British High Commission Denies Racism and Staff
Unrest
"PA"
Zimbabwe's state media claimed today that 40 local
employees at the British High Commission were were on a go slow in a protest
at racism and pay conditions.
Embassy spokeswoman Gillian Dare denied
the report carried by state radio and the government news
agency.
President Robert Mugabe's government has repeatedly used the
state media to make accusations against Western diplomats, particularly
those from Britain and the United States.
Today's report said
diplomats had received a 500% cost of living allowance rise but Zimbabwean
staff had been forced to settle for a 40% increase after a year of
negotiations.
Zimbabwe is in the midst of its biggest political and
economic crisis since independence in 1980. Inflation during the year has
reached as high as 620%.
The state media said morale was low among
Zimbabwean employees at the commission in Harare and that it had been
worsened by racist behaviour by some white diplomats.
It said the
local employees had staged a go-slow protest and that the waiting time for a
visa has increased from two to six weeks.
The government news agency also
claimed local staff had been forced to undergo an HIV/Aids test.
Dare
denied there was a pay dispute or that employees were staging a go
slow.
"On the contrary, in the past three weeks the average time for
processing visa applications has dropped from 10 to three days because of
the hard work and commitment of staff," she said.
She added that HIV
counselling was entirely voluntary, and denied any allegation of racism at
the embassy.
"We strongly deny any charge of racism. The High Commission
is fully committed to the British government's equal opportunities policy,"
she said.
In the past, Zimbabwean government ministers have accused
British diplomats of smuggling opposition election material into the country
and stage-managing the wrecking of white farms, while beaming the pictures
to western media from sophisticated overflying surveillance aircraft.
November 4, 2004 Posted to the web November 4,
2004
Harare
THE shooting incident that resulted in 14 people being
injured during a mock battle drill at the Marondera Agriculture Show in
September was a result of gross negligence on the part of the soldiers who
took part in the exercise, Defence Minister Cde Sydney Sekeramayi said
yesterday.
He told Parliament that the soldier who fired the live
ammunition would be brought before a court martial.
Cde Sekeramayi
was responding to a question by Mutare North MP Mr Giles Mutsekwa (MDC)
during a question and answer session in Parliament.
The opposition
legislator wanted to know whether soldiers who took part in the mock battle
had received adequate training and whether those responsible for injuring
the people would face prosecution.
Cde Sekeramayi said investigations by
the Zimbabwe National Army had shown that troops drawn from 22 Infantry
Battalion involved in the mock battle did not adhere to normal safety
precautions of clearing weapons before or after such
exercises.
"Neither did they make proper checks of ammunition, and so the
mishap was not that there was inadequate training of soldiers. The live
ammunition that was fired resulting in the injuries of people was from one
rifle operated by one member who was in the platoon staging the mock battle
drill," he said.
"The ZNA has instituted requisite disciplinary action
against those involved for the failure to adhere to ammunition regulations
and for gross negligence and failure to exercise proper command and control
on the part of those officers and non-commissioned members who were directly
in charge of the troops taking part in the mock battle."
The Minister
said two of the injured were still admitted in hospital while the rest were
treated and discharged. He said the ZNA had paid medical bills for the
victims except for two whose claims were still being investigated.
The
money to foot the bills was sourced from the State Liabilities Vote of the
ZNA.
Answering another question from Mr Mutsekwa, Cde Sekeramayi
dismissed allegations by the opposition lawmaker that the security forces
had been politicised resulting in some of them deserting the force. He said
defences forces were prohibited by regulations to be actively involved in
politics.
Cde Sekeramayi dismissed allegations by Mr Mutsekwa that
defence forces in conjunction with the members of the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) were being assigned to track and harm senior members of
the opposition party.
The minister said the defence forces only
undertook tasks as defined by the Constitution such as protection of all
citizens, including MDC members.
"We want peace and stability in the
country," Cde Sekeramayi said.
Cde Sekeramayi said desertions were a
common military phenomenon worldwide and the reasons differed from
individual to individual.
The minister said some people joined the army
simply because they would be looking for a job while some would be running
away from prosecution after committing crimes against civilians or within
the force.
