Zim Online
Thursday 11 October 2007
By
Hendricks Chizhanje
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party says it will carry on talks with President
Robert Mugabe's governing
ZANU PF party despite what it described as
unabated violence against its
supporters.
Tendai Biti, secretary
general in the larger faction of the MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, on
Wednesday told ZimOnline that political violence was
continuing in Zimbabwe
and that suppression of the freedoms of assembly and
movement had not
stopped, but said the party would not pull out of South
African-led talks
with ZANU PF.
"Violence hasn't abated. Suppression of freedom of assembly
and movement has
not stopped," said Biti, who is representing the MDC in the
talks together
with Welshman Ncube, the secretary general of the other
faction of the MDC.
"Nonetheless, we are continuing with the SADC
(Southern African Development
Community)-brokered dialogue process and we
are pursuing it to its logical
conclusion," added Biti, repudiating earlier
reports in the international
press claiming the opposition party had said it
could withdraw from talks.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was last
March tasked by SADC to lead
efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's eight-year
political and economic crisis by
facilitating dialogue between the MDC and
ZANU PF.
The Zimbabwean political parties have held several rounds of
talks and last
month agreed constitutional reforms that will see
parliamentary elections
brought forward by two years and to be held together
with presidential
elections in 2008.
Mbeki last Friday told a joint
Press conference with visiting German
Chancellor Angela Merkel that his
mediation in Zimbabwe was making good
progress.
Mbeki, often
criticised for his "quiet diplomacy" policy under which the
South African
leader has refused to publicly censure Mugabe, has in the past
insisted that
talks between ZANU PF and the MDC will see Zimbabwe conducting
free and fair
elections next year.
But analysts say Mbeki should urge Mugabe to level
the political field and
repeal tough security and press laws that have
hampered the opposition from
carrying out its political work if next year's
polls are to be free and
fair.
Meanwhile, the MDC on Wednesday
demanded compensation after the state
withdrew terrorism charges against
dozens of its activists who spent nearly
four months in jail.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the case against the activists was
politically
motivated and the withdrawal of charges was proof that "from the
very
beginning, the case did not hold water."
The decision to dismiss the case
against the 15 MDC activists, including
parliamentarian Paul Madzore, was
made after magistrates had earlier quashed
charges against another 17 party
activists who were all rounded up in early
March and refused bail until
June.
"We are definitely pressing for compensation," said Chamisa. "Some
of them
lost their jobs. Some of them are maimed for life, some of them were
detained for four months, which is as good as serving a jail term when they
had no case to answer," he added.
State prosecutors had claimed that
some of the detained MDC activists
underwent military training in
neighbouring South Africa and planned to
overthrow Mugabe's government -
charges the state could not sustain in
court. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 11 October 2007
By Simplisio
Chirinda
HARARE - A Zimbabwean political pressure group says it has begun
an exercise
to educate and enlighten voters in rural areas that are the
backbone of
support for President Robert Mugabe and his
government.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) says the campaign
that began last
weekend in the eastern Mtoko rural district will make use of
music and other
forms of pop culture to raise awareness among villagers and
the youths on
issues related to voting and elections.
CZC is a
coalition of human and civic rights groups, churches, women's
groups, the
labour and the student movements campaigning for a democratic
settlement to
Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.
Coalition's coordinator Jacob
Mafume said: "It is essentially an exercise to
look for alternative forms of
communication to raise awareness on election
issues.
"We want to use
music, dance and street comic to teach people on how they
can go about it in
elections but the ultimate goal is to make sure that the
rural electorate
knows their rights when it comes to voting."
Rural constituencies have
traditionally voted for Mugabe and ZANU PF and are
expected to do so again
in presidential and parliamentary elections next
year despite a worsening
economic crisis and food shortages gripping
Zimbabwe.
ZANU PF
attributes support from rural voters to what it says are its
pro-poor
policies and a long association with the villagers who backed its
guerrillas
during the 1970s war of Zimbabwe's independence. However, some
analysts say
the ruling party has also largely benefited from some rural
voters'
ignorance about their rights.
Mafume said CZC campaign was aimed at
educating voters about their rights
only and not canvassing for support for
any political party.
He added that a diverse crowd of people attended the
music concert at Mtoko
which he described as a "pilot project" to see how
the group could inform
and educate voters ahead of next year's
polls.
The Harare administration has in the past accused civic groups
such as the
CZC of using voter education as a pretext to campaign for the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party.
However, a law
passed by Parliament that would have made it illegal for
civic groups to
carry out voter education never made it into the statute
books after Mugabe
withheld ascension. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 11 October
2007
By Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO -
Ruling ZANU PF provincial chairman Retired Major Alex
Mudavanhu has seized a
lucrative conservancy in Masvingo triggering fears of
renewed farm seizures
following the expiry of a government deadline for
white farmers to vacate
their properties.
Mudavanhu, who was accompanied by a group of war
veterans, stormed
Swatsfontain Farm at the weekend claiming that the farm
now belonged to him
because he was the holder of a 99-year lease granted to
him by President
Robert Mugabe's government earlier this year.
The farm, owned by a white commercial farmer Ronny Sparrow, has a
variety of
wild animals among them lions, giraffes, impalas and buffaloes.
The
seizure of the property followed the expiry of a government
September 30
deadline to white farmers whose properties were listed for
compulsory
acquisition to vacate their properties or they would be dragged
to
court.
Ten white farmers based in the Chegutu farming district,
about 100km
west of Harare, appeared in court earlier this week for refusing
to vacate
their properties and growing crops on properties listed for
compulsory
acquisition.
Under the Consequential Provisions Act,
white farmers whose properties
were listed for compulsory acquisition, had
to vacate their properties by 30
September or they would face
prosecution.
A defiant Mudavanhu told ZimOnline yesterday that he
had taken over
the farm from Sparrow.
"The farm now belongs to
me. I am not going to rest until I
effectively take over the property
because I have a 99-year lease," said
Mudavanhu, a former senior army
officer.
The invasion of the farm comes amid serious divisions
within ZANU PF
and the government over continuing disturbances in Zimbabwe's
agricultural
sector, the backbone of the country's economy.
Vice-President Joseph Msika last month pleaded with army commander
Constantine Chiwenga to stop soldiers from invading white farms saying the
move was detrimental to the country's economic recovery
efforts.
There have also been concerns that newly resettled black
farmers did
not have the necessary skills to run conservancies, a fairly new
area for
most black farmers.
Masvingo provincial governor
Willard Chiwewe, who chairs the
provincial committee on land allocation,
refused to comment on the matter
when contacted by ZimOnline
yesterday.
But war veterans who spearheaded the violent seizure of
white
properties about seven years ago, said they were targeting several
farms
still owned by whites in Masvingo promising to invade more farms ahead
of
next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.
"It
has been the duty of war veterans to see to it that the land is
distributed
accordingly hence we will occupy more farms so that the majority
who are
still landless get their share," said Isaiah Muzenda, the chairman
of war
veterans in Masvingo.
Zimbabwe has battled severe food shortages
over the past seven years
after Mugabe sanctioned the violent take-over of
white farms that produced
the bulk of the country's food needs. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
10 October
2007
Zimbabwe's longrunning land reform saga continued
Wednesday as at least five
white farmers appeared in court in Karoi to
answer charges of occupying land
illegally.
A lawyer for three of
them, David Drury, said the cases were remanded to the
end of the month.
Drury was set to represent 10 other farmers Thursday in
Chegutu who are
similarly accused of violating additional land reform
legislation passed in
2006.
The Zimbabwean government of President Robert Mugabe has been
seizing the
land of white farmers since 2000, purportedly to redistribute it
to peasants
although most large properties have ended up in the hands of
ministers or
other top officials. The parliament passed a constitutional
amendment last
year nationalizing all farms.
Some 350 to 400 white
farmers continue to pursue agriculture in Zimbabwe,
whose harvests have
sharply declined since land reform began. United Nations
agencies estimate
more than 4 million people will need food aid by early
2008.
Those
accused in the latest cases could face sentences of up to two years in
prison if they are convicted of failing to meet a state deadline to vacate
their farms.
One of the farmers in Karoi, Mashonaland West, was
evicted from his farm on
Saturday, despite assurances from government
officials that farmers who
complied with the law by downsizing farms had a
chance of remaining on their
property.
Andrew Stardoff said he
reduced his holdings to 400 hectares from 2,000
originally, but that the
last 400 hectares were taken over Saturday by an
army major general by the
name of N.M. Dube with backing from Didymus
Mutasa, the minister of state
security who is also in charge of land reform.
But Stardoff has found
allies at top levels of the government, including
Vice President Joseph
Msika and Minister of State for Policy Implementation
Webster Shamu, while
Karoi community leaders have also been supporting him.
In an interview,
Stardoff told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that
armed guards now surround his farm, leaving him homeless.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
10 October
2007
Top officials of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe met
with members
in the capital, Harare, on Wednesday afternoon, and resolved
that teachers
belonging to the union should end a strike and return to work
pending a
review of strategy.
The union, which launched a strike four
weeks ago, said it wants to put
children first and earn the trust of parents
while seeking increased
compensation.
The PTUZ said last week that it
would remains on strike after the Zimbabwe
Teachers Association, a rival
organization closer to the government,
accepted an offer from Harare for a
422% pay increase and told its members
to return to work.
Grade seven
pupils started writing examinations Monday amid widespread
teacher
absenteeism and much confusion, with some pupils failing to report
as
well.
Soldiers and school heads were said to be serving as exam monitors,
or
invigilators as they are known in Zimbabwe. Form four exams were set to
begin next week, raising the stakes for students and striking teachers
risking a loss of public support.
PTUZ General Secretary Raymond
Majongwe told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
teachers would be heading back to their
classrooms pending a thorough review
of strategy by the union's leadership
Mail and Guardian
Johannesburg, South Africa
10 October
2007 05:28
A controversial mission by the Pan African
Parliament (PAP) to
Zimbabwe to assess the situation in that country did not
take place because
of a lack of funds, PAP president Gertrude Mongella said
on Wednesday.
The decision on whether the fact-finding
mission should still go
ahead would be made during the Parliament's session
next week.
"There are other developments taking place, namely
the [South
African President Thabo] Mbeki initiative, which I suspect have
resulted in
the dialogue that is now going on between the conflicting
parties," Mongella
said.
Speaking ahead of the second
sitting of Parliament, which will
take place from October 15, Mongella said
her personal view was that the
mission was no longer
needed.
She said while the parliamentarians would decide on
the best way
to proceed, a possible next step could be to send an observer
mission to
Zimbabwe for the elections scheduled to take place next
year.
"If the election is properly done we are sure most of
the
problems of Zimbabwe would be resolved," she said.
During the first session of Parliament in May delegates, in an
unprecedented
poll by a show of hands, overwhelming voted to send a
fact-finding mission
to Zimbabwe.
At the time Joram Gumbo, a Zanu-PF delegate to
the PAP, said he
and other ruling-party delegates had tried but failed to
block a resolution.
He dismissed PAP as just a noise-making
organisation and said
Harare had the power to prevent it from coming to the
country.
This threat seemed unnecessary as PAP has up to
October only
received half of its $12,2-million budget from the African
Union. Mongella
said the fact that the mission was not sent as originally
planned did not
bring into question PAP's credibility.
"Is there any institution which came out openly to discuss the
Zimbabwe
issue [as we did]? That already gives us credibility," she said. --
Sapa
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
10 October 2007
12:44
Zimbabwe will import 30 000 tonnes of wheat from its
neighbours
in a bid to ease widespread bread shortages of bread, the
agriculture
minister has announced, according to the state
daily.
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was quoted in the
government-mouthpiece Herald newspaper as saying 2 000 tonnes had so far
been delivered while the bulk of 30 000 tonnes was expected "anytime soon
from now".
"The government is trying its level best to
bring in more wheat
into the country and make sure that bakeries are
supplied with enough flour
very soon," Gumbo said.
The
paper did not specify which countries would supply the wheat
but Zimbabwe
has previously imported from Southern and East African
countries such as
Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.
Several major bakers
have suspended or scaled down operations
after a critical shortage of wheat
across a nation in the throes of deep
economic crisis.
There are shortages of other basic foodstuffs like cooking oil
and the
staple cornmeal, while at least 80% of the population is living
below the
poverty threshold.
Bread is the most affordable food for poor
families who often
resort to skipping some meals to stretch their incomes to
the next payday.
The Southern African country has faced
critical shortages of
bread since the state distributor, the Grain Marketing
Board, failed to
supply enough wheat to bakers because of poor
harvests.
Zimbabwe's annual wheat requirement is about 400
000 tonnes but
there has been a consistent deficit since land reforms
initiated in 2000 led
to the departure of about 4 000 white farmers and
triggered a slide in
output.
Last month, the Southern
African country imported at least 1 000
tonnes of wheat from
Mozambique.
