victims
of the evictions of last year,
Arnold Tsunga has been at the forefront of
taking their cases to the courts
and demanding justice, demanding
compensation for these people. Because of
his bravery, because of his
courage and his willingness to work in such a
highly restrictive
environment, Human Rights Watch is giving him one its
highest awards,"
Kasambala said.
Kasambala says human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe have gotten worse in the past
three years.
"Whenever
peaceful activists try to respond to the deteriorating economic
and
political conditions in Zimbabwe the government comes really heavily
upon
them. Police are brutally beating up peaceful protests and beating up
civil
society activists with weapons and in some cases rifle butts. There
has been
mass arbitrary arrests around peaceful protests, and those in
custody have
been in some cases subjected to severe beating and mistreatment
that in our
view amounts to torture," she said.
Zimbabwe minister of state security
Didymus Mutasa has been quoted as
describing the Human Rights Watch report
about his country as "lies." The
minister reportedly said his government
reserves the right to ensure that
its citizens observe Zimbabwe laws. But
Kasambala disagrees with minister
Mutasa.
"The law that Minister
Mutasa is talking about is highly repressive. He is
talking about the
repressive laws that his government has introduced in
Zimbabwe since 2002 to
prevent people from freely speaking their views, from
freely expressing
themselves, and from criticizing or questioning the
government. Among these
laws is the Public Sector and Security Act, which
gives the government broad
powers to prevent people from going out in the
streets and peacefully
expressing their views which under international law
is actually their
right. So when he says that our report is lies, he should
go and visit the
15 trade unionists who were severely beaten up whose case I
documented,"
Kasambala said.
Kasambala defends her organization's claims that the
Zimbabwe government
tortured those arrested for peacefully demonstrating.
She says she
personally documented their cases through interviews with a
number of civil
society organizations in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe has sent an SOS to the international
community for emergency aid
worth Z$19.8 billion to avert a fast-approaching
humanitarian disaster
caused by shortages of food, foreign currency and
fuel.
Mugabe last week
sent his Finance Minister Hebert Murerwa to ask United
Nations Development
Programme representative in Zimbabwe Agostinho Zaccarius
to
appeal to the
world community for help on Harare's behalf.
Murerwa met Zaccarius last week
before he left for China and asked him to
help raise $11 billion from the
international community.
The funds would finance a massive maize and wheat
import programme necessary
if Zimbabweans are not to starve in the next few
months.
Retired Colonel Samuel Muvhuti, the acting chief executive officer of
the
GMB, announced officially this week that the parastatal has collected a
paltry 480,000 tonnes of maize from the 2005/2006 agricultural season
against a projected 1,8 million tones.
Murerwa was said to have told
Zaccarius that the government needs another
Z$8.8 billion to help repair
dilapidated public infrastructure across
Zimbabwe, including roads and
bridges washed away during floods two years
ago.
Western diplomatic
sources said Mugabe had decided to send Murerwa because
the minister, who is
at any rate in charge of the country's finances, is
perceived to be more
acceptable to Western donor countries than most of his
Cabinet
colleagues.
Neither could be reached for comment this week, but a senior
Western
diplomat based in Harare said: "Obviously Mugabe himself or his
Foreign
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi cannot champion this thing. But even
Murerwa
will find the politics interfering in what should clearly be treated
as a
plea for humanitarian assistance. The donors will, for example, want
firm
guarantees that whatever aid they give should not be
politicised."
The sources said that Murerwa had last week also begun
approaching
individual donor countries and was briefing other Southern
Africa
Development Community (SADC) countries on the humanitarian
catastrophe
facing Zimbabwe if the world does not move quickly to offer
assistance. -
Own correspondent
The Zimbabwean
BY GIFT PHIRI
HARARE
- Workmen are placing bombproof underground shelter and concrete
posts
around President Robert Mugabe's retirement mansion in Borrowdale
Brooke for
increased security following the ageing leader's claims of
threats against
him.
The 82-year-old leader, who has been in power since independence in
1980,
has made repeated claims that he faces a "terrorist threat" from local
opposition forces in British pay.
The move, which critics say betrays
Mugabe's growing security paranoia,
comes amid reports that politburo
members are now being thoroughly frisked
before going into
meetings.
According to party insiders, the move was an indication of the
siege
mentality gripping Mugabe, who apparently fears that people could
bring
charms and weapons into meetings.
Mugabe has said that his
lieutenants were approaching traditional healers
for good-luck charms to
help them become president after his retirement in
2008.
The underground
bombproof chambers are being built by reinforced concrete
and designed to
withstand intense military pressure that includes aerial
bombings. This is
on top of imposing a no-fly-zone above his mansion and
banning neighbours
taking walks or driving anywhere which puts them in full
view of the
mansion.
The sources said the only plausible explanation was that Mugabe was
preparing for any eventuality in Zimbabwe, including the possibility of a
civil war over his plans to cling on to power.
It was not possible to get
comment from the Zimbabwe government as Acting
Information Minister Paul
Mangwana has banned all interviews with The
Zimbabwean and the independent
Press.
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi snubbed The Zimbabwean when he was
originally contacted for comment on Zimbabwe's arms importation programme
three weeks ago. This week the CIO, which is jointly working on the bunkers
project with the Ministry of Defence, refused to comment.
The Zimbabwean
GLEN NORAH -
Residents here have warned that they will stage massive street
demonstrations against the City of Harare and the government if the 2007
City Budget is approved without their consent as happened on the current
2006 budget.
Speaker after speaker at the Glen Norah public meeting held
on Saturday at
the Community Hall said the City of Harare would be putting
itself on
collision course with residents if the 2007 City Budget was
formulated,
approved and subsequently implemented without the input and
consent of
residents.
