Speaking at the U.N. summit in New York, Mugabe claimed his government are unable to meet Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty because of 'illegal' sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and European Union.
Speaking at the U.N. summit in New York, Mugabe claimed his government are unable to meet Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty because of 'illegal' sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and European Union.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
by Irene
Madongo
21 September 2010
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has condemned
the police for barring their 83
arrested members from receiving food and for
holding them in filthy cells
for a second night. There is also concern for
the condition for one of their
members' who the organisation says was
seriously assaulted in police
custody.
The activists from WOZA were
arrested at the end of a march to Parliament
buildings in Harare, to mark
International Peace Day on Monday. Police
rounded up people as they were
dispersing, following the peaceful march by
over 600 of their members, who
included men. The aim of the protest was to
highlight community safety
issues and police behavior in communities.
After initial talk of charging
them with public disorder, the group are now
to be charged with obstructing
traffic. Police had tried to make the group
pay admission of guilt fines,
but they refused, insisting on being taken to
court. It is hoped that they
will be taken to court Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday Jenni Williams,
founder of WOZA, said: "Our support team were
attempting to feed our 83
colleagues because there is no food in the cells.
They were denied the right
to take the food in at lunch time today. They
were told we are not allowed
to take the food unless a lawyer is present,
which is not within standard
operating procedures. We are seeing this as
another delaying
tactic."
WOZA also said a Men of Zimbabwe Arise member, Lazarus Mandondo,
was
severely beaten with baton sticks by police officers during a routine
counting exercise last night. It is unclear why he was beaten but there is
some concern for his welfare as apparently the beating was severe and
witnessed by all detainees.
W illiams said the ill-treatment of their
members further highlights how the
police continue to violate all standard
operating procedures. She said
Police Commissioner Chihuri has ignored their
request for a meeting and she
appealed to co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa
Makone to take action.
On Monday Makone claimed ZANU PF was 'virtually
holding the Zimbabwe
Republic Police captive,' in response to weekend
reports that police did
nothing to stop ZANU PF supporters from the violence
that disrupted outreach
meetings in Harare. Makone excused the police by
saying that they were just
as paralysed as most victims of political
violence.
On Tuesday 1,200 members of WOZA marked International Peace Day
with a
peaceful protest to Southampton House in Bulawayo in the morning. The
aim of
the protest was to hand over a set of demands to the Police
Commissioner and
the co-Ministers of Home Affairs.
Other groups in
Bulawayo also marked International Peace Day on Tuesday.
Zimrights, Habbakuk
Trust and the Zimbabwe Victims of Organised Violence
(ZIVOV) arranged a
march from Bulawayo City Hall.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Lionel
Saungweme said a group of about 50
people heard victims of the organised
violence in 2002 recount their
ordeals. Those who spoke included Themba
Ndlovu, who was ambushed by ZANU PF
thugs at his home and badly beaten, and
Sidumiso Moyo, whose house was burnt
by ZANU PF thugs.
Saungweme said
a former Green Bomber also spoke at the event. "He said he
wanted to thank
God, because God had changed his heart. He said at the
training he got at
the national military camps (run by ZANU PF) he was
taught to hate and he
prided himself in violence," Saungweme said.
Saungweme added that the
National Healing Organ was invited to the march but
did not attend, saying
they were too busy with their work elsewhere.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance
Guma
21 September 2010
Two students from the Bindura University are
said to have died after being
brutally assaulted last Friday, by security
guards determined to stop those
who had not paid their tuition fees from
attending a graduation ceremony.
Two weeks after Higher Education
Minister Stan Mudenge said no student
should be barred from sitting exams,
harassed or victimized, for failing to
pay fees, Brian Chirume and another
as yet unnamed student lost their lives
because they tried attending a
graduation ceremony without having paid their
tuition fees.
According to
Kudakwashe Chakabva, the spokesperson of a faction of the
Zimbabwe National
Students Union (ZINASU), 16 other students were seriously
injured when the
college security guards went on a rampage trying to bar a
significant number
of students from graduating, because they had not fully
paid up their
tuition.
Chakabva told SW Radio Africa the college security guards were
assisted in
the indiscriminate assaults 'by reinforcements of unknown
assailants' who
beat anyone within reach and 'it is from injuries of this
brutality that the
two students were killed and sixteen more injured,' he
said. The union is
still piecing together the full details of what happened
in Bindura last
Friday.
'It is not the first time Bindura University
has witnessed such barbaric
conduct by the security details. In 2006 police
descended with the same
vigour after an explosion at the faculty of commerce
department and a group
of AK47 wielding riot police took siege of the
university campus,' Chakabva
said.
The incident at Bindura University has
re-ignited memories from 2001when
University of Zimbabwe student Batanai
Hadzidzi was murdered in cold blood,
by rogue riot police units who battered
him to death in his room following a
demonstration there.
'ZINASU
joins the families of the lost comrades in mourning and calls for
the rest
of the country to join hands in condemning this vile act. It is our
belief
that barbarism can and shall not freely subjugate the right to life.
