http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, September 25, 2011 -
South African president, Jacob Zuma is
abandoning his predecessor, President
Thabo Mbeki’s infamous ‘quiet
diplomacy’ on Zimbabwe as he believes the
impasse has gone on for too long.
Zimbabwe’s governing partners, two
years after signing the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) that seeks to
arrest the country’s social, political and
economic woes have failed to
implement the agreement in full.
Former ruling party Zanu-PF
blames its rivals insincerity in calling off
‘illegal sanctions’ while the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
formations accuse the octogenarian
leader of sponsoring part militias to
perpetrate violence in the
countryside.
Addressing the Sapes Trust Dialogue, South Africa
ambassador to Zimbabwe
Vusi Mavimbela Zuma had made it clear that he would
be approaching the
Zimbabwe issue with a more hands on
approach.
“He has been busy, on diplomatic meetings ahead of the
United Nations
Summit, but after that he will concentrate on the Zimbabwe
issue,” he said.
Mavimbela said the summit would prove the most
definitive on the Zimbabwe
issue and was surprised that the media had missed
it.
The South African ambassador said Zuma had told the Angola
summit that there
was need for him to engage more, signalling regional
fatigue on the
seemingly unending Zimbabwe crisis.
“In his
report to the Sadc summit Zuma said [he] shall arrange an interface
programme with the political principals and how best we can expedite the
full implementation of the GPA and help create conditions for a smooth
election in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Zuma is reported to have said
there was goodwill among the principals to end
the impasse, but there was
need for them to be given a nudge in the right
direction.
The
ambassador said Zuma hoped the interface meetings would generate
momentum
among the parties to the GPA to end the years-long
stalemate.
Mavimbela said Sadc now needed closure on Zimbabwe and
this was evidenced by
Angolan leader, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who was
critical about lack of
democratic space and
violence.
Mbeki was viewed as Mugabe sympathiser that
analysts say informed his soft-
soft approach on Zimbabwe’s decade long
crisis.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JAMA MAJOLA | 25 September, 2011 03:52
The
constitution -making process in Zimbabwe is in disarray as thematic
committees capturing data in narrative forms were locked in heated arguments
this week on how to do it and what guidelines to use.
The situation
throws President Robert Mugabe's election plans further into
disarray.
Checks by the Sunday Times showed that 23 thematic
committees of the
Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac) assembled
in Harare to write
narrative district reports and download information had
been haggling over
the exercise, and so falling further behind their
timetables.
"We have been fighting over so many issues, including how to
write district
reports in narrative forms and what template to use," a
senior Copac member
said. "We have even been fighting over typists, after
eight of the 23
seconded from parliament had dubious credentials. We suspect
they were
intelligence agents deployed to manipulate the
situation.
"It's chaotic and frustrating. Each time we reconvene, we
fight for days
before working."
Another Copac member said there was
still a long way to go before the
drafting stage.
After they had
finished writing district narrative reports on top of the
qualitative and
quantitative ones, members still had to move onto provincial
and national
narrative reports.
This has raised doubts about the possibility of
elections early next year,
the time Mugabe wants them, after failing to get
his wish to hold polls this
year.
After finishing its reports, Copac
will move onto the drafting stage, which
is more contentious. A new draft
constitution will then emerge and be
submitted for a referendum.
But
prior to that, it will be put out for public comment and taken to
parliament, where it would need a two-thirds majority to pass.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T leader, says a referendum on the
new
constitution is now only likely to be held in May or June next year,
past
the time Mugabe wants elections to be held. But polls can only come
after a
new constitution has been adopted.
Welshman Ncube, the Minister of Trade
and Industry and leader of the MDC-N,
says polls can only realistically be
held in 2013, which is bad news for
Mugabe, who is old and
ailing.
The compilation of district and provincial reports by the
thematic
committees through qualitative and quantitative methods was
completed
recently. Sixty district reports were compiled from the reports of
meetings
held in 1857 wards by the outreach teams. The reports, together
with written
submissions to Copac and all website submissions, were then
collated into 10
provincial reports.
