President Robert Mugabe's government has launched a new wave of land
seizures targeted at white-owned land in Zimbabwe's urban areas, in
violation of his own controversial private property confiscation laws.

A government programme codenamed Operation Clean Sweep is reportedly
underway despite statements by President Mugabe that his land seizures ended
last year.

There has been no official confirmation of Operation Clean Sweep but an
analysis of new lists of properties published in recent days by the state
press show that vast swaths of land in or near urban areas have been
earmarked for compulsory seizure.

In a notice published in recent days by the state-owned Herald newspaper,
the permanent secretary for Local Government and National Housing, Vincent
Hungwe, announced: "The Government has identified a number of peri-urban
farms around major cities and towns of Zimbabwe for immediate acquisition to
accommodate urban expansion.

"The identified farms will be acquired in terms of the law and held as state
land."

The government has claimed it needs land for low-cost housing and other
urban expansion projects. But opponents say the real aim is to consolidate
illegal housing developments by so-called "war veterans" on private land in
the cities.

The first such urban seizure was the 330 hectares Carrick Creagh Estate
owned by the Newmarch family in the affluent Borrowdale suburb of Harare.
Invaded two years ago by war veterans, the prime residential land has since
been sold off in plots as part of the "Sally Mugabe Heights" housing scheme.
The Newmarch family obtained a court order to halt the developments but the
authorities have ignored it.

The Zimbabwe government has mostly completed its land seizure programme in
farming areas outside city boundaries as set out in the Land Acquisition
Act. Prime farms have since been confiscated by President Mugabe's cronies,
forcing the Zimbabwe leader to set up an inquiry to establish the extent of
abuse of the land reform programme by his own supporters.

Mr Mugabe has since ordered his supporters, some of whom had reportedly
grabbed as many as five farms each, to surrender land and keep only one farm
each. But many have registered the farms in the names of relatives.

Landowners - who asked not to be named for fear of retribution - said there
was no law which allowed the government to seize urban land without paying
immediate compensation.

One man whose estate has been designated for seizure said he was being
pushed off his land to make way for a housing co-operative run by ruling
party supporters who had illegally occupied his farm and partitioned it into
residential plots for sale.

"The simple point is that there is no respect for property rights in this
country. There is no respect for any form of tenure and you can be told you
are no longer the owner of your property any time this suits the regime,"
said the farmer.

"It should surprise no one if this government starts seizing all white-owned
houses one of these fine days."

Farming organisations in Zimbabwe say only about 400 farmers have been left
on their properties out of an initial 4,500 before violent land seizures
began in 2000. But the new wave of land seizures could push remaining
private owners out. What baffles many farmers is that the land seizures have
continued despite President Mugabe's announcement last year that they had
ended.

The economic collapse in Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of southern Africa,
has been blamed on the land seizure programme.

Tuesday September 30, 2003 06:56 - (SA)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's succession struggle is intensifying
ahead of the ruling Zanu (PF)'s annual conference in Masvingo in December.

The escalating battle to take over from Mugabe has been fuelled by the
recent death of vicepresident Simon Muzenda.

Muzenda was Mugabe's buffer against ambitious lieutenants. His death has
left Mugabe exposed to clandestine succession machinations by the ruling
party's outspoken youth.

Mugabe's predicament over Muzenda's replacement is that the current party
succession policy indicates that Zanu (PF) chairman John Nkomo is the next
in line.

But in terms of the present Zanu (PF) hierarchy, Nkomo cannot be promoted
because the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu (PF) and PF Zapu dictates that a
member from the old Zanu should step in.

The unity agreement was designed to achieve an ethnic balance between the
country's main tribes, the Shona and Ndebele.

The remaining vice-president, Joseph Msika, is a former Zapu deputy leader
to Mugabe's other late vice-president, Joshua Nkomo, and represents
Ndebeles. Promoting Nkomo would topple this ethnic order.

Zanu (PF) introduced tribal checks and balances following government's
campaign against purported Zapu rebels in Matabeleland between 1982 and 1987
in which more than 20000 minority Ndebeles were massacred by Mugabe's troops
in what was seen as ethnic cleansing.

At the same time, promoting Zanu (PF) secretary for administration Emmerson
Mnangagwa, who is the next in line from the old Zanu pack and a Shona by
tribal origin, could also destabilise the ruling party power structure.

It will upset the party's delicate pecking order because it means Mnangagwa
would forthwith become Nkomo's senior. Nkomo defeated Mnangagwa in the race
for the chairmanship during the party's congress in 1999.

Mnangagwa was saved from political redundancy by Mugabe after his defeat in
the 2000 parliamentary election by an opposition Movement for Democratic
Change candidate. He was imposed on parliament as speaker by Mugabe and in
his current party position.

Zanu (PF)'s succession struggle has of late been revolving around a
controversial committee appointed to look into Mugabe's raging takeover
battle.

Zanu (PF) heavyweights are said to be quarrelling over the committee which
some fear is now being used to further personal political agendas in the
heightening power struggle.

Nkomo said at the weekend that the committee had been dissolved because it
was causing divisions in the party.

The Zanu (PF) chairman said yesterday that Mugabe's successor would be
elected by all party members and not imposed as widely feared.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth foreign ministers said Zimbabwe remained suspended
from the 54-member club until the summit in December where its status would
be reviewed.

This declaration flies in the face of President Thabo Mbeki's recent claim
in Parliament that Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth expired in
March.

The Commonwealth ministers, who met in New York, agreed that Harare was
still banned from the club of mostly former British colonies for electoral
fraud and it had little chance of rejoining the grouping soon.

Instead, Pakistan, also suspended for lack of democracy and human rights
abuses, had a better opportunity to bounce back earlier than Zimbabwe, the
ministers said.

The eight foreign ministers who comprise the Commonwealth Ministerial Action
Group are from Botswana, Malta, India, Bangladesh, the Bahamas, Samoa,
Nigeria and Australia. All had been attending the United Nations General
Assembly session in New York.

Business Day

Cape Town - The South African government has agreed to talk to Zimbabwe
about the closing down of the country's only independent daily newspaper,
Daily News.

This comes after a meeting between government, the South African National
Editors' Forum (Sanef) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) on
Friday.

Sanef expressed concerns over press freedom in Zimbabwe after the Daily News
was told to shut down its operation under the country's strict media laws.
The organisation is also concerned about the arrest of journalists and
threats against Misa members in Zimbabwe. Sanef asked the South African
government to use its influence to stop such actions against the media.

Sanef also asked government to insist that Zimbabwe change its media
legislation as promised to President Thabo Mbeki earlier this year.

The organisation said the South African government reiterated its support
for freedom of the press and acknowledged the role of the media to find
solutions for the socio-economic problems in Zimbabwe.

Ronnie Mamoepa, government spokesperson, confirmed that they would approach
Zimbabwe on these issues.

Extracts From Statement

“The closure of the Daily News is a political act. It has nothing to do with the law. The newspaper informed the world of the vicious government crackdown on the opposition before, during and after the election and exposed the electoral fraud of June 2000 and the Presidential election in March 2002.”

“The forced shutting down of the Daily News has a lot to do with the desire to smash the MDC. Although that desire has failed to bear fruit in the past four years, Zanu PF has remained resolute to wish the MDC away.”

“We believe the Supreme Court made a serious error when it refused to hear the arguments of the newspaper in its contest with the need to register under the Access to Information and Protection to Privacy Act (AIPPA). The refusal to hear the complainant’s case strengthened perceptions and reservations on the independence of the judiciary at a time when the people rely on that arm of society as the remaining protector of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

“Our fear is that this latest assault on democracy in Zimbabwe betrays a more sinister agenda aimed at silencing all diverse voices within the country. The absence of private media exposure may well provide the enemies of democracy with the injection of confidence to implement a cynical agenda aimed at silencing their internal critics.”

MDC PRESS

30 SEPTEMBER 2003

THE CLOSURE OF THE DAILY NEWS WAS A POLITICAL ACT

Early this month, the Mugabe government closed down the Daily News, the only alternative voice in the form of a daily newspaper in Zimbabwe. Thousands of people have been thrown out of work. The company has lost billions of dollars in revenue at a time when our economy is already on its knees. This newspaper was read by about a million people daily. It provided valuable space for diverse and different views. The closure of the newspaper merely extends the democratic deficit in this country and creates an environment of intolerance and fear.

The Zimbabwean public media lost all credibility a long time ago and degenerated into a fully-fledged propaganda machine of Zanu PF. State newspapers and radio and television mirror events in our country in a manner that is devoid of any fairness and objectivity.

Since the formation of the MDC in September 1999, almost a year after the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe group was established, the Daily News has always been in trouble with Zanu PF and the government.

You will recall that the newspaper was never allowed to circulate freely in small towns and in the rural areas. You will recall television pictures of so-called war veterans burning copies of the newspaper in Mutoko, Rusape, Shamva and other centres. The company’s property was being destroyed in the full view of the police. We, in the MDC, received numerous reports of travellers and civil servants being victimised at illegal roadblocks mounted specifically to check on readers of the Daily News in these centres.

In April 2000, the newspaper’s Harare office was bombed. A direct casualty of this act was a small art gallery below the then Editor Geoff Nyarota’s office. We understand the owner of that gallery was immediately pushed out of business. The perpetrators of this act were never brought to book.

Almost a year later, in January 2001, the newspaper’s printing press was blown up in Harare. Again no one was arrested and brought to trial for such a serious crime.

Almost all members of the company’s board of directors and its editorial staff face different charges arising from their association with that newspaper. Staff at the newspaper were constantly harassed, arrested and brutalised on untested allegations as part of a brutal campaign to muzzle the newspaper.

The Daily News represented a key addition to the range of voices calling for change in Zimbabwe’s political arena. It reflected the mood in the country and went further to play a key role in providing our supporters with an outlet to express themselves when the public media turned hostile to the wishes of the majority of our people. The closure of the Daily News is a political act. It has nothing to do with the law. The newspaper informed the world of the vicious government crackdown on the opposition before, during and after the election and exposed the electoral fraud of June 2000 and the Presidential election in March 2002.

May I make clear that we do not own the Daily News; nor do we determine its editorial agenda. Our interest in the newspaper is very clear. We feel hurt by the government’s continued onslaught on the democratic space. We are concerned about the shrinking avenues for Zimbabweans to express themselves. Our concern is the rising democratic deficit in Zimbabwe. The consequences of a gagging a society through the closure of all outlets for free speech are too serious for any democrats to ignore.

The forced shutting down of the Daily News has a lot to do with the desire to smash the MDC. Although that desire has failed to bear fruit in the past four years, Zanu PF has remained resolute to wish the MDC away. All our members of the national executive face a variety of charges, hundreds of our supporters have been killed, maimed and brutalised in an effort to destroy the party. That scheme has failed.

We believe the Supreme Court made a serious error when it refused to hear the arguments of the newspaper in its contest with the need to register under the Access to Information and Protection to Privacy Act (AIPPA). The refusal to hear the complainant’s case strengthened perceptions and reservations on the independence of the judiciary at a time when the people rely on that arm of society as the remaining protector of human rights and fundamental freedoms. As an independent nation, we are bound by international instruments that require us to respect minimum standards necessary for promoting and protecting the right to freedom of expression. Our Constitution is clear on the right to receive and impart information freely.

AIPPA was enacted specifically for the Daily News after all other attempts to squeeze the newspaper out had failed. First it was war veterans and hired Zanu PF officials who confiscated the newspaper, burning and tearing up copies on a daily basis. They beat up readers in the rural areas. They harassed vendors. Reporters were denied access to government information and to government buildings. Local investors were intimidated and editors were arrested.

AIPPA is an unjust law. It was fast-tracked through Parliament primarily to sabotage the right to freedom of expression and suffocate the free exchange of ideas and information. AIPPA, together with the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Broadcasting Services Act, the Miscellaneous Offences Act (MOA) and the Labour Relations Act (LRA), among many other pieces of repressive laws, form the bedrock of legislative repression in Zimbabwe targeted at dealing with both freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The use of AIPPA to shut down the Daily News is a serious demonstration of intolerance and must leave no person in any doubt as to the desire of the regime to limit the flow of ideas and stifle freedom of expression in Zimbabwe.

The Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ) and the Daily News challenged AIPPA before the same Supreme Court on the grounds that it infringed the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. The IJAZ challenge was heard 12 months ago and no judgement has been made to date. The delay has never been explained; nor has the nation been informed of why no decision has been made after such a long time.

Within a short space of AIPPA life, three foreign journalists were deported and dozens of local journalists, all from the private media, were arrested. None were convicted.

We say the law was promulgated with the intention of curtailing media freedom as expressed by private citizens because no journalist from the state media has ever been harassed or arrested under the provisions of AIPPA.

We believe the rights of Zimbabweans are under siege. Repression is set to increase as long as the Daily News remains silenced. Nearly every issue of the Daily News carried reports of the state abuses. Without that regular exposure, the state may step up its brutal campaign because the government owns all the other dailies and they do not criticise the regime or expose its violence. Without the Daily News the future is bleak indeed.

It is for this reason that we believe pressure must be brought to bear on this government to re-open the democratic space and allow Zimbabweans to enjoy generic freedoms that make it possible for them to make informed decisions necessary in a free society.

The Daily News provided us with a vital channel through which to communicate with the people on a daily basis. We are denied access to the public media, which is simply a mouthpiece for Zanu PF and an outlet for their deception, lies and propaganda. Closing down independent papers will not conceal the criminal failings of this regime. People experience these failings on a daily basis: in the queues for food, in the queues for cash and in the queues for fuel. They know who is to blame.

Our fear is that this latest assault on democracy in Zimbabwe betrays a more sinister agenda aimed at silencing all diverse voices within the country. The absence of private media exposure may well provide the enemies of democracy with the injection of confidence to implement a cynical agenda aimed at silencing their internal critics.

Despite this setback, the people of Zimbabwe have remained determined to fight for their freedom. They now controls and run 12 major towns and cities in Zimbabwe. Our success in the recent local government elections was a testament to the bravery of thousands of Zimbabweans who turned out to vote in the face of mass coercion and intimidation by the ruling party, aided and abetted by rogue elements within the security forces. These elections, however, proved yet again that our struggle is still far from over. More than 40 MDC candidates were prevented from submitting their nomination papers, scores of MDC activists were brutally attacked whilst Zanu PF again deployed the crude tactic of “food for votes” in a desperate attempt to deliver a credible showing at the polls. They failed because people desire change.

Zanu PF ministers attempted to exploit the MDC’s overall success for their own political ends by suggesting that the results demonstrated that Zimbabwe was a ‘true democracy’. Any slender chance of such misleading comments resonating around the international community would have come to a halt with the forced closure of the Daily News.

If Zanu PF is serious about the need to break the current political impasse and allow the people to set up a functioning democracy, then that party needs to add some substance to its rhetoric. People are not fools. They know that Zimbabwe cannot be a democracy when opposition legislators are tortured whilst in police custody, when people are mandated to attack political opponents without fear of prosecution and when people are prevented by law from gathering to have a political discussion unless they have received official permission to do so.

We urge Zanu PF to put the people first and discharge their basic duties by disbanding the youth militias, ending state sponsored violence and ensuring that everyone receives equal protection under the rule of law. We urge them to commit themselves to a process of dialogue for a long-term resolution of the problems currently facing us. As we have said before, only through a free and fair election, held according to SADC norms and standards, can we tackle the crux of the Zimbabwe crisis, the issue of legitimacy, and take the necessary steps to tackling the broader elements of the crisis that are polarising and destroying our country.

We are ready to engage Zanu PF in meaningful dialogue. Our victory in urban elections shows that we are no longer a mere opposition party. We are governing the country. We determine the agenda for Zimbabwe today. Our role is that of a social democratic movement fighting to extend the ideals of the liberation struggle to enable Zimbabweans to achieve peace, freedom and total democracy. Our interest in dialogue must never be confused with capitulation. It is part of our broad strategy to end the crisis of governance in this country. Zanu PF has run out options to address the crisis, so we have taken a number of steps to give dialogue a chance. We are even prepared to make further compromises for the sake of our bleeding nation.

The key to whole saga rests with the leaders of Zanu PF and the MDC. We need to meet to unlock and remove the stumbling blocks and pave the way for the two parties to engage each other in a climate of confidence and patriotism. Contrary to claims that Zimbabwe is under a sanctions regime, it must be remembered that the Harare Declaration of the Commonwealth is very clear on matters of governance. Zimbabwe has simply failed that test.

The Commonwealth then imposed certain measures to bring back the regime into line. The regime has remained adamant. The regime has taken no steps to address the issues raised by the international community. Such actions have forced the Commonwealth to maintain its position because there has been no significant shift in the regime’s actions. The CHOGM position must be enforced until there is meaningful change in the behaviour of the regime.

I thank you.

Morgan Tsvangirai

President

The leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, has
denied media speculation that he and the ruling Zanu-PF party are close to a
deal on constitutional reform. Mr. Tsvangirai says the two sides are not
even talking to each other. Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai says news reports that his party and President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party have agreed on changes to Zimbabwe's constitution are grossly
exaggerated. In fact, he said, the two sides are not even negotiating.
He specifically contradicted South Africa's President Mbeki who has said
that, "the Zimbabweans are talking" and there would be an agreement in the
country by the end of the year.

But he said President Mbeki's help would be welcome. "I hope that President
Mbeki will continue to use his influence to achieve that objective and we
would like to work with him in making sure that the formal talks are resumed
and that there is an agreement by the target date he has set," he said.

Mr. Tsvangirai added that, despite President Mugabe's conciliatory remarks
toward the opposition MDC at Vice-President Muzenda's funeral earlier this
month "democratic space is being closed to the MDC."

He also condemned the closure of the country's only independent daily
newspaper, the Daily News, by Mr. Mugabe's government and said his party
would launch a campaign to get the newspaper back on the newsstands.

HARARE, Sept. 30 — Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday
urged African leaders to step up pressure on President Robert Mugabe over
the country's deepening crisis, saying the economy was on the brink of
collapsing.
       Zimbabwe is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since
independence in 1980, which government critics blame on state mismanagement
and Mugabe's controversial policies, including the seizures of white-owned
farms for black resettlement.
       ''The country is on the brink of collapse economically, socially and
politically...it is affecting the whole region,'' Tsvangirai, head of the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a news conference
in Harare.
       ''It is incumbent upon all the regional leaders to understand that as
long as Mugabe believes that he has the blind support of the regional
leaders he will continue to be intransigent, adamant to any course of
reason,'' he added.
       Talks between the ruling ZANU-PF party and MDC on rescuing the
economy collapsed a year ago after Tsvangirai filed a court challenge
against the veteran leader's controversial re-election in a poll condemned
by Western powers as fraudulent.
       Since then, the two sides have only held informal meetings.
       Tsvangirai said Mugabe was only paying lip service to the talks.
       ''We have submitted our agenda, they have not. They are stalling so
we are not seeing that commitment,'' Tsvangirai said.
       ZANU-PF says while it is committed to political talks with the
opposition, it wants to thrash out what the talks are meant to achieve
before getting engaged in any formal negotiations.
       Tsvangirai said South African President Thabo Mbeki -- pilloried by
critics over his quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe -- had power to nudge Mugabe
back into talks with the MDC.
       ''I say he has leverage because he has been appointed the point-man
to the crisis,'' he said referring to Mbeki, whom U.S. President George W.
Bush called the point-man on the Zimbabwe crisis during an African tour
early this year.
       MDC officials had recently visited and been received by the
presidents of Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique to explain the Zimbabwe
crisis, and would continue this diplomatic offensive, he said.
       Tsvangirai also condemned the government's closure of the country's
only private daily, the Daily News, after a court ruled that it was
operating illegally, calling it an attack on democratic institutions.

Harare - Seven journalists from Zimbabwe's only independent daily, forcibly
shut down by authorities 18 days ago, were Tuesday charged by police for
practising without licences, the newspaper's lawyer said.

They are the second batch out of some 45 journalists employed by the Daily
News whom police want to question over their association with the paper. The
first group of nine were charged on Thursday.

"They gave statements and police will proceed by way of summons," said the
Daily News's legal director, Gugulethu Moyo.

The reporters and five of the paper's executives have been handed down
charges, all related to the major official complaint against the newspaper -
that it was operating without a licence.

The Daily News was highly critical of President Robert Mugabe's government,
and the opposition has called the affair a politically-motivated attack
intended to silence the independent press.

"The closure of the newspaper merely extends the democratic deficit in this
country and creates an enviromnent of intolerance and fear," said opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The country's strict press laws compel all journalists to register with the
government's Media and Information Commission (MIC).

Most of the paper's journalists had applied for accreditation last year, but
the MIC had refused to process their applications on the grounds that their
employer had not sought an operating licence.

      Yesterday it was really hot and the queue I was in was about one
kilometre long.

      Whilst in the queue I decided to buy lunch and a couple of beers just
to ease my mind from the boredom and stress of waiting for hours under the
blistering sun.

      The delivery only came in the late hours of the day, but only with
5,000 litres, which served only 80 cars.

      I regretted spending some of the money I had, because I could only
afford 15 litres of the precious liquid and that will only last me a couple
of days - and then back again to the queues.

      More cash

      The situation for banknotes is slightly better since the government
introduced travellers' cheques, bearer cheques and the new 500 Zimbabwe
dollar note.

      Now, I just have to wait for an average of 30 minutes to withdraw cash
from my bank, instead of the several hours it took a few weeks ago.

      Automatic cash dispensing machines have not worked for ages.

      My bank has increased the amount we are allowed to withdraw in a
single transaction to Z$50,000, up from Z$30,000.

      But this still does not go very far when a loaf of bread costs Z$1,000
and a bottle of beer Z$2,000.

      So I have to go back to the bank and queue again every couple of days.

      Officially, US$1 buys Z$800, but on the black market it fetches up to
Z$6,000.

      Black market

      The situation is made worse by technical problems.

      I do have a debit card, so I should be able to go shopping even if I
do not have any hard cash, but the swipe machines in shops are often out of
order.

      Last week, I was so desperate for money that I had to resort to the
black market.

      I phoned up someone I knew who had lots of cash.

      This helped me out of a hole but he charged an extra 20%.

      A few months ago, we had to queue for everyday foods like bread, sugar
and mealie-meal.

      But prices have now gone up so much that most people can no longer
afford them.

      This means the queues have disappeared, as long as you have the money
to buy what is on the shelves.

      I hope things will improve soon before we give up on our beloved
country. "

ZIMBABWE: Deepening crisis affects health care

Even the critically ill are turned away due to food shortages

BULAWAYO, 30 Sep 2003 (IRIN) - The announcement this week by Shangani Hospital in Matabeleland South that it would no longer admit patients, because it ran out of food a fortnight ago, is further evidence of Zimbabwe's deepening economic and humanitarian crises.

The hospital, situated in a former commercial farming area, serves an estimated 12,500 newly resettled families. A senior hospital official, who refused to be named, said the hospital had not been able to admit patients because the institution ran out of staple maize meal and other foods two weeks ago.

"We have not been able to admit any patients, even the critically ill and pregnant women, because of the worsening food situation. The word we got from the district administrator in Filabusi [about 80 km southeast of the country's second city, Bulawayo,] is that there is no grain at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depot. So we have been forced to turn our patients back to their homes or refer them to hospitals in Bulawayo and Gweru [the provincial capital]," the official told IRIN.

The district administrator is also the chairman of the district food taskforce, a body charged with ensuring steady and adequate food supplies to government institutions like hospitals, prisons, orphanages and boarding schools.

Operations at the hospital had been previously compromised as it has "been operating without an ambulance for almost two years now, so we are unable to attend to critical cases that occur in the remote parts of the district," the official added.

Dumisani Ncube, the Matabeleland South province administrator and provincial food taskforce chairman, described the state of affairs at Shangani hospital as "appalling".

"I have been told about the precarious food situation in Shangani. I can confirm that the hospital has been without food for the past two weeks now. However, I have no further details because I am yet to receive a full report from food taskforce members who went there to study the situation and make recommendations. However, since this is an emergency, we will dispatch food to the hospital while we find out why the situation was allowed to become this bad," said Ncube.

He added it was government policy that all hospitals, prisons, orphanages and other caregiving institutions were classified as priority areas in terms of access to food supplied by the GMB. "I am actually surprised that the hospital has been without food for two weeks when we have people on the ground, in addition to hospital management. We will have to launch a full investigation into this," he said.

Meanwhile, the Bulawayo City Council's directorate of health services announced this week that 20 health clinics, as well as a referral hospital it runs, had been severely affected by the exodus of qualified health staff.

The director of health services, Rita Dlodlo, told IRIN the institutions were operating with only half the required staff complement. As staff continue to leave for greener pastures in South Africa, Botswana, Europe and the Americas.

"The situation at council clinics is critical, as the health department is badly understaffed. The calibre of staff leaving includes nurses, health directors, pharmacists and other specialists, who are very difficult to replace because of the national problem of brain drain. We are operating with only 50 percent of ideal staff complement because of that," said Dlodlo.

She reported that a total of 90 staffers had resigned from council services, while 14 retired and some simply absconded between January and September.

The city council operates 19 clinics and one referral hospital, which specialises in life-threatening illnesses like tuberculosis. The brain drain affecting the council clinics may make access to health services more difficult for the majority of the city's residents, who have often relied on the more affordable medical service rates charged by the council.

The health sector in Zimbabwe has been hardest hit by the country's economic meltdown. Which has resulted in a failure to retain staff because of low rates of pay and a lack of basic medical equipment, due to breakdowns and foreign currency shortages.

[ENDS]

The crash occurred 72 km south-west of Harare when a car tried to overtake a
bus, police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said.
Instead it collided with a truck coming in the opposite direction. The truck
then swerved and rammed the bus.

Several other passengers on the bus were injured.

Zimbabwe's roads, like those in many countries in southern Africa, are
becoming more and more dangerous.

A major road accident now takes place in the region almost every month.

AFP

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Wakabi is a special correspondent for The EastAfrican

The Herald (Harare)

September 30, 2003
Posted to the web September 30, 2003

Harare

THE High Court yesterday postponed judgment on a fresh application by the
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe to have its property seized by police
during investigations returned.

The newspaper group, which was shut down by police for operating illegally,
had made an urgent chamber application last week to have its property
returned.

Justice Tendai Uchena sitting in his chambers deferred the ruling to
tomorrow saying The Daily News lawyers should serve court papers on the
magistrate who granted police a search warrant before he could make his
ruling.

Lawyers representing the ANZ and the State confirmed the matter was deferred
to tomorrow.

"We are required to serve court papers on the magistrate who issued police
with a warrant to seize the equipment," said ANZ director of corporate
affairs Miss Gugulethu Moyo.

She said the new development might result in their lawyers getting into
fresh arguments before the case was finalised.

The newspaper group, which publishes The Daily News and The Daily News on
Sunday was closed by police on September 12 following a Supreme Court ruling
that declared its operations illegal.

In its ruling, the court said ANZ was operating outside the law because it
was not registered with the Media and Information Commission.

Last week police seized the ANZ property that had been returned to the
newspaper group after it successfully applied for a provisional order to
resume operations at the High Court on September 18.

The property was seized as police investigations into the company's illegal
operations continued.

ANZ then sought an order for the police to release its property in terms of
the order issued by Justice Yunus Omerjee.

ANZ claimed that its property was improperly seized and had been removed
from its premises for other purposes, which were not for investigations.

The newspaper group also argued that the actions of the police were an
extension of their conduct in their previous case, when they seized ANZ
property without a search warrant.

It described the conduct as unjustified in a democratic society.

The State opposed the ANZ application arguing that the property in question
was lawfully seized in accordance with the law as the newspaper group had
committed a crime.

The State said it wanted to use the property as part of exhibits in a
criminal offence the ANZ might face and the property could not be returned
as police investigations were continuing.

Police said the ANZ won a provisional order for them to return its property
because at that time their property had been seized without a search
warrant.

Mr Mordecai Mahlangu of Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans represented the ANZ
while Mr Stephen Musona of the Attorney General's Office represented the
police.

The Herald (Harare)

September 30, 2003
Posted to the web September 30, 2003

Harare

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe inspectors have been given more powers to
effectively undertake their duties as efforts to weed out corruption and
unprofessional practice within the financial services and industrial sectors
intensify.

Under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Promotion of Banking
Transactions) Regulations 2003 published last week, the central bank was
empowered to appoint additional inspectors with a specific role of
monitoring operations of financial and other institutions.

Inspectors, may without previous notice and at all reasonable times, enter
premises of any financial institution, trader or parastatal with a view of
carrying out their respective duties.

The inspectors may undertake an examination and inquiry, which they consider
appropriate in their mission to weed out corrupt practices.

"An inspector is empowered to question any person who is employed in or at
the premises of any company that may be under investigation.

"The inspector may require any person who is employed in or at the premises
to produce any book, account, notice, record, list or other document
pertaining to the operations of the financial institution," read the notice
in the gazette.

In pursuance of their duties, inspectors may require, from any person, an
explanation of any entry made in any book, account, notice, record, list or
any other document found upon any person or premises.

The inspector may take possession of any book, account, notice, record or
list provided that such documents shall be retained only as long as may be
necessary for the purpose of examination, investigation, trial or inquiry
arising out of any contravention of the regulations.

Under the regulations, inspectors may be accompanied by members of the
police while undertaking their investigations.

Any financial institution, trader or parastatal whose premises an inspector
has entered and any persons employed in the respective organisations, are
required to furnish the inspector with all the required information.

"Nothing in this section shall be taken or require any legal practitioner to
disclose any privileged communication made to him or her in that capacity.

"Any financial institution, trader or parastatal which hinders or obstructs
or fails to comply with a lawful request of an inspector, assistant of an
inspector or police officer shall be guilty of an offence.

"The institution shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not
exceeding three years or both," read part of the instruments.

Those who fail to provide inspectors with relevant details may be forced to
do so by the courts.

A central bank director, may in consultation with the RBZ governor, issue to
financial institutions or any class of financial institutions, written
directives of a general character not inconsistent with these regulations.

The directives may relate to the exercise of any functions conferred or
imposed on financial institutions, which may be necessary or convenient for
better administration of these regulations.

"They may provide, among other issues, the hours during which financial
institutions shall be open for the purpose of enabling persons to withdraw
cash.

"Accounts, returns and reports to be submitted to the monitoring unit by
financial institutions, the form of applications, permissions, authorities,
accounts, returns and reports made, granted, issued or submitted," according
to the regulations.

The directives may also enforce the suspension or cancellation of any
permission or authority granted or issued in terms of the regulations.

Any directive issued under these regulations may be absolute or conditional.

The directives may be revoked or varied in the same way as they were issued
or shall be given to such persons or published in such manner as, in the
opinion of the director, any person affected by it an adequate opportunity
of getting to know of it.

Any financial institution, which fails to comply with a directive within a
specified period, shall be guilty of an offence.

The director may, in his or her discretion, publish a directive by notice in
the Government gazette.

Such publication shall be sufficient notice to any financial institution or
class of financial institutions to which it is addressed.

No financial institution shall be convicted of a contravention of these
regulations by virtue of a directive, which was not published in the
gazette.

Penalty can only be effected if it is proved that the directive was served
on the financial institution or the financial institution knew or avoided
getting to know of the directive.

"Provided that, where it is shown that reasonable steps were taken for the
purpose of bringing the contents of the directive to its notice, the onus
shall lie on the financial institution concerned to show that it did not
know and did not avoid getting to know of the directive."

Officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the
Reserve Bank were not immediately available for comment yesterday.

However, analysts said the new instrument further equipped the central bank
with the muscle it needed to restore sanity in the financial sector.

‘I was in the offices of The African Daily News. It was situated in the
twilight zone between white and black Salisbury. Hardly anyone outside
Rhodesia had heard of it then. Eight months later it was one of the most
discussed news- papers in the world. In July the circulation manager, George
Lamberis, would come into my office most days waving his arms and shouting:
‘Mr Watson, we are sold out.’ You bloody fool, I thought, no paper should
ever sell out. In the last week of July the circulation touched 20 000. We
were elated, and worried; elated because unexpected success tastes good;
worried because terrorism in African townships was getting out of control.
On August 26 The African Daily News was banned by the Rhodesian Front
government." The back cover of the book from which I extracted this
quotation has a picture of protestors with the following caption: "Judy Todd
protesting with others against the banning of The Daily News." That was
then.

Sixteen years later the repressive Rhodesian Front regime had been removed
from power through a violent uprising of the majority. Nathan Shamuyarira,
founding editor of The African Daily News, now secretary for information of
the party that led the armed struggle, which led to the removal of that
repressive regime had this to say about the state of affairs: "Even the
limited freedom of expression accorded to the media during the colonial
period in Zimbabwe came to an end with the advent of a Rhodesian Front
regime … Thus was the situation inherited by the new Zimbabwean government
in April 1980. Obviously, this kind of orientation could not be accommodated
in a free and independent Zimbabwe." How soon we forget. I was seven years
old when Shamuyarira penned these words, so I might be forgiven for not
knowing what this bloody struggle was all about. And so it was with a great
sense of irony that I found myself in the agonizing position last week of
having to give "Judy" Todd, now shareholder of The Daily News, an account of
why The Daily News can no longer be published in a "free" and independent
Zimbabwe today.

As I understand it, there is now a law - the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, Chapter 10:27 - that decrees that no Zimbabwean
shall publish a newspaper without seeking the approval of the Media and
Information Commission. To obtain approval, the aspiring publisher must
submit details of his or her political affiliations, the source of financial
resources, other business interests, his address, educational
qualifications, his previous experience with the newspaper business and his
cellphone number (if he is a journalist), among other things. The commission
can then decide whether or not the submitted details qualify the aspirant to
publish. In the case of aspirant Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ),
the commission found that even though we had three years experience of
producing the nation’s best-selling newspaper, we did not qualify to
continue to serve the people of Zimbabwe. This decision now awaits the
hearing of our appeal. Till then we have no right to publish The Daily News.
How did we get here?

I was advised by colleagues that there was another law - The Constitution of
Zimbabwe which in Section 18 (1) reads as follows: "Except with his own
consent or by way of parental discipline, no person shall be hindered in the
enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that is to say, freedom to hold
opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without
interference, and freedom from interference with his correspondence." This
same law also reads in Section 3 that: "This Constitution is the supreme law
of Zimbabwe and if any other law is inconsistent with this Constitution that
other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void." This same law
also reads in another part: "If any person alleges that the Declaration of
Rights has been, is being or is likely to be contravened in relation to him
(or, in the case of a person who is detained, if any other person alleges
such a contravention in relation to the detained person), then, without
prejudice to any other action with respect to the same matter which is
lawfully available, that person (or that other person) may ... apply to the
Supreme Court for redress." This seemed simple enough to me. And so, after
extensive discussions with lawyer colleagues, it was agreed that the ANZ
would approach the Supreme Court to seek redress, on the basis that the
Access to Information and Protection of Act hindered the exercise of our
right to freedom of expression. Those who have followed the story of The
Daily News since then will know by now that The Daily News still awaits
redress from the Supreme Court on this matter, but in the meantime the
supremacy of the Act prevails. As of September 19 The Daily News no longer
enjoys its freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. And more than that, 942
323 readers of The Daily News no longer enjoy the right to receive or impart
information through The Daily News.

I have spent hours searching for a justification for this draconian law. In
his opposing affidavit in the constitutional challenge to the Act launched
by The Daily News in January, Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo shed
some light on the intention underlying the Act. "This publication, among
others, presents clear testimony to the threat Zimbabwe’s sovereignty faces.
The government is obliged to defend this sovereignty. Necessarily there is
an obligation on the part of government to weed out subversion whenever it
masquerades as ‘free press’," he says. My understanding of constitutional
law from my days at the University of Zimbabwe was that not all law enacted
by Parliament is good law. It was with this insight that those freedom
fighters who represented Zimbabweans’ interests at the Lancaster House talks
extracted a guarantee that all laws of Zimbabwe from that day on (1980)
would not infringe the fundamental rights they had fought for. I surmise
that the reason they might have sought this guarantee is that these freedom
fighters had wasted much of their youth in the struggle to overturn a regime
that had used the law to suppress their freedoms. A regime that had used the
now obsolete version of our own Public Order and Security Act, the Emergency
Powers and the Law and Order Maintenance Act to stifle all political
dissent. But history tells that such laws will be resisted by the people.
History tells that such laws are bad laws that hold no legitimacy in a
democratic society. The historical account of the Rhodesian Front’s
violations of rights of the majority of the Rhodesian populace to freedoms
of expression are well documented in a book by Elaine Windrich, The Mass
Media in the Struggle for Zimbabwe. The parallels between this and that
regime are uncanny. In my view, this law is unjust. It has no place in a
democratic society. And I believe that in time a higher law that protects
the fundamental rights of Zimbabweans will reign supreme and The Daily News
will be returned to the people of Zimbabwe.

Last week one of my reporters, seeing about 10 police officers swarming
around our newsroom, commented wryly: "You would think we were hiding
weapons of mass destruction, the way they barged in and scared the hell out
of everyone." He didn’t seem frightened though, even as the detective in
charge harangued Sam Nkomo, the CEO of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe
(ANZ), publishers of the only independent daily newspaper in Zimbabwe, The
Daily News, and its recently launched sister publication, The Daily News on
Sunday. "I shall arrest you!" the detective shouted at Nkomo, a
slightly-built 60-year-old who had performed his fair share of national duty
during the struggle for independence. ANZ had just been told by the Supreme
Court that before it could challenge the constitutionality of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, it had to register with the Media
and Information Commission, the lynchpin of a law described by commentators,
journalists and human rights activists as evil, draconian and
anti-democratic. The effect of the ruling was to unleash the police on the
premises of the publishing company. They were there to collect the computers
and any other equipment used to produce the newspapers "unlawfully". Later I
asked Nkomo, who had spent time in Zambia during the struggle, whether he
had met President Thabo Mbeki, who had been in that country at the same
time. No, he said, he had not.

My question was pertinent in that most of what was happening to ANZ was a
result of the "quiet diplomacy" launched by Mbeki to help the people of
Zimbabwe find real meaning in their hard-fought independence. Quiet
diplomacy had emboldened Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to conduct the
affairs of his nation with a palpably outrageous disregard for the niceties
of the rule of law, consensus, or even any pretence that the people’s
opinions mattered. Later, in the high court, Justice Yunus Omerjee, hearing
ANZ’s challenge to the uncouth police action, was acerbic in his questioning
of the hapless prosecutor assigned to handle the government’s case. "What
does that mean?" he asked her after she read a passage from the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, trying to bolster the prosecution
case. At one time, the courtroom burst into raucous laughter when the
prosecutor said the police had acted because they were afraid the newspaper
company would hide computers. Omerjee granted the ANZ application with an
emphatic reference to the lawlessness of the police action.

But since 2000, when the wheels started coming off the experimental vehicle
that Mugabe’s Zanu PF ruling party hoped to bamboozle the rest of the world
into believing was heading for democracy, the rule of law has been virtually
moribund in Zimbabwe. This was just one episode during the turbulent
four-year existence of The Daily News. Long before its printing press in
Harare was bombed in 2001, a junior reporter got the fright of his life when
Mugabe asked him: "Who is funding your newspaper?" Before the bombing, key
Zanu PF personnel, including Jonathan Moyo, the architect of the obnoxious
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, had warned that it was
time something was done about The Daily News, then under the editorship of
Geoff Nyarota. To this day, there have been no arrests for the bombing.

Mbeki has virtually endorsed the two elections others have condemned as
grievously flawed - the parliamentary elections in 2000 and last year’s
presidential elections. To challenges to take a more principled and tough
stance against Mugabe, Mbeki has said the people of Zimbabwe must be allowed
to sort out their own mess. He has also pleaded for a chance to apply his
quiet diplomacy, which many Zimbabweans now believe to be responsible for
Mugabe’s mounting arrogance. Mugabe’s refusal to countenance any resumption
of dialogue with the Movement for Democratic Change has been cited as
another product of Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy. If the actions against ANZ and
its newspapers result in their demise, it will be on Mbeki’s head. Quiet
diplomacy will have helped a ruling party alleged to have staged one of the
biggest election frauds in history to silence its fiercest domestic critic.
It may leave most Zimbabweans with little option but to wage their own
struggle against quiet diplomacy.