We
therefore call upon the Tsvangirai-Mugabe led government to establish an
inquest into this horrendous event. We demand that justice be employed and
those responsible be exposed and brought to book.'
ZINASU also had a
dig at co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone. 'Instead
of following
criminals to police cells, we invite Theresa Makone's
ministerial leadership
in pursuit of justice.' The statement was an apparent
reference to Makone's
recent visit to police stations in Harare, allegedly
to try and free the
arrested son of ZANU PF Minister for Presidential
Affairs, Didymus Mutasa.
http://www.sabcnews.com
September 21 2010 ,
6:48:00
Billionaire Richard Branson urged people yesterday to invest in
Zimbabwe,
saying the world was wrong to wait instead of helping the
politically
volatile, impoverished southern African nation revive
itself.
Virgin Unite, the philanthropic arm of Branson's Virgin Group,
has helped
create Enterprise Zimbabwe, a nonprofit group connecting
philanthropists and
commercial investors with business and social
development opportunities.
Zimbabwe has struggled to attract foreign aid
and investment because of
President Robert Mugabe's policies, which include
a plan for local blacks to
acquire 51% shares in foreign-owned firms,
including mines and banks.
Talks to improve Zimbabwe's ties with the
European Union have stalled over
slow political reforms in Harare while US
President Barack Obama said last
month he was 'heartbroken' by Zimbabwe's
decline.
"Zimbabwe is a magnificent country that has had a really rough
few years and
either the world can continue to wait and see and not invest
... or the
world can help Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the coalition
government
get Zimbabwe back on its feet," Branson told reporters in an
interview.
Zimbabwe struggles
"The idea of Enterprise Zimbabwe is
to have a sort of safe haven for people
to invest through," said Branson,
whom Forbes magazine estimates is worth $4
billion.
Zimbabwe's
once-vibrant economy has been shattered by Mugabe's policies,
particularly
the seizure of white-owned farms for the resettlement of
landless blacks.
Mugagbe has been in power since the country's independence
from Britain in
1980.
A unity government by Mugabe and his political rival Tsvangirai
appears to
have halted the economy's decade-long free-fall, but the country
is
struggling to restore productivity, feed its people and repair its ruined
infrastructure. Unemployment is estimated at over 90%.
About 85% of
Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people live on less than a $1 a day and
annual per
capita income is less than $400. - Reuters
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
21
September
ZANU PF has lashed out at attempts by a British billionaire to
encourage
foreign investment in Zimbabwe, saying they will not tolerate
"backdoor
entry by 'vultures' disguised as angels."
Billionaire
Richard Branson, who heads the Virgin business group, has urged
international investment in Zimbabwe, saying on Monday that the world was
wrong to wait, instead of helping the country revive itself.
Virgin
Unite, the philanthropic arm of Branson's Virgin Group, has helped
create
Enterprise Zimbabwe, a non-profit group aimed at connecting
philanthropists
and commercial investors with different opportunities in
Zimbabwe. Branson
said ,that the idea is to provide a 'safe haven' for
people to invest
through.
"In life, people have got to take risks. If everybody waits on
the sidelines
it will be the people who suffer," said Branson. "The present
state of
politics in Zimbabwe is by no means perfect, but it's a great deal
better."
"Zimbabwe, of all the African countries, it's got the best chance of
getting
back ... it just needs a bit of help being kick-started," he
said.
ZANU PF however sees Branson's intentions as a late attempt to take
advantage of Zimbabwe's resources. Tendai Midzi, the son of a ZANU PF
chairman, wrote on Tuesday that Branson is attempting to counter "the power
of China. Zimbabwe does not need investments disguised as 'philanthropic
work' now," Midzi wrote "The international community has now realised that
this jewel we call Zimbabwe, having discovered the largest deposit of
diamonds, in now able to lift itself out of the poverty that the West helped
create in the first place."
Details about how Branson's investment
'safe-haven' will be created have not
been clarified and there are doubts
that it can be achieved. Robert Mugabe
has insisted that the controversial
business indigenisation programme will
go ahead, which will see foreign
companies in the country forced to hand
over 51% of their shares to
pre-selected Zimbabweans.
At the same time, the illegal seizures of
commercial land have continued,
despite most properties being protected by
court orders. Many farms are also
meant to be protected by Bilateral
Investment Protection and Promotion
Agreements (BIPPA's) signed between
Zimbabwe and other countries. But these
are also being completely ignored,
allowing Mugabe's loyalists to seize as
much land as possible.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
21
September 2010
ZBC Chief News correspondent, Reuben Barwe, was granted a
visa on Tuesday to
travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New
York. This is despite a
report in the state owned Herald newspaper claiming
Barwe and CIO boss
Happyton Bonyongwe had been denied visas by the US
embassy in Harare, when
they were due to travel with Mugabe to the UN
summit.
On Tuesday SW Radio Africa spoke to Sharon Hudson-Dean, a
spokesperson at
the US embassy in Harare, who told us; 'They were not denied
visas and in
fact, as of today the 21st September, both of them have their
visas. Mr.
