The Zimbabwe Situation

http://www.businessday.co.za

DUMISANI MULEYA
Published: 2010/11/29 06:37:49 AM

ZIMBABWE’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have
agreed to resume today their critical meetings that collapsed two months ago
when they clashed over state appointments.

The agreement follows the intervention of President Jacob Zuma , who visited
Harare on Friday. It is hoped that the leaders’ decision to resume weekly
meetings will lead to progress on the completion of a new constitution,
which would then be followed by free and fair elections.

A senior government official confirmed yesterday that Mr Mugabe and Mr
Tsvangirai had agreed to hold the weekly meetings that collapsed over Mr
Mugabe’s unilateral appointments of provincial governors, ambassadors and
judges.

Apart from boycotting the Monday meetings, Mr Tsvangirai has not attended
cabinet meetings regularly and the two have not spoken with each other
recently.

"After President Zuma’s visit and the talks which he presided over, it was
agreed that the Monday meetings must resume urgently. It was also agreed
that the government must complete the constitution-making process and start
working on a road map to free and fair elections," the official said.

"Besides, it was agreed that the political principals must re- engage on
outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement and try to resolve the
disputes on those matters amicably. So there will be a resumption of talks
on those issues and in the process negotiations about elections and the way
forward."

While they agreed to resume the meetings from today, an official said the
meeting may not take place because of the European Union-Africa summit which
starts in Tripoli this morning.

After the meetings on Friday, all the principals — Mr Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai
and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara — refused to comment.

Mr Tsvangirai said: "Talk to the mediator, President Zuma."

Mr Zuma briefly addressed journalists after meetings with Mr Mugabe, Mr
Tsvangirai and Mr Mutambara, initially separately, and then together. "We
have met and we have had successful consultations on a number of issues," Mr
Zuma said.

"They were small issues. There had been a breakdown of communication among
the leaders of the government but that has now been resolved and meetings
will resume."

Mr Zuma went to Harare after the Southern African Development Community
troika of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security failed to meet on
November 19 in Gaborone to discuss the Zimbabwe situation.

However, after Mr Zuma’s trip to Harare, the troika is expected to meet soon
to tackle the Zimbabwe situation.

The US on Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Ncube

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Wikileaks

Monday 29 November 2010

International wesbite Wikileaks has begun releasing more than 250 000 documents detailing correspondence between the US State Department and Washington’s various embassies around the world.

The 251 287 documents previously unavailable to the public and all of which are classified either confidential or secret focus on US policy and diplomatic relations between the world’s sole superpower and countries in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.

And below is a document filed by headquarters by the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell in 2007. The document gives insights into US thinking and objectives on Zimbabwe as well as Washington’s opinion about the leading political players in the southern African country:

Date 2007-07-13 10:04:00

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000638

SUBJECT: The End is Nigh

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4b/d

Having said my piece repeatedly over the last three years, I won't offer a lengthy prescription for our Zimbabwe policy. My views can be stated very simply as stay the course and prepare for change. Our policy is working and it's helping to drive change here. What is required is simply the grit, determination and focus to see this through. Then, when the changes finally come we must be ready to move quickly to help consolidate the new dispensation.

THE SITUATION

Robert Mugabe has survived for so long because he is more clever and more ruthless than any other politician in Zimbabwe. To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician and has long thrived on his ability to abruptly change the rules of the game, radicalise the political dynamic and force everyone else to react to his agenda.

However, he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for everything in the present and future; his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics, including supply and demand); and his essentially short-term, tactical style.

While his tactical skills have kept him in power for 27 years, over the last seven this has only been achieved by a series of populist, but destructive and ultimately self-defeating moves. In reaction to losing the 2000 referendum on the constitution, a vengeful Mugabe unleashed his Green Bombers to commit land reform and in the process he destroyed Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, once the bedrock of the economy.

While thousands of white farmers saw their properties seized, hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans lost their livelihoods and were reduced to utter poverty. In 2005, having been forced to steal victory by manipulating the results of an election he lost, Mugabe lashed out again, punishing the urban populace by launching Operation Murambatsvina. The result was wholesale destruction of the informal sector, on which as much as 70-80 percent of urban dwellers had depended, and the uprooting of 700,000 Zimbabweans. The current inflationary cycle really began with Murambatsvina, as rents and prices grew in response to a decrease in supply.

And now, faced with the hyperinflationary consequences of his ruinous fiscal policies and growing reliance on the printing press to keep his government running, Mugabe has launched Operation Slash Prices. This has once again given him a very temporary boost in popularity especially among the police, who have led the looting of retail outlets and now seem well positioned to take a leading role in the black market economy) at the cost of terrible damage to the country and people.

Many small grocery and shop owners, traders, etc., will be wiped out; the shelves are increasingly bare; hunger, fear, and tension are growing; fuel has disappeared. When the shelves are still empty this time next week, the popular appeal of the price roll back will evaporate and the government simply doesn’t have the resources to replace the entire private commercial sector and keep Zimbabweans fed. It may attempt to do so by printing more money, adding even more inflationary pressure on a system already reeling from the GOZ’s quasi-fiscal lunacy combined with the price impact of pervasive shortages.

The increasingly worthless Zim dollar is likely to collapse as a unit of trade in the near future, depriving the Government of Zimbabwe of its last economic tool other than sheer thuggery and theft of others’ assets.

With all this in view, I’m convinced the end is not far off for the Mugabe regime. Of course, my predecessors and many other observers have all said the same thing, and yet Mugabe is still with us. I think this time could prove different, however, because for the first time the president is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts.

In the past, he could always play one of these off against the other, using economic moves to counter political pressure or playing the old colonial/race/imperialist themes to buy himself breathing room regionally and internationally. But he is running out of options and in the swirling gases of the new Zimbabwean constellation that is starting to form, the economic, political and international pressures are concentrating on Mugabe himself.

Our Zanu PF contacts are virtually unanimous in saying reform is desperately needed, but won't happen while the Old Man is there, and therefore he must go (finding the courage to make that happen is another matter, however, but even that may be coming closer).

This is not some sudden awakening on the road to Damascus, but a reflection of the pain even party insiders increasingly feel over the economic meltdown. We also get regular, albeit anecdotal, reports of angry and increasingly open mutterings against Mugabe even in ZANU-PF's traditional rural bastions.

Beginning in March, the other SADC leaders finally recognised (in the wake of the terrible beatings of March 11 and the international outcry that followed another self-inflicted wound for Mugabe) that Zimbabwe is a problem they need to address.

Thabo Mbeki appears committed to a successful mediation and is reportedly increasingly irritated with Mugabe’s efforts to manipulate him or blow him off altogether. If Mugabe judges that he still commands all he surveys by virtue of being the elder statesman on the scene, he may be committing yet another serious blunder.

Finally, one does well to recall that the only serious civil disturbances here in a decade came in 1998 over bread shortages, showing that even the famously passive Shona people have their limits. The terror and oppression of the intervening years have cowed people, but it’s anyone’s guess whether their fear or their anger will win out in the end.

WHAT WILL THE END LOOK LIKE?

This is the big, unanswerable question. One thing at least is certain, Mugabe will not wake up one morning a changed man, resolved to set right all he has wrought. He will not go quietly nor without a fight. He will cling to power at all costs and the costs be damned, he deserves to rule by virtue of the liberation struggle and land reform and the people of Zimbabwe have let him down by failing to appreciate this, thus he needn’t worry about their well-being.

The only scenario in which he might agree to go with a modicum of good grace is one in which he concludes that the only way to end his days a free man is by leaving State House. I judge that he is still a long way from this conclusion and will fight on for now.

The optimal outcome, of course, and the only one that doesn’t bring with it a huge risk of violence and conflict, is a genuinely free and fair election, under international supervision. The Mbeki mediation offers the best, albeit very slim, hope of getting there.

However, as Pretoria grows more and more worried about the chaos to its north and President Mbeki’s patience with Mugabe’s antics wears thin, the prospects for serious South African engagement may be growing. Thus, this effort deserves all the support and backing we can muster.

Less attractive is the idea of a South African-brokered transitional arrangement or government of national unity. Mbeki has always favored stability and in his mind this means a Zanu PF-led GNU, with perhaps a few MDC additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform.

The other scenarios are all less attractive: a popular uprising would inevitably entail a bloodbath, even if it were ultimately successful; Mugabe’s sudden, unexpected death would set off a stampede for power among Zanu PF heavy weights; a palace coup, whether initiated within Zanu PF or from the military -- in which Mugabe is removed, killed, exiled or otherwise disposed of, could well devolve into open conflict between the contending successors.

Similarly, some form of "constitutional coup" i.e., a change at the top engineered within the framework of Zanu PF's "legitimate" structures could well prove to be merely the opening bell in a prolonged power struggle. None of the players is likely to go quietly into the night without giving everything they have, including calling on their supporters in the security services. Moreover, experience elsewhere would suggest that whoever comes out on top initially will struggle, and more than likely fail, to halt the economic collapse. Thus, there is a good prospect of not one but a series of rapid-fire transitions, until some new, stable dispensation is reached.