The consignment had earlier been held in
Mozambique over debts
owed to an unnamed foreign supplier. -- AFP
Zim Online
Wednesday 10 October
2007
By Thulani Munda
HARARE - Most
families of Harare's nearly two million residents were
surviving on one meal
a day and malnutrition is on the rise in the
Zimbabwean capital, a city
nutritionist said on Tuesday.
City nutrition specialist Clare
Zunguza told Parliament's special
committee on health and child welfare that
most families were having only
one meal a day due to shortages of food or
prohibitive costs when it is
available in shops.
"Most families
are not eating anything in the morning and afternoon
and only having one
meal in the evening hence malnutrition is now prevalent
in Harare," she
said.
Chronic malnutrition had become common among children with at
least 30
percent of those under the age of five malnourished, said Zunguza,
who
called for the introduction of supplementary feeding schemes at primary
schools where Grade One pupils were the worst affected by
hunger.
Feeding schemes were currently underway in the low-income
suburbs of
Hatcliffe, Mabvuku and Tafara, said Zunguza.
"Shortage of nutrients among pregnant women in high-density suburbs is
on
the increase resulting in them giving birth to underweight children who
are
at risk of developing complications and infections," she said.
HIV
and AIDS patients were not being spared with three quarters of
families
headed by chronically ill parents reported to be food insecure,
Zunguza
said, noting that supplementary feeding schemes were often directed
at rural
populations when communities in those areas could share food unlike
in urban
areas.
Once southern Africa's breadbasket, Zimbabwe has grappled
severe food
shortages over the past seven years due to persistent drought
and a chaotic
land reform programme that saw President Robert Mugabe's
government seize
white farms, that produced the bulk of the country's food
needs, for
redistribution to landless blacks.
The disclosure of
severe food shortages and rising malnutrition in
Harare comes hard on the
heels of last week's warning by the United
States-based Famine Early Warning
Systems Network (FEWSNET) that up to 40
percent of Zimbabwe's rural
population will need urgent food aid between
October and next March to avert
starvation.
FEWSNET warned of massive food insecurity in the south
and west of the
country as well as in urban areas during the next six months
unless the
government improved its maize import plan and there is a lot of
movement on
humanitarian food aid programmes announced
recently.
The cash-strapped Harare government has said it will this
year import
400 000 tonnes of maize from Malawi and a further 200 000 tonnes
from
Tanzania to cover the national shortfall.
However, a
serious shortage of foreign currency is hampering efforts
to import food,
forcing the Zimbabwean government to resort to barter trade
to secure maize
supplies from Malawi.
Responding to a question by committee
chairperson Blessing Chebundo on
whether there had been any deaths
associated with malnutrition recorded in
the capital, acting city health
director Stanley Mungofa said no such cases
had been reported.
Meanwhile, Mungofa bemoaned shortages of water in Harare and its
environs
particularly in high-density suburbs saying these were creating a
breeding
space for disease such as cholera although he claimed no cases had
been
reported yet.
Mungofa, a trained medical doctor, said cases of
diarrhea were on the
increase in high-density suburbs of Budiriro, Glen View
and Mufakose due to
shortages of water.
"We have had increases
which are above what we normally see," he said,
adding that water and blood
diarrhea were common.
Scabby and other skin conditions were also on
the increase in these
areas, he said.
The shortage of food is
only an addition on a long list of problems
facing Zimbabwe as the country
grapples with an economic recession described
by the World Bank as the worst
in the world outside a war zone. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 10 October 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - Student leaders at the National University
of Science and
Technology (NUST) have gone into hiding after state security
agents
reportedly stormed the campus in reaction to a harshly worded
petition that
was sent to President Robert Mugabe on Monday.
In the
petition, the student leaders expressed concern at the deteriorating
standards at the state-run university adding that Mugabe, who is the
chancellor of the university, would be capping "half-baked students" at a
graduation ceremony scheduled for this Friday.
The petition is
reported to have angered state security agents who are
feared for their
brutal tactics in suppressing dissension against Mugabe.
The state agents
are said to have launched a massive manhunt for the student
leaders.
Students who spoke to ZimOnline yesterday said the entire
student leadership
at NUST had gone into hiding with several having fled the
city in fear for
their lives.
Hundreds of students at state-run
universities have in the past been at the
receiving end of state brutality
after attempting to stage demonstrations
demanding an improvement in their
payouts and infrastructure.
"State security agents have been visiting the
campus enquiring on the
whereabouts of the student leaders but the student
leaders have gone into
hiding and none of them has been seen since the
petition was sent to
President Mugabe," a student at the university said
yesterday.
In the petition that was signed by NUST Student Representative
Council
President Clever Bere, the students said hundreds of students at the
university were spending days on end without proper meals, apart from
battling high tuition fees, a critical shortage of accommodation and a mass
exodus of lecturers as well as a shortage of books and learning
equipment.
"On the 12th of October 2007, you will be capping half-baked
graduands at
the 13th Graduation Ceremony at NUST who only attended lectures
for less
than 30 percent of their stipulated learning time. This was because
of your
government's failure to address the multi-faceted socio-economic and
political crisis bedeviling our beloved Zimbabwe," read part of the
petition.
"We would like to remind you that the Library at NUST is
still under
construction and the university is 25 percent complete 17 years
after its
establishment. 2007 will be remembered as the year when students
just went
for exams without learning as lecturers were on
strike.
"We are gravely concerned by your governments' treatment of
student
activists and human rights defenders. Thousands of students are
either
expelled, suspended, arbitrarily arrested, detained tortured or
killed for
demanding better education," said the students.
State
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa could not be reached for comment on
the
matter last night. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 10 October 2007
Own
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's central bank chief Tito
Mboweni on Tuesday
said he was worried by the effect of Zimbabwe's
record-high inflation on the
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
economy.
Mboweni was addressing about 200 senior banking officials at an
international banking conference at Sun City in North West
province.
Mboweni said SADC inflation without Zimbabwe would be around 9
percent but
would be around 332 percent if the troubled southern African
country was
included.
"It is very clear that we do have serious
issues arising from what our
colleagues are facing in Zimbabwe," said
Mboweni. "There is a problem and
they must deal with the
problem."
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a severe economic crisis that has
manifested
itself in the world's highest inflation rate of over 6 500
percent,
widespread unemployment and rising poverty.
Mboweni is among
the few leaders in South Africa who have spoken up over
Zimbabwe's
eight-year economic crisis.
President Thabo Mbeki's government has
consistently pursued a policy of
"quiet diplomacy" towards Harare and
refused to openly criticize President
Robert Mugabe's administration in
Harare.
Mboweni said his colleagues as the central bank in Harare were
"doing what
they can in a very difficult situation".
"I have a high
regard for the Governor (of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Gideon Gono) and
his staff. You will be surprised at the level and depth of
talent at the
central bank of Zimbabwe.
"They are doing their best and they are highly
professional people," he
said.
Mboweni said Africa was still a long
way from setting up an African Central
Bank and a common currency for the
continent given the vast disparities in
resources around the
continent.
SADC has been pushing to have a common monetary union by
2016.
"The political leadership must think carefully of who qualifies to
be
included in the union - it mustn't be based on brotherhood and sisterhood
-
that doesn't work. It has a limit," said Mboweni. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Patience Rusere, Carole Gombakomba & Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
09 October
2007
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, on a
U.S. university
speaking tour, called on the international community to take
action to
prevent a humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe where an increasing
number of
people need food assistance.
Tsvangirai, founding president
of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, issued the appeal in an
interview Monday with the Houston Chronicle
newspaper. He was set to address
a forum at the University of St Thomas in
Houston on Tuesday evening before
traveling on to New York, Philadelphia
and Canada.
Traveling with
Tsvangirai is former parliamentarian Roy Bennett, South
African-based
treasurer for the Tsvangirai faction of the MDC. Bennett spent
eight months
in prison in 2005-06 serving a sentence imposed on him by the
ruling
party-controlled house for scuffling on the floor of parliament with
Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
The two men met Sunday in Dallas with the
local branch of their opposition
party.
Deputy Chief U.S.
Representative Ralph Black of Tsvangirai's faction told
reporter Patience
Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Tsvangirai is
not meeting with
U.S. officials on this trip - only with members of the
party and the
diaspora.
At home, meanwhile, Tsvangirai's opposition faction denied
reports that the
leader of the formation's women's assembly, Lucia
Matibenga, was sacked. The
government-run Herald newspaper reported Tuesday
that Matibenga had a
falling out with the party leadership, upon which party
chiefs dissolved the
women's grouping.
The Herald said the alleged
firing was the "latest wave of division" in the
opposition. The MDC split in
late 2005 over whether to contest elections for
a new senate.
MDC
National Chairman Lovemore Moyo denied there was a rift, telling
reporter
Carole Gombakomba that the faction had not singled out Matibenga
but decided
to dissolve the Women's Assembly after auditors turned up
financial
irregularities.
Matibenga said she could not comment because had not yet
received any
official communication from the party on the decision reported
Tuesday in
the Herald.
Separately, the Tsvangirai faction said the
state's withdrawal Monday of
charges against activists held for months
earlier this year on charges they
carried out violent attacks proved the
government is desperate to undermine
the opposition.
Party Secretary
General Tendai Biti said the formation suffered greatly
between March and
July when about 30 officials and activists were held in
Harare remand jail
on serious charges including banditry and sabotage.
Prosecutor Tawanda
Zvekare told Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini that
the state was
withdrawing the charges though it might later issue summonses.
Biti told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
decision
by the state prosecutor showed that the cases were trumped up.
Yahoo News
Wed Oct 10, 7:44 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
demanded compensation Wednesday
after terrorism charges were dropped against
dozens of activists who spent
nearly four months in custody.
"We are definitely pressing for
compensation," Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman
for the main MDC faction, said
another group of 15 party members had their
case struck off by a Harare
magistrate on Monday.
The decision to dismiss the case against the 15,
including lawmaker Paul
Madzore, was made after magistrates had earlier
quashed charges against
another 17 MDC activists who were all rounded up in
early March and refused
bail until June.
"Some of them lost their
jobs. Some of them are maimed for life, some of
them were detained for four
months which is as good as serving a jail term
when they had no case to
answer," Chamisa told AFP.
The spokesman said the arrests were part of a
ploy to destroy the party
which has posed the stiffest challenge to veteran
president Robert Mugabe's
27-year-rule.
"The fact that the court has
withdrawn charges against these men clearly
shows that from the very
beginning the case did not hold water," he said.
"It is a politically
motivated strategy to decimate the opposition. We have
been vindicated and
the truth has come out that we are the victims not
perpetrators of violence
as (the ruling) ZANU-PF would like the world to
believe."
The MDC
supporters and officials were rounded up in raids in March when the
police
claimed to have thwarted plans for a campaign of petrol-bombings.
The
arrests came days after security forces broke up a planned opposition
rally
and assaulted MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and scores of supporters
and
party officials.
State prosecutors claimed some of the detained MDC
activists underwent
military training in neighbouring South Africa and
planned to unseat Mugabe,
83, who has been in power since the nation's
independence in 1980.
One activist still remains in custody after police
said they were still
investigating him in connection with the alleged fire
bombings.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
10 October 2007
Posted to the web 10 October
2007
Tichaona Sibanda
At least 10 MDC supporters have been
injured and several had their houses
and cars damaged in Chipinge in a fresh
wave of violence reportedly ignited
by Zanu-PF councillors in the
southeastern district.
Trouble started when a local Zanu-PF councillor
for ward one stormed the
Gaza business centre on Saturday and tried to
disperse the over 300 MDC
supporters attending a rally that had been
sanctioned by the police.
A primary school teacher from Musirizwi,
Remigio Bundo, has now been
suspended pending dismissal after being seen
wearing an MDC t-shirt at the
rally. According to Godfrey Chenjerai, the MDC
district chairman for
Chipinge north, half of the 35 Zanu-PF councillors in
Chipinge are also
headmasters or teachers. Some work for government
institutions.
Chenjerai said disturbances on Saturday were ignited by a
Zanu-PF councillor
known as Mbandure, who used abusive language to try and
disperse MDC
supporters so he could have his birthday celebrations at the
same venue.
'Surprisingly Mbandure was born in February, but wanted to
celebrate his
birthday on the 6th October. We knew he just wanted to disrupt
our rally and
pointed out to him that we had police clearance. Harsh words
were exchanged
and we decided to carry on with our rally and Mbandure went
his way,'
Chenjerai said.
Unknown to the opposition supporters,
Mbandure is alleged to have rallied
his supporters who armed themselves with
sticks, stones and bottles and went
on a rampage, indiscriminately attacking
people in the area. No arrests were
made after the attacks.
Bitter
MDC supporters took revenge on Mbandure when they beat and left him
badly
bruised on Monday. Police arrested MDC supporter Charles Nyathi who
has
spent the last two nights in police cells. Chenjerai said the police
were
quick to make an MDC arrest but they failed to question anyone from
Zanu-PF
about the weekend violence.