Bonyongwe's visa was issued on Friday 17th September as part of
the official
delegation. Mr. Barwe's visa was issued
today.'
Hudson-Dean said; 'Their visas did take some time for
administrative
processing because of the number of visa applications (80
people) from
Zimbabwe for the UN General Assembly. We were not able to
complete all of
the processing immediately. Barwe's visa took a bit longer
because he is not
part of the official delegation, but he did receive it
today.'
So why did the Herald newspaper report that Mugabe's regime had
made a
formal complaint to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, alleging the
denial of
the visas was a violation of international law by the US? The
paper also
said this was the 'second successive year that members of the
President's
delegation to the UN have been denied visas by the US embassy,
following the
denial of a visa to Herald Deputy Editor Caesar Zvayi and
Retired
Major-General Bonyongwe last year.'
'I think it is
unfortunate that nobody called us or called me before the
story ran. We
would have been very happy to try and explain the situation.'
Hudson-Dean
said the visas take a longer time to process because travel by
certain
Zimbabweans who are on targeted travel restrictions is vetted by
multiple
agencies in the United States before the embassy is given the green
light.
'That is what happened in Barwe's case, the administrative process
took
longer.'
But why is the US government giving visa's to members of the
Mugabe regime
who it placed under targeted travel and financial
restrictions? Hudson-Dean
said despite a presidential proclamation from the
US restricting certain
government officials from traveling this 'also
contains an exception to
permit the US to meet its international legal
obligations such as those
under the United Nations headquarters agreement.'
Because the UN
headquarters are in the US, they are obliged as the host
country to issue
the visas.
NB: The full interview with the US Embassy
spokesperson in Harare Sharon
Hudson-Dean can be heard on our Behind the
Headlines programme this
Thursday. Lance asks her if there is any point to
the targeted travel
restrictions if there are to be exceptions like travel
to the UN?
http://www.iol.co.za
September 21 2010 at 08:14AM
By Basildon
Peta
Mercury Foreign Service
Roy Bennett, the Zimbabwean opposition
politician who has been persecuted by
President Robert Mugabe's regime, is
in trouble again.
Police have raided Bennett's home in Harare three times
over the past two
weeks and indicated that they wanted to arrest him on
unspecified charges.
But Bennett, who has not been seen in public in the
past couple of months,
is believed to be outside Zimbabwe for medical
reasons.
Efforts to get comment from the Zimbabwe Republic Police on why
its officers
were hunting down Bennett have been fruitless.
Bennett's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) yesterday slammed the visits
to
Bennett's home, saying it was worrying that police would not say why they
wanted to arrest him.
"But it is obvious that the intention to arrest
Senator Bennett is a
malicious plot hatched by certain rogue elements in
Zanu-PF, including
disgraced attorney-general Johannes Tomana, who are
against the swearing-in
of Senator Bennett as deputy agriculture minister
two years after the
signing of the Global Political Agreement," it
said.
Bennett was recently acquitted of treason and terrorism charges
over
allegations that he had hoarded arms to assassinate Robert Mugabe. But
Mugabe still refused to swear him into government.
Bennett was jailed
for almost a year over a scuffle with Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa
during a parliamentary debate in which Chinamasa branded
Bennett's white
ancestors as "thieves", "rapists" and "looters".
After his release,
Bennett went into exile as the police hunted him down
over the allegations
of hoarding arms to kill Mugabe.
After a near three-year exile, Bennett
returned to Zimbabwe on the strength
of South African government promises
that he would not be arrested again in
the wake of the signing of the
agreement in September 2008.
But he was arrested. After a long trial,
Judge Chinembiri Bhunu acquitted
him, having found that the state had no
case against him.
* This article was originally published on
page 2 of The Mercury on
September 21, 2010
http://news.radiovop.com/
21/09/2010
11:01:00
Harare, September 21, 2010 - Constitutional Parliamentary
Select Committee
(COPAC) co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora has declared null
and void meetings
held on Monday in some parts of Harare to solicit people's
views for
Zimbabwe's new constitution.
Some COPAC members convened
meetings at St Peters, Stodart Hall, Mai Musodzi
Hall, Netball Grounds all
in Mbare and at Moth Hall in Braeside.
But Mwonzora said such meetings
were immaterial because COPAC officials had
been informed not to proceed
with the meetings.
"They (meetings) are a nullity. They are irrelevant
because we send the
COPAC teams word but they didn't listen," said
Mwonzora.
The Movement for Democratic Change legislator said the COPAC
officials could
have proceeded with the meetings in order to reward some of
the people who
were ferried by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) PF party
to participate
and dilute urbanites views at venues where they do not
reside.
"You must appreciate that some people were bused," said
Mwonzora.
The COPAC co-chairperson said the management committee COPAC
resolved on
Monday to suspend all constitution outreach meetings for Harare
after
violence and chaos marred the exercise in the capital city and in
Chitungwiza over the weekend.
