Financial Times
By William
Wallis and Tony Hawkins in Harare
Published: September 17 2008 22:10 |
Last updated: September 17 2008 22:10
Talks on forming a new government
in Zimbabwe were further delayed on
Wednesday as Robert Mugabe met members
of his Zanu-PF party amid tensions
over the wisdom of a new power-sharing
agreement.
On Monday the president signed away some of the overwhelming
powers he has
accumulated during 28 years in office, to his bitter rival,
Morgan
Tsvangirai, the prime minister designate.
But on Wednesday
the two had still to open negotiations over the composition
of the cabinet,
in which Zimbabweans have begun to invest hopes for an end
to the political
violence and financial misery they have endured over the
past
decade.
Discussions on government positions, left open under the terms of the
deal
brokered by Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, were postponed as Mr
Mugabe met first with his politburo, and then with the national executive
committee of his Zanu-PF party amid wrangling and divisions over who stands
to lose most.
There are misgivings on all sides about the agreement.
But in recent
days tensions have begun to ease.
For the first time
in months supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change have
walked into central Harare in party T-shirts
emblazoned with the words "New
Zimbabwe". Anecdotes are beginning to
circulate, of police clamping down on
abuses by Mr Mugabe's supporters.
MDC optimists interpret these as signs
that power is already slipping away
from Mr Mugabe and that once a
government is formed it will naturally
gravitate towards the new prime
minister.
"Mr Mugabe is an old man. He has to be managed in the African
way. With time
he will slip into the background. But you cannot take over
instantly. It has
to be done incrementally," said a senior MDC figure. She
and others stake
their hopes on gaining three vital concessions from talks
still to come:
control of the home affairs ministry, which governs the
police; the finance
ministry; and the appointment of a new central bank
governor to tackle
inflation, estimated to be running at 40m per
cent.
The finance ministry is the lesser battle. Both Mr Mugabe and
moderates in
Zanu-PF appear to have accepted there will be no international
package to
prevent mass starvation and rescue the world's fastest-shrinking
economy, if
they still hold the purse strings.
But unless the MDC
controls the police as well, officials in the movement
recognise that there
is little chance of persuading the outside world to
come to Zimbabwe's
rescue.
"If we can't guarantee the rule of law no one will give us any
money," an
adviser to Mr Tsvangirai said, adding that in the worst case
scenario
disputes over ministerial positions would jeopardise the
deal.
Neither spokesmen for the MDC nor Zanu-PF could say when
negotiations on the
new government might conclude. Days of uncertainty could
extend to weeks.
A political analyst close to Zanu-PF said that when an
administration is
eventually formed it still risks being derailed by the
system it inherits
and parallel power centres written into the agreement. He
said Zanu-PF
officials, unlike their opponents, have experience running
ministries,
security services and publicly-owned companies and can use these
to obstruct
Mr Tsvangirai, ensuring that he fails.
That is, unless he
can convince them that the old days are over and they
have to switch
loyalties or resign, the analyst said.
"This [the wrangling over the
make-up of the cabinet] is a pivotal moment,"
said one senior western
official.
Whether it moves in the right direction, he suggested, is still
very much up
to Mr Mugabe, his army generals, who were absent from Monday's
signing
ceremony, and party officials.
Sydney Morning Herald
September 18, 2008 - 6:26AM
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe
has told his party that sharing power
with rivals was a "humiliation" that
would have to be accepted because the
party lost March
elections.
Mugabe was shown on state television addressing a meeting of
top party
leaders called to prepare for dividing the Cabinet among his
ZANU-PF and two
opposition factions as stipulated in a deal signed on
Monday.
Mugabe loyalists will lose Cabinet seats to make room for the
opposition.
"If only we had not blundered in the March ... elections we
wouldn't be
facing this humiliation," Mugabe said.
"This is what we
have to deal with."
While Mugabe's assessment was hardly gracious, it was
an indication he would
not abandon the deal, and should help calm fears his
agreement to cede some
power for the first time in 28 years will
founder.
Long-simmering and bitter differences as well as the nation's
economic
collapse have put the deal under intense pressure.
Mugabe
aide Patrick Chinamasa told state TV the three parties involved would
meet
tomorrow and could have a Cabinet by the end of the day.
The meeting on
allotting Cabinet posts had been expected yesterday, but was
delayed while
Mugabe's party met on its own.
Earlier today, state media quoted
Chinamasa as saying key aspects of the
power-sharing deal would not go into
effect until next month.
Zimbabwe's constitution needs to be changed to
create the post of prime
minister, which is to be filled by main Mugabe
rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
Under the power-sharing deal, Mugabe remains
president.
"These amendments would be tabled before parliament when it
opens next
month," Chinamasa told the government-controlled Herald
newspaper, saying
there would be no move to open parliament before October
14 as originally
planned.
It was unclear when the new government
would be sworn in. Tsvangirai and the
Cabinet might begin work without a
formal swearing in, pending the
constitutional amendments.
Mugabe,
84, has been in power since independence in 1980 and went from being
praised
as a liberator who freed the former British colony from minority
white rule
to being vilified as an autocrat.
He and Tsvangirai, 56, have been
enemies for a decade, and Tsvangirai has
been jailed, beaten, tortured and
tried for treason - charges that were
dismissed in court.
The
power-sharing deal has been criticised privately by some members of
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, who are unhappy that it leaves
Mugabe as president and head of the government.
They fear Mugabe will
exploit that, especially by playing on tensions
between the two opposition
groups.
The agreement provides for 31 ministers - 15 from Mugabe's party,
13 from
Tsvangirai's and three from faction leader Arthur
Mutambara's.
Continued political delay means only more time before dire
economic problems
can be addressed. A resurgence of violence, though, seemed
unlikely. The
country has been largely calm since June, and both Mugabe and
his rivals say
they want the agreement to work.
Nelson Chamisa,
spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change,
said delays were
worrying.
"Clearly there is anxiety in the country," Chamisa told The
Associated
Press.
"People would want to see movement in terms of the
realisation of the actual
deal. As the MDC, we want to urgently respond to
the desperate and dire
situation Zimbabweans find themselves in."
But
George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, told AP there was no cause for
worry
and he was spending today at his farm outside Harare.
"If I was worried,
I would have been in Harare," he said.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest
inflation rate even by the official figure
of at 11 million per cent, and
independent economists put it much higher.
Food and other basics are
scare, and aid agencies say more and more
Zimbabweans are going
hungry.
Mugabe's critics say his policies - including his orders in 2000
that
white-owned farms be seized and given to blacks - led to the economic
collapse.
Mugabe blames Western sanctions imposed because of his poor
human rights
record, saying they have led investors and aid agencies to
avoid Zimbabwe.
AP
http://www.hararetribune.com
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
22:10
ZANU-PF officials reminded Zimbabweans that it will take
'several weeks'
possibly months, before a new cabinet is sworn in. The
announcement was a
major blow to Zimbabweans who thought that the signing of
the government of
national unity (GNU) deal Monday would automatically see
their lives change
for the better.
At first, there were claims that
the appointment of the cabinet was just a
temporary delay, but sources on
the ground said that was not the case.
ZANU-PF has not intention of giving
up power fast, but is dragging it feet,
taking its time before it implements
the GNU deal, analysts said.
As text-book example of how ZANU-PF intends
to drag out the implementation
of the GNU deal, analysts pointed to Robert
Mugabe who, instead of meeting
Morgan Tsvangirai to put together the new
cabinet, chose to spend some time
with ZANU-PF cronies Wednesday. Mugabe was
said to be 'consulting' with his
ZANU-PF colleagues.
In defence of
ZANU-PF, former minister of justice and cheif ZANU-PF
negotioator during the
GNU talks Patrick Chinasa said it was not possible
for a new cabinet to be
formed as the relevant constitutional changes
haven't been
made.
"These amendments would be tabled before parliament when it opens
next
month," Chinamasa said.
The Zimbabwe Parliament has been
adjourned to Oct 14. Strangely, Chinamasa
said the October 14 date would not
be brought forward, effectively implying
that the cabinet would not take
office for another two months or more.
It took two months for a cabinet
to be formed in Kenya where a similar deal
was hammered former United
Nations chief Kofi Annan.