'The law is being applied selectively here,
but people don't care anymore
and have vowed to hit back when attacked. We
have reached a point where we
have decided to defend ourselves,' Chenjerai
said.
This is not the first time that Chipinge has been rocked by
violence. Three
weeks ago, scores of terrified people were sent packing in
political
violence that resulted in the arrest and assault of opposition MDC
activists.
Political tensions have been on the rise in Chipinge since
the beginning of
last month when the MDC held successful rallies in the
district. The MDC has
accused the head of the Central Intelligence
Organisation in Chipinge town,
Joseph Chiminya, and almost all Zanu-PF
councillors for orchestrating the
violence.
The attacks, which first
began in Ngaone north of Chipinge town, have now
spread to areas in Tanganda
and outlining border areas of Mount Selinda and
Rusitu. These areas are
right on the border with Mozambique.
Every time the MDC organizes a rally
now, state security agents are taking
over the venue and start distributing
maize. Known MDC activists are
forbidden from getting near these
distribution points.
SW Radio Africa (London)
10 October 2007
Posted
to the web 10 October 2007
Henry Makiwa
The Zimbabwe Students
Union (Zinasu) has raised alarm bells over the health
and continued
detention of Edison Hlatshwayo, the secretary general for the
students union
at the Great Zimbabwe University.
Hlatshwayo was arrested a fortnight ago
by Masvingo police while attending a
public meeting organized by the
Zimbabwe Youth Forum at Charles Austin
theatre hall. He was arrested on
allegations of malicious injury to property
and assault. A magistrate in the
city refused him bail arguing that the
state was still hunting for more
students following student clashes with the
police.
Students
activists on Wednesday said Hlatshwayo's health was fast
deteriorating as he
was being denied food and access to lawyers by the
police.
Student
leader Mehli Dube of the National University for Science and
Technology
(Nust) described Hlatshwayo's condition as worrying.
He said: "Our
leadership has been to see him recently and we are concerned
about the
squalid conditions he is living and the denial of food and legal
aid they
have put over him.
"The ploy by the Mugabe regime is obviously very
deliberate and aims to
dampen the students' justified right to question
anomalies in the country's
education system. They want to intimidate us into
submission by arrests and
beatings and, as we speak, we understand they are
hunting down some of our
members."
Meanwhile in Bulawayo, police
arrested two student activists in a swoop on a
students general meeting
Tuesday.
Themba Maphenduka and Vananceo Jachi were taken into custody and
a manhunt
has been launched as police and security details seek to arrest
Langalihle
Manyani, the Vice-President of the Students Christian Movement of
Zimbabwe
and Cynthia Manjoro, who recently completed her internship with the
Media
Institute of Southern Africa. Student Samson Nxumalo has also been
forced
into hiding.
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th Oct 2007 15:43 GMT
By Grace Kwinjeh
MDC -
no more
The Standing Committee of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
has just suspended its women's league leadership in a top-down
coup. This
makes me step back and consider two views of women's
liberation.
'The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, the
result of a
humanitarian or compassionate attitude. The liberation of women
is a
fundamental necessity for the revolution, the guarantee of its
continuity
and the precondition for its victory', said Samora Machel, the
founder of
liberated Mozambique.
For Machel, 'to destroy the system
of exploitation and build a new society
which releases the potential of
human beings. is the context within which
women's emancipation
arises.'
Here is another context and quotation: 'Feminism is the radical
notion that
women own their vaginas', according to an anonymous sister, with
vagina
meaning an expression of feminism, womanhood, strength, resilience,
struggle, as well as our body and reproductive capacity.
The female
body is a site of struggle which is why in war situations,
opposing parties
take pride in raping women. A Congolese feminist, Christine
Schuler
Deschryver , estimates that in the conflict-ridden eastern DRC,
'more than
200,000 women, children and babies are being raped every day, and
right now,
thousands of women and children are being taken into forests as
sex
slaves."
In Zimbabwe, where I was jailed and tortured for peacefully
participating in
a protest last March, patriarchy has resulted in some
democracy activists
temporarily losing the value system that helped us to
stand against Robert
Mugabe's tyranny in the first place. We are seeing
regular instances of
sexism and misogyny, sadly perpetrated by would-be
liberators whose
leadership is now marked by moral decadence.
Sexism
is immoral and should be treated as such.
We would have short changed
ourselves as women if we agree to yet another
reproduction of the
debauchery, unfairness and inequality that we inherited
at independence, and
that soon reared its head in Mugabe's ruling party he
authorised mass
arrests of women for being on the street alone at night in
1982.
That
which united democrats in civil society and the MDC when we went to
battle
against Mugabe's regime was a common understanding of what we want to
achieve in a new Zimbabwe. That included a clear vision of the positioning
and placing of women, who have endured decades of patriarchal oppression
passed on like a baton stick from one system to another, from the settler
colonialists to the nationalists - and now sadly to the present-day
liberators.
Even before the MDC was formed eight years ago,
Zimbabwean women made great
strides in fighting for their emancipation. We
took on Mugabe before the
boys even woke up to their own oppression. The
women's struggle was led by
women like Everjoice Win, Shereen Essof,
Priscilla Misihairabwi, Nancy
Kachingwe, Yvonne Mahlunge, Isabella
Matambanadzo, Thoko Matshe, Janah
Ncube, Lydia Zigomo, Rudo Kwaramba, and
Sekai Holland, fellow torture
survivor and head of the Association of
Women's Clubs.
Our first fight was for recognition as equal human beings
to our male
counterparts. The Legal Age of Majority Act now recognises us as
adults, we
can vote, open bank accounts and even marry should we choose to -
none of
which were possible without the consent of a male connection, be it
brother
father or uncle. We were perpetual minors.
The Matrimonial
Causes Act now recognises our right to own property
independently of our
husbands or fathers. After we challenged physical
abuse, parliament passed
the Domestic Violence Act. This background made
some of us suitable
candidates for leadership in the MDC.
At what point, then, did we women
become minors once again, answerable to
male authority, becoming subjects of
agendas that have nothing to do with
our empowerment or liberation for that
matter? With the MDC's attack on its
women's league, we are relegated once
again to second class citizen
position.
The first contact women like
Lucia Matibenga (former head of the MDC women's
league), Sekai Holland and
myself have with our bodies each morning after we
wake up and take a bath,
is the scarring inflicted by Mugabe's police.
These scars are deep,
physical and psychological, but their political
significance is that they
can be the source of our liberation. They are our
badges of honour, marking
us as comrades who have been on the frontline
facing the enemy head
on.
Zanu PF has a military history and what Mugabe calls 'degrees in
violence'
that we all know of. However, we have been too slow to address
other forms
of violence perpetrated against us by our brothers in the
democratic
movement.
We are told by MDC men, 'It is taboo, it causes
unnecessary confusion,
divisions, we have one enemy'. If we keep believing
this, it means that like
our sisters in Zanu Pf we may find ourselves on the
eve of independence in
the same position they were in at Lancaster
House.
Their leading woman in the state, Joyce Mujuru, was suddenly
elevated to
Vice President but served merely as a place holder, for as the
succession
battle rages it is clear she is not Mugabe's natural successor.
She has not
pushed any women's agenda beyond party politics and
sloganeering.
Everjoice Win, gender officer at ActionAid, insists that we
will not unite
with Mujuru for the sake of biology. Having a vagina does not
necessarily
mean we are the same.
Says Win, 'Whatever "deal" is
worked out to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis, women
and their rights should be at
the centre of it. We want feminists-women who
care about the rights of other
women and who are prepared to rock the
patriarchal boat-to be in leadership
positions and to be there when the deal
is made'.
But of the top six
dealmakers from two MDC factions and the government, only
one is a
woman.
For a long time, women have been bashed into silence: 'If you
speak out he
will beat you up more'. Yet whether we speak or not we still
take a beating.
Now, at what may become a time of renewed patriarchy under
the mantle of the
democratic opposition, it is a historical obligation for
any woman to stand
up against the kind of bigotry that is being forced on
us, even by our own
brothers in the new liberation movement, a movement
still not mature enough
to treat us with respect.
Grace Kwinjeh is a
leading opposition activist with the MDC and writes this
article as Visiting
Scholar with the Center for Civil Society.
From AFP, 10 October
Women
are being regularly tortured and sexually abused by Zimbabwean
security
forces for their opposition to President Robert Mugabe's regime, a
new
report by a leading rights group charged on Tuesday. "Many of us have
been
detained more than once and suffered extreme abuse perpetrated by state
actors," Jenni Williams, national coordinator of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(Woza), said at the launch of the report in Johannesburg. "Police threats,
insults by police officer, unlawful detention and humiliating and degrading
treatment were all reported with high frequency but assaults, psychological
torture and physical torture were also very high." Williams said that
three-quarters of the Woza members that were surveyed said they had
experienced insults and humiliating and degrading treatment, while half have
suffered assaults and psychological torture. "Forty percent have suffered
physical torture and 50 percent were detained longer than the statutory
limit of 48 hours without being brought to court."
Among those
present at the launch in South Africa, which is now home to
hundreds of
thousands of Zimbabwean immigrants, was Woza activist Clarah
Makoni who
broke down in tears as she related her ordeal in April when she
went to
deliver food to friends taking part in a protest over elecricity
shortages.
"I was scared, very scared. I have never seen such animosity,"
the
19-year-old from Harare told AFP. "I was beaten, kicked and tortured by
the
police... After several hours I was told to report at the police station
the
following day as they could not arrest me due to my age. When I went
again I
was beaten and tortured again till I fell sick. I was taken to (the
southern
city of) Bulawayo where they torture people (Fairbridge torture
camp) where
the torture continued for hours. I was whipped while lying on my
stomach.
They then put me in a room full of ice." The teenager was then
ordered to
cross an electric fence before having to make her way back home,
a journey
of more than 400 kilometres. The Mugabe regime, subject to
sanctions by the
European Union and United States, has been regularly
criticised over its
treatment of its opponents. Main opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai was
among a group of dozens of activists who were
assaulted as they tried to
attend a prayer rally earlier this year.
Zimbabwe Election
Watch
Issue 8 : 9 October
2007
Executive Summary
Expectations generated by the South African mediated talks that Zimbabwean voters would be registered to create a new and transparent voters' roll before the elections in March next year were dealt a blow last week by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Chinamasa said there would be no re-registration of voters to create ward-specific voters' rolls. In response, stakeholders said the proposed system would prejudice many voters as the delimitation exercise was yet to start.
According to a Zimbabwean commentator, even if the electoral laws are changed, it is impossible to hold democratic elections unless the environment allows all parties to campaign freely in a climate of political tolerance.
Faced with escalating reports of ruling party militants unleashing terror in rural areas and creating no-go zones, the Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) elections secretary Ian Makone says there is no prospect of elections being free and fair in these areas.
In Chipinge, where the MDC has held successful rallies, scores of terrified people have fled the district due to fresh political violence. This has led to the arrest and assault of MDC activists, one of whom is reportedly battling for his life.
In Mutare, police disrupted a public meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) to discuss the forthcoming election. Security police stormed the venue where former Zanu PF stalwart Edgar Tekere had launched a blistering attack on Mugabe's human rights record and harassment of the opposition.
The victimisation of student leaders has intensified and a Youth Forum public meeting in Masvingo was disrupted by government militia, leading to bloody clashes. The police reacted by arresting youths from the civic organisations.
A Zanu PF ward chairperson in the Headlands area deliberately started a fire which destroyed eight cottages on a plot belonging to the MDC chairlady for the Headlands ward. The cottages accommodated victims of Operation Murambatsvina who were once again rendered homeless.
In their August report, the human rights monitoring group, Zimbabwe Peace Project, confirmed that cases of politically-inspired violence had increased, while space for the church and civil society continued to shrink.
The government maintains its monopoly of the airwaves through a previous law giving ownership of all radio and television frequencies to the state broadcaster. Opposition parties are denied access.
Even if liberalised media laws are in place by end October, commentators stress it will take time to set up a free daily press and develop a non-partisan broadcaster.
Ironically, the state media recently imposed a blackout on the activities of Ray Kaukonde, governor of Mashonaland East province. Kaukonde is part of a powerful Zanu PF faction that is pushing for Mugabe's ousting from power.
The Swedish Cooperative Centre has published a damning report on the manipulation of food aid by the Mugabe government: "Be loyal - or starve". The organisation is demanding the creation of an independent food observer force to ensure that food reaches those in most need.
An extraordinary top-secret security document leaked to the media reveals a carefully manipulated plan designed to destroy the reputation of outspoken cleric Archbishop Pius Ncube.
And finally, even members of theatre groups are not immune from government paranoia. Two actors and a journalist who challenged their arrest for staging a play about the country's political crisis were arrested by Harare police.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa says there would be no re-registration of voters to create ward-specific voters’ rolls for next year's harmonised elections as those already registered would simply be moved into new wards and constituencies.
This flies in the face of expectations by the opposition MDC that voters would be registered to create a new and transparent voters’ roll before the election in March next year. The MDC wants the voters roll revamped to flash out "ghost voters" whom it claims are used by Zanu PF for electoral rigging purposes.