Before drafting can commence,
the provincial reports have to be consolidated
and distilled into a national
report. But work on this has not yet started,
because Copac felt it was
necessary for the consolidation of the outcomes of
the outreach process into
the district and provincial reports to be checked
for errors and omissions,
to ensure that what the people said had been
correctly captured. The
thematic committees are still battling with the
narrative
reports.
The constitution-making process has been a stop-start affair.
The earlier
stages of the process - since 2009 up to the first
all-stakeholders'
conference followed a set timetable, but after that the
process stalled.
The outreach was scheduled to start by the end of July
2009, but did not do
so until late in June last year. It was supposed to
take no more than four
months, but was not completed until March 15 this
year. This meant the
thematic committee stage started a year and a half
late, and its progress
too has been a stop-start one. The delays were due to
poor logistics, poor
planning, lack of funding, political party disputes,
accusations of
tampering with data and political harassment and the arrest
of some Copac
members, including MDC-T co-chairman Douglas
Mwonzora.
Disagreements about the methodology to be used stalled the
start of
interpreting and downloading data, and the committees only
eventually
assembled for a training workshop on May 3 and started work on
the ward
reports on May 5.
More time was then lost through renewed
disagreements.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
JAMA MAJOLA | 25 September, 2011 03:52
Zanu-PF is broke and
President Robert Mugabe is under growing pressure from
within his party
ranks to quit ahead of the next crucial elections because
of his chequered
record.
Information obtained by the Sunday Times this week shows Zanu-PF
is
virtually broke and is losing members dramatically. It will have to rely
on
donations from its fatigued funders to finance its annual conference in
Bulawayo in December.
The party needs about $4-million for the
conference.
Zanu-PF officials told the Sunday Times that Mugabe was under
irresistible
pressure to retire ahead of the elections. The party wants him
to tell
delegates at the Bulawayo conference he will not be available as the
Zanu-PF
presidential candidate and to put in place a succession process
which will
ensure the party has a new candidate for the polls in
2013.
"Given the current untenable situation, the president finds himself
in
trouble due to many problems around him. It would be better for him to
indicate in Bulawayo that he would not be available as a candidate in the
next elections," a senior Zanu- PF politburo member said.
"That would
allow us to convene an extraordinary congress next year to
choose a new
leadership and resolve the succession issue which has damaged
the party so
much through factionalism and infighting."
Zanu-PF has been torn apart by
internal strife fuelled by the rival factions
led by Vice-President Joyce
Mujuru and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Both factions want Mugabe
to go. This was clearly exposed in secret United
Stated diplomatic cables
dispatched from Harare to Washington by successive
ambassadors and contained
in the WikiLeaks documents .
Mugabe has been shocked and paralysed by the
WikiLeaks revelations, despite
claims by his spokesman George Charamba that
he was not surprised because he
knew about secret meetings between Zanu-PF
officials and American diplomats.
The disclosures that almost everyone in
the Zanu-PF hierarchy wanted him to
quit have renewed calls for him to pack
his bags and go before the next
elections.
According to the Zanu-PF
constitution, the annual conference's main function
is to "declare the
president elected at congress as the state presidential
candidate of the
party" in the next elections.
Senior Zanu-PF officials want Mugabe to use
the opportunity to quit and
allow the party to elect a new leadership and
candidate for the elections.
Over the past decade, Zanu-PF relied on the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for
survival. The bank printed money each time
there was a crisis.
Senior Zanu-PF officials told the Sunday Times this
week the party had a
bank balance of less than $5000, which is not enough to
fund its Bulawayo
conference, let alone the next elections. The party is
currently persuading
local businessmen and sympathisers to secure funding
for its activities.
Officials said the party was not getting enough from
Chiadzwa diamond deals
to fund its activities because those with access to
the gems were more
concerned about lining their own pockets.