Delays in the formation of a new cabinet has
seen confusion and foreboding
grow in Zimbabwe, replacing the hope and
euphoria that had been generated by
the signing of the GNU deal
Monday.
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's spokesman, acknowledged that there
was "anxiety in
the country".
"People would want to see movement in
terms of the realization of the actual
deal," he said. "As the MDC, we want
to urgently respond to the desperate
and dire situation Zimbabweans find
themselves in."
The GNU deal, it appears, will not automatically bring
relief to the
suffering people of Zimbabwe. There will be several weeks of
hardship, pain,
and suffering as ZANU-PF takes its time in implementing the
GNU deal.
The reluctance by ZANU-PF to push through with the
implementation of the GNU
deal has seen many western nations with sanctions
on ZANU-PF adopt 'a
wait-and-see' attitude, opting to see real changes
before they can lift the
sanctions.
The Zimbabwe agreement was put together after South African President
Thabo Mbeki realised that events were running out of control and that Robert
Mugabe had to be reined in, according to a senior Western diplomatic source.
The implication is that the diplomatic campaign against Mr Mugabe waged by
Britain, the US and the EU was not the trigger for change. The result is some way from the demand by a British government minister in
June that "Robert Mugabe has to go." President Mugabe has not been removed. He has been reduced - but not, it
seems, through Western pressure. The election According to this account, the sequence of events was this: President Mugabe thought he would win the elections in March. He was deeply
shocked that he did not. His Zanu-PF party was severely rocked and there a
moment of crisis during which Mr Mugabe's removal was contemplated. Then the
security forces stepped in and said that he would stay and they would fight.
What the diplomat called a "staggering campaign of terror" was unleashed to
crush the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He put the dead at around 2,000, far higher than the 200 given to western
governments by the MDC as the death total for its own workers. "Bodies were strewn across Mashonaland," said the source. The figures are
impossible to verify. The MDC was broken even before the run-off election in June and withdrew.
This galvanised South Africa's neighbours, especially the governments of
Zambia and Botswana, and it had its effect on Mr Mbeki. He had always hoped for
a deal and was now shocked at the violence. His fears were confirmed by senior South African military officers, whom he
sent to Zimbabwe for a first-hand look. "The real authors of this agreement are
chaos and collapse," said the source. The negotiation President Mbeki then decided that Mr Mugabe should not be left in sole charge
after the election and he told Mr Mugabe this, according to this account. Part of Mr Mbeki's motivation, it was suggested, was that his time in office
was coming to an end and he wanted to have an agreement as part of his legacy.
Zimbabwe's leader began to negotiate. President Mbeki developed his earlier concept of a power-sharing agreement.
He claimed that Zimbabwe voters had in effect called for this in the March
election because the voting was so divided. He then drafted the agreement. It nearly failed. At one stage Morgan Tsvangirai almost walked out. In any event he did not get the transitional arrangements towards new
elections and a new government that he had hoped for. But he accepted the compromise eventually. The deal There is now an agreement described by the western diplomat as "the good, the
bad and the ugly". The good, he said, was a commitment to economic change (no more printing of
money, for example) and talk of a new constitution (though not for 18 months).
However, the good was balanced by the bad and the ugly. The most worrying element was a lack of clarity about where power actually
lay. There is to be a cabinet chaired by President Mugabe and a Council of
Ministers made up of the same people but chaired by Prime Minister Tsvangirai.
The first will decide policy and the second will carry it out. The MDC and
its breakaway faction do have a majority in both. The share-out of ministries has not been fully agreed, though Mr Mugabe
retains control over the military and Mr Tsvangirai says he must have the
police. Western governments think that the agreement could go either way - either to
confirm Mr Mugabe in effective control or to confirm a shift of power. So until this becomes clear, they are refusing to deliver the major economic
rescue plan that is waiting in the wings. Instead they will try to get a quick agreement for humanitarian aid to
counter what they regard as creeping starvation in the country.
World
Affairs correspondent BBC News website
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Cuthbert
Nzou Thursday 18 September 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's political
leaders appeared to speak with discordant
voices on Wednesday on the
sensitive subject of how to achieve national
healing while ensuring those
who violated human rights are brought to
justice following a unity accord
signed earlier this week.
Morgan Tsvangirai - Prime Minister-designate in
a new government of national
unity with President Robert Mugabe and another
opposition leader Arthur
Mutambara - told a British newspaper that some
senior members of Mugabe's
government could face trial over political
violence. Mugabe himself will not
be tried, according to
Tsvangirai.
But, in a quick reminder of how fragile the unity agreement
between the
three political rivals is, a senior official of Mugabe's ZANU PF
party and
Mutambara's faction said the parties had not agreed what to do
with
perpetrators of human rights abuses.
They said whatever course
of action the three parties may eventually decide
to take, it should be
aimed at "achieving national healing rather than
punishment and retribution"
- clearly insinuating Tsvangirai may have jumped
the gun when he spoke of
bringing Mugabe's lieutenants to justice.
ZANU PF deputy spokesman
Ephraim Masawi described Tsvangirai's remarks as
"unfortunate" and charged
that the incoming prime minister loved to point
fingers at others while his
own MDC party was also guilty of committing
political violence.
"The
agreement is clear that we must have national healing, but how to
achieve
that is yet to be fashioned," Masawi told ZimOnline. "It is
unfortunate that
Tsvangirai speaks of ZANU PF members facing trial, ignoring
that his party
was also responsible for political violence in the countdown
to the June 27
presidential election run-off."
The ZANU PF official claimed that all of
Zimbabwe's three main political
parties were guilty of committing political
violence, citing a statement
issued by the parties last month in which they
not only condemned past
political violence but also accepted
responsibility.
"Every party admitted committing violence and we wonder
why Tsvangirai only
mentions ZANU PF members. The issue of whether
perpetrators will face trial
or not rests with the parties when they deal
with how to heal the nation as
prescribed in the deal they signed on
Monday," said Masawi.
Mutambara would not comment directly on
Tsvangirai's calls for ZANU PF
officials to be brought to trial but said
whatever action the three parties
decide to take should aim to heal the
nation and not to achieve retribution.
He said: "We must have restorative
justice that seeks to incorporate the
views of the victims, to rehabilitate
individuals and communities that were
brutalised through the abuse of human
rights and crimes against humanity."
In an interview with The Times
newspaper, Tsvangirai said while Mugabe could
let off the hook, those in his
inner circle should stand trial for political
violence and other
crimes.
"I don't think Mugabe himself as a person can be held
accountable. But there
are various levels of institutional violence that has
taken place and I'm
sure we'll be able to look at that," Tsvangirai
reportedly said. "Let the
rule of law apply . . . We all cry for the rule of
law, and if somebody's
committed an offence he should be
prosecuted."
The MDC leader, who was himself brutally assaulted and
injured by police
last year, said the new government was committed to
ensuring there would be
no repeat of the violence, which he described as
"the darkest period in our
history".
Political violence and human
rights abuses have accompanied Zimbabwe's
elections since the 1999 emergency
of Tsvangirai and his MDC party as the
first potent threat to Mugabe and
ZANU PF's grip on power.
For example, Tsvangirai says that more than 100
members of his MDC party
were killed and more than 10 000 others displaced
in political violence in
the run-up to the June presidential run-off
election
Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the run-off to protest the
violence and
despite having led Mugabe in the first round of voting in
March, blamed the
violence on ZANU PF militia and state security
forces.
Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal is the first real opportunity in
nearly 10
years for the crisis-sapped southern African nation to begin a
chapter of
national healing and recovery.
However, many in and
outside Zimbabwe remain immensely skeptical that the
deal clinched after
seven weeks of tortuous negotiations could stand the
strain given the deep
personal animosity and mistrust among the political
leaders. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/
The new Zimbabwe may be about to claim its first
victim
Tomorrow, (Thursday) Gideon Gono, who today is the governor of
Zimbabwe's
Reserve Bank, may be yesterday's man. His resignation from his
role as the
mis-manager of the country's economy is confidently expected in
the morning.
Gono, a long-time comic favourite of this site, is credited
with helping to
ruin the finances of Zimbabwe over a period of years, and
the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has always said it would fire him
once it was in
government. That day has come.
Earlier this year, MDC
secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is tipped to
become Minister of Finance
in the new power-sharing executive, said: "Gono,
not inflation, is the
number one enemy of this country.
