http://www.csmonitor.com
Zimbabwe Prime
Minister Tsvangirai , who had withdrawn from the powersharing
government
after Mugabe arrested a party leader, says he is giving the
president 30
days to address oustanding issues. A regional coalition meeting
in
Mozambique pressed the leaders to resolve their differences..
By Scott
Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
and a
correspondent
from the November 6, 2009 edition
Johannesburg; and
Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's on-again, off-again
coalition government is on
again. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced
Thursday that he had
suspended his "disengagement" from the powersharing
government with
President Robert Mugabe, adding that Mr. Mugabe has 30 days
to meet the
outstanding issues of their global political agreement.
A meeting of
regional leaders from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC),
convened in Mozambique to discuss the country's political
crisis, called on
the coalition government to settle their outstanding
issues this week, a
sort of hard shove to get the stalled powersharing
government moving
again.
Mr. Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had
stopped
meeting with their Mugabe cabinet colleagues for two weeks after
Mugabe's
police detained an MDC senior leader on charges of
terrorism.
Yet Zimbabwe's coalition government is reunited in name only,
analysts say,
and it is "unrealistic" to expect the rival parties to resolve
their
outstanding issues within the 30-day deadline. Like a political
diamond,
Mugabe - whose party controls the police, the Army, the
intelligence
service, the courts, the reserve bank, and most other key
ministries - only
hardens under pressure, and his long track record of
obfuscation and his
failure to resolve the outstanding issues suggests that
the current crisis
is only likely to deepen even further.
"Mugabe is
impervious to external pressure," says Aubrey Matshiqi, a
longtime political
analyst for the Center for Policy Studies in
Johannesburg. "ZANU PF
[Mugabe's party] enjoys the advantages of a
repressive Zimbabwe government,
while the MDC [Tsvangirai's party] suffers
from a smaller share of
power."
Zimbabwe's neighbors can do little
In the absence of firm
intervention - a hard-edged investigative body to
determine whether free and
fair elections are possible - Zimbabwe's
neighbors can do little to put
pressure on Mugabe, leaving the 85-year-old
liberation leader free to
continue to dither and govern at will, Mr.
Matshiqi says.
But for
now, at least, Zimbabwe's political crisis appears to be postponed.
"We
have suspended our disengagement from the GPA [global political
agreement]
with immediate effect, and we will give President Robert Mugabe
30 days to
implement the agreement on the pertinent issues we are concerned
about,"
Tsvangirai told reporters after the regional summit.
The MDC "disengaged"
from the inclusive government citing Mugabe's
reluctance to address
outstanding issues of the GPA, signed in September
last
year.
Political analysts say the time frame given by the former
opposition party
leader was "too short," and could further deepen the crisis
when ZANU PF
fails to meet the strict deadline.
They note that Mugabe
faces severe pressure from ZANU PF hardliners
determined to maintain their
hold on political power and Zimbabwe's economic
resources.
"I don't
see much being achieved during the given time frame given that the
two
parties are poles apart," says University of Zimbabwe political
scientist
Simon Badza. Mr. Badza says that Zanu PF would agree to resolve
only "a few"
of the issues that do not obstruct the party's strategic
political
interests. This, he says, would be done to hoodwink the guarantors
of the
political agreement - SADC and the Africa Union - into believing that
there
was movement toward resolution of the crisis.
"No key issues would be
resolved. Only issues of little significance .
issues that do not tamper
with Zanu PF's strategic interests would be
solved," says Badza. "ZaANU PF
hardliners would not agree to anything that
would compromise their
socioeconomic and political interests."
Tsvangirai's spokesman, James
Maridadi, said the MDC was optimistic that
Mugabe would have addressed the
outstanding issues within the 30 days.
"We are very hopeful," said Mr.
Maridadi, adding that South African
President Jacob Zuma would soon visit
Zimbabwe to assess progress toward
full compliance with the GPA. "In the
event that Mugabe does not comply with
GPA and Zuma's mediation fails, it
would mean the collapse of the
government."
Among the outstanding
issues are the appointment of provincial governors and
Mugabe's unilateral
reappointment of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and
Attorney General
Johannes Tomana. Mugabe has replied that the appointments
were done
constitutionally.
The MDC has also claimed that its MPs and activists
have been targeted for
government persecution.
Tsvangirai disengaged
with ZANU PF in the unity government following the
renewed detention of the
party's treasurer Roy Bennett on terrorism charges,
which the MDC said are
trumped up.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
joined for
talks in Maputo, Mozambique, together with the leaders of
Mozambique,
Swaziland, and Zambia.
Also attending were South African
President Zuma, Democratic Republic of
Congo President Joseph Kabila, and
current SADC chairman Joseph Kabila, as
well as former South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who facilitated the
agreement that brought about the
inclusive government.
Our reporter in Harare could not be named due to
security concerns.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
6 November 2009
The regional SADC Troika summit held in
Maputo, Mozambique on Thursday
toughened up its stance on Zimbabwe by giving
all parties the 6th December
as the deadline to implement all outstanding
issues.
The regional bloc, seen as sympathetic to Robert Mugabe for
years, took a
tougher line against him on Thursday after a ministerial
report tabled at
the summit laid the blame squarely on the
non-implementation of the GPA as
the root cause of the shaky government. But
it did not specifically name
Mugabe as being at the root of the
problem.
The Maputo summit, which lasted nine hours, urged both Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Mugabe not to allow the situation to deteriorate any further.
A communiqué
issued at the end urged all parties to fully comply with the
spirit and
letter of the GPA and SADC summit decisions of 27 January 2009.
Mugabe left
the summit venue without speaking to journalists, reportedly
angry at being
given a deadline to comply with the GPA.
Intense power
struggles between Mugabe and Tsvangirai have kept the unity
government
teetering on the brink of collapse since its formation. The MDC
complains
about violations of the agreement, political repression, disregard
of the
rule of law and human rights, continued farm seizures, media
repression and
Mugabe's refusal to adopt political and democratic reforms,
including
constitutional review.
Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, told SW Radio
Africa that the MDC
leader was happy with the summit outcome, especially
with the timeline given
to resolve the issues by the 6th December. He said
South African President
Jacob Zuma will be visiting the country before the
end of this month to
monitor the dialogue between the parties.
'The
Prime Minister did not go to Maputo to negotiate or re-negotiate. He
was
there to point out the failures of one party to implement the GPA. So he
is
happy with outcome,' Maridadi said.
He added; 'What the resolution of the
summit means in simple terms is the
appointments of the Reserve Bank
Governor and the Attorney General will be
dealt with by the principals in
the coming days or weeks. They will also
deal with the issues of the
provincial governors, ambassadors and Roy
Bennett.'
Many observers
and analysts following the Zimbabwe crisis have long blamed
SADC for not
taking a tough stand against Mugabe's intransigence. Wilf
Mbanga, editor of
the weekly Zimbabwean newspaper, wrote recently that SADC
was now part of
the problem affecting Zimbabwe.
In an editorial in his newspaper, Mbanga
said the regional body's leaders
have 'demonstrated on numerous occasions
that they are utterly spineless
when faced with a recalcitrant Robert Mugabe
on his anti-colonialism
hobby-horse'.
'SADC is supposed to be the
guarantor of the Global Political Agreement -
but they have persistently
sidestepped the MDC's legitimate complaints about
ZANU PF's non-compliance
while entertaining Mugabe's ludicrous "sanctions"
posturing. Their
pro-Mugabe bias is evident to all,' said Mbanga.
Open Society Initiative for
Southern Africa director Ozias Tungwarara said
it remains to be seen if SADC
will finally take some measures against Mugabe
if he ignores this latest
deadline.
'SADC leaders stand accused of defending Mugabe to the last. I am
not privy
to what transpired in Maputo yesterday (Thursday) but it will be
interesting
to see what happens if Mugabe fails to comply again,' Tungwarara
said.