Although
Zanu-PF gets a parliamentary allocation like all parties
represented in
Parliament, the money is inadequate to meet its financial
demands.
Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo admitted on Friday that the
party was
struggling to raise funds. "We don't have money, we are always
battling to
do some fund-raising. We appeal to all our friends, supporters
and
sympathisers to support us," he said. "We have a fund-raising committee
which is always trying to get funds but it's very difficult."
The
late party treasurer David Karimanzira told the annual in conference in
Mutare last December that it was broke and losing members. He said Zanu-PF
had a $3.4- million debt and was surviving on bank overdrafts - attracting a
staggering $1-million in interest. He said for the first time in 30 years
Zanu-PF was struggling to pay its 180 workers and had frozen 142 posts. Last
year's conference cost $3.3-million.
(AFP) – 4 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwe will decide Monday the fate of foreign firms that
missed a
deadline to map out how they will transfer majority stakes to local
blacks,
a cabinet minister said.
"We will make a decision tomorrow on
companies that have not complied,"
indigenisation minister Saviour
Kasukuwere told AFP on Sunday, the day of
the deadline for compliance with
an equity law that has alarmed investors.
She would not say how many
companies were affected.
"We are going to invoke provisions of the law
and determine what should be
done with companies that have complied, those
who have shown willingness to
comply and those who are outright arrogant and
have refused to comply."
Foreign firms had until Sunday to submit plans
on how they will comply with
the law which requires black Zimbabweans to
hold a stake of at least 51
percent.
The law has caused anxiety among
foreign investors and division in
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government
between President Robert Mugabe and
long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe has given the platinum-mining giant Zimplats more
time to meet the
requirements of the law and reached an agreement with Old
Mutual allowing
the British insurer to conduct a "first phase" of compliance
which will see
the firm place 25 percent of its local subsidiary in the
hands of black
Zimbabweans.
The shares will be awarded as grants,
mainly to pensioners and staff, but
also to partners and a youth development
fund, Kasukuwere said.
The minister has argued that the law is not aimed
at victimising foreign
companies, but rather to fight poverty and put
control of the economy in
local hands.
The project has been called
the final phase of "economic emancipation"
following controversial land
reforms targeting white-owned farms a decade
ago that involved often violent
takeovers.
Kasukuwere had earlier warned that non-compliant companies
risk
nationalisation.
http://www.iol.co.za/
September 25 2011 at
01:25pm
AFP
Politically motivated arrests, ahead
of general elections scheduled for
2012, seem to be on the increase in
Zimbabwe.
This is according to a report on the rule of law in Zimbabwe,
compiled by
the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute,
which also
raised concerns about the systematic erosion of the independence
of the
judiciary.
The report is the result of a fact-finding mission
to Zimbabwe led by former
High Court Judge Unity Dow, from Botswana. IEC
head advocate Pansy Tlakula,
Chicago-based human rights and international
law professor Bartram Brown and
UCT constitutional and human rights law
professor Christina Murray were also
part of the delegation.
The
group spoke to a number of law bodies, lawyers and NGOs including
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights. “The rate of arrests also appears to have
increased dramatically since some members of Zanu-PF began calling for an
early election and an end to the inclusive government. Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, which maintains a hotline to assist people arrested on
politically motivated charges, told the delegation that it received 300
requests for assistance for the whole of 2010, but this had jumped to 800
for the first six months of 2011,” the report said.
While the numbers
vary, it is believed that between 200 and 300 people were
murdered in 2008
election violence, while the International Crisis Group
reported that 15 000
“serious violations were recorded” including torture.
Amnesty international
reported that more than 9 000 people were tortured and
beaten.
“These
figures have been dismissed by Zanu-PF supporters,” the report said.
“It
should be noted that the current wave of arrests fit into a broad
pattern
that gives rise to considerable concern about selective application
of the
law… It appears that the police and prosecuting authorities are
simply
arresting and detaining people as a form of harassment and
persecution,
without any reasonable prospect of successfully prosecuting
them.”
The delegation called for an independent Director of Public
Prosecution, as
the current system left prosecution open to political
influence.
It was also concerned that judges and magistrates appear to
“exert very
little control over the prosecution process”. Many in the
judiciary were
compromised as a result of having received farms, lavish
gifts and houses.
The judges had not received the title deeds, giving the
“government an
obvious source of patronage and pressure over
them”.
“It clearly creates a conflict of interest,” the report said. -
Dianne Hawker
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Farm workers are clashing with new farmers of grabbed
properties amid
reports of bad farm management, changes of employment,
appalling
remuneration and a bleak future.
23.09.1110:31am
by Fungai
Kwaramba Harare
Many farm workers witnessed how the black farm owners
grabbed the land, and
some were caught up in the often-violent
evictions.
"We were better off under Mr Watson," said one farm worker,
Nyasha Mutero.
According to the General Agriculture Plantation Workers
Union, there are 350
000 black farm workers, many of whom thought they would
be beneficiaries of
land reform programmes.
The farm workers say they
been paid erratically and are forced to work
longer hours than they had
previously been expected to work. Amid the
friction is emerging a new class
of land barons who, under pressure from
restive workers have called back the
previous owner and leased the land to
him under a profit sharing
arrangement. Mugabe has sternly warned against
such a practice.
The
war veterans occupying white-owned farms in Zimbabwe say farm workers
are
sabotaging their operations because of their attachment to the previous
owners and their own ambitions to own land.
"It’s difficult to work
with these people my brother," said Richard Gono, a
successful flower farmer
who grabbed his farm from a white-owner in 2003.
"They feign illness, steal,
sabotage the operation and simply refuse to
cooperate. They would rather be
under a white farmer. There is urgent need
for a paradigm shift. The farm
workers need to be told that this is
irreversible. Baas is not coming
back."
Sources in the Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union and General
Agricultural
Plantation Workers Union acknowledged, some off the record, the
widespread
friction between the new black owners and their inherited
workers.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, September 25, 2011 - Leading
local women activists has filed an
urgent application with the High Court
seeking the closure of police
holdings cells at the Harare Central Police
Station they deem inhuman and
inhabitable.
The Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA), which has won several international
human rights awards, want
the court to order responsible authorities to
ensure that the police holding
cells at Harare Central Police Station have
clean and salubrious flushing
toilets with toilet paper and a washing bowl.
The application was
filed by WOZA leaders Jenny Williams, her deputy
Magondonga Mahlangu, Clara
Majengwa and Celina Madukani.
WOZA want the cells closed until a time when
there have been renovated to
include running water and bathing
showers.
The four women, together with a band of their followers,
spent several days
at Harare Central Police holding cells in April this year
after being
arrested for staging an unauthorised demonstration in the city
centre in
protest of the unilateral hiking of electricity charges by the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Power Supply (ZESA).
The two core ministers
of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi and Teresa Makone, are
the first respondents
while the police Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri and Attorney General
Johannes Tomana are second and third
respondents respectively in the
matter.
In their application the women activists want the courts to
order that
flushing toilets be cordoned off from the main cell to ensure
privacy, the
cells at Harare Central Police Station be cleaned daily with
soap and
detergents, and that a good standard of hygiene should be
maintained in the
police holding cells.
They are further
demanding that each person detained in police custody
overnight be furnished
with a clean mattress and adequate blankets, adequate
bathing or shower
installations be provided so that persons detained in
custody may be able to
bath and that every person detained in the holding
cells be given access at
all times to sufficient drinking water suitable for
consumption.
They also want women and girls detained at the
police holding cells be
provided with sanitary wear or be permitted to
purchase such necessary items
with their own money, the holding cells be
equipped with a disposal
mechanism to ensure that women in detention are
able to safely and
hygienically dispose of their sanitary wear as well as
that women detained
in police custody be allowed to keep on their shoes and
under garments.
It is also WOZA’s demand that persons detained at the
holding cells be given
daily exposure to natural light and appropriate
ventilation and heating and
that police officers at Harare Central Police
station be refrained from
arbitrary searching and seizing possessions of
persons detained in custody.
The activists want Mohadi, Makone and
Chihuri interdicted from holding any
persons at the police cells at Harare
Central Police Station until the place
has been revamped.
They
further want the ministers and Chihuri to be directed to submit to the
High
Court, within three weeks from this week, a clear programme of action
on the
steps and timeframes it would take in ringing changes at the
condemned
holding cells.
In her affidavit Williams said of her ordeal at the
holding cells:
“The conditions of the cells at Harare Central Police
Station were so sordid
as to constitute an affront to human dignity, as they
are not the inevitable
consequence of the operation and administration of
police holding cells, but
are a result of gross police negligence, and
unwillingness to comply with
minimum standards of human decency,” said
Williams.
“The conditions at the holding cells are not only inhuman
and degrading, but
are calculated to induce despondency, and frustration,
and are therefore a
form of pre-trial punishment, in the absence of a court
order to that
effect,” she added.
http://www.iol.co.za
September 25 2011 at 10:32am
Zimbabwe’s
Industry Minister Welshman Ncube has described how he had to
battle against
stiff Chinese competition, backed by President Robert Mugabe
and Zanu PF
ministers, to win the deal for Indian iron and steel giant Essar
to buy
Zimbabwe’s derelict Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, Zisco.
It was the
largest single foreign investment into Zimbabwe since
independence 31 years
ago.
Ncube was the founding secretary-general of the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) before it split and is now president of the smaller
MDC. He was
a very senior lawyer before politics overtook his career at the
bar.
He explained in an interview how he had persuaded Mugabe, the final
arbiter
of such decisions, to accept the Essar offer over a Chinese bid. Two
Zanu PF
cabinet ministers were backing potential Chinese investors and
Mugabe has
mostly ensured that China gets preference.
But private
company Essar, a giant in India, made its first significant move
into
southern Africa by buying the state’s junked and abandoned Zisco and
much of
its underground assets at Redcliff in central Zimbabwe.
Zisco used to
produce the cheapest pig iron in the world before
independence. But despite
considerable investment since then, Zanu-PF ran
this national asset into the
ground five years ago. The plant is silent.
At the height of hyper
inflation in 2008, when the Zimbabwe dollar devalued
every few minutes, a
clique of Zanu-PF-aligned merchants and South African
scrap dealers looted
much of the valuable metal lying around Zisco.
The value of its derelict
infrastructure was only R280 million when Essar
bought it.
Ncube said
that Essar, a privately-owned company, bought Zisco’s foreign and
domestic
debt of about R2.8 billion and would invest about the same again
into
rebuilding the plant and developing new iron ore sites, the first in
Chivu
about 150km south of Harare.
Ncube came under enormous scrutiny while
setting up the deal. His landlines
and cellphones were bugged, as was his
Harare home and for months he was
impossible to find as be worked on the
deal.
“Mugabe preferred the Chinese. That’s his policy. Eventually he met
with
Essar executives privately and then said OK,” Ncube said. – Peta
Thornycroft
( Independent Foreign Service)
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Local Zanu (PF) House of Assembly member,
Kizitho Chivamba, is under fire
from locals and councillors over
mismanagement of the Constituency
Development Fund.
23.09.1110:22am
by
Brenna Matendere Munyati
Councillors say Chivamba, the former Zanu
(PF) Midlands Youth Chairman,
abused the money and misled the Constitutional
and Parliamentary Affairs
Ministry officials when they visited the
area.
The ministry officials visited Chiundura in July and announced that
about
US$20 000 of the US$50 000 facility may have been used on the projects
they
toured. At that time Chivamba failed to produce receipts to show how he
had
used the money saying the parliamentary affairs ministry should have
first
conducted book-keeping trainings for legislators in order for them to
be
knowledgeable in accounting.