"Some desertions are those by members who for personal and
other reasons may have loyalty elsewhere but I want to assure the House that
there is no politicisation of the defence forces," Cde Sekeramayi
said.
The ZDF, he said, was aware of the fact that deserters could be a
security risk and therefore would always remain alert to counter any
possibilities of threats to security by such deserters.
November 4, 2004 Posted to the web November 4,
2004
Harare
THE Minister of Energy and Power Development, Cde July
Moyo, yesterday dispelled rumours that Zimbabwe would run short of fuel and
told Parliament that oil companies have now received adequate supplies and
have started distributing it to service stations.
Cde Moyo was
responding to questions by Kambuzuma MP Mr Willias Madzimure (MDC) who
wanted to know what was happening over fuel supplies because the country was
experiencing a shortage of diesel.
"We are in control of the situation.
We have given oil companies fuel and they have started distributing," said
Cde Moyo.
He said oil companies were procuring fuel and only when
Government felt that they were failing to do so, it would step in to rectify
the situation.
Cde Moyo recently called those in the fuel sector to work
together to maximise imports of fuel.
Last month, Zimbabwe
experienced fuel supply problems because some corrupt fuel importers
diverted foreign currency to other uses while some hoarded fuel for
speculative purposes with the aim of creating an artificial
shortage.
Private oil companies have so far received US$248 million
for fuel imports. The country requires about US$30 million monthly to meet
its fuel import requirements.
Responding to another question from
Binga MP Mr Joel Gabbuza (MDC) whether machinery from China that was coming
into the country would be compatible with machinery from Western countries
that the country has always used, Cde Moyo said all equipment that was being
brought into Zimbabwe would work properly because no equipment was imported
without looking into the specifications first.
"Today, everything
that can be manufactured in the West is manufactured in countries like
China," he said.
Cde Moyo said the equipment the country received this
week from China would go a long way in providing electricity to rural areas
countrywide.
On Tuesday, Zimbabwe and China signed eight agreements that
cover different sectors of the two countries' economies and the Chinese
Government handed over part of the US$110 million worth of equipment to Zesa
Holdings for the rural electrification programme.
The equipment will
enable Zesa to complete phase one of the programme and implement phase two,
which was scheduled to start this month.
Infant Mortality On Rise, says Zimbabwe Health Minister By Tendai
Maphosa Harare 4 November 2004
The Zimbabwe health
minister says the country's infant mortality rate is rising.
Dr.
David Parirenyatwa told a Regional Health Ministers Conference in Zimbabwe
that between 1985 and 1999 the infant mortality rate rose from 40 to 65 for
every 1,000 live births. He says the mortality rate for children under five
rose from 59 to 102 per 1,000 births during the same time period.
The
minister, who was quoted in the state-controlled daily newspaper, The
Herald, said the numbers mean that one in 15 children will die before
turning one year old, while one in 10 will die before their fifth
birthday.
He told the conference being held in the resort town of
Victoria Falls that the rise in mortality is linked to the direct and
indirect impact of HIV and AIDS and the rise in poverty levels in the
country.
Zimbabwe is listed as having the third-worst child mortality
rating - behind Iraq and Botswana - in the 2004 United Nations Development
Program's Human Development Report.
The country has been one of the
hardest hit by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, with one in every four adults HIV
positive. Three-thousand people die of AIDS-related diseases every
week.
Dr. Parirenyatwa said the government is trying to reduce parent to
child HIV transmission at birth through the use of anti-retrovirals and
caesarian section child delivery.
He said the government is trying to
stimulate what he called broad-based sustainable economic growth and
development and to consolidate public child feeding programs.
November 4, 2004 Posted to the web November 4,
2004
Staff Reporter Harare
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) chief
Gideon Gono has added his voice to growing calls for a revamp of management
at state enterprises, most of which continue to make losses and drain the
fiscus.
Speaking after the presentation of his third-quarter monetary
policy review last week, Gono said there was no room for mediocrity in the
"road map to economic recovery".