The MDC are saying that they are happy with the SADC Summit and
that Mugabe has a 30 day deadline to implement the GPA. The SADC communiqué arrived late Friday and having read it, it is
unclear how Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his delegation have arrived at this
conclusion. The SADC communique does not actually state that there is a
deadline for the implementation of the GPA. It says: 'The parties should engage
in dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the outstanding issues
towards the full implementation of the GPA’. It would appear to be a document that says nothing more than;
remove sanctions on Mugabe and his ruling elite – and start talking again within
30 days.
6th
November 2009
Gerry Jackson
The timeline in the
Communique says that the ‘political parties who are signatory to the GPA should
engage in dialogue with immediate effect within 15 days, not beyond 30 days’,
and the dialogue should include all outstanding issues.
And what must
have kept Mugabe happy was the point that said the international community must
lift all forms of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
So it is unclear how it’s
possible to read this document as a deadline on Mugabe to implement the GPA
within 30 days.
http://www.voanews.com
By Peta
Thornycroft
06 November 2009
South African company, New
Reclamation Group, a private limited company is
reportedly planning to form
a venture with Zimbabwe to mine diamonds from a
deposit that human rights
groups say has been the site of military
atrocities. This comes as the
world's diamond control body called on
Zimbabwe to clean up a lawless field,
but stopped short of suspending the
country from a process meant to keep
"blood" gems off the market.
South African company New Reclamation says
it will begin mining for diamonds
in eastern Zimbabwe this month in a joint
venture with the state's mining
and development
corporation.
According to documents obtained by VOA, the company's
chairman David Kassel
has resigned from his position to take part in the
operations to exploit the
diamonds.
New Reclamation will reportedly
manage mining on the diamond deposit through
its company Grandwell Holdings
Ltd. in partnership with Marange Resources
Ltd., a unit of the state-owned
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp.
Part of the land the company will use
is held in a lease by a British
company, African Consolidated Resources. In
2006, the Zimbabwe government
seized the land from the British company after
gems were found in the
deposit. As many as 20,000 illegal miners besieged
the area and were later
cleared off by the army and police. New York-based
Human Rights Watch says
more than 200 were killed in the area last year.
Zimbabwe's police say they
have had no reports of atrocities.
Andrew
Cranswick, chief executive officer of African Consolidated Resources
said
the New Reclamation's reported mining plans with the Zimbabwe
government set
a bad precedent for any future investment in Zimbabwe.
"It is detrimental
to Zimbabwe's diamond industry which could prove to be
the life-saving force
for the economy because these diamonds are going to
get extremely bad
names," he said. "These will effectively be stolen
diamonds, and any
diamonds coming out of there will be stolen goods. So we
have this natural
resource plundered and looted in an organized fashion by
foreign thugs.
"
Zimbabwe, which is trying to recover from a decade-long recession, is
trying
to attract foreign investment even as a dispute between Mugabe's
Zimbabwe
African National Union- Patriotic Front and the Movement for
Democratic
Change threatens to dismantle a coalition government set up in
February and
deter investors.
Cranswick said New Reclamation would be
operating on the northern part of
its claim through a company registered in
Mauritius.
"We as a company view this extremely seriously and will take
full legal
recourse through litigation and criminal orders if we can get
them in South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Mauritius," he added.
This
week, the Kimberley Process, a global body created to curb trade in
gems
mined to fund conflict, considered whether to suspend Zimbabwe as a
member
after a mission visited the Southern African country in May.
Investigators
found killings and forced evictions from the Marange diamond
fields in the
east of the country close to the border with Mozambique.
Despite the
findings, the Kimberley Process panel stopped short of kicking
Zimbabwe
out. Instead it has adopted a plan - proposed by Zimbabwe itself -
which
includes calls for an independent inspector to monitor diamonds
leaving the
controversial fields.
According to human rights activists monitoring the
situation, most of the
stones so far extracted at the diamond fields have
been smuggled out of
Zimbabwe and sold in Mozambique. Human rights groups
also say the diamonds
have been an important source of revenue for the
military and for President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
Ian
Smillie, one of the architects of the Kimberley Process, says the
panel's
decision on Zimbabwe was "farcical."
He said the Zimbabwe mines ministry
has "lied repeatedly" to the the diamond
regulatory
body.
Associated Press
Nov 6, 1:55 PM EST
By DONNA BRYSON
Associated Press
Writer
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Investigators for the world's diamond control
body say
the gems were mined by virtual slaves who had been told to dig or
die, and
were smuggled out by soldiers who rape and beat
civilians.
Yet the Kimberley Process, the diamond body, said those gems
don't qualify
as "blood diamonds," and instead of sanctioning Zimbabwe is
giving the
country another chance to get its Marange fields under
control.
In a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press,
investigators for
the Kimberley Process had recommended that Zimbabwe be
suspended, meaning
many consumers would have shunned the country's diamonds.
Instead, officials
ended their annual deliberations this week with a
decision Zimbabwe be given
another chance to improve control over its
Marange diamond fields.
In a communique issued late Thursday in Namibia,
the group said its
investigators found evidence of Zimbabwe's "significant
noncompliance."
Zimbabwe agreed to take steps, including pulling soldiers
out and allowing
monitors in to become compliant, and the country would be
given time to do
so under Kimberley Process monitoring, the group
said.
According to Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper, a mouthpiece for the
ZANU-PF party
whose officials are believed to be reaping the proceeds from
sales of
Marange diamonds, Zimbabwean Mines and Mining Development Minister
Obert
Mpofu told the meeting in Namibia that his country needed more
technical
help from the Kimberley Process to get Marange in
order.
The Kimberley Process was established in 2002 by governments, the
diamond
industry and rights groups in an attempt to stem the flow of "blood
diamonds" - gems sold to fund fighting across Africa.
Thursday's
brief communique announcing the decision focused on "illicit
trade of
Marange diamonds," not the human rights abuses detailed in a report
by
Kimberley Process investigators who visited Zimbabwe in June and
July.
Tiseke Kasambala, a Johannesburg-based researcher for Human Rights
Watch,
said the Kimberley Process was interpreting its mandate too
narrowly.
"The Zimbabwe diamonds definitely qualify as blood diamonds,"
she told The
Associated Press Friday. "Human rights should be respected in
each member
state" of the Kimberley Process.
Global Witness, an
international human rights groups that helped establish
the process, also
has called for it to be strengthened. Global Witness's
Annie Dunneback, who
was in Namibia for the meetings, said her group was
"very disappointed" with
the outcome.
"We feel that this points to fundamental weaknesses in the
scheme and also
points to a serious lack of political will," she said
Friday, adding Global
Witness questioned whether Zimbabwe would live up to
its commitment to clean
up Marange.
The Kimberley Process
investigators had recommended that Zimbabwe either be
suspended or
voluntarily suspend itself.
"Lawlessness, particularly when combined with
violence and largely overseen
by government entities, should not be the
hallmark of any system ... deemed
to be compliant" with the Kimberley
Process, the investigators said in a
report reviewed at this week's Namibia
meetings.
The investigators had interviewed miners who told of working
for soldiers
who allowed them to keep only 10 percent of the proceeds of any
diamonds
recovered. The witnesses described what happened to those who
refused to
work for the soldiers:
"Each one of these illegal miners
reported seeing people killed and the
numbers they cited ranged from one to
seven. This group also told members of
the team that they observed extreme
violence against illegal miners" by
soldiers using rifles, dogs, batons and
tear gas.
The report said women "reported that, while under the custody
of the
security forces, they were raped repeatedly by military officers and
that
they have been forced to engage in sex with illegal
miners."
According to Kimberley Process officials, Zimbabwe exported
nearly 800,000
carats of diamonds from three fields, including Marange, last
year.
http://www.ft.com
By Richard Lapper in Johannesburg
Published:
November 6 2009 17:18 | Last updated: November 6 2009 17:18
South Africa
is close to signing a bilateral investment treaty with
Zimbabwe, paving the
way for what could be a sharp increase in private
sector investment in its
troubled northern neighbour, according to officials
in both
countries.