Mwonzora said all meetings in Harare
had been suspended pending the outcome
of a probe into the violence that
marred the weekend meetings where several
people were assaulted while others
were turned away from the meetings by
supporters loyal to President Robert
Mugabe. The management committee,
Mwonzora said, demanded a report of
detailing incidents of violence.
"They want to nullify the centres where
violence took place," said Mwonzora.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
21 September, 2010
03:30:00 by Alice Chimora
Zimbabwe police and the dreaded Central
Intelligence Organization have
declared war on each other after a round of
fatal shootings over the weekend
left at least two high ranking security
agents dead and many others wounded
The agents gunned down each other in
the southern part of the country,
Bulawayo in two separate incidents in a
space of 24 hours sparking a tense
stand-off.
CIO and senior bosses
at the secret service outfit were demanding
explanations after one of the
dead CIO members was identified as a bodyguard
of Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi.
The tragic incident came amid a heightened state of alert
by the police
after a senior police officer was killed and a detective and
four members of
the public wounded early Saturday morning.
On Monday,
police boss Augustine Chihuri reiterated the police's
"shoot-to-kill" policy
during a funeral service organized for the dead
senior police officer, Chief
Superintendent Lawrence Chatikobo.
He said he was so angry at the murder
that he was praying that the criminals'
lives would be cut short.
"I
even appeal to God and my prayer is: 'Lord, may you shorten the lives of
these criminals'," but people at the service said he directed the message to
the CIO.
"Let me warn people who harbour criminals that the long arm
of the law will
catch up with them," Chihuri said.
However, citizens
say Cheshire's comments are misplaced as countless
innocent civilians have
been gunned down by police who later claim that the
dead were "victims of
mistaken identity".
One of the witnesses of Saturday's shooting said:
"Mohadi's bodyguard
followed the instruction together with everyone else,
but they (police) shot
him while he was trying to explain who he
was."
CIO sources say their dead colleague was shot at point-blank range
and this
has angered the intelligence department who have expressed their
dismay with
the conduct of the officers who are suspected to be from the
homicide
section.
"There is a feeling that police should have
exercised caution in this case,"
said the intelligence
source.
However, those inside the CID homicide section argued that while
it was
regrettable that the shooting had resulted in the death of a member
of the
security forces, the lives of the officers who shot at the operative
were
also at risk. - Afrik News
http://news.radiovop.com
21/09/2010
18:25:00
Harare, September 21, 2010 - A full Supreme Court bench has
reserved
judgement in a matter in which Independent Tsholotsho MP Jonathan
Moyo and
three others are challenging the election of Movement for
Democratic Change
chairman Lovemore Moyo to the post of Speaker of
Parliament in 2008.
Professor Moyo appealed to the Supreme Court his
application was thrown out
by High Court Judge Justice Bharak Patel in March
this year saying it lacked
merit and failed to establish any justification
to nullify the election.
The full bench comprising Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, his deputy,
Luke Malaba, as well as Justices Wilson Sandura,
Vernada Ziyambi and
Paddington Garwe heard oral submissions from Professor
Moyo's lawyer
Terrence Hussein as well as those from the respondents Clerk
of Parliament
Austin Zvoma and Speaker Moyo who is cited as the
second
respondent.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku said the bench would need time to
go through the
papers and the submissions made in court and "the therefore
the judgement is
accordingly reserved".
Zvoma was represented by
Choice Damisa, counsel to Parliament while the
Speaker was represented by
South African constitutional lawyer Mathew
Chaskalson who was being
instructed by Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook.
Lawyer Hussein told the
bench that Justice Patel had erred in finding that a
proper election for the
speaker of Parliament had been conducted in terms of
the
constitution.
He said the election should have been held by a secret
ballot but the clerk
of parliament failed to stop the election after some
MPs openly displayed
who they had voted for in the election that was
contested by the current
speaker Moyo and former MP Paul Themba Nyathi in a
clear violation of the
constitution.
"There was no compliance in
terms of the constitution. The misbehaviour by
the named MPs tainted the
whole election," argued Hussein.
"The judge erred in finding that the
participants' exposure of their
completed ballot papers was not a violation
of the secret ballot," Hussein
said.
"He also erred in finding that a
secret ballot took place. The judge erred
in interpretation section 39 (2)
of the constitution as read with ordinance
6 of the house of assembly
standing orders as directory and not peremptory
(he interpreted the
constitution and law as if it
gave him discretion when in fact it does not
give him discretion).
Wherefore appellant will pray that the appeal to be
allowed on any one or
more or all of the grounds of the appeal and that the
decision of learned
Judge Patel can be set aside."
However Damisa on
belhalf of the Clerk of Parliament said there was nothing
wrong done by
Zvoma since he had provided an environment that allowed for
the holding of
an election by secret ballot.
"There were no elections irregularities of
high magnitude that can warrant
the nullification of the whole process.
Trivial deviations should not lead
to the setting aside of an election. The
said deviations are only a mere
irregularity but they do not amount failure
of holding a secret ballot as
enshrined in the constitution," said
Damisa.