The RBZ governor, who defended the
central bank's extension of financial support to troubled national power
utility ZESA, said heads had to roll across the parastatal sector if there
was non-performance.
"We are saying no to a culture of mediocrity.
Twenty-four years is long enough for management at these companies to have
implemented meaningful reforms," Gono said.
Observers said the top
brass at most parastatals had failed to read the message indirectly
communicated by the central bank when it first shifted its focus from the
scandal-riddled financial sector to the state enterprises in its mid-term
policy review statement.
The growing call against the heads of poorly
performing parastatals, which have been bleeding the the economy, was first
sounded by President Robert Mugabe.
"If people cannot implement
government reforms, they should not last one minute longer in their posts,"
Gono said, adding there was need for urgent intervention to stop the chaos
at state firms and save taxpayers' money.
State Enterprises Minister
Rugare Gumbo agreed with the RBZ governor.
Gumbo, who has summoned every
parastatal head to what could turn out to be a no-holds-barred retreat in
Nyanga this week, admitted there was incompetence in
parastatals.
Infrastructure for most state enterprises has continued to
deteriorate because of limited resources for maintenance and minimal capital
investment.
Parastatals that have continued to drain the economy through
their losses include the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the National Railways
of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Air Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, power
utility ZESA, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, the Cold Storage
Company, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and public transporter
ZUPCO.
"They are lossmaking, debt-crippled, poorly capitalised,
incompetent at board and management levels and they have failed to fulfil
turnaround plans, sometimes abandoning them mid-stream," Gumbo
said.
Failure to speedily resolve problems at Wankie Colliery Company and
the NRZ has resulted in massive coal shortages and transport bottlenecks,
adversely affecting industry.
Observers also say the fact that the
GMB - a monopoly - has at times found itself without food reserves in
drought situations indicates a failure to play the role of a strategic
entity.
Gumbo said some of the problems facing parastatals were a result
of a lack of urgency in dealing with turnaround programmes, in addition to
non-commercial tariffs they charged.
Several state entities,
including ZESA and NOCZIM, cannot increase their rates without Cabinet
approval, resulting in them charging sub-economic prices in the face of
escalating operation costs.
AN
ILLEGAL immigrant who sexually attacked a teenager and then beat her to
death before trying to bury her body in his cellar was jailed for life
yesterday. Mudadiwa Chinyoka, who was born in Zimbabwe and whose visa ran
out seven years ago, met 17-year-old Gemma Atkinson on a blind date in
Doncaster arranged through a mutual friend. A couple of days later the
teenager was dead after he subjected her to what a judge called a "sadistic"
hour-long assault, which included a vicious sexual assault. Chinyoka, 24,
who has been using different aliases including posing as his uncle to avoid
deportation from the UK, admitted murdering Gemma and a new statutory
offence of intentionally assaulting her by penetration. He had been charged
with raping Gemma before killing her but a trial jury was discharged after
the prosecution accepted the couple may have had consensual sex just before
the fatal attack. After Chinyoka was jailed for life with a minimum tariff of
20 years, Gemma's father Iyan Atkinson, 43, a lorry driver, said: "If the
authorities had done their job properly and deported him my daughter would
still be alive today." Rodney Jameson, prosecuting, said Chinyoka had
been living in the South since 1997 before moving to Doncaster this
year. He sent Gemma a series of texts and she went with him to his
ground-floor flat in Hexthorpe, Doncaster, a short distance from her family
home. In the middle of the night neighbour Rebecca Storey in an upstairs flat
heard sexual noises coming from Chinyoka's flat and Gemma resisting and
crying. Mr Jameson said: "She could hear her say 'No, no, no.' " There
was the sound of Chinyoka hitting the teenager as she pleaded with him to
stop before a "massive bang" as if she had been hit with something. Another
upstairs neighbour, Leanne Langton, heard Chinyoka run a bath, go to the
dustbin and then "move something" around the flat. Mr Jameson said the couple
may have had consensual sex before the attacks. Chinyoka dressed Gemma and
dragged her body into the cellar. He went out and bought a spade and began