The treaty would provide mechanisms to help resolve disputes
and sharply
reduce the price of political risk insurance, helping ease
concerns about
Zimbabwe’s political stability that have inhibited investment
despite
interest from South African groups ranging from mining companies to
banks
and retailers.
“There is huge interest but the biggest
stumbling block has been the
[failure] to finalise an investment treaty,”
said Ufikile Khumalo, of South
Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation.
The government development bank
earlier this week made its first loan to a
Zimbabwe business since Robert
Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, agreed to form
a coalition government with his
political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai in
February.
News of the investment treaty comes as the Zimbabwe economy
continues to
stabilise following the abolition of the local currency and
amid signs that
the South African government is keen to encourage closer
bilateral ties.
It also follows Mr Tsvangirai’s decision late on Thursday
to re-engage with
his Zanu-PF coalition partners inside the power-sharing
administration. Mr
Tsvangirai, who withdrew his Movement for Democratic
Change from the country’s
unity government last month because of differences
with Mr Mugabe, agreed to
rejoin the coalition at a summit in Mozambique
attended by southern African
leaders including Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s
president.
Earlier this week, Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s MDC finance
minister, played down
differences with Zanu-PF and said that the investment
agreement would be
signed in South Africa in the last week of
November.
The IDC loan extended a $10m (£6m, €6.7m) facility to the
London-listed
miner Mwana Africa, allowing the company to step up gold
production that it
resumed in Zimbabwe in October. Mr Khumalo said other
investments could soon
follow and that commitments to Zimbabwean-based
businesses might eventually
reach 10 per cent of the corporation’s
portfolio, which totalled nearly $9bn
in 2008.
Local businesses
believed they could steal a march on their more risk-averse
rivals outside
the region, he said. There was still some uncertainty about
the willingness
of the Zimbabwe government to include investments in land –
a politically
controversial area – within the terms of the treaty, he said,
but “outside
of this, everything has been agreed upon”.
Mr Biti indicated that other
issues that have worried potential investors
were being resolved. Kingdom
Meikles, the retail, hotel and banking group
that was until recently
Zimbabwe’s biggest listed company, was no longer
subject to government
intervention, he said. So-called “specification
measures” under which
government agents were appointed to run the company’s
affairs in September
had been lifted, paving the way for the de-merger of
the group.
Mr
Biti insisted that the government, including Mr Mugabe, wanted to take a
flexible approach to foreign investors.
Separately, he told news
agencies on Friday that a local newspaper report on
proposed draft
legislation to force foreign-owned companies to allocate a 51
per cent
majority stake to black Zimbabweans was “speculative”.
PRESS
STATEMENT
The Commercial Farmers’
Union of Zimbabwe ISSUED BY: President Deon Theron 6
November 2009 The Escalation of Violence on
Commercial Farms The
Commercial Farmers Union is deeply concerned about the increased onslaught
against its members, employees and livestock, and the catastrophic impact this
will have on the ability of the nation to feed itself in the 2009/2010
season. Many of our members and their employees have been assaulted, had their
belongings seized and stolen, and been forced to watch as their homes and worker
villages have been burnt to the ground. Police reaction has been limited, slow
and frequently biased against our members.
In the majority of cases there has been no response at all because the
deliberately orchestrated violence has been classified as “political”. As I
speak, another of our elderly members is fighting for his life in hospital after
he and his wife were viciously attacked. Farm employees are also under constant threat and, when the farmer is not
present, the attorney general’s office frequently targets the employees. A significant number have been prosecuted and
even imprisoned, resulting in their being unable to produce desperately needed
food for a food-insecure nation heavily dependent for the last decade on food
aid. For a country that prior to the
land invasions was not only food secure but a producer of food for the region
and a highly respected international exporter, the situation is
shameful. The
impact on elderly farmers and farm workers has been devastating and the
Commercial Farmers’ Union is deeply concerned about their plight. None have received compensation from the
government and a significant number are destitute. Although farmers are required to compensate their workers when their
farms have been taken over – which occurs frequently just as crops are ready to
be reaped – the majority of farmers have few remaining resources. The high costs of the violent invasions: the loss of income due to the theft of crops,
farm equipment and the ongoing legal battles, as well as mounting medical bills
following vicious attacks on farmers and their workers, have depleted their
funds. We
currently have over 150 productive farmers targeted and prosecuted by the
attorney general’s office for still being on their farms. We see dairy farmers,
tobacco farmers, wheat farmers, maize farmers - in fact every category of farmer
throughout the country being victimised and prosecuted currently in the
magistrates’ courts. In
addition to these illegal prosecutions, we have beneficiaries of “offer letters”
taking the law into their own hands and farming operations continue to be
violently disrupted. Animals too have not been spared. They are being stolen, slaughtered,
snared, hamstrung and axed. Thousands have inhumanely been denied food and water
for more than a week at a time, with many dying or eating their young in their
desperate efforts to survive. The
difficulties faced by the SPCA and other concerned organisations have been
significant and the fear factor remains high.
Tragically, they have not been able to save many of the animals, which
are suffering appalling levels of abuse and neglect at the hands of the
perpetrators. We
have written to various ministries seeking dialogue to stabilise the situation
and protect our livestock, but have not even had the courtesy of a reply or any
expression of concern. These include the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rural
Development. The
summer cropping season is upon us and the situation is extremely serious. As
commercial farmers we are being prevented from producing crops, and the highly
productive farms that have been acquired by the government are producing either
very little or nothing. Zimbabwe has been warned continuously that the beneficiaries of
international food aid should be those that are most deserving, notably regions
affected by severe drought conditions, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, global
warming and other natural disasters.
Justifying massive shipments of food aid to countries whose governments
destroy their population’s ability to feed themselves is proving to be
increasingly difficult. As
a nation we are in turmoil. We have been operating under exceptionally difficult
conditions: a divided government, no
access to lines of credit, the selective application of the law, and
non-compliance to High Court and SADC Tribunal Court rulings. We are uncertain
of what the future holds for us as a nation, and to compound this we are facing
a serious looming shortage of food as farmers continue to be prosecuted,
persecuted and prevented from farming. We
welcome the news of the re-engagement of the partners in the transitional
government. On
behalf of our members, our employees and the animals – which are totally
dependent on us for their welfare - we once again call upon our government to
resolve the current crisis. Furthermore, we call for clarification on all of the issues we have
raised and trust that we will not be victimised for expressing our
concern. As
citizens of this country we seek peace, stability and a future for everyone and
for our children who have suffered deeply as a result of the ongoing turmoil and
trauma. Deon Theron President For
further information/… For further
information: Tel: +263 4 309
800 Cell: +263 912 246 233
E-mail: dtheron@cfuzim.org and pres@cfuzim.org Tel: +263 4 309 800
Zim
cell: +263 912 235 640 Zim
cell: +263 11 407 037 E-mail: dir@cfuzim.org
Cell: +263 11 216 062
E-mail: lfick@cfuzim.org Tel: +263 4 309
800 Cell: +263 912 284
847 E-mail: ctaffs@cfuzim.org
Additional documents: Please also refer to the fact sheet which has been prepared for the press
conference.
Fact
Sheet In 2000, the total number
of Large Scale Commercial Farmers was approximately 4500. Land divisions were as follows: Source Commercial Farmers’
Union Also there were approximately 350
000 permanent employees and about 250 000 casual workers who together with their
families amounted to about 1.8 million people who lived and sourced their
livelihoods off commercial farms.
Many farm workers and their
families were descended from Malawian and Mozambique migrant labour brought to
this country in the middle of the 20th century because of a labour
shortage. They therefore have no traditional home in a communal area.