The final, and probably worst, possibility is that Mugabe concludes he can settle for ruling over a rump Zimbabwe, maintaining control over Harare and the MaShona heartland, the critical forces of the National Reserve Force and CIO and a few key assets gold, diamonds, platinum and Air Zimbabwe to fund the good times. Under this scenario, the rest of the country, in one of the comrade’s favorite phrases, could “go hang”, leaving it to the international community to stave off the worst humanitarian consequences.

WHAT OF THE OPPOSITION?

Zimbabwe’s opposition is far from ideal and I leave convinced that had we had different partners, we could have achieved more already. But you have to play the hand you’re dealt. With that in mind, the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power.

Morgan Tsvangarai is a brave, committed man and, by and large, a democrat. He is also the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. But Tsvangirai is also a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, he is a kind of Lech Walesa character: Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery.

Arthur Mutambara is young and ambitious, attracted to radical, anti-western rhetoric and smart as a whip. But, in many respects he’s a light-weight who has spent too much time reading U.S. campaign messaging manuals and too little thinking about the real issues.

Welshman Ncube has proven to be a deeply divisive and destructive player in the opposition ranks and the sooner he is pushed off the stage, the better. But he is useful to many, including the regime and South Africa, so is probably a cross to be borne for some time yet. The prospects for healing the rift within the MDC seem dim, which is a totally unnecessary self-inflicted wound on their part this time.

With few exceptions -- Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa -- the talent is thin below the top ranks. The great saving grace of the opposition is likely to be found in the Diaspora. Most of Zimbabwe’s best professionals, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, etc., have fled the country. They are the opposition’s natural allies and it is encouraging to see signs, particularly in South Africa and the UK, that these people are talking, sharing ideas, developing plans and thinking together about future recovery.

Unfortunately, among the MDC’s flaws is its inability to work more effectively with the rest of civil society. The blame for this can be shared on both sides (many civil society groups, like the NCA, are single-issue focused and take the overall dynamic in unhelpful directions; others, like WOZA, insist on going it alone as a matter of principle), but ultimately it falls to the MDC as the largest and the only true political party, to show the way.

Once again, however, these are natural allies and they have more reason to work together than fight against each other.

STAYING THE COURSE, PREPARING FOR CHANGE

If I am right and change is in the offing, we need to step up our preparations. The work done over the last year on transition planning has been extremely useful, both for stimulating a fresh look at our own assumptions and plans and for forging a common approach among the traditional donor community. But the process has lagged since the meetings in March in London and should be re-energised.

It is encouraging in this respect that USAID Washington has engaged the Mission here in discussing how we would use additional resources in response to a genuinely reform-minded government. I hope this will continue and the good work done so far will survive the usual bloodletting of the budget process.

The official media has had a field day recently whooping that "Dell leaves Zimbabwe a failed man". That's not quite how it looks from here. I believe that the firm U.S. stance, the willingness to speak out and stand up, have contributed to the accelerating pace of change. Mugabe and his henchman are like bullies everywhere: if they can intimidate you they will. But they’re not used to someone standing up to them and fighting back. It catches them off guard and that's when they make mistakes.

The howls of protest over critical statements from Washington or negative coverage on CNN are the clearest proof of how this hurts them. Ditto the squeals over illegal sanctions. In addition, the regime has become so used to calling the shots and dictating the pace that the merest stumble panics them. Many local observers have noted that Mugabe is panicked and desperate about hyperinflation at the moment, and hence he’s making mistakes. Possibly fatal mistakes.

We need to keep the pressure on in order to keep Mugabe off his game and on his back foot, relying on his own shortcomings to do him in. Equally important is an active U.S. leadership role in the international community. The UK is ham-strung by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness. The EU is divided between the hard north and its soft southern underbelly. The Africans are only now beginning to find their voice. Rock solid partners like Australia don’t pack enough punch to step out front and the UN is a non-player. Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of ordinary Zimbabweans of all kinds have told me that our clear, forthright stance has given them hope and the courage to hang on. By this regime’s standards, acting in the interests of the people may indeed be considered a failure. But I believe that the opposite is true, and that we can be justifiably proud that in Zimbabwe we have helped advance the President’s freedom agenda. The people of this country know it and recognise it and that is the true touchstone of our success here. DELL

Report casts doubt on Mbeki's neutrality on Zim

http://www.mg.co.za

MANDY ROSSOUW | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Nov 29 2010 11:08

Former president Thabo Mbeki had a bias for Zanu-PF during his time as
mediator between Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), United States embassy documents have revealed.

During the past weekend whistleblower website WikiLeaks released 250 000
documents, consisting of US diplomatic and intelligence reports, to five
international newspapers, sending shockwaves through the international
diplomatic community.

Included in these documents is a report by US ambassador to Zimbabwe
Christopher Dell in 2007, marked "confidential", which sheds light on the US
strategy in Zimbabwe, as well as Mbeki's role.

It shows, for the first time, that Mbeki may not have been a neutral broker
during the negotiations process, which he was mandated by the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) to take charge of.

"Mbeki has always favored [sic] stability and in his mind this means a
Zanu-PF led GNU [government of national unity], with perhaps a few MDC
additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis
and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which
perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform," Dell
wrote in his report.

Dell's report was written shortly after then-US president George Bush
declared Mbeki as his "point man in Africa".

Behind the scenes, MDC activists claimed that during the negotiations
process Mbeki had favoured president Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF, but this is
the first time the issue is stated in official documents.

Flawed figure
In his assessment of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Dell said he was the
"only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability
to rally the masses".

But, he said, Tsvangirai was a flawed figure.

"[He is] not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable
judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for
opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in
power. Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to
lead the country's recovery," Dell warned.

According to Dell, the amount of talented individuals in the MDC was
limited.

"With few exceptions -- [finance minister] Tendayi (sic) Biti and
[communications minister] Nelson Chamisa is the talent thin below the top
ranks. The great saving grace of the opposition is likely to be found in the
diaspora."

Dell pulled no punches when he assessed Mugabe.

"To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician and has long thrived
on his ability to abruptly change the rules of the game. However, he is
fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own
infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for
everything in the present and the future; his deep ignorance on economic
issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him authority to
suspend the laws of economics, including supply and demand); and his
essentially short-term tactical style."

‘US regrets disclosure of information’ - US Ambassador

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

29 November, 2010 06:54:00 OWEN GAGARE - News Day

US ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray yesterday said his country regretted
the disclosure of confidential information but quickly pointed out that
diplomats’ reports did not represent his government’s official position.

Ray was reacting to the release of confidential documents downloaded from
the US Defence department, which showed US diplomats assessment of policies,
negotiations and leaders around the world as well as private conversations.

The confidential reports were made available by WikiLeaks, a website which
specialises on leaking classified information.

Among the documents on the website is an assessment of the political
situation in Zimbabwe in 2007 by former US ambassador Christopher Dell.

“I cannot vouch for the authenticity of any one of these documents. But I
can say that the United States deeply regrets the disclosure of any
information that was intended to be confidential. And we condemn it,” he
said.

“Diplomats must engage in frank discussions with their colleagues, and they
must be assured that these discussions will remain private. Honest
dialogue — within governments and between them — is part of the basic
bargain of international relations; we couldn’t maintain peace, security,
and international stability without it.

“I do believe that people of good faith recognise that diplomats’ internal
reports do not represent a government’s official foreign policy. In the
United States, they are one element out of many that shape our policies,
which are ultimately set by the President and the Secretary of State.”

Ray said the US policies were a matter of public record and were available
online and elsewhere.
He said US diplomats also met human rights workers, journalists, religious
leaders, and others outside the government who offered their own candid
insights.

“These conversations depend on trust and confidence as well. If an
anti-corruption activist shares information about official misconduct, or a
social worker passes along documentation of sexual violence, revealing that
person’s identity could have serious repercussions: imprisonment, torture,
even death,” he said.

The US ambassador condemned the leaks and said they posed a risk to people.

Ray said the US was committed to maintaining the security of its diplomatic
communications and would continue to work to strengthen its partnership with
the people of Zimbabwe.

SADC Troika set to meet in Zambia to discuss Zimbabwe

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
29 November 2010

The SADC Troika’s aborted meeting on Zimbabwe will now be convened in
Lusaka, Zambia, after South African President Jacob Zuma’s latest mediation
efforts to resolve the crisis.

The South African Sunday Times reported that the Troika, chaired by Zambian
President Rupiah Banda, will meet in Lusaka to receive Zuma’s report and map
the way forward in trying to resolve the political stalemate in Zimbabwe.

The online edition of the Daily News reported on Monday that deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara revealed that the SADC troika will be held next
week. Zuma, the SADC mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, was in Harare last
week Friday where he met Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Mutambara separately.

The four later held a joint meeting but sources said it was ‘tense and tough’
though Zuma tried to paint it as positive and constructive. Lindiwe Zulu, a
member of Zuma’s facilitation team, told journalists the Harare meeting will
enable more active talks and will intensify the progress in implementing the
remaining issues in the Global Political Agreement.