digging a grave. A pathologist found 48 separate injuries on Gemma's body and
said she died from repeated blows to the head and neck. There were cuts on
her back and buttocks and internal injuries. When police arrested
Chinyoka he said he had drunk six or seven bottles of strong beer and had
consensual sex with Gemma. He fell asleep and woke up to find her dead. He
panicked and decided to bury the body. Charles Garside, for Chinyoka,
said the pair had a friendly relationship up to the tragic day in
June. He said: "It was a sudden attack carried out on the spur of the
moment." It was unclear what sparked the attack and there was little
provocation. He added: "This was a crime born out of drink and
temper." The judge, Mr Justice Crane, told Chinyoka: "It was vicious and
cruel. She was a slightly built young woman and must have been helpless in
offering no effective resistance." He added: "You clearly lost your
temper. There followed a prolonged and frenzied attack on this young woman
despite her cries for help." Chinyoka will be deported after he has served
his sentence and will never legally be allowed into the UK again. The rape
charge was allowed to lie on file. Gemma's mother and father and brother
Christopher, 17, were in court to see Chinyoka sentenced. Mr Atkinson
said: "We have never even met the bloke. She was only introduced to him a
few days before this happened. She agreed to meet him and then this
happens. "She suffered from chronic anaemia but always thought about
other people before herself and wanted to be a nursery nurse as she loved
children. "It makes it worse that Chinyoka had been in this country illegally
since 1997. He will get a fresh start when he comes out of prison; we have
been dealt a life sentence." ian.waugh@ypn.co.uk
November
4, 2004 Posted to the web November 4, 2004
Harare
HARARE City
Council has failed to meet the October 15 deadline set by the Minister of
Local Government, Housing and National Development, Cde Ignatius Chombo, for
the review of all refuse collection contracts.
Three companies - Broadway
Waste, Cleansing and Environmental Services and Encore Waste Management -
are currently responsible for collecting refuse in Harare.
Cde Chombo
told Glen View residents recently that Government was not happy with refuse
collection in the city and had set a deadline for a review of the contracts
awarded to the private companies. The review of the contracts was meant to
identify companies that were not up to the task with a view to terminating
them.
Refuse collection has been erratic in the capital resulting in bins
going for months without being collected in some areas, prompting residents
to dump refuse indiscriminately.
Cde Chombo had ordered council to
take over refuse collection in the city while contracts of private companies
were being reviewed. Harare public relations manager Mr Leslie Gwindi
acknowledged that the deadline set by the minister had lapsed but said the
local authority had made great strides in addressing the problem of refuse
collection in the city.
"We are still assessing the work that these
companies were doing and reviewing their performance, which would determine
whether they will continue or not.
"We have gone some way as we have
repaired some of the refuse collection trucks that had been grounded for one
reason or the other with the view of intensifying collection," said Mr
Gwindi.
He said the local authority was now in a position to service most
parts of the capital following the rehabilitation exercise which has seen
several collection trucks and tractors back on the road.
Most of the
refuse collection trucks had been grounded at the local authority's
workshops around the capital awaiting repairs.
November 4, 2004 Posted to the web November 4,
2004
Zitha Dube Harare
GOVERNMENT has directed the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (ZINWA) to cut its raw water charges, a move which
is likely to drag down the profitable parastatal.
The new raw water
tariffs, which came into effect on November 1, will see commercial water
users paying $55 000 per mega litre, or 5.5 cents per litre, down from $82
500 per mega litre (8.25 cents per litre).
Communal-pumped irrigation
schemes will be required to pay 3 cents per litre while communal gravity
irrigation schemes will be charged 2.5 cents per litre of raw water. The
actual blend price of raw water is $165 per cubic metre, or 16.5 cents per
litre, but ZINWA has been charging half that price, prior to the further
reduction, which came at the instigation of the Ministry of Water resources
and Infrastructural Development.
Sources said the measures, taken in
support of the government's chaotic land redistribution exercise, smacked of
political expediency.
ZINWA has of late come under political pressure to
slash its rates as it was "sabotaging the land reform
exercise."