Since 1992, The Government of
Zimbabwe had as its target the acquisition of 8.3 million hectares from the
commercial farming area and redistribution to landless blacks under
· the so-called model A1 scheme
where small-scale farmers would receive plots not exceeding 6 hectares;
and · the model A2 scheme where people of resources
would be resettled on a cost recovery basis in order to indigenise the
economy. By 2000, Government had acquired
some 3.4 million hectares. Donor support for a continuation of Phase II of the
Land Reform Programme had been obtained and agreed parameters for a reasonable
programme of land reform, which did not sacrifice agricultural production, were
agreed on at a donor conference held in 1998. However, following the
rejection in a referendum of a draft Constitution, which sought to
declare unilaterally Britain as solely responsible for paying for Land
Reform, invasions of commercial farms began. A new opposition party had
been formed and was gaining momentum.
With a parliamentary election in a few months and a presidential election
in two years, thereafter Government needed to act quickly to consolidate its
political control. The Constitution was quickly amended ahead of the
Parliamentary election and the Rural Police were instructed not to intervene in
so-called political matters. This effectively gave war veterans and other
supporters, who were leading land invasions impunity to perpetrate political
motivated crimes during the land invasions. Farm workers were to face the brunt
of this assault perhaps for their perceived support of the opposition party.
Further Court rulings in favour of commercial farmers were consistently ignored.
Human rights abuses and forced attendance to political meetings were the order
of the day. Over the next 10 years, the
law would be gradually amended to allow Government to easily acquire land
culminating in a constitutional amendment, which effectively nationalised all
Large Scale Commercial farm land. Political freedoms, basic human rights would
be drastically limited, and the judiciary would be purged of judges who did not
accord with ruling party interests. To date approximately 16 High Court and
Supreme Court judges have been given farms under the land reform programme.
These same judges preside over litigation involving commercial farmers
attempting to enforce their rights. The period would also result in a
marked decrease in overall Agricultural Production, a shrinking GDP and total
economic meltdown. Source: Robertson Economic Services Government claims that the causes
of the country’s woes are droughts and sanctions are a fallacy.
In November 2008, the
illegitimacy and illegality was recognised by five judges from the region in the
SADC Tribunal. Government has consistently ignored the ruling and treated it
with outrageous contempt. Government claims of giving
land and empowering the black majority are simply not true. The truth is that
land is lent to people in a system of political patronage. The continued use and
occupation of the land is dependent on their political affiliation and
loyalty. There is no genuine empowerment or farmer autonomy there is no
security of tenure and there is no collateral value attached to the land. It is
a dead asset, which cannot drive its own development. The majority of land has
been given to senior politicians, members of the security forces, Government
employees and other civil servants. Less than 1% of the 1.8 million commercial
farm workers have received land under the land reform programme. Commercial farmers on
numerous occasions have made efforts to participate in solving the land
question. One particularly good example
is the Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative (ZJRI). This initiative involved
an offer of close on 3 million hectares of land to Government on an uncontested
basis. Government has stubbornly spurned
all these initiatives and has instead continued the chaotic reform programme
ignoring all principles of international law and good governance. Bilateral
Protection and Promotion of Investment Agreements (BIPPAs) are violated at will,
and Government policy continues to be that “no foreigner can own land in
Zimbabwe”. The majority of CFU members are Zimbabwean citizens and their rights
are still ignored. Today CFU members control
less than 1% of Zimbabwe’s land. CFU statistics show that its members control
less than 0.3% of Zimbabwe’s land. There
are less than 300 productive commercial farmers remaining on the land all but a
handful face prosecution for continuing to use their farms. To date 15 farmers
and 29 farmers have been prosecuted and convicted for allegedly being on farms
without lawful authority. Some farmers have managed to lease land on
indigenously owned commercial farms. Many of the farmers evicted over the last
10 years have moved elsewhere in the region to ply their trade. Source: Ministry of Lands &
Rural Resettlement: Memorandum to Cabinet by the Minister of Lands and Rural
Resettlement Hon. H. M. Murerwa (M.P.) on the Update on Land Reform &
Resettlement Programme – 27th of August,
2009
http://af.reuters.com/
Fri Nov 6, 2009 11:39am
GMT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's white
farmers union said on Friday it needed
to raise $1.2 million each month to
look after more than 4,000 members it
said had been impoverished by
President Robert Mugabe's often violent land
seizure drive.
The
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said violence against white farmers
still
remaining on farms was escalating and that efforts to engage the
government
had failed, and warned of a failed 2009/10 cropping season.
Mugabe formed
a unity government with longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now
prime
minister, but the coalition has been at odds over how to share power
and the
CFU said the new government was not protecting them.
CFU deputy president
Charles Taffs said 150 farmers were being prosecuted in
the courts for
refusing to make way for new black farmers.
The CFU now has less than 400
active farmers, down from more than 5,000 when
the seizures started in
2000.
"We are actively now trying to raise $1.2 million every month to
look after
the 4,200 people who are currently facing total destitution,"
Taffs told
journalists.
The land issue is emotive in Zimbabwe, where
white commercial farmers used
to own 70 percent of the country's fertile
land, thanks to a colonial system
that drove blacks from their ancestral
lands.
Since the land seizures, which Mugabe argues are necessary to
correct
colonial land imbalances, 90 percent of the land is now in the hands
of
black farmers, but who lack proper commercial farming skills and are
without
adequate inputs.
Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party say there are
no invasions taking place but
that black farmers issued with occupation
letters were simply moving on to
claim their land, which sometimes caused
tensions with the white farmers.
"We have some of our elderly members who
are so desperate that they are
saying they would want some form of
compensation to survive," CFU president
Deon Theron said.
"They are
coming to us and saying 'please can you not negotiate with the
government,
even if its a partial compensation so that we can survive',"
said
Theron.
Farm workers have not been spared from the upheaval in the
farming sector,
which used to employ 250,000 permanent workers and as much
in seasonal
labour.
There are now 18,000 workers left on commercial
farms.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet
Gonda
6 November 2009
Pascal Gwezere, the MDC Transport Manager who
was abducted at gunpoint from
his house in Harare last Tuesday, has made
another appearance in court. He
first appeared in court last Saturday, four
days after he went missing. He
is being accused of undergoing military
training in Uganda and stealing
firearms from Pomona Army Barracks in
Harare. He denies all the allegations.
At his first court appearance he was
denied legal representation and was
remanded in custody to 13th
November.
Gwezere had been threatened and because of this only hinted in
court that he
had been tortured by state security agents. Although clearly
injured he was
still denied medical treatment by the prison authorities,
despite an order
by the court. Lawyer Alex Muchadehama tried to have the
matter heard again
in court on Thursday so his client could place on record
complaints against
his abductors and apply for refusal of remand. But prison
officials claimed
they had no fuel to transport the prisoner.
Finally
on Friday Gwezere was taken to court, under heavy guard. Kumbirai
Mafunda,
Communications Officer for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR), said
there was heavy security at the Magistrate's Court and
journalists were
prevented from taking pictures of the MDC employee.
Muchadehama was supposed
to make an application for refusal of remand but
the matter was postponed to
Monday because of time constraints, caused by
the magistrate arriving
late.
However, Muchadehama was able to complain against the prison
authorities'
treatment of Gwezere, who was transferred from Harare Remand
Prison to
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. Muchadehama told the court that
the
transport manager was still being denied medical treatment and that the
prison doctors who had been ordered by the court to examine him, had not
done so. The lawyer then asked the court to allow his client to be seen by
private doctors of his choice. The Harare magistrate consented but at the
time of going to air it was not clear if this had yet
happened.
Gwezere is said to have sustained serious injuries after he was
tortured in
detention, including being blindfolded, beaten under the feet
and an
indecent assaulted. Mafunda said it was clear from his appearance
that he
was in a lot of pain and had problems with his
legs.
.................
Violet presents Hot Seat where her guests
are political commentators
Professor Brian Raftopoulos and Brian Kagoro,
with their analysis of the
outcome of the SADC Troika Summit on Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai has ended is
'disengagement' with ZANU PF and all parties have
been given 30 days to
implement outstanding issues in the GPA. Does this
resolve the crisis or
just defer it for another 30 days? Is Tsvangirai's
decision to 'rejoin' a
capitulation or strategic, and what could SADC come
up with as their 'Plan B'
if this 30-day deadline
fails?