A fortnight ago, the SADC Troika failed to meet in Gaborone, Botswana
because President Banda of Zambia and President Guebuza of Mozambique did
not bother to show.

Analysts roundly condemned SADC for treating the Zimbabwe crisis lightly and
blamed some of the leaders for treating Mugabe with kid gloves.

Last Friday Zuma reportedly pressed the three Zimbabwean leaders to come up
with, and implement, a roadmap ahead of elections likely to be held next
year.
Lindiwe Zulu told the Zimbabwe Standard that Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara had agreed that a roadmap was important and in the next few days
they would start consultations on the way forward. Mechanisms to guarantee a
violence-free and credible election is what Tsvangirai has been calling for.
Tsvangirai has been advocating for a roadmap to ensure free and fair
elections and had asked SADC to assist in drawing up guidelines for the
polls.
Lindiwe Zulu said Zuma also managed to convince the principals to resume
their Monday meetings. Tsvangirai has in the last month boycotted any
contact with Mugabe and only met in cabinet meetings on Tuesdays.

No other details have been released about the Harare meeting and it remains
unclear whether any progress had been made on the substance of Tsvangirai
and Mugabe’s disagreements, many of them concerning the ZANU PF leader’s
refusal to consult with Tsvangirai on key appointments.
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri told us Zuma had to do more on Zimbabwe,
other than convince the leaders to sit down and talk, something they have
been doing for two years, with no result.

‘There are more fundamental issues to be tackled in Zimbabwe than persuading
Mugabe and Tsvangirai to talk over a cup of tea. Why doesn’t Zuma force
Mugabe to implement the GPA as directed by SADC? Asked Mashiri.

Zuma Wants Sadc To monitor Zim Election

http://www.radiovop.com/

29/11/2010 14:46:00

HARARE , 29 November – South African President and facilitator to Zimbabwe’s
political crisis, President Jacob Zuma wants the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to play a key role in the running of next year’s
elections arguing that he does not want a repeat of the 2008 bloody and
chaotic scenario.

Zuma, who jetted into Zimbabwe on Friday and managed to force Zimbabwe’s
principals to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to start co-operating
with each other, reportedly expressed anger with lack of seriousness in
implementing the GPA.

A highly placed government source told Radio VOP that Zuma did not mince his
words as he feels the Zimbabwean leaders, especially President Robert Mugabe
was not taking issues seriously. Zuma met Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara to try and iron out the problems
that continue to dog Zimbabwe’s political scene.

“President Zuma was in a no nonsense mood and told the leaders that he was
fed up with continuously having to discuss simple issues which could be
resolved amicably. He expressed anger that the principals were failing to
implement what had been agreed upon.

“Zuma wants this nonsense to end and he feels only credible elections will
help resolve the political crisis in Zimbabwe. But he wants SADC to be
heavily involved and wants an election roadmap which is credible. Zuma does
not want bloody elections and does not want members of the intelligence and
uniformed forces to interfere with elections.

“In short, Zuma effectively wants elections to be run by SADC together with
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). He also managed to have Mugabe and
Tsvangirai resume their Monday meetings saying it was good for the
government,” said the highly placed government official.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai last met in October to discuss government business.
Tsvangirai pulled out of meetings with Mugabe after the 86-year-old leader
unilaterally appointed provincial governors and ambassadors in violation of
the GPA.

Tsvangirai then described Mugabe as a “crook” and “dishonest” man.

Zuma left Zimbabwe on Friday evening and expressed satisfaction with his
mediatory role. He said he will now brief the SADC Troika on Politics,
Defence and Security on his meetings with Zimbabwe’s leaders before making
his findings public.

Zimbabwe’s civil society is skeptical of elections fearing violence but
Mugabe seems adamant to go for elections with the Zanu PF machinery
believing that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had lost popularity.

Mugabe and SADC set to impose Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe President

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

25 November, 2010 12:50:00 Special Projects Reporter

HARARE – Zimbabwe is heading towards a full scale civil conflict as
President Robert Mugabe deploys troops across the country to secure another
hotly disputed re-election followed by the imposition of his ally Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as his successor, highly placed sources in the
State intelligence and the military revealed.

A member of the army stationed at the Zimbabwe Military Intelligence
Directorate (MID) revealed to The Zimbabwe Mail with supported secret
military communications documents marked "Highly Classified" that the
Zimbabwe National Army is on course for a full scale deployment across the
country with their full combat equipment and orders to carry out raids on
innocent villagers.

SADC, South Africa and Thabo Mbeki

The source said Zanu PF, with the assistances of South Africa’s ruling party
ANC and other regional SADC States are involved in a plot to influence the
imposition of a requirement in the new Constitution which will see a sitting
President retiring from office and his party nominating his successor. A
majority vote will then be passed in Parliament for the new President to
take charge for the remainder of the term without calling for general
elections.

Mugabe has reiterated that the country will　go for elections before June
next year to undo the ill conceived　power sharing agreement signed with the
two MDCs in September 2008, but we can reveal that this is all according to
the long political process backed and crafted with the assistance of the
government of former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

High level Zanu PF sources this week made the startling revelation that the
defence minister unknown to many, has had an invisible hand in the crafting
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) whose brainchild is former South
African leader Thabo Mbeki. Mnangagwa we gather spent considerable time
going up and down to South Africa soon after Mugabe was defeated by MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, where he would meet up in Pretoria with Mbeki then
President on several occassions to nudge a solution whose outcome would
protect Mugabe and Zanu PF from losing political power. The GPA forming the
coalition government in Harare was then initiated secretly by Mbeki, with
cosmetic broadbased participation of the two MDC's negotiators sources said.

"Mnangagwa, Mbeki, Mugabe and the army generals really know where this GPA
thing is going," a Zanu PF central committee member has said in privacy.
"You see they somehow control the process, because they conceived it way
ahead of our partners in the inclusive government. Mnangagwa himself is
using it for his own political calculations, that's why you hear talk of
elections and not surprising the re-surgence of violence at these
constitutional meetings. It's all meant to test the waters and position Zanu
PF for future victory. The problem in this country is that investigative
journalisim is dead, therefore our people will continue being in the dark
with regards to the political matrix in government."

The Zimbabwe succession plan has been foisted to the less sophicticated new
South African government led by Jacob Zuma.

China and Russia

The Chinese and the Russians have weighed in as part of a whole raft of a
package to assist South Africa obtain a sit in the UN Security Council and
an invitation for Africa’s richest nation into the BRICs – a coalition of
World’s vibrant emerging economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India and
China.

China is also understood to be backing Mnangagwa as a better replacement to
Mugabe. Interestingly, the defence minister seems to have deep chemistry
with the chinese after having attended the Beijing School of Ideology, run
by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1970s. Mnangagwa also received
military training from China and later in Egypt.

Diamonds

In recent months, South Africa’s ruling party’s ANC key figures have been
secretly awarded access to Zimbabwean diamonds and other mineral riches in
exchange of key roles and the backing of a transitional political process
that would keep Zanu PF in power long after Robert Mugabe is gone.

It is this political process unravelling in Zimbabwe which was authored by
President Robert Mugabe himself with the assistance of former South African
President Thabo Mbeki and executed by former South African Presidency’s
Director-General Reverend Frank Chikane, the chief principal negotiator for
the Zimbabwe coalition talks.

Reverend Chikane is the brother of the controversial Kimberley Process’s
Zimbabwe diamonds monitor Abbey Chikane.

The two Southern African liberation political parties, ANC in South Africa
and ZANU PF in Zimbabwe both share the same history in violence and
mentality and therefore, for them tolerance of a new party coming into
power, especially emerging from the union movement like the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, and South Africa’s Cosatu simply is not
on the agenda.

The discovery of immensely rich diamond fields in Zimbabwe have emboldened
South Africa’s ruling elite and this has raised the grand scale of political
skulduggery using SADC to work against the Movement for Democratic Change or
any other opposition movement in Zimbabwe.

With an election coming up in Zimbabwe, the MDC and most opposition parties
faces the predicament of staying out of the poll or facing another stolen
election with the South African government and a majority of SADC States
playing key roles in the trampling rough shod on the will of Zimbabwean
people leading to the imposition of a man who is much more ruthless than
Robert Mugabe himself. The man who has lost Parliamentary elections in his
own backyard.

Senior ANC official, secretary general Gwede Mantashe has already uttered
statements warning that criticism of the South Africa government from
Cosatu, ANC's coalition partners from the South African labour union
movements, is tantamount to a Zimbabwe’s MDC-like flirtation. Zimbabwe's MDC
was found with the backing of the country's main labour union ZCTU.

Mantashe has labelled the Movement for Democratic Change a creation of the
West, and this follows recent rabid attacks on the MDC by ANC Youths League
President Julius Malema.

Already, the plan to kick start the election rigging process in Zimbabwe has
began with the massive ID cards and passport registration process currently
being carried out in South Africa and Harare for exiled Zimbabweans, albeit
with the aid of South African government agencies.

Early next year South African authorities will drive out millions of
Zimbabwean refugees ahead of Zimbabwean elections and hence the South
African’s Home Affairs Ministry’s’ deadline of December 2010 for is well in
schedule to the Zimbabwean elections.