Observers believe that the prompt
removal of Gono from his post will be one
of the key indices that western
government and donors will use to judge
whether the newly-constituted
government is genuinely reformed and a fit
recipient for aid.
Gono,
who is also President Mugabe's personal banker, will probably jump,
rather
than be pushed. His second term as RBZ governor expires in two
months' time,
and even someone as incapable of forecasting the future as he
has proved to
be must surely realise that his time is up.
Sources at the Reserve Bank
said that last Thursday, after the agreement
between Zanu-PF and the MDC was
reached, Gono looked angry and shaken. "He
was far from his usual cheerful
self," said an aide. "He told us bluntly
that he would be leaving
soon."
If he goes, observers like me will miss Gideon, for the
entertainment he
provided with his oafish bumbling. What we won't miss is
the record
inflation, the huge unemployment, and the collapse in health,
education,
banking and agriculture sectors for which he, amongst others, was
and is
directly responsible.
Posted on Wednesday, 17 September 2008
at 15:20
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
17
September 2008
The United States like other Western countries has
been guarded in its
initial response to the Zimbabwean power-sharing deal
signed by President
Robert Mugabe and longtime adversary Morgan Tsvangirai
this week in Harare,
though a State Department spokesman this week said it
is "heartening" to see
such an agreement has become possible.
On
Wednesday U.S. Ambassador James McGee articulated more specific criteria
by
which Washington will measure the success of the agreement, calling for a
"ratcheting up" towards adherence to key principles including the
restoration of the rule of law, respect for human rights, a crackdown on
corruption, and the restoration of a market economy.
McGee told
reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he is
"cautiously
optimistic," but that all parties to the deal must implement in
good
faith.
If the new unity government can show that it is moving to meet the
principles set out by the United States, "we will be very, very pleased with
this arrangement," he said.
Asked what it would take for Washington
to lift its sanctions targeting
President Robert Mugabe's inner circle,
McGee said this would be
"performance-based."
"Our reengagement with
Zimbabwe will be based upon the performance of this
government. And if this
government is moving in a positive direction, then
our response will be a
very positive one," he said. But, if the government
"continues along the
same path as previously our response will be...likewise
in that same
direction."
As to ramping up food assistance to an increasingly hungry
population, McGee
said that although the power-sharing agreement does not
assert the right of
NGOs to deliver aid, the U.S. is telling its partners to
"get out there in
the field and do their job."
McGee added that, "We
don't expect to have any issues from anyone in this
country," noting that
prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai has told
him that "he himself
will be out in the field next week seeing to the food
insecurity
problems."
On the economy, McGee said market mechanisms must be restored
- and strong
action must be taken to break the hyperinflationary cycle that
has taken
hold.
"First of all the uncontrolled printing of money
has to be stopped. The
central bank has to be reined in." Zimbabwe must
restore the rule of law so
companies don't have to fear confiscation and can
make "fair profit" to
recoup costs. Above all the government must reassure
people "that there is a
true turnaround happening in this country."
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Nqobizitha Khumalo Thursday 18 September 2008
BULAWAYO -
Zimbabwe's human rights lawyers say this week's power-sharing
deal between
the country's political leaders could see ordinary citizens
sidelined from
the making of a new constitution for the country.
Zimbabwe's present
constitution was drafted by the country's former colonial
master Britain
with some input from former liberation movements but with no
consultation of
citizens.
Many analysts trace the country's governance crisis to the
independence
constitution that was written more as a ceasefire document
between
nationalist guerillas and the white colonial government rather than
a
charter for good governance and democracy.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) said in a statement on
Wednesday: "The people of
Zimbabwe, and civil society, are at risk of once
again being marginalised in
the process of constitution-making due to the
unnecessary and overriding
powers of Parliament at key stages of the
process."
Mugabe and his
younger rivals - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara who heads a breakaway faction
of the
opposition - signed an agreement on Monday to form a power-sharing
government that will have the need to ensure a democratic constitution is in
place within 18 months as one of its priorities.
The ZLHR said it
welcomed the power-sharing deal as a positive first step
forward towards
resolving the multi-facetted crisis the country is facing
but said it was
concerned that the deal appeared to allow political leaders
to chop and
change the country's constitution through Parliament without
input from
Zimbabweans.
The lawyers body raised particular objection to the fact
that ZANU PF and
the two MDC formations were going to use Parliament to
incorporate into the
constitution clauses from a draft constitution known as
the "Kariba draft"
which was written by four senior officials of the parties
and is known to
the political leaders and no one else.
It said: "ZLHR
notes that reference is made in the power sharing agreement
to an inclusion
of certain Chapters and sections of the "Kariba draft"
Constitution in the
proposed Constitutional Amendment No.19. We remind the
political parties
that this document remains shrouded in secrecy and has
never been made
public.
"The entire draft should be made public immediately in order for
full
scrutiny to be brought to bear on provisions which will have an impact
on
the general citizenry, especially where a document crafted by four
individuals is to be relied upon."
The ZLHR also criticised the
powers vested in the president of the republic
under the new power-sharing
deal which it said hindered transparency in the
conduct of government
business and could in some cases have severe
implications in the promotion
and protection of human rights.
The power-sharing deal that keeps Mugabe
as president while Tsvangirai
becomes prime minister, with Mutambara as his
deputy, is seen as the first
real opportunity for Zimbabwe to reverse a
political and economic crisis
afflicting the country for nearly 10
years.
But analysts have questioned whether the deal can stand the strain
given
deep-seated mistrust between the main players involved, while civic
society
say the power-sharing pact looks more like an agreement of political
elites
that may turn out to have had little to do with the interests of
ordinary
Zimbabweans. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4319
September 17, 2008
By
Bhekithemba Mhlanga
EVERY picture tells a story. The picture of Mugabe,
Mutambara and Tsvangirai
after signing the 'deal' portrayed a bitter Mugabe
having to stand next to
the "despicable" Tsvangirai.
He surely must
have felt like he was standing next to Gordon Brown. Arthur
Mutambara looked
like a young boy who could not wait any longer before
rushing off to the
school grounds to show off his new prized possession.
For the people of
Matebeleland the picture could have told a different
story. For the first
time in a very long time no leader from that part of
the world was part of
the set-up. There was no Enos Nkala, no Joshua Nkomo
nor Dumiso Dabengwa -
there was nobody. To think it is this very part of the
country that by
default will decide the sway of discussions and decisions in
Parliament!
It would not be out of place to contemplate how the three
leaders will
recognise the significant contribution that Matebeleland holds
in the
corridors of power. When they have their own little discussions - and
they
will be many - who among them will truly and honestly take up the
mantle for
Lupane, Kezi and Mawabeni?
For MDC Mutambara the question
should be fairly simple to answer. All his
cabinet posts must be made up of
MPs and or senators from this part of the
country. There is no point in
Mutambara or any of his Executive Council
kidding themselves that they are a
national party - they are not. He is only
Deputy Prime Minister as a result
of the elections of those MPs and
senators.
The challenge for MDC
Tsvangirai is no different. The message will not be
lost to Tsvangirai that
the people of Matebeleland have provided the party's
oxygen without fail
since its formation and it is only proper that their
role and contribution
is acknowledged accordingly. There will be an
expectation of proportional
representation among the cabinet ministers from
Matebeleland in Tsvangirai's
group. The leverage that Thokozani Khuphe,
Lovemore Moyo and others have or
do not have will be reflected in the
cabinet make.
Let there be no
mistake, the four cabinet posts for Mutambara do not count
as part of
overall cabinet ministers from Matebeleland. They are separate
number
altogether.
This is not tribal politics but an acceptance and
acknowledgement of the
facts that have given birth to the structures of
political power that are in
place now.
Some will argue that since the
Speaker of Parliament is from Matebeleland
that should be sufficient to
appease the spirits of Joshua Nkomo, Lookout
Masuku, King Lobhengula and
others, it is not. If the truth be told, the
Speaker of Parliament was
delivered kind courtesy of the Mutambara MPs who
by default may have
realised that a perfect opportunity had arisen to tilt
the pillars of power
towards Matebeleland.