Chaskalson on behalf of the Speaker described Professor Moyo's
actions as
opportunism only found individual who would have lost an
election.
He said the right to the secret of the ballot lied with the
voters
themselves and not the presiding officer.
"There is no MP out
there who can openly say that my ballot had been
compromised by the display
by the six members. The role of the presiding
officer and in the case the
first respondent was to provide an enabling
environment for the attainment
of the secret ballot. Rights to a secret
ballot vest in the individual
voter," said Chaskalson.
He said the four MPs who are challenging the
election should have raised
their objections with the Clerk of Parliament
before seeking the court's
intervention.
"The affected MPs should
have used internal remedies to resolve disputes.
Jonathan Moyo as an
election agent for Paul Themba Nyathi had the greatest
opportunity to raise
objections if there were any serious irregularities to
warrant
nullification," said Chaskalson.
He mentioned the principles of the
separation of powers between the two arms
of government that is the
legislature and the judiciary and therefore the
application should not be
allowed.
http://www.bloomberg.com
By Brian
Latham - Sep 22, 2010 2:39 AM GMT+1000
Zimbabwe's government has
proposed a regulation requiring the three diamond
miners operating in the
country to sell 10 percent of their gems to local
processors and
polishers.
"We are now looking at the modalities of implementing the new
regulation,"
Secretary for Mines Thankful Musukutwa said today in a
telephone interview
from the capital, Harare.
Closely held River
Ranch (Private) Ltd. digs the gems near Beit Bridge in
southern Zimbabwe.
Murowa Diamonds in Zvishavane, also in the south, is
owned by Rio Tinto Plc
and RioZim Ltd. A third deposit in the eastern
Marange fields is mined by
Mbada Mines (Private) Ltd. and Canadile Miners
(Private) Ltd. in joint
ventures with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corp.
All
stones cut and polished in Zimbabwe will have to be certified by the
Kimberley Process, Musukutwa said. Six licenses have been awarded to
Zimbabwean cutters and polishers for a $20,000 fee, the mines secretary
said.
The Kimberley Process is an initiative by governments, industry
and
civil-society groups to certify diamonds as "conflict-free," according
to
its website. So-called conflict diamonds are rough gems that have been
traded by rebel movements to finance wars against governments, including
those in Angola, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra
Leone.
New York-based Human Rights Watch alleged in June 2009 that
Zimbabwe's
military may have killed as many as 200 informal miners working
at Marange.
The campaign group had called for a ban on Marange diamonds
unless Zimbabwe
adheres to Kimberley Process standards.
Diamonds from
the Marange fields were sold at auction with Kimberley Process
certification
for the first time on Aug. 12.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
21 September, 2010
08:25:00 By Energy Bara
MASVINGO - Former Zanu PF Masvingo
provincial spokesman who had a stint with
the Simba Makoni 's Kusile /
Mavambo project retired major Kudzai Mbudzi
claims that he has been
approached by the revived Zimbabwe African People's
Union Zapu led by Dumiso
Dabengwa to take up the vice president's post.
Mbudzi, who broke ranks with
Makoni's Mavambo/Kusile Project following a
misunderstanding over the
alleged abuse of campaign funds by Makoni
yesterday said that although he
was not yet a Zapu member, the party had
approached him to take up the vice
president's post.
Dabengwa was elected president at the party congress
last month but the
post of vice president is still vacant.
"It is
true that the party Zapu has approached me to take up the Post of
vice
president but I am still thinking about it," said Mbudzi.
"I feel the
combination of myself and Dabengwa will click and I have no
problems in
deputising him. He is a good leader and as I said I am not yet
their
member," said Mbudzi.
Although no official comment could be obtained from
Zapu, some sources
confirmed that they were hunting for a candidate for the
post of vice
president.
"We are looking for a vice president and
obviously he should not come from
Matabeleland," said a highly placed source
within Zapu.
"Although I am not aware of the names of people who have
been approached but
the truth is we are hunting for a credible vice
president with a national
appeal," said the source.
Mbudzi was booted
out of Zanu PF after he openly opposed the nomination of
President Robert
Mugabe as the party's presidential candidate ahead of the
2008 elections,
arguing that he is now too old.
Mbudzi, a war veteran, joined Makoni's
Mavambo project and was the
parliamentary candidate for Masvingo West
constituency where he was trounced
by MDC-T's Tachiona Mharadze.
The
outspoken Mbudzi later broke ranks with the Mavambo project accusing
Makoni
of abusing campaign funds.
Makoni has deneied ever abusing the project
funds. He fired Mbudzi from the
project but Mbudzi has approached the courts
challenmging his dismisal from
the project.
Zapu President Dabengwa
also supported Makoni's Mavambo project during the
2008 elections but has
since revived the party (Zapu) which was formerly led
by vice president
Joshua Nkomo.
Dabengwa said he pulled out of Zanu PF over difference in
the leadership
style of Makoni and has said that the unity accord signed
between PF Zapu
and Zanu PF in 1987 no longer exists.