The Combined Harare Residents Association told
residents:
"What we as CHRA assure Harare residents is the establishment of a
viable
and formidable grassroots movement that assist them to understand and
know
their basic civic rights and responsibilities.
"Residents need a
sound education on the budget-formulation mechanisms. We
believe that if we
push our issues and unite in response, we will succeed.
Key issues that we
need to be addressed in the upcoming budget are the
city's health delivery
system, and the cost of seeking medical attention at
both municipal clinics
and hospitals."
He urged the residents of Harare to spearhead the process of
mobilisation
against the doomed 2007 City Budget basing their position on
three key
principles of the legality of the principals of the budget,
impropriety of
the budget formulation process and the illegitimacy of the
system driving
the agenda.
"Residents must reject the city budget on the
basis that it is coming from
illegal people with dirty hands," CHRA's
Precious Shumba said to a round of
applause from the strong 90 plus people
in attendance. "The commission lacks
the mandate of residents to represent
them. The whole process is
illegitimate. If they proceed to formulate,
present to the government and
approve for implementation the 2007 budget
then they are warned that
residents of Harare will not sit back and watch
thieves continue to destroy
their future." - CHRA
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - In tacit acceptance of the gross failure of its Operation
Garikai,
the government is planning to regularise illegal settlements that
are
mushrooming just outside Harare along the Bulawayo road where the
landless,
led by self-styled war veterans, have been allocating themselves
residential
stands since last year's slum clearance operation.
Official
sources said this week that due to the political sensitivity of the
issue,
especially for the ruling Zanu (PF) party which has promised to
deliver more
than 92,450 houses it demolished last year during the brutal
army-led
Operation Murambatsvina, local authorities had no option but to
formalise
the settlements.
Hundreds of squatters have haphazardly allocated themselves
stands along the
main Bulawayo road, throwing a poser at the Harare City
Council's town
planners and those of the neighbouring Zvimba Rural District
Council.
The squatters started moving into the area just as other Zanu (PF)
supporters began seizing peri-urban farms around Harare in the name of land
hunger.
"They (the local authorities) have no option but to try to
regularise the
settlements. They cannot evict these people because they
moved there with
the support of the government and some of them have already
put up permanent
structures," a source close to the National Housing
Taskforce told The
Zimbabwean.
The regularisation of the settlement will
involve changing the areas' land
use from agriculture to residential and
providing urban services such as
sewerage, water, electricity and
roads.
Currently the squatters are putting up all forms of housing
structures,
which vary from plastic and cardboard box dwellings to
pole-and-dagga
houses. Only a few have built proper housing units, although
there is no
piped water, sewer connections, roads or electricity.
"The
main problem is that the regularisation of the settlement would involve
the
destruction of some of the structures to make way for roads as well as
water
and sewerage reticulation systems," the source said.
Contrary to government
statements, almost none of the victims of Operation
Murambatsvina have
benefited from the rebuilding, with only some 3,325
houses constructed -
compared to the 92,460 homes destroyed during Operation
Murambatsvina - and
construction has ground to a halt in many areas.
Moreover, although the
government has presented Operation Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle as a programme
under which houses are built by government for victims
of Operation
Murambatsvina, in reality many people are being allocated small
bare plots
of land, often without access to water and sanitation, on which
they have to
build their own homes with no assistance.
Harare municipality spokesman Percy
Toriro this week declined to say what
the council plans to do about the
illegal settlements, saying most of them
were outside the boundaries of the
city and therefore outside its
jurisdiction.
He said the Zvimba Rural
District Council was responsible for the area
occupied by the
squatters.
The mushrooming of the illegal settlements has hit the sale of new
residential stands at two nearby housing projects because prospective buyers
are hesitant to build homes next to an unplanned settlement. - Own
correspondent
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
- An isolated Zimbabwe government, grappling with a deep economic
crisis,
has taken its begging bowl to China to plead for more desperately
needed
foreign direct investment (FDI).
A ministerial delegation led by Foreign
Affairs minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi returned on Tuesday from a weeklong
"Joint Commission Meting"
with Chinese government and industry officials in
Beijing.
The delegation, that also comprised Finance minister Hebert Murerwa
and
Economic Development minister Rugare Gumbo, followed up on a couple of
deals
that the Chinese are now hesitant to undertake due to the breakdown of
property rights in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean heard that in Beijing, the
government officials met with
representatives of the China Northern
Railways, which has been hesitant to
honour a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) it signed to rehabilitate and
increase the capacity of the crisis-torn
National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ).
Under this deal, clinched by Vice
President Joice Mujuru during her visit to
Beijing earlier this year, the
Chinese railway utility had promised to
supply 10 locomotives, 64 passenger
coaches and eight commuter trains but
nothing has been
forthcoming.
Diplomatic sources said the Chinese were now weary of brining in
big
investment into Zimbabwe because of government's flagrant abuse of
property
rights.
Some of the MOUs that government has signed with the
Chinese under its
much-vaunted Look East policy include the development of
power plants and
mines with Chinese companies ELE Resources and the China
National Machinery
and Equipment Import and Export Company. This deal, in
which the Chinese
have promised to develop a thermal power station in the
Zambezi Valley, has
been on the cards for months but there is no progress on
the ground.
The ministerial delegation was also said to have seen officials
at CATIC,
who supplied the three problematic MA60 commuter planes to Air
Zimbabwe. The
short lifespan of the planes has been fraught with breakdowns
and
operational nightmares.
The Airforce has also taken delivery of K8
trainer planes while the scanners
acquired from the Chinese for
quasi-government tax collector ZIMRA have
suffered intermittent
breakdowns.