While the government, through the ministry, instructed ZINWA
to effect the tariffs, it admitted "that the reduced tariff is sub-economic,
it is suggested that the tariff is adjusted progressively to economic levels
over the next three years."
"Government takes the position that all
commercial users of raw water should be made to pay for water at the reduced
tariff levels and your authority should put in place mechanisms which ensure
that this happens. At present, too many irrigators are not being made to
meet their obligations in this regard.
"For practical purposes it is
suggested that the new tariff levels come into effect on November 1. There
is a strong case for according some relief to the new farmer in respect of
irrigation water charges," reads a letter signed by the permanent secretary
in the Water Resources ministry, PI Mbiriri.
Revenue from raw water
constitutes about nine percent of the authority's income, with the rest
being generated through borehole drilling and water treatment.
The
authority recently took over the treatment of Harare's water, following the
failure by the municipality to execute the service.
ZINWA also treats the
raw water it supplies to other smaller local authorities across the
country.
Hain Condemns 'Outrageous' Treatment of Zimbabwe
MP
By Jane Kirby, Political Staff, PA News
Commons
Leader Peter Hain today condemned the "outrageous" treatment of a Zimbabwean
opposition MP and said the African country had been allowed to "virtually
collapse".
Roy Bennett was jailed for assaulting Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa in the Zimbabwean parliament in May.
He
retaliated after the minister said his ancestors were thieves and murderers,
and his fate was decided by a parliamentary vote.
Today, Mr Hain
told MPs during questions on future business: "The treatment of Roy Bennett
is outrageous, the way trade unions are being treated in Zimbabwe is
outrageous, and there are reports that the very farms that were commandeered
by the Mugabe clique in the land reform so-called process are now laying
waste, with not only the white farmers being driven off them but more
important the black workers left destitute."
Mr Hain, responding to
Labour's Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), said it was outrageous the way President
Robert Mugabe had allowed a "fantastic country" to "virtually
collapse".
Ms Hoey had asked for a debate on Zimbabwe before the
England cricket team finished their winter tour there.
She said
Mr Bennett had been sentenced to 15 months hard labour and "is at this very
time out breaking stones in Harare prison".
Later, Tory Sir
Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) asked if there would be another debate on
Zimbabwe and what new initiatives the Government would take to bring about
the end of President Mugabe's "tyrannical" regime.
Mr Hain said he
could not promise a debate but agreed the situation in Zimbabwe was
deteriorating.
The government will wait for
"concrete information" that the Zimbabwean people are starving before
intervening in the food crises alleged by certain aid organisations. Deputy
foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad told the National Assembly the
government would intervene "if and when" it received evidence of President
Robert Mugabe's government manipulating food policy. His comments came in
response to a question by DA chief whip Douglas Gibson, who referred to a
Amnesty International report which accused the state-controlled Grain
Marketing Board of using a distribution system that discriminated against
supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "There are
millions of our brothers and sisters there who are on verge of starvation
... I care about them," Gibson said. Pahad replied that there was "no
indication" that the government was interfering in the food situation in a
bid to manipulate the outcome of next year's elections. "If and when there
is mass starvation in Zimbabwe and our high commissioner is able to report
that, then obviously we will expect him and the Zimbabwean government to ask
for further assistance," Pahad said.
In an extra twist to
the Chimanimani legislator Roy Bennett saga, former Zanu PF
secretary-general and veteran nationalist Edgar Tekere has queried the
composition of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee that recommended
Bennett be jailed for 15 months for flooring Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa in Parliament. The five-member committee comprised Labour Minister
Paul Mangwana as chairman, Chief Jonathan Mangwende and Minister of Rural
Resources and Infrastructure Development Joyce Mujuru, all from Zanu PF, as
well as Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti of the opposition MDC. Tekere - who
fell out of favour with the ruling Zanu PF in 1989 - said the committee was
improperly constituted because the ruling party members outnumbered the MDC
. He also wondered why Minister of State in the President's Office
responsible for Anti-corruption and Anti-monopolies Programmes, Didymus
Mutasa, was let off the hook "when he had also assaulted Bennett". President
Robert Mugabe expelled Tekere, a former labour minister, in 1989 allegedly
because of his fierce stance against corruption, while it was taboo to query
the transparency of senior party colleagues. Without showing any remorse,
Mutasa, a Zanu PF stalwart, has admitted in local and international media
interviews and also before the committee that he kicked Bennett during the
scuffle in Parliament.
"While Bennett's conduct was extreme, one
has to consider some extenuating circumstances that provoked the mayhem.
Bennett claimed to have had been wronged," Tekere said. "Otherwise the whole
thing had been over-publicised because it was a new thing in Zimbabwe. But
mind you, the reason why all the furniture in Parliament is heavy was to
avoid it being abused by some angry legislators to assault others. This
means that those who made this property knew very well that such scuffles
can happen there." The MDC has since said that it plans to challenge the
constitutionality of Bennett's incarceration on the grounds that his trial
by the committee was not fair. David Coltart, MDC shadow minister for
justice, on Tuesday said party lawyers were working on the heads of
arguments to be filed with the Supreme Court. Tekere, who Zanu PF was
reportedly trying to lure back into its fold, added: "The composition of the
privileges committee had also played a role in Bennett's fate as the ruling
party legislators outnumbered those of the MDC."Bennett was last week
sentenced to an effective 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour after
Parliament found him guilty of assaulting Chinamasa in May. A total of 53
Zanu PF MP's voted in favour of Bennett's incarceration, against the MDC's
42, upholding the privileges committee's recommendations. However, it became
clear that the committee itself had been divided, with Ncube criticising the
sentence.
Bennett, affectionately known in Chimanimani as "Pachedu",
floored Chinamasa who had accused his ancestors of stealing land and cattle
from blacks during the colonial era, while debating the Stock Theft
Amendment Bill. In retaliation, Mutasa stood up and kicked Bennett in the
back and the opposition MP turned on him. Mutasa fell back into his seat,
while the Zanu PF political commissar, Minister without Portfolio Elliot
Manyika threatened to beat Bennett up. While a stunned Chinamasa lay on the
floor, Bennett looked down at him, saying he had had enough of him. Critics
concurred with Tekere, saying that there was no way that committee could
have come up with an impartial recommendation because of its composition.
MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese shared the same sentiments and said: "The
outcome was obvious and all investigations were just carried out as a
formality."
'That's when I said to them, "You must
just kill me"'
After three days of torture in Zimbabwe, a
human-rights lawyer flees to South Africa to pursue justice, STEPHANIE NOLEN
reports
By STEPHANIE NOLEN Thursday, November 4, 2004 -
Page A20
PRETORIA -- For
Gabriel Shumba, these days are a long, slow process of getting
even.
Slumped at a laptop, wearing a T-shirt and ball cap, he looks
much like the other students at the Centre for Human Rights at the
University of Pretoria. But Mr. Shumba is on a crusade, one that absorbs his
time, his energy, his meagre personal funds and his considerable
intellect.
Last January, he was detained by police and members of
the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organization. It was the 12th time in
his life that he had been arrested.
"I could bear the pain --
of course it was extreme pain, especially when they were switching on the
electricity," he recalled of three days of torture at the hands of
government security officers. "What I couldn't bear was the humiliation.
When they urinated on me, or when they forced me to lick up the urine, and
my blood that I had vomited on the floor.
"One can bear pain when
it is for a cause, but when your whole humanity is taken away -- that's when
I said to them, 'You must just kill me.' "
Mr. Shumba, a
human-rights lawyer who is now 30, reckons he is alive only because Amnesty
International and other human-rights groups learned of his detention and
immediately demanded his release.
When he was let go, he didn't
stop for so much as a change of clothes. He fled over the border into
Botswana. From there, he moved on to South Africa, home to at least two
million refugees from Zimbabwe due to the rapid deterioration of conditions
under President Robert Mugabe.
Today, Mr. Shumba works on his
doctorate in human-rights law, with the student status that allows him to
stay legally in South Africa. He co-ordinates the Zimbabwe Exiles' Forum,
which aims to support political and economic refugees. The project dearest
to Mr. Shumba's heart, however, is prosecuting Mr. Mugabe for crimes against
humanity.
His personal claim of torture will be heard by the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in December, and he and his
exile colleagues are also preparing evidence for the International Criminal
Court. But the avenue in which they currently place most hope is an
indictment in Canada under the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Act.
They have teamed up with volunteer Canadian lawyers who aim to
indict Mr. Mugabe and several key figures in his regime on the grounds that
they have personal knowledge of detentions, beatings and deliberate
withholding of food aid.
Mr. Shumba is collecting meticulously
prepared statements from victims of human-rights abuses and photographic
medical evidence. "We are assembling the evidence to show that the
government of Zimbabwe is involved in torture, rape, and crimes against
humanity," he said, brandishing a sheaf of files that he is convinced make
the case that Mr. Mugabe has personal knowledge of the abuses.
Ever since a strong opposition party emerged in Zimbabwe before the
presidential election in 2000, Mr. Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, formerly
independence heroes, have become increasingly violent and repressive in
their efforts to hold on to power.
The country's once thriving
economy has collapsed in the wake of a highly politicized
land-redistribution process (inflation is now estimated at 525 per cent),
and AIDS is ravaging the country even as the government seeks to outlaw
charities that feed the dying. The few aid groups still active report that a
national youth militia of Zanu-PF supporters is terrorizing suspected
opposition supporters, beating men and gang-raping women and
girls.
"People keep predicting an explosion in Zimbabwe, but they
underestimate Mugabe's ability to terrorize," Mr. Shumba said. "They've
driven so many people out of the country. Only the docile, gullible part of
the population is left -- the rural peasants who believe it when they are
told there are cameras everywhere and they can see where you put your 'X' in
the ballot box. Without intellectuals moving the change from outside the
country, nothing will change."
The last time he was detained in
Zimbabwe, he was with a client -- an opposition member of parliament who was
being harassed by the police -- when security officers with snarling dogs
burst into the room.
During his three days in detention he was hung
upside down and beaten with cables, bound in the fetal position, left to
suffocate in a nylon bag, and subjected to electric shocks for nine hours.
He was photographed naked and writhing in pain. "There is no place in
Zimbabwe for a human-rights lawyer," he said his captors told
him.
It wasn't his first trip into Harare's excrement-smeared,
vermin-filled holding cells. As a student activist campaigning against
corruption and brutality, he was detained nearly a dozen times.
At his graduation from law school at the University of Zimbabwe in 2000, Mr.
Shumba was chosen to present Mr. Mugabe, who serves as chancellor, with a
petition against lawlessness. As he approached, he was whisked off the stage
by bodyguards. He languished in jail for days without being charged, and was
unable to collect his diploma.
"I still wake up all the time
screaming and quite literally climbing the walls," he said. "The cuts heal
but the nightmares don't stop."
BOB Blair says
England's controversial tour of strife-torn Zimbabwe, where he was once
national director of coaching, shouldn't be taking place.
And the
former Widnes Cricket Club coach and ex-New Zealand Test star is calling for
action from the British Government on the issue.
The final go-ahead
was given for the one-day series when the England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB) declared the tour 'safe'.
Earlier, the game's world governing
body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had shown the green light for
the tour.
This followed an official inquiry which found no evidence
of racism in Zimbabwean cricket - after allegations to the contrary by
former captain Heath Streak and 14 other white cricketers.
But
Blair said: 'There is no reason why they should be going. The Government
should be doing something about it.'
Confirmation that the trip
will be made comes only 18 months after England boycotted a World Cup match
in Harare.
There are also human rights issues raised by Zimbabwe
president Robert Mugabe's regime.
Top stars Stephen Harmison
and Andrew Flintoff both pulled out of the winter tour on moral grounds
before the squad was announced. England could face massive fines from the
ICC if they don't tour.
The Foreign Office have reiterated the tour
'is a matter for the cricketing authorities.'
But Blair, 72,
who spent eight years in Zimbabwe, said: 'To go there when the country
doesn't have the best relationship with them is totally wrong. It is up to
the Government to say we don't want you to go.'