Dabengwa has
also said that all former Zapu cadres who are still working
with Zanu Pf are
doing so on their own volition and therefore are not
representing the
party's interests.
The former party's intelligence supremo Dabengwa has
vowed to challenge
President Robert Mugabe and prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirayi during the
next presidential elections expected to be held next
year. -Daily News
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
21 September 2010
The deputy Mayor of Harare, Emmanuel
Chiroto, on Sunday came face to face
with some of the crazed killers of his
wife, whose gruesome murder in 2008
is yet to be investigated by the
police.
While almost all of Abigail Chiroto’s killers are known to the
police, no
arrests have been yet been made, 27 months after she was found
brutally
murdered on June 18th at a farm near Borrowdale on the outskirts of
Harare.
On the night of June 16th Chiroto’s house in the suburb of
Hatcliffe was
petrol bombed and destroyed by ZANU PF supporters. Abigail,
and his then
four-year-old son Ashley, were taken away by the
attackers.
The assaliants dumped Ashley outside a police station on the
day of
abduction but went on to kill 26 year-old Abigail, whose cold
bloodied
murder was covered extensively by local and international
media.
She was found with a gunshot wound to the head and a deep cut on
her
stomach. A post-mortem report showed she had been savagely assaulted and
her
limbs broken.
It was a political killing that left the intended
target, Emmanuel Chiroto,
grief stricken. But to his horror, the deputy
Mayor came face to face with
four of the killers during disturances that
marred the constitutional
outreach meetings in Hatcliffe on
Sunday.
‘Four of the people who were part of the group that abducted and
later
killed my wife were in a group that disrupted meetings in wards 18 and
42 of
the Harare north constituency. They were so menacing to a point they
even
threatened to finish me up because they couldn’t do so in 2008,’
Chiroto
said.
‘They were armed with iron bars, sticks and stones and
at one time wanted to
smash my car because they could not stomach my
presence at the meeting. But
what struck me most was their audacity to refer
to my wife’s murder and
their boisterious threats to do the same with me,’
he added.
‘I maintained a safe distance from the rowdy ZANU PF crowd but
the four
(killers of his wife) kept charging towards me feigning to whip me
with
their weapons. At this juncture there was a major confrontation between
two
sets of supporters which forced the abandonment of the meetings. To our
surprise two of our MDC officials from the area were arrested by the police
but none from ZANU PF was picked up,’
The two MDC officials are still
locked up in police cells at the Harare
Central police station. They are
expected to appear in court facing trumped
up charges of assaulting police
officers.
Chiroto said even as he made his way to the police to follow up
on the
arrest of their officials, the four thugs briefly trailed him, before
making
a u-turn. He told us the whole episode on Sunday brought back sad
memories
of the madness of the 2008 violence.
‘To think that these
guys would have the nerve to confront and insult me
after what they did to
my wife is pushing their luck. Mhosva hairovi (a
crime does not go away) I
want to believe these guys are well aware of that,
because God is not for
one man but for all of us,’ Chiroto said.
In a related incident a
statement from the MDC said four MDC cadres in Mbare
were arrested after
they had gone to Mbare Police Station to report that
they had been assaulted
by ZANU PF supporters during a COPAC meeting at Mai
Musodzi Hall on
Sunday.
Godfrey Cotton, Edmore Manyofa, Shingi Gorekore and Paul Majarifa
have since
been transferred to Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order
Section
but no charges have been brought against them. The MDC said the four
are
being denied treatment although some of them have injuries that need
urgent
medical treatment.
Meanwhile COPAC teams were on Tuesday
forced to abandon outreach meetings
after ZANU PF supporters, state agents
and soldiers, unleashed terror in
Makoni South constituency, Manicaland
province.
The MDC MP for the area, Pishai Muchauraya, said the
disturbances forced the
cancellation of meetings at 21 centres in the
constituency. He said the well
coordinated disruptions bore the hallmarks of
the military running the
campaign.
‘These disruptions are so
organised that ZANU PF people are getting orders
from the same source. It’s
like 2008 again and most villagers in the
constituency are now scared of
attending these meetings,’ Muchauraya said.
In Bulawayo, 11 outreach
meetings that were abandoned after ZANU PF COAPC
members failed to turn-up,
have been set for 22nd to 28th September.
http://news.radiovop.com
21/09/2010 11:02:00
Chinhoyi, September 21,
2010 - Deputy Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora is
seeking donor funds to
clear raw sewage which continues to be discharged
into Manyame river, the
only source of water for Chinhoyi residents.
Chinhoyi town situated 115
kilometres north-west of Harare is the
Mashonaland West provincial
capital.
Mombeshora told Radio VOP: "Raw sewage is being discharged into
Manyame
river...the local authority has no funding capacity to treat water
for its
residents. It's a health hazard and death trap for us
all."
''I have asked the municipality to draft financial document
requirements on
how much is required to rectify the problem. We can not rely
on council
revenue alone but have to source funding from international
donors'' he
added.