.................
On Callback Muradzdikwa says the drafting of
a new constitution is the most
important issue facing 'this useless GNU, in
which the MDC have no power';
Tawanda is concerned that ZANU PF will step-up
its campaign of violence
unless the MDC stays in the GNU, and, Chipo says
the old days of suffering
are looming and it's up to the MDC to consider
this when planning their
future strategies.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
06 November 2009
A 79 year old widow has been given a month to
vacate her dairy farm and home
of 50 years, or face a jail term, after she
was convicted earlier this year
for failing to vacate her
farm.
Hester Theron, who runs a local dairy farm in Beatrice, was
sentenced on
Friday under the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act,
for refusing
to leave the land that has been her home since the late
fifties. She was
sentenced to three months behind bars, suspended for five
years on condition
that she vacates the farm by 8 December 2009.
The
news comes as more concern has been raised about the escalation of
violence
on commercial farms across the country, as the state sponsored
offensive to
conclude the so called land 'reform' program continues to
gather momentum.
The president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Deon
Theron, who is also
Hester Theron's son, told SW Radio Africa on Friday that
he is shocked by
how his mother was treated by the courts, calling her
suspended sentence
'ridiculous'.
Theron had earlier in the day told a press conference about
his organisation's
concern, listing the various atrocities that have been
and are still being
committed on farms. Many farmers and their workers have
been assaulted, had
their belongings seized and stolen, and been forced to
watch as their homes
and workers villages have been burnt to the ground.
Most recently, five
workers from Louis Fick's Friedawil farm in Chinhoyi
were shot and wounded
by a man working for Deputy Reserve Bank governor,
Edward Mashiringwani.
Mashiringwani, who has led a campaign of harassment
and intimidation against
Fick and his staff for several months, in complete
violation of the SADC
ruling meant to protect the land. Mashiringwani's
hired thugs have also
prevented the remaining farm staff from feeding or
watering the numerous
pigs and crocodiles on the farm, in an extreme act of
animal cruelty meant
to force Fick to give up the farm.
Police
reaction in all cases, including Fick's has been limited, slow and
"frequently biased against our members." Theron said that in the majority of
cases there has been no response at all because the deliberately
orchestrated violence has been classified as 'political'.
Theron also
described the plight of the country's thousands of farm workers,
who are
also under constant threat, explaining that "when the farmer is not
present,
the attorney general's office frequently targets the employees." A
significant number of workers have been prosecuted and even imprisoned,
often for trying to defend their employers land from invasions. Over 60
thousand farm workers have lost their jobs this year alone, as a result of
the renewed land grab campaign. This has all resulted in farms being unable
to produce desperately needed food for a food-insecure nation, heavily
dependent for the last decade on food aid.
At the same time over 150
productive farmers have recently been targeted and
prosecuted by the
attorney general's office for still being on their farms.
In addition to
these illegal prosecutions, various well-connected
beneficiaries of 'offer
letters' have been taking the law into their own
hands and farming
operations continue to be violently disrupted.
Meanwhile, farmer Charles
Lock, whose Karori farm has been seized by
Brigadier General Justin Mujaji
and his personal army of soldiers, has this
week appealed to the High Court
to have the top army official arrested and
convicted. Mujaji, who is related
by marriage to Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, has plundered and looted
the farm in contravention of numerous
court orders against him. Lock has not
been allowed on the property for
several weeks, despite more court orders in
his favour, meant to allow him
to collect his equipment and produce still on
the farm.
But Mujaji has not allowed a single court messenger or police
official onto
the farm, and has previously threatened to shoot various
messengers from the
courts. Lock has now sought the conviction order from
the High Court,
although his application has been postponed until next week
to allow Mujaji
time to respond.
As the farm crisis escalates, it is
disturbing to note that the various
stories have been given little
international media attention. This is
despite major news groups such as CNN
and the BBC recently being allowed
back into the country to report on what
is happening, after years of being
banned. But regardless of the high
human-interest newsworthiness of the farm
crisis, the animal abuse and
plight of the country's farm workers, there
seems to be little interest from
these international media groups in
providing footage and interviews, about
a crisis that is worsening by the
day.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
6 November
2009
The United Kingdom Border Agency has suspended scheduled deportation
flights
for failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers, following strong protestations
by the
MDC-UK.
A high powered delegation of the MDC, led by chairman
Jonathan Chawora, held
a marathon meeting in London with officials from the
UK border agency on
Thursday, where it was agreed to suspend the
deportations.
Jaison Matewu, the organizing secretary and one of the
delegates to the
talks, told SW Radio Africa that they managed to convince
the British
officials that the situation in the country was still
volatile.
'I can confirm that following our meeting yesterday (Thursday)
the
deportation of Zimbabweans has been suspended until further notice. We
will
meet again with the officials in January 2010 to review the situation
but we
are happy that for now we've managed to resolve this crisis,' Matewu
said.
'We went there (Home Office) representing all Zimbabweans, not
necessarily
our members or activists only. We have people who claim asylum
based on
political, economic and humanitarian grounds. So we told the Home
Office the
situation is not yet ideal for any Zimbabwean to be deported
because of the
renewed surge in violence perpetrated by ZANU PF,' Matewu
added.
The MDC-UK was part of a growing list of organisations in the UK
who
criticised the planned deportations of failed asylum seekers by the
British
government. They said such a move was counter-productive and would
cause
stress among the Zimbabwean community.
The British government
announced two weeks ago that it was considering
resuming the deportation of
failed asylum seekers back to Zimbabwe. It cited
the political power-sharing
agreement in the country as an indication that
the situation had changed. UK
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said he was
looking at 'normalising'
returns to Zimbabwe because the situation was
'improving' after MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai was appointed Prime Minister
in February.
But
conditions in the country have not yet returned to normal and some of
the
returnees face serious risk of persecution for supporting the MDC.
Last
week United Nations human rights expert, Manfred Nowak, was detained by
security officials on arrival in the country and was deported. He said the
situation in Zimbabwe was 'worsening.'
Amnesty International also
said that Zimbabwe was once again on the 'brink
of violence.'
http://www.ft.com
By Richard Lapper in Johannesburg
Published:
November 6 2009 17:18 | Last updated: November 6 2009 17:18
South Africa
is close to signing a bilateral investment treaty with
Zimbabwe, paving the
way for what could be a sharp increase in private
sector investment in its
troubled northern neighbour, according to officials
in both
countries.
The treaty would provide mechanisms to help resolve disputes
and sharply
reduce the price of political risk insurance, helping ease
concerns about
Zimbabwe’s political stability that have inhibited investment
despite
interest from South African groups ranging from mining companies to
banks
and retailers.
“There is huge interest but the biggest
stumbling block has been the
[failure] to finalise an investment treaty,”
said Ufikile Khumalo, of South
Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation.
The government development bank
earlier this week made its first loan to a
Zimbabwe business since Robert
Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, agreed to form
a coalition government with his
political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai in
February.
News of the investment treaty comes as the Zimbabwe economy
continues to
stabilise following the abolition of the local currency and
amid signs that
the South African government is keen to encourage closer
bilateral ties.
It also follows Mr Tsvangirai’s decision late on Thursday
to re-engage with
his Zanu-PF coalition partners inside the power-sharing
administration. Mr
Tsvangirai, who withdrew his Movement for Democratic
Change from the country’s
unity government last month because of differences
with Mr Mugabe, agreed to
rejoin the coalition at a summit in Mozambique
attended by southern African
leaders including Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s
president.
Earlier this week, Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s MDC finance
minister, played down
differences with Zanu-PF and said that the investment
agreement would be
signed in South Africa in the last week of
November.
The IDC loan extended a $10m (£6m, €6.7m) facility to the
London-listed
miner Mwana Africa, allowing the company to step up gold
production that it
resumed in Zimbabwe in October. Mr Khumalo said other
investments could soon
follow and that commitments to Zimbabwean-based
businesses might eventually
reach 10 per cent of the corporation’s
portfolio, which totalled nearly $9bn
in 2008.