Tractors bought by the Harare City Council from China have broken
down
totally in only eight months.
The ruling party reacted angrily to
press reports that the Politburo had
expressed its misgivings about
sub-standard goods coming into Zimbabwe from
China.
In a rare interview
with Chinese news wire service Xinhua, President Mugabe
said Zimbabwe was
seeking more economic co-operation with China because it
did not come with
political strings attached, unlike that from the West,
which he said he
found unacceptable.
"We have nothing to lose (in doing business with the
Chinese) but our
imperialist chains," Mugabe was quoted as saying. He is
expected to attend
the Africa-China Summit next week in Beijing, which is to
discuss China's
growing foothold in Africa. - Own correspondent
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
International Jet A1 fuel suppliers have withdrawn credit lines to
the
national passenger carrier Air Zimbabwe and are demanding cash upfront
after
the company failed to make timely payments for fuel supplies.
Air Zimbabwe
spokesman David Mwenga told The Zimbabwean that the new policy
had been in
effect for two weeks and was a result of severe hard currency
shortages that
have forced most local firms to delay payments to
international
suppliers.
He said this had forced the national airliner to hike fares by
between 200
and 500 percent two weeks ago, but declined to disclose the
monthly fuel
bill, although he said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had stepped
in to
provide foreign currency for "critical areas" which include fuel
imports.
The central bank has introduced measures requiring exporters to
remit 40
percent of their earnings immediately for the import of fuel and
energy.
Mwenga said the central bank had provided the foreign currency to pay
the
airline's fuel bills, insurance fees and monthly dues to the
International
Airline Transporters' Association (IATA) clearing house, which
handles
payments for all inter-airline transactions.
"If we fail to pay
IATA, then we are in trouble and we obviously cannot do
without fuel," he
added. - Own correspondent
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - CHRA condemns
the violence that has accompanied local government
elections. Violence is
the enemy of the democratic process and serves only
to advance the agenda of
those who prefer to operate outside the framework
of a State based upon the
rule of law. Unfortunately there are many in
Zimbabwe who are actively
pursuing their sectarian goal of a fascist
dictatorship and who see the rule
of law as just an impediment in their way.
Such people regard elections, due
process and such as irrelevant niceties of
liberal democracy.
Driven by
their belief that their participation in the national liberation
of Zimbabwe
from colonialism bestowed a divine right to rule upon them,
these
anti-democratic elements seek to exclude all others from the political
process and indeed from life itself. In much the same way as the white
colonialists believed that their supposed racial superiority conferred the
right to rule upon them, these uber-liberators no doubt believe that they
and their descendants will rule for a thousand years.
The mere holding of
elections does not indicate that a democratic process is
in place. Many
dictators seek to legitimise their theft of power by holding
farcical
elections that 'return' them to power with 99% of the vote. To use
as
cliché, "Democracy is not an event but a process".
The regime currently
occupying the State obviously regards Zimbabweans as
subjects who must do
what they are told or be beaten, arrested, murdered,
raped or driven out of
the country. It is contemptuous of our people calling
them 'people without
totems', 'sugar junkies', 'foreigners',
'non-indigenous' or any number of
derogatory terms intended to exclude their
targets from participation in the
political process.
It is clear that no legitimate outcome can be obtained
under such
circumstances and that the results will not reflect the wishes of
citizens.
The opposition parties should not legitimatise the results by
accepting
those results that were favourable to them and condemning those
negative
outcomes where they lost but must reject the results in toto. All
elected
councillors should immediately resign their positions to highlight
the
fraudulent process and to provoke a constitutional crisis. The same
tactic
should be applied to the National Assembly. There can be no
genuinely
legitimate government, either at central or local levels, without
a new
constitution and the other steps called for by civil society.
In
the face of this onslaught upon our very right to exist, residents in
Harare
need to ask themselves whether they are subjects of His Majesty or
citizens
of the Republic. If they acquiesce in being treated as subjects,
they should
shut up and put up, accepting punitive rates charges, abysmal
service
delivery, illegal violence and all the other accoutrements of this
neo-feudal kleptocracy.
We in CHRA believe the following:
§Our
citizenship is an inalienable reality based upon our birth and
allegiance
§Citizenship is not bestowed upon us by anyone else.
§The
mugabe regime seeks to deny our rights as citizens.
§Citizens will neither
collaborate with nor fund a illegal Commission
§Harare belongs to its
residents, not to a clique of politicians.
CHRA has taken great pains to
follow due process in our efforts to restore
the rights of our residents. We
have appealed to the regime (the de facto
Executive arm of the State) to
observe the laws of the country. We have
pleaded with the Judiciary to
protect our rights in the face of a rapacious
Executive. We have petitioned
Parliament to uphold their laws and hold the
Executive to account. None of
these steps have produced any positive
outcome. We therefore feel that we
are entitled, even obligated, as
citizens, to engage in civil
disobedience.
CHRA seeks to return power to its rightful owners - the
citizens of the
country. We are not politicians but we will interrogate the
policies of
those who seek to govern us. We support no political party but
will work
with any person or groups who seek the same goals. We seek not to
'lead the
people' but to facilitate the people's own leadership skills to
lead
themselves. The best defence against tyranny is the refusal to
collaborate
in the theft of our power as citizens.
As Chairman of CHRA, I
have refused to pay anything to the thieves at Town
House since December
2004. The failure of the City to prosecute me can only
be due to their fear
of a high profile case in the courts that will expose
their illegitimacy.
Responsible citizens will emulate my example. - Mike
Davies
The Zimbabwean
BY FRAZER
POTANI
LILONGWE - Britain is dumping Zimbabweans in possession of Malawian
passports in neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe's neighbour has no powers to
compel her former colonial master to stop this practice.
Malawi's home
affairs and internal security secretary Martin Mononga
admitted last week
that his government had no powers to return Zimbabweans
with Malawian
passports being deported from Britain.
"Although we are aware of cases of
these people being deported into the
country, Malawi can not intervene since
the United Kingdom is a sovereign
state with a mandate to decide who they
can accept in their country," said
Mononga.
"The most the Malawi
government can do is to advise her citizens wishing to
travel to the UK or
elsewhere to abide by those countries' law and
regulations regarding
visiting or residence," said Mononga. Human rights
campaigners have already
condemned the UK government of deliberately dumping
Zimbabweans with
Malawian passports in Malawi without due regard for the
rights of the
deportees, as a means of easing political pressure on the
issue of the
asylum seekers in their country.
Unofficial figures indicate that over 100
Zimbabweans are stranded in Malawi
after being deported from the UK while
more are still coming. Over 3,000
Zimbabweans are believed to have migrated
to the UK using Malawian
passports.
Wilbert Marino, a counsellor at the
Zimbabwean high commission in Lilongwe
said any Zimbabweans stranded in
Malawi were free to return to Zimbabwe and
reclaim their citizenship.
Zim
dollar pressurizes Malawi Kwacha
LILONGWE - Malawi cannot do without Zimbabwe
and vice versa. This is why the
inflation fever shaking the Zimbabwean
dollar is also putting pressure on
Malawi's local currency, the
Kwacha.
According to the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) the plunging of the Zim
dollar
resulting from that country's social-economic-political crisis had
affected
the Kwacha, which was now worth 140 to the Kwacha, down from 135. -
Frazer
Potani
The Zimbabwean
BY PAUL
PALATI
BEITBRIDGE - The surrounding area is over-crowded and filthy,
diseases and
shortage of accommodation has become the norm. Due to high
unemployment and
poor economic conditions, corruption, theft and
prostitution has become the
way of life in the area. Corruption thrives
among both ordinary people and,
especially, public servants. The Zimbabwean
police and soldiers can
frequently be seen in the area using their influence
to fill their pockets.
Residents in the area earn their living by exchanging
Zimbabwean bearer
cheques for foreign currency to buy scarce commodities
across the border.
Residents say Zimbabwe is corrupt beyond repair.
"Everyone in Zimbabwe is a
thief," says Mary Marufu, one of the residents.
She says she was employed by
a government minister to exchange foreign
currency and used the commission
to raise her family, but now is running
that same business for herself.
According to residents, the police and
soldiers are the big employers and
owners of Black-market businesses at
Beitbridge, running flea markets and
exchanging Zimbabwean Dollars to Rands.
"If you examine this issue of
exchanging foreign currency with Black market
standard, you will find couple
of public servants behind it", said Marufu.
Police vehicles and soldiers can
usually be seen in the area, off loading
goods to be sold at flea markets.
Residents say the police and soldiers work
together with the "magumaguma",
thugs in Shona. These robbers and conman
cross the Zimbabwean border to
South Africa at Messina to buy scarce
commodities like groceries and
detergent and sell them at the Beitbridge
rank. In the meantime, government
officials who are supposed to maintain law
and order seek to line their
pockets through illegal trading instead of
making life better for citizens.
The Zimbabwean
It comes as no
surprise that Mugabe has rejected the call for a new
constitution from the
pro-Zanu (PF) church leaders. We hope that the message
has now got through
to this band of misguided clerics that Mugabe is not
interested in dialogue
or democracy.
The results of a truly democratic election will mean just one
thing - his
political demise. For them to think they can persuade him to
write his own
epitaph is the height of naivety.
Everything Mugabe does is
with the goal of entrenching himself and his
corrupt cronies - buying
armaments, shunning the west, thrashing dissenting
activists, rigging
elections, using food to buy hungry people. Anything that
does not further
this single purpose is not going to happen.
Any forlorn hope that he can be
persuaded to be reasonable, when he has
demonstrated time and again that he
is a wily fox with only his own survival
at heart, should be abandoned. It
is time these worthy clerics saw the
writing on the wall, and disengaged
themselves from the monster.
Last Sunday, parishioners in several churches
led by these men were asked to
pray for reconciliation and to ask for
forgiveness. We feel it is the
churchmen and Mugabe who need to pray for
forgiveness and to reconcile
themselves with the suffering masses of
Zimbabwe - both in and outside the
country.
Colossal cost of Mugabe's
paranoia
On our front page this week we carry a story about government
resources
being used to fortify Mugabe's private residence - at who knows
what
colossal cost to the national fiscus.
This follows the recent
bomb-proofing of state house - again at
undocumented, and no doubt
eye-watering cost. All because one wicked old
man can't sleep at night
because of the haunting faces and plaintive voices
of all those whose lives
and futures he has destroyed.
The future government of our nation must make a
note right now to demand
re-imbursement of the costs incurred, plus
interest.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - MDC's
rural blitz and its costly participation in the electoral
route to achieve
change is beginning to pay dividends, despite politicised
food distribution
and intimidation in rural areas.
Until recently Zimbabwe's rural
constituencies were no-go areas for the MDC.
But in the rural district
council elections held at the weekend, the
opposition party made
considerable inroads into the ruling party's
stronghold.
The full results
were not available at the time of going to press, but early
results showed
that MDC councillors won seats in several places, including
rural Kariba,
Shamva, Bikita, Shurugwi, Gutu South, Gokwe, Chimanimani,
Buhera, Chipinge
North and South, Guruve, Matobo, Binga, Lupane, Chirumanzu
and Mutasa
communal lands.
"We applaud the hundreds of thousands of heroes and heroines
across Zimbabwe
who continue to invest in the electoral route," said Nelson
Chamisa, the MDC
Secretary for Publicity and Information.
"This is a
major victory which shows that the people have issued an eviction
notice to
the regime," he said.
Thousands voted for MDC candidates in Muzarabani, even
after the candidates
had fled after their houses were burnt down by
identified Zanu (PF)
hooligans and state agents.
Politicised food
distribution and victimization by chiefs and village heads
seem not to have
affected MDC supporters and the party has compiled a
comprehensive report
with over 500 cases of assault, arson, intimidation and
torture of its
candidates and supporters in the run-up to these elections.
"The people have
given the regime a vote of no-confidence. Zanu (PF) may
(say it won) but
statistics show that about 44 percent of the rural
electorate voted MDC.
They braved massive intimidation, threats and violence
to vote for the only
party that represents the last hope of a brutalized and
repressed nation,"
said Chamisa.
The Zimbabwean
JOHANNESBURG - The Minister of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs,
Patrick Chinamasa, sneaked into
South Africa last week to hold a secret
meeting with a team of attorneys
representing the Zanu (PF) government in
the South African courts against a
consortium of businesses run by business
magnate Mutumwa
Mawere.
Impeccable sources told CAJ News that Chinamasa was due to meet
lawyers from
the Brink Cohen Le Roux Incorporated Co. The government
wrestled control of
SMM Holdings from Mutumwa Mawere using the unpopular
Reconstruction of
State-Indebted Insolvent Companies Act (Chapter
24.27).
A Friends of Zimbabwe Coalition (FOZC) delegation a month ago, with
other
interest groups and friends of Zimbabwe members, petitioned the Brink
Cohen
Le Roux attorneys asking them to sever ties with the Mugabe.
"We
demand that the law company stop presenting and legitimising the Zanu PF
government and the immediate end to the abuse of South African courts by the
Mugabe government,"said Siros (Sox) Chikohwero, Chairperson of FOZC. - CAJ
News
The Zimbabwean
BY TRUDY
STEVENSON
HARARE - The Zimbabwe regime is now so terrified of revolt that you
have to
get police permission to hold or even attend a kitchen tea.
They
literally tremble in their shoes at the very idea that a group of 30 or
40
women might feel free enough to organise a tea party and have the
audacity
to invite their MP. What might those women say, at their tea
party?
Heavens above, they might start complaining about the cost of bread
or
mealie meal! That won't do, at all.
Why, they might even whisper that their
husbands are not working, or that
they cannot pay school fees so their
children are sitting at home. One of
them might bring up the lack of ARVs
for her family member who needs them,
and someone else might wonder aloud
how she is going to pay for her father's
funeral, when she has absolutely no
money.
But women don't only complain, they also laugh and joke, and that
could be
even worse! They might laugh at the crowd of riot police
sweltering in the
hot sun at the corner. They might start swopping stories
about which chef
was seen with whose girlfriend at the weekend, and which
minister's wife has
found a more attentive escort recently.
Maiwee -
someone might even start sharing rumours of the big guys'
performance in
bed! This is the height of disrespect, and cannot be allowed
to happen.
More serious could be the ladies swopping information of how
many houses and
cars the big chefs have, or how many farms. Or even just
who bought that
house in Borrowdale Brooke recently, and how much the
furniture cost. Such
information must not get out.
As for music - turn it off this instant! It
might get the women dancing and
enjoying themselves - and that is not
allowed, please! They should be good
patriots, standing quietly in a queue
all day for a food hand-out, or
sitting in the sun all day guarded by police
waiting for His Excellency or
some lesser mortal to shake their fists and
shout a few well-aimed
international threats.
No, music off, sit down
quietly, ladies, please. And don't listen to those
songs, either, and
especially don't actually sing them! They might suggest
the Old Man is
getting old or losing his grip, and all Zimbabweans know he
will always be
Young-Old, ready to box whoever might think of taking him on.
No, ladies -
very sorry. We cannot allow you to have your kitchen tea, or
top-up, or
tea-party or whatever, unless you have our permission, in other
words unless
you invite us to be there to watch you and listen to what you
say and sing
and who you meet.
It is simply not allowed, in Zimbabwe. Be patriotic, and
ask our permission
to have fun, to dance, to invite whoever you want and to
be a Free African,
for five minutes - to celebrate your simply being. It is
not allowed. We
have POSA, and AIPPA, and Miscellaneous Offences, and
Criminal Codification.
We have the Government of Zimbabwe, which is
dedicated to its
self-perpetuation until time immemorial, and we simply
cannot allow women to
enjoy themselves at a kitchen tea, without our
permission.
Sorry, ladies. Freedom was something else, when we were fighting
the
Chimurenga. This is not the freedom we were thinking about. This is
not
allowed.
The Zimbabwean
State media continues to distort news
values - MMPZ
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
HARARE - State media continue to
"distort news values" and unquestioningly
promote the official line in all
news stories of national importance,
according to a MMPZ report covering the
week 16 to 22 October.
The state media blindly reported on conflicting
official statements on
policy issues without any attempt to explain away the
inconsistencies.
According to the MMPZ, confusion reigned over reports of
the controversy
surrounding new bread prices. The Herald and her sister
publications on 20
October "passively reported the arrest of a senior
official in the Trade and
Industry Ministry, Norman Chakanetsa, for
allegedly 'unlawfully' approving
the bread price hike without the consent of
his boss, Minister Obert Mpofu."
They did not bother to question why it took
weeks for the authorities to
detect the anomaly.
In contrast, apart from
the Mirror papers, the private media endeavoured to
expose the government
policy deficiencies and contradictions with regards to
economic policy and
also the land reform issues. The Gazette and the
Standard, for example,
reported the continued eviction of white farmers
despite Mujuru's assurance
to international guests attending the Tourism
Expo that "our land reform
programme is now part of our history" as it had
"been taken to its logical
conclusion".
The Standard quoted JAG chairman John Worswick dismissing the
compensation
claims as "a bloody scam", saying government gave farmers only
"5 to 10% of
the real value of their properties". CFU vice-president Trevor
Gifford
concurred, saying most applications for land by white farmers had
been
"rejected" on "racially motivated reasons".
Typically the government
press completely evaded these issues rehashing
official statements and
glossing over the agricultural problems.
Mis-reporting of major issues could
also be seen in ZTV's "distorted news
values". According to the MMPZ, who
examined seven top stories run by ZTV,
none of them deserved the top slot.
Most stories were based on "mundane
official pronouncements" such as how the
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
expressed satisfaction with this year's travel
expo without substantiating
claims of the "lucrative deals" made
there.
Important stories such as the "the shocking revelations of girl-child
school
dropouts in Matebeleland", were buried under routine reports such as
the
Education Minister's calls for NGOs to work together "beyond a culture
of
conferences and workshops." Even when reported, no information was given
on
the reasons for the 25 per cent drop out rate or what the statistics were
for boy dropouts in the region.
According to the MMPZ: "ZTV's
preoccupation with officialdom at the expense
of dealing with the broader
picture also meant that they ignored following
up on important national
events or official promises that it would have
previously reported." Despite
a pronouncement by Transport Minister
Christopher Mushowe, in connection
with another report, that the National
Railways were on the road to recovery
after near collapse, ZTV did not
bother to measure the rate of revival nor
question how operational problems
had lead to fatal train accidents such as
the Dibangombe train disaster
report whose findings the authorities have
refused to release.
In an uncharacteristic display of unanimity, both
sections of the press
reported on the divergent views in the debate
surrounding the controversial
Domestic Violence Bill. The consensus among
commentators was that clauses
that classified "unreasonable denial of
conjugal rights" and
"possessiveness" as abuses, would cause problems as
there were no set
standards that could measure these issues.
The
electronic media were, however, largely quiet on the matter, SW Radio
Africa
made reference to the Bill in connection with another report, while
ZBH only
aired two stories buried deep within it bulletins.
THE PRESS STATEMENT ON DR.
N. SHAMUYARIRA AND ZANU PF POSITION ON
GUKURAHUNDI: BY FELIX M. MAFA
(EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
The Post Independence Survivors Trust (PIST) wishes to
express its profound
condemnation against the position of ZANU PF by its
National Spokesperson,
Dr. Nathan Shamuyarira on the defence of the 5th
Brigade, whereby over 20
000 innocent defenceless people where killed in
cold blood by the North
Korean trained (Gukurahundi) army. (refer to the
Standard of 1 - 7 October
2006) (No regrets on 5 Brigade).
It would
appear contradictory from President R. Mugabe former statement
"Gukurahundi
was a moment of madness" he said it at the funeral of the late
Vice
President Joshua Nkomo (1999). We therefore wonder and are at pains to
ascertain the correct position of ZANU PF as a party and short of 'APOLOGY'
by R. Mugabe then.
We therefore conclude that Dr. Nathan Shamuyarira's
position is the official
one of the party as he is the official spokesperson
of the party. Therefore
Mr. R. G. Mugabe was politicking to appease and buy
time in order to support
the dubious unity accord of 22 December 1987
between himself and Dr. Joshua
Nkomo the former PF ZAPU President.
From
the latest revelation by the Vice President Joseph Msika, (The Standard
15
-21 October 2006) that he was not convinced by R. G. Mugabe's so called
APOLOGY for the said atrocities, shows clearly that the unity accord was a
mere surrender document by PF ZAPU in order to save lives from Gukurahundi
strategy of killing all people in Matabeleland and Midlands perceived to be
PF ZAPU supporters or otherwise.
To conclude our statement, we wish to
draw the public to some of the
contents of the so-called Unity Accord
between ZANU PF and PF ZAPU. The
first meeting between the two parties began
on the 2nd of October 1985 at
Parliament Buildings, Harare and concluded on
the 22nd of December 1987 at
the same venue.
The agreement is as
follows:
1.That ZANU PF and PF ZAPU have irrevocably committed themselves to
unite
under one political party.
2.That the unity of the two political
parties; shall be achieved under the
name Zimbabwe African National Union
(Patriotic Front) in short ZANU PF.
3.That Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe
shall be the First Secretary and
President of ZANU PF.
4.That ZANU PF
shall have two Second Secretaries and Vice Presidents who
shall be appointed
by the First Secretary and President of the Party.
5.That ZANU PF shall seek
to establish a socialist society in Zimbabwe on
the guidance of
Marxist-Leninist principles.
6.That ZANU PF shall seek to establish a One
Party State in Zimbabwe.
7.That the leadership of ZANU PF shall abide by the
Leadership Code.
8.That the existing structures of ZANU PF and PF ZAPU shall
be merged in
accordance with the letter and spirit of this
Agreement.
9.That both parties shall, in the interim, take immediate vigorous
steps to
eliminate and end the insecurity and violence prevalent in
Matabeleland.
10That ZANU PF and PF ZAPU shall convene their respective
Congress to give
effect to this Agreement within the shortest possible
time.
11.That, in the interim, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe is vested with
full
powers to prepare for the implementation of this Agreement and to
act in
the name and authority of ZANU PF.
From the dubious or fake
agreement one is left with no doubt that PF ZAPU
was cheated and thereafter
swallowed by the old ZANU (PF) it was a political
expediency of the highest
order, by ZANU PF, hence to date the agreement is
outdated because sections
(5) (6) and (7) have been overtaken by the events
and time because:-
One
party stated has been rejected by the masses of Zimbabwe through the
formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on the 11th of
September 1999.
In brief the Socialist state built on one party state and
the code of
conduct as in section (5) (6) and (7) of the said Agreement has
been
abandoned, by ZANU PF and now is history.
It is therefore incumbent
upon the people of Zimbabwe to demand a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission
with a bias of justice to all perpetrators and
victims / survivors of
Gukurahndi to say the least. To prevent further
occurrences of such inhuman
acts and crime against humanity by those in
power, we therefore demand a
People's Driven and Democratic Constitution now
than later. We demand not
less than that, otherwise people of this country
will fight by all means to
set themselves free from ZANU PF dictatorship.
Dr. N. Shamuyarira's statement
is an attack to the dignity of the people of
Matabeleland and Midlands and
is most unfortunate, incomprehensible and
outrageous to say the least. There
are serious contradictions between Robert
Mugabe, the ZANU PF President and
the recent statement by Dr. Shamuyarira,
ZANU PF National Spokesperson. This
glaring disparity should not confuse
people as it is a strategy to buy time,
but the truth shall come out sooner
or later.
It is a true reflection of
the entire ZANU PF and hence, ordinary Zimbabwean
should take a leaf from
that statement and plan strategically for a
sustainable way forward, i.e.
people's oriented strategies to save
Zimbabweans as a whole.
Dated: 17
October 2006
Place: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
By and on behalf of Post
Independence Survivors Trust (PIST)
Post Independence Survivors Trust
(PIST)
P.O. Box 3006
Bulawayo
Cell: 091 322 912
The Zimbabwean
.Politburo members
frisked
.Bomb-proof hideout built
BY GIFT PHIRI
HARARE - Like so many
dictators before him, President Robert Mugabe, has
been reduced to living in
terror and now trusts no-one, not even his closest
colleagues.
To pander
to his increasing paranoia, workmen are currently fortifying his
retirement
mansion in the plush suburb of Borrowdale Brook - building a
bombproof
underground shelter and placing concrete posts around the
perimeter of the
massive property.
The 82-year-old leader, who has been in power since
independence in 1980,
has repeatedly made fanciful claims that he faces a
"terrorist threat" from
local opposition forces in British pay.
But now,
not only does he fear outsiders, but even those closest to him.
Senior ruling
party insiders have reported that politburo members are now
being thoroughly
frisked before going into meetings.
They say the move is an indication of the
siege mentality gripping Mugabe,
who apparently fears that people could
bring charms and weapons into
meetings.
Mugabe has said that his
lieutenants were approaching traditional healers
for good-luck charms to
help them become president after his retirement in
2008.
The underground
bombproof chambers are being built by reinforced concrete
and designed to
withstand intense military pressure that includes aerial
bombings. This is
on top of imposing a no-fly-zone above his mansion and
banning neighbours
taking walks or driving anywhere which puts them in full
view of the
mansion.
The sources said the only plausible explanation was that Mugabe was
preparing for any eventuality in Zimbabwe, including the possibility of a
civil war over his plans to cling on to power.
It was not possible to get
comment from the Zimbabwe government as Acting
Information Minister Paul
Mangwana has banned all interviews with The
Zimbabwean and the independent
Press.
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi snubbed The Zimbabwean when he was
originally contacted for comment on Zimbabwe's arms importation programme
three weeks ago. The CIO, which is jointly working on the bunkers project
with the Ministry of Defence, refused to comment.
State of decay
EDITOR - The state of decay of the infrastructure and service
delivery in
Zimbabwe is a true reflection of the leadership. Most of the
government
owned institutions are in an appalling state of decay. A visit to
any of the
institutions reveals that all is not well in our country, more so
the
leadership.
Most of the country's higher institutions of learning are
in dire need of
repair and renovation .The infrastructure is not being
maintained,
especially the halls of residence while the grounds have been
neglected.
Most of the institutions are experiencing shortages of lecture
rooms,
textbooks and staff-the list of shortages is endless. This appalling
state
mirrors the minister responsible plus the man who appointed
him.
The country's health delivery system has deteriorated beyond
imagination.
The hospitals are understaffed, and there is shortage of
essential drugs
throughout the country. Provincial hospitals have run out of
blankets and
sheets, thus patients have to bring their own. Hospitals have
deteriorated
such that they have become a health hazard to the patients. Our
leadership's
shortcomings are reflected quite well in the health sector,
they have lost
it all.
The state's correction facilities have also not
been spared the neglect and
are in a state of decay. Inmates are surviving
on bare essentials; food
shortages are the order of the day. The dressing is
pathetic with most of
them dressed in tatters and patched clothes. Some of
the clothes require an
expert to distinguish between the original material
of the garment and the
patches. The people in charge of the prisons, just
like the people in
leadership have failed to deliver. What's the logic of
imposing an army
officer to run the prisons when they are other experienced
and capable
prison officers?
As Zimbabweans lets unite and save our
destiny before the decay consumes us.
SAVIOUS HARI,
Gweru
------------
shoes
song poem by chenjerai
hove
baba,
there will be broken glass
on our street.
baba, buy
me shoes,
so i can walk safely
on the broken glass
of our
street.
baba,
there are too many
broken hearts on our streets.
baba,
buy me shoes
so i can step
on the broken glass
of their
hearts
without hurting my feet.
baba,
there are broken hearts
on our
streets:
buy me soft shoes
so i can walk
on their broken
dreams
without hurting them.
baba,
buy me shoes
to walk to my hard
destiny,
a destiny full of thorns.
buy me shoes
baba,
so i can
run
through a tomorrow
full of guns.
-----------
A challenge
to Matibenga
EDITOR - The MDC's Lucia Matibenga's recent attack on exiles
labelling them
desk-top activists and cyber-revolutionaries, saying they
were "quick to
criticise those who are in the trenches while they themselves
were doing
nothing and remained tucked away safely, thousands of miles from
tyranny",
cannot go unchallenged.
This was an ill judged and arrogant
outburst of a leader who has lost vision
and is just frustrated by lack of
progress in Zimbabwean politics.
Where were you Matibenga when we were being
arrested in the early 90s when
we were taking Zanu (PF) head on in
Chitungwiza, Harare, many parts of
Zimbabwe? Where were you, when we were
being battered by the regime? You
should appreciate that we were the ones
who prepared the way for future
Zimbabwe politics by being first in
campaigning for the defeat of Zanu in
Harare South, campaigning in areas
that used to be no go areas for the
opposition in Chitungwiza when Mhashu
was running for mayoral post. Isn't
it us who opened the way for opposition
to challenge Zanu (PF) in Mbare when
Vena Chitumba won the first opposition
council city in Mbare. That time you
were still serving your master.
You
used to laugh at us that when you used to say "vana ava vanopenga" when
we
were fighting against the regime. The MDC leadership should take this
serious because this is the direct insult of activists in exile who are
assisting the party financially in the struggle.
The leadership should
not be scared of constructive criticism but should
look at the value of the
criticism. Some leaders have lost sight and need
replacement with young
blood, who have new ideas as they have proved through
Matibenga that they
have failed.
Your statement is an insult for democratic and dedicated
Zimbabwe cadres who
have been victims of political violence. We came here
to regroup and
strategize and we are about to complete that mission. We are
now preparing
to come back for the struggle because we started it and we are
the ones who
will finish it. Nkala has called you cowards and he is
correct.
DURAN RAPOZO (Founding member of MDC in UK),
Manchester
---------
Murder of a nation
EDITOR - In 1980
veteran Zimbabwean Aaron Mutiti warned, unheeded: "Unless
the people of this
country are vigilant they are in for a rude shock.
Family life, religious
life and economic life as we know it will
progressively disappear if Mugabe
gets to power."
Last month union leaders were viciously beaten and seriously
hurt. South
Africa's Foreign Affairs spokesman Vincent Hlongwane reacted:
"We are
monitoring developments with interest, but we always maintain that
Zimbabwe
needs to address its own problems ..."
On 19 October during a
House of Lords debate on Zimbabwe the distinguished
former intelligence
operative Baroness Park of Monmouth detailed how even
agriculture in
communal areas is being destroyed by Mugabe's army. "In
Matabeleland the
brutality of the soldiers and their absolute power has
brought back memories
of the murderous destruction wrought by the Fifth
Brigade in the 1980s.
Once more the people are entirely at the mercy of the
troops, they are
starving ...... 364 000 school children and 190 000 of the
chronically ill
are expected to die. We are looking not at the death of a
nation but at its
murder by its own rulers."
There is only one entity, the Government of South
Africa, in concert with
anyone it chooses - SADC, the African Union, the
United Nations, whoever -
which can stop this calculated and escalating
genocide. The previous South
African regime halted Ian Smith in his
tracks. The present South African
government certainly has the brains and
the power to swiftly bring Mugabe to
heel just as the ANC and colleagues
successfully plotted the overthrow of
apartheid.
How can South Africa any
longer tolerate the anguished deaths by starvation,
brutality and disease of
hundreds of thousands of their tormented
neighbours? Can dying
schoolchildren really be expected to address their
own problems?
JUDITH
TODD, Cape Town
----------------
Makwavarara snubs
Parliament
EDITOR - the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has
consistently
lambasted the Chairperson of the Commission running the City of
Harare,
Sekesai Makwavarara, for mismanagement, corruption and misuse of
power.
In a move that has confirmed the above Ms Makwavarara is probably
going to
be charged for contempt of parliament after she snubbed calls for
her to
give oral evidence to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Transport and
Communication on three consecutive meetings.
She was
supposed to provide the committee with highlights of the state of
the
rehabilitation of roads and traffic lights in Harare. Evidence abound
that
social service delivery has collapsed and continue to decline to
unprecedented levels in Harare since she took over in December
2004.
Makwavarara led the onslaught against residents with her "Operation
Murambatsvina" that has caused untold suffering to residents. Waste
management in the City has collapsed with sewerage running everywhere in
most suburbs.
Roads are heavily decorated with potholes and as the rain
season is
approaching the levels of deterioration cannot be over
emphasized.
All these challenges facing the City of Harare emanate from the
incapacity
of the commission Chairperson to run the city.
The committee
has threatened to charge her with contempt of parliament if
she fails to
avail herself in the next meeting. It remains to be seen
whether Leo Mugabe
the chairperson of the Parliamentary committee has the
political will and
clout to convict Makwavarara after many have failed to
oust the
Chombo-backed city misfit.
The honorable Roy Bennett, MDC`s Treasurer General
and a distinguished
leader of the movement was locked behind bars after
frivolous and vexatious
charges of contempt of parliament and if charges of
contempt are raised,
residents demand that a sentence be delivered on
her.
Makwavarara has committed a serious offence that calls for a stiffer
jail
sentence. CHRA insists that the lady at Town House must be booted out
together with her fellow puppets.
MFUNDO MLILO, CHRA Advocacy and
Training Intern, Harare