“The MP ordered Tendai Marongwe,
councillor for ward 14, to show the
parliamentary ministry officials a
classroom block at Chikwingwizha school
as one of the projects he had done.
The truth is that the block was built by
Vungu Rural District Council
without his involvement,” a councillor said.
A classroom block that was
built by Sino cement company as part of its
community services was also
shown to the ministry officials as another
project conducted by Chivamba
using CDF.
Sources have also said that Chivamba has fallen out with ward
16 councillor,
Anna Tohwe, whom he wants inflate the figures on the receipts
of the
materials she bought with the little money given to her by the
legislator.
Sources at a piggery section in the constituency said there
were amazed when
parliamentary ministry officials visited the place under
the impression that
the project had been funded by Chivamba.
“He only
donated 20 bags of cement. We understand they had been donated to
him by
Sino cement company. We did everything else to construct the piggery
section
with our own resources.”
When contacted for comment, Chivamba rubbished
the reports and said he
actually used more than the US$50 000 Constituency
Development Fund for the
projects.
“I know you have been tasked by
MDC leadership to tarnish my name so they
get my constituency in the next
elections. That is your agenda. I actually
used money from my personal
pocket to supplement CDF,” Chivamba said.
(AFP) – 10 hours ago
HARARE
— FIFA security chief Chris Eaton warned Sunday that there will be no
amnesty if Zimbabwe fooballers and officials are found guilty in an ongoing
probe into alleged match-fixing on a tour of Asia.
"There is no
amnesty, not today," Eaton told the Sunday Mail.
He is in Harare to meet
football officials.
"We have got zero-tolerance on match-fixing and we
have to understand that
this is now a big problem facing the
sport."
Eaton dismissed local newspaper reports that anyone found guilty
would be
pardoned and sent for rehabilitation instead of being
banned.
"We want our football to be clean because criminals take
advantage of the
sport. We didn't invite gambling and now, because of
gambling, we have got
criminals."
Zimbabwe is under investigation by
FIFA over an alleged match-fixing scam in
Asia involving the national
team.
Former Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) chief executive
Henrietta
Rushwaya sent the national team to play unsanctioned friendlies in
Thailand,
Syria and Malaysia two years ago and a betting syndicate allegedly
fixed the
results.
Rushwaya was fired last October.
She is
also said to have cleared former league champions Monomotapa to
travel to
Malaysia masquerading as the national team.
Last month, ZIFA suspended
three board members, including a former national
team player and a former
referee, for alleged involvement in match-fixing.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Participants to an international conference on
human rights abuse in
Zimbabwe agreed on a programme of action at the end of
the three-day meeting
at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania,
USA.
22.09.1110:59am
by Stanford G Mukasa
They agreed to
transform themselves into a “Silent no more movement”
indicating that they
would be proactive on issues of rape, politically
motivated violence and
poverty.
The mission statement for the movement was to encourage
comprehensive and
sustainable responses that promote healing, empowerment
and resilience of
all traumatized survivors of torture and rape in
Zimbabwe.
The theme of the conference was “Silent No More: Rape as a
weapon of
Political Violence in Zimbabwe.” The conference was organized and
sponsored
by the Kabak Endowment Fund; University of Pittsburgh- based
departments:
The Global Studies Center; the Department Of Family Medicines,
the
Department of Africana Studies, the Centre for Minority Health;
Department
of Administrative and Policy Studies; the Institute for
International
Studies in Education and Black Women and Health Outreach for
Longer Life and
Empowerment.
The lead organizer of the conference was
Dr. Anne Matambanadzo, research
assistant professor in the Department of
Family Medicine at the University
of Pittsburgh.
Some participants
came from Africa, Canada, United Kingdom as well as the
USA. The keynote
speakers included Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s
Office for the
Organ of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration,
Senator Sekai
Holland; Founder of the Girl Child Network and last year’s CNN
Hero Betty
Makoni as well as Director of South African based Exiles Forum,
Gabriel
Shumba.
Dr. Donald Burke, the dean of public health at the University of
Pittsburgh,
closed the conference by offering support for the programme of
action
adopted by participants.
http://www.insiderzim.com/
Sunday, 25
September 2011 07:04
A former legislator for Chimanimani Michael Mataure
told United States
embassy officials in February 2001 that President Robert
Mugabe had become
so unpopular that he would have to deploy 250 000 people
to canvass for him
to win the 2002 presidential elections but his party
simply did not have the
resources to mount such a campaign.
He said
the only way Mugabe could win was if there was a three or four-way
race to
essentially split the opposition vote but this was highly
unlikely.
According to a cable released by Wikileaks Mataure described
the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front as a "disgruntled" and
"divided"
party. A "silent majority" did not approve of Mugabe's violent
tactics to
cow opponents and wanted him to leave power but they had to keep
quiet to
keep their jobs.
He said the only exceptions were Youth
Minister Border Gezi, Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and Speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa who were
now regarded as Mugabe’s running mates because
of their unswerving loyalty
to the President.
“The president values
loyalty above all else”, Mataure argued, “and doles
out patronage based on
that allegiance. The needs of this reward system and
the party are
‘paramount’ before the needs of the country.”
http://www.insiderzim.com/
Sunday, 25 September 2011
07:02
The concerted fast-track land reform that the government had
embarked on
since 2000 had divided white farmers by February 2001 with some
arguing that
they should work with the government to break the impasse while
others said
the government was not interested in any compromise because as
far as the
government was concerned land was political.
According to
one of the cables released by Wikileaks former Commercial
Farmers Union
President Nick Swanepoel wrote to the government on 9 February
2001 offering
to make changes at the CFU in order to break the impasse.
The offer
included:
Changing the name and leadership of the CFU
Assuring
that the CFU would be strictly apolitical
Accepting the government
requirement of 5 million hectares of commercial
farmland for
resettlement
Dropping all lawsuits against the government over
"fast-track"
Assuring cooperation of commercial farmers in assisting
resettled people
to be successful as farmers, and
Lobbying donors to
release funds to support "fast-track"
Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo wrote to Vice-President Joseph
Msika that Swanepoel’s letter could be
just another diversionary tactic of
the commercial farmers.
Msika
concurred but told Chombo to acknowledge the letter and indicate that
before
the government could seriously consider the offer they expected
concrete
action on changing the name and leadership of the CFU, dropping all
lawsuits
against the government and lobbying donors to release funds for
land
reform.
A New Broom –
Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 24th September 2011
From where the Vigil
gathers each week outside the Zimbabwe Embassy it is not far to Victoria Station
where the new Zambian President Michael Sata used to sweep the platforms. To
mention this implies no disrespect to sharp-tongued ‘King Cobra’ who told an
interviewer ‘I want to sweep my country even cleaner than I swept the
station’.
Zambia – so long
scorned as backward by Zimbabweans – gives the Vigil new hope by the civilized
handover of power by President Rupiah Banda after a narrow election defeat. ‘The
people of Zambia have spoken’, he said. ‘We will listen’.
Whatever the failings
of the new broom – and he has shown alarming ignorance on Zimbabwe – Sata has
pledged to make the rule of law and justice the cornerstone of his government
and to tackle the scourge of corruption, which he linked with poverty. If he
doesn’t he might end up back at Victoria Station . . .
Vigil supporters
think Zimbabwe might have been better off if Mugabe had spent time cleaning
Victoria Station instead of sneering at Zambia, Malawi, Botswana etc. When
Mugabe came to power these neighbours were economic pygmies compared to
Zimbabwe. Latest figures show they are now all better off despite our country’s
abundant resources.
We at the Vigil were
amused by the self-serving and hypocritical rant by Mugabe at the UN explaining
why the Libyan government he is about to recognize shouldn’t be recognized
because of the ‘blatant, illegal, brutal and callous NATO’s murderous bombings’
in response to ‘unfounded allegations of destruction of civilian lives by
Gaddafi’. North Korea, Burma, Syria, Russia, Iran etc must have applauded madly.
We don’t know the
hotel costs for Mugabe’s hundred-strong entourage in New York but were appalled
to learn that Ruanda’s President Kagame spent $18,000 a night on his hotel suite
for the UN meeting. Donor countries please note . . .
Other
points
·
Vigil supporters will
be aware that there has been an attempt to undermine our sister organisation
ROHR (See: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/press-releases/325-zimbabwe-vigil-statement-on-rohr-).
To counter this, ROHR President Ephraim Tapa and ROHR account administrator Rose
Benton attended a meeting on the sidelines of the Vigil to share details of
ROHR’s finances with representatives of the ROHR UK executive. Save for two
small errors, which were to be clarified with ROHR Head Office, there were no
financial irregularities in the accounts. One of the members quipped afterwards:
'this smacks of a smear campaign. If I were you (Ephraim Tapa) I would sue these
people'. Rose Benton took the opportunity to remind the meeting how consistent,
selfless and committed a human rights activist Ephraim Tapa had been since his
arrival in the UK after a near death experience of torture in Zimbabwe. Tapa
encouraged members to be wary of detractors and all CIO-engineered divisions and
to remain focused on fighting the dictatorship.
·
Vigil supporters were
happy to be joined by ‘the shortcut’, Japhet Mparutsa, who was goalkeeper of the
Zimbabwe Dynamos. Vigil management team member Fungayi Mabhunu recounted how he
used to stand behind the goal and cheer Japhet on – Japhet laughed when someone
suggested that Fungayi’s cheers might have caused missed goals.
·
Shamiso Kofi, one of
our regular supporters, is in detention and threatened with deportation. We are
working to prevent this but are alarmed at news from the Zimbabwe Association
that several people have been detained in the past week. ZA advises everyone to
get their papers in order and make sure they have good legal
representation.
·
We were glad to have
with us Arnold Magwanyata and Givemore Chandawi from the Organising Department
of the Zimbabwe We Can Movement which has now been officially launched (see: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/press-releases/333-zimbabwe-we-can-movement-declared-official).
Arnold has received an invitation from the Botswana High Commission to join
their independence day celebrations.
For latest Vigil
pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 70 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND
NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN News.
The
Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To
watch other Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
‘The Rain that
Washes’ – Zimbabwean theatre production. Performances:
Thursday 29th and Friday 30th September at 7.30
pm, Saturday 1st October at 6 pm, Tuesday 4th and
Wednesday 5th October at 7.30 pm, Saturday 8th October at
6 pm. Venue: Studio Theatre, Chickenshed Theatre, Chase Side, Southgate, London
N14 4PE. Tickets £8 (£6). To book,
call 020 8292 9222, email bookings@chickenshed.org.uk or book online at www.chickenshed.org.uk. Chickenshed
is between Oakwood and Cockfosters tube stations, and on bus routes 298, 299,
307 and N91. Free parking is also available.
·
ROHR Woking general
meeting. Saturday 1st
October. Venue: The Old Ford Pub, Lynchford Road, North Camp, Ash Vale, Surrey
GU12 5QA. Contact, Isaac Mudzamiri 07774044873, Sithokozile Hlokana 07886203113,
Saziso Zulu 07861028280 or P.Mapfumo
07915926323/0793226070.
·
ROHR Manchester
meetings. Saturday
8th October (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting
from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation
Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor Road, Manchester M13 9UB. Contact; Delina
Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika
Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future meetings:
12th November, 10th December. Same times /
venue.
·
ROHR Manchester
Vigil. Saturday
29th October from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens, Manchester City Centre
(subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens). Contact; Delina Tafadzwa
Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira
07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future demonstrations: 26th
November, 31st December. Same time and venue.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith Todd’s
acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe. To receive a copy by post in the UK
please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to
Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All
proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level
students in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.