It is therefore not rocket science that Robert Mugabe is insisting on
elections next year and South African President Jacob Zuma was the first to
pronounce the same earlier this year, only to be rebuked by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.

Violence and rigging elections

Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, the success of the proposed Mugabe-Munangagwa
succession plan is build on the basis of Zanu PF securing a landslide
majority in Parliament and this will be enabled by massive unprecedented
State assisted political violence on rural populations by joint security
forces aided by party militia and mercenaries from the Great Lakes region.

The plan is to carry out these atrocities well ahead of the arrival of
foreign election observers and international monitors, a source said on
condition of anonymity.

The political cleansing operation in the country side will see Zanu PF re-
take the majority of rural constituencies including those held by the
Movement for Democratic Change.

SADC states who are mainly loyal to President Robert Mugabe with the backing
of South African government will immediately declare the elections free and
fair and pressure will be mounted on the opposition not to contest the
results. South African bases for the opposition will be closed down and
arrest warrants issued for any exiled MDC leaders stationed in South Africa.

On retaining power, President Mugabe will step down in a year’s time and his
party will nominate Mnangagwa as his successor, a process which will be
rubber stamped by Parliament by a majority vote.

With its new position in the UN Security Council, South African government
and its SADC allies will crank up the pressure to the international
community to accept Mnangagwa as the new undisputed leader in Zimbabwe.

Key figures in the Western governments, the United States and United Kingdom
will be given access to the country’s mineral resources alongside the
Chinese on condition that they lobby for the acceptance of "President
Emmerson Mnangagwa" into the international fold.

Efforts are already underway to approach the new British coalition
government through business and mining investors linked to Mnangagwa’s proxy
business associates who have been awarded rights to mine platinum and Gold.

Meanwhile, the rural pre-election political cleansing operation which will
be administered by the Zimbabwe National Army’s Brigade commanders and has
been dubbed "Operation Last Chimurenga" will soon establish "defensive
barriers" and enforce no-go areas for the opposition in the months ahead.

Small groups of heavily armed army patrol units will move into villages to
carry out "re-education" campaigns aimed at instilling fear through mental
torture of rural people.

Identified opposition supporters will be silenced and those who resist will
be killed in front of villagers with their heads decapitated in what will be
dubbed "Operation headless chicken".

Every village head is now a Zanu PF ward leader, doubling up as the Village
Development Committee chairman (VIDCO), who replaced the colonial times
Kraal heads.

In the Zimbabwe Voters Roll Register Database Management System batch
header, the VIDCO Chairman will be ordered to mobilise database member
batches of all people in the his cell or ward (Village) and he will be
assisted by security forces and the data will be submitted to provincial
Governors in those in batch headers and their members.

The Governors will then submit the data to the Registrar General who will
manage it on behalf of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and by the
time the elections are conducted Zanu PF will be in a position to know
exactly the precise numbers in the each rural constituencies and on the
polling day, no member in the batch will be turned away, while those in
urban areas struggles to find their names – "enda kwawakambovhotera last
time" (go where you voted last time).

Reports say, the Zimbabwe electoral voters register database management
system software was designed and is still being run by an Israel company
called Cogniview.

However, in recent months the company has denied any association with Robert
Mugabe’s regime and writing on his blog Cogniview CEO Yoav Ezer has called
the story "codswallop".

In the country side, the office of the Registrar General is already busy
issuing National ID cards and birth certificate whereas those in the urban
areas have to put up with long queues and high standards set to put them off
or they are asked to go to rural bases.

The information on new birth certificates and national ID cards is being
secretly relayed to village VIDCO chairman who would then mobilises young
villagers to take ID Cards and Birth Certificates from mobile government
agents. This is usually carried out during the legendary food-for-work
programmes.

The whole process is organised by the provincial Governors and it is
therefore not rocket science that Robert Mugabe has remained adamant on the
appointment Governors in the face of the MDC’s bitter protests.

Meanwhile, alongside the military terror plan there are deadly Zanu PF
militia hit squads trained in Angola and they will be working with Hutu and
Tutsi refugees recruited from a refugee camps located in the Manicaland
province.

A fugitive former Rwandan general who is wanted by the UN for war crimes
will be leading the mercenaries.

Some of the refugee hit squads participated in the aborted 2008 Presidential
run-off and they are renowned for their role in brutal cutting off hands in
what was called "Operation short sleeve", and the gruesome cutting off of
tongs and toggling of eyes of abducted MDC supporters.

The hit squads will target opposition leaders at grass roots level,
particularly in both the urban and rural areas to decimate the party’s
structures.

An internal army command signal which has already been circulated to all
commanding officers is ordering them to cancel all leave days for serving
members in the coming year and massive cash payments will be made in
exchange.

Political monster

The newly created and expanded Zimbabwe National Security Council (ZNSC) to
be chaired by Mnangagwa will replace the current Joint Operations Command
(JOC).

The Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa has been
tasked to fast track the Bill in order to create the legislation which will
transform JOC into a massive political monster called Zimbabwe National
Security Council (ZNSC) which will catapult Mnangagwa into power.

ZNSC will include military commanders; State spy agents, police and prison
Generals in addition to senior high ranking Zanu PF officials. In the coming
year, its first role will be to roll out a full program of seeking Robert
Mugabe’s re-election, ahead of the national constitutional referendum.

The Zimbabwe National Security Council will be divided into various
committee groups and former Information and Publicity Minister Professor
Jonathan Moyo, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s long time campaign
strategist will be tasked to run its operations as chief strategic
operations officer.

Moyo, who will become the country’s Prime Minister when Mnangagwa takes
charge, is said to be central to the overall plans and heading the strategic
think-tank involved in the dark arts of Zanu PF power gamesmanship scheme
and sources said he has already secured two floors at the Zanu PF HQ with a
strong team making preparatory stages for the final assault to the close
down of Robert Mugabe’s era.

Across the country, soldiers and intelligence officers on reconnaissance
missions have already been deployed in towns and country side across the
country, reportedly to monitor MDC activities and positions.

They have set up camps at local police stations and teamed up with local
Zanu (PF) members in joint operations conducted at ward level, according to
well placed sources.

"We were deployed to take note of people’s grievances around town. Three-man
teams comprising a CIO, Army and Zanu (PF) official would monitor political
proceedings in various wards. The exercise was meant to bring back ‘normalcy’
among the electorate.

Several army control stations have been established country-wide, equipped
with stand-by generators to maintain a round-the-clock radio communication
with other sub-stations and army headquarters," said the source.

Other sources in the army confirmed that the reconnaissance teams were
assisted by local Zanu (PF) members to identify influential MDC officials in
each ward for future action.

"It was felt strategically correct to deploy the army now, as deploying it
towards election time would raise eyebrows among the international
community. This is a military state and the army would not want to take any
chances. The political playing field has to be tilted in favour of Mugabe
and Zanu (PF) now," said another soldier.

Mugabe’s succession is a very serious matter in Zimbabwe, particularly in
Zanu PF. Over the years, the two persons thought to be heading the race are,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, and former military supremo, Solomon Mujuru, whose wife
is one of Mugabe’s vice presidents. Mujuru is backing his wife in the race.

Last month, at the burial of his brother Mnangagwa made a startling
confession, that he was taught to destroy and kill, but in the same breath
immediately said he had turned a new leaf and had found comfort in the arms
of God.

However, this week Mnangagwa told hundreds of people in the midlands city of
Kwekwe that Zanu PF will continue to rule Zimbabwe even if Zimbabweans
rejected it.

"If you disagree with what is being said here, then there is nothing I can
do about it and if you don’t vote for us in the next election, this country
is huge, we will rule even if you don’t want," Mnangagwa said.
Mnangagwa, is one of the most shrewd politicians in Zimbabwe who is referred
to by those that know him well as "Ngwena" (the Crocodile), for his deadly
ruthless streak in maiming opponents who crosses his path.

"Ngwena" is fingered in most political murders and torture in both the
opposition and Zanu PF that have taken place during Robert Mugabe’s 30 year
rule.

A United Nations report has also fingered him and the late army General
Vitalis Zvinavashe as some of the individuals involved in the plunder of
Democratic Republic of Congo, late in the 90s.

Mnangagwa a qualified lawyer is said to have ganged up with Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa, in tilting the GPA pendulum in favour of Zanu PF thus
expalining the current order where the party has a grip on all powerful
ministries such as defence, mining, justice, police and agriculture.

Some of the key support which Mnangagwa secretly has inside Zanu PF, through
a power plotting scheme fronted by his chief political strategic Jonathan
Moyo reportedly includes, but is not limited to: Sydney Sekeramayi, Didymus
Mutasa, Patrick Chinamasa, Ignatius Chombo, Joseph Made, Kembo Mohadi,
Obert Mpofu, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, and Webster Shamu. - *Additional
reporting: Zimbabwe News Intelligence featuring Tsitsi Madiro (South Africa)
and Gilbert Mushonga (Canada).