Local businesses
believed they could steal a march on their more risk-averse
rivals outside
the region, he said. There was still some uncertainty about
the willingness
of the Zimbabwe government to include investments in land –
a politically
controversial area – within the terms of the treaty, he said,
but “outside
of this, everything has been agreed upon”.
Mr Biti indicated that other
issues that have worried potential investors
were being resolved. Kingdom
Meikles, the retail, hotel and banking group
that was until recently
Zimbabwe’s biggest listed company, was no longer
subject to government
intervention, he said. So-called “specification
measures” under which
government agents were appointed to run the company’s
affairs in September
had been lifted, paving the way for the de-merger of
the group.
Mr
Biti insisted that the government, including Mr Mugabe, wanted to take a
flexible approach to foreign investors.
Separately, he told news
agencies on Friday that a local newspaper report on
proposed draft
legislation to force foreign-owned companies to allocate a 51
per cent
majority stake to black Zimbabweans was “speculative”.
http://www.earthtimes.org
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:20:20
GMT
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Magodonga Mahlangu and
Jenni
Williams, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and recipients of
the
2009 RFK Human Rights Award, will discuss Zimbabwe's growing instability
and
social problems at a National Press Club Newsmakers press conference at
2
p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, in the Zenger Room, 13th floor, National Press
Building, 529 14th St., N.W., Washington, DC.
WOZA is a
grassroots movement of more than 60,000 Zimbabweans, empowering
women from
diverse communities to take non-violent action against injustice
on a range
of issues, including political rights and freedoms, rape,
domestic violence,
and the rights to health, food and education.
Williams and Mahlangu
will outline what they call the worsening economic,
social and political
conditions in Zimbabwe due to the recent breakdown of
the Global Political
Agreement (GPA), as well as the country's ongoing
violence against human
rights defenders and dissidents. They also will
detail their experiences
leading more than 100 nonviolent marches in support
of democratic reform and
women's empowerment, and the brutality of the
government's
response.
Mahlangu and Williams will be joined by Monika Kalra Varma,
director of the
RFK Center for Human Rights (RFK Center). The Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights
Award honors human rights defenders throughout the
world who stand up
against injustice, often at great personal risk. The
annual award includes
on-going legal, advocacy and technical support through
a partnership with
the RFK Center.
Briggs Bomba, director of
campaigns at Africa Action, also will participate,
discussing the
implications of the continuing boycott of Zimbabwe's unity
government by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his faction of the
government, the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T).
SOURCE National Press
Club
“There is nothing in the GPA that has not been done by ZANU PF, nothing at all. We have fulfilled everything that the GPA wanted us to fulfill”: Robert Mugabe, 24 October 2009
October has been a month characterised by violence, lawlessness, corruption and the complete abuse of power for partisan and personal objectives. Despite Robert Mugabe’s outrageous claim to the contrary, Sokwanele has logged an incredible 3850 breaches of the GPA by Zanu PF since the start of the ZIG Watch project, making this party responsible for 88.8% of all breaches logged up until the end of October.
October began in the wake of a international public campaign demanding that Nestle stop buying milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate which is owned by Grace Mugabe. Recognising the public’s disgust, Nestle quickly capitulated and in so doing exposed itself to ruthless elements that serve to protect and defend the Zanu PF elite business interests. Nestle bank accounts were frozen by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe who also ordered a forensic audit into its dealings. (The Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, is staunchly loyal to the Mugabe’s and Zanu PF.) Zanu PF Youths who cryptically threatened to “lose it” if the company did not resume buying milk from Gushengo, and the so-called Affirmative Action Group – loyal to the Zanu PF party – threatened to take over Nestle Zimbabwe if the company did not resume its purchases. Actions like these arguably have a far more damaging impact on any prospects for investment in the country than the targeted sanctions Zanu PF is so anxious to have removed.
October will be remembered as the month the MDC-T party disengaged from the Zanu PF party in the power-sharing government, a decision brought about by the vindictive and partisan handling of the Roy Bennett case. In mid-October Roy Bennett’s bail conditions were rendered void when Mutare Provincial Magistrate Lucy Mungwari sent him back to jail pending trial in the High Court. This was despite the fact the State’s papers were not in order, and that they had not furnished the defence with the indictment papers they were required to do so by law. The Attorney General had it in his gift to show leniency and allow bail conditions to remain, but chose not to.
The MDC-T disengagement seemed to remove the last vestiges of Zanu PF restraint brought about by the GPA, and the month of October spiralled into Zanu PF sponsored lawlessness. Reports have emerged this month of hundreds of opposition supporting rural villagers being denied food unless they denounce the MDC parties; Zanu PF militants have been moving around the Mudzi area forcibly recruiting youths to join the ‘green bomber’ militia – Zanu PF MP Newten Kachepa is reportedly playing a lead role in the recruitment. And two Zimbabwe Election Support Network officials were arrested in Hwange’s Dete area, for allegedly conducting a public outreach workshop without police clearance.
Partisan corruption was prevalent in the education sector in October. MDC-T supporting students who were awarded scholarships to study at Fort Hare, in South Africa, have had their funding withdrawn because of their political beliefs. The Presidential Scholarship programme, using taxpayers money, is meant to help disadvantaged students but is widely believed to favour students aligned to the Zanu PF party. The Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) another government fund established to help children from poorer backgrounds has also been contaminated by Zanu PF partisanship. Selection forms for the BEAM programme were being distributed by the Zanu PF local ward chairperson, David Mpala, and MDC supporting parents were having difficulty accessing the forms. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has reported that teachers in rural schools are being intimidated and forced to pay money to the Zanu PF leadership in their areas – they have been told that this is to go towards funding Zanu PF members who want to attend the party’s December conference.
But it is the upsurge in violence that is the most alarming. The PTUZ reported that youth militia loyal to Zanu PF have once again gone on a rampage against rural school teachers. In Chiweshe, fifty homes of known MDC supporters were burned down by the youth militia, the residents were forced to leave their homes and have sought refuge in neighbouring areas. A losing MDC candidate during last year’s elections was severely assaulted with logs, sticks and stones by youth militia in the Makoni South area. He was left for dead.
Abductions, unlawful arrests and torture have taken place again, a frightening reminder of the State-sanctioned abductions last year. Suspected armed CIO agents tried to abduct Edith Mashayire, the MDC-T’s security administrator, in broad daylight. She fought off her attackers but Pascal Gwezere, the MDC-T Transport Manager was less fortunate: he was abducted outside his home by military intelligence officers, Central Intelligence Organisation operatives, detectives from Law and Order, Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) and 15 police officers who were in anti-riot gear. Gwezere was tortured and later denied medical treatment despite clear signs of injuries.
Atrocities in the farming area continue unabated. There is no rule of law. The rural areas are subjected to Zanu PF loyalists, including the political elite, shamelessly scrabbling to grab what they can in an orgy of greed, using whatever means possible. Brigadier General Mujaji has stolen maize from Charles Lock’s farm in Karoi. There was nothing subtle about his theft: the Brigadier used an estimated seven 30 tonne trucks to transport crops he did not own and played no part in growing. Mujaji is also accused of deploying soldiers under his command to forcibly displace workers from their homes: three women were raped and property was looted.
Jacob Chiripanyanga, a self styled ‘war veteran’ used an iron bar to viciously assault three people at Foothills farm in Bindura – he too was using violence in an attempt to forcibly displace all farm workers that he considered loyal to the MDC parties. Pinsi Tauro sustained serious head injuries and was unconscious for one and a half hours.
Five people were shot with rubber bullets on Friedewal Farm, Chinhoyi, leaving two of them hospitalised and seriously injured. Reports also emerged of workers on the farm being blasted with shot-gun pellets and assaulted with wire and sticks by thugs loyal to Edward Mashiringwani, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank – he is the man ultimately responsible for coordinating the atrocities on the farm in his attempt to take over the remaining piggeries. The police response was a farce: six of the Friedewal farm workers were arrested and charged with inciting public violence.
The last vestiges of pretence that the ‘land reform’ programme is about ‘equity’ and ‘addressing historical wrong doings’ dissolves in the light of the case of Luke Tembani. Rather than showcase Mr Tembani as a pioneering black commercial farmer who started farming in the early 1980s and went on to build a school for people living in the area, elements in the Zanu PF government have ignored a SADC Tribunal ruling protecting Mr Tembani and his family, and evicted him from his farm.
The month of October culminated in a major diplomatic incident, with the deportation of Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture. Mr Nowak, who had been officially invited to come to the country, had his invitation cancelled at the last minute while he was mid-journey in Johannesburg. He was subsequently refused entry into Zimbabwe and deported. He said: “I have never been treated as rudely by any government as the government of Zimbabwe”. This shameful action will only serve to confirm the pariah status of a country still held hostage by lawless corrupt thugs, a perception that yet again undermines investor confidence and with it Zimbabwean citizens’ hope for economic recovery.
These incidents are a small sample of some of the breaches of the GPA that have taken place in October. Robert Mugabe’s declaration that Zanu PF has “fulfilled everything that the GPA wanted us to fulfil” must be called what it is: an outrageous and bare-faced lie.
Once again MDC official Roy Bennett has been placed in the firing line, further testing the validity of the Zimbabwe justice system under the power sharing government. On Wednesday Mutare Provincial Magistrate Lucy Mungwari delivered a judgment against the MDC Deputy Minister for Agriculture designate, committing him to prison pending trial in the High Court. The MDC official’s trial is expected to start in Mutare on Monday where the High Court will be conducting its Circuit Court. The MDC Treasurer General was also committed to prison even though the State’s papers were not in order and the defence team had not been furnished with the indictment papers.
ZANU PF denies villagers food: report
Zim Online
(ZW): 05/10/2009
Hundreds of hungry Zimbabwean villagers are being denied food handouts and forced to denounce their own parties in return for assistance as marauding ZANU PF militants continue to wage war of attrition against perceived political enemies, a leading human rights group has said. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said in its latest report on rights violations in the country that of the 1 335 incidents of political violations recorded during the month of July, about 493 cases or 37 percent were of people who were harassed, intimidated or physically assaulted while trying to access food assistance.
Fresh violence rocks Chiweshe in Mashonaland Central
SW Radio Africa (ZW): 23/10/2009
Fresh violence erupted in Chiweshe district this week as 50 homes belonging to known MDC supporters were burnt down by ZANU PF militias. Expressing concern over the situation the MDC MP for Mazowe central, Shepherd Mushonga, told SW Radio Africa that their supporters and activists were being driven out by the militias, led by a well known district coordinating committee chairman named as Gatsi…. ‘The situation is grave. Our supporters are being driven out by ZANU PF militias. Through a well-timed brutal assault unleashed over the weekend, many MDC activists have fled their homes and have taken refuge in neighbouring areas. These militias again remind us that they will stop at nothing to maintain their empires of doom,’ Mushonga said.
MDC activist left for dead by ZANU PF war veterans in
Makoni
SW Radio Africa (ZW): 20/10/2009
A losing MDC candidate during last year’s rural district council elections is lucky to be alive after he was severely assaulted and left for dead, by a group of ZANU PF militias in Makoni South, Manicaland province.’They stole all his MDC cards and party regalia he had in the house. They also forced him to prepare a meal for the gang after which they started beating him up with logs, stones and sticks. It was so vicious they knocked him unconscious and thought he was dead’. There are fears militias are regrouping to try to enforce the ZANU PF favoured, Kariba draft constitutional document.
Soldiers rape women, loot property at Karori
Farm
Zimbabwean, The (ZW): 17/10/2009
Soldiers deployed by Brigadier Justin Mujaji at Karori farm, have allegedly raped three women and looted property at the farm in a bid to scare away workers. Armed soldiers stationed at the farm since 2004, have reportedly raped Vongai, Rhoda and Regina. An army sergeant identified as Moyo, is set to appear in court facing rape charges. “In a bid to displace the rape victims so that they fail to stand as state witnesses in court, the soldiers evicted workers from the farm end of last month on October 27. Helpless workers and their families were driven off the farm on tractors driven by the gunmen. Some were dumped in bushes while others were abandoned along the Harare-Mutare road. Houses of management staff were crashed down leaving property trapped in side,” said a displaced farm worker. Karori farm resembled a war zone as sergeant Makono fired live bullets at fleeing defenseless workers and their dependence.
ZANU PF begins forced militia recruitment in
Mudzi
SW Radio Africa (ZW): 19/10/2009
A squad of ZANU PF militants, who were behind last year’s election violence, is moving around the Mudzi district forcibly recruiting innocent youths to join the notorious ‘green bomber’ militia. Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme reports that between the 12th and 14th of October dozens of villagers below the age of 35 were rounded up in the Chinake, Chatima, Murenyi and Denga areas of Mudzi. They were taken to Nyamapanda near the border with Mozambique and told they would undergo ‘unspecified’ training. … The local ZANU PF MP for Mudzi North, Newten Kachepa, is also said to be playing a leading role in the recruitment. Kachepa has been implicated in various cases of election related violence and murder but has never once been arrested or prosecuted.
Abducted this evening: MDC employee Pascal
Gwezere
Sokwanele.com: 27/10/2009
We’ve just received information that MDC employee Pascal Gwezere was abducted today by armed men driving an Isuzu twin-cab in the Mufakose area of Harare at 6.45 pm tonight. We have confirmed that this is true, but apart from those details this is all the information we have at this point.
Zanu-PF thugs on rampage in Mutoko
Zim Net Radio:
18/10/2009
An MDC Mutoko councillor, Chamunorwa Mundete, has fled his home in Nyamuzizi after more than 10 armed Zanu PF supporters besieged his home in the middle of the night and threatened to kill him. Mundete, who is the councillor for Ward 28, had to sneak out through his bedroom window after armed Zanu PF thugs stormed his home and said they were going to kill him if he continued to support the MDC. “I was saved by the darkness as it was around 3 A.M when the thugs came. I left with only the clothes that I am wearing and I am staying with some relatives here in Harare,” said Mundete.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network officers
arrested
SW Radio Africa (ZW): 29/10/2009
Two more members of civil society were arrested this week as the crackdown on perceived ‘opponents’ of the State continues. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network staff members, Thulani Ndhlovu and Ndodhana Ndhlovu, were arrested on Wednesday evening in Hwange’s Dete area, for conducting a public outreach workshop allegedly without police clearance. ZESN Board Chairman Tinoziva Bere denied they had conducted an illegal meeting, saying the group had received permission from the local traditional leadership and the district administrator’s office. He said Ndodhana was subsequently released but Thulani is still in police custody and is being charged with contravening a section of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
Renewed Violence Against Rural Teachers Amid Zimbabwe Political
Crisis – Union
VOANews (USA): 23/10/2009
With political tension currently running high in Zimbabwe, intimidation and violence are rising in the country’s rural schools, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said Friday. The PTUZ says youth militia associated with the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe have gone on the offensive against rural teachers in the wake of the disengagement by the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai from its ZANU-PF partner in the unity government over alleged power-sharing violations.
http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com
By Christophe de Roquefueil
/ Agence France-Presse
First Published: November 6, 2009
CAIRO: Leaders
from China and Africa start a three day summit on Sunday that
will again
throw the spotlight on Beijing's strategic sweep for energy,
minerals and
political influence in the continent.
China has over the past decade paid
for dams, power stations, football
stadiums across Africa and scooped up
copper, oil and other fuel for its
breakneck economic expansion from Algeria
to Zimbabwe.
It has invested billions of dollars while raising eyebrows
in the United
States and its allies by pursuing the hunt for oil and other
resources in
Sudan, Somalia and other nations that the West has
shunned.
Many African leaders praise China however for not preaching
about rights and
corruption. So despite neo-colonialist qualms, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao
can expect a warm welcome from Egypt's President Hosni
Mubarak and finance
and foreign ministers from 50 countries when the Forum
on China-Africa
Cooperation starts in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh
on Sunday.
FOCAC is held every three years and this will be the fourth
since it started
in 2000.
Ever-eager for raw materials and markets to
sell its products, China has
said the new meeting will lay down a "road map"
to further boost cooperation
between 2010 and 2012.
Direct Chinese
investment in Africa leapt from $491 million in 2003 to $7.8
billion dollars
in 2008. Trade between the two has increased tenfold since
the start of the
decade.
Last year, China-Africa trade reached $106.8 billion - a rise of
45 percent
in one year and on a par with with the United States, which
estimated its
two-way trade with sub-Saharan Africa at $104 billion for
2008.
Chinese imports from Africa last year were worth $56 billion,
dominated by
oil ($39 billion) and raw materials.
Its $56 billion of
exports in 2008 consisted mainly of machinery, electrical
goods, cars,
motorbikes and bicycles.
Some in the West have accuse China of worsening
repression and human rights
abuses in Africa by supporting countries such as
Sudan and Zimbabwe.
US intelligence director Dennis Blair told a Congress
committee in March
that US agencies are keeping close tabs on China's
expanding influence in
Africa, especially in oil-producing countries like
Nigeria.
China ploughed $7 billion into Guinea's mining sector just days
after the
massacre by the army in September of 150 opposition supporters in
the
capital Conakry.
But China is seen as a key to ending the
six-year war between the Sudanese
government and Darfur rebels because it is
a firm ally of the Khartoum
administration, a weapons supplier and importer
of its oil.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has defended China's action in
Africa, while
slamming Western nations and firms for polluting the
continent.
"The Chinese bring what Africa needs: investment and money for
governments
and companies. China is investing in infrastructure and building
roads,"
Kagame told German daily Handelsblatt in an interview published in
October.
In contrast, the West's involvement "has not brought Africa
forward," the
president was quoted as saying.
"Western firms have to
a large extent polluted Africa and they are still
doing it. Think of the
dumping of nuclear waste in the Ivory Coast or the
fact that Somalia is
being used as a rubbish bin by European firms," he
said.
Others have
also said the closer ties focus on industries that boost African
development, such as agriculture, electric power, transport and water
drainage.
"China is the biggest developing country while Africa has
the largest number
of developing countries," China's Foreign Minister Yang
Jiechi told the
Xinhua news agency ahead of the summit.
"With similar
historical experiences, same tasks of developing and common
interests, the
two sides have always been supporting each other and forged a
friendship of
brotherhood."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
OUTSIDE
LOOKING IN -
Dear Friends.
There was a
terse little announcement from the SADC Summit in Maputo on
Thursday
05.11,09 from Morgan Tsvangirai that his party had lifted their
boycott of
the GNU with immediate effect for a thirty day period, in which
time Robert
Mugabe would be expected to deal with the 'pertinent' issues
that had led to
the MDC's disengagement. We all know what those 'pertinent'
issues are,
whether they remain intact after the Summit will only be evident
in the
coming thirty days. If Morgan Tsavangirai has not been arm-twisted by
SADC
into dropping any of his demands then by 05.12. 09 the country should
have a
new Attorney General, a new Reserve Bank Governor, Roy Bennett will
be
installed as Deputy Minister of Agriculture and the Provincial Governors
will also have been installed in their posts. The next thirty days will
surely be a test of Mugabe's authority; will he be able to persuade his
supporters on the ground, the army, the police and the hated CIO security
agents, that the GNU is a political reality which they must accept or will
he once again introduce all the usual red herrings of sanctions and British
involvement to muddy the waters? The MDC have now added the name of George
Charamba to the list of unacceptable Zanu PF officials. Will Charamba now
tone down his 'hate' speech and will ZBC/TV and the government controlled
Herald begin to report more fairly- or at all - on the MDC? The next thirty
days will be a test not only of Mugabe's honesty but also of Tsvangirai's
strength of purpose.
For me and the thousands of others who signed
the AVAAZ online petition to
ban Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process, the
shock of the week was the
failure to expel Zimbabwe for the blatant human
rights abuses committed at
the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Despite all the
credible documentary evidence
of murder and brutality committed against
Zimbabwean citizens, despite clear
evidence of the massacre of 200 people at
Chiadzwa, the Kimberley Process
meeting in Namibia failed to expel Zimbabwe
or even to impose a six-month
ban on diamond sales. Instead, they will send
a monitor to Chiadzwa to check
up on the human rights situation and oversee
the production and sales
procedures! The Kimberley Process is an
international diamond certification
process, set up in 2003 to monitor the
sale of the gems and ensure that
'blood diamonds' are no longer sold on the
international market. The Process
involves some 99 members representing 75
countries who make up 99.8% of the
world's diamond production. Obert Mpofu,
Zimbabwe's Mining Minister, was
present at the meeting in Namibia. There was
"insufficient evidence" he
declared, that Zimbabwe was in breach of
Kimberley Process rules and,
unbelievably, the meeting chose to accept his
word. But not so unbelievable
when we see that Zimbabwe was defended by
South Africa, Namibia, Russia and
the DRC, all diamond producing countries.
You would think that they would
all be concerned to clean up the diamond
trade but, in fact, it was their
veto that let Zimbabwe off the hook.
Liberia's Minister of Mines had visited
Chiadzwa back in July to see for
himself and he spoke movingly about how the
diamond trade had funded the
bloody wars that have killed thousands in his
own country and in the DRC.
None of that made any difference to the
Kimberley Process decision; in
blatant defiance of their own rules, Zimbabwe's
'blood diamonds' will
continue to be sold, enriching army generals,
ministers of state and all the
other assorted crooks who support Robert
Mugabe's continued stay in power.
Their motives are at least understandable,
greed is after all a universal
phenomenon, but what remains incomprehensible
is South Africa's continuing
support for the dictator. The business
community in South Africa appears to
be equally indifferent to human rights
considerations as they gobble up more
and more businesses in Zimbabwe. Today
we read that a Johannesburg based
firm called the New Reclamation Group will
form a joint venture with
Zimbabwe to mine the Chiadzwa diamond deposits.
The New Reclamation Group is
a scrap metal company partly owned by Old
Mutual plc, another South African
company whose business interests include a
sizeable share holding in
Zimpapers, the owners of The Herald and Chronicle,
whose hate speech and
pernicious propaganda have propped up the evil Zanu PF
regime for decades
and kept the Zimbabwean public disinformed on every
issue - from crucial
election issues to horrific human rights abuses. Old
Mutual plc is the
second largest share holder in Zimpapers. Pretty ironic
that a company based
in South Africa, a country where the press operates
freely and which prides
itself on one of the most liberal constitutions in
Africa, should be so
closely connected with a Zimbabwean newspaper group
that daily spews forth
virulent racist propaganda. South Africa's
constitution, adopted in 1996
clearly states in its bill of rights that all
its citizens regardless of
sexual orientation, race or gender have the right
to live in "a society
based on democratic values, social justice and
fundamental human rights."
Those noble ideals seem not to apply when South
African government and
business deals with Robert Mugabe and the country he
has ruined. Instead of
censuring his appalling record of misgovernance,
South Africa protects him
at every turn. Leaving morality aside, as the
South Africans so obviously
have, perhaps the forthcoming 2010 World Cup
with all its potential business
opportunities will convince them that their
support for the geriatric
dictator is a serious error of judgement?
Meanwhile, South Africa continues
to buy up our impoverished and desperate
country where 50% of pupils cannot
afford to write their O level exams this
year because the fees are just
unaffordable and half the population is
living on food aid. I'd say they are
very 'pertinent' issues and not likely
to be dealt with in the next thirty
days.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka Pauline Henson author of
Case
Closed published by Mambo Press in Zimbabwe, Going Home and Countdown
political detective stories set in Zimbabwe and available from Lulu.com and
Amazon.