Mombeshora's appeal comes at a time when a Non
Government Organisation in
Zimbabwe, German Action Aid, recently compalined
that Chinhoyi residents
were using aqua tablets meant to purify water as a
detergent to soak their
clothes in.
The NGO's health promotion
officer, Tendai Chinake said a survey conducted
in the town had revealed
that male residents were snubbing awareness
campaigns while women were using
aqua tablets to soak nappies for their
babies. Male residents were using
buckets donated to them for fishing.
The organisation had been forced to
turn their awareness campaigns to
schools and was currently engaging 19 687
school children to teach them on
how cholera is spread, treated and
prevented.
A cholera epidemic killed over 4000 people throughout the
country in 2008
after the health delivery system collapsed due to economic,
political and
social instability.
Chinhoyi town was not spared by the
''man made disaster'' a situation which
prompted German Action Aid to embark
on cholera awarness campaigns in the
area.
Chinhoyi provincial
hospital has been hit hard by water woes forcing
officials to demand water
from patients mostly pregnant women before they
are admitted.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Energy Bara
Tuesday, 21 September
2010 16:14
MASVINGO - Former Zimbabwean Ambassador to Ethiopia and
Botswana, Alois
Makamure Chidoda has attacked President Robert Mugabe for
lacking leadership
skills and accused him of turning Zanu PF into a tribal
party.
Now living in poverty, Chidoda, who was ambassador to Ethiopia
when the
country was under the leadership of dictator Haile Mariam Mengistu
says
Mugabe and Zanu PF have dumped him and other cadres in favour of people
from
his home area who never participated in the struggle.
"I will
never forgive President Robert Mugabe for the bad way he has treated
me.
What is lacking in Zanu PF is good leadership," said Chidoda.
"We want
leaders who follow the footsteps of the likes of Herbert Chitepo
and others
and not the current leadership which is just amassing wealth and
discriminating people on regional lines."
"Mugabe is the worst
culprit since he is only concentrating on developing
his home area Zvimba
and the Zezuru people."
Chitepo was the founding chairman of Zanu-PF and
died in bomb blast in
Zambia in 1975.
Chidoda said he played a very
big role during the liberation struggle by
giving former freedom fighters
resources but the party which he loved most
has abandoned him
The
former diplomat accused Mugabe of selectively helping Zanu PF cadres on
regional and tribal lines.
"Look at the way Mugabe is looking after
Chombo and others - it is amazing,"
said Chidoda.
"I played a bigger
role during the war than Chombo. Mugabe just wants to
dine and wine with the
Zezurus and that is what makes him strong," said
Chidoda.
"I am
living in poverty because the party that I helped has dumped me and I
heap
everything on President Mugabe."
Although no official comment could be
obtained yesterday from Mugabe's
office since he is out of the country, Zanu
PF spokesman for Masvingo
province, Noel Mandebvu dismissed Chidoda's claims
arguing that he was just
acting out of emotions.
"Chidoda had his
time and to say our party has neglected him is very unfair.
He is just
acting out of emotions," said Mandebvu.
Turning to the issue of how the
former Ethiopian strongman Mengistu escaped
to Zimbabwe in 1991, Chidoda
said that the current minister of Defence
Emmerson Mnangagwa had played a
key role.
"I just remember that Minister Mnangagwa came to Ethiopia in
1991 to canvass
for support for Simba Makoni to get a job at the United
Nations," said
Chidoda.
"It was then that Mnangagwa held secret talks
with Mengistu. I did not
attend the meeting but I knew something was going
on. It was after this
meeting that I heard that Mengistu had fled to
Zimbabwe."
However, no official comment could be obtained from Mnangagwa
to verify
Chidoda's claims.
Chidoda has a small farm in the
Mushagashe area of Masvingo.
"I have a small farm which I bought and not
invaded, "said Chidoda.
Chidoda was barred by Zanu-PF from contesting the
Masvingo mayoral post in
1995. He later went to court and lost the
case.
He joined the Mavambo project in 2008 and contested the Masvingo
North
parliamentary seat and lost to Zanu-PF's Stan
Mudenge.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
21 September,
2010 02:55:00 The Star-Telegram
DALLAS, US - Zimbabwean man, a US
based tax consultant Herbert Jena got 15
years in prison and ordered to pay
$485,100 in restitution for defrauding
the Internal Revenue Service and
obstructing justice, the U.S. attorney's
office in Dallas said
Friday.
Jena, 33, of Zimbabwe, operated Jackson Hubbert Tax Services --
not to be
confused with Jackson Hewitt, although that might have been the
point -- at
Fort Worth's La Gran Plaza on West Seminary Drive and a similar
business
called Montford in Dallas.
For a while, the immigrant
entrepreneur did well, raking in at least
$500,000 for himself, the feds
say. That was until he got caught. And Jena
didn't help himself by violating
his pretrial arrangements. He has been
detained since 2008.