Responding to questions by MDC legislator Nelson Chamisa on how the proposed ward-specific rolls would be created and the timeframe for delimitation, Chinamasa said already registered voters would be put under wards and constituencies to be determined during the delimitation exercise.
He said delimitation, which will now be done by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), was expected to be completed by December after a mop-up mobile voter registration exercise in 939 areas not fully covered in an earlier exercise in June to August.
Only 109 999 people countrywide were registered as voters during that exercise.
Said Chinamasa: "There will be no re-registration of voters to create ward-specific voters rolls. As you may know, when you are registered you are registered to a particular group which is the physical unit area and when they do the delimitation, whether of wards or constituencies, it is a mere exercise of moving a whole block or part of the block in order to create a constituency….
On delimitation, Chinamasa said the exercise would be carried out soon after President Mugabe assented to the recently passed Constitutional Amendment Bill (No 18).
Chinamasa had earlier told parliament: "The point to note is that we are introducing with this change a ward voters roll, a ward-specific voters roll. In other words, a voter can only vote in the ward in which he or she is resident and registered to vote."
Stakeholders last week said the proposed system would prejudice many voters, as the delimitation exercise was yet to start.
They had said this would require an extended re-registration exercise supported by a massive awareness campaign to enlighten the electorate on the new wards and constituencies….
Source:
Zimbabwe Independent, The (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=11535
SADC standards breached
No
chance of free and fair - Makone
Source Date: 26-09-2007
Ruling party militants are unleashing terror in Zimbabwe's rural areas, in what the opposition says is an attempt to lock out its campaigners ahead of the crunch 2008 vote.
Militants are storming rural areas, while members of the ruling party youth militia in green government-issue uniforms are manning roadblocks to seal off districts to supporters of the opposition.
Ian Makone, the MDC elections secretary, accused President Robert Mugabe's party of creating "no go areas" for opposition supporters ahead of the vote scheduled for March next year.
"Such areas are being systematically extended ... there is no prospect of the elections being free and fair in these areas," he said.
Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=3&linkid=8&id=6237
SADC standards breached
Scores of terrified people in Chipinge have fled the area in fresh political violence that has resulted in the arrest and assault of opposition MDC activists.
Zanu PF youths armed with stones and sticks have been attacking leading MDC activists in the isolated district. The crackdown on MDC activists has spread across the south eastern district, reportedly leaving one seriously injured and at least 15 injured in a number of separate attacks….
Political tensions have been on the rise in Chipinge since the beginning of this month when the MDC held successful rallies in the district. MDC district chairman for Chipinge north, Godfrey Chenjerai, accused the head of the Central Intelligence Organisation in Chipinge town, Joseph Chiminya, of orchestrating the violence.
Chenjerai said eleven of their activists have been held in police cells at Chipangai for the last two weeks. One of them, Stanley Mabuyaye, is reported to be battling for his life after he was severely tortured for organising MDC rallies.
'… All known MDC activists are being forced out of their lodgings, and most are fleeing in numbers because of threats by war veterans and Zanu PF youth,' Chenjerai said.
Every time the MDC organizes a rally now, state security agents take over the venue and then start distributing maize. Known MDC activists are forbidden from getting near these distribution points…
The huge presence of security agents (with reinforcements) has however not deterred people from attending MDC rallies, according to Chenjerai.
Identified perpetrators: Head of the Central Intelligence Organisation in Chipinge town, Joseph Chiminya
Identified victims: MDC activist, Stanley Mabuyaye
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to
source:
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news260907/chipinge260907.htm
SADC standards breached
Police in Mutare on Friday disrupted a public meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) to discuss the forthcoming elections, after veteran politician Edgar Tekere attacked Robert Mugabe's human rights record.
Security agents stormed the public meeting venue ordering everyone out and accusing organisers of the meeting of abusing the platform to “attack the person of the President”.
Tekere launched a blistering attack on Mugabe for the constant harassment of opposition and for “penning a horrific account of our country’s modern history”.
(On Thursday) the fiery former Zanu PF stalwart said: “I chronicled just a few of the many atrocities that Mugabe has committed on this country and that one day he and his lieutenants such as (army chief Constantine) Chiwenga and (police head Augustine) Chihuri will have to account for.”
He went on to say, “I noted the recent assaults on Grace Kwinje, Sekai Holland and Morgan Tsvangirai; the disappearance of Rashiwe Guzha and the Gukurahundi massacre as events that will scar the annals of our history. My speech and that of Bishop Patrick Mutume, who gave an account of Gukurahundi survivors, made the police halt proceedings because Mugabe does not want the public to know the truth.”
… The ZimRights public meeting was held under the topic: "Will the 2008 harmonised elections be the panacea to the Zimbabwe Crisis?"…
Identified victims: Edgar Tekere, politician
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news041007/tekere041007.htm
SADC standards breached
Bloody clashes as Zanu PF disrupts youth meeting
Source Date:
07-10-2007
Rowdy Zanu PF youths on Thursday disrupted a Youth Forum public meeting at the (Masvingo) Civic Centre leading to bloody clashes during which 15 youths from various civic organisations were arrested as violence escalated ahead of next year's synchronized polls.
Among those who were arrested are National Constitutional Assembly spokesperson (NCA), Madock Chivasa, Wellington Zindove, co-ordinator Youth Forum and Great Zimbabwe University secretary general, Edison Hlatshwayo.
The ruling party allegedly bussed about 100 youths, who appeared drunk, to disrupt the public meeting, organised by Youth Forum in conjunction with NCA and the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu)….
Armed with stones and logs, the militia charged towards the participants, including university female students, who also fought back, leading to bloody clashes. The police reacted and quelled the chaos but only arrested the youths from the civic organisations….
Identified perpetrators: Flex Masimbi, Zanu PF youth leader
Identified victims: Madock Chivasa, National Constitutional Assembly spokesperson (NCA); Wellington Zindove, co-ordinator Youth Forum; Edison Hlatshwayo, Great Zimbabwe University secretary general; Gideon Chitanga, Zinasu vice-president
Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=7528
SADC standards breached
10 families left homeless after fire started by Zanu PF
official
Source Date: 01-10-2007
Ten families were left homeless on Wednesday 26 September, after eight cottages were gutted by fire started by a local Zanu PF official at Mrs Elizabeth Tauro’s plot in Headlands.
Mrs Elizabeth Tauro is the MDC Chairlady for Headlands Ward.
She had constructed the eight cottages at her plot to accommodate victims of the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina. She has always been accused of holding MDC meetings at her plot with the occupants of the cottages.
The fire was started by Mrs Chiparange, a Zanu PF Ward chairperson in the area. The fire destroyed everything in the cottages…. The people are now sleeping in the open without blankets and food….
Identified perpetrators: Mrs Chiparange, a Zanu PF Ward chairperson in Makoni North
Identified victims: Estery Gunya – husband and 4 children; Alberina Mutokozi – widowed and 5 grand children – Aids orphaned; Idah Tandi – single mother with 2 children; Raymond Watura – wife and 2 children; Moreblessing Mutokozi – single mother and 2 children; Brian Katyorera – 2 parents and 1 child; Einice Tauro – 2 parents and 2 children; Thomas Selingwe – 2 parents and I child; Adam Sherekete – 2 parents and 5 children; Elizabeth Tauro – widowed and 6 orphans
Source: MDC Information and Publicity Secretary
SADC standards breached
Violence intensifying says human rights group
Source Date:
01-10-2007
In its report for August 2007 the human rights monitoring group, Zimbabwe Peace Project, records that cases of politically-inspired violence increased nationally with a number of victims suffering severe injuries that required hospitalisation.
Mashonaland East was singled out for special mention of “a definite increase in the level and degree of violence.” …
In a summary of its findings the Zimbabwe Peace Project says that “space for the Church and civil society continued to shrink”. It cites the disruption of workshops organised by civil society to discuss civic and political issues and the victimization of participants as evidence of this trend.
The report is clear that in the month of August ruling party members perpetrated most of the violence…
Source: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
Link
to source: http://www.hrforumzim.com/
SADC standards breached
Supreme Court defers case challenging control of airwaves
Source Date:
05-10-2007
Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court on Thursday postponed indefinitely an application by a Harare firm (Manala Private Limited) challenging the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH)’s monopoly of the airwaves.
The court, the highest in the land and that hears constitutional cases, deferred the application … on a technicality …
In papers filed at court, (lawyer Terence) Hussein said although the Supreme Court seven years ago struck down a 43-year statutory provision that granted the old Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBH’s predecessor) monopoly of the airwaves, that monopoly still exists through a law giving ownership of all radio and television frequencies to the state broadcaster.
Journalists, human rights groups and potential investors in the electronic media cite Section 38 (of the Broadcasting Services Act) as one of the key impediments to the liberalisation of airwaves that was supposed to have taken place when the Supreme Court nullified ZBH’s monopoly in 2000.
For example, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive Obert Mugunyura last month told a special parliamentary committee on transport and communications that the authority could not license new players in the broadcasting sector because of severe restrictions imposed by the Act.
A ban on foreign funding and partnerships in the broadcasting sector is another hindrance to potential investors.
The ZBH, initially conceived as a public broadcaster, is tightly controlled by President Robert Mugabe’s government which has the final say on senior editorial and managerial appointments….
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2120
SADC standards breached
Governor demands lifting of media blackout
Source Date:
01-10-2007
A senior Zimbabwe government official who is closely linked to Vice-President Joice Mujuru last week stormed the offices of the Ministry of Information demanding the lifting of a (state) media blackout on his activities…
The move to blackout Ray Kaukonde, who is the governor of Mashonaland East province, followed a meeting that was called by President Robert Mugabe's press secretary George Charamba last month where he told state media editors to limit coverage of Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her political allies.
Kaukonde is part of a powerful Zanu PF faction headed by former army commander Solomon Mujuru, that is pushing for Mugabe's ousting from power…
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2099
SADC standards breached
Swedish development cooperation organisation demands: Send food observers
to Zimbabwe
Source Date: 01-10-2007
The international development cooperation organisation Kooperation Utan Gränser / Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC) demands the creation of a food observer force. In the same way as the international community supervises elections in other parts of the world, an independent international control of the food aid is demanded to assume that it reaches those who most need it.
The Swedish Cooperative Centre presents today the report "Be loyal - or starve!" … All interviewed persons (families from rural areas) affirm that they lack enough food to survive until the next crop.
Farmers whom we have interviewed confirm that the distribution of food is controlled politically, says Anna Tibblin, director of the SCC in Southern Africa.
The Swedish Cooperative Centre/SCC exhorts the Swedish government to promote that the European Union and the World Food Programme (WFP) create a food observer force. The UN’s World Food Programme is today responsible for great part of the food aid to Zimbabwe. The Swedish Cooperative Centre/SCC considers that the surrounding world should urge the regime to accept an increased international control of the aid…
Source: Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC)
Link
to source: http://www.newsdesk.se/pressroom/kooperation_utan_granser/
pressrelease/view/swedish-development-cooperation-organization-demands-send-food-observers-to-zimbabwe-170696
SADC standards breached
It is reported that Zimbabwe army and secret police officers overseeing food aid distribution are denying food to hungry opposition supporters as punishment for not backing President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party.
With an estimated five million people in dire need of food aid out of a population of *12 million, the withholding of such limited quantities of food as are available is having a devastating effect on those excluded.
According to the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, state security agents deployed last week at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)'s depots countrywide had taken over the vetting of beneficiaries, with known opposition supporters being denied food aid.
The state-owned GMB is the only company permitted to buy maize and wheat - the country's two main staples – and to distribute food aid.
An official with the state grain utility, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed (this)… “They ordered GMB staff not to allow enemies of the government (MDC supporters) to access food," he said…
Masvingo, a recognised stronghold for the MDC, is located in an arid region of the country and is one of the cities worst hit by hunger….
*In view of the massive Diaspora and a conservatively estimated weekly death rate of 3 500 people, recent (unconfirmed) population estimates suggest that 8 million might be a more realistic figure.
Identified perpetrators: Minister of Agriculture Rugare Gumbo
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source:
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2091
SADC standards breached
Politicised food aid
Source Date: 02-10-2007
Reports of politicisation of food aid are intensifying in the run up to next year's synchronized general elections amid reports of opposition supporters' children being driven away from school supplementary feeding schemes in rural areas.
An aid worker, speaking strictly on condition of anonymity, said that in the course of helping torture victims, she had been told that children of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters were being denied access to school food queues in Mberengwa East, in the far south of the country.
In her office on Friday was Sam Mlilo, district chairperson of Mberengwa East, who told The Zimbabwean he had seen children driven out of the queue for the supplementary meal at the Chamakudo Primary School, near Mataga, because of their parents' political beliefs…
He said people had tried in vain to complain. He added that Zanu PF structures were being used to distribute food and that traditional leaders were also distributing food along party lines….
Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to
source: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=36&linkid=1&id=6259
SADC standards breached
New CIO plot to quash government critic, Pius Ncube
Source Date:
01-10-2007
An extraordinary top-secret document, leaked … by an operative in Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), reveals that President Mugabe is not satisfied with just the resignation of the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, after he became a victim of a notorious government-inspired 'honey trap'.
Ncube, a strenuous critic of the Mugabe regime and recently revealed in The First Post to be a possible opposition candidate for President, is to have his reputation ground into the dust by means of a string of carefully orchestrated scandals….
This master plan, complete with its code names (including ‘Zim 1’, the CIO code name for Mugabe), its massive payouts, and its extraordinary allegations, is the result.
Source: First Post, The (UK)
Link to
source: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=8792
SADC standards breached
'Final Push' Actors face charges under the Censorship and Entertainment
Act
Source Date: 02-10-2007
Zimbabwean authorities Monday released three men arrested over the weekend (at the Theatre in Harare Gardens) for staging a play called "The Final Push" about the country's political crisis…
Actors Anthony Tongani and Sylvanos Mudzvova, and journalist James Jemwa, now face charges under the country's Censorship and Entertainment Act. Sources said Jemwa challenged the arrest of the actors, leading police to arrest him too.
Identified victims: James Jemwa, independent journalist; Sylvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani, actors
Source: VOANews (USA)
Link to source:
http://www.voanews.com/english/africa/zimbabwe/2007-10-02-voa61.cfm?rss=politics
SADC standards breached
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Scoop, New Zealand
Wednesday, 10 October 2007, 10:01 am
Press Release:
Save Zimbabwe
End Game in Zimbabwe
On 11 March 2007 Sekai Holland,
64-year-old grandmother and member of the
opposition party MDC (Movement for
Democratic Change), was beaten and
tortured by the Zimbabwean police. For
challenging the power of the despotic
ruler Mugabe, she paid with fractures
of her left leg, arm and ribs. After
having been evacuated to Australia,
Holland receives ongoing medical
treatment for her injuries.
Yet she
delivered a powerful speech today at Victoria University of
Wellington
announcing an imminent 'End Game in Zimbabwe'.
More than a third of the
Zimbabwean population has fled the South African
country. The economic
situation is deteriorating at breakneck speed with an
inflation rate
approaching 1.5% Million percent that leads to daily
increasing hardship
among the population.
The administration under Mugabe has driven Zimbabwe
into a dark valley of
disaster; still the president shows no inclination of
loosening his grip on
power.
This will change, Holland says. Her
party, the MDC, would have already won
elections in 2000 and 2005, if their
victory had not been "stolen" by
Mugabe. "We have the support of the
people", Holland claimed. As evidence of
its declining power, she listed the
regime's failure to expel or suppress
the opposition--for which she stands
as a living example.
Adressing exile Zimbabweans, she condemned political
apathy and commonly
expressed opinion of an unorganised opposition. "The
opposition is there and
we have a determined leadership" Mrs Holland
proclaimed, then demanding "If
you are so brilliant and know what to do
better, come to Zimbabwe!".
While announcing the imminent end of Mugabe's
rule, Sekai Holland
simultaneously predicted the MDC to pull out of ongoing
negotiations about
the next election with the government, "if they continue
to beat us". In
this case, only a UN intervention could prevent the
unfolding of a
humanitarian disaster of similar magnitude to
Darfur.
Before holding her fiery speech, Holland had just come from a
meeting with
Prime Minister Helen Clark. She pleaded for pardoning of illegal
Zimbabwean
immigrants and demanded the expulsion of New Zealand based
supporters of the
Mugabe regime by tonight.
ENDS
Monsters and Critics
Oct 10, 2007, 8:20 GMT
Harare - New Zealand is a
strange country down under that Zimbabwe does not
recognize, a minister in
the African nation's government said Wednesday.
Deputy Information
Minister Bright Matonga made the remark in response to
calls on Tuesday by
New Zealand's Green Party for the country to take a
firmer stand against
President Robert Mugabe's government.
'New Zealand is some strange
country down under and the majority don't care
whether the party is green or
blue, what they are saying is irrelevant to
Zimbabwe,' Matonga said in
comments carried in Zimbabwe's official Herald
daily.
Green Party MP
Keith Locke on Tuesday referred to Zimbabwe as a disaster
zone, and called
on Prime Minister Helen Clark's government to step up
pressure on Harare for
a return to the rule of law and democracy.
'Helen Clark should press
other Commonwealth leaders, when they meet in
Uganda this November, to take
a strong, united stand for a return to
democracy,' Locke said in a
statement.
The statement was issued following a visit to New Zealand by
Sekai Holland,
a senior official from Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC) party and a grandmother who was one of dozens of
opposition
officials and activists brutally assaulted by police during a
crackdown by
state agents in March.
Holland said on Tuesday that her
party, which is currently engaged in talks
with Mugabe's ruling party to try
to ease political tensions ahead of
elections next year, would pull out of
the dialogue if the ruling party
continued to use violence against the
opposition.
'Sekai Holland is a living example of why the world must keep
pressing
Zimbabwe to return to the rule of law,' noted Locke.
But
Zimbabwe's deputy information minister dismissed the New Zealand MP's
comments, saying Zimbabwe was no longer a member of the
Commonwealth.
'She (Holland) is on a fundraising campaign and is saying
these things to
please New Zealand but that is a strange country that we
never recognize,'
Matonga claimed.
'She is addressing the wrong forum
and audience. If she wants to discuss
issues of Zimbabwe, she should
approach the government,' Matonga was quoted
as saying.
© 2007 dpa -
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
The Citizen
CEDRIC
MBOYISA
Robert Mugabe's regime is behaving like "a militia or a
warlord", and
there is no possibility of free and fair elections next
year.
This is according to Zimbabwean women who have been repeatedly
arrested and tortured by Mugabe's security force.
"There is
sustained repression in Zimbabwe. Free and fair elections
cannot be held,"
said Jenni Williams, co-founder of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
or Woza (an
apolitical social justice movement) at a Press briefing
yesterday in
Johannesburg.
Williams - who has been arrested 25 times - added: "Woza
has often
been the target of unprovoked violence."
A preliminary
report on political violence against Woza members paints
a shocking picture
about acts of suppression perpetrated by Zimbabwe police.
Assault,
abduction or kidnapping, political threats, rape, forced
removal of
underwear while in custody, unlawful detention and psychological
and
physical torture were some of the abuses the Woza women were subjected
to,
the report revealed.
Recounting her ordeal, a tearful Clarah Makoni,
19, said she had been
arrested twice and was beaten severely on her back and
threatened with
electrical torture.
Arnold Tsunga, of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, said: "The Mugabe
regime has become so dangerous
to its citizens. Government there is acting
like a militia or a
warlord.
"The perpetrators are police, using state machinery to torment
women."
He added it was unfortunate that Mugabe had the blessing of
African
leaders in his clampdown on organisations he deemed
opponents.
Williams called on SADC leaders to recognise the human
rights
violations . - cedricm@citizen.co.za.
Last
updated 10/10/2007 11:07:36
Business Day
10 October 2007
Regis
Nyamakanga
Financial
Services Editor
SUN CITY - Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni said
yesterday that African
leaders risked reducing themselves to "a laughing
stock" if they pressed
ahead with plans for an African central bank (ACB)
and a common currency for
the continent - against the advice of technocrats.
He warned that the idea
was bound to flounder like other failed grand
African plans.
Mboweni was speaking about a mooted common economic and
monetary union for
Africa at a three-day international banking conference in
Sun City. He said
African central bank chiefs had proposed the need to
achieve macroeconomic
convergence on the continent before a continental
central bank and common
currency could be considered, but this had been
ignored by the political
leadership of the African Union
(AU).
Important changes needed to take place in the structure of most
African
economies before monetary integration could happen. These included
increasing economic integration, especially trade, improved transport
networks, diversification of the economies and increased access to developed
markets, he said.
"If we take the convergence criteria into
account, we will come to the
conclusion that monetary union is not easy. The
challenges are far greater
than the niceties of brotherhood and sisterhood.
We cannot just rush to form
the ACB before meeting the basic
criteria.
"But the leadership of the AU does not seem to appreciate the
advice. The
Association of African Central Banks is being ignored by the
AU," he said.
Mboweni said one way of achieving a common currency
could be by gradually
expanding existing regional monetary zones such as the
Common Monetary Area
and the West African Economic and Monetary
Union.
The idea of a common currency for Africa was first discussed
by the
Organisation of African Unity , the predecessor of the AU, in 1963.
African
leaders see a common currency as "an important symbol of strength
and
solidarity" - thus plans are under way to set up the bank as soon as
possible, he said.
"It is possible that we can form an
ACB and we think that there might be
benefits in doing so, but the point of
caution is - let us not do half jobs
that will lead us to not achieving the
objective we set out to. We will be a
laughing stock."
The AU had
recently approved the creation of an African central bank and a
common
currency for the continent, modelled along the European Central Bank
and the
European common currency - the euro.
House of Commons
Tuesday 9 October 2007
Oral Answers to Questions
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
The Secretary of State was asked—
Zimbabwe
James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend, East) (Con): If he will make a statement on the political situation in Zimbabwe. [156127]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Meg Munn): The situation in Zimbabwe gives grave cause for concern. That is why the Prime Minister has stated he will not attend the EU-Africa Summit if President Mugabe is present. It is also why we are working for change by maintaining international pressure on the regime; supporting those working in Zimbabwe working for democratic change; and giving up to £40 million in humanitarian aid every year.
James Duddridge: In 2003, the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs suggested revoking Robert Mugabe’s knighthood. In July this year, Lord Malloch-Brown said in a letter to me that his Department will continue to keep the issue under close review. When will the Foreign Office stop dithering and take some action on this issue?
Meg Munn: I understand the cause of those who wish to see the knighthood removed, and as my noble Friend said, we are currently reviewing the matter. However, let us clear about this: the situation in Zimbabwe demands a great deal more than that, and removing President Mugabe’s knighthood might detract from that focus and give him more publicity. We need to concentrate on the real problems faced by the people of Zimbabwe.
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab): Following on from the Prime Minister’s welcome statement that neither he nor any of his senior Ministers will attend any summit between the European Union and the African Union, and the agreement of the Foreign Office last week not to allow Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, into this country, would the Foreign Office consider taking up the suggestion of Lord Morris, the former Transport and General Workers Union general secretary, that we consider co-ordinating with Australia a wider sporting boycott on Zimbabwe?
Meg Munn: We are happy to hold discussions about that. There are currently no formal agreements about sporting sanctions but we have made our position clear and are happy to discuss those matters.
Mr. Andrew Mackay (Bracknell) (Con): It must be right for the Prime Minister to follow our advice and say that he will not attend the EU-Africa summit if Mugabe is there. Will the Under-Secretary confirm that if any of Mugabe’s senior henchmen are there, the Prime Minister will not attend? Otherwise, we will send a bad message to Zimbabwe.
Meg Munn: We have always said that Zimbabwe should be represented because it is important that the issues that affect it and the whole of Africa are discussed. We will have to consider specific personnel at the time.
Mr. Eric Illsley (Barnsley, Central) (Lab): My hon. Friend knows that the German Chancellor has repeated the Portuguese Government’s mistake of suggesting that Robert Mugabe should attend the EU-Africa summit later this year. Will she make representations to not only our German colleagues but other EU countries to try to ensure that the embargo on Robert Mugabe is maintained?
Meg Munn: I assure my hon. Friend that we are in discussion with our EU partners on the matter. Chancellor Merkel was clear that all African countries should be invited to the summit, and we agree. However, we have always said that Zimbabwe should be represented, but not by President Mugabe.
Mr. Keith Simpson (Mid-Norfolk) (Con): We welcome the Prime Minister’s statement and I am glad that we have moved on from our debate in July, when the Under-Secretary was unable to give us the guarantee that the Prime Minister would not go to the EU-Africa conference. Following the comments of the hon. Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley) about Chancellor Merkel, do the Government believe that we need to generate additional EU sanctions against Zimbabwe? In particular, does she believe that the EU could go much further and home in on some of the more obnoxious members of the Zimbabwean regime, such as Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, who is a leading friend of President Mugabe and helps finance the regime? Does she agree that it is disgraceful that he can still travel abroad and that we cannot impose sanctions on him?
Meg Munn: It is important to examine sanctions carefully. European Union targeted measures are there precisely to ensure that they do not further hurt ordinary Zimbabweans. On the specific issues that the hon. Gentleman raises, we have already argued for Gideon Gono to be added to the EU list. We will continue to do that, and the Home Secretary has excluded him from the United Kingdom.
Mr. Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley) (Lab): Discussions are fine but action is needed. The sooner action is taken, the better. The whole country has been razed to the ground. I have met groups from Bulawayo and they cannot accept that everyone seems simply to be talking. They need action now. I urge the Government not to wait any longer, please.
Meg Munn: I agree with my hon. Friend, but the situation ultimately needs an African solution. Since July, when we had our debate here, the UK has committed a further £8 million to the World Food Programme and we have ensured that Zimbabwe is discussed at the United Nations Security Council. We in the EU have put pressure on Zimbabwe at the UN Human Rights Council. We are clear that action needs to be taken, but the UK cannot do that alone; we need to work with other people. African countries in particular need to act on the matter.
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th Oct 2007 15:48 GMT
By Ian Nhuka
HWANGE - A Zimbabwean court yesterday
fined an American citizen after
finding him guilty of attempting to smuggle
300 bullet heads from Victoria
Falls to South Africa last
Friday.
Leslie Howell, 39 who had been arrested at Victoria Falls
International
Airport was yesterday fined $10 million (or 45 days in prison)
by Hwange
resident magistrate Peter Madiba.
Howell, who had travelled
to Zimbabwe on a hunting expedition comes from
Florida. He was arrested, as
he was about to get on a South African Airways
flight to
Johannesburg.
He first appeared before Madiba on Monday and yesterday on
his second
appearance pleaded guilty to contravening a section of the
Customs and
Excise Act (failing to declare the bullet heads).
The bullet
heads were forfeited to the state.
Appearing for the State, Tapiwa
Phatisayi said Howell was arrested last
Friday at the Victoria Falls
International Airport by police after a tip off
that he was in possession of
300 bullet heads, which he had not declared.
The hunter arrived at the
Harare International Airport on 21 September and
declared the other arms and
ammunition he had.
The bullet heads had the following tittles 308 diameter,
100x30 calibre,
100x375 calibre, 375 diameter and 100x207 calibre and 277
diameter.
However, the prosecutor said, he did not declare the 300 bullet
heads.
After his arrival in Harare he proceeded to Buffalo Range in
Chiredzi for
his hunting excursion which ended on 3 October.
He then
travelled to the scenic Victoria Falls for a few days and was
arrested.
He was represented by Tonderai Mukuku.
The Zimbabwean
BY CHIEF
REPORTER
HARARE
The Zimbabwean has obtained 'Top Secret' Central
Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) documents revealing a plan to mount phases
two, three and four of a
sting operation against Roman Catholic Bishop, Pius
Ncube, with the express
authority of President Robert Mugabe.
The
documents reveal how the CIO plans to bring down Ncube through a
three-tier
sting that includes an HIV/AIDS saga, an abortion scandal and a
further
adultery charge involving another married woman.
The document, reference
number DG/mm2/ei Cleric, is an executive instruction
to all the divisional
heads of the CIO dated "9/14/7" or September 14, 2007.
It is addressed to
heads of the Internal division, Counter Intelligence,
Foreign division and
CIO assistant directors in Harare, Bulawayo, Midlands,
Matabeleland North
and South.
Intelligence sources said the document was drafted a week after
press
reports that Ncube was forming a political party. He has denied these
reports.
The Zimbabwean has in its possession, a faxed copy of the
"executive
instruction" on a CIO official document bearing the Zimbabwean
coat of arms.
The documents contain sensitive government information,
crudely encrypted.
State Security minister Didymus Mutasa was not immediately
available to
comment on the leaked document, bound to cause extreme
embarrassment for the
security agency and the government.
The document
reveals that the sting operation has been approved by Mugabe
himself, and
refers to "Zim1" - standard CIO-speak for Mugabe.
"Collapse phase two and
three into one phase as per attached guidelines and
commence with immediate
effect," reads the coded message from CIO supremo
Happyton Bonyongwe.
"Esigodini payment has been effected.
"Let me stress that it has been made
clear that Pius Ncube has always and
still remains a security threat. Please
be advised that Zim1 has impressed
upon me to ensure that Ncube keeps his
silence and begs forgiveness from
Zim1."
Mugabe was also not happy with
the way the media handled the last sting,
where details of the Bishop
allegedly having an affair with the estranged
wife of a mid-level government
functionary were exposed.
"But sterilize media's involvement. Powers that be
not pleased with way op
(operation) was handled in first instance," says the
document.
It also makes reference to silencing Ncube before "congress," a
reference to
the December Zanu (PF) extraordinary congress expected to
endorse Mugabe as
the ruling party's presidential candidate for 2008
elections.
The document implores field agents to "double up their efforts"
and says
"Cannot fail to bring him to his knees." Bonyongwe says Ncube's
transgression is that he has "pressed on attacking the sovereign government
of Zim1."
Intelligence sources say phase two involves Onesmus Sibanda,
husband of
Rosemary, the woman alleged to have been having an extra-marital
affair with
the Bishop.
The document reveals that Sibanda is due to file
a second lawsuit, revealing
that he had contracted HIV from his wife
following her relationship with the
Bishop.
Sibanda has been paid Z$12
billion for this sting, according to our sources.
Phase three referred to in
the directive contains fresh allegations that
Ncube has sired two children
with a married woman in Esigodini. She is
married to Likwa Manjengwa, who
has been given Z$3 billion to implicate
Ncube in this scandal. Mugabe was
said to have been ecstatic with this
information about Ncube's alleged
children. Says Bonyongwe in his letter:
"Briefing on Manjengwa has pleased
Zim 1."
The fourth phase involves details of an alleged abortion by a 17
year-old
girl purported to have been impregnated by Ncube. The Bulawayo
girl, Tamai
Chirenje, died while in the process of terminating the
pregnancy, allegedly
on the instructions of Ncube.
Intelligence sources
said Mugabe was desperate to silence the Bishop by any
means necessary.
Mugabe was also said to be livid with Ncube's move to
resign.
He stepped
down from the top position as Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo
saying he
didn't want it to appear that the church was being tried for
adultery.
The Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK
continues to
support Ncube despite the scandal. But the official position of
the Vatican
is unclear.
VOA
By Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
Washington
10 October 2007
British opponents of President Robert
Mugabe on Wednesday hailed the Foreign
Office's denial of a U.K. visa to
Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Peter Chingoka.
Chingoka wanted to take part in
an International Cricket Council hearing on
the case of umpire Darrell
Hair, but had to address the tribunal by video
link from Harare after
British authorities, denying the visa, said Chingoka
was tied to the ruling
party.
That tribunal ended in London on Tuesday after Hair agreed to drop
charges
of racial discrimination against the ICC.
British
parliamentarian Kate Hoey, a prominent Mugabe critic, told reporter
Ndimyake
Mwakalyelye that the move to bar Chingoka was long overdue.
Former
Zimbabwe national cricketer Henry Olonga, now living in London,
praised the
decision as sending a clear message of dissatisfaction with the
Harare
government.
Elsewhere in Zimbabwean sports, Highlanders Football Club was
well on its
way to the CBZ Cup finals following a 2-1 victory over Caps
United at
Gwanzura Stadium in the capital Wednesday afternoon. Highlanders
will now
play the winner of the faceoff between Dynamos and Lengthens
Thursday, also
at Gwanzura.
Zim Online
Wednesday 10 October 2007
By
Tanonoka Joseph Whande
GABORONE - Why do African leaders tip-toe around
the rogue Zimbabwean
president?
It cannot be the nonsense that
President Robert Mugabe is viewed as a hero
and so they revere him even when
he kills the same people he supposedly
'liberated.'
Heroism is
bestowed on dead people after taking into consideration the sum
output of
their efforts, behaviour and unselfish, daring servitude to the
people or
the nation.
Otherwise 'living heroes' have to constantly renew their
status until they
die.
Nelson Mandela, the world's most revered
statesman, is considered a hero on
all fronts and there is little dispute
about that. But to maintain that
'living hero' status, Mandela has to be
careful.
It only takes one small mistake for his hero status to
evaporate. Is Mugabe
a hero just because he is perceived to have liberated
Zimbabwe?
If so, then, does that hero status still stand in light of what
has and
continues to happen under his stewardship?
Thousands are
believed and known to have died at his hands in the Midlands
and
Matabeleland provinces in what he, himself, termed 'a moment of
madness'.
There are politically motivated killings blamed on his
supporters and he
does not chide them.
Apparently, all these
negatives, abuse, mismanagement of the nation's
finances and the economy do
not take anything away from a hero.
Mugabe remains a hero for failing to
maintain, just to maintain, what our
nation inherited from the white
government.
He remains a hero after destroying the nation's agricultural
base and
presiding over starving people that he refuses to give food because
they are
suspected of not supporting his political party.
He remains
a hero whose vanity demands that in every city, town and township
be a
street named after him.
He remains a hero to African presidents when he
sends millions of his people
into neighbouring countries to look for food.
Just how do African presidents
define 'hero'?
If Mugabe is a hero by
any measure, then Africa, not just Zimbabwe, is
doomed. But that shows us
that Africa has never been able to elect the right
people into
office.
Will we ever get an African president who can distinguish himself
or herself
apart from the 'presidential' garbage we have seen on the African
continent
since the 1950s up to today? Not likely.
Africa appears to
have not even one president with principles anchored in
conviction, reality
and belief. Africa's so-called presidents are chancers
who entered politics,
not to serve, but to be served and to accumulate
wealth.
They behave
like sheep swayed by a shepherd dog. And, indeed, it appears to
me those
collies have a far better sense of direction than SADC leaders.
Unlike
African presidents, those mutts not only know where they should go
but also
know the right thing to do with what's entrusted to them. SADC,
like the
rest of Africa, urgently needs meaningful leadership.
Africa does not
deserve the leadership it has. Let us start with Joachim
Chissano, the
former Mozambican president. It appears to me that Chissano is
a bored
man.
I am almost certain that he did not buy a pig farm while he was
president.
Because of boredom, he is spouting embarrassing garbage about
Zimbabwe and,
in particular, Robert Mugabe.
Chissano, like the now
widely discredited Levy Mwanawasa, urges that Mugabe
be invited to the
Portugal summit 'to engage him in an exchange of views',
something he failed
to do with Mugabe while he was president.
Only last year Mugabe refused
Chissano to be a mediator in the Zimbabwean
crisis. During his presidency,
Chissano softly but conspicuously turned away
from Mugabe after discovering
that Mugabe was an unreasonable dictator,
immune to any constructive
suggestions.
Chissano, unlike Samora Machel, went on to concentrate on
rebuilding his
nation and he did a splendid job without being unnecessarily
weighed down by
Mugabe.
Mozambique's revival must be credited to
Chissano after the disastrous start
Machel reigned on the country. But
today, Chissano spouts falsehoods about
engaging Mugabe in debate, thereby
retarding efforts to reign in the
notorious Zimbabwean
leader.
Mozambique is on an economic rise and keeping Mugabe in power
gives
Mozambique access to markets that would otherwise be filled by
Zimbabwe.
Sometime this year, Zambia's Levy Mwanawasa broke with the old
tired and
self-defeating chorus from unthinking African
presidents.
He likened Zimbabwe to the legendary Titanic and raised hopes
that African
leaders were, at last, ready to confront Mugabe.
Within
a few days of that statement, Mwanawasa had dispatched a high ranking
envoy
to mend fences with Mugabe.
Mwanawasa wanted the Zimbabwean issue debated
at the Lusaka SADC meeting,
Mugabe did not. Mugabe, unschooled in verbal
decency, berated Mwanawasa in a
closed-door plenary
session.
"Mwanawasa, who do you think you are?" Mugabe is reported to
have growled
angrily at the hapless Zambian who immediately retreated into a
cowardly
posture, telling Mugabe that he had misunderstood his
intentions.
As suddenly as the strike of a match, Mwanawasa's confidence
deserted him.
Since that day, he has been behaving in an embarrassing
manner.
Suddenly, Mwanawasa said the Zimbabwean situation was being
exaggerated and
told the world that he would not attend the Portugal summit
if Mugabe were
excluded.
He is now Mugabe's tea-boy, fetching the
political sticks where ever Mugabe
chooses to throw them. What a shame, a
president, a lawyer and no principles
at all.
Addressing American
students at an Arkansas university, Mwanawasa said all
the problems the
opposition parties face in Zimbabwe were self inflicted.
"Seizures of
land from white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe were a bit
harsh," he said.
"But opposition forces brought the push by Mugabe upon
themselves."
Don't ask me; I have no idea what he meant. Mwanawasa
said western powers
must be willing to talk to Mugabe.
"Dialogue is
the most important thing.talk to him; give him your message.
and you will
find you will be getting better results."
This is from a SADC chairman.
He, along with his organization, failed to
speak to Mugabe and now invites
foreigners to engage Mugabe in talks. No
wonder he won the presidency with
only 29 percent of the Zambian vote!
And Mwanawasa added another untruth,
claiming that the issue in Zimbabwe is
over land. It is not and never was.
And Mwanawasa knows it.
Several months ago, Ghana's John Kuffour raised
the hopes of Zimbabweans
when he stood with Thabo Mbeki outside the
presidential offices in South
Africa and pointed out that Mugabe was a
problem not to be tolerated.
It now does not appear as if Kuffour
remembers that anymore because his
'African Union', like the cowards in
SADC, said they would not attend a
summit in Portugal if Mugabe is
excluded.
This really is pathetic; African leaders sacrifice their
national economies,
potential assistance and possible opening of trade
markets for the continued
survival of one of the world's most notorious
dictators.
Then there is Mbeki!
And where are Wade and Kibaki?
Early on, they made noises about the
Zimbabwean tragedy and both seem to
have forgotten about it.
Early this week, Wade said he was going to
Zimbabwe in two weeks' time to
talk to Mugabe because, he said, it should
not be left to Mbeki alone. I
wish him the best!
Mugabe's irrelevant
recent speech at the UN was more than embarrassing to
himself. He tried to
give the world an incorrect recital of history. He
spoke, not of Africa's or
Zimbabwe's problems, but of his own desire to
survive.
It showed us
the helplessness of rage. It was like attending his own
funeral.
Unfortunately for Mugabe, he can never make himself look better by
reciting
someone else's shortcomings.
African leaders are an intolerable
embarrassment. And I badly want to remind
them that honesty goes deeper than
facts. Honesty is rooted in the soul
rather than the world.
Africa
needs honest leaders and none of what we have now.
*Tanonoka Joseph
Whande is a Botswana-based Zimbabwean writer
The Star
Will President Mbeki and
the SADC continue backing Mugabe after his latest
bid to seize 51% of all
businesses, putting them into indigenous hands, asks
Finweek
October
10, 2007 Edition 1
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe seems to
contradict himself quite often.
In the latest such example, while Mugabe was
in New York reassuring
President Thabo Mbeki and United Nations Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon of
his absolute commitment to negotiations with
opposition parties, and plans
to rehabilitate Zimbabwe's economy - and while
he vehemently denied the
situation in his country was as bad as regularly
portrayed - his parliament
was busy passing the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Bill that
completely contradicted his words.
The tone of
the speeches that guided the Bill through Zimbabwe's
parliament - and the
fact that it was passed without recognition of key
economic realities -
don't tally with Mugabe's promises to co-operate,
negotiate a settlement or
craft logical plans to pull Zimbabwe back from the
economic and political
brink.
At best, the Bill - which forces all businesses to cede
controlling shares
or a minimum of 51% to indigenous Zimbabweans - flies in
the face of the
Mbeki-led SADC effort to help put Zimbabwe back on its feet.
At worst, it
ridicules it.
This time the paradox between Mugabe's
words and actions also worried the
SADC's leaders.
Three days before
Zimbabwe's parliament was due to pass the Bill, SA's
government asked
regional finance ministers to bring forward their scheduled
November meeting
in Zimbabwe. The instruction was to go and investigate the
Bill's potential
effects on the country's existing economic catastrophe.
Zimbabwe Central
Bank Governor Gideon Gono says the Bill's "unguided
interference" poses the
greatest threats to current efforts to restore
confidence in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's National Chamber of Commerce echoed
similar sentiments, as did
its Chamber of Mines. Zimbabwe's opposition
party, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), staged a walkout when the
Bill was passed, saying
it was just legalising state theft.
Regardless, the Bill has sailed
through Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF-dominated
parliament. It now awaits Mugabe's
signature into law.
Following a government crackdown on opposition
parties in Zimbabwe last
March, Mbeki was appointed by the SADC to secure a
political settlement
between its two main political parties - Zanu-PF and
the MDC - which have
been locked in an eight-year political
stalemate.
While broad political and constitutional issues are being
negotiated, SADC
finance ministers are working closely with Zimbabweans to
help find ways to
reverse the country's economic meltdown. This Bill will,
if nothing else,
certainly add another facet to what they thought they knew
and understood.
The indigenisation law is the latest in a string of
policies and legislation
that have contributed to Zimbabwe edging closer to
total collapse. Inflation
is between 7 600% (its government's figures) and
13 000% (independent
estimates). Zanu-PF has already branded the Bill's
critics as people who
want to propagate economic imbalances brought about by
colonialism.
Mbeki's office wouldn't comment (as per an agreement
concerning the
mediation with the Zimbabweans) on how the Bill affects SA's
mediation
efforts, whether it makes them more complex, sets them back or
whether it
confirms that Mugabe's promises to co-operate are
worthless.
Indeed, if serious with regard to economic rehabilitation, any
decision with
the potential to send capital flying from Zimbabwe at this
stage would seem
ludicrous. However, the contents of the Bill guarantee it.
Zimbabwe's
National Chamber of Commerce predicts it will drive away 30% of
the already
inadequate foreign direct investment in Zimbabwe.
The Bill,
which requires all businesses to shed a minimum of 51% to
indigenous
Zimbabweans, stands in complete contradiction to the call Mugabe
made
shortly before the Bill was passed for "true and genuine friends" to
invest
in Zimbabwe's natural resources. He promised his security forces
would
protect any investments.
Nevertheless, the Bill prescribes that no
projected or proposed investment
in a prescribed sector of the economy
should be approved unless indigenous
Zimbabweans hold a controlling stake in
the investment. For a country where
it's already difficult to do business,
to pass a Bill that also requires all
government departments, statutory
bodies, local authorities and companies to
procure 50% of their goods and
services from companies controlled by
indigenous Zimbabweans also seems off
the wall.
Minister Munyaradzi Mangwana, in charge of Zimbabwe's
indigenisation and
economic empowerment, will have sweeping powers to
prescribe a lower
percentage "depending on the circumstances of each case
subject".
Mangwana will also set timetables for the transfer of the
controlling
interest. He will approve all proposed transactions. He'll
review or reject
any transaction and can cancel operating licences of
companies that don't
comply.
Zimbabwe's government also looks set to
push this Bill as hard as it can.
It's has already cancelled the licence of
the country's third cellphone
network, allegedly because a majority share
hadn't been transferred to
Zimbabweans by the June 30 deadline.
While
Mangwana promises Zimbabwe's government will work with all business
sectors
to set timeframes for transfers, Mugabe sticks to his guns about the
country's economic woes being London's fault in co-ordinating a Western plot
of sabotage to punish Harare for land seizures.
True economic
empowerment and equity for ordinary Zimbabweans are not up for
debate. It's
critical for its long-term stability and prosperity, say
opposition parties,
economists and business leaders. But they argue that
Mugabe's latest move
makes no economic sense and has no due regard for the
economics of
acquisition in a market-driven economy.
nThe Indigenisation and
Empowerment Bill defines indigenous as "any person
who before the April 18
1980 [Zimbabwe's Independence Day] was disadvantaged
by unfair
discrimination on the grounds of his or her race, and any
descendant of such
person".
White business owners will have to prove that they were affected
by the
colonial system if they're to be exempted from having to cede 51% of
their
businesses to indigenous Zimbabweans.
"A Zimbabwean-born can't
qualify. He has to prove that he's been
disadvantaged by colonisation. I've
been asked if coloureds are included.
Yes, they're included. Indians,
they're also included if they can prove that
they were disadvantaged by the
colonial regime. All blacks qualify because
they fall within the definition
of indigenous," Mangwana told the Zimbabwean
parliament.
SW Radio
Africa (London)
10 October 2007
Posted to the web 10 October
2007
Lance Guma
There was drama in Musina on Wednesday when
armed South African police,
accompanied by 9 soldiers in a troop carrier,
swooped on 2 advertising
workers erecting a billboard targeting Zimbabweans
living in South Africa.
The massive billboard read, 'We know why you are
in South Africa: Life in
Zimbabwe is Murder; But please go back to vote in
March. We can all be
free.'
The poster was originally put up a
month ago but within two days had been
scraped off, in what locals say was a
job done in the middle of the night.
Initially it was thought operatives from
Zimbabwe's state security agency
had crossed the border and clandestinely
removed the paper on the board.
Washington Times correspondent Geoff Hill
happened to be in Musina Wednesday
and witnessed the arrest of the employees
from Red Dot Media, involved in
the placement of the poster. He says the
workers were about to put up a new
version of the same advert when the police
and soldiers arrived at lunchtime
and ordered them off the site. They were
handcuffed and carted off to Musina
Police Station in what Hill described as
a heavy handed manner.
It's not clear why the authorities are blocking
the placement of the
billboard or if they were behind its destruction a month
ago? What is known
however is that the site is a council accredited area
which has previously
hosted adverts from the likes of fast food chain KFC and
soft drink
manufacturer Coca Cola. Information received seems to indicate
that police
acted on a complaint from the ANC dominated Musina City
Council.
Captain Makoki, the officer who supervised the arrests, refused
to comment
when Newsreel called him on his mobile. He insisted he could only
speak to
journalists face to face and not on the phone. Geoff Hill however
told
Newsreel the police were stonewalling on confirming the arrest of the
Red
Dot employees. Only when they became aware that a journalist had
witnessed
everything and was in possession of photographic evidence did they
make a
u-turn and confirm the incident.
Red Dot Media boss Will Basson
confirmed the incident and spent the day
trying to find out the reasons for
the police arresting their workers. The
South African media was abuzz with
news of the incident. One radio station
coined the headline 'Armed police and
soldiers swoop on 2 poster boys armed
with glue.' Meanwhile Geoff Hill
confirmed the release of the employees at
16:45 (SA time). They were not
charged.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
10 October
2007
A Zimbabwean government official has publicly
admitted that the country will
need to ask for assistance to meet the needs
of all vulnerable households.
Labor Ministry Director Sydney Mhishi
conceded the need for food aid in
submissions to a follow-up on a national
food assessment carried out by the
United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Food Program
earlier this year.
"The
government is urging all those who can assist to complement (the)
government's efforts by providing assistance to vulnerable households,"
Mhishi said.
The admission comes soon after President Robert Mugabe
told U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon last month during the organization's
general assembly
that the country would have informed the United Nations if
the situation
were "dire." The president maintained that his government was
coping with
the situation.
The FAO-WFP follow-up brought together
Health and Labor Ministry officials,
representatives of Zimbabwe's
Meteorological Services Department and the
country's Agriculture Extension
Services, or Arex, as well as
nongovernmental organizations such as Oxfam
and Environment Africa.
Arex forecast national wheat production of some
145,000 metric tonnes, well
short of the 400,000 metric tonnes the country
needs to meet requirements.
The Grain Marketing Board, a state monopoly,
says it has taken in just
400,000 metric tonnes of wheat to date this crop
year. Mhishi told the group
that Harare has allocated Z$347 billion for
food assistance for some 3
million people through April 2008.
But
economists and other experts say this is not enough and that the number
of
those needing assistance could exceed 8 million if urban hunger is taken
into account.
Bulawayo-based economist Eric Bloch told reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe in putting off submitting a
request for international
food assistance - as it has in previous years -
Harare had engaged in
self-deception.
South African-based analyst
Glen Mpani said Harare delayed in asking for
assistance to ensure that the
arrival of food would coincide with the
election campaign running up to
local, parliamentary and presidential
scheduled for March 2008.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 5 October
Jean-Jacques Cornish
Zambia's southern city of
Livingstone, which was approaching ghost town
status a decade ago, has
experienced a remarkable economic recovery
kick-started by international
investment in tourism infrastructure at
Victoria Falls. The city that last
saw a boom when the bridge was built over
"the smoke that thunders" more
than a century ago has been lifted from three
decades of stagnation and a
national economy gutted by the collapse of its
textile and clothing
industry, caused by cheap foreign imports. Barry
Standish of the South
African-based Economic Information Services, which has
studied the
development, says: "Today Livingstone is booming with tourism
contributing
nearly $400million to regional GDP in six years. More than 15
000 direct and
indirect jobs have been created. There has been major
infrastructure
development. Property values in Livingstone are rising
appreciably. Derelict
and neglected amenities such as golf courses and
historic buildings have
been renovated and refurbished. There has been a
tenfold increase in the
city's contribution to Zambia's GDP." The catalyst
for this recovery is the
$60million, two-hotel complex built in 2000 by Sun
International Zambia next
to the Victoria Falls. The Zambian government
fully supported this single
largest private sector investment in its tourism
industry. "The Falls
Complex has since stimulated wide-ranging tourism
development in
Livingstone, ranging from hotels, guest houses and lodges to
tour operators,
concessionaries, activity providers such as river operators,
air charter
companies, transport companies, restaurants and informal
traders," says
Standish. "By 2005 more than a quarter of Livingstone's
population benefited
from tourism. A major factor in the success of
Livingstone's tourism
industry has been funding by the Zambian government
and international donors
of infrastructural development, most notably for
Livingstone
airport."
This has produced some startling statistics. Annually the
airport has seen a
30% increase in the number of flights, from 2 700 in 2001
to 7 500 in 2005.
Larger commercial aircraft now outnumber the light planes
touching down. In
the same period passenger numbers are up by an astounding
320% a year: 8 900
in 2001 and 180 000 in 2005. The Falls Complex recorded
89 000 bed nights in
2002/03. Two years later, this had risen to 171 000.
Standish estimates that
the number of guests accommodated in Livingstone but
outside the Falls
Complex is three to four times that of seven years ago.
"Importantly, the
Livingstone tourism industry is attracting more and more
business from the
United Kingdom, Europe and other non-African points of
origin, which means
the city is increasingly becoming a destination for
high-spending northern
hemisphere visitors and is becoming less reliant on
tourists from South
Africa," says Standish. "Livingstone is an empirical
example to other
developing countries that have natural tourism assets and
are prepared to
work hard to secure private sector interest on the back of
public sector
infrastructural development and, most of all, attractive
incentives and a
high level of cooperation." Zambia is now looking to
develop other sights,
making tourism one of its most important economic
activities and a key
weapon in its national poverty reduction strategy. The
country aims to
attract more than a million tourists a year by 2010.
The Zimbabwean
We are solidly behind
Zimbabwean teachers who this week downed tools to
press their demands for an
inflation-linked salary increase.
The significance of the role of teachers in
nurturing and developing the
future of our country - the next generation -
cannot be overemphasised.
Teachers are a crucial resource.
They should be
fairly compensated for their efforts. Many of them earn
around Z$3 million a
month - just enough to buy 10 litres of petrol. This is
an
insult.
Mugabe's recent decree under the Presidential Powers (Temporary
Measures)
Act, under which salary and price increases are banned, is not
only insane -
it is immoral. During the two months or so since the decree,
Mugabe's own
salary has been increased from Z$62 million to Z$1.4
billion.
If Mugabe finds it difficult to survive on less than a billion a
month - how
does he expect teachers, and indeed most other Zimbabweans who
are lucky
enough to be employed, to survive on Z$3 million?
Workers
anywhere in the world have the right to withdraw their labour and
for the
government, in the person of Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, to
threaten
them with violence as has happened in the past is despicable.
Workers in
Zimbabwe should unite and rally behind the ZCTU call for a
two-day stayaway
on September 19 and 20. What do they have to lose?
We need a new
constitution
Zimbabwe's much amended constitution is being tinkered with for
the 18th
time. As has been the case in the past, Zimbabweans were never
consulted.
They made no input and they will be faced with a rubber-stamped
result that
will serve to further entrench Mugabe as a dictator.
What
Zimbabwe needs is a new constitution that will provide for a modern
democracy - not a re-write of a substantially flawed instrument that has
outlived its usefulness.
South Africa has a constitution that is
respected throughout the world for
its democratic provisions. That would be
a good start.
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with “For Open Letter Forum” in the
subject line.
Dear Jag - Ben Freeth - Chegutu
Perceptions of case
in Chegutu Magistrates Court on 1/10/07.
There are eleven white farmers
being accused in this case [CRB nos. 1443 to
1451 including John Eastwood,
Mike Campbell, Frikkie Buitendag, Jockie
Beattie, Dirk Visagie, Blake
Nicolle, Billy Nicholson, Bruce Rodgers, and
Richard Etheredge], Andy
Ferreira and Wayne Seaman, charged subsequently.
There was no room in the
dock for them to remain in the Court room through
the 2 hour submission
given by Mr. Drury [DD] who represented them all. For
their benefit [and
others] I will therefore attempt to outline what was said
and add some other
thoughts and perceptions.
Before doing so I wish to say in passing that I
think it is a good thing to
have faced the problem on the first Monday of
the problem. If the State had
waited to the first Friday of the problem
there could have been a number of
people on the concrete again. I do not
rule out this possibility in the
weeks to come where those that have not
already been charged are picked up.
I think we need to warn other white
farmers to expect it.
The case was heard on 1 October 2007 at 2.15 pm
before Mr. Ndokera [a
Provincial Magistrate] and was prosecuted by the Mr.
Matemba the provincial
public prosecutor in Chegutu. They were glared upon
by Mr. Kunonga, the
lands officer as well as Mr. Matanhiki [Chegutu War vet
chairman wanting
Blake Nicolles farm]; “War vet” Makoni wanting various of
the accused
farms but most recently Billy Nicholsons who he attempted to
jambabja last
month; and others. The magistrate appeared intimidated by
their presence.
The offence deemed to have been committed was under
section 3[3] of the
gazetted land [consequential provisions] act. In this
evil bit of
legislation anyone who at the stroke of a pen has had their
homes, land, and
livelihood allegedly acquired through the infamous
Amendment number 17 to
the constitution, is now deemed to be a criminal if
he is on the farm
without permission from the Minister of State Security.
The offence can
carry a 2 year imprisonment term. It includes almost every
white farmer
still “out there”.
David Drury began by presenting a
notice of referral for all the accused
asking that that the case be referred
to the constitutional court [supreme
court].
The Magistrate asked why
they should be dealt with together and not
individually.
DD said that
it was for pragmatism and convenience and that he would bring
in prior case
law to support that. He presented the Notice of referral to
the magistrate
which lists 8 constitutional points as to why the case should
be referred to
the supreme court due to the unconstitutionality of the
current laws and
process. Most of you received a copy of this. In essence
it
outlines:
Amendment no.17 took away the rule of law in Zimbabwe and our right
to
protection of the law which is a fundamental right and therefore goes
against the core values within international constitutional law.
It is
not “reasonably necessary” [sect 16A of constitution] to take all our
land,
homes, livelihood etc.
Acquisition of improvements on the land without
compensation can not be
possible in law. sect 16[1][c] of
constitution.
Acquisition of the land itself without compensation [sect 16
A] goes
against all democratic norms.
The method of compensation is
unconstitutional [payable over 5 years in
instalments at 30 % interest per
year].
No proper identification as laid down in the land acquisition act has
been
done for each of the pieces of land for acquisition as it should have
been
and it is therefore outside sect 16 B of constitution.
The process
is in direct conflict with the SADC treaty.
The gazetted land [consequential
provisions] act is in itself an abuse of
powers under section 18[1] and
18[9] of constitution.
DD presented a letter to the Public Prosecutor
[PP] in Chegutu dated 15/9/07
from himself. It asked the PP for referral to
the Supreme Court in the
matters between the State and Etheredge, Visage and
Rodgers due to be heard
on 17 October. Copies of the summons, a copy of
State outline, warned and
cautioned statements and preambles, statements,
preliminary notices relied
upon, minutes of land committees at all levels
regarding each acquisition,
certificates of service regarding each
acquisition notice, copies of offer
letters for beneficiaries, copies of
district technical team reports etc.
had all been requested from the PP in
the letter but very little information
had been provided to defend the
accused. He presented case law regarding
the right to get information from
the State for defending accused.
DD spoke with regard to the Mike
Campbell case in the Supreme Court [SC
124/06] which already challenges a
number of constitutional issues
[amendment no. 17 taking away the rule of
law and protection of the law;
there can be no acquisition without
compensation; the whole acquisition
process is discriminatory]. This case
was heard on 22 March 2007 but still
awaits judgement. The whole legality
of the current process hangs on the
judgement of this case.
DD went
on to outline the Etheredge case [SC 194/07] lodged on 3 September
2007
which is waiting for a hearing in the supreme court and brings out
additional constitutional points raised in this referral
application.
DD brought in the Paliouris and Wigall case which says that
the State is
obliged to pay compensation if it wishes to acquire the land.
Nobody had
received compensation 2 years after the State had purportedly
nationalised
the land through constitutional amendment number 17.
In
his letter to PP, DD had raised 4 cases where the High Court had granted
relief even with amendment no. 17. These included Neville Stidolphs case
that had added the constitutional point regarding the parameters of the
magistrates court ie. That their powers were limited under the constitution
and that issues such as were before them now were essentially too big. In
the Korori high court case [Charles Lock] it was outlined by the judge that
if the State wishes to remove people it first has to apply to a competent
court for an eviction notice and go through the whole process until a final
eviction order is granted. Any short cutting of the process is “contempt of
court”.
DD then outlined cases and precedents where matters had been
referred
directly to the supreme court including the most recent Farrell
case in
Gweru where a farmer had been charged under an identical charge on
the 5
September 2007 and all points had gone up to the Supreme
Court
The Public Prosecutor opposed referral to the Supreme
Court.
PP said that it was “frivolous and vexatious” and it was just
delaying
tactics as apart from Campbell and Etheredge nobody had applied to
Supreme
Court previously.
PP said it was up to the accused to give
resources to the State to photocopy
requested documents as the State had no
money!
PP said that accused had all signed orders enacted by parliament
regarding
the land being acquired and had chosen not to comply so were now
coming
before the court with “dirty hands” [ie. as people on the wrong side
of the
law – criminals] and that this could not be tolerated. All the State
had to
do was show the land had been gazetted and order that occupants
vacate
within time limits.
PP said there was no defence for this
criminal charge and that the
Magistrates court could still hear arguments
even while the supreme court
was deliberating. PP said beneficiaries needed
to get on with agricultural
plans and asked if a determination could be
reached on 17 October.
DD summed up by saying that none of the accused
had signed orders to vacate
. He said that the PP had not objected to a
single one of the 8
constitutional points he had raised; that the PP had
not said why the
application for referral was not frivolous and vexatious
especially in the
light of the fact that the Mike Campbell matter was still
being considered
by the Supreme Court; that the PP had not referred to any
documentation
regarding sect 16A of constitution ie. Reasonable necessity
and applying
necessary procedures in acquisition process; that there were no
responses
from the Minister regarding applications to continue and it was
taken in law
that such failure allowed applicant to continue; that it was
binding on
State to follow land settlement act; that there was no
compliance with
interpretation act by the State regarding service of
important documents;
that the SADC treaty was violated; that the
administration of justice act
had been violated by the State not giving
requested evidence etc. DD added
more case law which he said was binding on
the Court.
The magistrate said that the decision by a fellow magistrate
to refer the
matter to the Supreme Court was not binding on him. He had to
now decide
whether the application for the referral of the matter was
frivolous and
vexatious or not.
Conclusion: I believe that in the
light of all the case law that DD raised;
and with the absence of any case
law or any real legal arguments by the PP;
the balance of probabilities
hangs in favour of the Magistrate referring the
matter to the Supreme Court.
We have had good judgements in the past from
this Magistrate. The only
reason why he may not wish to refer it in this
case is if he is intimidated
into not doing so. If he doesn’t refer the
case however, he will have the
spot light of intimidation on him for a lot
longer as he will then have to
try each accused individually [including
every other owner and occupier of
State land which does not have legal
authority to be there] on the criminal
charges outlined. We are fortunate
to have 2 cases in other areas already
referred to the supreme court under
the same charge. We are also fortunate
to have amongst the group a matter
that was heard in the Supreme Court 6
months ago [Mike Campbell]. This case
already awaits judgement. We also
have another prior matter pending a
hearing in the Supreme Court
[Etheredge].
If justice fails us here we still have the appeal to the
SADC tribunal which
we have prepared and which can go in immediately this
happens. I believe
pressure needs to be brought to bear on the CFU to join
itself with this
case and protect members from being placed on the wrong
side of the law as
in the current scenario. Currently the CFU president
refuses to be party to
this case; but he can not give me a single legal
reason why he doesn't want
to be a part of it.
Unfortunately history
appears to be repeating itself. CFU failed to do
anything in 2002 about
challenging unjust laws and we lost most farmers then
through them being on
the wrong side of the section 8 legislation. CFU have
now done the same
again in allowing farmers to be arrested without them
having taken any legal
action to protect them and their rights. Is the CFU
there for its members;
or are its members there for the CFU? Why as
individuals do the people who
set up the CFU [the individual farmers] need
to spend time, money and heart
ache on going through all this when the CFU
was set up to do it for them?
If the CFU believes in the rule of law why
does it so stubbornly refuse to
use the law? Can the few lawyers that are
left cope with running about to
every Magistrates court in the country to
defend individuals if the State
goes ahead with a big purge this month?
Whatever the case we need to do
everything we possibly can to make sure that
other farmers are not caught on
the wrong side of the law as the next few
weeks unfold. I hope it is not
too late [dirty hands argument] for the CFU
to approach the Courts on
constitutional grounds to protect everyone else.
Unfortunately they are the
only group with locus standi to do so.
Ben Freeth 3/10/07.-
Chegutu
Editor:
On Thursday 4th October 2007, the Jag Trust
sought legal advice from retired
Justice George Smith, re the Trust’s own
locus standi, to support this case
in a joinder application in the Supreme
Court of Zimbabwe, or, should it
become necessary, in the SADC
Tribunal.
Legal opinion given was that where the Jag Trust, and the
affiliated Jag
Membership Association, should indisputably have locus standi
in the Supreme
Court of Zimbabwe - the State would probably argue
otherwise. However, in
the SADC Tribunal, it would be highly unlikely that
the “locus standi” issue
would be raised, as it is encumbent on the Tribunal
to include all
stakeholders.
A subsequent vote taken by the Jag Board of
Trustees was unanimous in
support of these legal initiatives, especially in
the light of current on
farm pressures to evict remaining farmers.-
Editor
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All
letters published in ‘Open Letter Forum’ are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice for
Agriculture.