Zanu-PF faces no such problem. If the rumblings
from disgruntled ex-Zapu
members about the process and the outcome of the
inclusive government are
anything to go by, it is the realization that they
are at their weakest and
most irrelevant point. They can be dispensed with
without costing the
original Zanu-PF anything. A more than proportionate
allocation of posts to
the Zanu-PF losers from Matebeleland will provoke
anger up and down the
corridors of Zanu PF headquarters. People will have
done their numbers and
quickly realised that this time round, there is
simply not enough jobs to
parcel out.
But why should this issue be
cropping up now to drown the euphoria of the
'deal'? Because it's a
difficult conversation that people do not like to
have but must be
heard.
The issue of who holds which and how many cabinet posts has a
strong bearing
on appointments to various posts of influence in government
and the public
sector. It is these ministers, if they do their jobs
effectively, who will
decide who seats on which board, the budgets allocated
to different
projects, the postings to the diplomatic posts, who heads the
media and
communications bodies and many more.
People from
Matebeleland have shown before that they can burn down any
political party's
perceived firewall and deny them the space they think is
theirs. Ask Mugabe
he knows better, Tsvangirai he has benefited from it and
so has
Mutambara.
All the people of Matebeleland should ask for now is their
pound of flesh.
It is not their legitimate right to play second fiddle all
the time. They
deserve more and better.
http://www.christiantoday.com/
Posted: Wednesday,
September 17, 2008, 11:52 (BST)
Following the historic Zimbabwe
power-sharing agreement, the Catholic
Archbishop of Harare has called for "a
lot of courage and a lot of humility"
from its leaders to turn the
crisis-hit country around.
Speaking to staff of the Catholic development
agency CAFOD in Harare, Robert
Christopher Ndlovu said that he was
cautiously optimistic for Zimbabwe's
future.
It was "amazing", he
said, to see President Robert Mugabe and opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai
coming together and signing the agreement.
"It brings that big sigh of
relief that at long last we are going
somewhere," he said.
"I am
cautiously optimistic, I think the differences have been very deep and
it
will take a lot of courage and a lot of humility on the part of our
political leaders, to really turn the situation around . Obviously it is
never too late to change such situations.
"But one of the worrying
things at the moment is that the nation needs a lot
of healing. There has
been a lot of violence in the last few months and
there is a lot of
bitterness amongst people."
He compared the current situation to that
which faced the country after its
bitter struggle for
independence.
"We remember in 1980 when we reached the state of
independence - all the
destruction that had taken place in this country -
yet people came together
and built the nation. Now we have hit another snag.
But with this signing I
hope that it can help us again come together and
rebuild Zimbabwe again, and
as Christians, I think we need to contribute our
bit to the process."
The Archbishop was also very clear on the need for
restrictions to be lifted
on aid agencies trying to ease the chronic food
crisis.
"I think the government will now need to open the [humanitarian]
space and
facilitate, because this space has been closed by the previous
government.with the banning of the non-government organisations and
restricting even the churches' distribution programme.
"It has been
extremely difficult - the bottle necks that have been put in
place have
meant that it has been virtually impossible to help the people
and it is my
hope that with this new arrangement the church, and indeed
other
non-governmental organisations, will be given the space to help our
people
in this moment of need."
The Zimbabwean Catholic Church has a strong
history of both providing care
and support for those affected by the
country's economic, social and
political crises and repeatedly challenging
the Zimbabwean government to
reflect the needs of its people.
It
works in partnership with CAFOD in a food aid programme which targets
110,000 of the most vulnerable people across the country.
The
Archbishop called upon Zimbabwe's neighbouring countries to step up to
the
challenge of helping the new government.
"There has been this
dilly-dallying attitude in the region and it has been
frustrating ... I'm
hoping that now, they will really pull together and help
the new government
to live up to the commitments they have made."
http://english.ohmynews.com
Zim torture survivors call for
convictions and compensation
Gail Muza and Stephen
Tsoroti
Published 2008-09-18 03:31 (KST)
For the first time
in almost a decade, opposition members paraded unhindered
in the streets of
Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. People in the streets
could be heard airing
out their views without fear or intimidation.
At the Rainbow Towers
Hotel, where the leaders of the country's three main
rival political parties
converged on Monday to sign a power-sharing deal
that will end the political
impasse that has brought the country's economy
to its knees, a vociferous
crowd of mostly opposition members sang their
hearts out.
As we made
the rounds through the crowd, a woman belonging to the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change -- the party of Morgan Tsvangirai -- spotted
our
camera bag and hailed us to come closer. She asked if we were
journalists
and we promptly answered that we were. She asked us if we could
spare a
minute with her. She motioned us closer and in the midst of the
crowd showed
us the scars, carved by knifes, on her thighs.
"They did this to me. I
never thought I would see this day," she said, the
gleam of smile on her
face.
"I hope they will find the perpetrators and convict them." She went
back to
her singing.
As the political leaders brace for their
responsibilities in the new
Government of National Unity (GNU), many of the
country's citizens who were
at the receiving end of Robert Mugabe's terror
campaign are urging the
authorities to convict perpetrators of violence and
calling for compensation
to mitigate the damage they have done.
"I
strongly feel the new government should move swiftly to address this
issue
as many people are smarting from the effects of torture," said Violet
Muskwe, a torture survivor.
"The country has to remember that at the
height of this conflict, women's
status and dignity was eroded. Humiliation
and loss of dignity as a result
of this conflict is apparent in a great
number of women and girls, as most
of them were abducted, raped and killed
at will," Muskwe said.
The period from 1999 -2008 witnessed frightening
increases in politically
motivated violence with over 4,359 cases having
been documented from January
to April of this year by the Zimbabwe Peace
Project, indicating a 470
percent increase from the pre-election levels of
795 cases. The victims in
these recordings were mostly women.
The
nature of violence shifted from incidental election violations to
systematic
and organized forms of violence characterized by increases in
malicious
damage to property, torture, abduction, rape and forcible
displacement.
Manifest in these ugly forms was the need to inflict permanent
harm on the
victim. This violence was aimed at disenfranchising a very
significant
percentage of the voter population in Zimbabwe.
The violent scourge, just
like an infectious disease, spread across all 10
provinces. Even the
relatively calm provinces of Matabeleland North,
Matabeleland South and
Bulawayo suffered from the politically motivated
violence.
While
there has been to some extent a coordinated effort to document abuses
and
atrocities, the postelection measures to deal with the trauma has been
limited in its scope and coverage. This has been made difficult mainly by
the banning of relief agencies and organizations that deal with these
specialized fields.
David Herts of the Center for Victims of Torture
said there was need to move
swiftly to counter the deadly effects of this
traumatic period as it would
destroy the sense of community.
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September 17 2008 - The
National Economic Consultative Forum
(NECF), says it had proposed that the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should
introduce foreign currency denominated zones
instead of licencing 1000
retail shops.
Last week,
Central Bank governor, Gideon Gono, announced that 1000
retailers and 200
wholesalers would now be allowed to sell goods in foreign
currency, in a bid
to improve availability of goods on the shelves.
In its first
public attack on the RBZ's introduction of foreign
currency denominated
shops, NECF said the central bank had erred in
licencing shops instead of
zones.
"Our vision was to create not 1000 shops - but zones,"
Nhlanhla
Masuku, NECF's spokesperson said Tuesday.
"In
Harare we had proposed Westgate, High Glen and Chitungwiza
shopping centre
and in Bulawayo, Nkulumane and Bulawayo Centre, to be ring
fenced as forex
shopping zones for ease of monitoring."
Masuku said NECF is
still lobbying for its programme to be
implemented. Under NECF's proposal,
all shops at a mall would be allowed to
sell their goods in foreign currency
for ease of monitoring.
Masuku said the central bank's
initiative would make monitoring shops
difficult.
He said
NECF had mobilised resources to send teams to other countries
on a fact
finding mission and the body had done some regional bench marking
on prices
to remove the distortions.
"We are not happy with the
implementation because it does not protect
the consumer," Masuku
said.
September 17, 2008 Thabo Mbeki: So I hear you are a hero. We needed your
heroics most when we still had a country to rebuild. This is eight years too
late. Had you not supported your friends all this time we may have been spared
all this suffering. You may be covered in laurels, but as far as I am concerned,
you are still a first class git. Bayethe Ngwenyama: The Chairperson of the SADC Organ on
Politics, the man whose role is to spearhead good governance in the SADC region,
the man who played midwife to our power-sharing deal, his lion kingliness Mswati
III, is the last absolute monarch in Africa. He has banned all political parties
in his kingdom. Proof positive, if we needed it, that irony is alive and well
and living in the Rainbow Towers. Praise poets: There should be a new law in our new Zimbabwe:
all praise poets are kindly requested not to go within a two-kilometre radius of
a microphone. What on earth was that racket? Ian Khama: Speaking of poems, here are some words we learned
as children at Alfred Beit school: “Ahe Khama, heart of a lion, Ahe Khama, brave
in the fight. And then came young Khama, like waters in flood time. Hail,
Bamangwato”, or better still, in the timeless words of another orator,
“Botswana, Botswana, Botswana, Oh, Oh.” In a word, thank you, Botswana. The new constitution: This is the best news out of this
deal. I cannot emphasise how progressive this is. Writing for New Zimbabwe,
some time ago, analyst Alex Magaisa wrote that what he called the “human factor”
is more important than a good constitution. He is wrong. A sound constitution
will be the basis for a real separation of powers. This separation should help
us avoid a power-hungry executive of the type we saw in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. We
need to empower Parliament and to keep the judiciary independent. In addition to
a firmer foundation for all the freedoms that Zanu-PF has denied us, I would
like to see strict term limits for the executive. I would also like to see all
forms of torture outlawed, and the end of the death penalty. And I want dual
citizenship. Our land-looting judges: How about those judges of ours, who
watched the signing ceremony on their recently-acquired plasma TVs. By the way,
how embarrassing is it that our judges accept “goodies” like plasma TVs from a
munificent government, and it becomes a leading item in the national newspaper?
But back to the issue, will they start judging again, or will they continue to
squat in caravans on the land they invade, and then rule on the court
applications of the farmers whose land they invaded? NGOs and activists: What, exactly, will happen to the
flourishing Zimbabwe grievance industry? The new MDC ministers: There is a difference between
activism and policy-making. We had better pray that the new ministers have a
steep learning curve. Still, they can only do better that the last lot. At the
very least, they can’t possibly do worse. Our deputy Prime Minister: Plus ca change, plus ca la meme
chose, or, the more things change, the more Arthur Mutambara continues to
disappoint. His speech was cringeworthy. A Form Three pupil at an Upper Top
would have done better on prize-giving day. Why on earth does he drag out words
like that? His handlers should tell him that a little less of the rage would go
a long way, all the way to Oxford and back, in fact. On the bright side, his new
position means that the Professor will continue to entertain us – as the Clown
Prince of Zimbabwean Politics, he will provide light relief from the weighty
tasks ahead. Our Prime Minister: With one speech, Morgan Richard
Tsvangirai showed himself to be the statesman the country needs him to be. His
speech was full of simple grace and humility. I was moved when he said he knows
this is a painful compromise, but his belief in Zimbabwe and its people runs
deeper than the scars he bears from the struggle. It was poignant to recall that
this is the first time Tsvangirai has been on ZBC television other than as the
subject of vilification. Memo to Tsvangirai: wonderful speech, but the delivery
could have been better. In the future, you may want to type your speeches in a
bigger font, strengthen the prescription of your reading glasses, or invest in a
teleprompter; or all three. Swords to ploughshares: I liked this reference in
Tsvangirai’s speech to another, long gone Prime Minister. The “swords to
ploughshares” speech was Robert Mugabe’s finest hour. Repeating those words
linked our present to our past, and reminded us how far we had come from the
heady optimism of those early days. Our beloved President in Perpetua: We certainly saved the
best for last. Has any man so misunderstood the mood of his audience? He was
like that drunk uncle at a family wedding. You are supposed to respect him, he
is your uncle after all, but the toes of your shoes are just itching to boot him
out, and protocol be damned. Could someone please take him by the hand and
explain to him how elections work? “The problem with African democracy is that
the opposition wants more than it can get. It wants to be the ruling party.”
Really, your Excellency? So the opposition should, what, just stay the
opposition? Let’s hope his party is content to be the opposition after the next
election. And, your Excellency? Bringing up violence and blaming the opposition?
Not a smart move. Unity of purpose: If their speeches are anything to go by,
their contributions to the GNU are as follows: the Prime Minister will bring
purposeful seriousness, the President will slouch and mumble whatever pops into
his head, and the first Deputy Prime Minister will bring sack loads of fun. That
is what I call balance. The Western press: Hello Guardian? The Times? The New York
Times? The Independent? The Washington Post? The Australian? Anyone? Globe and
Mail? BBC? CNN? Sky news? What happened to the gasping 24 hour coverage on
Zimbabwe? Oh I see, smiling Africans making nice is not as good a story as
snarling Africans killing each other? I kept telling you that you had
mischaracterised the story, that it was more than just about good versus evil
and human rights violations; you were warned that it could be resolved in
unorthodox ways, but no, you wouldn’t listen. And now you no longer have a
“sexy” point of view from which to cover it. Better luck with the next lot of
dying Africans. Online news websites: “Remember this day: 10/11.” “No, it’s
10/09.” “Eh no, it is 11/09.” No wait, it’s next week” “DEAL: DEAL: DEAL” “A
Beautiful Day in Harare” “New Beginning: Hope in This Man”.”At Last! Thank God
Almighty We Are Free At Last”. Memo to journalists: as a rule of thumb, you
know you are overexcited when you are so worked up you no longer know what day
or month it is, or you find yourself using the largest and boldest font known to
man, or when you use an exclamation mark or invoke a deity in your headline.
Calm down, good scribes. This is not the Second Coming. The Senator for Khumalo: Free advice to David Coltart:
brevity, as the Student’s Companion used to say, is the soul of wit. The time
you spent writing long whining screeds of self-justification could be more
usefully spent in learning a new skill. I suggest a new language. How about
Mandarin Chinese? Better yet, try Ndebele. It has this distinct advantage: most
of your constituents speak it. Our Guv’nor: In the immortal words of Douglas Adams,
goodbye, Gideon Gono, and thanks for all the fish. And by fish, I mean the
zooming inflation and zhing zhong tractors and price controls and people’s
tuckshops and zero after zero and the three-cent religion and dime-store
economics. Our faithful friend: Finally, a word on our most famous
guest. There is a man in a mansion in Gunhill who can find no sleep. His pillow
is drenched with sweat. His phone calls to important friends go unanswered. They
are too busy haggling over portfolios. Everything around him seems bleak and
purposeless. He can find no pleasures in ordinary things. Even sugar has lost
its taste. Spare a thought, my friends, for Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Terror of
Oletta, Lord of the Derg.
http://kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=794
So. They have finally agreed to something.
Like
everyone, I am just waiting to see the viability of the DEAL. I am just
finding it a bit hard to be optimistic momentarily because for starters I
know too well the people we are dealing with. I know there is a chance of
somebody reneging on their role in the agreement simply because they have
done it before and that is my biggest worry. Like President Tsvangirai
(doesn't yet smoothly roll off the tongue); we are gonna have to trust
Mugabe.
Well, since this DEAL is supposedly in the name of the
ordinary people, I
have a few things that I'd like to see evolve from this
agreement. Some of
them are touched upon and promised in the
agreement:
-A practical and sustainable economic recovery plan and fiscal
policies that
will gain back the trust of international donors and investors
and see an
end to food shortages plus restoration of public services. They
can start
with booting out Mr Gono, if the rumor that he's quitting is not
true. It
would also be nice to have a reasonable daily cash withdrawal limit
that
actually takes you to work and back.
-Cessation of intolerance
of divergent political orientation and the respect
and upholding of the
rights to freedoms of speech and association.
-An end to chaotic land
grabs by so-called chefs and a plausible land audit
to hold anyone sitting
on idle land accountable. We need farmers who know
what they are doing else
we'll continue to starve and beg.
-The setting up of a Truth commission
should be in the offing to bring
justice for victims of traumatic violence
that characterized the contentious
elections. This may only be done after
more immediate needs like economic
revival, but a lot of Zimbabweans hope
for justice in a new Zimbabwe.
-A complete overhaul of the health sector
with a possible replacement of the
long-serving Minister of Health Dr
Parirenyatwa. This time we'd appreciate a
minister who is more focused on
saving lives instead of threatening to take
lives for political
gain.
Those are a few among my many wishes, and I have a couple of
smaller, more
specific ones, like having ZINWA booted out for instance They
have failed us
miserably and we are just sick (literally) and tired of dirty
water.
Above all, I wish that all parties keep their side of the bargain,
cooperate
and comply with the provisions of the agreement. Otherwise this
DEAL is not
for me. It would have been all just usual pomp and fanfair for
an egotistic
few.
Being the miserable pessimist my friends say I am,
I'm glad in a way to find
that there are several of us out there who just
cant trust anymore and are
concerned about any equation that equals Bob.
History of the 1987 Unity
Accord taught us that much. I find a number of
people are agreeable to the
deal; BUT with conditions. I've also heard a
couple of whispers that if the
MDC did not have something up their sleeve,
they wouldn't have signed. This
remains to be seen.
Could it be that
possibly the only way of ousting a tyrant is to do it from
the
inside?
This entry was posted on September 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am by
Natasha Msonza
http://www.sowetan.co.za
17 September 2008
Sowetan says:
There can be no
gainsaying that the Zimbabwe deal is not perfect.
Ordinarily we
should be condemning the fact that Robert Mugabe is still part
of the
government even though he lost the March elections and it was only
when he
ensured he was the only horse in the race that he "won" what was
supposed to
have been a run-off election.
Many analysts have correctly decried this
as setting a wrong precedent for
the continent, especially after Kenya's
ruling elite decided to hold on to
power despite the views of that country's
electorate.
But Zimbabweans have generally welcomed the deal. The duty of
the
international community is not to prescribe to them what is good or not,
but
to support them in these trying times. This may be a marriage of
convenience, but the difference between this and other such unions is that
the parties here say they want to make it work.
Our commitment to
Zimbabwe should therefore be to its people, not even their
governments. We
therefore should not prophesy doom. Instead, we should urge
our government,
which has already done stunningly to place Zimbabwe where it
is, to continue
using whatever influence it has to ensure that Zimbabwe
restores its place
as one of Africa's best hopes. It is the least we can do
as neighbours.
SABC
September
17, 2008, 08:00
Thami Dickson
The United Nations (UN) Secretary
General Ban Ki Moon says Zimbabwe must
focus on strengthening its democracy
and improving its human rights record
before engaging the international
community to lift the sanctions imposed on
that country. This is after
Zimbabwean government representatives at the UN
called on the world body to
demonstrate its commitment to support the newly
established government of
national unity in that country by pushing for the
removal of sanctions
against Zimbabwe.
Harare is arguing that the power sharing deal can only
be sustained when
economic sanctions are lifted. They say this will allow
investors to invest
so as to rebuild the economy and restore stability in
that country.
In pursuit of political changes in Zimbabwe, the European
Union bloc of 27
countries has frozen critical aid projects in Zimbabwe. The
United States
has also banned trade with Zimbabwean mining companies and
pushed away many
potential investors. Credit lines which provided Zimbabwe
with much needed
foreign currency have been closed as well. They also froze
all assets and
money belonging to a number of Zimbabwean government
officials in banks
within the US.
Their attempt however to
internationalise sanctions against Zimbabwe through
the UN Security Council
failed, as South Africa, Russia and China voted
against the proposal.
Boniface Chidyasiku, Zimbabwean ambassador to the UN
says Ki Moon indicated
the UN is ready to assist Zimbabwe especially with
its humanitarian
challenges as it rebuilds itself. But it's too early to
consider lifting the
sanctions, he says.
Ki Moon says he hopes that the power sharing deal in
Zimbabwe will be
respected by all parties concerned to achieve peace and
stability in the
country.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's gold production declined by 44
percent during the
first seven months of 2008, weighed down by an unstable
economic environment
highlighted by runaway inflation and a weak exchange
rate.
Figures released by Zimbabwe's Chamber of Mines on Wednesday showed a
sharp
drop in gold output from 4,686 kilogrammes during the period between
January
and July 2007 to just 2,624 kg in the comparative period this year.
The chamber blamed administrative glitches at the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ) which delayed payments to producers for gold deliveries as
well as an
uncompetitive exchange rate.
"Data at hand indicate that there are
some producers that have not
been paid for deliveries made in 2007," the
miners' body said in a
statement.
The RBZ is the sole buyer of
gold and other precious minerals but has
lately been accused of
insensitivity to miners' concerns, often reacting too
slowly to grievances
forwarded to it by industry representatives.
The Chamber of Mines
has repeatedly said the official exchange rate of
around 90 Zimdollars for
every US dollar which miners are paid for a third
of their earnings was
unviable as this could not meet their Zimdollar costs.
The mining
sector is the biggest foreign currency earner in a country
battling its
worst ever economic crisis and its collapse could bring more
misery to the
majority of Zimbabweans who are squeezed by the world's
highest inflation
rate of more than 11 million percent, unemployment above
80 percent and
shortages of hard cash and food.
JN/tjm/APA
2008-09-17
http://www.voanews.com
By Tendai
Maphosa
Harare
17 September 2008
One of the
reasons Zimbabwe's economy is such a mess is the collapse of the
commercial
farming sector. This is due in part to the government's chaotic
and
sometimes violent land-reform program launched in 2000. The recently
signed
political power-sharing agreement states that the land reform is
irreversible. Tendai Maphosa reports for VOA from Harare.
Agriculture
used to be Zimbabwe's number-one foreign currency earner. But
since the
land-reform program began taking farms from whites, the country
has had to
rely on food imports and aid handouts. The black farmers who took
over the
land were ill equipped in terms of farming skills and capital to
maintain
production.
The mostly white Commercial Farmer's Union and the Justice
for Agricuture
group represent less than 1,000 commercial farmers. Of these
less than 300
are actively farming, down from 4,000 at the beginning of the
farm seizures.
Some white farmers have left Zimbabwe, but others are
still in the country
fighting to get their farms back or to be
compensated.
The Zimbabwean government has said it would only compensate
farmers for
improvements on the farm, not the land.
It says former
colonial-power Britian should compensate for the land.
The recently
signed power-sharing deal underscores this and also adds that
land
acquisition and redistribution is irreversible.
The Commercial Farmers'
Union did not respond to VOA's request for an
interview, but Justice for
Agriculture's John Worsley-Worswick said while
the agreement addresses
compensation for land, responsibility for other
compensation lies squarely
on the shoulders of current and future Zimbabwean
governments.
"They
are talking about compensation for the land, our compensation issues
are not
confined to the land only; we are talking about the fixed
improvements on
farms, we are also looking at the fact that no farms have
been legally
acquired and no farmer has been compensated fairly or
equitably," he
said.
Worsley-Worswick listed grievances for which farmers are demanding
compensation - including loss of earnings, loss of equipment, relocation
costs and cost of litigation.
He said his organization would rather
negotiate with the government than
continue with litigation, which he
described as a fallback position. The
Justice for Agriculture spokesman
warned that should the government not be
prapered to compromise, his
organization would try to block international
assistance necessary for
Zimbabwe's recovery.
"We have got to find a way forward that frees up the
title in this country
and re-engages international financial support," said
Worsley-Worswick.
"Certainly if our property rights continue to be infringed
we will make
every effort to have that support culminated."
A
spokesman for the British Embassy in Harare told VOA that while Britain
views support of rural recovery as part of a wider recovery package for
Zimbabwe, it has never accepted responsibility for the compensation of
farmers.
The power-sharing agreement acknowledges the haphazard
manner of the
land-reform program and proposes a non-partisan land audit for
the purpose
of establishing accountability and eliminating multiple-farm
ownerships.
Critics of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe have accused
him of giving the
best land to ranking members of his government and party.
They also charge
that some of the beneficiaries have more than one farm
while many
Zimbabweans are still land hungry.
http://www.mg.co.za
WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA Sep 17 2008
17:15
A regional tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the land claims of 343
black
Zimbabwean farmers who argued they cannot move on to seized
white-owned
farms as the owners were still present.
The farmers
applied for relief last week to move on to commercial farms that
are under
an interim protection order given earlier this year to nearly 80
white
farmers, led by Michael Campbell.
Judge Ariranga Pillay rejected the
application, saying the tribunal had no
jurisdiction over the matter as it
was not a dispute with the state but with
the group of white
farmers.
"The 343 applicants have not adduced any evidence before us that
they were
denied access to justice and have suffered racial discrimination
or loss and
this application is frivolous, constitutes an abuse of process
and is
consequently thrown out," Pillay said.
The full bench of five
judges of the Southern African Development Community
tribunal is expected to
deliver judgement at the end of this week on the
Campbell group.
The
group remained on the farms on the grounds that seizing farms without
compensation in Zimbabwe was unconstitutional and violated their human
rights.
In 2000, a small group of 4 500 white farmers in Zimbabwe
were forced to
hand over millions of hectares of land in what President
Robert Mugabe
trumpeted as a land-reform programme to right injustices of
the colonial
era.
While landless black Zimbabweans were meant to be
the beneficiaries of the
controversial programme, some farms ended up in the
hands of Mugabe
supporters. -- AFP
http://www.hararetribune.com
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 15:47 Columnists - Critic @
Large
Fear is defined as a feeling of agitation and danger caused by the
presence
or imminence of danger, whether the threat is real or imagined. The
world
correctly describes the atmosphere engulfing the Zimbabwean populace
at this
juncture. Fear is a tool that the Robert Mugabe led government has
fully
utilized to ensure its political survival and continued dominance in
the
Zimbabwean political arena. Laws like the Emergency Powers Regulations
(Maintenance of Law and Order) which allowed for detention without trial,
the banning of public meetings and curtailment of political activity were
laid down in pre-independence Zimbabwe as a way of silencing political
dissent.
The same laws have in the last decade been adopted by
Mugabe's government
and have been used to serve the same purposes,
guaranteeing him political
survival. Usage of fear by Mugabe as a weapon for
crushing dissent is traced
back to January 1983 when the Korean trained 5th
brigade a.k.a Gukurahundi
or the rain which washes away the chaff before
the spring rain. was
mobilized under Colonel Perence Shiri and unleashed in
Matabeleland,
particularly targeting Zapu supporters ,who the government
accused of
supporting dissidents.
Five Brigade was different from all
other army units in Zimbabwe at the time
because it was directly
subordinated to the Prime Minister's Office (Mugabe)
and was responsible for
mass murders, beatings, and property burnings in the
communal living areas
of Matabeleland were hundreds of thousands of
supporters from Nkomo's
political wing, Zapu lived. An estimated 20 000
people, mainly from the
Ndebele ethnic group lost their lives. A report by
the Zimbabwe 's Catholic
Commission on the atrocities narrates how the
gruesome acts of violence were
carried out , events that shockingly contrast
to the recent spate of
violence against the opposition MDC that has left
more than 200 of its
supporters dead and an unknown number missing.
Mugabe has been possessed
with political power since taking over from Ian
Smith in 1980 and has left a
trail of blood behind that follows him to this
day. The underlying motive
behind Gukurahundi was to destroy opposition
against his rule and in the
process cultivate a culture of fear that
effectively ruled out dissent from
Zimbabwean society.
It has to be noted that pre and post election
organized political violence
has long been used by Mugabe as a tool for
destroying opposition party
structures and support bases since he took over
the reigns of government
from Smith in 1980. Abduction and disappearance of
hundreds of supporters
and officials from the opposition Zapu were common
during the 1985 election
year and these were mainly carried out by the CIO
(Central Intelligence
Organization) and PISI (Police Internal Security
Intelligence Unit). Some of
the victims were released but the whereabouts of
others is not known to this
day. During this period Zanu PF Youth Brigades
were responsible for violence
againt Zapu supporters in both urban and rural
areas. The government seemed
to sanction their behavior, resulting in mob
beatings, intimidation and
murder of innocent civilians for supporting Zapu.
The 1990 election was also
characterized by systematic violence and
intimidation of the then current
opposition against Mugabe's corrupt rule,
taking the form of Edgar Tekere
and his Zimbabwe Unity Movement
(ZUM).
As usual, state machinery was used for repression of the
opposition a
notable example being the shooting of an opposition candidate
Patrick
Kombayi and five other opposition members who were campaigning
against the
then Zanu PF Vice President, the late Simon Muzenda. The
victims were shot
by Muzenda's bodyguards who were members of the
government's CIO. The 1995
election was the least contested election and
probably the most peaceful,
but however it was not completely uneventful.
Margaret Dongo's court
challenge over the election fought in Harare South
revealed that in addition
to irregularities in the voter's roll, the
government also stuffed the
ballot boxes, such that there were over 1 000
more ballots counted than had
been issued to voters. Fidelis Mhashu, a
former Zanu PF member, who
contested the 1996 Chitungwiza mayoral election
as an independent was
attacked and beaten by a crowd of Zanu PF supporters
reported to include
four MPs, including Cabinet Minister Witness Mangwende.
Despite his being
badly beaten, the police, who were present at the time of
the attack, did
not lay any charges.
Mugabe's dogs of war were
unleashed during the 2000 election period, and a
systematic wave of violence
was unleashed against supporters of the newly
formed MDC that resulted in a
reported 40 deaths during the pre election
period. In campaign speeches,
Zanu PF leaders and candidates seemed to
sanction the use of violence and
intimidation against political opponents
and contributed substantially to
the climate of fear that overshadowed the
election campaign. Statements from
witnesses, testimony in the High Court
and various newspaper reports quoted
Zanu PF candidates threatening MDC
supporters with assault or death.
Violence escalated as Mugabe took onboard
war veterans to spearhead his
campaign, leading to the regrettable farm
invasions and lawlessness across
the country. The campaign against white
farmers then developed into an
operation which also targeted farm laborers,
people in the communal lands,
teachers and nurses, people in the towns and
cities and businesses known to
be supportive of the MDC, propagating the
culture of fear practiced by the
Mugabe government and also polarizing Zanu
PF and MDC.
Dissent
against Mugabe's misrule and mismanagement of the economy took the
new form
of mass work stay aways in the 2003. The Movement for Democratic
Change and
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions organized amass stay aways
on 18th and
19th of March and on the 3rd and 4th of April 2003 respectively.
Mugabe
employed the element of fear and a violent back lash commenced that
witnessed the assault and torture of civilians composed of officials from
both organizations and ordinary Zimbabweans perpetrated by the police, army
and CIO.
Incidents of rape, indiscriminate assault and murder
allegedly committed by
the security forces were reported countrywide,
silencing dissent and
effectively cultivating fear into the hearts of many
Zimbabweans directly
and indirectly affected by the activities. Reports
surfaced of how army
helicopters flew at uncomfortably low altitudes in
Chitungwiza and of armed
soldiers wearing full combat regalia assaulted
people walking in streets of
Zimbabwe's high density suburbs, forcibly
closing beer halls and severely
assaulting patrons. Arrested officials from
the organizations and persons
accused of perpetrating violence during the
stay aways reported of severe
assault and torture by the police and CIO,
leading to the death of victims
in some cases.
The 2005 elections
were not different either, with reports of opposition
party supporters being
intimidated and assaulted by the so called "war
veteran" and Zanu PF youth
being wide spread. Opposition supporters and
civic organization members also
reported of being followed to meetings by
police and members from the CIO.
The second worst election period since 1985
is the recent March election
that saw wide spread voter intimidation,
assault and murder on a grandiose
scale, effectively inscribing fear and
terror in bold and capitals into the
hearts of the Zimbabwean people and
permanently crafting Robert Mugabe as
one of the most ruthless and evil
autocrat to walk the African
continent.
The wave of violence that tore the country apart was directly
linked to the
highest levels in Robert Mugabe's government, with the Joint
Operations
Command made up of service chiefs from the police, army, air
force and
intelligence being directly implicated in the organization and
spear heading
of the violence. The police, whose role is to maintain peace
and order, were
left as mere bystanders as they were under instructions not
to arrest the
perpetrators who now operated with impunity. The end result
was lawlessness
that left more than 200 unarmed civilians dead, a yet to be
determined
number of missing people, traumatized communities that saw
relatives and
friends seriously assaulted and murdered in cold blood, with
no action being
taken to bring the perpetrators to book and finally a trail
of blood that
once again leads to the despot Robert Mugabe.
The
culture of fear has left a permanent mark on Zimbabwean society and is
now
deep rooted in its way of thinking. A lot will be required to reverse
the
effects of 28 years of terror and repression. The starting point will be
the
formation of a government the people can trust.
God help us.
By Alex Bell
17 September
2008
South Africa's trade union federation COSATU has said the deal
signed on
Monday by Zimbabwe's political rivals 'marks a dangerous spread of
the
Kenyan virus,' that sends a message to dictators that they can defy the
will
of the people.
The Zimbabwean deal will see Robert Mugabe remain
as President, while winner
of the March presidential elections, MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai will
become Prime Minister. The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission declared that
Tsvangirai had not won by a large enough majority
in the March poll -
signaling an upsurge in politically motivated violence
against MDC
supporters in the run up to the highly disputed run-off
vote.
A similarly violent situation in post election Kenya saw a
government of
national unity being formed - a government that the Zimbabwean
power sharing
deal has been widely compared to.
COSATU said in a
statement on Wednesday that the signed agreement marks a
retreat from the
principles that the African Union and SADC are
supposed to uphold, and a
'return to the bad traditions of the Organisation
of
African Unity, that
sacrificed the interests of the people to protect
dictators.'
The
federation said it gives the deal 'cautious support,' adding it was
awaiting
comments from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions as 'it is only
the
people of Zimbabwe who must judge whether or not this deal is in their
interests,'
COSATU's national spokesperson, Patrick Craven told
Newsreel on Wednesday
that it is important that Zimbabweans 'are the judges
of the deal,' but
added that the federation is gravely concerned that
certain demands have not
been met. Craven explained that the deal 'does not
reflect the March
elections' in that the MDC has a 'more junior role to that
of ZANU PF.' He
also expressed concern that a 'draconian legislation is
still in force,'
which could see opposition leaders remain targets of
violence and arrest.
Craven argued that these concerns are based on the
demands made by civil
society, and said at the 'heart of our worries' is
that the public will is
still being ignored. He said this sets a bad
precedent for the future of the
Zimbabwean government, as the will of the
people urgently needs to be
enforced. Craven added that Kenya, with its
government of national unity,
'set a very bad example' in that there is a
'shifting back' to a situation
where African leaders can turn their backs on
atrocities being committed in
their neighboring countries.
COSATU
also said in Wednesday's statement that it would wait for the go
ahead from
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions before continuing with the
proposed
programme of boycotts, saying 'if they ask us to proceed we shall
do so.'
The trade union federation had organised a mass boycott of goods
headed for
Zimbabwe as a form of protest against Mugabe's continued term as
President
after the run-off election in June.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 15:15
CAPE TOWN - It felt like coming home at the Good Hope Centre here
recently
when the Zimbabwean diaspora celebrated the Zimfest music festival
in true
Zimbabwean style.
Different bands provided electrifying music that
lasted for over 12
hours - including top SA groups Freshly Ground and The
Rudimentals, Tristan
Waterkeyn, Coda, The Dirty Skirts and Hot
Water.
The main purpose behind Zimfest was to raise funds for civil
rights
group PASSOP (people against suffering suppression, oppression and
poverty)
who assist refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa. The
political and
economic crisis in Zimbabwe has forced its starving and
penniless citizens
to flee to other countries and it is estimated that
nearly 3 million
Zimbabweans have taken refuge in South Africa
alone.
Zimfest organisers, John Bartman and Tristan Waterkeyn of
Overtone,
were on their feet continuously making sure there were no glitches
and Braam
Hanekom, founder of PASSOP, was there with an enthusiastic band of
Zimbabwean volunteers selling copies of The Zimbabwean newspaper to the
crowds. The Zimbabwean was one of the main media sponsors of Zimfest and
their huge banner adorned the entrance to the auditorium.
Other
volunteers from the USA, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa came to
help with
ticket sales, garbage management, souvenir sales and the many
other tasks
involved in the event. Zimbabwean crafters' stalls lined the
entrance hall
with a colourful selection of Zimbabwean ingenuity. Others
provided snacks
and cool drinks.
An event was a reminder of the thousands of asylum
seekers in South
Africa who have suffered so badly since the pre- and
post-election mayhem in
Zimbabwe. One Zimbabwean refugee and MDC supporter
who wished not to be
named for security reasons told me: "They came to my
house, (the militias)
tortured me and beat up my kids and wife and kids.
Thank God they left me
alive but I was forced to flee to South Africa. They
inflicted such terrible
pain on my flesh but they will never kill my hope
and spirit". He expressed
great appreciation for Zimfest saying it gave him
a chance to meet with
other refugees, giving him motivation and hope in the
knowledge that others
were in the same predicament here, struggling to
survive and send food and
money back to their families.
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/traps
Michael Trapido
While cabinet posts are being allocated and the
constitutional amendments
prepared, two additional issues of critical
importance come to mind. The end
of sanctions allied to whatever investment
(is there anything left out there
after the Lehman implosion?) can be made
available and the rebuilding of the
Zanu-PF as a credible party.
I do
not agree with the EU and USA on a wait-and-see approach for a number
of
reasons; the situation is too dire to allow for this, it will impede the
progress being made and put a brake on the momentum being achieved by the
deal. Nor am I in agreement with the view put forward in the Mail &
Guardian's
headline article covering Zimbabwe's projected
recovery:
As the article says a lot will depend on the assistance
from abroad.
Unlike those who are predicting doom and gloom for Zimbabwe,
I believe that
the country will bounce back and a lot sooner than people are
predicting.
Crucial to this has to be the ending of sanctions and whatever
investment
has been earmarked for them, but held back pending resolution of
the
political impasse, being made available immediately. While the country
will
undergo a transitional period with all its attendant mistakes and
mishaps, a
snowball-like momentum will gather pace as soon as people start
showing
faith.
Vital to the success of this "joint venture" has to be
tangible improvement
on the ground in terms of political stability, law and
order, the economy
and social upliftment. Without international and local
assistance this might
well fail where support could occasion a relatively
speedy return to
stability and later prosperity.
A prosperous
Zimbabwe will lift the entire region and provide a boost for
Southern Africa
where up to now it has been a drain on the local economies
as well as the
source of much political instability. If countries in the
region weigh up
what it cost to prop up Zimbabwe and the benefit in
assisting her recovery
then it will make financial sense to jump in
immediately.
What, for
example, would South Africa save if just half of the exiles found
it safe to
return home? How much weight would this take off our poorer
communities?
We've seen the figures and a recovering Zimbabwe will be like
winning the
Lotto for South Africa.
In addition to investment it is crucial to the
well-being of Zimbabwe that
the Zanu-PF reverse the politics of survival and
put together a set of
mainstream policies, which will enable it to contest
the elections as a
credible alternative. At present they are the authors of
the meltdown which
has brought the country to its knees. With the advent of
the power-sharing
deal and the opportunity it brings to change course, they
must set out to
prove that not only are they back but have a better product
for Zimbabwe
than the MDC.
In terms of the election, the date of
which will be set in 18 months time,
this will give Zimbabweans real choice
and afford all parties the
opportunity to go out and canvas support with
confidence rather than force.
If the Zanu-PF is still playing the part of
spoilers they will retard the
progress of their party and the
country.
As the world witnessed one of President Mugabe's hysterical, in
every sense
of the word, tirades yesterday it must have dawned on the
Zanu-PF that while
the president has served the party for many years, the
future has to be
without him. He has had a long innings and it's time to say
goodbye and
usher in a new and dynamic leadership. This is in the interests
of the
party, the MDC and the country as it seeks to re-establish its
credibility
and stability.
While I am acutely aware of the critics'
suggestions that the army in the
hands of Mugabe is a recipe for disaster, I
firmly believe that as more and
more stability returns the army will become
less and less of an issue. At
present it guards an elitism which will become
unnecessary if goodwill
returns as the economy starts to restore
itself.
Sanctions and doomsayers could occasion the exact opposite and a
return to
survival politics.
Regardless of the allocation of those
cabinet seats and all the other
political posturing we are about to witness,
Zimbabweans know that the time
has come to get back to business. The planet
which has stood back powerless
in the face of the meltdown of that country
must now roll the dice in favour
of this positive opportunity. The region
has much to gain and very little to
lose if they get this right.
By
the way if anyone is going up to Harare, perhaps they might find out if
the
president does children's parties and Bar Mitzvahs. The look on Morgan
Tsvangirai's face when Mugabe started lambasting the British beats anything
Peter Kaye, Jeremy Clarkson and Seinfeld could have come up
with.
Classic!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th,
2008 at 3:02 pm