The
prosecutors alleged that Jena told employees to make up tax-credit
claims
and refunds that resulted in more than $2.7 million paid out by the
IRS to
774 people.
Co-defendants Aurora Perez and Nancy Munoz, both of Irving,
pleaded guilty
three years ago to a conspiracy charge and testified against
Jena; they have
not been sentenced. star-telegram
WOMEN’S WATCH
[20th September 2010]
Human Trafficking – A Women’s Issue
Women comprise at least 56% of the world’s trafficking victims. The
feminisation of poverty and the feminisation of migration mean that women from
poorer and developing countries are particularly vulnerable and the proportion
of women trafficked is higher in these countries. Human trafficking is the
fastest growing criminal industry in the world, and ties with the illegal arms
industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade.
There are more people being bought and sold at this moment than in
the entire 300 year history of the Atlantic Slave
Trade
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is modern day slavery. Its victims are men, women
and children in search of better prospects in life. Lured with promises of
better jobs or education, they often end up in prostitution or forced
labour.
Definition: “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt
of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,
of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve
the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of
exploitation." Note: The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to
the intended exploitation shall be irrelevant. Trafficking is not necessarily
cross border – it can take place within a country.
Two major forms of trafficking in this region are:
·
sexual exploitation
·
forced labour
Statistics: 12.3 million adults and children in forced prostitution and or forced labour or bonded labour around
the world. [Taken from the USA Department of State Trafficking in Persons
Report, 10th Edition, 2010]
Zimbabwe
The above-cited report describes Zimbabwe as a country of origin,
transit and destination for men, women and children subjected to trade in
persons. “[The government] has provided anti-trafficking training to some
public servants but officials make no apparent effort to proactively identify
victims of trafficking. Some members of government security services forced men
and boys to perform hard labour in the diamond fields.” According to the
report Zimbabwe did not record or release information on the numbers of
trafficking investigations or prosecutions, or convictions over the past year.
Public awareness seems sparse. The media does not seem to view it as a serious
threat in Zimbabwe, hence it has received very little
coverage.
An activist in children’s rights told Women’s Watch that: “Until
it happens to someone you know, human trafficking is something we never think
of. We fight for children’s rights to education, health and shelter among other
things but we have honestly never dwelled on the threat of human trafficking.
There is no readily available information on it. If one is privileged enough to
have access to the Internet then one has chances of stumbling onto information
about trafficking in persons. We need more information and we need to know if
there are any hotlines one can call if they feel they are in danger of being
trafficked or if one is aware of a trafficking
syndicate.”
UN Takes up The Fight Against Human
Trafficking
Ten years ago the United Nations negotiated the international
standards against trafficking in persons. Since then, some countries that
denied the existence of trade in humans now work to help eradicate
it
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime: This was adopted by General Assembly resolution on 15 November
2000, and is the main international instrument in the fight against
transnational organized crime. It entered into force on 29 September 2003.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
especially Women and Children: This protocol to the Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime was adopted by the General Assembly and entered into force on 25 December
2003. It is the first global legally binding instrument with an agreed
definition of trafficking in persons. The intention behind this definition is
to facilitate convergence in national approaches with regard to the
establishment of domestic criminal offences that would support efficient
international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting trafficking in
persons cases. An additional objective of the Protocol is to protect and assist
the victims of trafficking in persons with full respect for their human
rights.
The United Nations Global Initiative to
Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) mobilizes State and non- State actors to eradicate human trafficking by a
three-pronged approach of prevention, protection and
prosecution:
·
reducing both the vulnerability of potential victims and the
demand for exploitation in all its forms;
·
ensuring adequate protection and support to those who do fall victim;
and
·
supporting the efficient prosecution of the criminals
involved.
What Can be Done in Zimbabwe
1. Zimbabwe needs to sign and ratify the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children
2. Pass legislation to outlaw human trafficking
3. Have a clear policy on human trafficking:
·
ensure statistics are kept
·
raise awareness
·
take urgent steps to prevent it
·
provide for the prosecution of traffickers
·
rescue those who have been trafficked
Proposed Legislation against Human Trafficking in the
Pipeline
The Zimbabwe Government is working on a Bill on human trafficking,
but the draft is not yet available. Women’s Watch will circulate it as soon as
it is available. It is important that the proposed Bill addresses the issue of
minimum standards required to eradicate trade in humans.
Note: Zambia has an anti-trafficking law, a Cabinet approved Plan of
Action and an inter-ministerial anti-trafficking
committee.
UN
Minimum Standards for Governments
·
The government of the country should prohibit severe forms of
trafficking in persons and punish such acts.
·
For the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking involving
force, fraud, coercion, or in which the victim is a child incapable of giving
meaningful consent, or of trafficking which includes rape or kidnapping or which
causes a death, the government of the country should prescribe punishment
commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual
assault.
·
For the knowing commission of any act of a severe form of trafficking
in persons, the government of the country should prescribe punishment that is
sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects the heinous nature
of the offence.
·
The government of the country should make serious and sustained
efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in
persons.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied.