The Zimbabwe Situation

JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE

PRESS STATEMENT - November 29, 2003

Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com

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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE PRESS RELEASE:

THE ILLEGAL CLOSURE OF THE JAG TITLE HOLDERS MEETING AT ART FARM

Justice for Agriculture convened a scheduled Title Holders meeting at Art
Farm on Friday 28 November 2003 at 9:45am. Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP),
with more than ten details, from Borrowdale Police Station arrived at
10:00 am and alleged the meeting was illegal, as the police had not been
notified under the requirements of the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA). They requested that we close the meeting forthwith. JAG
Leadership tried to explain that as a legally registered Trust convening a
meeting of its membership at a recognised agricultural training centre and
venue for meeting of farmers, it was exempt from the requirements under
POSA to notify the police.

There were in excess of 200 farmers present at this meeting from all over
Zimbabwe who had come to discuss legal issues relating to compensation,
restitution and the future of commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe. This was
a follow-up meeting to a meeting held on 15 May 2003. Lawyers, loss
assessors, valuators and accountants as professional representatives were
in attendance at this meeting and the previous one, to answer questions.

Police told the JAG Leadership that if the meeting was not closed forthwith
and the farmers "beat it" they would "bring in the boys in blue". The
police were intransigent in terms of our interpretation of POSA and would
not listen to reason - the threat of intimidation and violence was clear
and blatant. Regrettably the meeting was closed reluctantly in the
interest of members' safety. The police then confiscated a camera
belonging to Murray Alexander who had been tasked with recording the
meeting for the purpose of transcribing minutes. Borrowdale acting Member
in Charge, Assistant Inspector Nyansopo, demanded money for having had his
photograph taken by Mr Alexander. Mr Alexander and attending lawyer Mr
Louis Bennett went to Borrowdale Police Station at the request of Asst
Inspector Nyansopo, followed by the JAG Leadership in support.

JAG sought legal opinion prior to the convening of this meeting and the
other convened earlier in the year with specific attention to POSA, which
states under Section 24 (1) "subject to subsection (5), the organisers of a
public gathering shall give at least four clear days' written notice of the
holding of the gathering..." However subsection (5) states, "this section
shall not apply to public gatherings of a class described in the schedule".
The schedule is clear in stating, "Classes of public gathering to which
section 24 does not apply: (c) Public gatherings of members of
professional, vocational or OCCUPATIONAL bodies held for purposes which are
not political".

It was abundantly clear that there was nothing illegal about this meeting
nor anything political in terms of the agenda and that the police had come
solely with the intent of malicious harassment. David Conolly, John
Worswick, Wynand Hart, Ben Freeth and Louis Bennett who attended Borrowdale
Police Station, once having cleared up the matter of the camera, were
finally told they were under arrest in contravention of POSA. We were told
that the police at Borrowdale were acting under instructions from "higher
up". We eventually established that this allegation was in reference to
the Law and Order Section at Harare Central Police Station.

Beatrice Mtetwa, from Kantor & Immerman, attended the Borrowdale Police
Station to represent the JAG accused and Mr Louis Bennett (now himself an
accused). She managed to establish that we were not in fact under arrest
but were wanted for questioning by the Law and Order Section and that
details from the Law and Order Section were on their way. After a
protracted wait we were then informed that the Law and Order Section were
out of fuel and could not attend. The JAG Leadership, together with Louis
Bennett and Beatrice Mtetwa and a detail, Constable Koni Leonard from
Borrowdale Police Station, travelled in our own personal vehicles to Police
Central to meet with Chief Superintendent Madzingwa of the Law and Order
Section. After a protracted discussion and elementary questioning, which
required the submission of the JAG Trust Document and Notarial Deed of
Trust (showing registration stamps) together with both agendas relating to
the two meetings it was established beyond doubt that as a legal
representative body (occupational i.e. farmers) with no politics involved
in either agenda, we had no case to answer. Chief Superintendent Madzingwa,
after apologising, also categorically stated that Borrowdale Police Station
had not been acting under instructions of the Law and Order Section and he
had no knowledge of this meeting being contentious. The unlawfully
detained party left Police Central at roughly 4:00pm.

In light of the above, a legal action is already being pursued with regard
to the illegal activities of the staff of Borrowdale Police Station which
will involve civil damages claims being pursued. It is JAG's contention
that accumulated costs accrued and lost as a result of the illegal closure
of this meeting will be between Z$10-15 million.

JAG regrets the inconvenience caused to those who attended the meeting by
the unwarranted and unlawful behaviour of certain members of the ZRP
specifically those who attended from Borrowdale Police Station and we give
every assurance that JAG will continue to act transparently and responsibly
within the law and that this matter will be pursued to its legal
conclusion.

JAG has every intention of reconvening this benchmark meeting at the
earliest opportunity, possibly as soon as Friday 5 December 2003. PLEASE
WATCH THIS SPACE.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week, for the first time in many months, I actually managed to find a petrol queue in which I felt confident of reaching the front before stocks ran out. At the pumphead there was a little piece of white paper stuck next to the cost per litre indicator. On the paper was written: X 100. In other words the price I paid last time I had queued here in May 2003 had to be multiplied by 100 and on the rare occasions when petrol stations have fuel it now costs one hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars to fill a standard sixty litre tank.

In the 2 hours it took for me to get to the front of the petrol queue there was not much to do except think about what is happening to our country. A young black woman came to my car window carrying a large enamel basin filled with wild mahobohobo fruits which she was trying to sell in order to earn a few dollars with which to buy a meal that night. The woman smiled at me. "Aren't you Catherine?" she asked. I said I was and apologised for forgetting her name, something I seem to spend my life saying to people these days! "I am Chipo's sister" she said and at the words my heart went into my mouth because it had been two years since I had lost all contact with Chipo's family and had not even been able to offer my condolences properly. "Chipo died," she said. I nodded and said how sorry I was. I asked about Chipo's baby son and who was now caring for the child. The last time I had seen the boy he had been a fat, gorgeous baby who smiled and dribbled in my arms and his mother had clapped with cupped hands when I gave her all my own son's baby clothes. "No," the woman said quietly, " I am sorry, Chipo's baby also died."

Aids is ravaging Zimbabwe and I am no expert on the topic but you don't have to be here because the disease and its effects are all around us all the time. Official estimates are that 3000 people are dying from Aids here every week, I think the number is probably far, far higher than that. 7 out of 10 people are unemployed in Zimbabwe and there are hundreds of thousands of people who are HIV positive but cannot afford the anti retrovirals, let alone one decent meal a day. Everywhere you look you see Aids staring you in the face. The obituary notices in the newspapers and the dates on headstones in the cemeteries are filled with people who have died in their twenties and thirties. In almost every shop and street you see young men and women as thin as skeletons, with sunken eyes, grey hair, swollen feet and sores on their faces and necks. On hospital cards you read the doctors' reports of the sudden onset of epilepsy and arthritis or prolonged diarrhoea. The recommendations are always: "improve nutrition, needs milk, eat fruit and vegetables, take vitamin supplements." To anyone living in a country with 525% inflation these words are a joke. Milk, fruit, eggs and vegetables have become unaffordable to the vast majority of people and so, young women like Chipo and her beautiful son, just fade away and die.

Since October 2000 when government supporters chased my family off our farm, three of our seven employees have died of Aids. Two others are HIV positive. The daily assistance I used to be able to give to those employees with milk, fruit and vegetables from the farm, stopped in 2000. The free condoms I used to give out every month stopped too. The nearest farm clinic was long since closed down by government supporters grabbing land for their political masters.

As I drafted this letter President Mugabe was threatening to pull Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth saying that we were still members of the UN and proud of our association with that body. On the 1st of December it is World Aids Day and I as listened to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's words, I could not help thinking about the men and women who had lived and worked on our farm. Mr Annan said he "tries to speak for the poor and the voiceless." His voice and that of the UN have been deafening in their silence when it comes to the plight of millions of desperate Zimbabweans, dying of Aids, hunger and the simplest of diseases. Our government nurses and doctors are still on strike here. Sick people depending on vitamins or drugs coming by post from relations outside the country are also lost now as postal workers continue with their strike which has now been going on for 14 days.

This letter is dedicated to the lives, loves and in memory of the men and women who worked on our farm and have now died of Aids: Emmanuel, Josephine and Wilfred and also to a friend, Chipo, and her baby son. Until next week, with love, cathy.Copyright cathy buckle, 29th November 2003. http://africantears.netfirms.com

My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are now available outside Africa from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com

HARARE, Nov. 29 — Zimbabwe's only private daily newspaper asked a court on
Saturday to let it publish pending a final ruling on a licence quest, saying
it had suffered heavy losses since President Robert Mugabe's government
closed it.
       The Daily News, a critic of Mugabe as the country struggles with an
economic crisis his opponents blame on government incompetence, was shut two
months ago.
       ''The economic harm suffered by the (Daily News) is immeasurable,''
lawyer Eric Matinenga, representing the paper, told the court.
       ''Importantly, there is also immeasurable harm to the citizens of
this country,'' said Matinenga, adding a survey showed the Daily News
enjoyed the largest market share among the country's readership.
       The paper, founded in 1999, and other government critics say laws
compelling media houses to be registered are designed to muzzle Mugabe's
opponents. The government says they are meant to restore professionalism in
journalism.
       Administrative Court Judge Selo Nare reserved judgment, but did not
give a date.
       Daily News legal adviser Gugulethu Moyo said this meant the paper
could not publish on Sunday despite the expiry of the Administrative Court's
initial November 30 deadline for it to be granted a licence.
       In September, police closed the Daily News after a court ruled it was
operating illegally without a licence in defiance of media laws.
       Last month the president of the Administrative Court, Judge Michael
Majuru, ordered a state-appointed media commission to reverse its decision
after it had rejected the paper's application for registration.
       Police shut the paper again after it had gone to print following the
judgment, saying Majuru had stipulated only that the Daily News be granted a
licence by November 30 and this did not give it authority to immediately
resume publication.
       The media commission appealed against Majuru's order at the Supreme
Court, saying there was Administrative Court misdirection. The application
effectively suspended the judgment.
       ''The... appeal (to the Supreme Court) is frivolous and vexatious and
is simply meant to harass the applicant,'' Matinenga said.
       Media commission lawyer Johannes Tomana said the paper should not
publish before the Supreme Court heard the matter.

Pretoria - Southern African foreign ministers agreed Friday to urge
Commonwealth members not to isolate Zimbabwe, but stopped short of calling
for it to be invited to next week's Commonwealth summit in Nigeria, a
diplomat told AFP. Lesotho high commissioner (ambassador) to South Africa
Mosuoe Moteane told AFP the agreement came at a three-hour meeting in
Pretoria of the organ on politics, defence and security of the 14-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC). Represented were Lesotho,
current chair of the organ, Mozambique and South Africa, members of the
organ's troika, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was suspended from the
Commonwealth, a 54-member grouping of former British colonies, in March last
year following a presidential election that some international observer
groups said was marred by violence, intimidation and major electoral flaws.
This week Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is due to host the
December 5-9 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the capital
Abuja, said President Robert Mugabe had not been invited. The ministers who
met in Pretoria urged the Harare government to talk with civil society and
the opposition, Moteane said. "After some debate the troika of the organ
took a common position that SADC should lobby other members of the
Commonwealth to request them not to isolate Zimbabwe but to persuade the
government of Zimbabwe to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders
in that country, including civil society and opposition parties."

Ottawa - The Canadian government bluntly told Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe yesterday that he should tend his own country's difficulties rather
than attacking "white" members of the Commonwealth. "Mr Mugabe is trying to
defend his position. I presume he must feel pretty vulnerable, and it
strikes me that he's attacking others when he really should be attacking the
problems of Zimbabwe," a senior Canadian official said. The official was
briefing reporters ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's
departure for next week's summit of the 54-member Commonwealth, from which
both Zimbabwe and Pakistan are suspended. In remarks in Harare on Friday,
Mugabe accused the "white" section of the Commonwealth, which includes
Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, of leading an attack on
Zimbabwe. "Is it the African solidarity and sovereignty, the solidarity of
those who are non-whites, or is (it) the strength, the power of the few
whites in the Commonwealth that should dominate the view of the
Commonwealth?" he asked. The Commonwealth, whose members are mostly former
British colonies, suspended Zimbabwe last year after Mugabe claimed victory
in an election that both the opposition and Western groups said was rigged.

Mugabe said yesterday that perhaps it was now time to leave the
Commonwealth. "I think we would be terribly disappointed if Zimbabwe took
that position (of leaving)," the senior Canadian official told reporters in
Ottawa. The official said the group was "a very nice club to be in" and
noted how countries that had been suspended were now in a position to host a
summit – like Nigeria, host of the December 5-8 meeting. "It's really a
source of pride," she said, adding the hope that the Commonwealth would some
day be able to welcome Zimbabwe back in. But she said Canada would press
strenuously for the continued suspension of Zimbabwe, which has not been
invited to the meeting in Nigeria. "We're concerned about the situation in
Zimbabwe and we're concerned about the lack of progress," she said. Canada
will also push for the reappointment of New Zealand's Don McKinnon as the
organisation's secretary-general, despite the last-minute nomination of a
candidate by Sri Lanka, its Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Kadirgamar
was seen as a possible alternative for any members who might favour a softer
approach on Zimbabwe, but the Canadian official said she had not sensed much
support for the new candidate.

Johannesburg - The European Commission (EC) has announced that it will make
available some US $8 million in additional funding for World Food Programme
(WFP) aid efforts in Zimbabwe. The EC had already pledged about $28 million
towards the Regional Emergency Operation (EMOP) appeal launched in July
2003. The money was made available "specifically to procure and distribute
maize to the people of Zimbabwe". "The EC has now agreed to allocate a
further €7 million (about $8 million). These commitments from the EC's food
security budget line go a long way to secure the WFP food pipeline well into
2004," the EC said. According to assessments by aid agencies, about half
Zimbabwe's population, some 5.5 million, is in need of food aid. In an
interview with IRIN earlier this month WFP country director Kevin Farrell
said the agency "faces severe pipeline problems in the early months of
2004". "At the moment, we have only sufficient maize until January, and
there are also shortages of other key commodities, such as vegetable oil,
pulses and corn-soya blend (CSB)," he said. Farrell warned then that
"without new contributions, WFP will be forced to cut back on its
distributions next year - leaving millions of people with reduced rations,
or no rations at all".

The EC said its latest contribution "brings the total European Union
contribution to the 2003/04 EMOP (UK, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands
have also made pledges) to over €51 million (about $58 million) representing
about 48 percent of total donor pledges to date to the WFP pipeline," the EC
said. There had been some concern earlier this year that the EC would
withdraw some of its funding for the crisis in Zimbabwe. "In committing
these funds the European Commission recognises that the food security
situation in Zimbabwe remains critical and that without the direct
intervention of the international community, a significant proportion of the
Zimbabwean population are at serious risk," the EC said. The donor community
also expected the government of Zimbabwe to "play its part in filling the
estimated import gap of 1.28 million tonnes of cereal during the marketing
year 2003/04". The EC Delegation in Harare noted that "the success of any
aid intervention will require a spirit of cooperation, openness and
understanding between the international community and the government of
Zimbabwe. In this regard it is crucial that the WFP Memorandum of
Understanding, which incorporates the EU principles in regard to the
distribution of humanitarian aid, is strictly complied with".

Zimbabwean refugees tortured under President Robert Mugabe’s regime were
today among a group of 20 to 30 protesters demonstrating outside the
Zimbabwe High Commission in London, Amnesty International said.

Wearing white gags around their mouths and holding blank placards with the
words “The Daily News” at the top, protesters, including gay and human
rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, demonstrated against the closure of the
country’s only independent newspaper, The Daily News.

Lesley Warner of Amnesty International said the protest was timed to
coincide with next week’s Commonwealth summit in Abuja, Nigeria.

President Mugabe has not been invited to the summit as Zimbabwe was
suspended from the Commonwealth’s decision-making councils following
allegations of intimidation and vote-rigging in Mugabe’s disputed 2002
re-election.

Last night Mugabe threatened to pull out of the 54-nation grouping of
Britain and its former territories.

Diana Morant, Amnesty International UK activist and organiser of the
demonstration, said: “There is a spiralling human rights crisis in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean government has brought in legislation to crackdown on the
independent media and journalists are targeted by the police and security
services in order to prevent exposure of horrific human rights violations,
including torture of government critics.”

Speaking outside the Zimbabwe High Commission in The Strand, Ms Warner said:
“We want to put pressure on the commonwealth members to talk about the
subject at the meeting and we want to make sure they use their influence to
put pressure on Mugabe to ensure that freedom of speech returns to Zimbabwe.

“We want them to press for an end to the repression, systematic torture and
the silencing of voices of dissent.”

Zimbabwe faces its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in
1980, with inflation running at 526% and acute shortages of food, petrol,
medicines and other essential goods. The often-violent farm seizures have
crippled the country’s agriculture-based economy.

      ADMINISTRATIVE Court judge Selo Nare today indefinitely reserved
judgment in the case in which Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) is
seeking an order allowing it to publish pending an appeal at the Supreme
Court.

      The application follows an appeal by the Media and Information
Commission (MIC) to the Supreme Court to suspend an order granted by the
Administrative Court allowing the ANZ to resume operations by 30 November.

      ANZ are the publishers of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday.

      Nare said he would hand down the judgment "in the very near future."

      He said the justice system in the country was being affected by the
financial position of the government.

      "I do not have a typist, mine was loaned to the High Court. So I have
to rely on the High Court which is heavily understaffed," said Nare, before
the court session adjourned. "Had I been here, say Tuesday, last week I
could have made sure that you have the judgment before 30 November."

      Nare took over the case after the Administrative Court judge Michael
Majuru recused himself following a story published in the government-owned
Herald accusing him of bias towards ANZ.

      Eric Matinenga, representing ANZ, said the MIC would not suffer any
prejudice if ANZ's titles were allowed to publish pending the Supreme
Court's determination.

      "In fact it is the ANZ which is suffering economically," he told the
court. "Moreover, denial of a licence to ANZ deprives about one million
readers of their right to information which is enshrined in the
Constitution. It must also be borne in mind that ANZ was not denied a
licence on the premise that the contents of its newspapers were injurious to
the readership of Zimbabwe."

      But Johannes Tomana for the MIC said ANZ would only be allowed to
publish if the MIC’s appeal to the Supreme Court had no chances of success.

      "Given that MIC's chances of winning its case (in the Supreme Court)
are real, there is no reason why ANZ should be allowed to publish," said
Tomana. “Citizens of Zimbabwe have a right to information yes, but that
should be in accordance with the laws of the country. If they are really
being deprived of information as ANZ would like to suggest, they could have
shown that by way of demonstrations. But nothing of that sort has so far
happened."

      In its heads of argument the MIC argued that the Administrative Court
erred in passing its judgment as it acted as a review court by calling for
the dissolution of the MIC board.

      The Administrative Court had ruled that the MIC board was improperly
constituted. It said a new board should be appointed and grant ANZ a licence
by the 30th of November.