Chihuri's efforts to turn police into Zanu PF militia sinks to new low

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com

28 November, 2010 08:50:00 By

HARARE - Robert Mugabe's rogue police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri
last Friday turned a police parade into a Zanu PF rally and urged force
members must be loyal, patriotic and infused with the ethos and values of
the liberation struggle to jealously defend Zimbabwe’s sovereignty.
He said the country’s independence was blood-bought and the police must not
stand idle while the nation was under a Western onslaught characterised by
illegal sanctions.

Comm-Gen Chihuri said this while debriefing 150 officers who visited Chimoio
and Nyadzonia shrines in Mozambique from November 12 to 15, 2010.

The two places are the sites of massacres of freedom fighters and refugees
by the racist Rhodesian forces during the Second Chimurenga.

"As you are aware the ZRP is mandated by the constitution with the
responsibility of maintaining peace, tranquility and eternal security.

"It is, therefore, of paramount importance that as you are charged with this
worthy, honourable and critical duty you will have a deeper, accurate,
comprehension and understanding of the history of the country particularly
its tortuous journey to independence," Comm-Gen Chihuri said.

Comm-Gen Chihuri said police should be on the lookout for elements that try
to "confuse, pollute, contaminate and sway" them from their mandate.

"ZRP expects bold fearless members and officers whose hearts, soul and
spirit are deeply rooted in their country," he said.

Referring to the Bible, he added: "We must refuse vehemently to be like Esau
who sold his own birthright for a single meal."

Comm-Gen Chihuri vowed that Zimbabwe would never be a colony again and urged
officers to vote wisely in next year’s election.

"This country came through blood and the barrel of the gun and it will never
be re-colonised through a simple pen, which costs as little as five cents,"
he said.

The officers visited Chimoio and Nyadzonya and were drawn from the three
police training institutes — Morris Depot, Ntabazinduna and Chikurubi.

The police chief organised the trip.

In their testimonies, the officers said the trip was an eye opener.

They acknowledged the importance of educating youths on the liberation
struggle saying this would help them appreciate why Zimbabwe is where it is
today.

Chihuri Must Go - MDC

http://www.radiovop.com

29/11/2010 18:17:00

HARARE, 29 November – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has called on controversial police commissioner
general Augustine Chihuri to resign for openly saying that the regime will
not give in even if Zanu PF loses elections next year.

Chihuri, openly supports President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF although he is
supposed to be neutral.

The attack by the MDC comes of the wake by Chihuri publicly saying that Zanu
PF cannot hand over power through the pen while addressing police officers
who had gone to Mozambique for a trip.

Chihuri was quoted as saying: “This country came through blood and the
barrel of the gun and it can never be re-colonised through a simple pen,
which costs as little as five cents.”

This has infuriated the MDC who say Chihuri must be neutral.

“The MDC calls on Augustine Chihuri, the Police Commissioner General, to
leave the police force and take up a post in politics as a Zanu PF fanatic
rather than masquerade as a top public service officer expected to work for
all in an inclusive, just and fair custom.

“No police officer anywhere in the world would survive a day longer in
public office if they display an openly partisan, discriminatory and biased
view of the society s/he is employed to serve. Chihuri must simply resign
and leave Zimbabweans with a professional and uncontaminated force that
guarantees the people peace and security while executing their
Constitutional mandate.

“We were horrified by Chihuri’s weekend statements in which he derided free
and fair elections as a form of national expression in a democracy. Most
police officers are clear that they work for the people; for their country;
and respect the law.

“Clearly Chihuri’s statements do not reflect this. Chihuri’s careless
utterances fly in the face of Zanu PF’s calls for an election next year.
They dampen the people’s confidence in the entire police force at a time
when the majority of the senior police officers approached leaders in the
Inclusive Government to rescue them from Chihuri’s grip in order to perform
their duties as professionals,” reads a strongly worded statement from the
MDC.

The MDC says it is criminal for Chihuri to publicly force his subordinates
to ignore the people’s democratic voice, disrespect a free and fair election
and instead, encourage them to flout the law.

Tsvangirai’s party said the utterances by Chihuri reveal a desperate trend
inside Zanu PF that without force, Mugabe’s party has no chance of winning
an election.

Chihuri’s statement has come as a worry to Zimbabweans given that the
Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa made similar statements while
addressing Zanu PF supporters in Kwekwe last week.

“That position ( Chihuri and Mnangagwa’s stances) vindicates the MDC’s
desire for comprehensive security sector reform before the party
participates in any future national elections. Under these reforms, the role
of security forces must be clearly defined to enable Zimbabweans to exercise
their generic right of freedom of expression -- with their open hearts and
minds -- and using the pen as an indispensable tool.

Supreme Court allows ongoing, unlawful, farm invasions

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
29 November 2010

The Supreme Court has effectively given the all clear for unlawful land
invasions to continue across the country, after dismissing an urgent
application for a moratorium on farm seizures to be put in place.

The application was filed by the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) in an
attempt to halt the land seizures, by asking the Court to stop the ongoing
prosecution of white farmers, whose only crime has been to remain on the
properties they own. The CFU’s President Deon Theron explained to SW Radio
Africa on Monday that there are only a handful of white farmers left in
Zimbabwe, and the moratorium was to give them breathing space until the land
issue in the country was sorted out.

The remaining commercial farmers have been under almost constant siege
despite the formation of the unity government, which promised to protect the
property rights of all Zimbabweans. Farmers have continued to lose land and
have been hauled before the courts time and time again, facing accusations
of refusing to leave so called ‘State land’. Theron said the situation has
become “straight persecution not just prosecution anymore.” He said it is
clearly a “racial issue, because only white farmers are being targeted in
this way.”

But on Friday Supreme Court Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku dismissed the
CFU application with costs, saying the applicants had failed to prove the
racial grounds behind the appeal for a moratorium. He also said that CFU
could not prove that any black farmers were staying on their land ‘illegally’.

"They cannot be heard to complain that only white commercial farmers are
being prosecuted. What is the Attorney-General supposed to do if it is only
white farmers who are breaking the law?” Chidyausiku said.

He added: “It is an abuse of court process for the applicants to approach
this court seeking an interdict against the AG in these circumstances.”

Chidyausiku said the farmers should simply obey the law by vacating
‘acquired’ land.

”If they have any legal claim to the acquired land, or arising from the
acquired land, they can launch proceedings after vacating the acquired land
as is required by law. I, therefore, find that the applicants’ complaint has
no substance,” he said.

The Chief Justice also made it clear that the 2008 regional ruling,
declaring the land grab campaign unlawful, held no power in Zimbabwe, saying
the Supreme Court’s decision was final and was not bound or influenced by
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal.

The Tribunal in 2008 ordered the government to compensate farmers who had
lost their land because of the land grab. The government was also ordered to
protect the property rights of the remaining commercial farmers, saying in
its ruling that the land grab was inherently racist. But the government has
openly dismissed the Tribunal’s judgments, calling them ‘null and void’,
despite being bound by SADC Treaty law to respect the court. SADC leaders
meanwhile earlier this year chose to stand by their allegiance to Robert
Mugabe by not taking action against Zimbabwe for refusing to honour the
Tribunal. The Tribunal, instead, was effectively suspended.

The CFU’s Theron said on Monday that he is not surprised by the Supreme
Court’s decision, saying “we knew that the same attitude would persist.” But
he said their lawyers are examining the official court documents, and “we
will continue to seek legal recourse, even if the courts no longer respect
the rule of law.”

Meanwhile, a high court judge has been challenged to admit that he occupies
former white-owned land seized part of the land grab, which has benefited
only Mugabe’s friends, family and loyalists.

Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said that high court judge Chinembiri Bhunu had been
asked to confirm if he had been allocated one or more farms under Mugabe's
land grab, and to supply details of how long he had been in occupation. He
had been also asked to disclose if the former white owner had been
compensated.

MDC officials in Nkayi released from police custody

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
29 November 2010

Police in Nkayi in Matabeleland North province have released 17 MDC
officials they arrested last week Thursday, allegedly for breaching sections
of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

A statement from the MDC said the officials were on Monday granted US$30
bail each by a Nkayi magistrate. The party said the officials, who include
the MDC Matabeleland North chairperson Sengezo Tshabangu, were arrested on
fabricated charges of causing violence.

Tshabangu was chairing a meeting to welcome nine councillors who had
rejoined the MDC after defecting from Arthur Mutambara’s party, when police
moved in and arrested them. The group had gathered at Nkayi central.

Tshabangu described the arrests as nothing but intimidation and harassment.
It’s reported that seven of the officials who were bailed on Monday had to
seek urgent medical attention after falling ill while in police custody.
They were denied food and access to their lawyers. The magistrate postponed
the case to 20th January 2011.

Senate to resume sitting

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Godfrey Mtimba
Monday, 29 November 2010 17:01

MASVINGO - Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara says the Senate will
resume sitting this week after the three principals of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) agreed to stop disturbances in the house during their just
ended meeting with visiting South Africa President, Jacob Zuma last Friday.

Senate business had been adjourned to next year after MDC senate members
protested the attendance of provincial governors who were unilaterally
re-appointed by President Mugabe in violation of the Global Political
Agreement.

Mutambara said they agreed that the senate would get back to business while
they wait for a verdict from the High court and also the outcome of the SDAC
troika meeting scheduled for next week.

"We agreed with President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai that the
Senate should sit as soon as possible.

It was realised that the should function for government to carry out its
duties properly. The three of us agreed that dancing and singing should stop
in the house while we wait for an answer from the courts and the outcome of
the coming SADC troika meeting that is set to discus a wide range of issues
concerning our inclusive government," Mutambara said.

He added that they came to the agreement after Mugabe had conceded that he
violated the GPA by re-appointing the governors for another term without
following the proper guide lines agreed in the document.

"We realised that the senate should function for us to have the constitution
and eventually hold elections. We need reforms before we go for polls so
they are some bills and amendments that need to pass through the senate." he
said.

He also pointed out that the parties also realised that the national budget
that was presented by Finance Minister would be rendered useless if the
Senate did not operate.

"More important, the budget that was presented last week by our finance
minister would mean nothing if senate does not function because it has to be
approved. And as government we can-not operate with out a budget as we need
funds to carryout different activities including funding the parroted
elections next year ".

Mutambara said the three GPA leaders were convinced by Zuma that stopping
Senate business because of heckling in the inclusive government was
dangerous as the country had other important issues to attend to next year.

Zuma was in the country last week to meet the principles of the GPA who had
been heckling since last month after Mugabe angered his colleagues in the
shaky inclusive government by appointing governors from his Zanu pf party in
complete defiance of the principles of the GPA which states that the Two MDC
formations would have governors in provinces they won a majority.

WOZA and MOZA commemorate International Women Human Rights Defenders Day with march in Bulawayo

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/6281

At noon today, approximately 900 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise marked International Women Human Rights Defenders Day with a peaceful procession to the offices of the state-owned Chronicle newspaper in Bulawayo. No arrests have been reported as yet but as there is a visible police presence in central Bulawayo, this may change.

Jenni Williams, WOZA’s National Coordinator was briefly detained by a senior-ranking police officer during the march but was later released after a discussion about its legality. Williams insisted that Zimbabweans have the right to peaceful protest under the current constitution. Williams was also roughly jostled by the female officer during this exchange, resulting in the aggravation of an existing back condition that Williams has.

The aim of the peaceful procession was to launch WOZA’s consulted position on the COPAC constitution questions. The report is entitled ‘the rising of women means the rising of the nation – no more poverty and starvation, many sweating for a few to benefit’. A copy of the report is available below.

Five groups started from different locations in the city centre and converged on the offices of the Chronicle. The peaceful group sang as they marched and handed out copies of their views on the constitutional questions. Their songs included the lyrics, “there is an issue that we want to make public – our views on the constitution” and “as women we must rise up and stand firm for our views so that our country can improve”.

WOZA began a 15-month civic education process around the constitution in July 2009 involving the participation of 9,036 members (7,885 females and 1,151 males) in a phased training programme that culminated in a consultation around the COPAC questions, the responses to which have been included in the report. Participants were drawn from 37 urban areas in Bulawayo and Harare and 23 rural areas in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. The age range of these participants was 14 to 93 years.

The report has been formally submitted to COPAC. The procession today is the first in a series of peaceful marches designed to ensure the views of members are heard, respected and will be included in the draft constitution. Members selected The Chronicle offices as a target in their fight to pressure for free media and to express solidarity with the arrest and extended detention of Nqobani Ndlovu, a Bulawayo-based journalist.

29 November is a significant date for WOZA. It is International Women Human Rights Defenders Day and part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence. Furthermore, on 29 November 2006, hundreds of members were brutally beaten in Bulawayo and many arrested whilst peacefully launching the WOZA People’s Charter.

Whilst recognising the importance of the 16 Days of Activism, WOZA would like to insist that 365 days of the year be considered days of activism against gender violence. At no time, is violence against any individual acceptable.

This protest follows a victory for WOZA in the Supreme Court last week. On Friday 26th, Justice Garwe, the Supreme Court judge of appeals, handed down a ruling on the 2008 challenge taken by WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu. The verbal ruling granted that the two women had been wrongfully arrested and detained and, as a result, had their rights and fundamental freedoms violated. Justice Garwe also ruled that the state had failed to protect the activists from this abuse. The application for a repealing of section 37 (1) (a) (i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act was dismissed and the reason will be made available. More details are available below.

To read a full copy of the report submitted to COPAC, please click here: WOZA presentation to COPAC 29.11.10

This entry was posted by Sokwanele on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 4:02 pm

Detained Zim Journo Goes To Supreme Court

http://www.radiovop.com/

29/11/2010 13:55:00

BULAWAYO, November 29,2010—The Standard senior reporter Nqobani Ndlovu who
was released on Friday after spending 10 days in Khami Maximum remand prison
made an application in the Magistrate Court seeking that the matter be
referred to the Supreme Court .

Ndlovu was arrested on 17 November following the publication of a story
headlined, “Police exams cancelled”. The story alleged that retired police
officers and war veterans had been re-called to take up vacant top posts in
the police force where they will be directing operations during next year’s
elections.

On Monday Ndlovu through his lawyer Josphat Tshuma of Webb Low and Barry
made an application before Magistrate Sibongile Msipa seeking that the
matter be referred to Supreme Court so that he can challenge charges of
contravening Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

“Your worship we are seeking that the matter be referred to the Supreme
Court so that we can challenge Section 31 of the Criminal Law and
Codification and Reform Act as we feel it does not constitute a crime and
should be struck off Zimbabwe’s Constitution,” Tshuma told Magistrate Msipa
.

Magistrate Msipa postponed the matter to 25 January 2011 saying that she
will give a ruling whether to refer this matter to Supreme Court
or not on this day.

Initially, Ndlovu was being charged with contravening Section 96 (1) (a) of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act but on the second day of his
arrest he was also charged with contravening Section 31 of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act.

Meanwhile journalists on Friday evening in Bulawayo held a “Nqobani Ndlovu
bash” at the Press Club to welcome him back after spending 10 days in
prison. The bash was sponsored by MISA Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile two men suspected to be intelligence operatives are hunting down
an editor of a local independent weekly newspaper, The Standard.

The two in dark glasses and ‘looking serious’ arrived at the doorstep of
Walter Marwizi’s flat in Harare Sunday night and asked to see to the deputy
editor.

A source aware of the activities of the suspected state agents said the two
demanded to see the journalist and were told that he was away on family
business.

They promised to come back.

Around 4:30 Monday morning the two men knocked at the flat again where they
were told that he had not come back.

Quizzed on why they were looking for him at such an ungodly hour, the
suspected Central Intelligence Organization operatives refused to disclose
the reason of their mission.

They left after promising to come back in the evening and said they will not
rest until they get him.

At around 9 in the morning, uniformed police details stormed the Standard
Offices and requested to see Marwizi.

It is suspected to be another clampdown on the media ahead of elections as
ZANU PF wants to silence a critical media.

On Friday, another Standard journalist based in Bulawayo, Nqobani Ndlovu,
who was charged with criminal defamation after writing a story about retired
police being re-called to take top posts ahead of elections, was released
after spending eight days in remand prison.

On Sunday, The Standard carried a story written by Marwizi about Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo’s obscene wealth which had caused uproar
among Zimbabweans, who asked how the former university lecturer acquired so
much wealth in such a short space of time.

It is suspected the police action could be related to that.

South Africa denies reports that Zimbabweans need visas

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

by Irene Madongo
29 November 2010

South Africa’s Home Affairs has completely rejected reports that appeared in
the Herald newspaper which claimed it had re-introduced visas for
Zimbabweans.

On Monday, Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald claimed that the South African
government had re-introduced visas for Zimbabweans who stay in the country
for more than 90 days.

It quoted South Africa’s deputy director-general for immigration, Mr Jack
Matei, saying that the scrapping of visas had seen many Zimbabweans
illegally working in the country and this had prompted them to re-introduce
them. The story also quoted SA Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa, saying
that people will have to secure a visa or face deportation.

However, when contacted for a comment Mamoepa said the reports were
completely false. “This is not true at all,” he said, adding that they would
have issued a statement if that was the case.

Mamoepa declined to say whether the government might introduce visas in the
near future.

Gabriel Shumba of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum based in South Africa also
dismissed the Herald’s claims: “There is no such thing. The system remains
the same. Zimbabweans can still cross into South Africa without a visa for
three months, however they cannot work or study.”

Earlier this year South Africa scrapped visa requirements for Zimbabweans as
the country’s political and economic crisis escalated. The South African
government then set a 31st December deadline for Zimbabweans living
illegally in the country to regularise their stay.

Shumba said the exiles met last week with the Home Affairs Minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and she made it clear that the situation will be the
same after the 31 December deadline.

“Those who don’t manage to regularise their stay can have three months free
entry into South Africa. We also spoke to the Minister about a request for
people who regularly visit South Africa to trade, to be given an exception
and she said they will consider this,” Shumba said.

Kunonga-Anglican Priest Conducts Sermon For Four People

http://www.radiovop.com

29/11/2010 14:48:00

Harare, 29 November - An Anglican Church priest based at St Luke’s Anglican
Church parish in Greendale Harare was on Sunday forced to deliver a sermon
to just four people, as members of the church continue to desert the Nolbert
Kunonga aligned faction.

The church sermon was delivered by a Pastor Mudzinganyama who belongs to the
Kunonga led Anglican Church.
In attendance were just four people in a spacious church hall which could
accommodate up to 100 people. Among the congregants was Terence Kunonga who
sources in the church believe is Kunonga’s son.
Sources at the church said Terence has taken over the church premises and
has since turned some of the properties at St Luke into his own living
quarters and is making moves to rent out some of them.
While Mudzinganyama was battling to attract numbers at his sermon, another
faction of the church which belongs to Gandiya’s group was battling to
accommodate huge numbers of congregants under a tree at the nearby Clide
Shopping Centre while another group had to hire out the nearby Rhodesville
Roman Catholic Church hall for use.
The Anglican Church has been torn apart by power struggles between Kunonga
and Sebastian Bakare and lately Chad Gandiya following the former’s decision
to pull out the Church from the Church of England.
This followed the Church of England’s decision to uphold the rights of gays
and lesbians. Incensed by the move Kunonga a rabid supporter of
President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party took the unprecedented
decision to call time off his church membership to the larger Anglican
Church family.
Ironically Mugabe hold strong reservations over gays and lesbians whom he
says are worse than pigs. His resentment of the gays and lesbians grew
stronger after famous British gay activist Peter Thatchell attempted to
effect a citizen arrest on him during a visit to Europe.
Following the unprecedented decision taken by Kunonga, the Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP) officers were roped in to support Kunonga in his bid to wrestle
the church properties.
The police would often harass worshipers belonging to the Bakare/Gandiya
group from accessing church properties.
A High Court ruling passed in 2008 directed that the two factions use the
church properties together at different intervals.
In recent weeks Gandiya has been leading solidarity church services at the
Africa Unity Square Gardens located just directly opposite the church’s
Central Cathedral.

The MDC Prayer

OPINION: Targeted sanctions - the way forward

The restrictive measures or targeted sanctions imposed by the West on President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party nearly a decade ago need to be re-examined to determine their relevance in seeking political and economic reforms in a Zimbabwe where things have moved since the global political agreement and the 2009 formation of a government of national unity (GNU)

Any review of restrictive measures must involve assessing the impact of the measures and the consequences of future options, namely: continuing the current scheme; a temporary lift; or an unconditional removal of the measures, says the Institute for Democracy in Africa (IDASA):

According to many of those interviewed from both Zanu-PF and the MDC, restrictive measures have not worked as Zanu (PF) continues to obstruct the GPA. The restrictive measures currently in place have thus failed to change the behaviours of those targeted; although political reforms have been achieved and must be recognised.

In an interview with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, he stated that the review of restrictive measures must consider the progress that has been achieved by the GNU, but, and most critically, restrictive measures must be linked to the broader goal of free and fair elections followed by a smooth transfer of power for whichever party wins the election.

The lack of a consensus among the West, the SADC (including South Africa) and the Zimbabwean internal actors has undermined all measures in place. Observers conclude that a lack of cooperation by Zanu (PF) will continue amid low-levels of violence and with little attempt to build the capacity of a GPA mandated Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Human Rights Commission and Media Commission.

As with the current constitutional reform process, credible reports of intimidation and violence, the modus operandi of Zanu (PF), has commenced. Observers posit

that Zanu (PF) has two main goals, the removal of targeted sanctions and the winning of an election at a time of their own choosing.

The GPA and restrictive measures have successfully deprived destabilising elements of some resources that could be utilised for undemocratic means. However, Zanu-PF has a monopoly on the use of force; the army, the police, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Joint Operation Command (JOC).

Zanu (PF) controls informal resources including the war veterans and various youth militias, as well as those benefiting from the “land reform” process, with an estimated 150,000 families “under direct, coercive patronage”.

There are approaches that the international community can consider in regard to the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe. Each carry consequences that could alter the current power- sharing dynamics within the GNU.

We have identified three options that can be taken by the international community: maintain the status quo, an unconditional removal of restrictive measures, and the calibrated removal of restrictive measures tied to six benchmarks.

Maintaining the status quo would do little, if anything, to encourage further concessions from Zanu (PF) or assist in acquiring additional gains within the GPA. Zanu (PF) has successfully framed the sanctions debate within the context of Western neo-colonialism and imperialism.

Maintaining the current restrictions will allow Zanu (PF) to continue to blame the GNU’s weaknesses and inadequacies on the West and their sanctions. The MDC will continue to struggle to be perceived as an equal partner within the GNU while risking the perception among ordinary Zimbabweans of being unable to sufficiently govern and make good on election promises.

The West could consider sanctioning members of the MDC-T and MDC-M who are found to be committing similar abuses to those currently under sanction in an effort to show a commitment to democratic values and detract from claims of bias that are consistently sounded by Zanu (PF).

There are further potential political consequences. The current sanctions do not allow for sufficient buy-in from members of the SADC, particularly Zimbabwe’s influential neighbouring countries Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, and the MDC.

If sufficient space is not created, nor the opportunities for SADC members to have a greater stake in determining progress and whether certain restrictions should be removed or maintained, the status quo could produce intractable positions among Zimbabwean political parties, members of the SADC, South Africa and the West.

Finally, as this option will most likely prolong the stalemate between Zanu (PF), MDC-M and MDC-T, the risk of an early election to establish a strong mandate for governance and legitimacy is high.

Given the current polarisation within Zimbabwe, as well as the inability of the government to guarantee free and fair elections and ensure security, as well as the contradictory statements by senior commanders within the military regarding their political intentions, a call for elections is likely to engender a violent environment similar to that in the run-up to the 2000 and 2008 elections.

Secondly, the international community can call Mugabe and Zanu (PF)’s bluff and completely lift all restrictive measures. This would remove any obstacles to the implementation of the GPA, as claimed by Mugabe and Zanu (PF), and levy regional and international pressure on Zanu (PF) to act in accordance with its responsibilities and obligations within the GNU.

However, during interviews with senior politicians and politburo members, interviewees on occasion remarked that when sanctions are removed Zanu (PF) will continue to blame Zimbabwe’s problems on sanctions and those who imposed them. Based on our interviews, we find it unlikely that Zanu-PF will undertake real steps toward implementation of the GPA and will continue to find scapegoats as an excuse for intransigence and obstruction of their responsibilities within the GNU.

Even if sanctions are completely lifted, it is highly unlikely that significant re-engagement would commence with international donors. Development progress will take time.

It would be unlikely that the Ministry of Finance would be able to meet its obligations. Zimbabwe’s debts with the IFIs would still need to be addressed before new loans will be approved.

While the Ministry of Finance has achieved impressive reforms, greater reforms need to be undertaken within the RBZ to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to make sure that certain resources are utilised properly.

Political consequences of a blanket lifting of restrictive measures could be as severe as maintaining the status quo. First, international implications could be the perception among Zimbabweans and the SADC of the West as both weak and lacking in political will towards Zimbabwe. Lifting restrictive measures would jeopardise credibility, already seen by some in the lack of coordination among the West, and would diminish the West’s bargaining power and status.

Lifting restrictive measures without sufficient progress would empower Zanu-PF, weaken the ability to level the playing field among the internal parties and stymie the process of democratisation.

Zanu (PF)’s monopoly on state media and its menacing behaviour toward independent media are likely to encourage conditions that will allow for a perception that victory has been won over the “imperialists” and “colonialists”. Since the implementation of the GPA, Zanu (PF) has shown little goodwill.

The MDC, which has publicly called for the lifting of restrictive measures in accordance

with benchmarks, would be perceived as not having the support of the international community.

Additionally, there could be a risk that the SADC could distance itself further from Zimbabwe and begin pushing an agenda that will see Zimbabwe manage its own affair.

We recommend a process that calls for the calibrated removal of restrictive measures tied to six benchmarks: a credible voters’ roll, an independent electoral commission, media freedom, a constitutional reform process, a land audit and security sector reform, all in cooperation with the SADC vis-à-vis South Africa. We believe that this option will engender the most agreement among stakeholders.

A revised voters’ roll is a necessity. The voters’ roll must be entirely redrawn up by non-partisan local and international professionals before the constitutional referendum takes place. Control over the voters’ roll must be held by a fully independent electoral commission if any future roll is not to be compromised.

Zimbabwe and the international community should look to Kenya as an example of how to embark on a revising the voters’ roll. Kenya successfully registered approximately 12 million voters in less than six months.

Zimbabwe needs a non-partisan, independent electoral commission which will ensure the credibility of electoral monitors and the voters’ roll, permit fair campaigning of political parties, accredit media and other groups to monitor on the day of the election and analyse the entire process as a whole.

Both the constitutional referendum and the next presidential and general elections are highly dependent on this body.

Advocates for free speech and an independent media experienced a breakthrough when the GNU, in May 2010, awarded licences to four independent daily newspapers127. Consequently, it is essential that efforts to control the media, as occurred in the past decade, to maintain authoritarian rule do not re-emerge under the pretext of media reform.

The government needs to eliminate the draconian laws that unnecessarily infringe upon the operation of the press including:

· The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which prevents media

· The Public Order and Security Act which has been widely used to prosecute critics of the president, his government and policies; and

· The Broadcasting Services Act, which sets such complex requirements for registering broadcast media that the government-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation

The constitutional reform process is the second to take place in a decade. (The 2000 constituional draft), notable for allowing the government to seize land without compensation and the entrenchment of executive power, was defeated by a referendum.

Similar to the 2000 process, an outreach programme has been conducted nationwide to gauge the concerns of citizens and incorporate their input into a new constitutional draft to stand before a new referendum.

A new constitution is a clear deliverable. However, the country is highly polarised at the present with reports of violence and intimidation taking place.

The current atmosphere is not conducive to creating a “perfect document”. Rather, it is more likely that a new constitution will lead to a revised document at a later date.

Nevertheless, the international community, through direct government-to-government

contact and nongovernmental organisations, should offer technical support with the aim of including an encompassing Bill of Rights and separation of powers within the new draft.

A two-year land audit that was scheduled to begin in early 2010 was threatened and blocked by Zanu (PF) and the war veterans. Mugabe has consistently argued that he is righting the wrongs of the colonial era in which land policies were discriminatory and land distribution was unequal.

Mugabe and Zanu-PF have boxed the land issue within the context of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.

Minister of Lands and Land Resettlement Hebert Murerwa posited that the audit would assess activities on the ground, land uptake, production levels, availability of water sources and other related issues. The European Commission has offered to fund the audit, and insists the process should be "inclusive, transparent and comprehensive”.

The composition of any land commission needs to consist of local, regional and international experts to achieve widespread legitimacy. The appointment of an international mediator should be considered. Former UN Secretary General Kofi

Annan’s mediation in Kenya’s power-sharing deal following the 2007 crises should be used as a paradigm.

The real issue, according to Prime Minister Tsvangirai, is the “power paradigm;” in other words, the smooth and peaceful transfer of power should Zanu (PF) lose in the next elections. Restrictive measures must be used to get those in Zanu (PF) to accept the will of the people.

Security sector reform remains the most potentially destabilising and outstanding issue to be addressed by the GNU. An arms embargo was first implemented by the UK, shortly after the discovery of a hit list in which 1,500 farmers of British descent were targeted for forced land seizures.

The embargoes were ill-informed as they had forced those within the security sector to further embed themselves with Zanu (PF) whose members had come under similar restrictions. There has been no movement towards implementing security sector reforms aspects captured in the GPA.

The West should position themselves behind South Africa, as a member of the SADC, to drive forward the issue of genuine security sector reform. For example, Mbeki sent a delegation of generals to Zimbabwe in 2008 to assess the role of the security forces in political violence and to determine how the forces could eventually be reformed.

The West should encourage South African President Zuma to send a similar delegation to build on Mbeki’s previous initiative. Chief South African facilitator, Mac Maharaj, should be encouraged to see that the JOC is dismantled.

Additionally, the West should motivate the SADC, vis-à-vis South Africa, to devise a role for Mac Maharaj, or a person of similar stature and knowledge of Zimbabwe, to attend NSC meetings to monitor progress and facilitate solutions to matters that arise.

Finally, security forces need to disengage from the electoral processes; in particular individuals with security sector ties should be removed from the Electoral and Constitutional Commissions.

It is crucial that countries within the EU, the United States, Norway, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand reach a common strategy on any future movement in regard to restrictive measures and engage those countries that flout the restrictive measures. Equally important is the Commonwealth’s role, particularly with its North-South membership and the participation of member states within the SADC, the AU and the UN.

Zanu (PF) has and will notice cracks within the international community and is likely to try to exploit any policy discrepancies as it tried to do when former Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander, stated, “I am disappointed that I have to leave with most of the restrictive measures still in place”.

There has been a shift in policy toward Zimbabwe by the international community. Restrictive measures have been eased on some individuals and the USA is currently considering two bills:

ZDERA 2010145 to replace ZIDERA as well as the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010 that seeks to end directives for the USA to oppose and vote against any extension of loans, credit or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe as well as any debt cancellation or reduction owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.

The EU continues high-level delegation visits aimed at the renormalisation of relations, and countries have formed a Friends of Zimbabwe to assist Zimbabwe in its transformation. Re-engagement between Zimbabwe and the West must be coordinated with the GNU participants and with South Africa.

Tying benchmarks to restrictive measures will reaffirm the international community’s commitment to Zimbabwe’s political and economic wellbeing and maintain a degree of influence over the country’s transformation.

v This is an abridged version of a report titled: ‘Restrictive Measures and Zimbabwe: Political Implications, Economic Impact and a Way Forward’, released recently by IDASA. The IDASA is an independent public interest organisation committed to building sustainable democratic societies in collaboration with African and global partners.

Open Letter to H E the Hon Mr Herman Van Rompuy

By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London 29/11/10

H.E. the Hon Mr Herman Van Rompuy
President of the European Council

Your Excellency,

HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS IN ZIMBABWE

May I crave your indulgence for taking the liberty of addressing my concerns
to you publicly about human rights violations in Zimbabwe on the occasion of
the 3rd Africa-EU Summit now taking place in the Great Jamahiriya.

I am one of the Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who are concerned about the
growing rapprochement between the West and the Zanu-pf leader, Mr Robert G.
Mugabe as evidenced by his attendance of this summit despite a travel ban
for rights abuses. There is a feeling of betrayal within civic society
especially because Zimbabwe has failed to meet some of the Cotonou
benchmarks on “Governance and Human Rights” which are now on the Agenda in
Tripoli, Libya.

It is common knowledge that the invitation of Mr Mugabe to the summit will
not help improve the human rights situation in Zimbabwe but will definitely
be used by his party for political propaganda purposes as a sign of his
conquest of the West. However, what does not surprise concerned people is
the ground work done by Mr Mugabe’s admirers behind the scenes to have him
invited despite growing human rights violations including the murder of a
Zimbabwean in Harare during the recent constitution outreach programme.
Human rights abuses have also been committed in the Marange diamond area of
Chiadzwa, although the regime is reluctant to allow an independent
investigation.

Most appalling on Mr Mugabe’s human rights record is the militarization of
elections which saw about 200 opposition party members or sympathizers
murdered during the 27 June 2008 run-off presidential election. Some
political activists were abducted, beaten, raped and tortured by the
notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). Others have not yet been
accounted for to the present day.

Civic society urges your distinguished office to request Mr Mugabe to
disclose the whereabouts of political activists who are still missing since
2008’s bloody election, namely: Gwenzi Kahiya from Zvimba, Ephraim Mabeka,
Lovemore Machokoto, Charles Muza, Edmore Vangirayi all from Gokwe, Graham
Matehwa from Makoni South and Peter Munyanyi from Gutu South.

Despite the formation of a coalition government last year, the perpetrators
of politically motivated violence stretching from 2000 to 2009 have neither
been arrested nor prosecuted because Mr Mugabe reportedly said that would
not help the country to heal.

Your Excellency, there are fears that unless there are EU and UN monitors
and peacekeepers at least six months before the 2011 elections, there could
be a full scale civil war following threats of a coup by Zanu-pf Defence
Minister, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa if Mr Mugabe loses. Already serving military
officers and other security agents have been reportedly deployed to Zanu-pf,
including the party headquarters in Harare to “revive” the party’s
structures ahead of the elections next year.

Quite disturbing is the recent launch of Operation ‘Headless Chicken’ which
will see people opposed to Mugabe in the elections planned for next year
being beheaded. Although, these may sound like scare tactics, the regime has
conducted a series of military style operations during which Zimbabweans
have been subjected to violence, torture and even gruesome murder for
opposing Mr Mugabe’s tyranny. For example, during the 2008 run-off
presidential elections, Operation ‘Long and Short Sleeves’ saw MDC
supporters being slashed-off their hands by Mr Mugabe’s supporters.

Accordingly, civic society is rightly worried that ironically, the European
Union and the United Nations do not seem willing to take the initiative to
send election monitors and peacekeepers to Zimbabwe unless they invited by
Mr Mugabe.

I should like to take this opportunity to express to Your Excellency, my
sincere hope that these concerns will inform your discussion with Mr Mugabe’s
delegation. I also wish you successful deliberations.

Yours sincerely,

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri

Peace Watch 14/2010 of 27th November [Should Zimbabwe have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission?]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said at the time of the Commission’s hearings: “True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even make things worse. It is a risky undertaking, but in the end it is worthwhile because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.”

Workshops and seminars held throughout the country to promote “healing” have repeatedly reported calls for “truth telling” and “truth recovering”, echoing the belief that there can be no true healing and reconciliation without formal acknowledgement by both victims and perpetrators of the wrongs of the past. Should a Truth and Reconciliation Commission be set up and if so what is the best way to do this?

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Mugabe, Tsvangirai to resume meetings